Sharing The Wealth
I get so much out of the blogosphere, its time to give back a little.

Miles Davis: It's About That Time, live at the Festival de Juans Pins 1969

I'm not a big bootleg fan normally, and the sound quality on this recording shows why. However, the music far outshines the recording quality in this instance. What makes this performance so special is that it captures one of Miles' best bands in a real 'getting-to-know-each-other-phase'. 1969 was a big year for Miles Davis. Just the previous year he had come out with what would be the last album of one of his most famous groups. That group, comprised of Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, Tony Williams, and Wayne Shorter, has proved to be one of Miles' most influential groups, and helped him move away from his standard-laden hard-bop days to his more forward-thinking, avante-garde era. This group came out with such classic albums as E.S.P., Miles Smiles, and Filles De Kilimanjaro. What became increasingly rare during this time however was to hear Miles group interact on songs from the Great American Songbook, something that Miles and his bands had spent so many years cutting their teeth on. And with a new band that would the same year start recording Bitches Brew, Miles' movement into a whole new direction of music, it would be hard to think of them playing around on some standards. But that is exactly what they do on this recording. Miles, Wayne Shorter (the only holdover from the previous group), Chick Corea (on rhodes), Dave Holland and Jack DeJohnette get to know each other on such Davis regulars as "Milestones", "Footprints", and even "Round Midnight". Mixed in with these standards include songs that would appear on future albums such as "Miles Runs the Voodoo Down" and "Directions". But hearing this modern group play on Milestones and Footprints especially is quite a treat. The band is like one giant, breathing, living organism. The way they interact is almost telepathic. The rhythm section responds to every nuance of the horn players, moving one second from bright swing to slow, open vamps to completely free sections, and they always land right back on their feet at the same time in the same place and sounding as good as they started. Clearly these aren't the standards like you heard them on Relaxin' or Round About Midnight. Corea and Holland in particular take things in a very free direction, and when the rhythm section is left alone, as during the keyboard solos, they depart to a completely different planet. But the beauty of it is that it all works perfectly. Every member of the band shines on this record, and Miles seemed to be particularly inspired on this date; this is some of the best playing I have of his. This is transitional jazz at its best, a true stepping-stone between two wildly different eras of jazz documented in one live performance. Do not pass this up.

Highlights:

Jack DeJohnette's opening drum solo on "Directions"
How the band picks up on Miles' intro to "Miles Runs The Voodoo Down", and all land perfectly on the downbeat together.
Miles' solo on "Milestones": the band interaction is unbelievable, and this is one of the best Miles solos I have ever heard.
Listen to Chick Corea take the band to a entirely different world during his solo on "Footprints".

Live Shows 3:

Tony Malaby's Exploding Heart: Jazz Gallery - June 9th 2007

I was "fortunate" enough to catch a very unique group at the Jazz Gallery this June. Tony Malaby, one of today's most sought after contemporary saxophonists, was leading his group at the gallery. His band of choice, from a subjective standpoint, seemed extraordinary. Nasheet Waits (drums) is one of the more sought after drummers on the scene right now, both with mainstream players like Fred Hersch, Mark Turner, Antonio Hart as well as cutting-edge modern players Jason Moran, Ralph Alessi and Hamiet Bluiett. William Parker (bass) has garnered an amount of respect as an avante-garde player that few seem to approach these days, and has been a serious sideman for over 20 years with the likes of Cecil Taylor, Peter Brotzmann, Roscoe Mitchell, and Matthew Shipp. The meeting of these three players promised good results, and although they have been playing together for a while and are even releasing an album, their chemistry on stage this particular night was bewildering. Granted, these players reside on a completely different plane than us 'mortals' in the audience; but then again they are supposed to be entertaining us, am I wrong? I'll give these players the benefit of the doubt and assume that their level of expertise and intuition just superseded my comprehension. But, as a listener, there was little that my mind could latch onto. Malaby seemed to be playing to himself in one corner, while Waits played to himself in the other. Parker, meanwhile, struggled between the two; trying to find a happy medium but ultimately finding himself lost in the mix. While Malaby and Waits demonstrated technical abilities few others could muscle, they failed to demonstrate (at least to the audience) any sort of traditional sense of musical cooperation. And Parker, while living up to his reputation as a true individual, refused to hold any sort of traditional bass-player roll, and thus further cluttered an already confusing soundscape. The band played two songs, both exceeding 30 minutes in length, yet I found little direction in either piece, and although music was being read, the fact that I knew the players were conforming to any sort of arrangement made me even more disappointed as a listener. There is modern jazz, there is contemporary jazz, there is avante garde jazz, there is free jazz and then there is Tony Malaby's Exploding Heart. I have to admit, I haven't reached that last point of musicality.

2/10

Live Shows 2:

Scott Herren: APT, June 5th 2007, 1 set

Stumbling upon Scott Herren (aka Prefuse 73) spinning at New York's APT was a nice surprise. Herren is known today as one of the best electronic artists around. Although he is most known for his electro-hip-hop outfit as Prefuse 73, he also dons various other monikers for his wide array of side projects and collaborations. Among his other projects include albums under the names Piano Overlord (pure electronic experimentation), Delarosa and Asora (frenetic techno), and Savath and Savalas (brazilian electronic music). But on June 5th at APT, Herren was working as Prefuse 73, and spun his own brand of hip hop. Whereas his own albums tend to be a mix of his own electronic music spun around with hip hop beats and sometimes guest MCs on top, his live set made it a lot easier to see his influences in the genre. He began spinning some random records and slowly moved into remixing some acapellas including one great MF Doom remix. When the set began he seemed to be moving out of what the previous DJ had been spinning, but by the end of his set had transformed the music into his original style. Herren's live set displayed his skills of developing his own sound even when just spinning records, and added another side to an already multi-faceted artist.

7/10

Chris Cheek

In continuing to talk about some underrated artists, I couldn't pass up Chris Cheek. Probably my favorite jazz player on the scene right now, I'm constantly amazed at how few people have heard him or even heard of him. Cheek has managed to keep pretty good company over the last 15 years while he's been on the scene, and recently he's been noticed by even bigger artists. The first time I heard Cheek was as a sideman in Paul Motian's Electric Bebop Band. On the album "Reincarnation of a Lovebird", Cheek plays alongside Chris Potter, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Wolfgang Muthspiel, Steve Swallow and the veteran drummer. Of the young members of the band, Rosenwinkel and especially Potter went on to build up their repuations to become two of the most in demand and highly regarded players on the scene, while Cheek remained a relatively obscure player. But that is changing. In the last 5 years Cheek has been extremely busy. While recording as a leader, he has remained in Paul Motians band (ironically the only member to still be in it from the previously mentioned album) and also played as a sideman with Charlie Haden, Ethan Iverson, Ben Street, Guillermo Klein, David Berkman, Joshua Redman, Matt Penman and most recently Bill Frisell. Cheek sports one of the most individual sounds I've heard in a long time, and his melodic playing seems to come more from his own sense of originality then any school of playing. Able to play in the tradition as well as anyone else (exemplified in his early playing in the Electric Bebop Band), Cheek usually flaunts his own contemporary style. His compositional skills almost overshadow his playing. His album "Vine" from 2000 is made completely up of his own compositions, and they show that Cheek is one of the most original writers around. Not that it hurt to have a backing band of Brad Mehldau (on rhodes and piano), Kurt Rosenwinkel, Matt Penman, and Jorge Rossy on the record, but it is clear that the band was incredibly inspired by Cheek's writing, as it is some of the best playing by all of them on record. One song, "Granada" was later played by the Brad Mehldau Trio on their album "Day Is Done", which is quite a humbling gesture to Cheek. His most recent album "Blues Cruise" is made up of half his own compositions and half obscure standards. His selection of covers shows his well-roundedness as a listener, choosing two very obscure songs by Duke Ellington and Henry Mancini, as well as the old rhythm and blues classic "Flamingo", originally made famous by Earl Bostic. One unique aspect of Cheek is his tendency to utilize all four major voices of saxophones on his albums. I recently saw him live with Guillermo Klein's Los Guachos, where he was playing baritone, tenor and soprano saxes. And on "Blues Cruise" he utilizes Alto, Tenor and Soprano. His tone on each is impeccable. Most recently he has been playing and recording with the experimental group "Rudder", a sort of pop-rock-fusion-funk collective comprised of some of the best young studio, pop, electric and jazz musicians around. In this group he makes use of a large group of effects to make his horn sound like just another keyboard, guitar or synthesizer. I encourage those of you who haven't heard Cheek to seriously check out his playing. In the meantime enjoy these selections:

The Ice Fall - From "Vine" (2000), with Brad Mehldau, rhodes; Kurt Rosenwinkel, guitar; Matt Penman, bass; Jorge Rossy, drums

Lazy Afternoon (live) - From "Lazy Afternoon" (2002), with Ethan Iverson, piano; Ben Street, bass; Jorge Rossy, drums

Lopez - From "Rudder" (2007), with Tim Lefebvre, bass; Henry Hey, keyboards; Keith Carlock, drums

And this video of Cheek playing with Jakob Bro (now also in Paul Motian's band) and Rune Borup, "Chinatown"