CD-Charts Position 121
Average Rating:

.

Black Unity

CD-Charts > Music > Avant-garde
by: Pharoah Sanders

Release Date March 24, 1997
My friend loves this artist and says that this sound clip does nothing to attract one to this fab track....he says it actually starts quite mellow and builds up. He says that you should buy this one!

CD-Charts Position 122
Average Rating:

.

Translinear Light

CD-Charts > Music > Avant-garde
by: Alice Coltrane

Release Date November 01, 2004
I am currently listening to this album by Alice Coltrane aka Swamini Turiyasangitananda, which I have probably listened to about twenty times now in the last year. There is just one reason for that- this music is exhilarating. As you might see from my other reviews, I am not the kind of person who likes to criticise artists all the time, but in the past I have felt the need to attack the sort of spaced-out, spiritual jazz she produces, and still occasionally do now when I listen back on some of her earlier recordings. Some of it was just so obscure, so relentlessly alienating for those of us who were able to appreciate John Coltrane's music without having to dig deep down into Eastern culture. However, I think that this recording, (regrettably ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 123
Average Rating:

.

Animal Lover

CD-Charts > Music > Avant-garde
by: Residents

Release Date March 28, 2005
The odd thing about The Residents is that they are constantly challenging you to confront musical prejudices you don't know you have. At the beginning of this double CD it has all the hallmarks of a reasonably soothing middle of the road easy listening type of thing. But the strangeness of The Residents soon emarges as you listen. The strange harmonies, the odd notes seem wrong and yet strangly right. The singer's Louisiana drawl. Guest artists include some excellent vocals of the type you would normally expect to find on American compilation albums featuring carols and suchlike.

My first reaction was to scratch my head and exclaim "Hmmm!" and the end of disc one (Burn My Bones) which didn't so much end as fizzle out. Begging ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 124
Average Rating:

.

Point of Departure: Remastered

CD-Charts > Music > Avant-garde
by: Andrew Hill

Release Date June 07, 1999
History has been singularly unfair to Andrew Hill. He released several albums during the 1960s, but quickly thereafter faded into obscurity when he found no more funding to produce more records. However, this one disc is enough to mark him as a bandleader of great originality and imagination, and a composer of rare talent.

The band itself is very similar to that which recorded Eric Dolphy's masterpiece "Out to Lunch", but this session is by no means a simple rehash of those principles. The compositions are as far removed from Tin Pan Alley as Dolphy's, but they seem more immediately cohesive, and (though this be sacreligous to say as much), less wearing on the ear. The playing is terrific througout, especially from the 18 ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 125
Average Rating:

.

Serenity

CD-Charts > Music > Avant-garde
by: Bobo Stenson

Release Date June 26, 2000
How did you come to be checking out Bobo Stenson? Assuming that you didn't stumble onto this page while looking for Bobo the clown, the fact that you're here means that you're one of those out-of-the-ordinary musical explorers rather than one of the mainstream many who stick to the safe highways of easy-on-the-ear music. And I bet you're one of those inquisitive types who actually reads the liner notes and takes note of who plays what on which tracks.

So you're probably the sort of person who has the discrimination to recognize outstanding musicians, and the patience to listen to what they're doing. "Serenity" will reward you richly.

I first came across the great Bobo on Charles Lloyd's excellent "Fish out of water", bought on the ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 126
Average Rating:

.

In a Silent Way: the Complete Sessions

CD-Charts > Music > Avant-garde
by: Miles Davis

Release Date November 22, 2004
I had know the compiled version of "In a Silent Way" and loved it for years. I've listen it hundreds of times and never got bored of it. I frequently offered it to friends who I want to introduce to Miles' "New Jazz".

So I suspected that I would be disappointed by "the Complete Session". I wasn't! There is a lot more in the Complete Sessions than in the compiled version. Nothing boring! All good stuff, of the same quality as the compiled version - which is, by the way, is included in the album.

My recommendation: If you are not yet an aficionado of Miles' "New Jazz", start by buying the compiled album. If you like it - how couldn't you - give it to a friend and buy the Complete Session!

CD-Charts Position 127
Average Rating:

.

The Zoo Is Far

CD-Charts > Music > Avant-garde
by: Christian Wallumrod

Release Date March 19, 2007
I had know the compiled version of "In a Silent Way" and loved it for years. I've listen it hundreds of times and never got bored of it. I frequently offered it to friends who I want to introduce to Miles' "New Jazz".

So I suspected that I would be disappointed by "the Complete Session". I wasn't! There is a lot more in the Complete Sessions than in the compiled version. Nothing boring! All good stuff, of the same quality as the compiled version - which is, by the way, is included in the album.

My recommendation: If you are not yet an aficionado of Miles' "New Jazz", start by buying the compiled album. If you like it - how couldn't you - give it to a friend and buy the Complete Session!

CD-Charts Position 128
Average Rating:

.

Turn It Over

CD-Charts > Music > Avant-garde
by: Tony Williams Lifetime

Release Date November 10, 1997
This is an exploration of both inner and outer space by one of the best bands ever. John McLaughlin's aciddrenched guitar, pointing forward to his psychedelic classic "Devotion", the other-worldly organ of Larry Young and the driving, restless and bombastic drumming of maestro Tony Williams. Add to this bass-master Jack Bruce on a couple of tracks and you got this most wonderful combination of "Bitches Brew" and Cream, when they were best. Some of the most uncompromising and adventurous music ever on record.

CD-Charts Position 129
Average Rating:

.

Passing Images

CD-Charts > Music > Avant-garde
by: Frode Haltli, Arve Henriksen

Release Date January 29, 2007
This disc possesses the sense of space common to so much contemporary Norwegian music and at times it feels like it will collapse on too much examination so slight sounding are some of the songs. However, repeated listening does reveal some wonderful textures created by the unusual combination of Haltli's accordion, trumpet, voice and viola. In this regard probably the best reference point is the solo output of Arve Henriksen whose trumpet playing here is on top form. The other two contributors are the Maja Solveig Kjelstrup Ratkje whose haunting, wordless vocals are reminiscent of Maire Boine and Garth Knox's viola which sometimes reminds me of Mark Feldman's violin in John Abercrombie's Quartet and the German cellist Anja Lechner in her many recordings for ECM as it ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 130
Average Rating:

.

Easy Living

CD-Charts > Music > Avant-garde
by: Enrico Rava

Release Date March 22, 2004
Enrico Rava is a difficult one to categorise in jazz terms because his musis is not straightahead/bop nor is it free/avant- garde.Either way,this album is superb.Most of the pieces are of a relaxed tempo but are enlivened by subtle changes of tempo, passionate surging runs and excellent interplay between the horn players and the rhythm section.
Rava's sound,if youv'e not heard him before, is achingly beautifull on the slow tempo/ballad numbers and passionate and,at times,quite frantic on the up tempo numbers but always with a warmth that is hard to find amongst todays modern trail blazers.
This is a quality album from one of Europes (and the worlds) finest trumpet players.