Log #57 - Very Famous Jazz, Little Known Harp and Unknown Guitar

Bitches Brew is a grower of course. Still quite hard to get into after a couple of weeks of sporadic playing (that's me, as well as Miles Davis!).

The next two jazz standards in the list are a lot more accessible. Many hold up these albums as the  pinnacle for their respective artists Miles Davis and John Coltrane. Both use simple repetitive bass lines to underpin relatively modest (certainly in comparison to Bitches Brew) melodic explorations, the latter a famous 4 note riff alone... de dah de da... "a love supreme..." de dah de da... "a love supreme..."

1. Miles Davis - Bitches Brew CD2
2. Miles Davis - Bitches Brew CD1
3. Miles Davis - Kind of Blue
4. John Coltrane - A Love Supreme
5. Luc Vanlaere - Inta
6. David Goodrich - Accidentals of the West

I was surprised Love Supreme was recorded (over one day) in 1964. Such is the simplicity and traditional authenticity I had assumed it was much earlier, and certainly before Kind of Blue (1959).

The selection this week includes a couple of curios. Luc Vanlaere is a Belgian harpist who I saw in concert on holiday in Bruges one time - thinking this was lucky coincidence I see from Vanlaere's website that he actually has a residency in Bruges with daily concerts - I'm sure he sells many CDs to the tourists. This album, Inta, is beautifully packaged in cardboard sleeve. Inta is a African Saharan word which translates as "a state of harmony and absolute fullness". The sleeve notes continue...

Inta is the first step in the last, the delicate moment of balance that follows the end of an action and precedes the beginning of the next; the transition from destruction to a new cycle.

Now you know.

The most impressive tracks on this album also include hang playing. The hang is a steel drum like instrument which produces a beautiful ringing tone. There was a popular video on youtube showing a couple of pixie like gentlemen in beanie hats (you know the one) playing hangs a couple of years back.

In Bruges starring Luc Vanlaere

David Goodrich's album (another beautifully packaged CD) was also one I picked up after an impressive gig - this time at Brighton's Greys Pub. Goodrich is an accomplished guitarist (mostly acoustic) and plays all the music on this instrumental album. One of the best tracks is a lovely cover of Wichita Lineman.

David "Goody" Goodrich and a selection of stringed instruments

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