CD-Charts Position 141
Average Rating:

The Carnegie Hall Concert

CD-Charts > Music > Avant Garde and Free Jazz
by: Keith Jarrett

Release Date September 26, 2006
I've never understood why record producers think we want to hear minutes of applause in live recordings. This recording takes this to an absurd level at times, so that we are not only subjected to the irritation of seemingly interminable applause after a piece, but following the much-hoped-for silence preceding the next piece we get... more applause, then silence, then a bit more applause. For me it makes for an unpleasant listening experience, one I don't like to repeat often. If you like long sections of applause, though, you'll want to play it over and over.

CD-Charts Position 142
Average Rating:

My Spanish Heart

CD-Charts > Music > Avant Garde and Free Jazz
by: Chick Corea

Release Date March 07, 2000
If I'm going to give this album any stars at all is purely based on the extraordinary talent of Chick Corea himself. I'm somewhat young compared to most jass enthusiasts and so when I listen to music from the seventies decade I find it so extremely difficult to understand exactly what the artists were thinking and trying to accomplish.

So here's my two fundamental problems:

1. Too synthesized. You could say this about all of the fusion genre, but as jazz has evolved I find it so interesting that after all these years we've, for the most part, all returned to the universal desire to hear it played accoustically and with the authentic raw sound with which it was played in its conception. Even in electronica music or ambient, ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 143
Average Rating:

Free Jazz (A Collective Improvisation)

CD-Charts > Music > Avant Garde and Free Jazz
by: Ornette Coleman Double Quartet

Release Date October 25, 1990
While Coleman titled his most famous album The Shape of Jazz to Come, this is really where he threw down the gauntlet, challenging all comers to make something more unique than this. And few had the guts to accept the challenge - this was 1960, after all. I don't think even Eric Dolphy had made the complete jump to avant-garde yet back then. And the critics laughed at Ornette. Fast forward five years, where John Coltrane had taken a cue from Ornette's albm-length masterpiece, putting out his (Ascension). Who's laughing now?
It goes without saying that, even some 47 years onward, it's still tough to find a point of comparison to Free Jazz. Coltrane had done the difficult album-length work with Ascension, but this is a whole different animal than Ascension. ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 144
Average Rating:

Jazz in Silhouette

CD-Charts > Music > Avant Garde and Free Jazz
by: Sun Ra Arkestra

Release Date February 06, 1992
Sun Ra stood as an iconoclast within the jazz world from his first recording in 1953. Indeed, Sun Ra stood as an enigma within our world.

Inspired by what he claimed were experiences in outer space, Sun Ra's precept of jazz delved into a much more progressive and avant-garde structure, one that evolved from the be-bop stylings showcased on his first recordings.

Jazz In Silhouette, one of many long forgotten Sun Ra albums, highlights the be-bop he cherished before stepping into the fold of the avant-garde. This album is rich in composition, with extended solos throughout courtesy of Sun Ra's Arkestra. To describe the music contained within this album as majestic would be an understatement. The sheer joy of the recording is finely captured ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 145
Average Rating:

The Sad Machinery of Spring

CD-Charts > Music > Avant Garde and Free Jazz
by: Tin Hat

Release Date January 30, 2007
In comparison to the other four Tin Hat Trio albums, I feel this one is by far the least inventive. Yes the music is very beautiful, and more fully orchestrated than their other albums (because of the added musicians in the group), however Tin Hat Trio's best musical attributes-- including the use of mixed meter and non-traditional instruments and sounds-- are almost non-existent in this album. I've listened to this album at least a half dozen times, so I've given it a fair chance. It just doesn't grab me with its originality and quirkyness like the rest of Tin Hat Trio's repertoire.

If you, like me, are interested in the quirky and unique, I would instead of Sad Machinery recommend Carla Kihlstedt's (Tin Hat's violinist and vocalist) solo album, Two Foot ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 146
Average Rating:

Comicopera

CD-Charts > Music > Avant Garde and Free Jazz
by: Robert Wyatt

Release Date October 09, 2007
Semi-paralysed since an accident in 1973, the former Soft Machine drummer has become one of British pop's most recognisable, haunting voices. Hugely influential and musically varied, Wyatt is synonymous with uncompromising poignancy: his 1983 version of Elvis Costello's Shipbuilding, released during the Falklands war, remains one of pop's most powerful political statements. He has recorded with everyone from Peter Gabriel to Namibia's Swapo singers, and his recent Cuckooland album finds him on typically vital form. Wyatt can be as personal as he is political, and is able to sing equally movingly about love, brandy, and the joys of mustard. You will enjoy this CD. Very creative and lively!!

CD-Charts Position 147
Average Rating:

Let Freedom Ring

CD-Charts > Music > Avant Garde and Free Jazz
by: Jackie McLean

Release Date September 02, 2003
This was a very important album for Mr. McLean, as it was his first whole-hearted attempt to come to terms with the "freedom" that was emerging in jazz at the time. However eventhough Jackie admired some of the free jazz players and their music, he was disinclined to totally abandon the bebop (or by this time hardbop) that his mentor and hero Charlie Parker created. Combining aspects of both traditional bop (itself revolutionary for it's time) and more outside free playing would be his challenge during parts of the sixties (see "Destination Out!", "One Step Beyond", "Action", "New and Old Gospel", and particularly Grachan Moncur's "Evolution" to assess how it went). For McLean personally the new freedom of the music invigorated him, and it shows on these albums, as the one thing ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 148
Average Rating:

Unspeakable

CD-Charts > Music > Avant Garde and Free Jazz
by: Bill Frisell

Release Date August 24, 2004
All the other reviews say it all. I just want to inform you of ALL the musicians on the CD.
Frisell with Hal Willner (turntables also known as record player scratching, CD samples); Tony Scherr (bass except #12, electric guitar # 12); Ken Wollesen (drums except #5, 7, 10); Don Alias (percussion #1, 6, 8, 9, 11, 12); Steven Bernstein, Briggan Krauss, Curtis Fowlkes (horns #2, 6, 9, 11, 12); Jenny Scheinman, Eyvind Kang, Hank Roberts (strings #1, 4, 6, 7-12, 14); Adam Dorn (editing #2, synthesizer #4) Enjoy!

CD-Charts Position 149
Average Rating:

Nefertiti

CD-Charts > Music > Avant Garde and Free Jazz
by: Miles Davis

Release Date October 13, 1998
This Miles Davis classic starts with the title track. This mournful melody repeats, and the improvisation is all going on in the rhythm section. "Nefertiti" is one of Wayne Shorter's most beloved compositions. "Fall" seems like a smaller song; it's slow and in a minor key. "Hand Jive" is a faster song with very good playing. The alternate versions of the song are also pretty good. "Madness" is similar to "Hand Jive", though tougher to get a handle on. The alternate takes of "Madness" aren't quite as good as the original. "Riot" is a well-liked Herbie Hancock song that Herbie re-recorded in 1968. "Pinnochio" is another good Wayne Shorter composition.

"Nefertiti" is one of four must-have CD's by the second great Miles Davis quintet. The others are "E. S. P.", "Miles Smiles", ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 150
Average Rating:

Cosmic Tones for Mental Therapy/Art Forms of Dimensions Tomorrow

CD-Charts > Music > Avant Garde and Free Jazz
by: Sun Ra

Release Date November 20, 1992
"Cosmic Tones for Mental Therapy" tops the list for all-time greatest album title (tied with "Weasels Ripped My Flesh"). The thought of these sonic vibrations from outer space reconfiguring your neural synapses is actually quite appealing. This stuff really does sound like it's from "out there"! The echo and reverb drenched and somewhat low-budget sound actually gives it extra charm.

The music on "Cosmic Tones" is very abstract. It sounds quite bizzare in 2007, so I can only image what it must have sounded to people in 1961 - not even Ornette Coleman or Cecil Taylor we doing stuff this far out in 1961.

"Art Forms of Dimensions Tomorrow" is a transitional work between straight jazz and the free space music of "Cosmic Tones". It's certainly enjoyable music, but for me it's less interesting. ... Read More: