These Are The Vistas

It only ever happened once that I impulse-bought an album because I heard it playing while I was in a record shop. It was at the Virgin Megastore in Cardiff, where, on the first floor of an otherwise open-plan store, there was an enclosed room where the classical and jazz recordings could be found. I was browsing through the classical CDs paying scant attention to the music until I discerned a distinctive melody: a jazz trio version of Aphex Twin's 'Flim'?

That caught my ear, and, when it was followed by an impressively manic arrangement of Blondie's 'Heart of Glass' I made my mind up to buy the album, conveniently on display at the counter: These Are the Vistas by The Bad Plus. It was the first time a contemporary jazz record had grabbed me so forcibly. I loved the whole thing, and found there was a third cover version on the disc in the shape of the trio's take on 'Smells Like Teen Spirit'.

The remaining eight tracks are all original compositions by the band-members. Of those, my favourites are 'Keep The Bugs Off Your Glass And The Bears Off Your Ass', written by drummer David King, but with bassist Reid Anderson taking the lead; and the sublime ballad 'Everywhere You Turn', a composition of Anderson's which blossoms out from (and back into) the quietest of pianissimos, with the melody delivered beautifully by Ethan Iverson at the piano.

Comments

All Wrapped Up

Here's another of the compilation cassettes I bought this summer, having taken home a Denon twin-deck hi-fi cassette player from the local charity shop. All Wrapped Up is a 1983 compilation of singles by The Undertones, with Side One filled with A-sides, and B-sides on Side Two. A cassette must be the least desirable medium for such an arrangement, with a long rewind required if one just wants to hear the hits repeatedly. The Undertones were unapologetically provincial and anti-fashionable, with their songs sharply-written slices of life that pointedly avoided any mention of politics, or of the then-continuing violence in their native Derry. My favourite tracks are the obvious choices: 'Teenage Kicks', 'Jimmy Jimmy', 'Here Comes the Summer', 'My Perfect Cousin' & 'Wednesday Week'. Their later singles showed increased sophistication but lack the some of the straightforward charm of their earlier work. The B-sides, not unexpectedly, are mo...

In Heat

Having acquired the soubriquet "the walrus of love", Barry White thereafter became something of a figure of fun, something that misled me (and presumably others) into disregarding his music. Only within the last few years have I begun to pay it more attention. After picking up a copy of his '74 album Can't Get Enough last summer, which I loved, I sought out some of the music by his protegés Love Unlimited. From a Discogs seller I ordered well-used copies of Under the Influence of... ('73) and In Heat ('74) for only £6.25. The only unappealing thing about In Heat is its awful title. The songs and the singing are strong; the arrangements rich & warmly enveloping. As one would expect from White, the thematic focus is firmly fixed on amatory matters. The opening number 'Move Me No Mountain' (the only one on the record not written by White) offers a refreshing rebuttal to the kind of lyrical hyperbole in songs like 'Ain't No Mountain High E...

Bananas Are Not Created Equal

I knew Jay Berliner's name from his contributions to Van Morrison's Astral Weeks and Charles Mingus' The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady , so when I saw this curiously-titled LP at the local charity shop I was intrigued, and bought it even though I had no idea what kind of music it might contain. This was after the days when one could still buy records there for a pound apiece, but I don't think I paid more than a fiver for it. The music turned out to be an all-instrumental blend of funk, soul & jazz. Berliner's virtuoso lead guitar is only one of many attractions here. The band of first-rate session musicians behind him are all uniformly excellent too, and, crucially, sound like they're having a blast. Cornell Dupree's supporting guitar work, while less showy than Berliner's, is beautifully-judged, and the rhythm section is terrific. Arranger/conductor Wade Marcus was no slouch either, judging from the way everything comes together. Two of the funk...

This is a Recording

Search This Blog