Horace Silver, Clifford Brown, Art Blakey, does it get any better! Live at Birdland in 1954, with the bebop scene in full swing (pun intended!) this is an example of improvisational jazz at its very best. The double bass and drums drives the piano comping, while some utterly brilliant trumpet and sax blows over the top. An album of jazz tunes that I don't really know that well, the exception being Night in Tunisia, but it's an opportunity to hear how the music should be played. Really good album, but on a side note when the audience applauds there sounds like there is only about ten people in the joint!
Standout Tracks: Night in Tunisia
More wierd shizzle. This is a strange concoction of jazz, noise, people blowing the living daylights out of saxophones in an attempt to make screaming noises instead of notes. Reminds me of Albert Ayler and his bunch of tosh way back in the early days of this journey. This album doesn't know what it wants to be, lots of chromaticism, out of tune instruments, wailing and warbling. Arty farty stuff - not very good at all. Years ahead of its time the blurb said about it - perhaps so many years ahead that we haven't actually arrived at "it's time" yet. I'm a fan of odd music, but it's safe to say I won't be going back to this mixture of tuneless drivel for a while.
Standout Tracks: Why (It's not good, it just stands out as having a melody).
I suppose some sort of minor celebration is in order, as this is my 50th post on the blog (or alternatively, and more accurately, the 50th day I have spent listening to all manner of music from the wierd to the wonderful, the sublime to the shi....). Been a good journey all told so far, here's to the next 50 posts!
