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Ken Micallef’s jazz YouTube channel

There is a rather amusing quiet and polite ‘jazz fight’ going on between Ken Micallef and the Jazz Shepherd on YouTube over free jazz, with the former (correctly) loving it and the latter far less so.

It kind of starts with Jazz Shepherd’s very good two-part overview of CTI Records, which whilst very good indeed IMO is very accessible and mainstream:


In one of the parts he gives the free jazz of late Coltrane, Ayler, Coleman, Shepp, Dolphy etc a bit of a kicking. Ken Micallef’s response is very good indeed:


It goes back and forth a few times since then and I’ve been finding it all rather amusing. They both make good points, especially Ken with a great argument as to the political legitimacy of free jazz etc. All good fun and two great channels for sure.

PS Free jazz took a bit of effort for me before the penny dropped, but I love it now!
 
Tony L said:
There is a rather amusing quiet and polite ‘jazz fight’ going on between Ken Micallef and the Jazz Shepherd on YouTube over free jazz, with the former (correctly) loving it and the latter far less so.

It kind of starts with Jazz Shepherd’s very good two-part overview of CTI Records, which whilst very good indeed IMO is very accessible and mainstream:


In one of the parts he gives the free jazz of late Coltrane, Ayler, Coleman, Shepp, Dolphy etc a bit of a kicking. Ken Micallef’s response is very good indeed:


It goes back and forth a few times since then and I’ve been finding it all rather amusing. They both make good points, especially Ken with a great argument as to the political legitimacy of free jazz etc. All good fun and two great channels for sure.

PS Free jazz took a bit of effort for me before the penny dropped, but I love it now!
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There’s a Jazz Shepherd video from yesterday where he’s talking about having reorganised his LP collection by artist rather than label. Apparently it took the family three days - I would have guessed it would take longer. Then he mentions in passing that he may change it back in a year or two.

I do enjoy his runs through a label’s output, I’ve added a few Qobuz albums as favourites after watching them.
 
I do very much think in terms of jazz labels as so many have such a distinct aesthetic and context, though have my collection alphabetical by artist. That with the exception of ECM CDs which are currently in their own box as I don’t have enough space to stick them in with the rest! I certainly know exactly what label any album is on.

PS I think Jazz Shepherd actually had his by label and catalogue number, which is OCD even by my standards! He certainly had his (complete) CTI collection in order. He has an amazing collection, though the DJ handling really makes me cringe!
 
Interesting thanks. Micallef gave Anthony Braxton a knock - too rigid I guess. I have some of the other recordings he shows, on CD though.
 
Anthony Braxton isn’t free jazz to my mind, he’s entirely his own thing and more classical/avant in many ways. He scores his stuff, so its clearly not ‘free’ in the traditional ‘free improvisation’ sense of the word, plus he references 2nd Viennese school 12 tone rows etc. I’ve got a few of his albums and they are certainly interesting, though for me they lack the emotional directness of what I think of as jazz. More Boulez than Blakey IMHO.
 
Tony L said:
PS I think Jazz Shepherd actually had his by label and catalogue number, which is OCD even by my standards! He certainly had his (complete) CTI collection in order. He has an amazing collection, though the DJ handling really makes me cringe!
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That’s correct. I must admit his record handling makes me cringe too. He addressed comments about the handling in one of his videos, where he claimed never to have had any playback problems.
 
Tony L said:
Anthony Braxton isn’t free jazz to my mind, he’s entirely his own thing and more classical/avant in many ways. He scores his stuff, so its clearly not ‘free’ in the traditional ‘free improvisation’ sense of the word, plus he references 2nd Viennese school 12 tone rows etc. I’ve got a few of his albums and they are certainly interesting, though for me they lack the emotional directness of what I think of as jazz. More Boulez than Blakey IMHO.
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I agree to a point but Braxton has performed/recorded plenty of free improvisation in his time as well as his compositional work, his recordings of standards etc etc.

I find his discography pretty intimidating because he covers so many bases and is so prolific. I found the book Forces In Motion a pretty good place to start - though it was written quite a while ago.

P.S. This thread has prompted me to dig out In The Tradition Vol.1 just so I can hear his rendition of Ornithology on contrabass clarinet again - never fails to cheer me up! 1 1/2 stars from Allmusic.com :D
 
Tony L said:
Anthony Braxton isn’t free jazz to my mind, he’s entirely his own thing and more classical/avant in many ways. He scores his stuff, so its clearly not ‘free’ in the traditional ‘free improvisation’ sense of the word, plus he references 2nd Viennese school 12 tone rows etc. I’ve got a few of his albums and they are certainly interesting, though for me they lack the emotional directness of what I think of as jazz. More Boulez than Blakey IMHO.
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Without meaning to be rude, I think you need a reassessment of Braxton taking in his entire career - a daunting task by any standards. Don’t forget when albums like For Alto and Series F were released they caused quite a stir, there had been nothing like it. Improvisation is at the core of so much of Braxton’s music. He also took part in Derek Bailey’s Company and in a series of concerts as a duo - improvisation at its most hard core. I think the problem lies with the redundant term Free Jazz. But that’s another long standing debate.
 
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Graham H said:
Without meaning to be rude, I think you need a reassessment of Braxton taking in his entire career - a daunting task by any standards. Don’t forget when albums like For Alto and Series F were released they caused quite a stir, there had been nothing like it. Improvisation is at the core of so much of Braxton’s music.
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I’m sure you are right, I know very little and he’s not really clicked with me yet. FWIW I’ve got Five Pieces (Arista 1975) and Gino Robair & Anthony Braxton Duets 1987 on vinyl, and the Black Saint CD box set. That is my entire knowledge. Five Pieces is the one I recall liking the most, and it is also the earliest.
 
I have the Braxton Black Saint box and a double CD of his Trio live 2005 Glasgow performances of Compositions 323a and 323b. I agree with Tony that there is an element of Boulez here,- a bit relentless at times. What has always puzzled me are the little Miro diagrams associated with some pieces. Are you meant to intuit their meanings somehow? Time sequences?

The distinction between free and spiritual jazz is blurred to me, my love of late Coltrane I guess.
 
herb said:
I have the Braxton Black Saint box and a double CD of his Trio live 2005 Glasgow performances of Compositions 323a and 323b. I agree with Tony that there is an element of Boulez here,- a bit relentless at times. What has always puzzled me are the little Miro diagrams associated with some pieces. Are you meant to intuit their meanings somehow? Time sequences?

The distinction between free and spiritual jazz is blurred to me, my love of late Coltrane I guess.
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I’m not disagreeing with what Tony said, or what you are saying, my point being that it is only part of an immense story. Braxton’s music is very intellectualised, even his approach to solo saxophone improvisation alone has a thesis behind it - what he called Language Types. And I believe his Miro-like pictograms are how he visualises or sees his sound and composition. As paulfromcamden said I’d recommend Graham Lock’s Forces in Motion to anyone who is really interested, ‘lockdown’ (forgive the pun) being the ideal time for the challenge. Blutopia examining Ellington, Sun Ra and Braxton is also essential reading IMO.

I think all musical categories are blurred, and it’s liberating to try and see beyond them and make connections which on the surface don’t seem to exist, but dig deeper and there are threads and ideas running between all forms of music. As Chris Cutler stated in his inestimable Probes series - all musicians are great thieves, ideas and techniques travel fast.

If I was hard pressed to distinguish free jazz and spiritual jazz, I’d say the former has improvisation and process at its core and the latter modality and texture or sound colour. But that is a gross oversimplification. You’re right of course, it’s blurred.
 
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Thanks for your comprehensive reply Graham, I'll check out your book recommendations


Edit - Forces in Motion ordered from Amazon, their last one.
 
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