Indo Jazz

[Woebot]

Yay! Let's have an Indo Jazz thread.

I'm doing a sleeve dump of some of the things I've picked up recently soon.

It's an amazingly fecund quarter actually. Think about the things it has inspired:

Minimalism:

La Monte Young. La Monte is simply an aestheticised stripped-back Alice Coltrane.
Phillip Glass. Likewise Phil's early stuff just extends the logic of Emil Richards and Bill Plummer's records.

Avant Disco:
Arthur Russell. Taught by Ali Akbar Khan. Those discs are (imho) just a orientalised/minimalised (see above) version of disco.

etc etc

Anyway my key thought is that in creating an "impossible" music (I mean it's a totally meaningless creation isn't it?) artists effectively stretched their concepts about what was feasible in music.

Perhaps it'd be good for people to today to work on more bizarre generic concoctions just to see what was thrown up. Like I dunno, Chinese House?

 

[sufi]

Jazz Jamaica

... more bizarre generic concoctions ...

how about Jamaica Jazz (not the band btw)
wasnt someone somewhere bemoaning the lack of crossover between jazz & reggae? well i have this 1off selection i sourced that kinda represents an overlooked genre, my guess that's due to it's cheesiness and easy-listening vibe which for me works fine,

this is really a mixed bag but tommy mccook seems to be the the classic genre progenitor

1. Ob-La-De Ob-La-Da - Tommy McCook Band
2. By the Rivers Of Babylon - Tommy McCook Band
3. Kingston Underground - Herbie Mann
4. Far East Dub - Phase One
5. Sax Logic - Phase One
6. Ramble - Rico
7. Africa - Rico
8. African Echoes - John Kpiaye
9. Respect to Mr Ranglin - John Kpiaye
10. Out of the Shadow - John Kpiaye
11. East Side, West Side - Negril
12. So Much Trouble - Rick Braum
13. Battle Hymn of the Republic - Herbie Mann
14. Could you be Loved - Patti Austin & Marc Antoing
15. Stir It Up - Phil Perry

wants:

Did you know that Ernest Ranglin did a pure jazz LP in New York in the sixties? I've got it somewhere and it's actually quite good. Count Ossie, Karl Bryan & Jackie Mittoo also did a fantastic jazz tune called 'Black Up'. The song 'Samia' by Count Ossie probably qualifies as well.

Also, there are great reggae versions of:
Take the 'A' Train (Duke Ellington originally, don't know who did the reggae version)
Take Five (Dave Brubeck, jazziest reggae version is 'Age of Revolution' by Lester Sterling)
Midnight In Moscow (Kenny Ball, Tommy McCook version called 'King's House Rock')
Peanut Vendor (trad cuban, covered by the Light of Saba)
Demauungwaani (Hugh Makasela, covered by the Light of Saba)

 

[henry s]

well, now that you've gone and mentioned John Kpiaye, I have to say that "Albatross" is about the most exquisitely gorgeous reggae track I can think of...

 

[zhao]

but there are loads of jamaican jazz? isn't that what ska is?

chinese house sounds horrible. chinese grime on the other hand... i should patent the idea before some other wannabe m. mclaren beats me to it!

 

[STN]

Glen DaCosta's sax version of Police and Thieves is well jazzy, as is this Cedric IM Brooks LP that I'll have to dig out when I get home (can't recall title). I think 'Ja' by Art Ensemble of Chicago merits a mention here too, even though it's more calypsoish (?), which reminds me of that calypso tune listing famous jazzmen...

What about Dennis Bovell's Jazzterpiece off the Babylon soundtrack LP?

I think Ronnie Jordan may have done a reggae/jazz LP but it was pretty horrid if memory serves...

 

[gabriel]

beenie man's nuff gal is a jazz dancehall classic

 

[henry s]

my pet "impossible music" has always been Acid Barbershop...The Shamen came close with "Omega Amigo", and darned if that ain't the best thing they've ever done...many tracks on the Kelley Polar LP ("My Beauty In The Moon") also point in that direction...

 

[Woebot]

chinese grime

yeah that's good.

 

[dHarry]

chinese grime on the other hand... i should patent the idea before some other wannabe m. mclaren beats me to it!

- wasn't that what sino-grime was, back in 2003/4? e.g. that Dizzee track "Stay on top" or whatever it was called, all about how he should have learned more in school, with the Japan (the band)-esque "orientalist" synths...

 

[Chris]

Anyway my key thought is that in creating an "impossible" music (I mean it's a totally meaningless creation isn't it?) artists effectively stretched their concepts about what was feasible in music.

Perhaps it'd be good for people to today to work on more bizarre generic concoctions just to see what was thrown up. Like I dunno, Chinese House?

Ooh... cool idea. I like that thought, Woebot, that artists could open up more creative possibilities by obliquely branching out to into influences that don't "make sense" as a pragmatic outgrowth based on any tangible culture phenomena happening... Hey, worked for Ricardo Villalobos with Fizheuer Zieheuer!

I recently picked up some old records of Greek dance and Czech folk, and what really jumps out at me are the "strange" modes that they play in. When people say that everything's been done (musically) in the 20th century, I always think of all of the modes (and foreign rhythms too) that haven't been explored yet in Western music. So far, I think we (the West) have mostly just flirted with vaguely Arabic sounding modes (usually the harmonic minor I think), or modes and pentatonic scales that vaguely suggest an Indian or Chinese flavor... but there are so still many colors on the pallet to work with, and they don't even have to necessarilly be used to signify any cultural context or influence (if they are, it might even come across as novelty, dilettantism, or like those corny [but charming] 50s "exotica" records). But yeah, it would be cool to hear artists explore some of these old "exotic" tonalities more...

 

[zhao]

- wasn't that what sino-grime was, back in 2003/4? e.g. that Dizzee track "Stay on top" or whatever it was called, all about how he should have learned more in school, with the Japan (the band)-esque "orientalist" synths...

i don't remember that track... always thought it weird in that other song where he goes "never had the desire for chinese food". poor guy... what you say Mr Sloane we take him to a proper Szechaun place

 

[tate]

always thought it weird in that other song where he goes "never had the desire for chinese food". poor guy... what you say Mr Sloane we take him to a proper Szechaun place

that's because he says "chinese zoots," not food

 

[Slothrop]

- wasn't that what sino-grime was, back in 2003/4?

Nah, actual chinese grime features sketchy imitations of cockney knees-up piano.

 

[mistersloane]

Nah, actual chinese grime features sketchy imitations of cockney knees-up piano.

yeah man! Featuring samples of Chas n Dave and the Libertines..

I think the hotpot might burn his tongue Zhao, and that'd be Bad News. We'd probably get sued.

 

[Woebot]

well i sort of wished to coax some knowledge out of the board. should have spotted the imminent derailment.

my post on this up now:

http://www.woebot.com/2007/07/indojazz.html

 

[sufi]

...instant derailment

my post on this up now:

http://www.woebot.com/2007/07/indojazz.html

yeah my bad - sorry bout that

 

[DannyL]

Nice to see Joe Harriot get a mention. Could you point out if there's any more writing about him on your site? I'm interested 'cos he's a relative of mine - my Dad's cousin (which also, I think, means I am related to Ainsley!). There's a link with him and the ska musicans in that apparently he trained at the Alpha Boys School.

 

[Woebot]

Nice to see Joe Harriot get a mention. Could you point out if there's any more writing about him on your site? I'm interested 'cos he's a relative of mine - my Dad's cousin (which also, I think, means I am related to Ainsley!). There's a link with him and the ska musicans in that apparently he trained at the Alpha Boys School.

Wow, nice work!

Joe Harriot is a seriously important figure. He's probably the most highly-regarded British Jazzer. I'm afraid I only know about him what either of us could discover via Google...

 

[barry_abs]

old records of Greek dance and Czech folk, and what really jumps out at me are the "strange" modes that they play in.

any names? i'd like to learn more, have a listen..

my favourite folk stuff is anything by The Pentangle and The Wicker Man OST, which i find hilarious in parts!

 

[DannyL]

Cheers, I'm sure you're aware of Alan Rovbertson's "Fire in the Soul" as well, which I still haven't read. I think Val Wilmer might be working on a book about him as well - she talked to my mum about it. Really hope that comes out.