Wednesday, February 01, 2006

Some good music

A small list of fairly recent (2004-2005) jazz CDs that I'm currently enjoying:

  • Alice Coltrane, Translinear Light: The long-awaited return of John Coltrane's widow and pianist (after McCoy Tyner left), with son Ravi Coltrane as producer and contributing saxophone player

  • Dave Douglas, Keystone: Compositions inspired by the films of Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle; includes DVD with "Fatty and Mabel Afloat" accompanied by Douglas's music. This show is also on the road.


  • Branford Marsalis, Eternal: Surely one of Branford's loveliest recordings; I've long wanted to really like one of his CDs (after all, he worked with Sting and has a concert album recorded in Bloomington, IN--it's the nostalgia/sentimental thing), but none ever quite did it for me. This collection of ballads, though, hits the spot. Beautiful, beautiful playing.


  • Paul Motian, I Have the Room Above Her: Motian is a fabulous drummer--impressionistic, consummately improvisational. He joins with the distinctive guitarist Bill Frissell and saxophone great Joe Lovano.

1 comment:

chris said...

I'll have to try to check out some of these albums. On long drives when i'm looking for something a lil different than my normal R&B, rap or classic rock i'll slip in some Coltrane or Miles. But the thing is, i don't really get into it. Jazz that is. It's relaxing, and it's nice background music, but i don't really listen to it the same way i do other stuff. I'm have been/am trying to cultivate a taste for it... Maybe one of these albums'll spark a flame.