emersonj at gmail dot com
|
The
Best Music This list is a spinoff of
my
48 Favorite Albums page. Most of what's on that page is
pretty well known, but the things on this page -- mostly
classified as "free jazz" or "avant-garde" --
aren't. This music descends from jazz-rock a little, but mostly
from John Coltrane, Ornette Coleman, Charlie Mingus, Dolphy,
Miles Davis, Sun Ra and ultimately Thelonius Monk. It comes from
New York, San Francisco, Chicago, and (the sleepers) Japan and
Norway. To me it captures the hopefulness, excitement,
dreaminess, and energy of the late Sixties and early Seventies, a
time which we then thought was a beginning rather than a
culmination. Many of these musicians continued on playing, often
in difficult circumstances or in Europe, but at a certain point
musical tastes went in a different, basically worse direction,
and many of these records are now hard to find. At the end of the list I threw in Tarika
and Zap Mama, from Madagascar and Belgium/the Congo respectively.
These two groups aren't free jazz, but they definitely deserve a
mention. I'm not a completist or even a collector at
all. What's here is just what I happened to have heard and liked,
so it's no use asking why I included one record or musician
rather than another. (Likewise for my suggested sources to buy
from; if they help you, great!) Send your own ideas: emersonj@easystreet.com. So now all I have to do is
write the actual reviews. For the moment, suffice it to say that
this is all great stuff.
Marion Brown Discography
Afternoon of a
Georgia Faun
With Anthony Braxton and Chick Corea. *Sweet Earth Flying
/ Eleven Light City MARION BROWN, alto saxophone; MUHAL RICHARD
ABRAHMS, PAUL BLEY, JAMES JEFFERSON, STEVE McCALL, BILL HASSON.
Recorded May 6-7, 1974. hard to find *Geechee
Recollections
MARION BROWN, LEO SMITH, ; BILL HASSON, JAMES JEFFERSON, STEVE
McCALL, ; A. KOBENA ADZENYAH, WILLIAM MALONE, JUMMA SANTOS;
lyrics from Jean Toomer. June 4 and 5, 1973.
hard to find
In 1971 Cherry collaborated
with the Polish avant-gardist
Krysztof
Penderecki in something called
"Actions" (more). I haven't heard it though.
Brown Rice
With various Scandinavian musicians:
Buy
Eternal Rhythm
With Sonny Sharrock and various European
musicians:
Buy used -- hard to
find *Eternal Now (Re-released as
Sonet Recordings). Hard to find.
Afric Pepperbird 1970
Buy
Places With Jack DeJohnette
Buy
Larry Young Discography
(more)
Lawrence of Newark With Pharoah Sanders, James Blood Ulmer, 1973:
buy Unity has also been recommended,
but I haven't heard it. (Can be bought at the same link). Young
played on one fantastic track on Hendrix's "Nine to the
Universe".
*Ask the Ages With Pharoah Sanders and Elvin Jones,
1994. *Highlife 1989
James Blood Ulmer
discography
*After Dark
With David Murray and the
Music Revelation
Ensemble, 1991.
*Live at the Sweet
Basil Part II (David Murray Big Band)
Hard to find: released
by Black Saint, Italy.
The Odyssey of Funk
Genuine Tong
Funeral
With Gary Burton and Gato Barbieri, 1967.
buy
Dreams so Real
With Gary Burton.
LatinoAmerica With various Argentinian
and Brazilian Artists); originally released as
Chapter One.
buy
Tarika discography
(more)
.
|