2017 jazz thread
 

well, 2017 will be over in less than two months but it seems like I never started a proper 2017 jazz thread? Weird, I thought I had because I thought I had posted about Cameron Graves and Ronald Bruner Jr.'s albums earlier this year. Hmm.

Better late than never then.

Here's a catch-up on the jazz albums from this year that I thought worth mentioning. Plz pig-pile on and help me catch up on anything worthwhile I may have missed. (including expanded reissues etc)


Blue Note All-Stars - Point Of View
...Kendrick Scott and Robert Glasper playing on the same record? Yes please. Super chill record. Nothing too wild. But damn enjoyable.

Cameron Graves - Planetary Prince
...finally a record w/ Graves as leader. This is the dude you've heard playing piano for Young Jazz Giants, Kamasi Washington, and that whole circle. This record is huge/sprawling and awesome.

Chris Thile & Brad Mehldau - s/t
...interesting? A bluegrass/country/something guy meshed w/ a jazz piano guy who likes to cover Elliott Smith songs. I don't know. I haven't gotten too deep into this one, but it's a weird and unique pairing.

Christian Scott Atunde Adjuah - Diaspora/The Emancipation Procrastination/Ruler Rebel
...this trio of records is so epic that I haven't sorted it all out yet. I'm looking forward to spending more time w/ this.

The Heliocentrics - A World Of Masks
...love these guys. They also put out a vinyl only soundtrack of some sort this year but I haven't heard that. Vinyl-only is a turn-off for me.

Kamasi Washington - Harmony Of Difference
...Kamasi's last album, the 3-disc The Epic was like Walt Whitman. And this album is like Emily Dickinson. Y'know? This was not expected by me. It's so... so... simple and pretty. I love it.

Ronald Bruner Jr. - Triumph
...yup, the Young Jazz Giants' drummer (and brother to Thundercat and that dude from The Internet) also dropped his debut LP this year. If you weren't following, all four members of YJG dropped albums this year. That means it was a great year for jazz, fam.

Thundercat - Drunk
...speaking of YJG. Dude, Drunk is weird weird. I don't know if it's totally jazz. But it is def jazz in a Zappa/George Duke/etc kind of way. Super soulful and funky one min and a total WTF the next.

dammit, man, im offlining all that right now for weekend listening. thank you thank you

eta: including the heliocentrics. who are on spotify. yes, that “vinyl only” album. :P

yeah I saw that on Spotify too. I haven't heard it yet tho. I guess by "vinyl only" I meant "not on CD" haha. While I tend to listen to newly released jazz on Spotify, I actually do collect CD's for the collection. (We actually have a bunch of jazz on vinyl in the house too... I just never seem to listen to vinyl myself).

Anyway, glad to help. I have a few other new released queued up that I know a little less about, so I'll add to this thread soon-ish once I've done a bit more listening.

Didn't really think that Thundercat album counted as jazz, but I definitely heard the Zappa influence.

Anyway, thanks for the rec's, I usually end up missing whatever jazz gets released in a given year.

The Necks - Unfold was pretty good--as one would expect from these guys after all these years.

I admit the Thundercat is a stretch but deserved a mention.

Oh man, I still haven’t listened to that one... the new Thundercat. Been meaning to, but I’ve had hummingbird-brain for the past six or eight months. Thanks for the reminder.

Saw the Coltrane biography film, Chasing Trane. Not really good, not a lot of things I didn't know, not a lot of music, actually, and not enough interviews of people who really would have been good to hear now, hear more of or archival interviews of deceased musicians. People I could have done less with in it, Wynton Marsalis, Bill Clinton, Robbie Kreiger, Bill Clinton. People I wish were more featured or featured at all, Rashied Ali, Alice Coltrane, McCoy Tyner. If they wanted a rocker, why not Mike Watt?

r/psychojazz

That Thundercat record is totally not jazz, but it’s pretty sweet. Weird and funky. Guy reminds me in some strange way of, like, a funked out Captain Beefheart.