My Favorite Things

 

I dislike almost all music writing, including my own, so I'll just list a few favorites in chronological order.  Hopefully there will be discoveries here for some of my readers, though real buffs will understand that this is just stuff I happen to have heard and liked.

This music was produced between 1959 and 1991, especially during the period from 1967 to 1974, and as far as I know it all was developed in New York, Chicago, or Norway. Except probably for Mingus, none of it is just plain jazz. There's some  fusion / jazz-rock here, but I've tried to keep that down. Most of it is roughly "avant-garde" or "free jazz". The styles represented here tended to be associated with leftism, hippies, and black nationalism, and as the US moved to the right, the audience for this kind of thing dwindled -- a lot of the musicians ended up going to Europe, and a few quit music entirely.    

Computer crashes, loaned and lost records, and ignorance have left some gaps. People I might have included are Sun Ra, Albert Ayler, and Cecil Taylor. People who should have been included  under their own names are Sam Rivers, Muhal Richard Abrams, and Anthony Braxton.

I've written a separate page on Marion Brown, the most underrated musician of our time. If there's anyone out there who can make vinyl and tapes into CDs for me, please email me. [*Done, I think.*] Likewise if you find any more Marion Brown trilogy downloads.

(I'm sending CDs of this to a few friends, and up to a certain point I'll send them out to readers if so requested. The set fits on two CDs, but, I'm not able to transfer the Marion Brown downloads, and I've switched Dave Holland and Garbarek's "Beast of Kommodo" to get a better fit to the CDs. The editing of "Apocalypse" is a bit rough at the end.)

 

Ornette Coleman: "Una Muy Bonita"
(from Change of the Century, 1959)

Totally new at the time.
Cherry and Ulmer came from this.

 Charlie Mingus: "Hog Callin Blues"
(from Oh Yeah, 1961)

More than most of these guys, Mingus kept his connection
with the fun part of jazz. Most of this stuff was pretty serious.

John Coltrane: "India"
(from Village Vanguard Sessions, 1961)

Something from Africa: Brass would fit here, too.

Eric Dolphy: "Music Matador"
(from Music Matador, 1963)

Miles Davis hated this. There are probably better things
by Dolphy, but this one is special to me.
Gato Barbieri plays out of tune too --
supposedly it's a Hispanic thing.

Gary Burton / Carla Bley "Silent Spring"
(from Genuine Tong Funeral, 1967)

I don't know what you'd call this, but I love it.

Don Cherry "Baby's Breath"
(from Eternal Rhythm, 1968)

World Music, except that it's good.
Sharrock makes an appearance.
Check out Eternal Now and Brown Rice too.

Miles Davis "John Mclaughlin"
(from Bitches Brew, 1969)

I like almost all of Davis's electric stuff,
but I'm trying to minimize the jazz-rock here.

Jan Garbarek: Beast of Kommodo
(from Afric Pepperbird, 1970)

Reminiscent of Don Cherry, who was
working in Norway at the time

Marion Brown: "Once Upon a Time"
(from Geechee Recollections -- download, 1973)

See the Marion Brown page.
This download is of uncertain quality.

Marion Brown: "Buttermilk Bottom"
(from Geechee Recollections -- download, 1973)

See the Marion Brown page.
This download is of uncertain quality.

Dave Holland: "Conference of the Birds"
(from Conference of the Birds, 1973)

Unclassifiable, as far as I'm concerned.

Larry Young: "Khalid of Space Part II"
from Lawrence of Newark, 1973)

Not like anyone else. "Young / Hendrix"
from Nine to the Universe is also great.

Mahavishnu John McLaughlin:
excerpt from "Vision is a Naked Sword"
(from Apocalypse, 1974)

Apocalypse has some fantastic stuff in it,
but the brass is awful.

Roswell Rudd "Suh Blah Blah Bluh Sibbi"
(from Flexible Flyer, 1974)

I find this hypnotic. Features Sheila Jordan. 
Not everyone will like it.

James Blood Ulmer "Time Out"
(from Are you Glad to be in America, 1980)

With Sharrock, Ulmer is king of the spazz guitar.
You like it or you don't. Ornette influence.

Jan Garbarek: "Soria Maria"
(from Eventyr, 1980)

Like Don Cherry's Codona trio, but better.
Both trios feature Nana Vascoconcelos.

Sonny Sharrock: "Chumpy"
(from Highlife, 1990)

Shows off the range of things Sharrock can do.
Worked with Don Cherry.

Sonny Sharrock: "Many Mansions"
(from Ask the Ages, 1991)

With Elvin Jones, Pharaoh Sanders, and Charnal Moffet.
Three oversize guys going full speed ahead.
Moffet does fine, but he must have been terrified.

 

Afterword

If I had the CD or MP3 versions, my list would include more by Marion Brown (from Geechee Recollections, Sweet Earth Flying, and Afternoon of a Georgia Faun -- all out of print, and the first two were never issued on CD). I also would have added "After Dark" from James Blood Ulmer's America: Do You Remember the Love?; something from Gato Barbieri's Chapter One; "High Priest" from David Murray's  Shakill's Warrior, and something from his Live at Sweet Basil vol. 2; something from Lester Bowie's Twilight Dreams with Brass Fantasy;  and something from Nice Guys by the Art Ensemble of Chicago (reminiscent of Marion Brown in places). I'll probably get most of these CDs eventually and move them above.

 

Links

Surprisingly good New York Times article explaining that Burns and Marsalis are full of it.

Wiki of 70s and 80s jazz (apparently misses Marion Brown).

Argue's Secret Society

Destination Out

Visionsong

Greenleaf music

Knitting Factory records

|

 

I am emersonj at gmail dot com.

Original materials copyright John J Emerson

Return to Idiocentrism

jjmrsnx