As I type I’m listening to a Philip Glass opera I bought today, “”the CIVIL wars – a tree is best measured when it is down”. I really like the juxtaposition of Glass’ minimalistic music score with the less conventional opera arias, which consist in the main of very long single notes. On top of this, there are cut-up spoken word excerpts, one of which is by Laurie Anderson. Apparently Glass’ work is part five of a huge operatic piece which was intended to be performed at the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984 but ran out of steam. This part is certainly impressive….
I also bought Freddie Hubbard’s “A Soul Experiment” from 1969. He recorded this with a band used to playing with Aretha Franklin and James Brown. It’s more soul than jazz (as the album title, and several song titles suggest) but a corker of an LP nonetheless – featuring some scorching trumpet from “Hub”. The recording of the album was sandwiched between his participation in the wild free jazz of Coltrane’s “Ascension” and his own big hit album, “Red Clay”, recorded for Creed Taylor’s CTI label, home too in the early 70’s of Deodato.
I think I have around 15 or so Freddie Hubbard CDs covering his output from the early 60’s to the mid 70’s and each and every one is a good album. Although not as great a progressive as Miles Davis perhaps, I believe he’s a better trumpet player…
…as too was, again perhaps, Lee Morgan, whose 1966 album “Charisma” I also bought today. Another great mid sixties Blue Note release, it features Jackie McLean, Hank Mobley, Cedar Walton, Paul Chambers (who died before the album was released) and Billy Higgins. What a sextet – a superb six track set this one.
Disappointment of the day was Archie Shepp’s 1972 effort, “The Cry of My People”. A “worthy” album championing Black Power but, as I mentioned recently, I feel vocals in jazz just don’t make it, man – a bit like brown shoes…Having said that, the first track, “Rest Enough” is probably worth the price of the CD on it’s own, so not a complete failure…
While picking up the discs to scan covers to upload, I also came upon the latest free CD from my subscription to “The Wire” magazine. It’s strap line is “Adventures in Modern Music” and it takes itself and its raison d’etre very seriously…a lot of the writing is hard going in its self reverential way, but since first subscribing around three and a half years ago, I’ve received around 40 free CDs of, at times quite startling, at times utter pish, new music. It’s an education.
Mr Alan Brodie, my oldest friend got in contact again today and we’re meeting up tomorrow at the record fair in Edinburgh, possibly with Dr Prog, though the latter couldn’t promise attendance. By coincidence, all three of us will be attending the Stockhausen concert next Saturday night…
Back in their heyday in the mid eighties, the record fairs used to be packed full of traders and punters alike – you literally couldn’t move at times they were so busy. In those days I had a stall selling live tapes, mainly radio broadcasts – I hated the audience tapes where all you could here was the crowd – it was from there that I progressed to the shop, Reptile Records in the 90s.
But nowadays, they are sad affairs with just a handful of die-hard stallholders and a pathetic number of customers rattling around a cavernous room. But we still go along to see if we can stumble across some long forgotten gem in the last few racks of goods on offer….
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