I'm going back to the start
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John Coltrane - Coltrane "Live" At The Village Vanguard
A good live album has the power to affect you in a different way than a studio record, it makes you wish you were there as it all happened and this one is a fine example of that. I can only imagine what a shock this must have been in 1961, it will be one of my first excursions when I invent a time machine. Anyway, even without being in the audience, it all seems to make sense, something that doesn’t apply to most of his albums for me, especially the more challenging ones – and make no mistake, despite being recorded in 1961, this is one of his boldest artistic statements. Here every part leads to the next in a natural and effortless manner, as if it’s the only possible outcome of what came before and in the end it all fits together to form something bigger. I can’t tell you what exactly, but it probably doesn’t matter, it’s all about the journey, not the destination. Up there with his very best work.
7/10.
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Bob Dylan
Charles Mingus
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Max Roach - It's Time
It should be clear by now how much I like Max Roach and this has always been one of my favourites. Actually, at some point in the past I would have unshakably insisted that this is better than - the widely acknowledged as his magnum opus - "We Insist! Max Roach's Freedom Now Suite". Nowadays, I'm not as adamant, but I still think that they are pretty close. This comes with plenty moments of magic, but it has to be said that not every experiment works, which is understandable if you take into account the approach this album adopts. This is the epitome of maximalism, Max Roach's bold and forceful drumming, the massive vocals by the choir, Clifford Jordan's frenetic saxophone, all of them equally demand your attention, you are being attacked on all fronts. Everything here is so emphatically epic, I almost feel like watching an Indiana Jones movie (The Temple Of The Doom would probably fit with the overall atmosphere of the album). When it comes to picking a highlight, even though it's a tough task, I would have to go with the opening, self-titled track.
7.5/10.
Edit: Forgot to add that this is a badass album cover as well.
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Bob Dylan
Charles Mingus
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The first album is copy-paste from the "You must listen to the album below you." thread - doing this for archival purposes.
(For some reason the small pictures that I tend to prefer couldn't load properly so I guess I'll stop being a caveman and use the large artwork as everyone else instead)
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Sister Rosetta Tharpe - Gospel Train
You are right, that’s an essential artist that simply can’t be ignored. I’ve heard of her multiple times in the past, I could even recognise a couple of her biggest songs, but I don’t think I’ve ever listened to an entire album by her before. The one thing that’s immediately striking is that, despite being primarily dedicated to gospel, her blues foundation is so powerful - and obviously extremely influential as well - and at the same time her songs come with shiny poppy wrapping paper. She takes the best elements of different worlds and combines them in an effortless yet passionate manner. As a result, it’s easy to vibe with her no matter where you’re standing in terms of music taste. 7/10.
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Bill Evans & Jim Hall
Bill Evans has been one of the most frequent guests here, but when he comes up with albums like that, it’s definitely worth it. When I initially saw the credits, I had zero expectations. Guitar, piano and nothing else, it seemed destined to fail - based on my perspective, this lineup could be the dream for someone else. It turns out this was a match made in heaven, what a pleasant surprise. You could say that piano offers class while guitar provides emotion, but it’s more than that, there’s so much to discover here. Everyone knows what Bill Evans is capable of, but there's something to be said about Jim Hall as well, he is one of the finest guitar players I’ve encountered so far in this diary – maybe not on the same level as Django, but it’s pretty close. Last but not least, not to forget the album cover, it's truly mesmerizing .
7/10.
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Shelly Manne / Bill Evans - Empathy
To be fair, maybe I shouldn’t have listened to it immediately after the above, but it is what it is and the comparison was inevitable – and painfully unfavourable. But then again, I don’t think this could hold its own when matched against any record by the Bill Evans Trio. I don’t mean to sound too harsh, but I could hardly find anything here to keep me engaged, the spark was simply gone.
5.5/10.
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John Coltrane Quartet - Coltrane
Speaking of frequent guests, here’s another one. He has many of them, but I do think that every album of his gets me one step closer to comprehending at least a small part of his endless artistic genius. I don’t think I had ever made so much tangible progress with him prior to this diary. One could say that “Out Of This World” finally doesn’t seem so Out of this world, lol. Disclaimer: this is a 1962 release, not to be confused with another album with the same title that came out in 1957. The Inch Worm is probably my favourite thing here, his saxophone is on fire, every time you think that’s it he keeps attacking even harder, he’s relentless - I mean, he always is, yet this stood out. A weird complaint for me to make, but I had the impression that there wasn’t enough Coltrane, the rest of the band gets too much time, I don’t care about them, with all due respect.
6.5/10.
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Bob Dylan
Charles Mingus
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Wes Montgomery - Full House
Maybe it's the live setting, maybe it's the presence of Wynton Kelly, Paul Chambers and Jimmy Cobb - notorious members of Miles Davis' band - but this was significantly more accessible compared to other albums by Wes Montgomery that I've listened. That being said, I suspect the primary reason is that it isn't focused entirely on guitar, rather it is based on the interaction between him and Johnny Griffin's saxophone - the latter comes close to stealing the show quite a few times, but it's all good in the end. The opening track is a clear highlight.
7/10.
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Hank Mobley - Workout
This shares a handful of similarities with the above. Namely, it makes for another interesting combination of guitar and saxophone, plus it features three Miles Davis companions - this time it's Wynton Kelly, Paul Chambers and Philly Joe Jones. Lots of catchy tunes to be found here, if straightforward hard bop is your thing, do yourself a favour and check this out as soon as possible. On the other hand, my main problem with this is - as it was to be expected - that it too drums-heavy, Philly Joe Jones always makes his presence felt through his unmistakable bombastic style. I can easily see why someone else would love it, but it's not for me.
6.5/10.
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Booker Little - Booker Little And Friend
When I realised that this doesn’t exist in BEA’s database, I found it puzzling to say the least. But then again, this seems to be viewed as a poor man’s version of his 1961 album, Out Front, so you could argue it's not that big of a surprise. If I were forced to pick only one, I would also go with Out Front, but this undoubtedly deserves to be mentioned in the same sentence, it is just as good. Don’t let Eric Dolphy’s absence fool you, Booker Little’s trumpet works wonders and is more than enough to carry this record to greatness.
7.5/10.
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Carmen McRae - Lover Man And Other Billie Holiday Classics
More or less what the album title says, Carmen McRae's touching tribute to Billie Holiday. The covers balance nicely between respecting the original material and adding a touch of her personal style, I don't think you could ask for anything more.
6/10.
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Bob Dylan
Charles Mingus
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Roy Orbison - Crying
I guess you could view him as a male version of Etta James, i.e. monumentally talented individual that shines so very bright even when surrounded by mediocre songs and elevates them to unthinkable levels of greatness thanks to his wonderful voice, crystal clear yet emotionally fragile. We get to see some versatility as well, Dance introduces us a completely different side of him that seems to have come out of the blue compared to the first part of this record. I prefer his ballads by some distance, but it’s nice to see that he rocks better than most of his peers. The self-titled track is fabulous and my favourite here, though most bass aficionados will point to Lana – and for good reason - as the highlight of the album.
8/10.
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Amália Rodrigues - Amália Rodrigues (Busto)
(Discovered this thanks to Hayden’s chart, excellent rec as always).
Speaking of emotionally fragile, that’s as intense as it gets. You are a first-hand witness as her voice – and her heart – are breaking to pieces, it makes for a haunting, almost disturbing experience, it’s definitely not for the faint-hearted.
7.5/10.
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Roland Kirk - Domino
Even though I think he’s at his best when he plays the flute, the man can do pretty much anything, he knows no boundaries. He covers a lot of ground, exploring various ideas through a mix of original material and well known standards. Despite his uncompromising and experimental mentality– I mean, the man has been a major influence on Frank Zappa, that’s all you need to know - his sound is always easy on the ears and highly enjoyable, which is a basic ingredient of the recipe for success – for me at least, as it tends to happen with many of my favourite jazz artists, i.e. Mingus or Dolphy. Another remarkable feature of this album is that no track is longer than 5 minutes, yet there’s so much going on in each of them, you can never predict what turn it will take next, the epitome of density and conciseness.
7.5/10.
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Big Bill Broonzy - Big Bill Broonzy Sings Folk Songs
This has to be classified as an essential listening, he is a legendary figure whose contribution to blues compares to that of few artists. I have to say I’m not familiar enough with the rest of his discography, so I can’t tell you if there’s an even more fundamental record, but this seems like a good entry point. On the other hand, I guess it’s always tricky with pre-classic album era artists. Anyway, he is – as expected - singing the blues in the old school way, only his guitar accompanies him. He doesn’t need anything more, he is a veteran that knows exactly where he stands and as a result his personality comes through, a sense of confidence and assuredness – but by no means arrogance – dominates the album, he seems like a nice guy if one had the chance to hang around with him.
6.5/10.
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Jacques Brel - Les Bourgeois
My main problem with Jacques Brel – see page 7, post 69 – is that I struggle to take him seriously. This album sidesteps the aforementioned issue, as many of the songs come with a carefree and humorous attitude (Madeleine / Bruxelles / Le Caporal Casse-pompon being some typical examples), almost circus-like if you will (at least based on the music and his delivery, no idea what’s going on lyrics-wise), so if I ever adopt a go-to album of his, it’s likely to be this one.
7/10.
Some unusually high scores today. Is it one of those days that I overrate everything or were the albums really that great? Hard to tell right now, hopefully it's the latter, a future revisit will clear things up.
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Bob Dylan
Charles Mingus
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| Mercury wrote: | | Holy shit! Orbison getting an 8 is like when Fantano gives an album a 10! I’ll go listen to that album and more broadly Orbison. Never heard that album or really shamefully almost any Orbison in my life. |
Ha, I admit I have a thing for one-man/one woman show albums and I tend to give them a relatively high score, a performance for the ages makes me overlook that the songwriting is slightly below par.
Regarding Roy Orbison, I'd say Crying and In Dreams are the best entry points to his discography, hope you'll enjoy!
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Bob Dylan
Charles Mingus
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Johnny Horton - Honky-Tonk Man
A tragic and way too premature loss (sadly, the '60s have many of them), but at least he left his mark despite the limited time he had at his disposal. I've always found country a rather inaccesible - or far from my taste if you will - genre, so the first side of this and its poppier ballad-ish take on it is surprisingly pleasant. On the other hand, the songs of the second side lean more towards old school country and that's exactly where I start losing my interest. The opening, self-titled track is easily the biggest hit here, his first single that made the charts in 1956 and put him on the map for good.
6.5/10.
(Copy-paste from the "You must listen to the album below you." thread for archival purposes.)
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The Coasters - The Coasters
This album is so much fun, everyone here is having such a great time. Its cohesiveness is impressive if you consider how it was put together. Hadn’t you told me about the two parts (Robins and Coasters), I doubt I would have noticed, as it effortlessly keeps the same mood throughout its entirety. Even the songs that would normally qualify as “filler” have an infectious groovy energy that makes them highly enjoyable. This attitude reflects on the lyrics as well, they never take themselves too seriously, they are like a group of friends telling anecdotes and jokes. Lots of highlights to choose from, but I’d have to go with One Kiss Led To Another, it is simply hilarious.
7/10.
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Bob Dylan
Charles Mingus
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The Tokyo Blues - Horace Silver Quintet
Based on the album title, I have to admit I expected something different. There’s definitely some “blues” to be found here, but I fail to see how it’s “Tokyo”. After conducting a minor research, it seems that at some point he was on tour In Japan and when he returned to the US, this journey and his interaction with Japanese music proved to be the inspiration for this album. I guess it kinda makes sense, but still don’t hear any Eastern influence.
6/10.
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Ravi Shankar - Improvisations
The above failed in the exotic department, so I resorted to this and it turned out right. I – and I guess most of you - had our first exposure to sitar through the Beatles, so it’s nice having the chance to dig a bit deeper and there’s hardly a better place to start than Ravi Shankar. It instantly creates an atmosphere one could call Eastern. It’s hypnotic, enigmatic, ritualistic, spiritual even, not to mention it masterfully employs the power of repetition.
6.5/10.
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Sun Ra - The Futuristic Sounds Of Sun Ra
Another case of a misleading title, I’d say this has just as much - if not more - in common with something like ancient Egypt as it has with the future. Especially if you are acquainted with his more unconventional and forward-thinking records, I can see why this would be a slight let-down. That being said, I had no such problem and found it easy to appreciate it for what it is. A bouncy, full of life, occasionally challenging (The Beginning would a good example of that) but always enjoyable album. Also, maybe it’s just me, but there were a couple of tracks - surprisingly enough, it was the more straightforward ones - whose overall mood somewhat reminded me of Mingus, if I had to name an album they would fit in effortlessly, probably Pithecanthropus Erectus, which – as you can imagine – is a big plus in my book. I think I've already mentioned that while commenting on another album, but for me percussion-centered jazz is usually a no-no when it comes to hard bop, yet totally fine when it comes to other forms of jazz, so no problem with that in this case as well. And of course listening to it right after the above album makes for quite a combo.
7.5/10.
_________________
Bob Dylan
Charles Mingus
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Mercury
