Jazz Record Albums

How about Michael Mantler/Edvard Gorey - "The hapless child and other inscrutable stories" (ECM/WATT 1976). Avant jazz/prog or something like that.
Robert Wyatt on vocals, Steve Swallow on bass, Rypdal on guitar, Carla Bley on kbds, Jack DeJohnette on drums. Amazing. Fantastic.

Flip_Stone wrote: Some recommended jazz rock groups: Brand X Bruford Gong (Expresso period) Mahavishnu Orchestra Jean-Luc Ponty

 

Flip thanks for the recommendations. Please note, this thread is aimed at letting others on PA know of new releases and reissues by bands/artists in the jazz rock field, who may not be listed in the archives but should be heard. e.g.

Talking of Brand X, try: Tunnels' Progressivity

 

wrt Mahavishnu, try McLaughlin's The Promise with an all star line-up

or the excellent modern re-interpretators of MO's music Mahavaishnu Project (and both Jan Hammer and John McLaughlin approved):

 

for (the jazz rock) Gong, try Gongzilla (go to their website for the best album deals):

  

 

And my current favourite in the jazz rock area the Screaming Headless Torsos' compilation Choice Cuts:

Some recommended jazz rock groups:

Brand X

Bruford

Gong (Expresso period)

Mahavishnu Orchestra

Jean-Luc Ponty

 

FragileDT wrote: How about JOHN SCOFIELD. He has some incredible Jazz/ Funk fusion albums "Loud Jazz", "Blue Matter", "Up All Night", "A Go Go." One of my favorite artists and my favorite guitarist.

 

Very much agree, especially that period after his time with Miles Davis. Some nice work more recently with MMW on A GoGo, and I strongly recommend checking an album by one of leaders of the Norwegian nu.fusion movement Bugge Wesseltoft (with his New Conception of Jazz group). Scofield guests on a long track on Wesseltoft's Live album - and it seems Scofield has always played with the New Conceptions because of the way he intergrates..... Scofield crops up elsewhere - I liked his work the late 80's/early 90's Mike Gibbs' big band album. Recently found a copy of the John Scofield Trio Live EnRoute, which I'm spending some time trying to get into, perhaps because Scofield (like a lot of former jazz rockers) is trying out more mainstream jazz. Never got into the Metheny/Scofield I Can See You House album, which seems to support Allan Holdsworth's argument that on many a duo album, these superstars seem to inhibit each other, so the sparks fail to fly. Indeed to reflect the strength of his feelings here, you'll only find Holdsworth paired once with another guitarist and playing in real time - however, when you check out  Brother on the recently issued double by Jon Hiseman's Tempest, Olly Hassell and Holdsworth do push it other hard, the resulting friction making the sparks come.

How about JOHN SCOFIELD. He has some incredible Jazz/
Funnk fusion albums "Loud Jazz", "Blue Matter", "Up All Night", "A Go Go."
One of my favorite artists and my favorite guitarist.

Edited by FragileDT

Neil Ardley-Kaleidoscope of Rainbows

I have yet to hear any of Ardley's other albums, but man, this is one of the best albums I own.  British Jazz/Jazz-Rock at its finest!!!

BaldFriede wrote: Also check out the solo albums of Simon Phillips.

 

Have you heard S. Phillips (also Gary Husband) guesting on Ray Russell's new album Goodbye Svengali (Cuneiform Records) - great live track at the end of the album?

 

 

 

 

Norm Cash wrote: It's just dawned on me that a friend of mine just gave me a copy of an album by a band called Ides Of March, who he descibes as being very similar to early Chicago. I haven't had the chance to listen to it yet. Anyone heard of them?

 

Yep - had a hit in US in early 70's called Vehicle - i picked their first album up from a dumper bin  in Lancaster PA on my first US visit. Less jazz oriented than the early Chicago albums but still a decent bit of brass rock, apart from some dodgy covers (Eleanor Rigby????). Several bands jumped on the brass rock band wagon in the early 70's: Heaven a Welsh band, somewhat spoilt by a vocalist who made Chris Farlowe sound like a castrati (double LP available on a single CD nowadays), Satisfaction an English band who had been on the UK scene for a decade as Mike Cotton Trad Jazz Band (one LP on Decca, never released on CD). Apart from Chicago and BST, superior brass rockers worth tracking down include If (first  four albums - perhaps the most jazz-based of these brass rock groups), Chase (named after their leader and previously a jazz trumpeter in some big jazz bands). More recently (i.e. mid 90's) the Canadian band Glueleg have  come out with heavy brass rock, e.g. Heroic Doses, which contains a nice version of Red.

I'm a sucker for Pat Metheny stuff. One Quiet Night and As Falls Wichita So Falls Wichita Falls (with Lyle Mays) are probably top of my Pat list.

I can't let this post go, however, without mentioning George Benson's Breezin'. What an incredibly superb album. "This Masquerade" is one of my all time fave tracks of ANY genre! Benson is such an incredible guitar player, and its a shame that he's more "known" among the general public for his late '70's disco-type chart stuff like Gimme The Night. Pick up some early Benson, pour yourself a malt whisky, turn down the lights, listen and enjoy. 

Also check out the solo albums of Simon Phillips.