various artists - The New Wave In Jazz

I swear to God, I didn't die in a ditch over New Year's.

I actually went to the in laws in Central California, where I had a pretty rad time with my recently mobile and speechifying niece. But I forgot to bring my laptop, which meant a month without any blogging. Sorry, gang.

I may come back later to flesh this one out. I don't have much in mind right this second, so stay tuned for the postscript. It's ridiculous that this one hasn't been reissued for 30 years, and that the Ayler cut that appeared on the original LP isn't present on this 1994 GRP/Impulse! CD. Still, it's a killer early document of the burgeoning free jazz scene in NYC, one that drew pretty polarized reviews back in the day.

Either you get it, or you don't.

Discogs

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various artists - Jazz Underground: Live At Smalls

I don't typically pick up modern Impulse! releases, I'm just more interested in their own 60s and 70s heyday. There's even a bunch of ABC Impulse! product that I really dig. But by the time GRP resurrected it as a label releasing contemporary records, that's when you can mostly count me out. I'm not trying to see the classic orange and black livery sullied with some early 90s smooth jazz. Even throughout the massive reissue program that started around '94, I can't think of any modern classics interspersed amongst the likes of Coltrane, Ayler, Mingus, Sanders, and Rollins. Which, you know...that's cool by me. They can't all worth the deluxe 220gram treatment.

Saying that, I did pick this 5" silver slab up a few weeks ago, after I'd seen it, orphaned, on a thrift store shelf over three visits. It ended up being a pretty cool find, featuring a sextet of bands performing live at the appropriately-named Smalls Jazz Club in New York City right at the turn of the millenium. The only one of these groups I was familiar with going into it was the Jason Lindner Big Band, whose "Hexophony" is the standout for me. But all nine tracks are pretty great, honoring their roots without sounding derivative. All in all, I'm pretty happy with the buck it cost me.

Discogs

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McCoy Tyner / Pharoah Sanders / David Murray / Cecil McBee / Roy Haynes – A Tribute To John Coltrane / Blues For Coltrane

I mean, shit, if I'm going to talk about Trane for a minute, how about another deep cut tribute featuring a pair of his sidemen.

This one came on out Impulse! back in the late 80s, featuring pianist McCoy Tyner and saxophonist Pharoah Sanders playing three Coltrane compositions, along with a Tyner track, a Billy Eckstein song, and one by David Murray that I typically skip over.

That's your call, homey.

Yet another one that I think is worthy of reissue; Pharoah pretty much wails on this. Great to hear him play "Naima" alongside Tyner. I think it gets missed because it came out in that weird "MCA/Impulse!" period when the catalog was probably not being paid close attention to, and just as a new generation of freaks was starting to discover the likes of Sun Ra and Archie Shepp.

Anyway, dig on it.

Discogs

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