What Jazz or Blues are you spinning?

[Mikeandvan]

Playing the trio of Afro-futurist LPs by Hancock, don't play the Mwandishi one much, but just played it, and sounds better than it ever has. Hornets on Sextant is quite an awesome track, as is 'Quasar' on Crossings.

[Mikeandvan]

Is Albert Ayler the worst jazz musician ever? I mean he never learned to play surely?

[Barry]

Playing the trio of Afro-futurist LPs by Hancock, don't play the Mwandishi one much, but just played it, and sounds better than it ever has. Hornets on Sextant is quite an awesome track, as is 'Quasar' on Crossings.

Don't know about 'Sextant', but the other two you cite are very good.

[WOStantonCS100]

Is Albert Ayler the worst jazz musician ever? I mean he never learned to play surely?

I used to feel the same way. However, after reading about him and listening to "Summertime" from his My Name Is Albert Ayler LP, I have to say I am fairly convinced he did learn quite well. Herculean effort to play as "poorly" as he did, if that is one's view. We could say the same of Trane if we had only heard Interstellar Space and Om and never Giant Steps and Lush Life, I suppose

I still have not purchased any of Ayler's records. I do have friends who have stretched their musical appreciation that far... ...gimme a few years, maybe.

[WOStantonCS100]

Hubert Laws
Romeo & Juliet
LP

I was put off by this record's cover for years, perhaps decades, assuming it to be an unforgivably discofied, cheesy vocal-laiden, wide lapeled feast for those looking to make vinyl ash trays. I only gave in because it was priced at almost nothing and a NM WLP, at that (while a badly warp damaged Scorpions Live was priced at $25!!!) Someone had a sense of humor.

I was wrong. I was very wrong. This could have easily been a CTI release and no one would have batted an eye. "In the Beginning" (or it's 2LP counterpart "Then There Was Light, Vols. 1 & 2") it is not. However, it fits in just fine with, say... Bob James' H and similar.

[WOStantonCS100]

Thanks Steve.

"Schooldays" is a hard act to follow.

I always thought his self-titled album was a hard act to follow. Bill Connors goes scorched earth (as the kids say) as he did on RTF's Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy.

Stanley Clarke
Stanley Clarke Journey to Love "Song to John" (with McLaughlin)
Stanley Clarke School Days
Stanley Clarke Modern Man

...helluva quartet, right there. The Nemperor years were very good, indeed.

[Mikeandvan]

I used to feel the same way. However, after reading about him and listening to "Summertime" from his My Name Is Albert Ayler LP, I have to say I am fairly convinced he did learn quite well. Herculean effort to play as "poorly" as he did, if that is one's view. We could say the same of Trane if we had only heard Interstellar Space and Om and never Giant Steps and Lush Life, I suppose

I still have not purchased any of Ayler's records. I do have friends who have stretched their musical appreciation that far... ...gimme a few years, maybe.

Indeed, I owned an Ayler LP once, just never played it, headache music.

[Mikeandvan]

Hubert Laws
Romeo & Juliet
LP

I was put off by this record's cover for years, perhaps decades, assuming it to be an unforgivably discofied, cheesy vocal-laiden, wide lapeled feast for those looking to make vinyl ash trays. I only gave in because it was priced at almost nothing and a NM WLP, at that (while a badly warp damaged Scorpions Live was priced at $25!!!) Someone had a sense of humor.

I was wrong. I was very wrong. This could have easily been a CTI release and no one would have batted an eye. "In the Beginning" (or it's 2LP counterpart "Then There Was Light, Vols. 1 & 2") it is not. However, it fits in just fine with, say... Bob James' H and similar.

Easy listening was a bit of a cult thing in the UK back in the 90s, there was a spate of compilation albums, a lot of Italian film music and the like. Bob james 'One' seems to be the sort after LP by him, with one track sampled by 90s Hiphop outfit Wutang Clan.

[AJSki2fly]

John Surman / John Warren – Tales Of The Algonquin
Label: Deram – 4539740, Decca – 4539740, Deram – 0602445397402, Decca – 0602445397402
Series: British Jazz Explosion
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, Remastered, Stereo, 180g

[Mikeandvan]

This LP is awesome, shame about the pressing though, Fantasy rerelease of a Riverside original, so called microgroove, some parts jump for no apparent reason.