In late July of 1978, the Sun Ra Arkestra rolled into Baltimore’s Famous Ballroom in a concert put on by Left Bank Jazz Society. A long running institution, the Left Bank normally hired acoustic bop musicians like Sonny Stitt, Freddie Hubbard, and Joe Henderson. So bringing on Sun Ra was something of a risky move: not only was he electric, he was a bit of an outside musician too. Would the bluebloods of Baltimore enjoy it?
Category: Jazz
Miles Davis :: Rated X
“Rated X” lacks the monumental sound collage quality of its taped compatriots. The quick (for this era of Miles) seven-minute tune leans into a minimal chaos, almost as if In a Silent Way was recorded in the depths of hell. What begins in disarray slowly becomes the most cohesive thing you’ve ever heard.
Miles Davis: Four More from Brazil, 1974
50 years ago this month, the Miles Davis octet traveled to Brazil for three-night stands in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo – a stretch of gigs featuring the same personnel that recorded the Dark Magus live set at Carnegie Hall earlier that spring. While Dark Magus documented guitarist Dominique Gaumont’s incendiary first night with the band, the tapes from Brazil capture Miles’ well-oiled three-guitar lineup in full flight; Gaumont layering waves of feedback between flights of Hendrix-inspired indulgence, Pete Cosey supplying gobs of heavily modulated riffs and theatrics, and rhythm ace Reggie Lucas abandoning the steady throb of the wah-wah to solo at will.
Two Nights In Chicago: Sun Ra At The Showcase 1976-77
This two-LP set is taken from a show on Feb. 21, 1976 and two in November 1977. The lineage of these records is a little muddled: parts of the 1977 shows were released on The Soul Vibrations of Man and Taking A Chance on Chances, two limited-edition records with questionable fidelity. Additionally, according to Sun Ra archivist Michael Anderson, the tapes were a mess: “it’s a puzzle,” he says in the liner notes. But thankfully the puzzle has been put together for release by Zev Feldman’s Jazz Detective label.
Light Pollution: The Roots of Ambient Jazz
As Aquarium Drunkard recently reported, ambient appears to be the shape of jazz to come. The newest new thing is cross-pollinating with electronics and minimalism, new age and drone. But even these currents have a history. We dove deep into our favorite space jazz of yesteryear, and put together a mixtape for your astral travelling pleasure.
Alice Coltrane :: The Carnegie Hall Concert
Had The Carnegie Hall Concert been released in 1971 when it was originally commissioned and recorded by Impulse as a double live LP, it would undoubtedly rank among the all-time holy grails of live jazz, no, live music, period. But nothing happens before it’s time, and we are unbelievably fortunate to be graced with the revelation of Coltrane’s performance in the here and now. Left in the vault for decades and only partially bootlegged, The Carnegie Hall Concert documents Alice Coltrane cresting a creative peak which marked the end of a cycle of suffering and a rebirth for her spirit and music. This is more than a live recording, it’s a transfiguration through sound.
Michael Naura Quartett :: Call
Hailed at his death in 2017 as the jazzpapst, the pope of German jazz, pianist Michael Naura once fronted the most popular post-bop jazz combo in early 60s Germany. After a serious illness brought his performing career to a halt, he took over editorial management of the state radio NDR’s jazz programming in 1971. There Naura had a front-row seat to the birth of fusion. Soon after, he returned to the studio at the head of a newly assembled electric jazz quartet. Their first release, Call, is a moody, shimmering wash of jeweled tones that sounded like nothing else in European jazz.
Takuya Kuroda :: Rising Son
Rising Son is a ray of regal jazz-funk bliss from start to finish, but the highlight has to be Kuroda’s cover of “Everybody Loves The Sunshine,” sung by José James with the world-weary joy of the Roy Ayers Ubiquity. This reissue closes with a “Sunshine” remix by UK keyboardist Joe Armon-Jones, layering smears of synth and thumping breakbeats over dubby, echo-drenched effects. Blue Note originals have been known to break the bank, so get down with Rising Son on its latest solar cycle.
Mal Waldron :: The Call
Everybody knows that Mal Waldron was the first artist released by Manfred Eicher’s fledgling label ECM. Less well known is that the veteran pianist also had the maiden release on Eicher’s experimental jazz imprint JAPO. That album, The Call, placed Waldron right at the heart of the burgeoning krautrock scene, teaming him up with affiliates of Amon Düül, Tangerine Dream and Et Cetera. The result was tripped-out, electrified space jazz of the very highest order.
Miles Davis :: Recorded On Stage, 1973/1974
Collected here are five selections from a private stash of stage recordings, capturing the band at the Shaboo Inn in Willimantic, CT, London’s Rainbow Theater, and a pair of dates on its extraordinary tour of Brazil in the summer of ‘74. Beyond the blistering performances featured therein, the Brazil tapes are a notable document of guitarist Dominique Gaumont’s brief time with the band – a tenure that began on March 30, 1974 (as captured on sides 3 and 4 of the Dark Magus LP) and lasted through the fall.
Ariel Kalma, Jeremiah Chiu & Marta Sofia Honer :: The Closest Thing to Silence
Avant-new age pioneer Ariel Kalma joins up with younger explorers Jeremiah Chiu & Marta Sofia Honer for The Closest Thing to Silence, a kind of metaphysical journey through the elder electronic musician’s oeuvre.
Vijay Iyer, Linda May Han OH, Tyshawn Sorey :: Compassion
Get pianist Vijay Iyer in a trio and just see what happens. On last year’s visionary Love in Exile, he explored psychic heights and chasm-deep spaces with vocalist Arooj Aftab and bassist and electronics wizard Shahzad Ismaily. And now, “Compassion,” the lithe title track from his forthcoming ECM outing with bassist Linda May Han Oh and drummer Tyshawn Sorey.
Codona :: Willisau, Switzerland, September 1, 1978
Earlier this year, we shared a sweet Codona recording from late in the trio’s all-too-brief run. Here’s one from right near the beginning. This Swiss FM broadcast from 1978 captures Codona in full flight, with Collin Walcott’s sitar, Don Cherry’s trumpet and Nana Vaconcelos’ percussion weaving a magical web. The players waste no time getting right into it; the opening “New Light” is 16 minutes of pure joy.
Red Hot + Ra :: Nuclear War
A wide cast, including avant-R&B singer Georgia Anne Muldrow, trumpeter Josef Leimberg, punk jazzers Irreversible Entanglements, cosmic reedist and vocalist Angel Bat Dawid, vocalist Malcolm Jiyane Tree-o, Grandmaster CAP, and remixers Dennis Bovell, Rich Medina, Moon Medicin, Sanford Biggers, Joel Tarman, and the Kronos Quartet unite to explore, expand, and reinterpret Sun Ra on Red Hot & Ra: Nuclear War and Red Hot & Ra: Nuclear War (Remixes).
John Coltrane Quintet With Eric Dolphy :: Kulttuuritalo, Helsinki, Finland, November 22, 1961
While we wait for Evenings at the Village Gate: John Coltrane with Eric Dolphy, let’s enjoy this wondrous 40+ minutes of the Coltrane Quintet in Finland. Compared to the Village Vanguard tapes from just a few weeks before, the performance is relatively smooth — nothing too outward bound like “India” or “Chasin’ Another Trane.”