friday the 13th

i threw together a playlist of tunes whose titles eerily accessorize today's unofficial holiday.  check out the real time reviews and, to all of the paraskevidekatriaphobics
out there, swim at your own risk...

1. voodoo - sonny clark memorial quartet.  great piano work from wayne horvitz.  not expecting ray drummond on this album. he's a good fit for this tune.  my hero john zorn playing melodies/parts in the pocket, proving that he is more than a loose musical cannon.  love me some bobby previte, especially the duo record with zorn titled (appropriately enough) euclid's nightmare. the sound is transparent, and everyone gets a taste. zorn plays a killer solo, sweet jesus. pyrotechnic chops open up the dialogue between he & himself.

2. lucky - human chain.  i love django bates.  what a creative wiz. i got this album for 50 cents at a bookstore in laramie, wyoming.  of course nobody there wanted it.  this tune needs a paul simon voiceover.  i can't really tell what the instruments are here.  all i know is that this sounds awesome.

3. friday the 13th - the microscopic septet.  listen to all of those saxophones!  cool sticking and quartet playing.  the core slowly releases methodically into open blowing.  nice little swing out of the horn collage.  drop into half time, offering up several flavors in this arrangement.  a bit much?

4. lucky for her - john scofield.  tons of my friends are big sco fans.  i like this record a lot.  my wife actually went out and bought this after we saw this band live.  a bunch of guitar effects with sco blowing over it.  reverse line-6 green box?  not a lot going on harmonically, but who cares.

5. lucky you - love-cars.  what a great rock band.  king & the usual suspects on the minneapolis scene, doing their thing.
love-cars is a fresh sound on a beleaguered rock & roll sonic canvas.  leave it to james diers to weave "a kool-aid smile" and a james brown reference into the same track.

6. sonja's nightmare - paolo fresu.  great harmon trumpet sound, and cool site.  such a gorgeous combination of piano and accordion.  so intimate and detailed.  groups like this need more attention.  and there's your picardy third.  i'm sure that my wife's nightmares sound nothing like this.
they are probably full of me bitching about money.

7. voodoo child - jimi hendrix.  the inimitable opening guitar riff.  funny - i've got the incense burning while this booms through my headphones.  jimi of course sounds incredible.  his guitar solo is arbitrarily panning around in the mix, making it even more psychedelic.  i wish people would do jimi a big favor and not play this tune.  just let it breathe on its own.

8. friday the 13th - steve lacy & mal waldron.  this is a cool album from a longstanding duo.  steve tops the list of soprano saxophonists and monk interpreters.  both are in fine form here.  mal doesn't waver and steve is clean and calculated.

9. hitchcock - russ lossing.  these chicago cats meld classical and avant garde jazz on this hathut album.  how about that big bass solo out of john hebert!  beautiful sound and strong rapport betwixt the two.   nice finish.

10. weird nightmare - elvis costello.  somehow this guy scored diana krall, so i guess there's hope for all of us.  this cut is from the hal willner presents series, featuring chuck d, keith richards, henry rollins, and an all-star cast of downtown jazzers.  eerie bell chime things (hello harry partch) at the top.  elvis is perfect for this treatment of the mingus gem.  my kids saw elvis on jimmy fallon and innocently asked if he sounded the same when he was younger.

11. nightmares - clipse.  too much neojazzsoul crooning from bilal.  clipse has great time and impeccable delivery, plus pharrell is behind this track.  "i'm leonardo, catch me if you can".  gimme more flow and less singing.  seriously, "p-noid"?

12. superstition - stevie wonder.  damn, stevie was 22 when he dropped this masterpiece album.  i often worry where music would be if it weren't for stevie wonder.  creative songwriting that doesn't repeat itself, and superb vocals.
the clav, the moog, the horns, and stevie on drums!
  
13. a nightmare on my street - dj jazzy jeff & the fresh prince.  now we're talking.  i used to have this poster up in room.  jeff killed it and prince was personality plus.  ready rock c brought the terror vocals to life on my cassette version of this album.  i still remember all the lyrics.