Satchmo's Jive Essence 42 (electronic, dance, hip-hop, jazz, genre)

[SATCHMO]

So It's about time I had my "Top Something or other" thread so here's the pitch:
Every once in awhile a thread gets started on this forum by someone with the intention of giving themselves a proper introduction to jazz music; a very noble intention I believe. More often than not the usual suspects make their appearances: Miles Davis' Kind of Blue, John Coltrane A Love Supreme, a whole host of fusion albums, and then the thread dies.
Why? Because contrary to the popular saying, You can't get there from "there", if you could you wouldn't be puzzled by where to start in such an enormously vast genre of music. No, you gotta' get there from right where you're at right now.
You see, jazz, much more than a genre of music, is a concept, an ideal. I'm going to put forth 42 albums that I believe capture the essence of jazz, starting with very untraditional examples and albums that could in no way be considered jazz by conventional standards. Gradually I'll work my way toward more traditional, and in some instances, less accessible pieces of music, while at the same time hopefully giving y'all a decent education. OK, excuse me while I get started......

[gunnels]

I am look forward to this very much.

[SATCHMO]

#42 Massive Attack - Mezzanine

This is an album with a reputation that preceded it long before it found its way into my hands. This may be a large part of the reason why I hated it the first time I listened to it. I had preconceived notions of what this album was gonna' be, and the reality of its immanent darkness didn't match up with what I was expecting. Ironically it was its reputation which coerced me into giving it another chance and simply accepting it for what it is, and not what I wanted be, and what it is is absolutely brilliant.
I would have thought it impossible before experiencing this album that an electronically produced album could be so organically expressive. If while listening to this album you only managed to focus your attention on the drums alone you would swear that someone found a way to capture the soul of Art Blakey or Elvin Jones, two of jazz' most dynamic and expressive drummers, inside of a beat machine. There are times when listening to Teardrop or Group Four that I have to remind myself that Billy Holiday is dead, but that this is indeed what it would sound like if she was born 40 years later. It's hard for me to call Mezzanine Down-tempo or Trip-hop. It's hard for me to classify it at all, but its' definitely jazz. That's for sure.

[333]

Why 42?

[SATCHMO]

It's the magic number, and as good a number as any i guess. Hmm, maybe I should have gone with 43? Damn. oh well.

[lucifer_sam]

as an avid jazz eater and fan of music myself i will be watching this thread with hungry eyes. awesome concept for a thread, and judging by other posts of yours i've seen i'm sure this thing will leave me impressed.

keep it up dude.

[SATCHMO]

#41 Medeski, Martin, and Wood - Combustication

There's a specific reason why this album immediately follows Mezzanine on our journey and its not due to the progressive hierarchy of inaccessibility and convention that I designated as the working order in my original post. If that were the case this album would appear much further down the list, as it is, by most fan's definition, a jazz album.

No, the reason I've decided to put it at the coveted #41 spot is that to me this album is like a complete inversion of Mezzanine. If it stands to reason that if you could call mezzanine a dark electronica album with jazz elements, then Combustication is definitely a dark Jazz album with electronica elements.

I have owned, at one point or another, every album that this experimental acid-jazz trio- John medeski on keyboards, Billy Martin on drums, and Chris Wood on bass, has produced, and Combustication easily stands out as a masterpiece, and the key element that causes it to rise to the top of the MMW discography is DJ Logic.

DJ logic unlike most conventional DJs that have made a name for themselves did so not by spinning wild sets at random dance clubs and parties around the world, but by sitting in on gigs with jazz musicians every chance he got to set up his turntables. The man has been on a relentless crusade since day one to turn what is often seen as a musical novelty relegated strictly to hip-hop and electronica genres into a viable and expressive organic instrument in its own right. Nowhere are the fruits of his pursuit more apparent than on this record. Whether its the dark "Alice-down-the-rabbit-hole" feel of Start-stop or the surreal and brooding Nocturne. Logic doesn't just punctuate the music with ineffectual scratches, he creates soundscapes that you will get lost in. This is not the only album that MMW have collabrated with Logic on, but it is by far the most interesting and a jazz masterpiece that I believe does not get nearly the credit it deserves.

[Zarko]

This is going to be a destructively awesome thread... It's already obvious enough with MMW. I await with bated breath, and I assume you will avoid picking too many stereotypical choices?

[SATCHMO]

Originally Posted by Zarko

This is going to be a destructively awesome thread... It's already obvious enough with MMW. I await with bated breath, and I assume you will avoid picking too many stereotypical choices?

The challenge is getting people to listen to music they think they know from a completely different perspective, but yeah, avoiding stereotypes this early in the thread is also proving challenging. I'm gonna' take a break from this thread for the night. I hope to not let you down on your expectations.

[Janszoon]

Great thread idea Satchmo! I'm really looking forward to reading more entries.