THE REAL CRAZY SHIT

Several years ago a neighbor stopped by to chat and, he being a fellow music fiend, our conversation was all over the place. This band, that record, this genre and then, jazz. I, for one, was jazz-nostic. I thought anyone like Kenny G was intolerable. But Ron Ashton (Stooges) was a jazz freak. What gives? My neighbor told me that his real jazz introduction was when he listened to his dad's copy of John Coltrane's A Love Supreme, listening with his full attention. Ah, now I get it. Really listen.

So it's been a few years, and if you've been around here any length of time you have probably guessed that I like jazz. Not all jazz, but a lot. For me, the more wigged out the better. It's a punk rock rush when it gets crazy. Last night it did. I ran into Coltrane's Ascension, an album with two versions of the same song, "Ascension Edition II" is 40:23 minutes long, "Ascension Edition I" is 38:31 minutes. Overdoing it? No, not all. They're sufficiently different, with a shitload of improvisation going on.

Rather then run off at the mouth about what my listening experience was like, just listen to it. It really is fucking amazing. There is a link to the reissue liner notes so you can get an idea of the Who's Who of jazz greats that were hunkered down with him, all going ape-shit at the same time. If you get it bad, there's a lengthy thing at Jazz Times.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Listen:
John Coltrane - Ascension Edition II mp3 at Internet Archive
John Coltrane - Ascension Edition I mp3 at Internet Archive
Visit:
John Coltrane - Ascension liner notes at Internet Archive
Highest Trane: John Coltrane’s World-Building Ascension at JazzTimes

DO THEY CALL THEM SUPER GROUPS IN JAZZ?

Yee haw! A Coltrane bootleg, a live gig, John Coltrane Sextet - The Missing Seattle Parts 1965. I've no clue. Missing parts? I guess I'll have to read the copy on the post before I start devouring. I'm only one cut in and it's worthy ("Afro Blue End" which is eighteen minutes long). The sound quality is good, much better than what you'd expect from an live recording from 1965. The playing is good too and he's got a top shelf combo (McCoy Tyner, Pharoah Saunders, and Elvin Jones). There is some crazy shit going on. I guess I'll take off on outta here and go read the copy. Note: When you click on the link it'll run you through a captcha thing. Small obstacle, just mentioning it so you're not alarmed.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Listen:
John Coltrane Sextet - The Missing Seattle Parts 1965 at Big O Eight tracks, eighty minutes. Links are near the end, in light blue.

THE DRUMMER'S DRUMMER (SLIGHT RETURN)

That's my friend Paul in the photo above. When the photo was taken he had been surfing for over forty years and playing drums for close to fifty years. I've known him for at least thirty years and he's been like a big brother. At one time he was my brothers roommate and the only non-family member to have a key to my Mom's house. A real bro, and not in the casual frat boy use. A good man. He died this past Tuesday from brain cancer. He was in his late sixties. That photo above was  taken in the last year. Late sixties, with brain cancer, with only months to live and he had that casual "I know what I'm doing" longboard stance. That's old school style.

Paul was the one who turned me onto Elvin Jones.  I mentioned it in a post a few years back and because I've been listening to Jones for the past several days it seemed like a good thing to post. Here's the original post.:

A few years ago I ran into a friend of mind, a drummer who has played for, I don't know, something like four decades. I brought up Ginger Baker's latest LP (at the time), Why? (a phenomenal LP by the way). My friend started bringing up drummers that he really dug, among them Elvin Jones, who he went off about in particular. He told me how an early drum teacher he had told him to get Jones's LP The Ultimate Elvin Jones. At the time I knew the name, but had never really isolated his playing when I listened to records he was on. Once I did though, shit howdy, it was another name added to the list. Here's a couple that he plays on and the LP my friend recommended. Man, that one is a total gas.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Listen:
John Coltrane - The Drum Thing mp3 at Drummer World Elvin Jones on drums
Joe Lovano and Dave Holland - Cymbalism mp3 at Drummer World Elvin Jones on drums
Elvin Jones - The Ultimate Elvin Jones (full LP, streaming) at YouTube

PARTY WITH ME PUNKER

Henry Kaiser has be floating just outside my listening sphere for years. I don't think I have anything by him but I know the name. I've seen it a thousand times. I know he plays guitar and is affiliated with free jazz, experimental and arty music. You know, the brainy genres. Now comes an outfit called "A Love Supreme Electric", with Kaiser and four others, one of them Mike Watt.

How Watt got together with Kaiser is anybody's guess, but then again, is there anybody he isn't connected to? As the bass player with the Minutemen he was around the whole SST crowd (Black Flag, etc) but the amount of clout he had became apparent when he released his 1995 solo LP,  Ball-Hog Or Tugboat? I doubt any bass players have had as many familiar names as guests on a single LP. On that record: Frank Black (Pixies), Kathleen Hanna (Bikini Kill) Adam Horowitz (Beastie Boys), Dave Grohl and Kris Novolesic (Nirvana), J. Mascis (Dinosaur Jr.) Cris and Curt Kirkwood (Meat Puppets), Thurston Moore and Lee Renaldo (Sonic Youth), Dave Pirner (Soul Asylum), Evan Dando (Lemonheads), Pat Smear (Germs), Henry Rollins, Flea (Red Hot Chili Peppers)., Paul Rosseler (Screamers) and a shitload of other namess that that I don't recognize. That was in 1995. I think I've been over all that before. I mention it now just to illustrate what a big net the guy has. Oh, and he went on to play in the reformed Stooges.

So, Kaiser and Watt get together with three other dudes (Vinny Golia, John Hanrahan, and Wayne Peet) and cover Coltrane. It works. Here's a couple videos of what appears to be different line ups of Kaiser's outfit.  It's cool, if you're not such a tight ass to think of it as blasphemy. There's also a link to the Bandcamp page for the project (more samples) and just for good measure, a couple Coltrane originals.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Listen:
John Coltrane - Acknowledgement mp3 at Get The Curse
John Coltrane - Resolution mp3 at Drummer World
A Love Supreme Electric: A Love Supreme and Meditations at Bandcamp Samples and downloads/CDs for purchase.
Video:
Henry Kaiser : Weekly Solo #22 : A Love Supreme Electric at YouTube
Henry Kaiser : Weekly Solo #31 : John Coltrane's 'Meditations'  at YouTube

AND EXHALE.

I had no idea what to post to match my mood. So I pulled a Coltrane LP out and put it on. Totally hit the spot. First serendipitous event in the post-45 era. It fits my mood. I think everyone is sort of in that mood. I heard "It's a new day." in conversation four different times today. It seemed to be a combination of relief and cautious hope.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Listen:
John Coltrane - Acknowledgement mp3 at Get The Curse
John Coltrane - Nine more songs at Rubber City Review
John Coltrane - A Love Supreme (streaming) at YouTube Entire LP

ALL-TIME EPIC COVERS NIGHT

The other day I was listening to a jazz compilation and John Coltrane's "My Favorite Things" came on. The very next day the jazz station played it. I was reminded how I felt the first time I'd heard it in it's entirety. It was a few years ago. I'd heard it before, but skipped passed it after hearing the beginning of what sounded like it was going to be a straight forward cover of the song from the film The Sound of Music. I should have known. Then there was the one time that I just let in roll. After thirteen minutes, I pried my jaw off the floor.

The song is a monster. One of my favorite covers of all time. I've posted it before, and I'm not really sure why I even bother mentioning that. If I've heard it a bunch of times, and twice in the past few days, and I still feel like hearing it, you can use the refresher. If you haven't heard it, I suggest you listen to it all the way through, loud, with headphones, spliff optional. Sonny Rollin's equally tweaked cover of "I'm an Old Cow Hand (From the Rio Grande)" is down there too, because it too takes the original to another dimension.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Listen:
John Coltrane - My Favorite Things mp3 at LBCC (?)
Sonny Rollins - I'm an Old Cow Hand (From the Rio Grande) mp3 at Time Goes By.

TEENAGERS ASSOCIATE THE DARNEDEST THINGS

I don't know what context or exactly when I first heard Max Roach's name. I know that it was after I knew that a roach was the butt of a joint, and that was when I was about fifteen. I know that it was after that, because I have always thought of a pot related roach (as opposed to a cockroach type) every time I've heard his name, ever. When I started listening to jazz decades later, I learned what Max Roach sounded like. Playing behind the greats, Coltrane, Miles Davis. Solid. Then I heard "Garvey's Ghost". My ears drooled. I just listened to it again last night and then came here to see if the old link still worked. It did not. So I took matters into my own hands, which isn't all that tough considering I'm the only person tending to matters here. Good news: I found another link to it. Dig it. If the link is dead by the time you get here, just go to YouTube and find it. It's that good.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Listen:
Max Roach (Abbey Lincoln, vocals) - Garvey's Ghost mp3 at Billy Chic Eric Dolphy's all over this one too.
John Colltrane (Max Roach, drums) - Ko Ko mp3 at Drummer World
Miles Davis (Max Roach, drums) - Move mp3 at Drummer World
Visit:
Max Roach - Profile at Drummer World Excellent bio, videos, cool photos and music.

THUG FOR LIFE

I want to be challenged musically and culturally. That was just one of many cool things about getting into punk rock way back when. It it really wasn't all that different from the feeling I got when I was learning to surf. It was "What's this all about? Let's try this." And so on. So, I listen to jazz. Yeah. I don't know shit about it. But that's what I'm getting at. I don't want to listen to stuff I already know about, not all the time anyway. I like getting put in front of something that I don't find objectionable, but still don't fully understand. Jazz works for that.

Today, or what remains of it, is International Jazz Day. In 2011, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization designated April 30 as the day "to highlight jazz and its diplomatic role of uniting people in all corners of the globe." I'll buy. Here's some random links to jazz stuff. Three links to lengthy informative posts with ten songs each by John Coltrane, Miles Davis and Art Blakey. And another link to "A Beginners Guide to Free Jazz" with another thirteen songs.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Listen:
Sun Ra - Angels and Demons at Play mp3 at Destination: Out
Sonny Rollins - I'm an Old Cow Hand (From the Rio Grande) mp3 at Time Goes By
The Ornette Coleman Trio - European Echoes mp3 at Art Decade
The goods:
Ten By John Coltrane at Rubber City Review
Ten With Art Blakey at Rubber City Review
Ten By Miles Davis at Rubber City Review
A Beginners Guide to Free Jazz at Destination Out

NINE MINUTES IN THE TRANSPORTER ROOM

Man, the other night I needed a break. I decided to do something I haven't done in a while, sit my ass down on the couch and just listen to music with no distractions, eyes closed, the whole bit. The jazz station was on, a show called Cool Struttin' which can be hit and miss, but the host DJ, John Phillips, has some old school taste so I gave it a shot. After about twenty seconds of piano the sax came in, then the cymbals and barely noticeable bass. You know, I hate it when people use the term "transported" when they describe music, but fuck me if I wasn't transported. When the song ended, I couldn't have told you if I was sitting there listening for five minutes or an hour. I do know that I was taken out of my dank apartment and sent somewhere.

The song was "Wise One" by the John Coltrane Quartet ("the classic quartet" as my friend PJ likes to say). Listen to it, McCoy Tyner in the middle, Coltrane on the left, Elvin Jones, with just cymbals, on the right and a very sparse Jimmy Garrison way in the background, playing so sparingly it makes reggae bass lines sound busy in comparison. This is the shit.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Listen:
John Coltrane Quartet - Wise One (streaming) at YouTube

WAS SOMEONE GOING TO TELL ME?

Until today I had never heard of Johnny Griffin, not that I remember anyway. I happened to be on a blog called Spychedelic Sally and ran into a cut of his "The Message": It was good enough that I went looking for a anything else. That's when I ran into "Smoke Stack". Holy shit. After listening to it I was thinking that its exactly the type of jazz I think of when I just hear the term "jazz". This particular one rips, beginning to end, all ten minutes of it. Then, I saw who was in the band:

Johnny Griffin-Tenor Sax, John Coltrane-Tenor Sax, Hank Mobley-Tenor Sax, Lee Morgan - Trumpet, Art Blakey - Drums and two others. 

Explains everything. Fuck, what a line up.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Listen:

Johnny Griffin Septet - Smoke Stack mp3 at Everythingathon

YEAH, THAT'S RIGHT. JAZZ COWBOY.

I didn't know much about jazz when John Coltrane was recommended to me by a friend. The friend had great taste in music, and among other things that he told me about his indoctrination in jazz was that before he heard Coltrane, he had little interest in jazz himself. He told me, in great detail, about the first time he listened to his dad's copy of A Love Supreme. Knowing enough to know Coltrane was a near deity in jazz, and after his recommendation, I started listening to Coltrane. I got as far as "My Favorite Things" and thought it a weird choice for a cover. A song from the Sound of Music by a jazz god? What's up with that?

Luckily I listened, long enough to get to the point where he starts to stretch his legs, Okay, I thought, that's how a jazz god does covers. This all came back to me when I heard Sonny Rollin's cover of "I'm an Old Cow Hand (from the Rio Grand)". This one really goes off. By the time you're through the first couple minutes, you forget what song it started out as. The alternate take, released as bonus cut on a later reissue. is double the length, and really allows you to really get lost. While it doesn't sound like dub, it elicits the same feeling, as if your weaving in and out of the song, kind of floating. And it's just Rollins on sax, Ray Brown on bass, and Shelly Manne on drums; Just a trio.. This jazz shit is okay.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Listen:
John Coltrane - My Favorite Things mp3 at LBCC (?)
Sonny Rollins - I'm an Old Cow Hand (From the Rio Grande) mp3 at Time Goes By
Sonny Rollins - I'm an Old Cow Hand (From the Rio Grande) (alternate take) (streaming) at YouTube
Visit:
A Bit of Jazz at Time Goes By Ten random jazz cuts, posted by the man Tibbles. What got me going tonight. Thanks Peter.

LAZY NIGHT ONE AND DONE SPECIAL

I don't know a lot about jazz, but I know enough that when I see a song called "Tenor Madness" and its by Sonny Rollins with John Coltrane, it's worth a click. Holy shit was it, twelve minutes of a Battle Royale. I'm gonna go listen to it again. And out.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Listen:
Sonny Rollins Quartet with John Coltrane - Tenor Madness mp3 at Sunrise Musics

EVEN HIS ALL TIME WORST WOULD BE GOOD

Everyone who has favorite musicians has favorite songs by those favorite musicians. When people post their "all time" sort of list, you usually assume that they have heard more of the particular artist than you have, or at least enough to present a case. Whatever, it's all subjective, and even if they're not your particular favorites, they're usually good and may include songs you haven't heard or songs you may want to reconsider. Among the old posts at Soul Donuts is an "All Time Top Five" of John Coltrane. Who am I to argue?

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Listen:
John Coltrane - Acknowledgement mp3 at Get The Curse (?)
John Coltrane - Resolution mp3 at The Gio (?)
All Time Top 5 - Coltrane in the Cold Rain at Soul Donuts

THREE FRIENDS CAN'T BE WRONG

Whenever I point you towards anything jazz related, it does occur to me that many of you may avoid the whole genre like a plague. To put it as mildly as I can, you need to get over it. I dig music as raunchy, distorted and mangled as the next guy, and I know well the whole thought process that non-jazz people go through, particularly those with out of control rock 'n' roll tastes. I swear to you, listening to jazz will not make you a Kenny G fan. That's like saying that the Stooges are the gateway to Kenny Loggins.

My first friend that was into jazz was a guy named Eric, knew him from the beach. He named his cat Miles and had a bumper sticker for the local jazz station on his truck. But, knowing Eric, I respected that he was so into it, but it still didn't appeal to me. It was too far removed from my hip shit. Then a few years later it was Dino, who dug jazz so much that he was always telling me what I was missing out on. Blah, blah, blah, get out of my face Dino. Some years later, my neighbor Denis was over one night and we were shooting the shit about music. Talked turned to jazz and I told him that I wasn't really into it, but I didn't dislike it. I was jazzgnostic. He said that he used to be the same way, he didn't get it. But, his dad was a jazz fan, so he had music on hand to check out if he wanted to. He said that it was while listening to John Coltrane's A Love Supreme that he "got" jazz. His description made it sound like a light bulb went off, like some sort of musical epiphany. He made it sound so desirable that it was hard not to want to experience the same thing. So, I went out and bought A Love Supreme. Yeah, I know, like lightning's gonna strike twice. But it did hit me, hard enough that the door had been opened.

A Love Supreme was recorded fifty years ago, in December of 1964. I ran into a mention of that on a blog, and went digging. Here's some cool stuff, starting with the first two movements of A Love Supreme, "Acknowledgement" and "Resolution", which also comprise the first side of the LP. I wasn't able to find the two from side two, "Pursuance" add "Psalm", but the full album can be heard streaming at YouTube. Also check out the video above. It's the only existing footage of Coltrane performing A Love Supreme, the only time he ever performed it live. It's only a portion of the entire piece. Footage of half of the performance was destroyed, lost forever.

There's a thing on the Smithsonian site about photos of the session. They'd gone missing for fifty years. There's also links to a documentary, and another blog with nine more notable songs from other LPs. If you're not in the mood, at least bookmark some of these. They may come in handy some day.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Listen:
John Coltrane - Acknowledgement mp3 at Get The Curse (?)
John Coltrane - Resolution mp3 at The Gio (?)
John Coltrane - Nine more songs at Rubber City Review
John Coltrane - A Love Supreme (streaming) at YouTube Entire LP
Video:
Saint John Coltrane - BBC Documentary at YouTube
Visit:
John Coltrane - Official site

John Coltrane at Wikipedia
A Love Supreme at Wikipedia The album entry
New Photos of John Coltrane Rediscovered 50 Years After They Were Shot at Smithsonian 

STUDY HALL DADDY-O

I'm in the thick of Coltrane stuff, and it looks as though I'll be at it for a while. There's link to a post down there with ten Coltrane songs and a mess of text. And here's a 43 minute documentary.about him. Dig in.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Listen:
Ten by John Coltrane at Rubber City Reviews Right click on song titles.

DEAR ROCKERS, DON'T BE CHICKEN

I put on John Coltrane's A Love Supreme LP last night when I was fixing dinner. Less then a minute into it, I had to stop what I was doing and give the music my full attention. There's a reason why that album is held in such high regard. It's freakishly good, and even on my stereo, which is sufficient but nowhere near excellent, it sounded as though the players were right there in my living room. At least part of it was the separation, which had Coltrane coming out of one speaker, but the production quality overall is unimpeachable. While it continued to play, I hurriedly finished making dinner. A couple minutes later, when I was chowing down on a carnitas burrito and listening to the second cut "Resolution" I stopped again to think, with that combination of the burrito and the song, it had been a very long time since my head absorbed that much sensory goodness at once.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~ 

Listen: 

John Coltrane - Resolution mp3 at Drummer World

Visit:

John Coltrane - Official site

John Coltrane at Wikipedia

THE LAST CRUNCH

I rarely play Christmas music. I can't really see having music that I'd only play one month out of the year. If I still threw holiday bashes like the good ol' days, I might want some. Although, come to think of it, when I did have holiday parties, the music was usually something like Mudhoney, Sonic Youth, Pussy Galore...that type of stuff (which should tell you how long it's been since I actually hosted parties). But they were ramshackle events anyway. Just a bunch of the usual suspects, getting drunk, with a tree in the corner. So, I tip my hat to the hosts of holiday parties, and say, with all the sincerity that I can muster, better you than me.

Here's a few to get you through the last day. But not without a few notes about some of the songs. Listening to the Mojo Nixon cut, I just realized how much he sounds like Peter Wolf, in the early J. Geils Band. The Donnas thing is a cover of a horrible song by the Waitresses, so even this version is a little ill-conceived. The Slade song isn't their most rocking, but it's Slade, a band dear to my garish plaid heart. The Dick Dale song is uncharacteristically mellow, but nice (your Mom will dig it). It's hard to believe that the Kink's "Father Christmas" is thirty years old, I still think of it as their newer stuff. The Julian Casablanca cover of the Saturday Night Live skit is here even though he's always kinda bugged me, but I guess he has a sense of humor. Poly Styrene's making a return, because she started this whole mess the day after Thanksgiving. And, after you've sent the kids to bed, you can relax by the fireplace, and listen to William Burroughs tell the story of Danny the car wiper's Christmas. Wind down with a few from "The Hipsters Guide to Basic Holiday Jazz," while you take a bite of one of the cookies that the kids left out for Santa, just so they will believe for one more year.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Mojo Nixon & the Toadliquors - It's Christmas Time mp3 at Good Rockin' Tonight
The Donnas - Christmas Wrapping mp3 at Good Rockin' Tonight
Slade - Merry Xmas Everybody mp3 at Jellynuts.com
The Ventures - White Christmas mp3 at My Aimz Is True
Shonen Knife - Space Christmas mp3 at Lost In Your In Box
The White Stripes - Candy Cane Children mp3 at Indie Rock Cafe
Dick Dale - Silent Night mp3 at My Aimz Is True
The Kinks - Father Christmas mp3 at Indie Rock Cafe
Julian Casablancas - I Wish It Were Christmas Today at Indie Rock Cafe
James Brown - Go Power at Christmas Time mp3 at Plain or Pan
Lee Perry w/Sandra Robinson - Merry Christmas, Happy New Year mp3 at Music Like Dirt
Poly Styrene - Black Christmas mp3 at Lost In Your In Box
William Buroughs - The Junky's Christmas mp3 at Music Like Dirt
Chet Baker - O Come All Ye Faithful mp3 at Can You See the Sunset
Dexter Gordon - The Christmas Song mp3 at Can You See the Sunset
John Coltrane - Greensleeves mp3 at Can You See the Sunset