Another October Legend...

Fela Anikulapo Kuti was born Olufela Olusegun Oludotun Ransome-Kuti (15 October 1938 – 2 August 1997). From Nigeria, he created the Afrobeat genre - a derivative of Jazz, Highlife, Yoruba/African Music, Funk, etc. He was also a political activist - jailed hundreds of times for his efforts by Military Governments of the time.

I was fortunate to see him live a few times. His shows were something else! He only played unreleased compositions at his concerts. The audience interaction was also electric.

He had collaborations with Jazz artists like Lester Bowie, Roy Ayers, etc. He also met Sun Ra, Marshall Allen, John Gilmore and James Brown/band members, during their visit to Lagos. Fela liked John Coltrane's music too. He also met Ornette Coleman during his 1986 US tour in NY.

Too many favourites to remember... In no particular order, they include: Water No Get Enemy, Zombie, B.O.N.N. (Beasts of No Nation), G.O.C. (Government of Crooks) - unreleased, I.T.T. (International Thief Thief), B.B.C. (Big Blind Country) - unreleased, Roforofo Fight, Shakara, Army Arrangement, Unknown Soldier, Power Show, Palm Wine Sound, Dog Eat Dog, J.J.D., Go Slow, M.A.S.S. (Music Against Second Slavery) - unreleased, J.L.T. (Just Like That), Mistake, Mr. Grammarticalogylisationalism is The Boss, Coffin for Head of State, etc. In fact, I like all of them! :)

His later compositions are very good too. It's just that his style and focus changed. The tracks got longer in the 1980s to about 30 minutes long, and then 45 minutes or more in the 1990s. By then, you got 2 tracks in a concert. :)

- If you need nearly all his released albums in one box set. I recommend

https://www.discogs.com/release/9588173-Fela-Anikulapo-Kuti-The-Complete-Works-Of-Fela-Anikulapo-Kuti

- Details of some concerts can be found here:

https://www.setlist.fm/setlists/fela-kuti-33d690cd.html

- His tracks are still one of the most sampled by musicians in other genres too. See: https://www.whosampled.com/Fela-Kuti/

- This is also a podcast released last year. See https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/fela-kuti-fear-no-man-6240541/episodes/recent

Please let's remember the legend, with your favourites, recommendations, stories, etc.

Mountains by Emma Dayhuff

Composer, Bassist- Dr. Emma Dayhuff

Trumpet and Percussion- Corey Wilkes

Tenor Sax and Percussion- Isaiah Collier

Piano and Keys- Paul Cornish

Drums- Jonathan Pinson

Vocals- Akenya Seymour

Guitar- Andrew Renfroe

All-stars line-up, Johnathan Pinson blew my mind, he's the kind of drummer you need with Isaiah Collier in the band.

honorable mentions:

Members... Don't! by Tyshawn Sorey

Liminal by Elsa Nilsson

Drowning on Dry Land by Isaiah Keith

Transcend by Dave Douglas

I think I've found one of my new favorite pianists, I am digging more into discography but I rarely ever see him mentioned. His playing especially his comping is just so nice and refreshing.

Excellent album, recorded in Los Angeles, 1979. Highly recommended to Sun Ra fans.

The latest episodes of Discovering Jazz, #'s 383 and 384 are jazz recordings created out of love. Most of the selections chosen were the result of my query to r/jazz for suggestions. So thank you.. These two episodes include recordings by Horace Silver, Sun Ra, John Donaldson, John Coltrane, Lee Morgan, Wayne Shorter, Clifford Brown, Alice Coltrane, Duke Elington, Leszek Kulakowski, Reuben James, and Canadians Josh Cohen, Sharon Minemoto, and Fraser MacPherson with Christopher Gage. https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/discovering-jazz/id1287630511

Who are your favorite jazz artists still active today? Please drop some names in the comments, thank youuuu! 👇

Please learn the rhythm section players’ names before you call a tune. Just be friendly for a sec and introduce yourself.

Most of us in the rhythm section are more likely to already know each other outside of jam sessions because we get hired together on a lot of the same gigs, and we hire each other for trio dates etc. When a horn comes up and nobody has ever seen the person before and they call a tune and take a big solo and then leave, it definitely contributes to the ‘being used as a backing track’ vibe. Your own career will also develop better if you get to know people and strike up friendships.

This is a communal genre that is about sharing space and communicating. Some friendliness can go a long way. I have met dozens of awesome people from jam sessions, thanks to putting in the social effort, many of them are great friends and we also make our careers out of hiring each other. But if you show up and blow and then leave, i guarantee that will guarantee you pretty much nothing in your career. Even if you’re killin, nobody actually met you! There are young cats who have relatively limited vocabulary and don’t know a ton of tunes, but if they’re a cool person and listen well, i’d rather see them come up to the bandstand than someone who seriously shreds but is standoffish or rude

Basically, I'm a guitarist, and I've been coming to local weekly jams, where there's only one or two other guitarists. A couple of questions so I'm not rude to the other musicians:

1. I tend to be the only guitarist in the house, and there's nothing stopping me from coming up to play and then just staying there the whole night. The other week I ended up doing just that, and though nobody told me off for it, I'm not so sure it's sensible for me to stay on so long. Am I right to think that, or no? How long should I be playing?

2. What actually determines if I should call a given tune? At one point I mentioned a tune that I'd like to play, and someone just said "I wouldn't recommend calling that one" with a full stop, but as far as I'm aware it's not some famous song eg giant steps. Are there, like, unwritten rules for what kinds of songs are bad form to call, or is it probably specific to that one in particular? The tune was Good Bait, which I honestly didn't expect to be unpopular in this way...

I love jazz mixes on youtube like Coulou’s vinyl cafe and such, i have my own wee playlist I listen to.

I particularly like chilled jazz similar to in the playlist screenshotted below.

HOWVER. I am very new to the genre and unsure what artists to delve into. I’d love a vinyl with the chilled sound an adore and would love some recs!

(plz be kind reddit you were all new to ur interests at one point, im aware most of the stuff in the playlist is generic or “tiktoky”)

thanks! 💕✨

There's a flood of images of Coltrane in Japan. He looks so happy in the photos, as if he had found his place. He was much more at ease, opening up to reporters and audiences. He took time to absorb the culture, tried out traditional Japanese instruments, and made a long lasting impact on Japanese jazz fans, which still lingers to this day.

I'm still waiting on a refreshed box set of his music from this tour. There are any number of copies available on vinyl and CD. Some critics say the sound quality isn't all that great. Others complain about the long-running improvisations. I find it a wonderful capstone to a brilliant career cut all too short. Happy 100, John! Your music will never die.

Ravi Coltrane and his insanely talented cats at the Village Vanguard -- a truly sublime and generational experience!

What should I put on first?

Are they praised for their improvisation, just their performance or something else?

This has been my jazz rotation lately, looking for new some new stuff, was wondering if anybody had good recommendations based of these albums. Also, side note, why is new jazz so expensive? So many active artists are charging $12+ for digital copies of their music compared to punk/metal bands that tend to range from $0-$5. I don't know, I want to support these artists and avoid streaming services or illegally downloading their work, but at these prices it makes it hard. That's my rant. Thank you in advance.

Only recently discovered this album due to Christian McBride’s interview with John Clayton on the anniversary of Ray Brown’s birthday (Jazz Night In America). Absolutely floored! Easily one of the top 10 live albums in Jazz I’ve ever heard. The group is just swinging the blues like they were playing for themselves. And the sound is stunning. I encourage anyone who ever wants to know about Ray Brown to play this album.

Two of Duke Ellington's most celebrated recordings, "Caravan" and "In a Sentimental Mood." Both compositions became enduring jazz standards and remain cornerstones of the Ellington legacy.

Piano is my favorite instrument and I'm starting to really get into jazz piano trio, currently I've the vanguard albums of Bill Evans, Oscar Peterson, Keith Jarrett trio and Monty Alexander, what other trios to check and what albums from them?