Jazz

I can totally get where you guys are coming from, and I fully respect that view. The album is indeed very "samey" throughout its 46 minutes. In that sense it's much more an ambient album that a jazz one. I find it to have a very meditative quality in its exploration of a couple of motifs with different arrangements, textures and instrumentation. Sanders's contribution is what makes the album especial for me, as it goes further than any other instrument in search of different moods whithin the confines of the repeting motifs, but without ever hijacking the whole performance and taking it too far of its oceanic feel. I guess that is the best analogy I can find for this album: it's like being on a boat, where after a certain time you forget about the constant swing of the ocean, and you can pay attention to the little nuances of the water's color, sound and movement.
I'm with ya on this one. I love how meditative it is. And I can see how some people may find it boring or "samey" but it's a nice reprieve for me to throw it on and just relax after a stressful day.
 
I can totally get where you guys are coming from, and I fully respect that view. The album is indeed very "samey" throughout its 46 minutes. In that sense it's much more an ambient album that a jazz one. I find it to have a very meditative quality in its exploration of a couple of motifs with different arrangements, textures and instrumentation. Sanders's contribution is what makes the album especial for me, as it goes further than any other instrument in search of different moods whithin the confines of the repeting motifs, but without ever hijacking the whole performance and taking it too far of its oceanic feel. I guess that is the best analogy I can find for this album: it's like being on a boat, where after a certain time you forget about the constant swing of the ocean, and you can pay attention to the little nuances of the water's color, sound and movement.
No doubt and I can see how someone might enjoy it. For me it’s like mediocre jazz and uninteresting ambient (which is a genre I like). Though the A side isn’t terrible since it’s more Sanders heavy. I kind of feel bad hating on it though since I do like experimental and genre redefining works. I’m just snoozing hard by the end.

I think we can all agree that the cover is pretty fantastic though. And really what else matters?
 
No doubt and I can see how someone might enjoy it. For me it’s like mediocre jazz and uninteresting ambient (which is a genre I like). Though the A side isn’t terrible since it’s more Sanders heavy. I kind of feel bad hating on it though since I do like experimental and genre redefining works. I’m just snoozing hard by the end.

I think we can all agree that the cover is pretty fantastic though. And really what else matters?
It might just be a big coincidence, but I'm pretty sure the cover art is a homage to Ornette Coleman's Free Jazz. The font type and colour are very similar and it also has the die-cut window with the artwork behind it.

ornette-colleman-free-jazz-atlantic-1364-cover-1800-ljc.jpeg
Pharoah-Sanders-Floating-Points.jpeg
 
It might just be a big coincidence, but I'm pretty sure the cover art is a homage to Ornette Coleman's Free Jazz. The font type and colour are very similar and it also has the die-cut window with the artwork behind it.

View attachment 95432
View attachment 95433

Very similar! Now I know what I'm listening to later (not Floating Points that's fer shur).
 
I missed this on my initial run through of the RSD items, but looks like there is going to be a previously unreleased Mike Taylor Quartet album. Sounds like it might be a real fly-on-the-wall recording (recorded in his Grandparents basement) made just before the Pendulum album (which now goes for mega money!).

Im not familiar with the label, Sunbeam, so hopefully its good.
 
Any essentials albums to own by Vince Guaraldi outside of A Charlie Brown Christmas? I really enjoy his style of playing and find he has a very unique touch on the piano. I always associate feeling good with Vince Guaraldi but not sure where to start outside of his Charlie Brown stuff.
 
Any essentials albums to own by Vince Guaraldi outside of A Charlie Brown Christmas? I really enjoy his style of playing and find he has a very unique touch on the piano. I always associate feeling good with Vince Guaraldi but not sure where to start outside of his Charlie Brown stuff.

I've got "Jazz Impressions of Charlie Brown" and it sounds great. Also has all the important/iconic songs. It's a good place to start.

Edit: I just realized you said"outside Charlie Brown" lol. Disregard my message, I don't own any other Guaraldi trio albums. 😪😂
 
Any essentials albums to own by Vince Guaraldi outside of A Charlie Brown Christmas? I really enjoy his style of playing and find he has a very unique touch on the piano. I always associate feeling good with Vince Guaraldi but not sure where to start outside of his Charlie Brown stuff.
I've got this one that I feel good about recommending:

VGT.jpg
VGT2.jpg

Definitely a fun listen, some of it sharing in that Charlie Brown vibe, but other cuts more typical "jazz piano trio" music.

EDIT: Has a 5-star Allmusic review, if that means anything to you:
 
For those looking for used jazz titles. This eBay seller is based out of St. Louis, Missouri and has a huge inventory. All albums auctioned and start at $8, looks like everything is around VG+.

Quite a few original OJCs, variety of Blue Notes, etc.


 
Last edited:
Why doesn’t my brain get John Coltrane 😭. I try and try and my brain can’t seem to process what makes his music so revered outside of the boundary breaking stuff like A Love Supreme. Just got Giant Steps and didn’t find it be very enjoyable. Was there an album that made Trane click in particular for everyone?

I seem to really enjoy his more down tempo stuff as well as My Favorite Things and Ole
 
Why doesn’t my brain get John Coltrane 😭. I try and try and my brain can’t seem to process what makes his music so revered outside of the boundary breaking stuff like A Love Supreme. Just got Giant Steps and didn’t find it be very enjoyable. Was there an album that made Trane click in particular for everyone?

I seem to really enjoy his more down tempo stuff as well as My Favorite Things and Ole
I don't really care for some of the avant-garde Coltrane albums, if that's what you are referring to. I much prefer Coltrane's slower stuff as well. Also his early work with Miles, and when he plays jazz standards as a bandleader (Prestige years)
 
Just keep putting it on every couple of months, one day it might click, Niama on GS is beautiful, I mostly listen to later Trane these days, but Ole is great, if you like that maybe have a listen to Africa/Brass and some of his earlier Impulse like Duke Ellington and Ballads then maybe Crescent which is a good gateway into A Love Supreme and beyond. It’s also totally fine if he’s not for you as well.
Why doesn’t my brain get John Coltrane 😭. I try and try and my brain can’t seem to process what makes his music so revered outside of the boundary breaking stuff like A Love Supreme. Just got Giant Steps and didn’t find it be very enjoyable. Was there an album that made Trane click in particular for everyone?

I seem to really enjoy his more down tempo stuff as well as My Favorite Things and Ole
 
Why doesn’t my brain get John Coltrane 😭. I try and try and my brain can’t seem to process what makes his music so revered outside of the boundary breaking stuff like A Love Supreme. Just got Giant Steps and didn’t find it be very enjoyable. Was there an album that made Trane click in particular for everyone?

I seem to really enjoy his more down tempo stuff as well as My Favorite Things and Ole
You don't HAVE to like him, but if you're willing to give it a try, I would suggest "John Coltrane Plays the Blues". There's a mix of down and uptempo performances there, and the traditional 12 bar blues format gives a nice frame of reference to appreciate what Coltrane brings to the jazz idiom. Quite different to Olé, but very enjoyable too.
 
Why doesn’t my brain get John Coltrane 😭. I try and try and my brain can’t seem to process what makes his music so revered outside of the boundary breaking stuff like A Love Supreme. Just got Giant Steps and didn’t find it be very enjoyable. Was there an album that made Trane click in particular for everyone?

I seem to really enjoy his more down tempo stuff as well as My Favorite Things and Ole
Blue Train was the first thing I heard after Kind of Blue. I actually actively disliked saxophone before I discovered Coltrane.
 
Dutch sites have been posting the RSD list for 2021.

I just did a run through to pull out some of the jazz releases:

Barney Wilen - La Note Bleue A 2LP set.
Bill Evans - Behind the Dikes: The 1969 Netherlands Recordings A 3LP set from Elemental. I smell Zev Feldman's involvement.
Charlie Parker - Bird In LA A 4LP set.
Chet Baker - Cool Cat This link actually has a lot of info.
Frank Foster - Loud Minority
John Coltrane - Naima / My Favorite Things Not too sure what this is, I think its just a 12" single?
Kenny Dorham - Quiet Kenny Another unknown, just looks like a reissue?
Miles Davis Miles Davis Champions From The Complete Jack Johnson Sessions. I mentioned this before. @Poly-Rythmo the colour is awful.
Rahsaan Kirk Roland Live At Ronnie THIS IS KILLER! I haven't heard of the label before but this session is going to be blinding, it's legendary!
Salah Ragab & Cairo Jazz Egypt Strut This looks really interesting, going to dig deeper into it.
Thelonious Monk Palo Alto: The Custodian’s Mix They seem to be really milking this one.
Various Soho Scene ’67 (Jazz Goes Mod) I believe this is part of a series, with one set being released last year as well.
Man, am I going to have to go to RSD this year? I need like 6 of these.
 
Why doesn’t my brain get John Coltrane 😭. I try and try and my brain can’t seem to process what makes his music so revered outside of the boundary breaking stuff like A Love Supreme. Just got Giant Steps and didn’t find it be very enjoyable. Was there an album that made Trane click in particular for everyone?

I seem to really enjoy his more down tempo stuff as well as My Favorite Things and Ole
Ole and My Favorite Things are two of his best albums. In my top 5.
 
Man, am I going to have to go to RSD this year? I need like 6 of these.
This list omits one of the RSD jazz titles I'm most excited about:

 
Why doesn’t my brain get John Coltrane 😭. I try and try and my brain can’t seem to process what makes his music so revered outside of the boundary breaking stuff like A Love Supreme. Just got Giant Steps and didn’t find it be very enjoyable. Was there an album that made Trane click in particular for everyone?

I seem to really enjoy his more down tempo stuff as well as My Favorite Things and Ole
Disclaimer: I own a lot of Coltrane and most of it is in heavy rotation -- but.. Giant Steps has also never been a favorite album for me, but here's a possible path:

My Favorite Things: the Rhino copy I think is still affordable, BG master IIRC. If you can, steam the original Julie Andrews signing My Favorite Things from the sound of music prior to listening. Marvel at how awesome and pure her voice is -- buy that record... wait, this is about JC, right? Once your humming, "girls in white dresses, with blue..." -- the drop on the record (or try a stream of good quality) and here how Coltrane reconstructs the song. You'll also here how Coltrane is using some of the inter-chordal/sheets of sounds playing -- similar to what you here Pharoah Sanders doing oh so gently on the Floating Points record.

As others have mentioned: Blue Train is a monster record as are his records with Duke Ellington and Johnny Hartman (a personal favorite from that period)

But he did great straight ahead work for Prestige. Cut a terrific album with Kenny Burrell.

Before the hard avant garde, there is a ton of very accessible exploratory to spiritual -- in addition to A Love Supreme -- I'd add titles like Ole, Crescent (Black Pearl!)

It's a bit if a deep ender vs a starting point -- and this isn't a record I can recommend to everyone -- but if you want to here Coltrane playing hard, but not free, it is worth tucking into One Up, One Down, Live at the Half Note. It's one of my favorites and is just an unbelievable set. You'll hear what the band does with Favorite Things in a live format at a small club. They did not mess around and are there to take the walls of the joint. It isn't a starting point, but if you like the first My Favorite Things and want to get a snapshot of how Coltrane at that point was hearing it, for me this is it.

I'm the end though -- and I'll draw an analogy that might get me in trouble -- part of what made Coltrane so remarkable was the conscious process of exploration, challenging of form, reconstruction that he (and the band, let's not forget that...) Drove over the course of his career. Not unlike Picasso, he was was an incredibly skilled traditional artist -- straight player -- but he also was amongst the pre-eminent explorers of what territory could jazz own. So you have early cubist, blue period, etc his own expressions of form. The records are a series of chapters in a novel of an artist trying to find the next answer....so there is a bit of that "ear" inherent in the listening for me.

and it's okay to not like him too. Heck, a lot of Picasso's late period is a big "meh" for me -- mostly because he stopped that journey -- and there are a few of Coltrane's that I don't spin as much that are classics (Giant Steps) ... I'm good with it.
 
Back
Top