With a main interest in jazz, I find the pace of this thread more to my liking. Can’t keep up with the “What are you spinning” at times.
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Posted by @anconkla on the other thread. Easy listening. Rendition of track 7 “Softly, as in a morning sunrise” is beautiful.
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Seeing Black Market reminds me of a another world music-ethno-jazz cross-over (later to be labeled ‘fusion’) album that changed my musical world at about the same period, the mid-70s, as Oregon:
Zawinul/Pastorius/Shorter/Acuna … these cats blew my doors off with something I had never heard before and haven’t since. Another album that had me bin diving in the Tower Records Jazz section to explore the idiom and what a ride it’s been since.
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Yes Weather report was a strong jazz starter for me in the '70’s, Mysterious Traveller, then backwards to Sweet Nighter, jumping forward to Black Market, followed by Heavy Weather. I now lean more to their earliest releases as the compositions and arrangements are more “complex”, Weather Report, I Sing The Body Electric, and Tokyo Live. Lost interest in the latter releases as they tended to be more jazz fusion “Hit” oriented.
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I swooped on a copy when Speakers Corner reissued Live in Tokyo. Weather Report unleashed. Wow.
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So how do you define jazz? The Third Stream movement, more or less defined by Gunther Schuller is one sub-genre. To my way of thinking third Stream Jazz is a fusion of classical music elements, especially chamber music, combined with more traditional jazz forms. John Lewis and the Modern Jazz Quartet comes to mind. Taking it to an extreme Manfred Eicher’s early ecm sound represented this sound with, at times, an addition of folk forms as well. Feel free to add sub-genres classified as jazz that you find may challenge the more traditional understanding of jazz as a musical form.
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Continuing the discussion of Third Stream Jazz, Manfred Eicher’s reissue of Jimmy Giuffre Trio’s 1961 recordings Fusion and Thesis, retitled Jimmy Giuffre 3 , are a strong example of the sub-genre. Especially beautiful is the piece Jesus Maria. I find this trio to be quite interesting in it’s lack of percussion. The Trio consists of Jimmy Giuffre on clarinet, Steve Swallow on double bass, and Paul Bley on piano. There are moments when I can imagine Paul Motian on percussion. Those uninitiated owe it to themselves an uninterrupted listen.
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Wow, well yes WOW! Somehow I have ended up with two copies, an original japanese release and the Speakers Corner as well. The Live performance provides more “drive” to the music than the studio performances. I would not be without any of the three.
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I did exactly the same thing.
Heavy Weather [specifically “Birdland”] was the gateway piece that introduced me to that genre. I wound up purchasing all of their albums in a very short period. This led to Return to Forever; Stanley Clarke, Al Di Meola and Chick Corea - as a group and as soloists. I still listen to these albums with some regularity.
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Coming back again to Third Stream Jazz, I had picked up a copy of George Russell’s Jazz in the Space Age. The primary motivation for the acquisition was the LP jacket cover and the title. Rather shallow I admit, but rewarded in the listening experience. After the first listen I looked more closely at the jacket to better understand just what I had acquired, Paul Bley and Bill Evans on piano. This album is a strong effort by George Russell.
I agree that as bands reach more and more folks, quite often their style evolves. Their lineup changed so much over that brief period that it kept it somewhat fresh. To me, the core group will always be Zawinul/Pastorius/Shorter/Acuna. They really pulled it off quite well.
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I was fortunate enough to have caught his live act at the Ritz back in the '88(?).
The man was an amazing musician with chops that would blow Clapton out of the water.
Double Trouble was a really tight band, you could see it, as well as hear it.
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What would be quintessential West Coast jazz albums? Something from Gerry Mulligan or Chet Baker? Or are there other artists that better typify that genre?
Let’s see if we can get some West Coast Jazz suggestions from the Forum Community. I’d say Gerry Mulligan and Chet Baker are good starter’s. Off the top of my head one that immediately comes to mind is Shelly Manne. Shelly Manne & his Men are somewhat of a bebop transition to West Coast Sound. I especially enjoy the series issued on Contemporary, Shelly Manne & His Men: At the Blackhawk Vol. 1-5.
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When I think of West Coast jazz. . . yes, Manne, Mulligan and Baker but also Cooper, Kenton, Pepper, Giuffre, Shank and Counce. And two great drummers each named Butler and another Hamilton.
One really “essential” and representative album would be 
Another 
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This is a groovy record that you can easily play for guests and will be asked for the great music.
For vinyl listeners, here’s the Speakers Corner (mastered by Kevin Gray) and the Audio Fideilty (mastered by Steve Goffman and Kevin Gray) release with the usual differences in sound. I need both.
The Atlantic Masters CD version is also not bad but not on the level of the LP‘s.
You will love the music if you don’t know it yet!
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Very nice to listen to.
Speaking of Curtis Counce and the West Coast sound, this is a fun one featuring Harold Land as well. The Analog Productions reissue is particularly fine sounding.
