Industrial Zen - John McLaughlin

What an album. Found it a bit dense the first time that I listened to it. He uses lots of patterns in an even meter which can mean that it sounds mechanical. You could say appropriate for an album of this title. It is one of those albums that benefits from lots of listening. Most of the tracks are dedicated to significant people. e.g. Michael Brecker, Wayne Shorter, mostly musicians but even the Dalai Lama gets a look in. If you want to develop your ear for altered scales then To Bop or Not to Be (great title), which is the tune dedicated to Brecker, is superb. This may become one of my favourite all time albums.

There is a mailing list dedicated to discussion of John McLaughlin's music.

http://mailman.cs.cf.ac.uk/localpages/one-word/about.html

This link is a Jazzwise review http://www.jazzwise.com/news/item/1624

Avishai Cohen - live album

Just bought ACs new live album. No new material, apart from a cover of Caravan where he has changed the time signature which makes it a bit different but does not really add that much more interest to what is already a really good and versatile tune. How many people have covered Caravan and developed interesting arrangements? I love Chucho Valdes version of it on his brilliant New Conceptions album. Anyway, back to AC's new album. The real treat is it comes with a DVD of the gig which is in a New York jazz club. Unfortunately there is an interview with the musician which is pretty embarrassing. A mixture of inflated ego and implications that some supernatural force is working through him. Lets keep superstition out of music. Good music does lift the mood and takes you to another place but please, lets not get superstitious about it.

John Zorn - Acoustic Ladyland

Listening to Acoustic Ladyland reminded me of seeing John Zorn at the Crawley OutsideIn festival (run by Serious Productions) a few years ago. That really was thrash jazz. 30 seconds seem to be the average length of a tune, all at breakneck speed with lots of screaming from John's sax. Soooo I checked him out on YouTube last night. Naked City stuff pretty similar if slightly longer than what he was doing when I saw him. What I really liked though was his Mazada stuff. Mostly seemed to be impros on single jewish/gypsy scales with JZ arranging on the hoof. Would like to do some of this sort of stuff.

Progressive Rock and Modal Jazz

Listening to some progressive rock recently. As with Zappa there are lengthy and yet interesting solos on one chord. Often the music stays in one key and develops rythmical riffs with increasing variations. The effect is often quite hypnotic. In the fusion category this effect / method is common as well and makes the two styles very similar. Not unsurprisingly really. Fusion proponents would be Steps Ahead and the Brecker Brothers. Zawinul often develops in this way. For me the skill is in making the solos interesting through rythmic variations and developing the licks. It is also common for the band to interact more than in mainstream jazz (this point may be more debatable). I would also argue that progressive rock and modal jazz are more European than American. American standards tend to be AABA in form and follow some very predictable (cliched?) patterns of choruses and single solos. The European tradition of clasical music tends to favour length and development through movements. Kenny Garrett's Wayne's Thang is very modal, 3 chords only. His version on YouTube is lengthy but keeps the interest because of the developments in the soloing as well as the hypnotic effect in the repetitions. Some people are derogetory about this form of soloing as it does not require the ability to modulate over frequent changes. However developing a good modal solo requires greater skill in phrasing to retain the interest.

Saw Avishai Cohen last year at Ronnie's. I had heard NuNu from his Continuo album on Radio Fip. (At that time it was broadcast in central Brighton. It is the best radio station I have ever heard. However, after about 8 years of broadcasting some idiot reported it to the registration authorities. About 50% jazz. Mixes all music types so you might have some French accordion music followed by jazz followed by reggae followed by classical followed by salsa, etc. I plan to buy one of those systems that broadcasts internet radio around the house so that I can continue to get it as life is not the same without it.) That was the first time I had heard of him. Loved the groove and time signature as well as the strong melody so bought the album. Loved the album so went on ebay and bought all of his other albums. Every one is a gem. Have been listening hard to Colors (sic) recently and the band I am playing with at the moment have had a go at Smash which is from Continuo. When seeing him live bought his song book. Cohen played with Chic Corea for a while as his bass player.