Listen To This Part 4: Mahjong

Might be pushing my luck doing another one of these threads so soon, but both luke and corpse spunked their pants when i sent them this:

not entirely disimilar to intense's 'dope'.

you get that cymbal and tom introduction that sounds like some ancient dynastic king or emporer entering some kind of ceremonial situation.

the quartal chord voicings sound very oriental to me (i don't actually know if chinese music uses such voicings). so it's all a bit ming dynsty, but not in a camp or theatrical way. its very pure. very emotional. images of fields and all that. expansive horizons.

the pedal point on the bass (that droning bong of the bass and the piano at the begning of every bar) is meditative like a musical mantra. its a sedative.

i always compare mccoy tyner to poseidon. there's something very tidal about his playing. chords sound like splashing waves against a ship.

the sax sounds like its in the dorian mode. things like scarborrough fair and greensleeves and celtic music generally are our first experiences with that mode, so its lending a lot of ancient, old timey connotations. its got that epic quality to it.

there's that horrible bluesy turnaround that sounds all hokey. not keen on that.

mccoy tyner's left handed, so is known for his really powerfull bass parts of his piano. you can hear that in his solo. majestic. muscular. again, it's poseidon. evlin jones' crash cymbals sounds like the froth and spittle of crashing waves in your face. its like a boat being furiously tugged from side to side in a storm.

wayne's solo is gorgeous. so yearning. those long notes moaning. calling out. weeping. his tone's really pure and child like too. none of the sonny rollins/joe henderson throaty growl.

this isn't the best track to show off the genius of elvin jones, but you do get to hear some of his stumbliness. his jaggendess, like droid was talking about with gza. those snares that trip you up. occasional flicks of his great triplets he does: ska ta ta, ska ta ta.


wow that wayne motif right at the end is magnificent. a real triumphant rise of the army. the sun emerging after a bloody night's war. and they fade out on it so that it feels like it goes on forver. that moment suspend for eternity.

top 5 acoutstic jazz songs that is.

pattycakes will save this thread.

he'll write a polemic so potent and so poignant it'll reduce us to tears. it'll document how cold chains, whips and slave ships tried to break to soul of the black man and how they rose from despair and offered the whole world a vision of hope and perseverance whatever their colour, class and creed. slavery, he will tell us, was an attempt to degrade a people and to wipe away their humanity. but culture is what truly makes us human patty shall proclaim. and it is through this culture that those enslaved peoples asserted their humanity. it is righteous music he shall declare. morally and spiritually urgent.

when he's finished we'll stand up and cheer and applaud him. we will discard all our soulless, degenerate music. i'll never listen to a song about shooting someone in the face again.

patty shall purify and cleanse us. inspire us. fill our hearts with an empathetic elation. he will change the world.

say something about it luke. i know you're ill, but say something anyway.

oh i see. fair enough.

what does kumar think? catalog? danny l? droid? big knob blissblog?

so many people with whole universes inside them that i'd like a little glimpse of.

corpse why is this better than all the other jazz that you don't like?

third's all sophisticated with jazz. likes mid-60's joe henderson hard bop and 25 minute mccoy tyner modal suites. he'll have somehting good to say.

can craner's dad please join in with the thread. thank you.

ahem