Jack DeJohnette (Special Edition)
You can call me Al
one I already have, which is just called SPECIAL EDITION and by ECM?
Or, what else of DeJohnette is worth listening to ?
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Frank Steinle (ste...@dfki.uni-kl.de)
Dave Wayne
except his 2 latest (Earth Walk & Music for the 5th World), which are
MUCH, MUCH weaker than his earlier stuff. of all the Special Edition Lp's
(on ECM & IMPULSE) the BEST ones are: "Special Edition" (which you have),
"Album Album", "Tin Can Alley" and "Audio-Visual Scapes". The later
IMPULSE releases are more electronic (JD doubles on synths, Mick Goodrick
on elec. guitars, saxophonists Greg Osby & Gary Thomas play electronically
"souped-up" axes), while the ECM stuff is a turn away from the more
fusiony (but no less adventurous) sound of JD's earlier band "Directions".
now, Directions recorded for Prestige & ECM, and i unreservedly recommend
all of these Lp's. "Cosmic Chicken", "Untitled" and "New Rags" are the
best of those. He's also recorded an Lp of Piano Trios.."The Jack
DeJohnette Piano Album" i think is the title (can't remember the label).
JD has guested on INNUMERABLE sides by INNUMERABLE artists. to me, the
most memorable efforts are: "Timeless" and "Night" by John Abercrombie,
Micheal Brecker's first solo effort on IMPULSE, all the old Charles Lloyd
Lp's on ATLANTIC, all of his recordings with Miles Davis (Live at the
Fillmore East is ASS-KICKIN'!!!!!!!!), "Passion" by the late Polish
violinist Zbiginiew Siefert, the first Lp by the co-operative trio
"Gateway" (on ECM)...there are so many others. JD's most incendiary playing
of late is on Joe Lovano's latest solo Lp (on Blue Note). anyone who
thinks JD is letting his drumming slip (i've heard grumblings lataly)
NEEDS to hear this Lp (or CD or whatever...), because JD is simply
WONDERFUL thruoghout.
as a drummer, i can unequivocally state that Jack DeJohnette is a
completely awesome talent & perhaps the finest drummer (in any genre) in
the world today!!!
sorry about the unabashedly worshipful posting...
dave wayne
Keith Hedger
>frank...EVERYTHING by DeJohnette (as a leader) is worth getting, IMHO,
>except his 2 latest (Earth Walk & Music for the 5th World), which are
>MUCH, MUCH weaker than his earlier stuff. of all the Special Edition Lp's
>(on ECM & IMPULSE) the BEST ones are: "Special Edition" (which you have),
>"Album Album", "Tin Can Alley" and "Audio-Visual Scapes". The later
>IMPULSE releases are more electronic (JD doubles on synths, Mick Goodrick
>on elec. guitars, saxophonists Greg Osby & Gary Thomas play electronically
>"souped-up" axes), while the ECM stuff is a turn away from the more
>
>
>dave wayne
>
>
I would also HEARTILY recommend the two albums on ECM called `New
Directions' and 'New Directions Live'. This is a quartet with Eddie
Gomez on bass, Lester Bowie on trpt, and John Abercrombie on guitar.
These albums are great and they're both available on CD.
--
=============================================================
= Keith Hedger-- "Flipper suffered for their music... =
= Now it's your turn !!!! " =
=============================================================
Ed Price
>frank...EVERYTHING by DeJohnette (as a leader) is worth getting, IMHO,
>except his 2 latest (Earth Walk & Music for the 5th World), which are
>MUCH, MUCH weaker than his earlier stuff. of all the Special Edition Lp's
I heard some of Music for the 5th World recently. I thought some of
it was great! Some of it is cheesy; Jack should stay away from
synthesizers IMHO. But the first track really rocks.
Jack DeJohnette is not the leader on this, but ECM 1360/61 "Still
Live" (Keith Jarrett, Gary Peacock, Jack DeJohnette) is one of my
favorite recordings of all time; so I recommend it!! They all kick
ass on this record. Jack's drum solo on "The Song Is You", for
example, is great. He keeps this one hit going (on 4 every other bar
or something) for a long time, filling around it. While I'm on the
subject, there are two videos of the Standards Trio that are well
worth checking out. The second one is better IMHO. There's some
fantastic music on these. Fans of Jack can see him in action too.
I wish Keith and Jack would do some free improv duo gigs.
Another random thought: the spacesuits from Mario Bava's "Planet of
the Vampires" (AKA "The Demon Planet") are really cool, and I think
they would fit very well with Jack's fashion sense.
-Ed
Thomas Ford Brown
>except his 2 latest (Earth Walk & Music for the 5th World), which are
>MUCH, MUCH weaker than his earlier stuff. of all the Special Edition Lp's
>
>most memorable efforts are: "Timeless" and "Night" by John Abercrombie,
>Micheal Brecker's first solo effort on IMPULSE, all the old Charles Lloyd
>Lp's on ATLANTIC, all of his recordings with Miles Davis (Live at the
>Fillmore East is ASS-KICKIN'!!!!!!!!), "Passion" by the late Polish
>violinist Zbiginiew Siefert, the first Lp by the co-operative trio
>"Gateway" (on ECM)...there are so many others. JD's most incendiary playing
>of late is on Joe Lovano's latest solo Lp (on Blue Note). anyone who
>thinks JD is letting his drumming slip (i've heard grumblings lataly)
>NEEDS to hear this Lp (or CD or whatever...), because JD is simply
>WONDERFUL thruoghout.
>
Jean-Etienne Doucet
In article G...@HQ.Ileaf.COM, k...@HQ.Ileaf.COM (Keith Hedger) writes:
>>
>I would also HEARTILY recommend the two albums on ECM called `New
>Directions' and 'New Directions Live'. This is a quartet with Eddie
>Gomez on bass, Lester Bowie on trpt, and John Abercrombie on guitar.
>These albums are great and they're both available on CD.
>
>= Keith Hedger-- "Flipper suffered for their music... =
>= Now it's your turn !!!! " =
>=============================================================
BTW, does anyone know if "Gateway II" (ECM records) is available on CD ?
The first Gateway album can be found but I've never yet seen the II.
For those who don't already know Gateway = Abercrombie + Holland + De J.
Cheers.
--JED--
Marc Sabatella
> frank...EVERYTHING by DeJohnette (as a leader) is worth getting, IMHO,
> except his 2 latest (Earth Walk & Music for the 5th World), which are
> MUCH, MUCH weaker than his earlier stuff. of all the Special Edition Lp's
> (on ECM & IMPULSE) the BEST ones are: "Special Edition" (which you have),
> "Album Album", "Tin Can Alley" and "Audio-Visual Scapes".
I disagree with lumping "Earth Walk" and "Music for the 5th World" together
like this; I think "Earth Walk" is much closer - both stylistically and in
terms of quality - to "Audio-Visualscapes".
--
Marc Sabatella
ma...@fc.sde.hp.com
--
All opinions expressed herein are my personal ones
and do not necessarily reflect those of HP or anyone else.
Larry Martell
Dave Wayne
with me...), but DeJohnette's "...5th World" struck me as being very
"noodly"...lots of aimless, unfocussed wailing & not much going on in the
way of interesting compositions. i think "Earth walk" show early signs of
this lack of inspiration...several compositions are simply slightly
re-worked versions of things he's previously recorded. i've already traded
it in, so i can't back this up with any specific examples [don't you just
love heresay?:-)].
i'm not even going to go into the silly chanting on "...5th World". yuk.
audio-visualscapes is far superior, (IMHO, although it isn't the
pinnacle of his recorded acheivements) especially from a compositional
point of view. Osby & Thomas sounded fresh, energetic & had lots of
interesting ideas, plus JD's performance is more energetic. if you were
looking for a reference point to check ot the recorded works of JD, "audio
Visualscapes" is simply a more interesting place to start!!! i'd NEVER
EVER tell anyone NOT to buy a particular JD album/CD!!! beats seeing
people buying spyrogyra, kenny g, or whatever...
dave
Paolo Valladolid
percussion and (very realistic!) synth bass, Pat Metheny on guitar, guitar
synth, and Synclavier, and Herbie Hancock sticking to acoustic piano almost
exclusively except on the title track. They run the gamut from fusion to
free jazz and other musical places beyond category. My favorite track is
"Nine Over Reggae", with its polyrhythms. When I first heard the title track,
it was too out for me at the time, but it's grown on me; it sounds like
Brian Eno-meets-Ornette Coleman.
Paolo
Marc Sabatella
> marc...maybe it's just me (because i've yet to find another who agrees
> with me...), but DeJohnette's "...5th World" struck me as being very
> "noodly"...lots of aimless, unfocussed wailing & not much going on in the
> way of interesting compositions.
No, it's not just you; this has received almost universally dismal reviews from
what I've seen. I haven't heard it myself, so I can't comment.
> i think "Earth walk" show early signs of
> this lack of inspiration...several compositions are simply slightly
> re-worked versions of things he's previously recorded.
If this were necessarily bad, then we'd all have traded in all our Monk and
Bird albums as well.
I agree that Audio-Visualscapes is stronger than Earth Walk, but not by all
that much. And stylistically, Earth Walk is very similar to AV, whereas 5th
World is a different beast altogether. I just wanted to make that clear;
the differences between AV and EW are only a matter of degree, not a wholesale
change in style. For that reason, I group EW and AV together, while noting I
generally like AV better.
Alan McKay
I was wondering if anyone would get around to mentioning PR. I didn't like this
project much at all....a Metheny-dominated session; and for Pat, not a particularly
memorable one at that. I still have it at home, so maybe I'll give it another spin
tonight, and revisit it here manana. To each their own, but I find the Eno/Ornette
analog kind of odd...I recall thinking it was more like Pat Metheny-meets-Windham
Hill. ;>)
....al [who promises to pay close attention to "Nine Over Reggae"]
w.a. mckay
desert research institute
reno, nevada
Paolo Valladolid
A question just occured to me regarding this group, which became a quartet
when Dave Holland joined on bass for live gigs. I read in _Keyboard_ that
Chick Corea wrote music for the quartet to play and then record for a
_Keyboard_ Soundpage. Apparently, it didn't work out because one of the quartet
members refused (Chick Corea recorded the Soundpage himself with a quartet he
put together, with Joe Farrell's flute replacing Metheny's guitar). Metheny
was the only member of the Parallel Realities quartet who apparently never
worked with Corea, so it's my guess the refusing member was him.
So what's the story here? Any reason why Metheny or any other member of the
quartet refused to play Corea's music? I've been under the impression that
Pat was never too fond of Chick, at least as a musician, from his interviews.
Paolo
R. Lynn Rardin
>Dave Wayne (wa...@unssun.scs.unr.edu) wrote:
>
>> marc...maybe it's just me (because i've yet to find another who agrees
>> with me...), but DeJohnette's "...5th World" struck me as being very
>> "noodly"...lots of aimless, unfocussed wailing & not much going on in the
>> way of interesting compositions.
>
>No, it's not just you; this has received almost universally dismal reviews from
>what I've seen. I haven't heard it myself, so I can't comment.
Nope, it's definitely not just you, Wayne. I _have_ heard 5TH WORLD and agree
with you 100%. 5W was very disappointing.
-Lynn (rar...@auriga.rose.brandeis.edu)
Keith Hedger
>So what's the story here? Any reason why Metheny or any other member of the
>quartet refused to play Corea's music? I've been under the impression that
>Pat was never too fond of Chick, at least as a musician, from his interviews.
>
>Paolo
One possible answer is that the dissenter simply didn't want to play
in a 'creative' group; write tunes, produce the albums, tour, etc. and
then turn around and subjegate the group to Chick's writing whims....
--
=============================================================
= Keith Hedger| "Look at 'em...fuckin' normals... =
= | I hate 'em." =
=============================================================
Glenn W. Lea
: A question just occured to me regarding this group, which became a quartet
: when Dave Holland joined on bass for live gigs. I read in _Keyboard_ that
: Chick Corea wrote music for the quartet to play and then record for a
: _Keyboard_ Soundpage. Apparently, it didn't work out because one of the quartet
: members refused (Chick Corea recorded the Soundpage himself with a quartet he
: put together, with Joe Farrell's flute replacing Metheny's guitar). Metheny
: was the only member of the Parallel Realities quartet who apparently never
: worked with Corea, so it's my guess the refusing member was him.
: So what's the story here? Any reason why Metheny or any other member of the
: quartet refused to play Corea's music? I've been under the impression that
: Pat was never too fond of Chick, at least as a musician, from his interviews.
Pardon my ignorance, but what is a "_Keyboard_ Soundpage"?
Going on the assumption that it's some sort of recording (a sample,
perhaps?), perhaps the dissenter, for contractoral or personal
reasons, chooses not to appear on such thingies. Just wildassed
speculation, but no more so than the above.
--
Glenn Lea
g...@genrad.com
Paolo Valladolid
>
>> marc...maybe it's just me (because i've yet to find another who agrees
>> with me...), but DeJohnette's "...5th World" struck me as being very
>> "noodly"...lots of aimless, unfocussed wailing & not much going on in the
>> way of interesting compositions.
I agree with you here. It sounds like a Living Colour album (with the presence
of Vernon Reid and Will Calhoun on drums (as if Jack really needed another
drummer!)) with John Scofield guesting on lead guitar. I'm not putting down
Living Colour; in fact, they're one of my favorite rock groups, but _5th
World_ is pretty much a rock album, not a jazz album, and not even a good rock
album at that.
Paolo
Paolo Valladolid
>(I) wrote:
>>I'd like to put in a good word for _Parallel Realities_, featuring Jack on
>
>I was wondering if anyone would get around to mentioning PR. I didn't like this
>project much at all....a Metheny-dominated session; and for Pat, not a particularly
>memorable one at that. I still have it at home, so maybe I'll give it another spin
>tonight, and revisit it here manana. To each their own, but I find the Eno/Ornette
>analog kind of odd...I recall thinking it was more like Pat Metheny-meets-Windham
>Hill. ;>)
OK, I'll confess I bought this album because I'm a Metheny fan :-). What I
liked about the fusion tunes (while not particulary groundbreaking) were that
they reminded me of the early Metheny Group sound when they were a quartet and
they had Mark Egan on bass. I guess the Eno/Coleman analogy comes from the
Coleman-like melody line which begins "Parallel Realities", then the ambient
parts where the music becomes very minimalist, with the samples of people
splashing in water thrown in, then the free jazz blowing section.
I doubt that this album would be considered essential listening for DeJohnette,
Hancock, or Metheny as there are many other albums by these artists that are
considered "essential", but I still think its worth checking out.
Paolo
Paolo
Alan McKay
I wrote:
>>I was wondering if anyone would get around to mentioning PR. I didn't like this
>>project much at all....a Metheny-dominated session; and for Pat, not a particularly
>>memorable one at that. I still have it at home, so maybe I'll give it another spin
>>tonight, and revisit it here manana. To each their own, but I find the Eno/Ornette
>>analog kind of odd...I recall thinking it was more like Pat Metheny-meets-Windham
>>Hill. ;>)
Then Paolo wrote:
>OK, I'll confess I bought this album because I'm a Metheny fan :-). What I
>liked about the fusion tunes (while not particulary groundbreaking) were that
>they reminded me of the early Metheny Group sound when they were a quartet and
>they had Mark Egan on bass. I guess the Eno/Coleman analogy comes from the
>Coleman-like melody line which begins "Parallel Realities", then the ambient
>parts where the music becomes very minimalist, with the samples of people
>splashing in water thrown in, then the free jazz blowing section.
I guess early Metheny w/ Egan is an accurate description of much of this. The
song which originally caught my attention on the radio, and probably the
inspiration for my purchase (in addition to a lineup which included Jack and
Herbie), was "John McKee". In revisiting the CD the other night, that is ~still~
my favorite cut on the recording; and interestingly, it is the least
"Methenyesque" of the bunch, wouldn't you say? Pretty straight-ahead tune,
but good groove, and has some of Herbie's best stuff on the outing, imho.
On "Nine Over Reggae", by contrast, I'm not even sure you could hear Herbie.
I wouldn't advise someone ~not~ to buy this, but I would definitely "warn" them
that they should be ready for a healthy dose of late-70's Pat.
...al