Jazz on the line between noise and beauty.
Marion Brown - Introduction
Despite the name, the fourth track from 1973's Geechee Recollections, one of the odd and under appreciated ax-man's finest hours.
Matthew Shipp - When Johnny Comes Marching Home.
It's easy to be put off by Shipp, who insists on releasing more albums than can be absorbed, all while working with electronics and collaborating with people like hiphop label Def Jux head El-P. Don't be—he just may be the most creative and dynamic pianist playing these days. And even he's put to the test keeping up with bassist William Parker, one of the few who knows how to make a bass sing, and howl.
Ahmad Jamal - Autumn Leaves
Almost too musical. At the least, it arouses one's suspicion.
Duke Ellington, Charlie Mingus & Max Roach - Money Jungle
Seminal, and as far outside as Duke ever got. Mingus sounds possessed here, and there's a real fuck-you-just-try-to-keep-time-to-this aspect to his playing. Somehow, I always think of the phrase "bug music" when I put this on.
Hossam Ramzy, Sarvar Sabri, Emmanuel Tago & Miguel Castro - Rangoli
Instruments? Real percussionists don't need no stinking instruments, not even percussive ones.
Billy Bang - In a Minute
The first of two brief cuts from the great violinist's awesome album Invitation.
Roy Burrowes - Jericho Jazz
I've had a hard time finding out much about this album (Reggae Au Go Jazz) online. What I know is that it's got Jackie Mittoo on the keys and Clifford Jordan and Charles Davis on sax, and that's it's at least as good as that ought to make it. A surprisingly natural and appealing combination of sounds.
Sonny Sharrock - Hit Single
Didja know Sharrock started off singing in a doo wop group? Me neither. Nor does it explain the fire he brought to this, from the Space Ghost Coast to Coast sessions that were his last recording.
Miles Davis - Miles Runs the Voodoo Down (reprise)
Live at the Fillmore East, second set March 7, 1970. It's interesting to compare this really live cut with the official Sony release of Miles Davis at the Fillmore, which contains Davis and Teo Macero's edits and overdubs.
Mark Feldman & Sylvue Courvousier - Smoke
The sort of fullness and telepathy associated with, say, the classic Bill Evans trio. Very nervous music.
Max Roach & Abdullah Ibrahim - Inception
Continuing with duos, this starts skeletal, and fleshes out nicely once the future Dollar Brand butts in.
Earl Hines & Jaki Byard - Sweet Georgia Brown
Apologies for the best low bandwidth, but it hardly matters. Two of the best, put aside their usually very dissonant styles to make harmonious music together on a single piano.
Rashied Ali & Le Roy Jenkins
Filthy, furious funk.
Joe Maneri - Let Me Tell You
One critic called this Brooklyn born, Schoenberg-studying stud a player of "slippery, space-filled alien blues." Word.
Anthony Coleman - Disco By Night
Rarely is a song title so apropos. This is on John Zorn's old Avant label, and also serves as a good reminder that for all the pretentiousness of Zorn and the downtown scene, there's music there that's not easily dismissed.
Raymond Scott - War Dance for Wooden Indians
Scott never wrote music for cartoons; he just wrote tunes great enough to enliven animation's golden era, and endlessly echo in our brains.
Jerzy Milian - Serial Rag
How many Polish vibraphonists does it take to…
Embryo - Autumn Leaves
Krautrock with great vibes, and the inimitable Mal Waldron on the ivory.
Billy Bang - A Minute Later
Elmo Hope - When Johnny Comes Marching Home
Marion Brown - Ending
Bonus videos:
Insect Parasites
Mingus - A Short Biography
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