this isn't a thread in which one's cool is to be lost, daddy-o

I don't know that I can think of another album, in any genre, that is met with such universal fondness by such a wide array of listeners. Seems like even those Scrooges that spend the whole Christmas season griping about how all the retail stores have switched over to holiday music and how all of it is crass and commercial and overplayed and blah blah blah still can't help but crack a smile when "Linus and Lucy" or "Skating" comes on. An essential album.

anyone else a fan of the storyville series? really enjoying these:

thats all great stuff...some good stuff to from Art Pepper and Art Tatum

Vale.



Billboard: Jazz Guitarist Jim Hall Dead at 83

Sad to read about Jim Hall. I get excited every time I get into one of these old school jazz dudes who's still alive, getting dreams of hearing them live one day, but alas. Gotta get to see Sonny Rollins while I still can.

Beautiful, eloquent tribute to Hall:
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/c ... -hall.html

This was great, thanks Kevin.

What are everyone's favorite Coltrane records that aren't A Love Supreme or Giant Steps? I've been listening to both a lot this week and I'm looking to expand, but his catalog's kind of intimidating.

His catalog is huge, especially for the number of years he was active. It just so happened that he managed to consistently fall in with record labels that essentially gave his producers carte blanche to record him whenever he felt the urge, which at the height of his productivity was, like, every few weeks. That said, he evolved rapidly and every recording does seem to document a legitimate, if sometimes marginal, growth in his playing. But most impressive is how often those impromptu studio dates, many of which were released posthumously and which biographies suggest Coltrane may have viewed as just glorified practice sessions for his quartet, stand right up to and are often indecipherable from those albums crafted with more deliberation. So yeah, huge catalog, but a great one to have in front of you. I have been listening to Coltrane for about ten years now, have probably amassed 30 recordings, and still feel like I have more to excavate. Some personal recommendations:

Coltrane's performance of "My Favorite Things" is positively essential, and arguably the most important song he played during his career, original or otherwise. However, I favor this live album (culled from his 1963 and 1965 performances at the Newport Jazz Festival, and featuring two versions of the title tune) to the studio album from a few years earlier, and despite its sort of chop-shop, bargain-bin compilation style, I would recommend it as top-shelf Coltrane to anyone looking to acquire even a small number of his recordings. The version of "My Favorite Things" from '63 is, for my money, his best recorded performance on soprano. 1963 was one of those crossroad years for him where every soloing approach he ever took, every style he ever dabbled in, stood face to face to face with one another, and the result is this super high-energy, nonstop cat-and-mouse game between tender, almost pop-like lyricism and violent, atonal abstractions. It's pretty much everything that was ever awesome about John Coltrane on one CD for under $12.

If you like his softer side, don't miss his "Ballads" album. Thirty minutes of pure beauty.

Over the years "Crescent" has come to be regarded almost as highly as "A Love Supreme," and it's not without due cause--it's a wonderful record that displays Coltrane's quartet at the peak of their communicative powers. It's slightly less ethereal than "A Love Supreme," but slightly less abrasive in places too.

Lastly, if you feel like braving his 1965-and-beyond forays into the great unknown, "Ascension" is an absolute monster of a record. It's not the sort of thing I listen to often, but when the mood strikes me for it, it's cathartic like no other music I have ever heard. Probably the only album that has actually made me feel like I literally had a weight on my body while listening to it--in a good way, of course.

That's barely the tip of the iceberg but it's something to go on. For the most part it's all good.

Thanks a million, KD. I think I'll hold off on Ascension for now (the freer stuff seems a little out of my league at this point), but I plan on working my way through the rest of these pretty quick. Excited to get some more Coltrane in my life.

No problem. Looking forward to the report back.

Bump for your recs

I've been listening to that two-track Fire! Orchestra album from last year a lot, it's wonderful and chaotic. Right now though I'm in the mood for something sparse and placid, kind of like Chet Baker's "Embraceable You" album, or even modern standards albums like Stacey Kent's "Dreamsville". Doesn't have to be vocal. Anybody?

I dont know if this up your alley or not

Actually, that's pretty nice, Doug. Beautiful version of "In the Wee Small Hours".

Kind of along the lines of my post above, I'm jonesing for a nice little album of instrumental duets-- like maybe a full album of just tenor sax and contrabass, explorations of the harmonic spectrum, you know, that kind of thing.

Try this..great stuff..does have occasional organ and drums on some tracks..couldnt find the whole album though

I can't tell you how many nights I've spent at the restaurant listening to The Dave Brubeck Quartet with a glass of scotch while counting the night's petty cash and balancing it with the daily spreadsheet.

Jorge's mood may have passed, but there's no wrong time to listen to this beaut:

it's that time, bros