Thursday, October 08, 2015

Recent Listening: Late Sept-Early Oct

Solomon Ilori and his Afro-Drum Ensemble: African High Life (Blue Note). I was on the lookout for Art Blakey's The African Beat when I came across this recording from 1964.

Evan Parker & Han Bennink: The Grass Is Greener (PSI). Although this album has its moments, I haven't really been able to get into it just yet. That won't stop me to returning to it though.

Charlie Parker: The Complete Live Performances on Savoy (Savoy). Mostly I've been listening to the 1947 Carnegie Hall tracks with Dizzy, John Lewis (pretty well off-mic), Al McKibbon and Joe Harris. Bird's tone is nicely captured, and Dizzy has plenty of fire. Bird's break on "Groovin' High" always gives me a kick.

Mike Nock: Talisman (Enja). A lovely late-70s solo piano outing from Nock that I picked up earlier this year. This one was accompanying me as I waited to get a couple of Mike's more recent albums (more on them to come later).

Various: The Birth of the Third Stream (Columbia). This one had been on my list for a while and I've been playing tracks from it over the last few weeks (in fact, it's playing as I write this post). It's a little annoying that they weren't able to squeeze two of the tracks from Music for Brass onto the CD. Worth checking out if you haven't (particularly for arrangers/composers).