What vinyl are you listening to?

[Jim_W]

I didn't expect a reply!! Why is looking forward to better/easier times the worst of all?! The rest I can identify with; I'm sure that's just about the story of life in the UK in a pretty succint nutshell.

 

[Freddy58]

Why is looking forward to better/easier times the worst of all?!

Because you lose sight of what you have.

 

[Jim_W]

Why is looking forward to better/easier times the worst of all?!

Because you lose sight of what you have.

...thought that's what you meant. It's understandable/normal to look ahead I guess, but I never did as I'm a bit disorganised and it took me all my time to concentrate on the here and now. Like retiring...I had no idea I was old enough...I thought it was for older people...in my head I was still 25. It came as a big shock....and it often still is. I need a job!!

 

[BIGBERNARDBRESSLAW]

John Coltrane - Sun Ship

Finally picked it up today from my Dad. *dirol*

 

[thescarletpronster]

John Coltrane - Sun Ship

Finally picked it up today from my Dad.

And...? What did you think of it? It's an album I don't know, and I'm interested.

Finally got to listen to Kamasi Washington's The Epic all the way through, on the 3-LP boxed set I managed to get hold of last week. Really enjoyed the album, which is quite variable in style and, a little bit, in quality, but certainly an impressive achievement. I look forward to getting to know it better. And I have to say that I was impressed with the mastering and pressing of the vinyl. It sounded pretty good, especially considered there's about 30 minutes of audio on each side. A huge relief!

 

[BIGBERNARDBRESSLAW]

John Coltrane - Sun Ship

Finally picked it up today from my Dad.

And...? What did you think of it? It's an album I don't know, and I'm interested.

And I really like it, but having listened to the whole album online, I knew I would.

Jim would be able to tell you much more about it, but I would say it varies from very avantgarde, to relatively tuneul and melodic, though it never gets anything remotely like easy listening, the drummer makes sure of that.

I own 'Coltrane Jazz' and 'Blue Train', and it's a lot further 'out there' than those two.

 

[BIGBERNARDBRESSLAW]

I've been playing:

Jazz-Hip Trio - Jazz In Relief

Modern Jazz Quartet - Best Of (Atlantic Jazz Anthology)

Joe Harriott and John Mayer Double Quintet - Indo-Jazz Fusions

Laurie Anderson - Big Science (The more I listen to this, the better it gets)

 

[Charlie Jefferson]

Have You In My Wilderness - Julia Holter

Francoise Hardy Sings About Love

Glassworks - Phillip Glass

Earth Mother - Lesley Duncan

Z - MMJ

 

[thescarletpronster]

I would say it varies from very avantgarde, to relatively tuneul and melodic, though it never gets anything remotely like easy listening, the drummer makes sure of that.

I own 'Coltrane Jazz' and 'Blue Train', and it's a lot further 'out there' than those two.

Thanks. Sounds interesting. I have Blue Train and A Love Supreme on LP and the two Village Vanguard gigs on CD, and like them all. Would like to hear this one - I'll investigate.

Today:
Congo Natty – Jungle Revolution
Congo Natty – Jungle Revolution In Dub

Fabulous.

 

[Lost Angeles]

Why is looking forward to better/easier times the worst of all?!

Because you lose sight of what you have.

...thought that's what you meant. It's understandable/normal to look ahead I guess, but I never did as I'm a bit disorganised and it took me all my time to concentrate on the here and now. Like retiring...I had no idea I was old enough...I thought it was for older people...in my head I was still 25. It came as a big shock....and it often still is. I need a job!!

No you don't, works for the young. The warmer days are coming. What you need are perhaps a few interests. Remember the trouble with retirement is you never get a day off.*dance4*

 

[thescarletpronster]

Joanna Newsom – Divers
Sexwitch – Sexwitch
Anna von Hausswolff – The Miraculous

 

[Jim_W]

Why is looking forward to better/easier times the worst of all?!

Because you lose sight of what you have.

...thought that's what you meant. It's understandable/normal to look ahead I guess, but I never did as I'm a bit disorganised and it took me all my time to concentrate on the here and now. Like retiring...I had no idea I was old enough...I thought it was for older people...in my head I was still 25. It came as a big shock....and it often still is. I need a job!!

No you don't, works for the young. The warmer days are coming. What you need are perhaps a few interests. Remember the trouble with retirement is you never get a day off.*dance4*

This made me laugh, LA! You're right of course, the winter is a drag and the warmer days will be here soon and everything will start to look better. Good advice...ty.

 

[Lost Angeles]

Why is looking forward to better/easier times the worst of all?!

Because you lose sight of what you have.

...thought that's what you meant. It's understandable/normal to look ahead I guess, but I never did as I'm a bit disorganised and it took me all my time to concentrate on the here and now. Like retiring...I had no idea I was old enough...I thought it was for older people...in my head I was still 25. It came as a big shock....and it often still is. I need a job!!

No you don't, works for the young. The warmer days are coming. What you need are perhaps a few interests. Remember the trouble with retirement is you never get a day off.*dance4*

This made me laugh, LA! You're right of course, the winter is a drag and the warmer days will be here soon and everything will start to look better. Good advice...ty.

Cheers.

Played some Steely Dan. Voulez Vous

 

[Jim_W]

Just as Parker freed jazz from traditional harmonic and rhythmic norms, so Coltane was doing the same for melody and rhythm: a freer metre and rhythms that were implied rather than stated. BBB's comment re Elvin Jones' drums was probably one the reasons why Coltrane disbanded the great quartet after these sessions: he was seeking more rhythmic flexibility and maybe he felt those thunderous drums were not what he wanted. Alice Coltrane replaced McCoy Tyner on piano and her eerie chords also helped free him. This is jazz academy stuff and musical theory and it's pretty interesting but this isn't the place to go into it.

More important is why did Coltrane want a freer and perhaps more pure form of expression? The sixties was a time of massive change and all well-documented re the growth of spirituality, Eastern influences, black Civil Rights etc which, in itself, would form the basis of some very long essays. You could argue that everything, or many things, came together to facilitate musicians expressing themselves more directly, for example the honks and shrieks of the avant-garde mid 1960's black jazz musician were often interpreted as angry outpourings of a repressed minority and a cry for equality etc cf Archie Shepp, Albert Ayler and the great Pharoah Sanders. More importantly, it was their unique voice and I guess was designed to be alienating...that's part of their experience. However, Coltrane used the avant -garde and the freedom it gave him to express, in my opinion, his own inner battles and personal longing for spiritual enlightenment. So, like a poet wouldn't use rhyme which suggests an ordered and hamonious world, the saxophonists used broken, harsh and angular phrases to express troubled inner feelings and responses. Coltrane playing in this mode is often beautiful as there's a yearning quality which moves, through painful expression, towards harmonious resolution and enlightenment. 'Stellar Regions' is a good example.

For a brilliant insight into how Coltrane felt his quartet could not give him the flexibility he needed to express himself and how 'Sun Ship 'was just about as much as he could achieve with this band, listen to 'First Meditations' with the quartet and then 'Meditations' with Pharoah Sanders, Alice Coltrane and Rashied Ali. It all becomes very clear what he wanted. 'First Meditations' is just wonderful, but it isn't really 'out there' whereas 'Meditations' is more complex and difficult and certainly much freer.

You could write books on the cultural significance of the 60's and many people have done; these ramblings were just some pointers.

 

[BIGBERNARDBRESSLAW]

Just as Parker freed jazz from traditional harmonic and rhythmic norms, so Coltane was doing the same for melody and rhythm: a freer metre and rhythms that were implied rather than stated. BBB's comment re Elvin Jones' drums was probably one the reasons why Coltrane disbanded the great quartet after these sessions: he was seeking more rhythmic flexibility and maybe he felt those thunderous drums were not what he wanted. Alice Coltrane replaced McCoy Tyner on piano and her eerie chords also helped free him. This is jazz academy stuff and musical theory and it's pretty interesting but this isn't the place to go into it.

More important is why did Coltrane want a freer and perhaps more pure form of expression? The sixties was a time of massive change and all well-documented re the growth of spirituality, Eastern influences, black Civil Rights etc which, in itself, would form the basis of some very long essays. You could argue that everything, or many things, came together to facilitate musicians expressing themselves more directly, for example the honks and shrieks of the avant-garde mid 1960's black jazz musician were often interpreted as angry outpourings of a repressed minority and a cry for equality etc cf Archie Shepp, Albert Ayler and the great Pharoah Sanders. More importantly, it was their unique voice and I guess was designed to be alienating...that's part of their experience. However, Coltrane used the avant -garde and the freedom it gave him to express, in my opinion, his own inner battles and personal longing for spiritual enlightenment. So, like a poet wouldn't use rhyme which suggests an ordered and hamonious world, the saxophonists used broken, harsh and angular phrases to express troubled inner feelings and responses. Coltrane playing in this mode is often beautiful as there's a yearning quality which moves, through painful expression, towards harmonious resolution and enlightenment. 'Stellar Regions' is a good example.

For a brilliant insight into how Coltrane felt his quartet could not give him the flexibility he needed to express himself and how 'Sun Ship 'was just about as much as he could achieve with this band, listen to 'First Meditations' with the quartet and then 'Meditations' with Pharoah Sanders, Alice Coltrane and Rashied Ali. It all becomes very clear what he wanted. 'First Meditations' is just wonderful, but it isn't really 'out there' whereas 'Meditations' is more complex and difficult and certainly much freer.

You could write books on the cultural significance of the 60's and many people have done; these ramblings were just some pointers.

Thanks Jim, but I thought I'd covered all that in my post. *biggrin*

 

[Jim_W]

Just as Parker freed jazz from traditional harmonic and rhythmic norms, so Coltane was doing the same for melody and rhythm: a freer metre and rhythms that were implied rather than stated. BBB's comment re Elvin Jones' drums was probably one the reasons why Coltrane disbanded the great quartet after these sessions: he was seeking more rhythmic flexibility and maybe he felt those thunderous drums were not what he wanted. Alice Coltrane replaced McCoy Tyner on piano and her eerie chords also helped free him. This is jazz academy stuff and musical theory and it's pretty interesting but this isn't the place to go into it.

More important is why did Coltrane want a freer and perhaps more pure form of expression? The sixties was a time of massive change and all well-documented re the growth of spirituality, Eastern influences, black Civil Rights etc which, in itself, would form the basis of some very long essays. You could argue that everything, or many things, came together to facilitate musicians expressing themselves more directly, for example the honks and shrieks of the avant-garde mid 1960's black jazz musician were often interpreted as angry outpourings of a repressed minority and a cry for equality etc cf Archie Shepp, Albert Ayler and the great Pharoah Sanders. More importantly, it was their unique voice and I guess was designed to be alienating...that's part of their experience. However, Coltrane used the avant -garde and the freedom it gave him to express, in my opinion, his own inner battles and personal longing for spiritual enlightenment. So, like a poet wouldn't use rhyme which suggests an ordered and hamonious world, the saxophonists used broken, harsh and angular phrases to express troubled inner feelings and responses. Coltrane playing in this mode is often beautiful as there's a yearning quality which moves, through painful expression, towards harmonious resolution and enlightenment. 'Stellar Regions' is a good example.

For a brilliant insight into how Coltrane felt his quartet could not give him the flexibility he needed to express himself and how 'Sun Ship 'was just about as much as he could achieve with this band, listen to 'First Meditations' with the quartet and then 'Meditations' with Pharoah Sanders, Alice Coltrane and Rashied Ali. It all becomes very clear what he wanted. 'First Meditations' is just wonderful, but it isn't really 'out there' whereas 'Meditations' is more complex and difficult and certainly much freer.

You could write books on the cultural significance of the 60's and many people have done; these ramblings were just some pointers.

Thanks Jim, but I thought I'd covered all that in my post. *biggrin*

Yeah you did; I just had some time on my hands and expanded a couple of points. Really though, your original comments contained the essential stuff. I just like being pretentious. *biggrin*

 

[Freddy58]

Just as Parker freed jazz from traditional harmonic and rhythmic norms, so Coltane was doing the same for melody and rhythm: a freer metre and rhythms that were implied rather than stated. BBB's comment re Elvin Jones' drums was probably one the reasons why Coltrane disbanded the great quartet after these sessions: he was seeking more rhythmic flexibility and maybe he felt those thunderous drums were not what he wanted. Alice Coltrane replaced McCoy Tyner on piano and her eerie chords also helped free him. This is jazz academy stuff and musical theory and it's pretty interesting but this isn't the place to go into it.

More important is why did Coltrane want a freer and perhaps more pure form of expression? The sixties was a time of massive change and all well-documented re the growth of spirituality, Eastern influences, black Civil Rights etc which, in itself, would form the basis of some very long essays. You could argue that everything, or many things, came together to facilitate musicians expressing themselves more directly, for example the honks and shrieks of the avant-garde mid 1960's black jazz musician were often interpreted as angry outpourings of a repressed minority and a cry for equality etc cf Archie Shepp, Albert Ayler and the great Pharoah Sanders. More importantly, it was their unique voice and I guess was designed to be alienating...that's part of their experience. However, Coltrane used the avant -garde and the freedom it gave him to express, in my opinion, his own inner battles and personal longing for spiritual enlightenment. So, like a poet wouldn't use rhyme which suggests an ordered and hamonious world, the saxophonists used broken, harsh and angular phrases to express troubled inner feelings and responses. Coltrane playing in this mode is often beautiful as there's a yearning quality which moves, through painful expression, towards harmonious resolution and enlightenment. 'Stellar Regions' is a good example.

For a brilliant insight into how Coltrane felt his quartet could not give him the flexibility he needed to express himself and how 'Sun Ship 'was just about as much as he could achieve with this band, listen to 'First Meditations' with the quartet and then 'Meditations' with Pharoah Sanders, Alice Coltrane and Rashied Ali. It all becomes very clear what he wanted. 'First Meditations' is just wonderful, but it isn't really 'out there' whereas 'Meditations' is more complex and difficult and certainly much freer.

You could write books on the cultural significance of the 60's and many people have done; these ramblings were just some pointers.

That's easy for you to say *biggrin*

 

[BIGBERNARDBRESSLAW]

Thanks Jim, but I thought I'd covered all that in my post. *biggrin*

Yeah you did; I just had some time on my hands and expanded a couple of points. Really though, your original comments contained the essential stuff. I just like being pretentious. *biggrin*

Not at all, and to be serious for a second. I like to educate about music, and I like being educated about music, and whenever you write about music it's usually an education for me.

 

[Jim_W]

Thanks Jim, but I thought I'd covered all that in my post. *biggrin*

Yeah you did; I just had some time on my hands and expanded a couple of points. Really though, your original comments contained the essential stuff. I just like being pretentious. *biggrin*

Not at all, and to be serious for a second. I like to educate about music, and I like being educated about music, and whenever you write about music it's usually an education for me.

You're too kind, BBB...I'm just so wrapped up in music it's silly really. If you sort of liked 'Sun Ship' though I really do recommend 'First Meditations' ; it's like 'Sun Ship' with much better tunes. Just much more engaging. One of my very favourite records to be honest.

 

[BIGBERNARDBRESSLAW]

You're too kind, BBB...I'm just so wrapped up in music it's silly really. If you sort of liked 'Sun Ship' though I really do recommend 'First Meditations' ; it's like 'Sun Ship' with much better tunes. Just much more engaging. One of my very favourite records to be honest.

I more than 'sort of liked' it, Jim, I really liked it, and particularly the madness of the opening track. I know I've expressed before about not liking frantic saxophone, but there's something about Coltrane's (occasional) frantic playing that sets it apart from the rest, and I like it.

'First Meditations' will be added to my enormous list of albums I'd like to own.

Incidentally, have you heard, and do you like the the Laurie Anderson album 'Big Science'?

 

[Jim_W]

You're too kind, BBB...I'm just so wrapped up in music it's silly really. If you sort of liked 'Sun Ship' though I really do recommend 'First Meditations' ; it's like 'Sun Ship' with much better tunes. Just much more engaging. One of my very favourite records to be honest.

I more than 'sort of liked' it, Jim, I really liked it, and particularly the madness of the opening track. I know I've expressed before about not liking frantic saxophone, but there's something about Coltrane's (occasional) frantic playing that sets it apart from the rest, and I like it.

'First Meditations' will be added to my enormous list of albums I'd like to own.

Incidentally, have you heard, and do you like the the Laurie Anderson album 'Big Science'?

Yes, I had a girlfriend who played it constantly! I thought it was a good record and used to enjoy it. No idea what I'd make of it now though. If I see it on my travels tomorrow and it's cheap I'll get hold of a copy. It will remind me of a very interesting affair! Now I could really write some stuff about that for your entertainment!

Coltrane's playing IS different because he's always going somewhere...it's a quest through music and as a listener, I think you sense this. This is not random wild slashing, but wild slashing with an almighty purpose! Youtube 'Love' from 'First Meditations'...listen as he tries to get somewhere...wonderful stuff.

 

[BIGBERNARDBRESSLAW]

Yes, I had a girlfriend who played it constantly! I thought it was a good record and used to enjoy it. No idea what I'd make of it now though. If I see it on my travels tomorrow and it's cheap I'll get hold of a copy.

I think when I played it the other day, it was the third time, and it all made sense. My wife hated it, though.

It will remind me of a very interesting affair! Now I could really write some stuff about that for your entertainment!

You could, and you will.....................please? *biggrin*

Coltrane's playing IS different because he's always going somewhere...it's a quest through music and as a listener, I think you sense this. This is not random wild slashing, but wild slashing with an almighty purpose! Youtube 'Love' from 'First Meditations'...listen as he tries to get somewhere...wonderful stuff.

I will, but I have to go out in a minute. Off to the auction to see more records, get excited, only to be hugely disappointed tomorrow when the bidding ends.

 

[thescarletpronster]

Decided to give the Totem trilogy a listen today:
Master Musicians of Bukkake – Totem One
Master Musicians of Bukkake – Totem Two
Master Musicians of Bukkake – Totem Three

Then:
The Abyssinians – Forward On To Zion
Hüsker Dü – Candy Apple Grey
La Düsseldorf – La Düsseldorf

 

[Lost Angeles]

 

[BIGBERNARDBRESSLAW]

Off to the auction to see more records, get excited, only to be hugely disappointed tomorrow when the bidding ends.

Well I went, and I saw a woman, who more than likely knew nothing about records, with a big notepad, writing down every title, and checking the condition of every record, so everyone, and his wife wants to get in on the record selling fad, so as I thought, there's little chance of winning anything.

I will go though, as there were some good records (Black Sabbath/Masters Of Reality/Paranoid 1st pressings), even if there's little chance of me winning them. The condition of most of the records wasn't great, and we all know the difference in value of a mint record and a VG one, so I'm hoping to push the prices up to beyond their collectiove values, so these fly-by-night buyers lose money on them, and sod off and leave the records to people who love them for what they are, not what money they can make out of selling them.