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    This wonderful Blue Note documentary still on iplayer and well worth watching. The studio photography alone is stunning. If you like cool, creative people being cool and creative then this is for you.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episod...yond-the-notes

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      Take Vibe - Golden Brown

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        Originally posted by gjw100 View Post
        I’ve really enjoyed keeping this thread going for the last couple of months and although the views per post ratio may be the lowest on OTF, I hope that those of you who have tagged along for the brief ride have got something out of it. I may return to it in the future if I feel suitably inspired, but for now I’ve decided to call it a day and go back to being a largely passive member of the OTF community.
        Yes, thanks from me too. I have started putting your recommendations into a spotify playlist, which, when I am done, I'll link here.

        Watched the Miles Davis documentary on Netflix last night. Somehow it managed to be less than the sum of its parts. Even so, it certainly wasn't time wasted

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          This is my mate's dad, Ed Bickert. He was a big deal in the jazz world and passed away last year. Had a long career playing live as part of a band and then his own trio, and did a lot of session / commercial work to pay the bills.






          Even did a guitar summit thing called Beyond Borders with Alex Lifeson from Rush, Liona Boyd, and Rick Emmett from Triumph. As you do.



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            Bassist Meshell Ndegeocello’s ‘Papillon’ from her 2005 album ‘The Spirit Music Jamia: Dance Of The Infidel’, with Kenny Garrett saxophone, Federico Gonzalez Pena keyboards, Josh Roseman trombone, Chris Dave drums and Matthew Garrison additional bass parts.
             

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              Saxophonist Ron Blake’s ‘Shades Of Brown’ from his 2005 album ‘Sonic Tonic’ (produced by Meshell Ndegeocello), with Christian McBride bass, Terreon Gully drums, Michael Cain keyboards and Josh Roseman trombone.
               

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                Two from Norwegian guitarist Terje Rypdal this evening. ‘Per Ulv’ is the opening track from his 1978 album ‘Waves’, with Palle Mikkelborg trumpet/electronics, Jon Christensen drums/percussion and Sveinung Hovensjo bass.
                 

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                  This is ‘As If The Ghost...Was Me!?’ from last year’s ‘Conspiracy' album on ECM. Terje Rypdal guitar, Stale Storlokken keyboards, Endre Harelde Hallre bass and Pal Thowsen drums.
                   

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                    Nucleus, formed by trumpeter Ian Carr in 1969 were one of the few British jazz bands signed to a major label (Vertigo) in the 1970’s. They enjoyed a fair amount of success but there was never the financial push to break them in the US where they could easily have held their own with the major stars of the day. Carr was the only constant presence in the band – a reflection perhaps of the of the British jazz scene of that period, where at the top level there was a hardcore of maybe a few dozen top class players who all knew and played with one another. Band line ups often depended upon who was around at the time, and a list of those who played in Nucleus reads like a ‘Who’s Who’ of British jazz in the 70’s. This is ‘Torrid Zone’ from the 1970 album ‘Elastic Rock’, featuring Carr on trumpet/flugelhorn, Brian Smith tenor/soprano saxes, Karl Jenkins keyboards, oboe and baritone sax, Chris Spedding guitar, Jeff Clyne bass and John Marshall drums.
                     

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                      Paz were a British band of slightly later vintage than Nucleus, but another that featured a revolving cast of musicians. This is ‘Time Stood Still’ from the 1978 album ‘Kandeen Love Song’ with Dick Crouch vibes/percussion, Ray Warleigh flute, Geoff Castle keyboards, Phil Lee guitar, Ron Matthewson bass, Simon Morton percussion and Chris Fletcher percussion. I note that my vinyl copy of this album is now worth upwards of ?50. Time perhaps to reconsider my attachment to this and other old rarities that I no longer play in their physical form.
                       

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                        In 2021 the name Jaco Pastorius may no longer carry as much weight as it did 40 years ago, but for many fans and musicians of a certain age he remains the most influential bass guitarist of the 20th century. His musical career lasted only a dozen or so years, cut short by an addiction to drugs/alcohol and ongoing mental issues that in combination led to his death in 1987 at the tragically early age of 35, fatally beaten by a nightclub bouncer he had provoked to violence – an incident that had become all too frequent during the last years of his life.

                        He left behind just the three solo albums recorded during his lifetime (more have been released posthumously but are of variable quality), six studio albums and two live albums with Weather Report, and guest appearances on albums by a wide range of artists including Pat Metheny, Mike Stern, Jimmy Cliff, Ian Hunter, Herbie Hancock and, most notably, Joni Mitchell, for whom he recorded four albums.

                        Jaco’s self-titled debut album was released in 1976 when he was 25 - the same year that he joined Weather Report. Although that was the springboard to wider recognition, it’s clear that there was already a buzz building around him if you consider the quality of musicians who played on that album. This is ‘Continuum’, featuring Herbie Hancock electric piano, Lenny White drums and Don Alias percussion.
                         

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                          1976 was a busy year for Jaco. Apart from his own album, he played on fellow prodigy Pat Metheny’s first album 'Bright Size Life’, Weather Report’s ‘Black Market’ and Joni Mitchell’s ‘Hejira’. This is ‘Coyote’ from the last of those, with of course Joni on vocals and acoustic guitar, Larry Carlton electric guitar and Bobbye Hall percussion. It’s peak Jaco, his bass dancing around the rhythm laid down by the guitars/percussion, the innovative ringing harmonics that became his signature adding accents in all the right places. It's one of my favourite performances of his.
                           

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                            Weather Report was the perfect vehicle for Jaco, and in Joe Zawinul he found not just a musician who could operate on his level, but a father figure who both supported and challenged him. In turn the band gained a charismatic frontman who played a major part in their becoming the stadium filling, multi-platinum selling superstars of the jazz world. From their 1980 album ‘Night Passage’, this is Jaco’s Three Views Of A Secret’ - a tune that shows just what a fine composer he was. Jaco on bass, Joe Zawinul keyboards, Wayne Shorter saxophones, Peter Erskine drums and Bobby Thomas Jr percussion.
                             

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                              By the early 80’s Jaco was moving away from the smaller group setting of Weather Report to write and arrange for his own Word Of Mouth big band, with whom he recorded his last two solo albums - ‘Word Of Mouth’ (1981) and ‘Invitation’ (1983). Little did we know at the time, but that was going to be as good as it got. His various demons began to gain the upper hand and the supreme self-confidence that had propelled his career to that point tipped over into boorish arrogance. Fewer and fewer musicians were prepared to work with him and although you will find examples of his playing between 1984 and 1987, there’s not very much that’s worth listening to. As an indicator of what he was capable of as a player, composer and arranger, here’s ‘John And Mary’ (named after his children) from ‘Word Of Mouth’, featuring Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Pete Erskine, Michael Brecker and dozens of others.
                               

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                                gjw100, Ron Matthewson I think died quite recently. But he left a number of great archive tapes of various groups, which are now being released by the excellent Jazz In Britain label, and everything they've released has been worth checking. They've been doing similar with John Hiseman's tape archive.

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                                  Cheers diggedy derek , I'll look out for those. Although the current scene runs it close, the late 60's and 70's is my favourite period of British jazz and a great deal of it was woefully unrecorded. I think the BBC has some material in the archives still, most of it live recordings from the Maida Vale studios that were broadcast on the late Peter Clayton's 'Sounds Of Jazz' show. At one time I had dozens of those on tape that I recorded on my old radio/cassette player. Now I wonder what possessed me to throw them out when I married and left home.

                                  Jon Hiseman was mentioned on Channel 4's '24 Hours In A&E' a few months ago in an episode which featured his widow, saxophonist Barbara Thompson, who has been battling Parkinson's for several years now. It was so sad to see her decline - she really was a very fine player, and deserving of much greater recognition.

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                                    Benin-born guitarist/vocalist Lionel Loueke studied music in Paris and the US before coming to the attention of the wider jazz world after winning a competition to study at the Thelonious Monk Institure of Jazz in 2001. He was a member of Herbie Hancock’s revamped Headhunters during the mid-2000's, and has played on albums by Terence Blanchard, Jack DeJohnette, Dave Holland and Charlie Haden to name just a few. He’s released a dozen albums under his own name, most of them a mix of African flavoured jazz and more traditional songs from his homeland. His latest, ‘HH’, is a tribute to Herbie Hancock and consists of a stripped back voice and guitar reworking of some of Herbie’s better-known songs. This is ‘Come Running To Me’.
                                     

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                                      From the 2020 album ‘Lost Ships’ (ECM) by Swiss/Albanian vocalist Elina Duni and English guitarist Rob Luft, this is the title track with Fred Thomas on piano. I’ve linked to a live version as the recording itself isn’t available on YouTube since ECM records appear to keep a very tight rein on uploads.
                                       

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                                        Finally, ‘Hu Man’ by young British vocalist Aria Wells, who performs under the name Greentea Peng and has just been named as one of the ‘BBC Sound of 2021’ artists to watch out for this year. Hopefully she can shake off the tiresomely predictable Amy Winehouse comparisons which seem to be based more on the fact that she has a lot of tattoos (and likes a spliff or two) than any significant vocal/musical similarities. Again, I’ve linked to a live performance but only because it has a slightly jazzier vibe that I prefer to the original single.
                                         

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                                          Dustar Jazz Band from Bashkortostan in Russia were formed in the late 70’s by saxophonist Marat Yuldybaev. I came across a vinyl rip of their 1988 album ‘Black River’ a couple of years ago on one of those trips down internet rabbit holes in search of rarities that I occasionally take. This is the title track.
                                           

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                                            ‘Rodrigo’ from the self-titled 2007 debut album by Argentinian saxophonist Ramiro Flores, with Juan Canosa trombone, Hernan Jacinto keyboards, Jeronimo Carmona bass and Eloy Michelini drums.
                                             

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                                              This is the title track from Donald Byrd’s 1995 Blue Note album ‘Kofi’, a collection of tracks recorded in 1969 and 1970 that weren’t released at the time. All five of the tunes that form this release are the equal of anything that Byrd put out during this period, and serve to confirm the sheer wealth of material that Blue Note had available if they could afford to leave these in the vaults for so long. Donald Byrd trumpet, Frank Foster tenor saxophone, Lew Tabackin flute, William Campbell trombone, Duke Pearson electric piano, Ron Carter bass and Airto Moreira drums.
                                               

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                                                Here’s a great remix of ‘Kofi’ by The Angel, released in 1996 on the compilation album ‘The New Groove – The Blue Note Remix Project’. Unlike some of the other tracks on the album, which seem to consist of little more than the lazy assembly of a few beats and loops stuck underneath the original mix, The Angel actually does something fresh here, turning Byrd’s modal jazz workout into a loping hip-hop groove with added vocals/rap by Mystic.
                                                 

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                                                  Every time I put a bit of time into creating the promised playlist the thread grows longer...

                                                  (Just kidding gjw100 keep em coming. It's just that the playlist may well be a long time in coming)

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                                                    Two from Czechoslovakia to keep ad hoc busy on his Spotify playlist. Multi-instrumentalist Karel Velebny was a mainstay of the Czech jazz scene from the mid-50's through to his death in 1989. This is ‘Nude’ from his 1968 album ‘Karel Velebny, Nonet SHQ and Woodwinds’ on MPS (the German label that I featured quite early on in this thread). Although he was also a very fine sax and piano player, Velebny kept to the vibraphone for this recording.
                                                     

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