Thanks for the submissions everyone. The 29th will be the last day to submit a top 10 for consideration on the Genre Olympics.
Also I know popularity/sales is not something any music purist considers a worthy scale, but I just read this and was surprised. I suppose all those highest selling/most number one stats typically come from billboard which wasn't around yet.
From wikipedia: In just four years Glenn Miller scored 23 number-one hits - more than Elvis Presley (18 No. 1s, 38 top 10s) and the Beatles (20 No. 1s, 33 top 10s) did in their careers.
I gotta find me a copy of that one. I have Seize the Rainbow and absolutely love it. I hear this one may be even better.
Seize the Rainbow's more rock-oriented (especially "Dick Dogs"!). Bill Laswell and Sharrock co-produced Ask the Ages (Seize the Rainbow too) and their goal obviously was to put Sharrock in an all-star modern jazz context -- Pharoah Sanders is on tenor and Elvin Jones on drums. Pharoah sounds uncannily like Trane a lot of the time.
RoundTheBendI miss the comfort in being sadProfile Ground Control
I got about halfway through this record today. It's quite the lively record! I look forward to the rest of it/getting to know his earlier work better. Thanks!
FischmanRockMonster, JazzMeister, Bluesboy,ClassicalMasterProfile Land of Enchantment
I gotta find me a copy of that one. I have Seize the Rainbow and absolutely love it. I hear this one may be even better.
Seize the Rainbow's more rock-oriented (especially "Dick Dogs"!). Bill Laswell and Sharrock co-produced Ask the Ages (Seize the Rainbow too) and their goal obviously was to put Sharrock in an all-star modern jazz context -- Pharoah Sanders is on tenor and Elvin Jones on drums. Pharoah sounds uncannily like Trane a lot of the time.
That sounds like a great recommendation. I'd love to hear Sonny in a more jazzy setting as well as the rock oriented session. Can't complain about Pharoah being in the lineup, and I love Elvin Jones. This sounds more promising than ever. Thanks for the additional info.
RoundTheBendI miss the comfort in being sadProfile Ground Control
To keep the discussion going, here's a personal top 20 fusion (not necessarily for scoring since it's not my overall jazz top 10). For diversity, I'll limit to one entry per artist. I'll keep the discussion to one liners for brevity sake; that and I hope to start an actual jazz diary when I stop traveling so much.
1. Spectrum - Billy Cobham
See my description on page one of this thread.
2. Birds of Fire - Mahavishnu Orchestra
This was the fusion record that got me to put down my metal albums for a while in the early '80s, long before I encountered real jazz.
3. Jack Johnson - Miles Davis
So if you say my post on page one, you know I have 'In a Silent Way' near the top of my overall jazz list, so why the change here? While In a Silent Way is Miles and it is Fusion, this is the one I think of first when I think fusion. Miles said he would take jazz artists and create the greatest rock band of all time, and this album has him true to his word.
4. Universal Syncopations - Miroslav Vitous
This is my first fairly obscure entry here, especially if you aren't European, but this one is well worth a listen, not only for its musicianship, but also its incredible composition.
5. Splendido Hotel - Al DiMeola
This has Al straddling his fusion period and pointing to his world music period, so it fuses more than just jazz and rock, and he pulls it off perfectly.
6. Sunbirst - Eddie Henderson
It's a shame this very exciting trumpeter has faded into obscurity. This album rocks!
7. Gateway - John Abercrombe
Another compositional marvel backed up by incredible musicianship. I prefer this even to his more highly acclaimed "Timeless."
8. Sextant - Herbie Hancock
Herbie fuses the jazz more with the funk here, as well as avant garde (no mean feat) and this one was positively groundbreaking. More challenging, and more satisfying to me, than even his more popular "Head Hunters."
9. Emergency! - Tony Williams Lifetime
One of Jazz' great drummers/band leaders, Tony Williams could do anything from classic jazz to any manner of fusion, and this is his best effort.
10. 54 - John Scofield
Jazz fused with rock fused with classical! Imagine Jeff Beck at his jazziest doing Days of Future Passed.
11. Introducing the Eleventh House - Eleventh House
Eleventh House was short-lived but intense. Think Mahavishnu drifting further to the rock side of fusion.
12. Romantic Warrior - Return to Forever
It's impossible to not have this fusion supergroup's seminal album in any serious fusino collection
13. School Days - Stanley Clarke
Stanley Clark'es best of his consistently impressive fusion string.
14. Metal Fatigue - Allan Holdsworth
I doubt there has ever been a guitarist, or instrumentalist of any type, as original and consistently amazing, as Allan Holdsworth. I could have chosen from any of a half dozen of his albums as the must inclusion for this list, but Metal Fatigue is simply my personal favorite.
15. Duster - Gary Burton
This 1967 album predates even Miles' fusion! And it's no mere precursor; it's as fully realized and mature in the genre as it is groundbreaking.
16. Jaco Pastorius - Jaco Pastorius
The best release, either solo or in group, by the undisputed master of fretless electric bass.
17. Electric Guitarist - John McLaughlin
John lights it up with some real edge on this one.
18. Spaces - Larry Coryell
Another guitar wizard, Coryell captivates throughout on this one, compositionally and insturmentally
19. Heavy Weather - Weather Report
One of the seminal works of the genre. Not my favorite sound, but the composition is strong enough to compensate.
10. Mind Transplant - Alphonse Mouzon
Another groovy, funky jazz drummer. If you like Billy Cobham at #1, you'll probably like this as well.
I was too tired to write up anything on the list entries so yeah thanks for that additional context PH, because that album is really something. Though I do love the stuff with Linda Sharrock's vocals and I probably would've gone with Black Woman if it was in the other ballots, but this one is full of amazing performances all given the space to shine, so even though I do have my preferences for more jagged sounding abrasive type of things, this experience still hits me hard.
And it helps that I had the jagged and abrasive side covered with Izipho Zam.
Also PH hell yes Illusions! And I'm glad you dug Oleo, I feel very compelled to spread the word on that one. I checked out Just the Facts and Pass the Bucket, I've been listening to those Mingus albums that he was too sick to play on and so I was seeing some connections in compositional mindset, though of course that influence was just one factor and there's a lot going on, I'm looking forward to spending more time with this one. Also I forgot to note but Fisch I would very strongly agree with that description of the Handy, that seems like the way to put it.
Oh also I left this one off my ballot because the way the guitars are used on this album makes a good chunk of it basically post rock as far as I'm concerned, and also it didn't have a chance in voting, but here is one from this decade that is very special to me
Joshua Abrams plays the Guimbri, a bass lute from the Gnawa people, around Morocco. The instrument has a pretty incredible tone, and the first track is primarily that instrument and Hamid Drake doing amazing work with the frame drum while the lightest guitar rings out, finding a hypnotic repetition with long enough phrases to avoid being uninteresting about it. The first half of the album is sort of similar, but then the 2nd half has the guitars much more present in the sound and it's really amazing, but it's the quieter and longer stuff that makes this one special to me, though it does start to get back there as the end approaches. If you're into jazz only for the reeds then you might have a bad time here but otherwise I would very highly recommend it.
RoundTheBendI miss the comfort in being sadProfile Ground Control
Alright everyone. I don't think I screwed up the final calculations, but please feel free to correct me if I did (I think I omitted names in the voting at times... it's harder than you might imagine... I need to build my spreadsheet smarter next time).
Here are the top 10 finalists for the Jazz Genre Olympics. Next steps are for anyone and everyone to rank the following albums (even if you didn't submit during the original qualifications to rank the following albums. See OP on how the point system works (#1 weighted with 10 points and #10 with 1 point). Unless we get more voters, this might all stay the same and the Gold will go to A Love Supreme, Silver to The Black Saint and The Sinner Lady, & Bronze to In A Silent Way. Many of you have given commentary on why you love the albums you do, so if you haven't maybe vote why? Enjoy!
1. 59 points as voted by Tap/PurpleHazel/NormanBates/Kool Keith Sweat/Mercury/Fischman/Rocky
A Love Supreme by John Coltrane
Runner's Up:
Album Points User/s
Bitches Brew by Miles Davis 14 points as voted by Rhyner, Rocky
Time Out by The Dave Brubeck Quartet 13 points as voted by Rhyner, Rocky, Seth
Thelonious Monk - Underground 10 Hayden
The Shape Of Jazz To Come by Ornette Coleman 10 Rocky, Norman
Let My Children Hear Music by Charles Mingus 10 Tap
Wes Montgomery with the Wynton Kelly Trio – Smokin’ at the Half Note 9 Fischman
Nina Simone - Sings The Blues 9 Hayden
Willisau (Quartet) 1991 by Anthony Braxton 9 Kool Keith Sweat
Brilliant Corners by Thelonious Monk 9 Rhyner
Monk's Music by Thelonious Monk 9 Mercury/PurpleHazel
Blue Train by John Coltrane 9 Rocky
Escalator Over The Hill - Carla Bley 9 AfterHours, PurpleHazel
The Wildest! by Louis Prima 9 Seth
Song For My Father by Horace Silver Quintet 9
Lee Morgan – The Sidewinder 8 Fischman
Gato Barbieri - In Search Of The Mystery 8 Hayden
In Berlin '88 by Cecil Taylor 8 Kool Keith Sweat
Unit Structures - Cecil Taylor 8 AfterHours
Miles Smiles by Miles Davis 8 PurpleHazel
The Legendary Okeh And Epic Recordings by Ahmad Jamal 8
Scratching The Seventies / Dreams by Steve Lacy 7 Kool Keith Sweat
Journey In Satchidananda by Alice Coltrane 7 Mercury
Ascension - John Coltrane 7 AfterHours
We Insist! Max Roach's Freedom Now Suite by Max Roach 7 Norman
The Essence Of Billie Holiday by Billie Holiday 7 Seth
The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montg...Montgomery 7 PurpleHazel
Science Fiction by Ornette Coleman 7 Tap
Out To Lunch! by Eric Dolphy 7
Sun Ra - Lanquidity 6 Hayden
Six Of One by Evan Parker 6 Kool Keith Sweat
Blow By Blow by Jeff Beck 6 Mercury
Spiritual Unity by Albert Ayler 6 Norman
Glenn Miller The Popular Recordings, 1938-1942 6 Seth
Speak No Evil by Wayne Shorter 6 PurpleHazel
Izipho Zam by Pharoah Sanders 6 Tap
The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra, Volu... by Sun Ra 6
Kenny Burrell – Midnight Blue 5 Fischman
Solo Works - The Lumina Recordings 1980...Rothenberg 5 Kool Keith Sweat
The Jazz Composer's Orchestra - Michael Mantler 5 AfterHours
Attica Blues by Archie Shepp 5 Norman
Jazz Giant by Bud Powell 5 Tap
I Talk With The Spirits by Roland Kirk 5
Billy Cobham – Spectrum 4 Fischman
Max Roach - It's Time 4 Hayden
Homage To Charles Parker by George Lewis 4 Kool Keith Sweat
Head Hunters by Herbie Hancock 4 Mercury
Giant Steps by John Coltrane 4 Rocky
Seeds, Visions & Counterpoint - Ivo Perelman 4 AfterHours
Somethin' Else by Cannonball Adderley 4 Norman
Saxophone Colossus by Sonny Rollins 4 Seth
Looking (Berlin Version) The Feel Trio by Cecil Taylor 4 Tap
Workout by Hank Mobley 4
Freddie Hubbard – Red Clay 3 Fischman
Buddy Rich - Blues Caravan 3 Hayden
Angles Of Repose by Joe Maneri / Barre ...Mat Maneri 3 Kool Keith Sweat
Return To Forever by Chick Corea & ...to Forever 3 Mercury
Even the Sounds Shine - Myra Melford 3 AfterHours
Ask The Ages by Sonny Sharrock 3 Tap
Man From Two Worlds by Chico Hamilton 3
Joe Henderson – Power to the People 2 Fischman
Charles Gayle - Repent 2 Hayden
Iskra 1903 by Iskra 1903 2 Kool Keith Sweat
Birth Of The Cool by Miles Davis 2 Rhyner
Variations in Dream-time - Anthony Davis 2 AfterHours
Harmony Of Difference by Kamasi Washington 2 Seth
Just The Facts And Pass The Bucket by H...ll Sextett 2 PurpleHazel
Oleo by Joe McPhee Po Music 2 Tap
Christian ATunde Adjuah by Christian Scott 2 Chief
Donald Byrd – Black Byrd 1 Fischman
Ryo Fukui - Scenery 1 Hayden
You're Dead! by Flying Lotus 1 Mercury
Pithecanthropus Erectus by Charles Mingus 1 Rhyner
The Survivor’s Suite – Keith Jarrett 1 AfterHours
Sketches Of Spain by Miles Davis 1 Norman
Dinah Jams by Dinah Washington 1 Seth
Evolution by Grachan Moncur III 1 PurpleHazel
Illusions by Arthur Blythe 1 Tap
The Amazing Bud Powell by Bud Powell 1 Chief
Last edited by RoundTheBend on 04/30/2018 04:29; edited 6 times in total
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum
Norman Bates
Fischman
RoundTheBend
Tap
