Bass Extremes

American pop/jazz-rock group. One of the biggest-selling bands in U.S. history, hailing from the Windy City (Chicago, Illinois). Formed in 1967 as "The Big Thing", they were one of the first groups to successfully fuse rock with a horn section…

Jethro Tull - 17 Chrysalis Album Collection (1968-87) [19CD+DVD] {2001-2005 Japan Mini LP Remaster} [combined repost]
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© 2001-2005 Toshiba-EMI / Chrysalis | TOCP-65879~67682
Rock / Prog Rock / Art Rock

Jethro Tull's first album, THIS WAS, recorded and released in 1968, shows a band that is a far cry from their better-known incarnation as a prog rock outfit in the late 1970s. Instead, Tull come across here as a solid and talented blues band with elements of jazz, folk, and psychedelia thrown in. The band's sound was heavily influenced by guitarist, singer, and songwriter Mick Abrahams, whose bluesy singing and leads distinguish this disc in Tull's discography. Frontman Ian Anderson also shines with tunes like "Some Day the Sun Won't Shine for You" and the excellent cover of Rashaan Roland Kirk's "Serenade to a Cuckoo."

Fire! Orchestra - Exit! (2013) {Rune Grammofon RCD 2138}
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© 2013 Rune Grammofon | RCD 2138
Jazz / Modern Jazz / Avant-Garde Jazz

Sometimes it's best not to predict. If the idea of expanding Fire!'s core trio of saxophonist/electric pianist Mats Gustafsson, bassist Johan Berthling and drummer Andreas Werlin into Fire! Orchestra's massive, 28-piece behemoth was based on the trio's extant discography— You Liked Me Five Minutes Ago (Rune Grammofon, 2009), Unreleased (Rune Grammofon, 2011), and In the Mouth of a Hand Rune Grammofon, 2012)—then a relentless album of high energy and high volume density would be expected. Which makes Exit! a complete and utter surprise, and in the best possible way.

Although Adrian Belew has played with some of rock's biggest names over the years (Frank Zappa, David Bowie, the Talking Heads, King Crimson, etc.), he remains one of the most underrated and woefully overlooked guitarists of recent times…

There's a long-standing debate over the issue of OVPP (one voice per part) in performing Bach's choral works. On this disc, it works better in some choruses than others–for example, it lacks the majesty that a choir can bring to the start of the Magnificat's Gloria. As to the individual voices, in the oratorio's two big arias, soprano Kimberly McCord sings with beguiling poise, though some may find her vibrato a touch fidgety; while Paul Agnew's moving singing of the heavenly tenor aria reflecting on Christ's grave-clothes has bags of intensity, though line and focus occasionally suffer. Neal Davies's forthright bass makes the best impression.

The centenary of the birth of Charles Mingus, in April 2022, has served to reinforce his importance in twentieth-century music. His “achievements surpass in historic and stylistic breadth those of any other major figure in jazz.” (New Grove Dictionary). Mingus could be angry, even violent, but also loving and tender, and all of these aspects of his complex character are reflected in his music. As he once said, “I'm trying to play the truth of what I am. The reason it's difficult is because I am changing all the time.”

Moondog - Sidewalk Dances - Joanna MacGregor & Britten Sinfonia (2006) {SoundCircus 2564 68437-4}
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© 2006 SoundCircus / Warner Classics & Jazz | 2564 68437-4
Classical / Jazz / Avant-Garde Music / International / Modern Composition / Vocal Music / Minimalism

The cult figure Moondog, who performed on the streets of New York for over 30 years, meshed jazz, classical, Native American rhythms and poetry. With a lifelong fascination for the strict rules of canon-writing, and dubbed the father of minimalism, he composed more than eighty symphonies, three hundred rounds, countless percussion, organ and piano pieces, scores for brass bands and string orchestras, and five books called The Art of the Canon. Joanna MacGregor's stunning new arrangements of fourteen of Moondog's most famous pieces are re-imaginings for larger forces, with a spectacular line-up of some of today's most cutting-edge jazz musicians, along with the brilliant Britten Sinfonia. Radically rewritten, each track retains Moondog's irresistible trademarks - short and snappy, of the street, melodic and joyful, and characterized by a pounding beat.