Tag Archives: ECM Jazz
1975 JAZZ | #10 — #1
#10 GEORGE DUKE — THE AURA WILL PREVAIL [MPS] This enthralling album has so many styles you run out of fingers. Jazz, of course; it’s George Duke. There is also funk and soul, some progressive rock colours (especially the synth work), a touch of latin… and every permutation implied by the preceding list. It’s a […]
1975 JAZZ | #20 — #11
It is not entirely clear whether 1975 was an exceptional year for jazz or whether Vinyl Connection was simply more into the form at this time. Either way, it was quite a struggle to reduce the contenders to twenty. Those who are unmoved by America’s gift to music may still find things to enjoy in […]
TIMELESS
Cascading keyboard notes and flurries of guitar; soon they are dancing through a frenetic dialogue as dextrous as it is energising. Welcome to “Lungs”, the unexpectedly manic opening to Timeless, the entrancing 1975 album by John Abercrombie. “Lungs” was composed by the keyboard player Jan Hammer, he of Mahavishnu Orchestra fame. In group leader Abercrombie, […]
NOW HE SINGS
If I delay writing, I’ll stall for sure. Too much information will kill the personal resonance. What do I do with this Chick-shaped hole? Attempting to cover a sixty year career is daunting. … a few of the thoughts tumbling through the Vinyl Connection brain box as the news of Chick Corea’s death hits home. […]
PINING FOR THE FJORDS
Rockin’ All Over The World — #8 Vikings, fjords, Slartibartfast, and homesick parrots. Such are the images springing to mind when Norway comes up in conversation. But did you know it has a reigning King and a conservative female Prime Minister? That the Norse people invented Thor before Marvel comics? Most of the population of […]
TIMELESS
I remember where but not which. The shop was in Princes Gate Arcade, down the end in a kind of cul-de-sac where only record hunters and lost commuters ended up. I remember a big window, counter, racks—sparsely distributed around a loungeroom-sized space—and bean bags where you could audition an LP of your choice under headphones […]
2016 — THE FIELD OF JAZZ
…Being Part 2 of the Vinyl Connection end-of-year round-up Could this be the 10 days of Jazz Christmas? Not really, just highlights selected from those jazz discs arriving at VC this year, presented in chronological order. * Solar system huge, supernova-hyped. To these ears, pretty disappointing. As someone 1537 times wittier than me observed, those vocals just evoke Star Trek every time. Visit […]
HIGH CONTRAST
With a morning to myself and a pile of chores, I sat with the start-me-up coffee and pondered what to spin. What would get me going for a few hours of productive office work? How was I feeling today? Pretty heavy, actually. A chesty cough and a bit distracted by a knotty work issue. Something […]
TAKING FLIGHT
What was it drew me to pick up the blue on blue album with a banking seabird, wingtip to water, blurring the sea to azure glass? Was it the sense of movement as the bird fused air and liquid with breathtaking confidence and grace? Perhaps the sea itself; pale like an ice floe, smooth as […]
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