@Norman Bates - Which non-jazz artists or bands do you think are closest to jazz in spirit (note spirit, not sound), and why?
@lethal: after long and pointless pondering (long and pointless because I was trying to get a hang of what the jazz 'spirit' could be), my answer would be : The Last Poets.
Equally indebted to blues (see their chants), but totally inventing its own idiom, The Poets' spoken words has that same mixture of traditional feel (African percussions in the case of the poets) and avant-garde boldness the best jazz albums have. While not jazz in any immediately conceivable way, the Poets' fighting spirit and focus on African heritage (those drums again) are politically totally in key with my fravourite free jazz LPs.
I don't know why I don't listen to more, because I love this album. _________________ I'm leaning on the threshold
Of her mystery
And crashing through the walls
Of dying history
@Romanelli - Of all the artists you can think of who have significantly and undeniably changed their sound and their musical direction at some point, who did so most successfully to your mind?
To me, these types of changes don't usually work out for the better (Genesis, Elvis, Rod Stewart, Boz Scaggs, to name a few). And a lot of times, changes tend to be temporary (Neil Young, Billy Joel) or not enough to say that they really change the overall style or sound. And sometimes a band will be around long enough to have the change be natural with the changing of the times, like The Beatles and The Stones.
To me, there are really two artists who stick out as the answer to this. Bob Dylan is perhaps the best example. He went from being a completely solo coffeehouse folk singer to being able to front a rock band in a very short time, with huge success, and despite outcry from both fans and critics. Which has always been, to me, one of the more impressive things about his career.
The other would be Wilco. The original Wilco was pretty much Uncle Tupelo without Jay Farrar, and their first album, in particular, sounds like an extension of the former band. They began moving away from alt country on Being There, and by the time of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, their sound had evolved almost completely away from alt-country into a much more experimental and rock sound. With much success.
In both cases, to me, the transitions sound natural and like they were meant to happen...not forced or like idle experiments. _________________ I'm leaning on the threshold
Of her mystery
And crashing through the walls
Of dying history
HazeyTwilightboyfriend in your wet dreamsProfile Elmo Knows Where You Live
@SuedeSwede - Who's your favourite female vocalist?
So hard to choose one so I'll note a few:
Victoria Legrand of Beach House (most probably my favourite)
Jenn Ghetto of Carissa's Wierd
Bilinda Butcher of My Bloody Valentine
Elizabeth Fraser of Cocteau Twins
Joanna Newsom
@lethalnezzle - What's favourite publication about albums? (e.g. 1001 albums... or anything else)
Solely about albums? I'm not sure I've read one. I've read magazine lists, and Pitchfork, FACT, NME, Hip-Hop Connection, Q, Mojo, etc. have all been responsible for lists that have been pretty influential on my listening. As for books about popular music (excluding biographies obviously), I couldn't recommend Peter Guralnick's Sweet Soul Music (soul music), Lloyd Bradley's Bass Culture: When Reggae Was King, or Simon Reynolds' Rip It Up and Start Again (post-punk) and Energy Flash: A Journey Through Rave Music and Dance Culture highly enough. Hope that's a satisfactory answer.
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Norman Bates
SuedeSwede
Romanelli
HazeyTwilight
Antonio-Pedro
