This is how I feel about Jazz

1. "Universal Consciousness", Alice Coltrane

A couple weekends back I saw a bumper sticker saying: "Keep Honking! I'm Listening to Alice Coltranes 1971 Meteoric Sensation 'Universal Consciousness'". So I went to look that up—

When you listen to this, one of two things will happen: Either you'll go "uh…okay?", or your consciousness will physically leave your body. When I first listened, for six minutes I was unable to move or think. Free jazz psychic attack

2. "Jung-Ak", Soojin Suh Quartet

This is a Korean jazz trio (?) I randomly saw live after seeing a flier, and they were super good. If you listen to exactly one song by them I recommend the version of "Stream of Consciousness" they played in Toronto on Nov. 19, 2023. But I assume you do not have a time machine, so instead try this mysterious, meticulously-sculpted, cello-anchored piece from the same album. Cold waters lap gently above a deep, unexplained sadness

4. "Cosmos", John Coltrane with Pharoah Sanders

So. John Coltrane. Husband of Alice Coltrane, teacher to Miles Davis. This track (recorded live in Seattle in 1965) is Coltrane at his Most, with him and Sanders simultaneously playing in what doesn't really feel like a "duet" because the two saxophone lines seem to be ignoring each other totally. Maybe "duel". Note Coltrane's use of "overblowing", which basically means he played the sax wrong on purpose cuz he liked how it sounded.

You'll want to listen to this loud.

3. "Pharaoh's Dance", Miles Davis

I don't know that much about jazz. What I know is the standard sequence: Charlie Parker begat John Coltrane who begat Miles Davis.

"Bitches Brew" is probably Davis' most infamous album, recorded in 1969 as he was settling into his "weird stuff" period. My favorite part is the opening track, this experimental* but approachable 20-minute journey with a nervous, constantly escalating wild energy.

* What Jazz historians consider significant about this album (aside from it being one of Davis's early stabs into what would eventually become "Fusion") is it marks a turning point where rather than Jazz recordings just being records of a live session performance, Davis began incorporating studio techniques as were already in use in rock music, compositing many recordings into a cohesive whole. This one track has 13 musicians credited on it, including three keyboardists, one of them Chick Corea.

5. "Get Your Snack On", Amon Tobin

Consider pre-"ISAM" Amon Tobin, who was on something incredibly unique. No one else has ever thought about drums the way Tobin did during those years. Back then we lumped him in with "drum & bass", but he didn't follow any of D&B's rules. He built something new from sampling the already frenetic energy of jazz drumming and somehow doubling it.

Here's my favorite track from that era, a slow-motion explosion from the year 2000. It plays like a manifesto.

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grant green, "it ain't necessarily so" (1962) off THE COMPLETE QUARTETS WITH SONNY CLARK

grant green (elec. gtr) - sonny clark (piano) - sam jones (bass) - art blakey (drums) - (other tracks with louis hayes replacing blakey)

i told y'all before, i'll tell y'all again. it's so so dope to hear a traditional piano quartet format with a guitar replacing the horn and not feeling like it's missing something. can anyone fuck with grant green?? he is a stank face machine on this track. as adam neely would say, repetition legitimizes and grant isn't afraid of playing the same thing 5 times just to make sure you REALLY get it.

this set of quartets is the hardest hard bop, to me

yeah