Get To Know A Top 10: January 2022 Thread - Jameth

[Fischman]

Ninki-Nanka - Les Dragons

Completely new to me.... and totally enjoyable.
Pretty thrilled with this at the moment, but that could be the joy of new discovery. More listens required to better decide my long term assessment, but I look forward to it.

1. King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King
2. Ninki-Nanka - Les Dragons
3. Shahen-Shah - Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan

[indieshins]

Well, this is going to be a lot of discovery for me, I've only heard the King Crimson and the Mingus album before. Both excellent, although I still have to properly assimilate Black Saint and the Sinner Lady.
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Top 40 Greatest Music Albums by indieshins

[indieshins]

The last thing I expected listening to the Can record is to find the source of a Kanye sample... one of the worst songs of his too. Kind of took me out of the music for a second!
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[baystateoftheart]

I've now re-listened to Drums Of Passion and Gris-Gris, and my opinions are basically unchanged.

Drums Of Passion is a historically significant album in introducing African music to America. While it's deserving of its sales, that distinction is largely about being in the right place at the right time, with a recording that was in the sweet spot of "exotic" and accessible for American audiences in 1960. Fun fact: every musician on this album except Olatunji was born and raised in the US. The percussion is very strong as you might hope, and so are the vocals. But in my opinion, any album with only percussion instruments (or only brass, only strings, etc.) faces some limitations in just how interesting and dynamic the music can be. A fun and worthwhile listen, but not a personal favorite. 3.5/5.

Gris-Gris, on the other hand, is a personal favorite. On his debut, Dr. John does an outstanding job of exemplifying the weird and wonderful cultural milieu that is New Orleans and its music while adding his own distinctive twists. Gris-Gris is a set of druggy, occult New Orleans r&b songs that pulls heavily from both Cajun and Creole roots. The record has a diverse array of instruments, outstanding background vocals, and standout bookend tracks. My only critique is that toward the middle, it can get a bit aimlessly spacey, but that's more of a quibble. While I haven't listened to enough of the genre to speak with any authority, this feels like a landmark record, and I really need to explore his discography more. 4/5.
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[baystateoftheart]

PSA: I just corrected the date on Drums Of Passion from the '59 recording date to the '60 release date, and because that's a change of decade it lost about half of its points. Luckily the spotlight is on it now with this thread, so it's a good time for people to update decade and year charts to restore its rank.
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[Fischman]

Charles Mingus - The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady

Been meaning to give this one a fresh listen for my jazz diary over on the diaries page. Well, hitting this list got me to do that. This is what I came up with:

This was admittedly an album it took me a few cracks to really get. This is surprising not just because I usually catch things the first time around as a general rule, but more so because I found myself nicely in tune with other Mingus classics like Ah Um right from the get go. But this eluded me for a while. Here is an artist I both enjoy and respect, and here is his most acclaimed album (or very close to it), and I'm just not getting the same level of "wow" out of it.

Now when I don't really dig an album, I'll generally bail. Life is too short to force feed myself things I'm not enjoying.

This is the one exception. Something told me to stick with this one, although I can't say exactly what that something was. But I listened and then it clicked. That was a few years ago and I've been nothing less than thrilled with this album ever since. I hear something new in it with every spin. In this latest listen, I just fully sank into how vividly impressionistic it is. Both exotic and seedy at the same time, and utterly captivating in this combination.

I might still put this at around 3rd among my Mingus faves, but a fave it is and I only expect that appreciation to continue growing.

So after all that, as much as I love KC, they're gonna' slide into second place behind this one.

1. Charles Mingus - The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady
2. King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King
3. Ninki-Nanka - Les Dragons
4. Shahen-Shah - Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan

[Fischman]

Can - Ege Bamyasi

I find Can intriguing in all their styles. I always feel like I’ve heard it all before, but never in this particular way. Ege is a fine example. To be honest, it’s not something I reach for often, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have large appreciation for it.

1. Charles Mingus - The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady
2. King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King
3. Ninki-Nanka - Les Dragons
4. Can - Ege Bamyasi
5. Shahen-Shah - Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan

[Fischman]

Dr. John - Gris-Gris

Gris-Gris has grit. I do love New Orleans jazz, but I'm not quite as keen on this particular style of creole gumbo. Interesting, intriguing... and sometimes kind of a mess. Sometimes that's endearing, sometimes not. Good album, but not gonna' sit high on the list in this crowd.

1. Charles Mingus - The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady
2. King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King
3. Ninki-Nanka - Les Dragons
4. Can - Ege Bamyasi
5. Dr. John - Gris-Gris
6. Shahen-Shah - Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan

[Fischman]

Ali Farka Touré - The River
Another great joy of discovery moment for me here.
Love that guitar work! And what a cool fusion it takes on. Yeah, this is good.

1. Charles Mingus - The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady
2. King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King
3. Ali Farka Touré - The River
4. Ninki-Nanka - Les Dragons
5. Can - Ege Bamyasi
6. Dr. John - Gris-Gris
7. Shahen-Shah - Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan

[Fischman]

Olatunji - Drums of Passion
Whether this is an inherently excellent album or was just the right mix to get my then sheltered ears into a new musical realm, I did take to this album upon first listen and still enjoy it today.


1. Charles Mingus - The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady
2. King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King
3. Ali Farka Touré - The River
4. Ninki-Nanka - Les Dragons
5. Can - Ege Bamyasi
6. Olatunji - Drums of Passion
7. Dr. John - Gris-Gris
8. Shahen-Shah - Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan