the giddy - vol. 6

abbey lincoln when autumn sings - who used to dance

abbey is so full of character, which is priority numero uno in my book.  my first taste of her work was the cool record she did with stan getz, and then again singing "ten cents a dance" with the beautiful frank morgan.  she sealed the deal for me when i saw her sing in chicago eons ago.  my little sister tap-danced throughout her public school days, and got hooked on savion glover.  my curiosity about their collaboration persuaded me to take a shot on this album and, although that cut is nice, this track does it for me.  my spot is at 1:25. in addition to frank's gorgeously poignant solo, i am in love with that f# major chord that appears out of nowhere and am enchanted by how abbey wisps away the phrase "i felt alone".

john scofield jungle fiction - uberjam

a bunch of my friends have long been into scofield, but count me as late to the party.  it took me forever to get into guitar players (sorry j-cook), and some folks i know are still anti-6 stringers.  i finally witnessed the magnitude of sco back in my twin cities days.  the wife and i went to a show at the fine line.  i saw my good friend james biehn in the house, so i felt vindicated.  the show was so good, in fact, that my wife actually went out and bought this record. this is the best track, and my favorite part is at 2:50 when sco gets out of that drum battle with a simple yet super hip 1-2-3-2-1.  

charles lloyd lotus blossom - the water is wide

i don't usually care about sounding like any saxophonists. i'm not sure i even really like the sound of the saxophone. i have no clue how i came to play it, only hearing my mom tell the story of my dad disgustingly claiming that i picked it out because "it was the most expensive thing there."  i only first heard mr. lloyd a few years ago, and merely by happenstance. i picked up this album because a) the band, and b) it was on ecm.  my teacher did a record with billy higgins a while back, reenergizing my love affair with his playing.  mr. lloyd's sound is genuine and emotional, the same recipe that i'm chasing.  i love the title track, and my giddys on this strayhorn chart are sprinkled throughout the head every time i hear billy verbalizing his efforts.  simply gorgeous.  

song for barry - the return of the brecker brothers

the first jazz show i ever saw was in greeley, colorado at their unc jazz festival.  my college took a bunch of kids out there for the weekend blowout of bands & combos flexing, vocal groups jazz handing.  i had actually heard of michael brecker beforehand, but never his brother randy nor band members guitarist mike stern and drummer dave weckl.  whoa.  following a masterclass with los hermanos, the gig itself surpassed their unenthusiastic responses to the same damn questions from wannabe jazzers. they were pushing this album, with both audio and live concert dvd support.  the first track kills, and my favorite part (aside from watching stern bend at the waist with each soaring long tone) is the way that michael wraps up his solo with a tongued eighth note line that matches dennis chambers' single stroke punctuation at 2:41.

derek trucks i'll find my way - songlines

shoot me for being judgmental.  derek trucks was playing the iowa city jazz festival a couple years ago, and a bunch of my friends were beyond themselves with excitement.  i was lukewarm at best, but definitely polite.  trucks has a deep allman brothers lineage, to which i have nearly no knowledge or interest.  seth, ben, & joel really wanted me to catch the set.  i had already skipped out a couple years prior, when i blew out of the club after the elastic band and before trucks (and, come to think of it, i ran into james at that show too. he's a smart cookie!!!)  i promised myself to hang for at least one song.  45 minutes passed before i knew what hit me. i bought this album right away, and love the big hit at 3:10 on this cut, setting up the rhodes glissando. beast.

thundercat fleer ultra - the golden age of apocalypse

dear lord this is the JAM.  i am very compulsive by nature (ask my wife, whose head is shaking so hard in agreement that i fear it may end up on the floor) and have put this track on repeat in the stationwagon's bose system, through my new aviators, and blasting right at me on my macbook pro.  big thanks to bart for hooking me up with this album.  giddy moment?  can the whole thing qualify?  i guess, if i had to pick, that the synth banging arpeggios at 1:06 does the trick.

this track starts out a bit cheesy with bruno mars romancing the stone, but eminem sets it off.  probably not his best effort (see early work as dre's apprentice & the marshall mathers lp), but certainly stronger than the majority of the rappers on the scene today.  he flows over the bar line, mixes it up with a variety of subdivisions, and even occasionally sweetens the pot with a hemiola out of left field.  my spot is at 1:55 when he outmeasures his duo partner 5'9".