Sunday, December 24, 2006

stuff we're listening to this week

1) the complete charlie parker dial sessions. i got this (on four cd's) at half price last year. when i first came to fort worth in '78, i had a cassette with just the master takes that got me through a cold winter in my shitty apartment in the shadow of ridglea bank. this is the music i hear when i think of parker. i don't even care if all the alternate takes are grouped together. this is one good thing it's impossible to get too much of.

2) mc5 1965-1968 (on vinyl, baby). the five's pre-white panther garage-band beginnings maketh the perfect soundtrack for editing interview transcripts from the teen a go go flick.

3) sonny rollins, a night at the village vanguard. recorded in the year of my genesis, this was the first live alb ever taped at the august greenwich village nightspot. a coupla yrs ago they released this as a double cd with all the alternate takes included as part of the rudy van gelder remaster series. this usedta be my least-preferred option among the rollins discs on my shelf, but lately it's become my most-preferred, prolly 'cos (like ornette's town hall 1962), it gives you the best oppo to hear the central improvising intelligence unencumbered by other soloists (other than the riddim boyzzz) or chordal instruments. sure, sonny's got other trio dates in catalog, but i'll take wilbur ware and a young elvin jones over, say, ray brown and shelly manne on way out west anytime.

4) charlie haden, haunted heart. this was part of the pretty-good gitanes jazz series that verve had out a decade or so ago, which also included some interesting joe henderson sides. on it, ornette's classic bassist and petra's dad creates the soundtrack to a '40s film noir that exists only in his head, in the company of stalwart angelenos ernie watts, alan broadbent (m.v.p. on this date), and larance marable.

5) billie holiday, lady in autumn: the best of the verve years. sure, her voice is cooked, but her phrasing and musicality remain intact.

with these on the box, i don't even miss the seasonal presence of vince guaraldi, jose feliciano, brenda lee, or the robert shaw chorale. so there. gotta go, the spaghetti sauce is almost ready. peace and goodwill.

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