“Everything was worth a trial, just to see. Picasso had the curiosity of the juggler seeking the ball best suited to his hand.” Pierre Descargues “You get the right guys to play the right thing at the right time and you got a motherfucker. You got everything you need.” Miles Davis Drawing parallels between the … Continue reading Miles Davis – Sorcerer (1967)
Sam Rivers, a veteran jazz multi-instrumentalist, was forty-two years old when he assembled this Blue Note LP, only his second as leader. Unlike his debut Fuchsia Swing Song (1964) which, while adventurous, was unmistakably hard-bop, his approach on Contours is resolutely avant garde and informed by new ideas in jazz and influences absorbed during his … Continue reading Sam Rivers – Contours (1965)
Realising his early '70s "space-albums" Mwandishi, Crossings and Sextant had hardly set the world on fire, Herbie Hancock was deeply conflicted. The man wanted to make audacious art but he also wanted to be loved. By wishing so much to be considered by the critics as a jazz-great alongside Coltrane and Miles Davis he forgot … Continue reading Herbie Hancock – Thrust (1974)
From the same benefit concert that delivered the astonishing My Funny Valentine LP, this album has explosive performances from all members of the quintet. To quote Miles Davis from his autobiography - "we just blew the top off that place that night. It was a motherfucker the way everybody played - and I mean everybody". … Continue reading Miles Davis – “Four” & More (1964)
Jazz of the Spheres 