I went to Ahmad Jamal's quartet gig yesterday night... great show, great pianist, one of my "still alive" favorite.
Back home I couldn't help to share with you this classic tune from his acoustic piano period . This track is called "stolen moments" and came on the awakening album released 1970. It features Jamil Nasser on bass and Frank Gant on drums. It's originally written by Oliver Nelson and also appears on the album of Blues and the abstract Truth which is more orchestred than Jamal's trio. Both were signed on Impulse records
I brought to you a killer track from a scandinavian modern jazz band called Atomic...don't miss it fellaz...
Back in 2002, I've worked for this jazz Festival in Scotland. I remember to have in my hands this promo EP from a band that became in my opinion, one of the most exciting and creative group of the modern jazz scene.
Five musicians from Norway and Sweden doing their thing and doing it really great. Influences? Probably Coltrane and Don Cherry, the Free Jazz and the Blue note grooves of the 60's. Structure and rhythm lead by super double bassist Ingebrigt Flaten, Paul Nilssen-Love on drums and Havard Wiik on piano, remains as a solid foundation for free improvisation or expression for the Stockholm Front line of trumpeter Magnus Bro and saxophonist Fredrik Ljungkvist.
The track "prayer" appears in this promo Ep and was written by Ingebrigt Flaten who's now doing his solo career. I still look forward to seeing Atomic back on the europeean scenes. Check their website here
Blind man with a pistol - Chester Himes, 1969. 10/20 Chester Himes's two star detectives Ed Cercueil and John Fossoyeur (french names) got themselves in a "very hard to follow" story this time. The author's clunky prose still portray every negative aspect of the Harlem community in the late 60's: mindless, crime, vice, etc. The good point of this book is that Himes managed to capture and described well this chaos: a weird riot between three factions in which two cops are trapped. But as I said, the lack of central storyline makes it difficult to read because you 've got the feeling that pieces of this novel are slapped together. Usually in a Chester Himes story, politic and the situation of the black community are better linked. Definetely not his best novel so far...
Triksta - Nik Cohn, 2005. 12/20 Nik Cohn draws a rough portray of the New Orleans rap scene. evene if he made up most of the story, this book is still interesting to read. It deals with this white journalist (himself) who progressed from a writer, writing a magazine article about bounce music, to a New Orleans rap producer including his work with Junie.B for the release of the first 12' of Choppa. Yhe interesting thing is that this book has been written between the collapse of Mo'Money Records (owned by Master P) and the big succes of Lil Wayne.Recommended for the NO rap scene fans!
Train ride- Peter Loughran, 1967. 14/20 Train ride is the story of an absurd wanabee philosopher who's "headaching" and "hangovering" in a train.During the whole trip, he accuses with vehemence society, religion and the established order. This anarchist docker easily plays martyr as soon as he happens to commit an abomination. Irritated the entire ride by few nuns and a little girl who's the definition of brat. This narrator is a sick and disconcerting character who makes this book spreading its perversity to a point of disgust. Reading this book all the way through, we pardoned this pathetic hero with our brief sympathy and indulgence. Great book in a "nihilst" style.
The Black Dahlia - James Ellroy, 1987.15/20 The body of a girl that was brutaly tortured was found severed in half. Two cops (who are ex-boxing opponents) Lee Blanchard and Bucky Bleichert are assigned to the case... James Ellroy took real events from history and intertwines them with his own writting. The Black Dahlia obviously focuses on the murder of Elizabeth Short, one of the most unsolved enquiry in LA. The book starts with a nice descrition of a boxing match between bucky and Lee, these two characters are very well described along the story and I really like them. They're complex, faulted and their obsession in solving this crime and tracking down the murderer gets higher and higher.
Music to illustate this post: The french moog player Jean Jacques Perrey released this track in 1970 on the obscure jazz funk label Vanguard. I've got this tune from the LP compilation of 96 called "The vanguard experience - I like it" on the label BGP. This compilation includes various jazz/funk artists from the Vanguard records and especially this one which has been sampled by Primo on "just to get a rep". If you didn't know it, it's time too:
Hey fellaz, I miss you all, my computer crashed down so I had to wait few weeks before having enough cash to buy a brand new one! I wanted to do this post about my top 3 best hip hop shows of 2008 for a while...
The nominated are Hezkiah, La Cliqua, Supreme NTM, Bahamadia, Method Man and Redman, Talib Kweli, Leeroy, De La Soul, Zion I, Joell Ortiz, Jedi Mind Tricks, Rasco and Planet Asia, Dipset, El Da Sensei and the returners, Kaze, Jehst, Looptroop, Busta Rhymes, La Melodia, Mr Thing, Shapes of the broad Minds, Subtle/Thavius Beck, Sage Francis, Antipop Consortium, DJ Krush.
.....and the winner is
pic by Sylvain Clep
1- SAGE FRANCIS & B.DOLAN @ Epicerie Moderne - Feyzin, France 2- RASCO & PLANET ASIA better known as CALI AGENTS @ Royal Arena Festival -Biel, Switzerland 3- METHOD MAN & REDMAN @ Transbordeur - Lyon, France
Sage Francis is a great MC and showman, the track "underground for dummies" is lyrically strong in live, it appears on his last LP called "the human death dance". Sage Francis - Underground for dummies
The mc from Non Prophets and Anticon didn't forget to play an other classic from his debut-solo career: Sage Francis - the makeshift patriot
With a better sound and a better DJ, the Busta Rhymes show might have been in my top 3. Best non-hip hop show: Massive Attack with guests @ Nuits de Fourviere Festival - Lyon, France
As some of you might know, the local radio RCT closed few days ago, we did the last Blackline with le F.LE.A.U, Tahiti Bob, Flow and lots of guests on saturay. Thanks to all of you people who came for a mix, a playlist, a drink, some emceeing or even to show support…
I've played few indy tracks and some intrus for freestyles. Unfortunately I didn't tape the show. So here the last but one mix dedicated to the golden age of hip hop.
Ahmad Jamal - Stolen Moments
