Travis – Chanting with some Mingus-ee sounding piano. And I mean Mingus playing piano, not compositionally. Pretty wondrous mixture I wasn’t ever expecting. Mingus—ee then/now Radiohead sounding. The timing may be slightly shifting, or drifting, its hard to tell with the stratification of the two parts. It’s also sustained the vibe longer than I expected, I’m still expecting something to come crashing through. The piano solo I guess. It almost sounds as if two pieces have been incidentally mixed and then aligned in process. Haunting. Tom Donald & The Monks of Pluscarden Abbey – “Viro iniquo libera me Domine”
Dan – Charlie Rouse – “Hopscotch” – This strongly reminds me of Eddie Harris and Odean Pope material from the 70’s and I wasn’t expecting that from Rouse (Though Cinnamon Flower has vibes of this). He does have some interesting projects away from Monk, but this Strata East/Mack Avenue reissue would have been something that Rouse designed himself and that’s where I didn’t expect this as a stylistic decision coming from him, he sounds really experimental and we know him so much from his great collaborations with Monk, rather than as a leader. His other solo albums are very inside, Hard Bop and of course Le Jazz Modes, very different here. This album is more what I imagine he was hearing and wanted to create.
Nawi – Deep Reggae cut!!! Althea & Donna – “No More Fighting” – Nawi plays this because he had it and I just snapped it up at the shop, but haven’t actually heard it yet. This is a nice spoiler, though I was pretty sure it had quality content from the cover. I believe this was the hit and it seems like they were a surprise success, but not actually deep enough to create any other recordings. Some sites suggest they were meant to be sort of a joke or gimmick, but this song was a big hit. I’m looking forward to hearing the rest of the album.
Found Sounds 