1958

I listened to the Miles Sextet at Newport 1958 the other night and could really only come up with one word to express my thoughts: questionable. It's an extremely transitional record for just about everyone on it and while this is interesting to hear, it remains it's sole offering. Coltrane is pretty heavy into his sheets of sound playing(which can be effective if you look at it more like a Pollock splatter painting instead trying to find traditional musical ideas), Cannonball is great but his real genius doesn't come through as often as it does on some other recordings(how's that for criticism?), Bill Evans is just waiting to record Kind of Blue, Paul Chambers sounds great all the way through, Miles plays relatively well but lacks his typical laser-like focus. Possibly the most interesting thing for me is the way Jimmy Cobb plays. In my mind he has always been the Kind of Blue drummer; the way to play cool jazz, but on this he's more like a grandfather to Tain Watts than a stylistic bar line. I have a new respect for his musical understanding and versatility.

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On a different front....
I'm going back to school on thursday so i'm uploading all of my brother's good CDs. Needless to say, our tastes vary in just about all ways(except quality). Some of the highlights:
Spearhead Home. This is just a really great record. I don't even know what to call it. It has some hip-hop influence, but i'd probably be scalped for calling it that; it's got some R&B sounding stuff... very, very cool.
Jimi Hendrix Blues. Anadulterated, at times surprisingly hip, blues playing. This is the real deal.
Nirvana Nevermind. I used to listen to alot of Nirvana, then I became a snob and now i'm returning to being a real person. I love this shit.
Talib Kweli & Hi-Tek Reflection Eternal. I think I could safely call this hip-hop. Good hip-hop.
....and alot of other worthless stuff that doesn't have an upright bass or a single II/V7 to be found.
See, i'm kidding.