New format. New Title. Same Blog. I've had a lot of time to chill this summer and get into lots of different music, so hopefully this will serve some sort of function.
I spent the day running around New York City, and staring at a computer screen, and I'm exhausted. And yet out of it comes some notable musical highlights. Firstly, if y'all haven't checked out the record stand on 111th and Broadway (in front of the Citibank) it's the bees knees. Especially if you're into old-school crooner jazz like Chet Baker (I'm Not), they have some vintage pressings that they probably salvaged from a garbage dump. Or maybe you just like Madonna. They have that too. I picked up Sonny Rollins' Saxophone Colossus and More, an epic double-LP that not only had the classic Saxophone Colossus album on it, but also has live cuts from Basin Street with Max Roach and Clifford Brown. I love the smell of vinyl, and the sound ain't bad either. Rollins' sound is instantly transformed from the plaintive pleader on digital, to a soul preacher on vinyl. Check out the epic solo on "Blue Seven", and the beautiful reading of "You Don't Know What Love Is". I've been having pop cravings lately, and truthfully, Sonny Rollins is a more melodic alternative to John Coltrane's analytical fire. Much like Lester Young, his sound and melodies take you there, not the complexity.
On a completely separate note, I was able to catch the 11 oclock set of Paul Motian, Bill Frisell, and Joe Lovano at the Village Vanguard, and they're around till Sunday, so I highly recommend catching them when you can. I've seen this group three times, and this was the best yet. Paul Motian has always left me kind of flat. I'm a big fan of groove oriented drumming, and so even though a guy like Jack DeJohnette can really get out there, his swing always remains. Motian is more of a texturalist, and he often takes the groove out of the equation. It wasn't until today that I realized how vital his pings and pops were to the group's sound. I finally realized that they seems to reject the traditional notion that jazz has to fit into a preconceived time signature, and instead they have their soloists approach the harmonic framework with whatever amount of time they want on a given chord. It was so rewarding to watch Lovano stretch out on a run, with Frisell closely listening and complementing him. Of course Frisell was the real MVP of the set. Every time I see him, he makes my jaw drop with his tasteful chordal melody work and graceful melancholy sound. Guitar Players: CHECK HIM OUT. Here's an old set of their stand at the Village Vanguard last year to get a taste.
Hopefully I can get this thing off the ground.
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