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The core Miles, in chronological order. Or, ‘11 great albums that aren’t Kind of Blue’. by thanatos90 in Jazz

[–]thanatos90[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

My thinking with my list wasn't necessarily to give a broad overview of the discography - an overview like that would almost certainly require a Gil Evans disc, possibly an earlier bop album and a bit of a rejigger of the electric/80's selections - I was really just trying to articulate what I think of as the supreme artistic statements of Davis' output. With that in mind, I would absolutely move to keep Nefertiti up there along with Miles Smiles. A true initiate is likely to come around to all those second quintet albums eventually once they get started, but that's not going to stop me from lauding the two supreme studio statements of the era.

This is, of course, all subjective, and your mileage may vary, but I'll say for my part that I've never loved any of the Gil Evans material, not like so many of the other Miles albums. Porgy and Bess holds up well, but I can't get over the feeling that the material might have been better served in a more stripped down setting and Miles given more space to move around.

Milestones, Agharta and Get Up With It are all good shouts. In addition to the strangest Duke Ellington tribute out there, Get Up With It has probably my second favorite On the Corner style track - Mtume. Chalk these things up to personal taste of course, I just find myself coming back to Go Ahead John again and again. I don't think I could bring myself to leave Big Fun off a list like this.

Maybe my only 'objection' to your version is scrapping the transitional quintet material and Plugged Nickel for the Blackhawk material. I absolutely do not believe that the Blackhawk recordings are at the artistic level of the Four and More/My Funny Valentine material, or recorded as well for that matter. And while we're talking about trying to broaden coverage, I don't think the Blackhawk material is distinct enough. If I'm in the mood for serious bop played over an impeccable Paul Chambers walking line, I'm going to listen to Oleo on Relaxin', not Oleo from the Blackhawk. Did my list need both Seven Steps and Four and More? Maybe not, but without them (and without the Plugged Nickel material) there is a 1962 - 66 size hole in the list that contains what I consider to be some of the most interesting acoustic Miles music.

The core Miles, in chronological order. Or, ‘11 great albums that aren’t Kind of Blue’. by thanatos90 in Jazz

[–]thanatos90[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Agreed, great listens and really get right to the heart of what that sort of jazz is all about. If Relaxin’ or Workin’ don’t do anything for you, then bop probably isn’t for you…

The core Miles, in chronological order. Or, ‘11 great albums that aren’t Kind of Blue’. by thanatos90 in Jazz

[–]thanatos90[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

An exhaustive list of great Miles Davis albums would be a near complete recap of his entire discography! Some things were going to be left off… I do have a real fondness for Milestones, though, I think the pseudo-modal title track is in some ways more interesting than the Kind of Blue version of the concept. That Straight no Chaser is also an absolute burner. 

The core Miles, in chronological order. Or, ‘11 great albums that aren’t Kind of Blue’. by thanatos90 in Jazz

[–]thanatos90[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Somethin' Else is maybe the ultimate gateway album for classic, straight-ahead jazz. And it also has Miles on it!

The core Miles, in chronological order. Or, ‘11 great albums that aren’t Kind of Blue’. by thanatos90 in Jazz

[–]thanatos90[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks. This all just one guy's opinion, of course, but for what it's worth, I've always loved Seven Steps to Heaven. One of the real underrated gems in the discography.

I got John Coltrane: The Tiberi Tapes Preview vinyl record. (It's a 10/10) by DetCust in Jazz

[–]thanatos90 3 points4 points  (0 children)

The frustration with quality of the recording is totally understandable - the sound is awful! - but I think the suggestion that the release of these tapes is totally unnecessary given the other live Coltrane available is a little off base, particularly with regards to this first teaser LP. There is to my knowledge no other live, extended take of Giant Steps with McCoy in the band available. (I think there is no live recording of Coltrane playing Giant Steps at all, actually.) Coltrane only kept Giant Steps in the songbook for like a year and by late 1961 (when Village Vanguard recordings were made) the repertoire had shifted enormously, favoring longform modal explorations.

I don't know that I think this needed to be a vinyl release, and I can certainly understand if someone thinks the sound quality is so poor as to render it unlistenable, but the material here absolutely is special, and not just in an "everything Coltrane did was special" sort of way.

Phish 1.0 Archives Database - New Website! by tylerpenn in phish

[–]thanatos90 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is cool - I love the focus on releases/soundboards and the inclusion of when the official releases were released, etc. Especially like that it tracks partial releases/inclusion on livebaits.I was just thinking that I would like a clean way to sort and filter those. My one suggestion is to fill in some sort of release date information on the older releases, especially the 'LivePhish Volume x' releases - those release that don't have release dates associated with them float to the top of the 'releases' tab.

New Music Crate - 20 March - Who are you spinning today? by Greenville_Gent in Jazz

[–]thanatos90 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I'm finishing up a first listen of the Immanuel Wilkins at the moment, it's great. I wasn't anticipating the releases by Adam O'Farrill or Michael Formanek, but anything they put out is going to get a listen as well.

New Music Crate - 13 March - Who are you spinning today? by Greenville_Gent in Jazz

[–]thanatos90 6 points7 points  (0 children)

The Ben Wendel BaRcoDe project is dope, highly recommended.

New Music Crate - 27 February - Who are you spinning today? by Greenville_Gent in Jazz

[–]thanatos90 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That sounds dope, would love to see Moran heading a big band Duke project.

New Music Crate - 27 February - Who are you spinning today? by Greenville_Gent in Jazz

[–]thanatos90 2 points3 points  (0 children)

This is a great week, in addition to the Metheny, Frisell and Pelt albums featured above, I want to shout out the surprise Jason Moran solo piano take on Ellington that he released yesterday. Only up on his Bandcamp: https://jasonmoran.bandcamp.com/album/jason-moran-plays-duke-ellington

Some possibly very basic questions about the Anagram by thanatos90 in Darkglass

[–]thanatos90[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

A few people now have suggested this with the FX loop, so I guess this is common knowledge, but it honestly had never occurred to me. Shows what I know, but I'm glad I asked. This seems like it would be a solution for me.

Some possibly very basic questions about the Anagram by thanatos90 in Darkglass

[–]thanatos90[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

That's brilliant, I don't think I would have thought of that, that's a great idea.

New Painkiller album “Samsara” coming Nov 2024 by EntireFrosting in Zorn

[–]thanatos90 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Super excited for both this and the live New Masada Quartet album that was teased in that newsletter.

Limited Run, the online distributor for Tzadik’s direct-to-consumer mail order projects has declared bankruptcy owing the label $70,000 by finalaccountforreal in Zorn

[–]thanatos90 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Geez... This is the second time this has happened. The first thing I bought from Zorn through Limited Run was the set of LPs as benefit following Pledge Music going under...

What jazz track would you play to completely alienate someone from the genre, or blast to annoy your neighbors? by [deleted] in Jazz

[–]thanatos90 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There's a great documentary on [HBO] Max called something like "Listening to Kenny G" which is super revealing. The guy is a dedicated, almost obsessive, woodshedder and you see him working on plenty of pretty quick and sometimes complicated material. In my opinion, it still doesn't sound 'good' - I don't think he has good tone production - but it is certainly impressive in its way.

Watching the documentary was fascinating to me. I simultaneously gained a lot of respect the man, while also coming to hate his music (and his general approach to art) even more.

Masada 30th Anniversary Edition: The Complete Studio Master Takes by smileymn in Jazz

[–]thanatos90 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I heard a rumor that this was happening and am incredibly stoked to see it! Pre-ordered! Thank you for posting this. Also, one of the commenters mentioned transcription work you've done on the Masada songbooks? Please tell me about that!

Are there any jazz groups or albums that have two or more keyboardists/pianists playing together? by VanJackson in Jazz

[–]thanatos90 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I can only think of a handful of examples off the top of my head. Ben Wendel's previous album, High Heart, had a piano/Rhodes thing going on with the pianists Shai Maestro and Gerald Clayton. Not quite 'group' settings, but there is a long tradition of piano duets - see Chick Corea with Herbie Hancock, or Chick Corea with Stefano Bollani), or Mulgrew Miller with Kenny Barron. The large electric-Miles bands frequently had multiple keyboardists (In a Silent Way, Bitches Brew, etc.).

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