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JOHN COLTRANE A Love Supreme Album Cover A Love Supreme
JOHN COLTRANE
4.84 | 102 ratings
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MILES DAVIS Kind of Blue Album Cover Kind of Blue
MILES DAVIS
4.82 | 137 ratings
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BILL EVANS (PIANO) Waltz for Debby Album Cover Waltz for Debby
BILL EVANS (PIANO)
4.93 | 16 ratings
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HERBIE HANCOCK V.S.O.P.:Tempest in the Colosseum Album Cover V.S.O.P.:Tempest in the Colosseum
HERBIE HANCOCK
4.96 | 10 ratings
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BILL EVANS (PIANO) Sunday at the Village Vanguard (aka Live At The Village Vanguard) Album Cover Sunday at the Village Vanguard (aka Live At The Village Vanguard)
BILL EVANS (PIANO)
4.88 | 17 ratings
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CHARLES MINGUS The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady Album Cover The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady
CHARLES MINGUS
4.77 | 76 ratings
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JOHN COLTRANE Live at Birdland Album Cover Live at Birdland
JOHN COLTRANE
4.82 | 18 ratings
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WES MONTGOMERY The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery Album Cover The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery
WES MONTGOMERY
4.85 | 13 ratings
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JOHN COLTRANE Blue Train Album Cover Blue Train
JOHN COLTRANE
4.74 | 69 ratings
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ESBJÖRN SVENSSON TRIO (E.S.T.) Live in Hamburg Album Cover Live in Hamburg
ESBJÖRN SVENSSON TRIO (E.S.T.)
4.94 | 8 ratings
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JOHN COLTRANE My Favorite Things Album Cover My Favorite Things
JOHN COLTRANE
4.73 | 59 ratings
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HORACE SILVER Horace Silver And The Jazz Messengers Album Cover Horace Silver And The Jazz Messengers
HORACE SILVER
4.88 | 9 ratings
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modern jazz Music Reviews

M-BASE COLLECTIVE Anatomy Of A Groove

Album · 1992 · Eclectic Fusion
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snobb
M-Base in musical sense was a development of Ornette Coleman Prime Time's ideas for early 90s. Not a band per se, M-Base Collective is a loose formation of Brooklyn based artists, led by alto saxophonists Steve Coleman and Greg Osby. Some other future well-known artists participate as well, partially guitarist David Gilmore and vocalist Cassandra Wilson.

Perfectly recorded(and surprisingly released in Japan only by domestic DIW label), "Anatomy of a Groove" represents M-Base music at its best. Groovy, funky, precisely played, creative but well-framed, it sounds fresh and unexpected, especially taking into account that 90s weren't most inspiring time for jazz. Comparing with Steve Coleman later and better known work, music here on" Anatomy of a Groove" is less mechanic, more playful (partially thanks to Cassandra Wilson wordless vocalize) and in general can be even tagged as "slick" and "stylish". Interplay between musicians is just amazing.

For sure, it still is a music for acquired taste. As some other genres, based on rhythmic structures domination and repetitive construction (as funk, or funk jazz), for some it can sound pointless or undirected. For genre fans, it's a true gem though.

JOHN COLTRANE Africa / Brass

Album · 1961 · Post Bop
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Mssr_Renard
Much has been written about this album.

An album that can easily be defined as a masterpiece. Coltrane has made different masterpieces, each different from the other.

This album is not a quartet album, but it features a 'big band', there are 21 musicians featured on this album, but not all at once. The core 'band' is Coltrane/Tyner/Workman/Jones, with Dolphy doing the arrangments.

Somewhere I read the whole album is in the key of 'E', making this an even more brilliant album, because it is worlds apart from anything Bop stands for.

This is an album wich so much happening that any time you play it, you discover something new. I think it is more a modern classical album than a straight jazz album.

I don't know if this album propelled Impulse! or later albums by Coltrane. I think that Nelson's Blues and the Abstract Truth was more succesfull, though, but I really don't know these things.

Back to Africa/Brass, a wonderful album with a lot of brass (horns), wonderful musicians, and everyone is really enjoying themselves and giving their best. You can really tell.

ART BLAKEY Art Blakey And The Jazz Messengers : Soul Finger

Album · 1965 · Soul Jazz
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Mssr_Renard
A curious album, as it features both Hubbard and Morgan on trumpet. One would expect a lot of fireworks, but instead it's a rather tame album. Does that make it a bad album? No, not in my opinion. This one was released by Limelight and not Blue Note, and because of that it is a rather obscure release. In that sense that I did not even know of its existence.

There are some pleasant suprises on this record like the soprano saxophone of Lucky Thompson on the third track, wich is a played as a quartet (Blakey, Hicks, Sproles and Thompson). It is also a composition by Thompson. So it's kind of at odds on this album, but nevertheless a wonderful song.

Other important things about this album is, that is the last one to feauture Lee Morgan and it is also Gary Bartz's recording debut.

There are a lot of releases after this record, but the recordings are of earlier dates. This album is more of a transitionairy album, where Blakey and the Jazz Messengers make kind of bland albums (at least, the ones I heard of), until the Marsalis-brothers joined the band. Then the fire is back.

Soul Finger sure is a record to search for, Hubbard and Morgan together on trumpet is just a treat. Just listen to the groovy Freedom Monday to get a taste.

ALEXA TARANTINO Clarity

Album · 2020 · Post Bop
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Mssr_Renard
A gifted musician, composer and multi-instrumentalist, Alexa delivers an almost old-school boppish album.

The album sounds gentle and warm. The rhythmsection knows how to swing and groove. And Alexa displays her ability to solo and improvise on a wide array of instruments like flute (1), alto flute (9), soprano saxophone (5) and on the other tracks the alto saxophone.

There's room enough for the members of the band to solo aswell. My guess is that if the song 'A Race Against Time' wich is terrific hardbop, can satisfy and convince you, the album as a whole is a treat.

The songs are upbeat and joyful. As far as I know she composed all the compositions herself. I have bought all three of her albums that are available at this moment, and this one really stands out and is my favourite of her.

The album could have done without the sweet faux-bossa of La Puerta, wich is a little too sweet and soft for my taste.

WHIT DICKEY Whit Dickey / Mat Maneri / Matthew Shipp : Vessel In Orbit

Album · 2017 · Avant-Garde Jazz
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snobb
New Millennium, partially the second decade, in creative jazz is very much a drummer's time. For long time drummers were known mostly as collaborators no leaders with few exemptions. During last decade or more we experienced a peak of drummers as leaders on a world jazz scenes(as rule - drummers-composers). Many of them are responsible for most interesting jazz coming from last two decades. Whit Dickey is one of them.

Seasoned New-York-based drummer Whit Dickey was better known as Matthew Shipp and David S. Ware bands member. In 1998 he started leader's career. "Vessel In Orbit" is his return to AUM Fidelity, the label, responsible for his debut as leader, and his first new band almost for a decade. Dickey trio with his old collaborator pianist Matthew and violist Mat Maneri plays complex music, demonstrating almost intuitive interplay between members.

The music is dark, free, not too loud and well organized. Compositions are credited to all trio members, still central album's part sounds more like improvisation. There are some chaos, and some beauty in album's music, and looking from six years(and some more excellent Dickey albums, released later)distance, one can see where Dickey's glorious period started. Very soon the drummer will concentrate on more composed music and will release several albums(with different small bands)which will push him on the forefront of todays creative jazz scene.

modern jazz movie reviews

WEATHER REPORT Live in Germany 1971

Movie · 2010 · Fusion
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Sean Trane
Well if the world still has to find some live recording from the very first studio all-star line-up (not likely, though), at least we've got now something very close to and we can even see the quintet at work with this just-as-famous version in the form of a German TV show called the Beat Club. With only Airto Moreira gone, replaced by Brazilian countryman Um Romao, the other four being Vitous, Shorter, Mouzon and Zawinul, Weather Report embarked on this TV show adventure not knowing that Alphonse Mouzon would leave the band in a while.

As you'd expect this broadcast consisted mainly of tracks from the debut album, but some are fairly different as WR always made improvisation their force. So you'll recognize 'Umbrellas generic structure, but drafted fairly differently, not just because of Romao's constant change of percussions instruments - he's one of the visual focus of the group, who otherwise remains fairly static and even blows a flute (and later some whistles) for a short while. One of the big difference between the studio album and this broadcast is that Miroslav has taken up the electric bass (his contrabass is still very present but mainly played with a bow), thus allowing even more energy to invade the quintet's shared space. The group's steaming-hot improvised fusion is simply awesome and flows naturally from your speakers like a river of fresh lave spewing out from your volcanic woofers.

Clearly the gravitational centre of the band is Zawinul's Rhodes, but it is clear that it is the group's tightness its main force. Morning Lake is much needed breathing space, starting out slowly with Shorter's sax signalling the dawn for Romao's birdsongs. Just past that Dom pulls an Brazilian berimbau . Drummer Alphonse sings funkilly (rather well, too) a rare sung track in the closing medley, but it's will veer into the Dr Honoris Causa - later on the Body Electric album.

A while later, Mouzon would leave the band and be replaced by drummer Erik Gravatt and this line-up would go on to record Body Electric and the Tokyo concert (released in 77, but part of it in the ISTBE album) and in the process become the definitive line-up of the Vitous- era Weather Report But for now, this German TV broadcast is an inestimable witness of the group's almost original line-up, and is just as essential as their debut album, the Tokyo concert or Body Electric.Too bad it's relatively short, though. Run for this baby...

MEDESKI MARTIN AND WOOD Fly In A Bottle

Movie · 2011 · Eclectic Fusion
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js
“Fly in a Bottle” is a documentary that follows Medeski, Martin and Wood while they are on tour developing the music that will become “Radiolarians”, as well as some of the recording sessions for that same album. The music on here is excellent, MM&W have a come a long way over the years. They were always a talented band from the start, but their confidence has grown. The funky tunes are funkier than ever, and the psychedelic jazz-rock tunes are more powerful, imaginative and original. Almost any music fan might enjoy watching their concerts and even some of their recording sessions, but a lot of the rest of this DVD is for hardcore fans only.

Along with the footage of MM&W playing music, you also get a lot of footage of them on tour visiting ecological tourist spots and talking, hanging out etc, which is where I think a lot of non-fans will probably start losing interest. They seem like nice sincere guys, but they aren’t particularly entertaining or charismatic, which is often the case with nice sincere guys. There are also some artsy short videos that follow the main feature, some more entertaining than others. Fans of MM&W may want to pick this up, it’s a well-made video and the music is excellent, but non-fans may find this lacking in substance in places.

DIXIE DREGS Live At The Montreaux Jazz Festival

Movie · 2005 · Fusion
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Slartibartfast
This was the Dixie Dregs lineup that I first come to know live and otherwise. The Montreaux Jazz Festival performance was used for side two of the LP Night of the Living Dregs. I had no idea the concert was filmed. This represents the band at their prime. Keyboardist Mark Parrish, would soon be replaced by T Lavitz, who is a better keyboard player, but this as this performance testifies, he was no slouch either. Oddly enough, the back cover of this DVD shows a band picture with the original keyboardist from Freefall, Steve Davidowski (guess there was only room for one Steve in this band). Steve Morse was at his most inspired around this time, even though he has certainly grown in skill over the years.

The set list is a little disappointing as it lacks some of the prime cuts from What If (Night Meets Light, Odyssey, Travel Tunes, What If), but I'm not complaining. Now I have something more than just memories of the many Dregs shows I saw back then. It is more of a forward looking set which includes Attila The Hun, that didn't show up on an album until three years later. Also of note, but of less interest to progressive rock fans, is the bluegrass style ditty, Kathreen, never released on a regular album, but only showed up on their demo album, The Great Spectacular, from 1975. If you have a copy of that album, you have something rare, indeed.

Thrown in for bonus are two live TV appearances, one on American Can'tstand (Bandstand) and one on Don Kirschner's Rock Concert. On the former, you get to see them both try out a vocalist, in an attempt to appeal to a more mainstream audience, and with Mark O'Connor, who only played with them for one album, but a few great live shows before the band disbanded for a few years.

As great as the band studio albums were, the live shows took things to an even higher level. Now you can see what you missed, unless you didn't.

JOHN MCLAUGHLIN Abstract Logix Live! / The New Universe Music Festival 2010

Movie · 2011 · Fusion
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js
Abstract Logix’s New Universe Festival of 2010 was probably one of the more significant fusion concerts in recent history, and it is all captured in excellent form on this concert video. Many of the top names in current fusion are here and what a great varied and colorful approach they all bring to this music that will always be associated with its 70s roots. Ranjit Barot fuses fusion with Indian flavors and orchestral music, Human Element bring back the beautiful noise and chaos that has been absent since the early days of jazz-rock, Wayne Krantz takes on the modern NYC flavor with his harsh jarring free funk, Jimmy Herring plays sentimental, sometimes delicate, progressive rock flavored fusion, and of course the great John McLaughlin rounds it all up with high speed post bop mixed with funk and contemporary fusion. Every single performance is top notch and very convincing in letting us know that there is still plenty of life left in this sometimes maligned genre.

The music on here is great, but the video itself is even better. Its amazing how far concert videos have come over the years. This one is clear as a bell and features lots of accurate close-ups of the musicians as they display their virtuoso skills. They say that fusion is a musician’s music, if that is the case, then this video is a great learning tool for the aspiring player. Much of the footage on here goes right to the source and features the musician’s hands as they work their scales and fret boards. Any aspiring fusionist can pick up a lifetime of high speed licks and extended technique by studying this video and even stop-starting it it frame by frame. Long gone are the days of vague camera angles from way far away and pointless shots of musicians grimacing while they play, this video is all about accuracy and showing you exactly how this music goes down. This is a spirited and enthusiastic concert and highly recommended for fans of modern fusion.

MAHAVISHNU ORCHESTRA Live At Montreux 74/84

Movie · 2007 · Fusion
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Slartibartfast
The 1984 appearance of the MO was a lineup that didn't have any of the previous MO lineup of musicians except for John. Still there was a pretty impressive roster. Jonas Hellborg, on bass, steals the show. I suspect he's been rather influenced by Jaco at this point. Also, we also have Bill Evans, fairly fresh out of his stint saxing with Miles Davis. There's also a fine drummer, Danny Gottlieb, who'd played with Pat Metheny prior. Don't know much about Mitchell Forman. With John experimenting with the Synclavier Guitar so much, the keyboards are almost redundant in this ensemble. I had a hard time sitting through this at first. It definitely has that '80's taint, if you know what I mean. But I've warmed up to it. It's a bit like an attempt to return to the magic of the original lineup that doesn't quite get there. Still, if you judge it in the context of the time, it's not too bad.

I got this for one reason and one reason only, it was the two video bits from the Apocalypse lineup of Mahavishu Orchestra. Actually calling them bits isn't quite accurate. Wings of Karma and Hymn to Him are actually decently long pieces. I was pleasantly surprised to see that they had some actual orchestra musicians with them there at Montreaux. The first inkling I got that there was some live footage from this MO lineup was a poor quality video of Smile of the Beyond on a certain video clip web site many of us know of. It's very disappointing that we only get two clips from the show with video and the rest are audio only. I'm guessing the rest of the original footage has been lost. One can only hope that it will resurface. The performance is a bit more structured than the more compact MO's could be live, but that's to be expected due to the larger number of musician's involved. Still the core band does get to work in some improvisation, McLaughlin in particular.

This release is all in all a pleasant surprise for 2007, but there's more video out there from the older Mahavishu Orchestras, and I hope to see that material surface soon. It gets a four on the round up.

Artists with Modern Jazz release(s)