Thinning the herd: 2017 - Music - Forums : Best Ever Albums

RoundTheBend
I miss the comfort in being sad

Location: Ground Control

rkm wrote:

sethmadsen wrote:

Musical DNA:
I think I said it earlier... something like:
Swing/Jazz (not a fan of free jazz)
Classical (mostly Baroque to Early Romantic)
Alternative Rock (ala 80s/90s) - children of hippies
Actual Hippies or the sort - of the late 60s/early 70s
Hip-hop/Rap - I can't really dial in which kind... it's pretty random
"Good?" Folk/singer songwriter

Themes: Humanity & Philosophy - basically things that are emotionally and intellectually pleasing/honest/real (not challenging for the sake of being challenging)

Do you like any contemporary jazz, say from the 90's onwards?

I realize this is ignorant of me to say, but when I hear the term contemporary Jazz, I think Kenny G, and then I slightly vomit in my mouth.

But if you were to refer to me anything you think someone who likes what I'll call catchy Jazz... the early beginnings of soul, etc, I'd probably like it. Like the closest think I could think of is Norah Jones (and I'm likely way off) and I don't know I'd really say I love her music. I would probably keep it on a mix/radio type thing and wouldn't skip it, but I wouldn't purposely go out of my way to choose to listen. There was a Polish user who turned me on to some stuff that I thought was cool, but then just never listened to it again (I guess for me it wasn't that cool). And to be honest it probably has more to do with my lack of experience with it than anything else.

rkm

sethmadsen wrote:

rkm wrote:

sethmadsen wrote:

Musical DNA:
I think I said it earlier... something like:
Swing/Jazz (not a fan of free jazz)
Classical (mostly Baroque to Early Romantic)
Alternative Rock (ala 80s/90s) - children of hippies
Actual Hippies or the sort - of the late 60s/early 70s
Hip-hop/Rap - I can't really dial in which kind... it's pretty random
"Good?" Folk/singer songwriter

Themes: Humanity & Philosophy - basically things that are emotionally and intellectually pleasing/honest/real (not challenging for the sake of being challenging)

Do you like any contemporary jazz, say from the 90's onwards?

I realize this is ignorant of me to say, but when I hear the term contemporary Jazz, I think Kenny G, and then I slightly vomit in my mouth.

But if you were to refer to me anything you think someone who likes what I'll call catchy Jazz... the early beginnings of soul, etc, I'd probably like it. Like the closest think I could think of is Norah Jones (and I'm likely way off) and I don't know I'd really say I love her music. I would probably keep it on a mix/radio type thing and wouldn't skip it, but I wouldn't purposely go out of my way to choose to listen. There was a Polish user who turned me on to some stuff that I thought was cool, but then just never listened to it again (I guess for me it wasn't that cool). And to be honest it probably has more to do with my lack of experience with it than anything else.

I probably have a certain bias, but when it comes to jazz from the last 30 years or so, my main interest lies not with vocalists, sax or trumpet players, but with guitarists. For sax and trumpet centred jazz I'd probably listen to stuff from the 50's and 60's, but to a certain degree guitar players were second class citizens in that era of jazz (not that there weren't great players). Contemporary jazz guitar players are informed by a rock aesthetic and are inclusive of other kinds of music.

If you like soul/jazz and accessibility, you could check out this record:

A Go Go by John Scofield

My favourite guitarist is Bill Frisell. He's made a lot of interesting music, and I'm not sure where to point you first. He's mostly quite lyrical in his playing (although can be quite dissonant), and is somewhat of a colourist (creating soundscapes via looping and delays etc.) this one is quite noir-ish and weird like a David Lynch film.

Blues Dream by Bill Frisell

This doesn't swing at all, but Wayne Krantz is an incredible improviser. I often think that some music is emotional, some intellectual, and some is physical. This music I think of as being all three equally. Recorded with a single stereo mic at Bar 55 in New York.

2 Drink Minimum by Wayne Krantz

Three very different guitarist. I hope one of them is a gateway drug to other jazz for you.

Last edited by rkm on 12/08/2017 22:27; edited 2 times in total

rkm

These are the jazz albums from 2017 I'm sorting through on my list. Anyone else found any jazz albums this year that they'd like to recommend?

This guy played guitar on Esperanza Spalding's album last year

Preverbal by Matthew Stevens

Hudson by Jack Dejohnette / Larry Grena...n Scofield

John Abercrombie sadly passed away this year

Up And Coming by John Abercrombie Quartet

A Rift In Decorum: Live At The Village ...Akinmusire

I Am A Man by Ron Miles

Body And Shadow by Brian Blade & Th...wship Band

Open Book by Fred Hersch

Unfold by The Necks

Truth, Liberty & Soul: Live In NYC:... Pastorius

Kool Keith Sweat

rkm wrote:

These are the jazz albums from 2017 I'm sorting through on my list. Anyone else found any jazz albums this year that they'd like to recommend?

I'll refer to this post and my chart. Been trying to push some of these albums on y'all all damn year. Vandermark has two albums coming out next week that are guaranteed to be good. Still tons I need to listen to.

rkm

Kool Keith Sweat wrote:

I'll refer to this post and my chart. Been trying to push some of these albums on y'all all damn year. Vandermark has two albums coming out next week that are guaranteed to be good. Still tons I need to listen to.

Thanks. There's a lot of artists I haven't heard of there. Much to explore.

I had intended on checking these out but had forgotten them:

The Ecstatic Music Of Alice Coltrane Tu...e Coltrane

Far From Over by Vijay Iyer Sextet

AwaitingAndrew

Gender: Male

I usually try to limit to a top 20-25 for websites, and I'll make an "official" top 10 collage plus some honorable mentions post on social media - the same applies to films, but that list won't come until later. I think I finally have my album list down! I don't think 2017's music offerings were as strong as 2016 but still a solid year. Can't recommend my top 5 enough.

I don't have any sort of genre limits to my list, it's just a top-to-bottom favorite albums list. There's nothing I'm inherently opposed to - I believe I listened to a bit of everything this year - but it's pretty clear from my 2017 list and beyond that I love alternative and indie music.

bobbyb5

Gender: Male
Location: New York

it seems too early try to try to thin the herd for 2017. I'm really bad at trying to thin the Herd. I haven't even been able to thin the herd from the seventies or eighties yet. Every time I try, it just never seems to get much thinner. Whenever I remove something, I usually feel bad about it and put it back. I feel like I made a mistake. And then I just lower the bar for what qualifies. Until it's just like. "Well, its really not a great album, but it does have 1 or 2 tracks that I really love, so I'm going to keep it in". And that is just silly.

rkm

bobbyb5 wrote:

it seems too early try to try to thin the herd for 2017. I'm really bad at trying to thin the Herd. I haven't even been able to thin the herd from the seventies or eighties yet. Every time I try, it just never seems to get much thinner. Whenever I remove something, I usually feel bad about it and put it back. I feel like I made a mistake. And then I just lower the bar for what qualifies. Until it's just like. "Well, its really not a great album, but it does have 1 or 2 tracks that I really love, so I'm going to keep it in". And that is just silly.

When there's only a few tracks I like, I start asking myself if there's a greatest hits album that would serve me better (but I mostly don't like greatest hits albums).

bobbyb5

Gender: Male
Location: New York

rkm wrote:

When there's only a few tracks I like, I start asking myself if there's a greatest hits album that would serve me better (but I mostly don't like greatest hits albums).

I think you're right. That would probably be the smart thing for me to do. But then there's still the problem of having some kind of sentimental attachment to the album which doesn't really reflect the actual quality of the album. Ha ha

RoundTheBend
I miss the comfort in being sad

Location: Ground Control

There's only so much time in life.

I don't think slowing down and wondering what's worth my time is a bad thing.