Recent Listening – Page 4 – Scratch My Brain

Brass all around

Here are some recent musical acquisitions that I have been digging.

Josh Berman’s Old Idea on Delmark

Josh, Keefe, and Jason are members of the Lucky 7s. Josh’s music occupies a great space that can be both lyrical and frenetic.

Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society Infernal Machines on New Amsterdam Records

This is a vital and captivating large ensemble recording. I’m not sure if calling it big band (or bigband) gives one the right mental starting point to hear this great music.

Dave Douglas Spirit Moves on Greenleaf Music

Brass quartet plus drums. Vincent Chancey’s horn is a nice color in that mix, and Marcus Rojas on tuba and Luis Bonilla on trombone are two of my favorites on their respective instruments.

Note: Both the New Amsterdam and Greenleaf sites rock the very cool instant download when you order the CD vibe.

These discs deserve reviews, but I don’t really have the time to get to them. They have both been in my player quite a bit lately. Mazurek’s disc is full of great textures. Come to the Lisa Sokolov disc with out jazz singer expectations, and you’ll get to some good music. If you look at the titles of the songs, and expect something similar to what you’ve heard before, you might have a hard time with it. Let it be what it is, and you’ll be treated to a great new experience.

We are MTO

I listened to “We are MTO” twice through today while web geeking. This disc is growing on me. It has a very infectious vibe, and Clark Gayton (trombone) sounds GREAT on it.

Rudresh Mahanthappa’s Indo-Pak Coalition

I’ve been hearing and reading a lot about this lately. I gave it a listen through today and enjoyed it.

Recent Listening – Ethan Iverson – Live at Smalls

“Have You Met Miss Jones?” popped up while I was playing shuffle bingo, and I had to leave shuffle mode and listen to the whole record.

George Russell – Recent Listening

Ok, I am changing the category name to Recent Listening, and here is some of it.

Listened Today – Jim Pepper “Coming and Going”

Maybe I should change this category to “Listened Recently.” Jim Pepper’s “Coming and Going” seems to be out of print. I couldn’t quickly find the album cover online. This is worth seeking out a used copy. Don Cherry, Hamid Drake and others are in the all star cast.

The Good and Evil Sessions

Well, actually listened last night. Picked this up on a cool Thirsty Ear sale at the Cadence Store. Dig the Joshy dub choir on track 6.

Big Picture by Trio M – Listened Today

One of the original ideas behind this blog was to use it as a place to bring attention to sounds, sights, and words that I found enriching. With that in mind, I am starting a category called “Listened Today.” These won’t be reviews, simply a record of something I listened to today that I felt the need to share. Somethings might show up more than once, somethings might have already been or eventually get reviewed, and somethings might be random hearings in odd situations.

Today “The Big Picture” by Trio M found its way to my CD player. I hadn’t listened to it in a while, and I quite enjoyed it.

Category: Recent Listening