CD-Charts Position 71
Average Rating:

Lookout For Hope (ECM Touchstones)

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

Release Date August 26, 2008
Bill Frisell, for those who don't know, is a guitarist whose music is hard to pin down or categorize. One minute he's playing jazz, then the next he's playing country. You will find his music in your local music store's jazz section and if they don't know who Bill Frisell is, then I don't know if that person deserves to be working in a music store, because Mr. Frisell is one of the most original guitarist of the past 20 years. He got his start playing on ECM records in the mid to late 70s and has since then had a rollercoaster ride of a musical career. Not that this is going to mean anything, but he won a Grammy this year for the album "Unspeakable." His first Grammy award (it's about time the masses and the music buying public take notice). ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 72
Average Rating:

A Love Supreme

CD-Charts > Music > Avant Garde and Free Jazz
by: John Coltrane

Release Date June 20, 1995
I know that everyone has, at one point or another, opened a review with the words "arguably the greatest album ever" or "It changed my life" or something similar. I will be no different. This is certainly the best John Coltrane album, though there are plenty of competitors, and it might be the best jazz album ever. I'll stop short of "best album", because it would be impossible for me to go that far. In a way, it also changed my life, or at least the way I thought about music. Before I bought it, my musical tastes were mostly confined to classic rock. After I bought it, and the only reason I did was because I enjoyed the Greatest Hits album of his I owned (which at the time was one of my four or five jazz albums), it opened my mind to all kinds ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 73
Average Rating:

Open to Love

CD-Charts > Music > Avant Garde and Free Jazz
by: Paul Bley

Release Date August 26, 2008
This is Bley's first solo album, recorded at around the same time as Keith Jarret recorded Facing You. The comparison is more apt than might first be suspected. Jarrett and Bley both share an uncanny ability to be introspective on the keyboard, but where Jarrett can be exuberant and at times, even a bit vulgar, Bley is always searching and elegant. Bley's work is never about display for it's own sake, but always in deeper service to the music. (Jarrett's music is also like this at his best, but Jarrett records too much and not all of his solo work is of the same quality.)

Bley's version of Ida Lupino is one that I would consider standard, surpassing even that of Gary Burton. He is faithful in the extreme to the composition, but then uses it ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 74
Average Rating:

Extensions

CD-Charts > Music > Avant Garde and Free Jazz
by: Dave Holland Quartet

Release Date August 26, 2008
this consensus downbeat critics winner is built around the anticipation leading up to the phenomenal "the oracle" . isolate it . drink a stout starbucks coffee . wait ten minutes . play the composition stated above . listen to four geniuses (STEVE COLEMAN , KEVIN EUBANKS , MARVIN SMITH and DAVE HOLLAND) take you to an entirely different plane . it's remarkable every time . every time . sans coffee as well . the rest of the album is great as well . imagine these guys live . my god , it's a high . THIS IS "MODERN CREATIVE JAZZ" - a term ron wynn coined (editor of the first all music guide to jazz) . this WILL NOT appeal to the smooth jazz crowd . songs are written by various members .

CD-Charts Position 75
Average Rating:

Bass Desires (ECM Touchstones)

CD-Charts > Music > Avant Garde and Free Jazz
by: Marc Johnson

Release Date August 26, 2008
Wonderful inspired work by some of the greats of modern jazz. Joining Marc are Bill Frisell, John Scofield, and Peter Erskine. No horns, no keys, just two master guitarists dueling over thoughtful and energetic compositions. This album is different than many albums of the time period because the compositions are so interesting, Marc's time with Bill Evans coming through? Marc has taken the traditional Rock line up and turned it on its head with the two Bass Desires recordings. If you don't own it you should.

CD-Charts Position 76
Average Rating:

ECM Touchstones: The Jewel in the Lotus

CD-Charts > Music > Avant Garde and Free Jazz
by: Bennie Maupin

Release Date November 06, 2007
Beautiful meditative music. This expressive tone poem is a delight to hear. If you're looking for bebop or the fusion/jazz/rock, this is not your record. If you like the music that brings a sense of relaxation to your home and heart, this is it.

CD-Charts Position 77
Average Rating:

Gattaca: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

CD-Charts > Music > Avant Garde and Free Jazz
by: Michael Nyman

Release Date October 21, 1997
Forget Gladiator; this is, by far, the best score ever written for any movie. No other score has so fully reflects the feelings running through its film; this score not only accomplishes this to an astounding, even haunting, degree, but it also immeasurably deepens those feelings. In a way, each piece of this score seem to contain all human emotions simultaneously: it bleeds sorrow, it strengthens hope, it stirs anger, it both tranquilizes and agitates. Listen for it and you will find it. This holism, this completeness, makes the music, as others have said, inexplicably haunting. But beyond emotions, this music will prompt you to think, as if ideas flicker subtly beneath the melodies and the harmonies: ideas about human potential, ambition, sacrifice, and strife.

CD-Charts Position 78
Average Rating:

The Way Up

CD-Charts > Music > Avant Garde and Free Jazz
by: Pat Metheny Group, Pat Metheny

Release Date January 25, 2005
PMG has made many great recordings, while most of us cannot even boast one. The Way Up, however, among those many, may be tops, imo, near the top. Brilliant in conception, shimmering in execution. Simply, the most creative, yet listenable, genre-bending ensemble playing today.

CD-Charts Position 79
Average Rating:

Longitude

CD-Charts > Music > Avant Garde and Free Jazz
by: Martial Solal

Release Date May 20, 2008
Overview:
As former collaborator Dave Douglas points out in the liner notes, Martial Solal is a "fearless improviser". These words are a perfect description for Solal's often chaotic and frenzied, two-handed style of soloing. Martial can stop on a dime and make a change for a dollar. As ideas burst into Solal's head he switches, tempo, mood, texture, etc to take each song off on a new direction on whim. The truly amazing thing is that the Moutin twins (Francios on bass, Louis on drums) are with him every step of the way. It's fantastic to see Solal tear off in the blink of an eye in a new direction and to hear Francois connecting the dots on bass and Louis adding in accents on a cymbal. I guess this is what you get when you play together for 15 years as this trio has done. ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 80
Average Rating:

Playground

CD-Charts > Music > Avant Garde and Free Jazz
by: Manu Katche

Release Date September 25, 2007
This CD is a beautiful sonic landscape. It marries gorgeous tonal brass melodies over lovely rhythmic foundations. I enjoyed it better than Manu's first, and it bears no resemblance to his work with Peter Gabriel. It stands alone with melodious solos and are a treat from start to finish, which as a rarity these days.

Carry on Manu!