Jazz Thoughts

In his excellent new article on Charles Mingus and Cecil Taylor's 1965 television appearance on Jazz: The Experimenters, Ethan Iverson states: "Those eager to condemn Ralph Ellison, Albert Murray, Stanley Crouch, and Wynton Marsalis as hopelessly conservative may want to stop and learn more about what they were trying to conserve."

I don't have any problem with what they were trying to conserve; I love the music they champion. What I take exception to is not what they were trying to conserve, but that they chose to do it at the expense of the music of iconoclasts like Cecil Taylor, Sun Ra, and late Miles Davis. "Jazz," as problematic as the term is, is nothing if not inclusive. So, yeah, I guess I'm eager to condemn Marsalis and Crouch for their lack of tolerance. Yeah, I am intolerant of their intolerance.

Jazz and Improvised Music

Derek Bailey

One of the distinguishing characteristics between jazz and improvised music is that jazz has American-born subject matters such as romantic love, social justice and spirituality, while the subject of improvised music is the idealization of improvisation. (Bill Shoemaker, "Page One," Point of Departure 53 (2015-12)

Playlist, Week of 2016-05-01

My listening stream is expanding, because of my reading...still deep into Sun Ra, Coltrane, and Ingrid Laubrock/Tom Rainey, but now also delving into Miles Lost Quintet and Circle... great stuff I am revisiting and marveling at...also coming up, tons more Billy Strayhorn and Duke Ellington. Somehow this music all feeds on itself in my mind, influences and relationships churning and melding into a great body of music to hear and absorb. Not much room left over for rock, funk, or soul these days, I'm afraid.

Playlist 2016-05-02:

*Anthony Braxton: The Complete Braxton 1971
*Circle: Circulus
*Circle: Early Circle
*Rodger Coleman/Sam Byrd: 2015-12-28 Nashville (wav)
*Roger Coleman: Moogertron (wav)
*John Coltrane: The Classic Quartet: The Complete Impulse! Recordings (disc 6)
*John Coltrane: The Complete Sun Ship Session
*Miles Davis Quintet: Live in Europe 1969 (The Bootleg series, Vol. 2) (disc 4/DVD)
*Miles Davis: 1970-03-06 Fillmore East (CDR) (disc 2)
*Duke Ellington and His Orchestra: The Treasury Shows, Vol. 1 (disc 1)
*LARK: 2013-06-16 Brooklyn, NY (CDR)
*Ingrid Laubrock/Tom Rainey: 2013-02-25 Brooklyn, NY (CDR) (disc 2)
*Ingrid Laubrock’s Sleepthief: 2013-06-18 Brooklyn NY (CDR)
*Sun Ra and His Arkestra: Super-Sonic Jazz
*Sun Ra: Nubians of Plutonia
*Sun Ra: The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra, Vol. 3: The Lost Tapes
*Sun Ra: Disco 3000: The Complete Milan Concert 1978 (Art Yard) (disc 2)
*Sun Ra: Sun Ra and His Arkestra at Inter-Media Arts, April 1991
*Animal Collective: Water Curses
*Elvis Costello and the Roots: Wise Up Ghost
*Dr. Dog: Psychedelic Swamp
*Hatfield and the North: 1973-09-25 Paris
*Prince: Bootleg Selections (CDR compilation)
*Tool: Lateralus

Reading List, Week of 2016-05-01

Gluck makes the case for the cross-fertilization of 1969-1972 free jazz between Miles's Lost Quintet (not so "lost" now that there are many live recordings available, although it is sad that there are no studio recordings devoted solely to it), AACM transplanted to New York City via Paris, the loft jazz scene, and the continued strong influence of Coltrane's post-Ascension work. His book is especially valuable for its detailed analysis of the genesis of Circle, coming as it did straight out of the free explorations Dave Holland, Chick Corea, and Jack DeJohnette got into in the Lost Quintet's live performances once Miles left the bandstand, and then juiced and expanded by the additions of Barry Altschul and Anthony Braxton.

Reading List 2016-05-02:

*Leur, Walter van der. Something to Live For: The Music of Billy Strayhorn (started)
*Killeen, Terence. “Tackling the ‘errears and erroriboose’: Another look at the Rose/O’Hanlon Finnegans Wake,” in Genetic Joyce Studies (Spring 2013) (started/finished)
*Gluck, Bob. The Miles Davis Lost Quintet and Other Revolutionary Ensembles (finished)
*Bryson, Bill. A Short History of Nearly Everything (in progress)
*Oxford Handbook of Shakespeare, ed. Arthur F. Kinney (in progress)
*Segar, E. C. Complete E.C. Segar Popeye, Vol. 9: Dailies 1934-1935 (in progress)
*Sorrentino, Gilbert. Blue Pastoral (reread/in progress)

How Do You Play the Stars?

Great words on playing music, from the late Charlie Haden:

Well, I believe that jazz and improvised music allows the person who’s listening to it to touch a deeper place inside their souls that’s always been there but they've never discovered it. And the musician, some of them realize what they’re doing and some of them really don’t. A lot of the younger musicians who are just learning the art form, they think about jazz as the technical part, you know, the scales and the licks and the phrases that they have to learn in order to play hip, you know. And things like that and play the latest stuff. They don’t really think about where does beauty come from? You know, where does depth come from? Where do we come from? Why do we want to play? We come from the stars. And I always try to play the stars when I play. Try to get close to them, you know. It’s like when, when you go outside on a starry night, a clear night and you look up. One night I was driving and I saw the moon bigger than I’d ever seen it before, you know. How do you play that. To get close to those kinds of things that people don’t talk about, they don’t find words to talk about, to explain them, you know. That’s, my class, at Cal Arts, like I was saying, we talk about those things. We talk about what music teaches you. Music teaches you humility. It’s just like when I was talking about the mountain, I saw how small I was. When you really touch music and you’re playing, music shows you first your insignificance and your unimportance to the rest of the universe. And only after that you can see your true importance and your true significance. And that’s what real humility is about. And I tell them that if they want to become a great musician, they should strive to become a great person first. To become a good human being with humility and appreciation and givingness in their lives. And if they strive to do that then maybe, they may be able to become a good musician. (transcript from interview for Ken Burns' Jazz, 1996-12-12)

Great Jazz Albums from 1973 to 1990

So now I'm going to quote myself, from my older post of thoughts about perfect jazz recordings :

Years ago, there was a similar discussion somewhere about great jazz albums of the '70s, and I put together my own list and posted it on New Loft's old Myspace page. I went back to the Myspace graveyard to see if it was still there; they've revamped the site, and while some of our old content is still there, it looks like they blasted the blog portion. So I need to do some archaeology and find out if I've got that list floating around anywhere (hopefully with some link back to the original list that prompted it--it may be been some jazz board discussion).

Turns out it wasn't that hard at all to find it in my old files. The list was made back in 2006, as a response to an article/list by Ethan Iverson on great jazz records issued between 1973 and 1990. (That original article is no longer available on the web; at least, the link I had for it is dead, and the Wayback Machine from archive.org didn't have it either. However, in my 2006 post, I also referenced two other responses, which are still available and are quite nice: Night After Night's, and Darcy James Argue's.)

It looks like I was restricting myself to vinyl, as you can tell from my older comments:

I've been enjoying the discussion of great jazz recordings from 1973 to 1990 that's been going on recently in various blogs. It started here, at "Do The Math": http://thebadplus.typepad.com/dothemath/2006/08/ethan_iversons_.html Then he asked for more, and got tons of responses, including these: http://thebadplus.typepad.com/dothemath/2006/09/responses_vol_3.html ...Unfortunately, he closed down the invitation before I got a chance to respond! Well, since I love lists, and I also have a lot of vinyl from this era, when I really started getting into jazz in earnest, I'm just gonna go ahead and post my list here. I am not gonna have enough time to write comments on every single album, and this list is far from complete, it's just some faves. And it's vinyl only, and since I've sold a fair amount of records over the years as I've gotten them on CD (heresy? yes, probably), it's really far from complete. As you can see, my list starts to taper off in the mid-'80s, because that's when I started buying more CDs.

So, here's my 2006-compiled list of great jazz LPs that I have from 1973 to 1990:

1973 Art Ensemble of Chicago  Fanfare for the Warriors
1973 Ornette Coleman  Dancing in Your Head
1973 Santana  Welcome
1973 Joe Henderson  Multiple
1973 Dave Holland  Conference of the Birds
1973 Human Arts Ensemble  Under the Sun
1973 Chris McGregor's Brotherhood of Breath  Live at Willisau  I was thrilled to see this on a couple of other lists.  This is a great live album, brimming with ideas and energy.  I loved Mongezi Feza's work with Robert Wyatt, and it's great to hear him in this out-big-band context.
1973 Eberhard Weber Colours of Chloe
1974 Anthony Braxton  New York Fall 1974
1974 Santana  Lotus
1974 Bennie Maupin  The Jewel in the Lotus
1974 Charles Mingus  Changes One Great examples of the push-and-pull of in and out tendencies in Mingus's small group recordings.
1974 Charles Mingus  Changes Two
1974 Paul Motian  Tribute
1974 Dewey Redman Coincide
1974 Sam Rivers Crystals
1974 Archie Shepp  Kwanza
1975 Anthony Braxton  The Montreux/Berlin Concerts
1975 Julius Hemphill  Coon Bid'ness
1975 Keith Jarrett Shades
1975 Keith Jarrett Mysteries
1975 Don Pullen  Jazz a Confronto
1975 Don Pullen Capricorn Rising  w/Sam Rivers
1975 Sam Rivers  Sizzle
1975 Archie Shepp  Mariamar
1975 Weather Report Tale Spinnin'
1975 Anthony Braxton  Five Pieces 1975
1976 Anthony Braxton  Creative Orchestra Music 1976
1976 360 Degree Music Experience  In: Sanity
1976 Ornette Coleman  Body Meta
1976 Charlie Haden  Golden Number  Ornette on trumpet
1976 Sam Rivers  The Quest
1976 Sun Ra Live in Montreux  Damn, I don't have any Saturns on vinyl.  But I do have Live at Montreux, one of his best live albums, not the least because he combines well-recorded piano with moog so fluidly and effortlessly in the out pieces here. And Gilmore's solo on "Take the 'A' Train" is top-notch!
1976 Wildflowers: The New York Loft Jazz Sessions vol. 1, 2, 4, 5
1977 Billy Hart Enchance  "Corner Culture" (Redman, Oliver Lake, Hannibal Peterson, Don Pullen, Dave Holland)
1977 Hamiet Bluiett Orchestra, Duo & Septet
1977 Chris McGregor's Brotherhood of Breath  Procession: Live at Toulouse
1978 Anthony Braxton  NW5-9M4: For Trio
1978 Muhal Richard Abrams  LifeA BlineC  I saw Amina Claudine Myers in the '80s and, like the stupid star-struck geek that I am, went up to her and asked "What key are we in?"  She looked at me like I was  crazy...and I was, and still am, crazy for this fantastic record!
1978 Art Ensemble of Chicago  Nice Guys
1978 Lester Bowie  The 5th Power
1978 Bill Bruford Feels Good to Me
1978 Pete Christlieb/Warne Marsh Quintet  Apogee
1978 Charles Mingus  Cumbia & Jazz Fusion
1978 Louis Moholo Octet Sprits Rejoice
1978 David Murray Quartet The London Concert
1978 Sun Ra The Other Side of the Sun
1978 Cecil Taylor  One Too Many Salty Swift and Not Goodbye
1978 Cecil Taylor Unit
1978 Cecil Taylor 3 Phasis
1978 James Blood Ulmer  Tales of Captain Black
1978 David Murray 3D Family
1979 Henry Threadgill X-75 Volume 1
1979 Air  Air Lore
1979 Ornette Coleman  Of Human Feelings
1979 David Murray Trio Sweet Lovely
1979 Amina Claudine Myers  Song for Mother E
1979 Max Roach  The Long March
1980 Art Ensemble of Chicago  Full Force
1980 Art Ensemble of Chicago  Urban Bushmen
1980 Ronald Shannon Jackson & the Decoding Society  Eye on You
1980 Roscoe Mitchell and the Sound Ensemble  Snurdy McGurdy and Her Dancing Shoes
1980 David Murray Octet  Ming
1980 Music Revelation Ensemble  No Wave  Kudos to Amin Ali!  My old band Tad Thaddock used to play a twisted version of "Baby Talk"
1980 James Blood Ulmer  Are You Glad to Be in America?
1980 Bill Dixon In Italy Volume 1
1980 Bill Dixon In Italy Volume 2
1981 Ronald Shannon Jackson & the Decoding Society  Nasty (mainly for the 11-minute extravaganza "When We Return")
1981 Joseph Jarman/Don Moye  Earth Passage/Density
1981 Material Memory Serves
1981 Roscoe Mitchell and the Sound Ensemble  3 X 4 Eye
1981 David Murray Octet  Home
1981 James Blood Ulmer  Free Lancing  It's a damn crime that this, and Black Rock, haven't been re-released on CD.
1981 World Saxophone Quartet W.S.Q.
1982 Kip Hanrahan  Coup de Tete
1982 Kip Hanrahan  Desire Develops an Edge
1982 Ronald Shannon Jackson & the Decoding Society  Mandance
1982 Henry Threadgill Sextet When Was That?
1982 James Blood Ulmer  Black Rock
1983 Dave Holland  Life Cycle  solo cello
1983 Ronald Shannon Jackson & the Decoding Society  Barbeque Dog
1983 Roscoe Mitchell and the Sound and Space Ensembles
1983 Cecil Taylor Calling It the Eighth
1984 Cecil Taylor Segments II  Winged Serpent (Sliding Quadrants)
1984 Henry Threadgill Sextet  Subject to Change
1985 Ornette Coleman  Opening the Caravan of Dreams
1985 Ornette Coleman  Prime Design/Time Design
1985 Butch Morris Current Trends in Racism in Modern America
1986 Sonny Rollins  G-Man
1986 Last Exit  Last Exit My introduction to Brotzmann.  Boy, have I had fun catching up to his work over the years! And I'm still way behind.
1987 Ornette Coleman  In All Languages
1988 Last Exit  Iron Path
1989 Art Ensemble of Chicago  The Alternate Express

From my 2014 eyes, what'd I leave out? Miles, Pangaea and Agharta.  Not sure how that happened, since I was way into those albums when they first came out. Oh, well, the beauty of lists....

81 Perfect Jazz Recordings

Okay, after much deliberation, I am finally putting up my own humble list of perfect jazz recordings: 81, to be exact. If that number seems arbitrary, that's because it is; that number could have easily been twice as large and still only scratched the surface, at least by how I reckon it, by how I define perfect. I finally had to stop after a while, stop myself from just going through every single jazz recording I own, so I didn't do that...what I have done is largely from memory, plus I went through the Magic Jukebox, and supplemented it with some eyeball checks.

Like I said in my previous post, this list is a response to Richard Brody's New Yorker list and Robin Tomens' list on his blog Include Me Out. List-making strikes me as a very odd endeavor. It's fun to do, but the selection process by definition creates a sense of hierarchy that I sometimes feel guilty invoking. Let's call it a guilty pleasure. I also feel like I should put the words "perfect" and "jazz" in quotes , because I have so many caveats...so many that it almost renders a list like this pointless. But, as you can see, I made it anyway!

What is perfection? Can a recording be perfect and still have warts? Do those warts in fact help define perfection? Does perfection really mean "I wouldn't change anything about it?" Does a random squeak in a sax solo disqualify it from perfection, or does it add to its perfect character by defining it? Whatever. I like what Brody says: the tracks in his list "convey a sense of retrospective inevitability." I also like this:

The simplest definition of the list I have pulled together is that it has nothing to do with historical significance, solely to do with my own memory. They’re not only recordings that I revisit often (though I do) but recordings that come unbidden, that remember themselves, so to speak—earworms that multiply into ideas of music as such. They’re not necessarily “the best” or even the most exemplary of their performers; they’re recordings that have taken me over.

Yeah, let's go with that. I have gone here for recordings that are perfect...for me. It's not that different a list from recordings that I would call my favorites. The meaninglessness of lists like this starts to come into focus. Let's sharpen the focus by saying again that this list could be five times as long and still not exhaust the candidates. There are a lot of perfect jazz tracks out there!

Unlike the other lists that were my inspiration, I didn't restrict myself either chronologically or numerically, although I have to say my list doesn't have too much current stuff on it-- that's not a judgement on newer jazz, it's more of a statement on what floats my boat, and also on gaps in my listening. Then again, my gaps go way back too. Anyway, note also that there are a lot of predictable "classics" on this list, recordings readily venerated by scores of jazz fans before me. To that I say: they are classics for a reason.

So: here's the list, alphabetical by title. In case of multiple versions of a piece, I have tried to include the album title or the year  (or both) of the version I am listing.

1. Black Bottom Stomp (Jelly Roll Morton)
2. Body and Soul (Coleman Hawkins)
3. Bud P. (Dedicated to Bud Powell) (Muhal Richard Abrams)
4. Bulbs (Cecil Taylor)
5. Charlie M. (Art Ensemble of Chicago)
6. Chasin’ the Trane ("Complete 1961 Village Vanguard Recordings," disc 1)  (John Coltrane)
7. Comp. No. 40B (“Six Compositions: Quartet”) (Anthony Braxton)
8. Comp. No. 51 (“Creative Orchestra Music 1976”) (Anthony Braxton)
9. Comp. No. 159 (“Willisau (Quartet) 1991”) (Anthony Braxton)
10. Coney (Tom Rainey Trio)
11. Conversation (Charles Mingus)
12. Cotton Tail (1940, Victor) (Duke Ellington)
13. Dancing Shadows (“Nothing Is”) (Sun Ra)
14. Duke Ellington’s Sound of Love (“Changes One”)  (Charles Mingus)
15. Duplicity (Andrew Hill)
16. East Coasting (Charles Mingus)
17. Filles de Kilimanjaro (Miles Davis)
18. Four Winds (Dave Holland)
19. Girl from Ipanema (Getz/Gilberto)
20. Globe Unity 70 (Globe Unity Orchestra)
21. Hat and Beard (Eric Dolphy)
22. Home (David Murray Octet)
23. Images (“Jazz in Silhouette”) (Sun Ra)
24. It Never Entered My Mind (Miles Davis)
25. Ko-Ko (Victor, 1940) (Duke Ellington)
26. Ko-Ko (Savoy, 1945) (Charlie Parker)
27. Law years (Ornette Coleman)
28. Lineform on 7 (Roscoe Mitchell)
29. Liza (1937) (Benny Goodman Quartet)
30. Love (“First Meditations”) (John Coltrane)
31. Machine Gun (2nd take) (Peter Brotzmann)
32. Man in the Green Shirt (Weather Report)
33. Me Myself and I (Billie Holiday)
34. Merry-Go-Round (1933) (Duke Ellington)
35. Merry-Go-Round (1935) (Duke Ellington)
36. Ming (David Murray Octet)
37. Mr. P.C. (1961, “Live Trane: The European Tours” disc 2) (John Coltrane)
38. Moten Swing (Bennie Moten’s Kansas City Orchestra)
39. New Now Know How (Charles Mingus)
40. Night and Day (Billie Holiday)
41. Night in Tunisia (Dial, 1946) (Charlie Parker)
42. The Ninth Room (Art Ensemble of Chicago)
43. October (Sun Ra)
44. Old Gospel (Jackie McLean)
45. One Down, One Up (“Live at the Half Note: One Down, One Up”) (John Coltrane)
46. Parker’s Mood (Charlie Parker)
47/48. Peace on Earth (“Live in Japan,” both versions) (John Coltrane)
49. The Pearls (Jelly Roll Morton)
50. A Piece of Software (Henry Threadgill Sextet)
51. Plutonian Nights (Sun Ra)
52. Possession (“Sun Song”) (Sun Ra)
53. Practice Makes Perfect (Billie Holiday)
54. Prince of Darkness (Miles Davis)
55. Quadrant 4 (Billy Cobham)
56. Reincarnation of a Lovebird (Atlantic) (Charles Mingus)
57. Reminiscing in Tempo (Duke Ellington)
58. Rumpus in Richmond (Duke Ellington)
59. The Same Old Story (Billie Holiday)
60. Saturn ("The Singles") (Sun Ra)
61. Search Light Blues (Sun Ra)
62. The 7th Day (Freddie Hubbard)
63. Snurdy McGurdy and her Dancing Shoes (Roscoe Mitchell and the Sound Ensemble)
64. So What (live Copenhagen 1960) (Miles Davis)
65. Song with Orange (Charles Mingus)
66. Spanish Key (Miles Davis)
67. Springsville (Miles Davis)
68. The Stampede (Fletcher Henderson)
69. Somewhere Else (Sun Ra)
70/71. Stardust (both takes) (Louis Armstrong)
72. Stardust (live Fargo 1940) (Duke Ellington)
73. Sugar Foot Stomp (“Hocus Pocus”) (Fletcher Henderson)
74. Taht (Cecil Taylor)
75. Theme from “The Asphalt Jungle” (“Great Paris Concert”) (Duke Ellington)
76. Thoughts under a Dark Blue Light (Sun Ra)
77. Tight Like This (Louis Armstrong)
78. West End Blues (Louis Armstrong)
79. With (Exit)  (Cecil Taylor)
80. Yes or No (Wayne Shorter)
81. You Go to My Head (Billie Holiday)

Perfect Jazz Recordings

http://i614.photobucket.com/albums/tt226/WarrenSenders/Jazz/SunRa009.jpg

I haven't been making enough lists lately. Oh, I've got working lists all over the place--lists of songs to add to playlists, lists of songs to delete from the Magic Jukebox, lists of albums and artists to investigate, my lengthy, constantly growing list of books to read, the lists I keep of what I read, what I listen to, what I watch--but I still feel the need to compile and post more targeted lists, like the list of favorite John Gilmore solos that I am forever refining in my mind.

All of this is spurred on in part by Richard Brody's list of 66 perfect jazz recordings in the New Yorker--itself inspired by Sasha's list of perfect recordings (which I haven't looked at; it seems to be on Twitter or on Spotify--so sue me). I actually got to Brody's list via a post from the blog Include Me Out, 33 Perfect Jazz Tracks (which might be closer to my own personal tastes). At any rate, I eat this stuff up. I love going through other lists and the mental dialogue that ensues between myself and the listmaker (how could you leave this out? what on earth were you thinking? good god, I can't believe you included that; yes, why doesn't everybody see that this belongs on everybody's list, etc.), and I love starting to think about what my own list would look like (even if I rarely follow through with an actual list).

Should I then even try to compile my own list of x amount of perfect jazz recordings? Damn, I'm tempted. But my sense is that it would take too long, and time is something I don't have much of these days.

Years ago, there was a similar discussion somewhere about great jazz albums of the '70s, and I put together my own list and posted it on New Loft's old Myspace page. I went back to the Myspace graveyard to see if it was still there; they've revamped the site, and while some of our old content is still there, it looks like they blasted the blog portion. So I need to do some archaeology and find out if I've got that list floating around anywhere (hopefully with some link back to the original list that prompted it--it may be been some jazz board discussion).

Anyway, the point is that I recall that list taking a fair amount of time to compile--it involved going through all my collection as well as other lists to try to make sure I didn't miss anything. I can't just throw a list like this together off the top of my head. I get obsessed with getting it right and covering all the bases. I can't depend on just my memory anymore; I need visual and aural refreshing.

But I may cogitate over this and throw up a list at some point in the future. If I do, I won't stick to Include Me Out's self-imposed limitation of one piece per artist (sorry: five songs by Sun Ra or Mingus are worth more than one by Art Blakey). Some kind of limitation will have to be in effect, though, or else the list will just be too unwieldy. Just not that one. So watch this space. If you make one of your own, be sure and let me know!

Update: my list is here.

Deep Jazz

A friend of my daughter's asked if I could compile a list of "deep jazz" records...I interpreted that broadly and just compiled a partial list of some of my favorite jazz recordings, part recommendations, part personal faves, all great. For most of the major artists, it's practically impossible for me to choose "favorites," so take this as a sonic snapshot for 2013.  I give you....

Sam Byrd's list of DEEP JAZZ

(mostly albums, with some deep tracks as well) 2013

--not listed in any particular order

--far from "complete"--think of these listings as starting points

--no unofficial live recordings (otherwise I really would be here all day)

SUN RA

One of the most frequently-asked Ra-related questions on jazz boards and listservs seems to be "where do I start?"  A tough one. It's really, really hard to recommend even just a few of Sun Ra's records, because his career spans so many eras and styles. Without knowing what kind of stuff people are familiar with, or even like, or how much jazz they're already familiar with, or how experimental they can get, or how much tolerance they have for "noise," it's tricky to know which entrance to take. Well, this ain't that perfect list.  It's just a list of possibilities and favorites, listed roughly chronologically:

big band/hard bop era: (Chicago, late '50s/early '60s):

Jazz in Silhouette

Nubians of Plutonia

Angels and Demons at Play

We Travel the Spaceways

Interstellar Low Ways

starting to get more out, but pre-synth (NYC, early '60s):

Art Forms of Dimensions Tomorrow

Other Planes of There

diving in deep, still pre-synth (NYC, early- to mid-'60s):

Cosmic Tones for Mental Therapy

When Angels Speak of Love

Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra Vol. 2

The Magic City

Strange Strings

live, big band/exotica/out, still pre-synth (1966-68):

Nothing Is (with one of greatest Gilmore solos of all time, on "Dancing Shadows")

Pictures of Infinity

1/2 BBQ organ jazz, 1/2 moog freakout (1969/70):

My Brother the Wind Vol. II

2 moogs, beautiful melodies (1969/70):

My Brother the Wind

The Night of the Purple Moon 

live extravaganza, everything AND the kitchen sink:

Nuits de la Fondation Maeght Vol. I and II (1970)

Black Myth/Out in Space (1971)

Horizon (1971)

Nidhamu (1971)

studio perfection, out/abstract/compelling:

Astro Black (1972)

Space is the Place (Blue Thumb) (1972)

Pathways to Unknown Worlds (1973)

Friendly Love (1973?)

studio perfection, out/abstract/compelling + BBQ organ jazz (1972):

The Great Lost Sun Ra Albums (Cymbals/Crystal Spears)

                                                                       

smaller ensembles, heavy Gilmore:

Universe in Blue (1971)

Some Blues But Not the Kind That's Blue (1977)

live, moog heaven (1973):

Concert for the Comet Kohoutek

ultimate live (big band, synth, Gilmore):

Live at Montreux (1976)

quartet, lot of piano/Gilmore (1978):

New Steps

Other Voices, Other Blues

Disco 3000

Media Dream

slicker funk/space jazz (Philadelphia, late '70s):

Lanquidity

On Jupiter

Strange Celestial Road

solo piano:

Monorails and Satellites (1966)

Monorails and Satellites Vol. 2 (1966)

Piano Recital, Teatro La Fenice, Venezia (1977)

------------------------

Any one of these albums could be great starting places. Of course, once you get started, if you're intrigued, you should listen to all of them!!! And after these, there's so, so much more.

For excellent in-depth reviews of several of the albums listed there, and much more, see the "Sun Ra Sundays" section of Rodger's blog, at http://nuvoid.blogspot.com/search/label/Sun%20Ra%20Sunday

  

MILES DAVIS

It's almost easier to list what not to include; these are some of my favorites (subject to change):

Birth of the Cool

Relaxin' with the Miles Davis Quintet

Steamin' with the Miles Davis Quintet

Workin' with the Miles Davis Quintet

Cookin' with the Miles Davis Quintet

Miles Ahead

In Person: Friday and Saturday Nights at the Blackhawk, Complete

Complete Live at the Plugged Nickel 1965

Complete Columbia Studio Recordings of the Miles Davis Quintet 1965 to 1968

Miles Davis: Live in Europe 1967 (The Bootleg Series Vol. 1)

Filles de Kilimanjaro

Bitches Brew

Miles Davis Quintet: Live in Europe 1969 (The Bootleg series, Vol. 2)

Live at the Fillmore East, March 7, 1970: It's About that Time

Get Up with It

Pangaea

Agharta

plus a few "deep cuts" that no self-respecting jazz fan should be unfamiliar with:

Smooch (also see Mingus, Vassarlean/Pipe Dream/Weird Nightmare)

It Never Entered My Mind

Springsville

Four (live, from "Four & More")

Dolores

Prince of Darkness

Paraphernalia

Agitation (Europe 1967)

Filles de Kilimanjaro

Pharaoh's Dance

What I Say

He Loved Him Madly

Calypso Frelimo

Prelude, Pt. 1 (from "Agharta")

JOHN COLTRANE

Miles Davis & John Coltrane: Live in Stockholm 1960

Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane at Carnegie Hall

Complete 1961 Village Vanguard Recordings

A Love Supreme

First Meditations

Live at the Half Note: One Down, One Up

Transition

Live in Seattle

Live in Japan

Expression

Stellar Regions

Coltrane: other deep tracks (in rough chronological order):

Giant Steps

Countdown

Naima

Central Park West

Ole

Aisha

Dear Lord

Sun Ship

BILLIE HOLIDAY

Lady Day: The Complete Billie Holiday on Columbia 1933–1944

CHARLES MINGUS

Tijuana Moods

East Coasting

Mingus Dynasty

Mingus Ah Um

Charles Mingus Presents Charles Mingus

Let My Children Hear Music

Changes one/Two

Cumbia Jazz Fusion

Mingus: other deep tracks (in rough chronological order):

Pink Topsy

Miss Bliss

Extrasensory Perception

Purple Heart

Eulogy for Rudy Williams

Jump Monk

Pithecanthropus Erectus

Reincarnation of a Lovebird

Passions of a Woman Loved

Nouroog

Slippers

Vassarlean (aka Smooch, Weird Nightmare, Pipe Dream) prefer 1960 candid version

E's Flat, Ah's Flat Too

My Search

Portrait

Please Don't Come Back from the Moon

*anything from the 1964 European tour with Eric Dolphy, but especially:

Meditations (...on Integration, ...on a Pair of Wire Cutters, etc.)

CECIL TAYLOR (this list is probably too short)

Nefertiti the Beautiful One Has Come

Into the Hot (released under Gil Evans' name; tracks also on Mixed)

Unit Structures

Conquistador

The Great Concert of Cecil Taylor (w/Sam Rivers)

Cecil Taylor Unit

3 Phasis

Winged Serpent (Sliding Quadrants)

In Berlin '88 (box)

ANTHONY BRAXTON (this list is definitely too short)

3 Compositions of New Jazz

New York Fall 1974

Creative Orchestra Music 1976

For Trio (Comp. 76)

Seven Compositions 1978

Eugene

Willisau (Quartet) 1991 [or anything by the Crispell/Hemingway/Dresser quartet, really]

9 Compositions (Iridium) 2006

ANDREW HILL

Point of Departure (with Eric Dolphy)

Andrew! (with John Gilmore)

Involution (with Sam Rivers)

ERIC DOLPHY

Out to Lunch

anything from Mingus '64 European tour

deep tracks:

G.W.

Out There

Jitterbug Waltz

Music Matador

CIRCLE

Circle 1: Live in Germany Concert

Circle 2: Gathering

Paris Concert

JELLY ROLL MORTON

*prefer the JSP 5-CD set 1926-1930 Victor recordings, mastered by John R.T. Davies

FLETCHER HENDERSON

A Study in Frustration: The Fletcher Henderson Story

LOUIS ARMSTRONG

Hot Fives and Sevens (JSP) *prefer this 4-CD John R.T. Davies remastering

deep tracks:

Star Dust (both versions)

Rockin' Chair

I've Got the World on a String

DUKE ELLINGTON

Must-have box sets:

Centennial Edition: Complete RCA Victor Recordings: 1927-1973

The Complete 1932-1940 Brunswick, Columbia, and Master Recordings of Duke Ellington and His Famous Orchestra

Duke Ellington: 1936-40 Small Group Sessions

At the very least, for early (1920s-1932) stuff, explore:

The Okeh Ellington

Early Ellington: The Original Decca Recordings: The Complete Brunswick and Vocalion Recordings of Duke Ellington, 1926-1931

Early Ellington (1927-1934)

Jubilee Stomp (1920s RCA Victor)

Ellington: For '30s, besides the Mosaic set, check out:

Swing 1930 to 1938 (Robert Parker's Jazz Classics in Stereo)

Back Room Romp ('30s small band stuff)

Individual CDs:

Never No Lament: The Blanton-Webster Band

The Duke at Fargo 1940: Special 60th Anniversary Edition

Great Ellington Units (Blanton/Webster small band stuff, 1940-42)

Such Sweet Thunder

The Great Paris Concert

Far East Suite

And His Mother Called Him Bill

Deep tracks (really, way too many to mention here):

Reminiscing in Tempo

The Clothed Woman

Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue (Newport '58)

CHARLIE PARKER

The Complete Savoy & Dial Master Takes

Dizzy Gillespie/Charlie Parker: Town Hall, New York City, June 22, 1945

Complete Live Performances on Savoy

Jazz at Massey Hall

ART ENSEMBLE OF CHICAGO

The Art Ensemble: 1967/68

Live at Mandel Hall

Fanfare for the Warriors

Full Force

The Alternate Express

Deep tracks:

The Ninth Room

Tutankhamun

A Brain for the Seine

Dreaming of the Masters

Walking in the Moonlight

We Bop

RMR

ROSCOE MITCHELL
Sound

Nonaah

Snurdy McGurdy and Her Dancin' Shoes

3 x 4 Eye

Nine to Get Ready

Composition/Improvisation Nos. 1, 2 & 3

HENRY THREADGILL

Subject to Change

You Know the Number

Easily Slip into Another World

MUHAL RICHARD ABRAMS

Lifea Blinec

COLEMAN HAWKINS

Classic Coleman Hawkins Sessions 1922-1947 (includes lots of Fletcher!)

Deep tracks:

Body and Soul

Picasso

WAYNE SHORTER

Of course, anything with Miles, plus...

Anything on Blue Note, but especially:

Night Dreamer

JuJu

Speak No Evil

DAVID MURRAY OCTET

Ming

Home

ORNETTE COLEMAN

The Complete Science Fiction Sessions

Dancing in Your Head

Body Meta

Of Human Feelings

OTHER MISCELLANEOUS ALBUMS:

BILLY HART Enchance

DAVE HOLLAND Conference of the Birds

PETE CHRISTLIEB/WARNE MARSH QUINTET Apogee

BENNIE MAUPIN Jewel in the Lotus

CHRIS McGREGOR'S BROTHERHOOD OF BREATH Live at Willisau

GEORGE LEWIS Shadowgraph 5 (Sextet)

JACKIE McLEAN Old and New Gospel (with Ornette on trumpet)

LAST EXIT Last Exit

BOOKER LITTLE Out Front

DAVID TORN Prezens

WEATHER REPORT Tale Spinnin'

EVAN PARKER/DEREK BAILEY/HAN BENNINK: The Topography of the Lungs

SPONTANEOUS MUSIC ENSEMBLE Karyobin

ALAN SILVA & THE CELESTIAL COMMUNICATION ORCHESTRA (BYG)

DON PULLEN w/SAM RIVERS Capricorn Rising

PETER BROTZMANN The Complete Machine Gun Sessions

GLOBE UNITY ORCHESTRA Globe Unity 67 & 70

EVAN PARKER/TRANSATLANTIC ART ENSEMBLE Boustrophedon

ALBERT AYLER Live in Greenwich Village

SONNY ROLLINS A Night at the Village Vanguard

TOM RAINEY TRIO Camino Cielo Echo

INGRID LAUBROCK SLEEPTHIEF The Madness of Crowds

TAYLOR HO BYNUM SEXTET & 7-TETTE: Navigation (The Complete Firehouse 12 Recordings)

There was some ripping Miles Davis after On the Corner, in particular Get Up With It, Aghartha, Dark Magus and Pangaea, a roughly 3 year period from 72-75 where Davis and company recorded 4 double albums. Sort of at the same time, the Art Ensemble of Chicago returned from their sojourn to Paris to the US, Ornette Coleman began flirting with Prime Time, Cecil Taylor began performing and recording again after a stretch of obscurity, Anthony Braxton was writing some of his most innovative compositions, etc. The most fertile periods in jazz have always been those when the critics have insisted the music *wasn’t jazz*. Even John Hammond said this of Duke after the Carnegie Hall concert in 1941. “Duke’s not playing jazz anymore!” This is exactly what’s *irreverent* about Marsalis, by the way, this refusal to see the continually living breathing art form, to will it to stand still. Disrespectful and fatal. Worse than misguided. (Peter Breslin, comment to Rick Moody's Swinging Modern Sounds: A Post Somewhat about Jazz, 2008)

Did he mean *irrelevant*? Works that way too.