Manfred Mann - "Soul of Mann (Instrumentals)" Vinyl, LP, Compilation, Reissue (Umbrella)

This past year I have been going through an ongoing appreciation for the band Manfred Mann.  Both Paul Jones and Mike D'Abo years.  During the Paul Jones era and in between the two lead singers, the band recorded a series of instrumentals as b-sides and album cuts.  What I find fascinating about the group is that they are jazz players playing pop as well as blues or rhythm n' blues, but I get their very essence is jazz.   Manfred Mann recorded pop music, but it is the tension between the commercial music and their jazz leanings, which gives them an intensity.

"Soul of Mann" is a fantastic compilation of their instrumentals, which are mostly based on pop songs.  Done with excellent jazz arrangements, as well as some originals and their take on jazz artists/composers as Milt Jackson and Nat Adderley.   The album is very "Mod" orientated, and the cool here is essential.   The album fits very much into Milt Jackson world as well as the Mod planet of The Who, The Small Faces, and Graham Bond Organization.  

Miles Davis - "Miles Davis and the Modern Jazz Giants" CD, Album, 1989/1959 (Prestige)

One of my favorite all-time recordings is "The Man I Love," the Gershwin song here performed by Miles Davis, Kenny Clarke, Percy Heath, Milt Jackson, and the incredible Thelonious Monk.  There are two versions of it on the CD release from 1989.  Both are sonic perfection.  The solos are fascinating.  Miles' solo is slow and soulful, and Jackson's vibes bring it up to a faster pace, but Monk's solo is abstract painting as music.  His piano sketches the beautiful melody like he's tracing something on paper on the sand on a windy day.  I believe its take two where Monk even goes slower and plays with the melody as if having liquid slowly disappear between the fingers.   I get the impression that Miles probably wanted to throw his trumpet at Monk for going so slow, and playing with the melody as if a cat is is batting a toy mouse.   The whole album is terrific, but to have the two versions of "The Man I Love" opening and closing this album is just perfection being practiced by these giants of music (jazz). 

Best of 2016 (What I listened to in the year 2016) by Tosh Berman

Without a singular doubt, the year 2016 was a disaster on many levels.  Yet, I heard great music this year.  Mostly re-issues of old music, or old music in general.  When I think of the best of whatever year, it is always what turned me on, and not necessary a new album by a new artist.  Therefore the albums down below are the one's that really inspire and gave me a great deal of enjoyment.  And in no special order:

John Cage - The 25-Year Retrospective Concert of the Music of John Cage (Vinyl) Recorded in 1958.  Modern Science, 2016

Luc Ferrari "Programme Commun"  Sub Rosa, 2013 Vinyl

The Scratch Orchestra - London, 1969 (10" Vinyl) Die Stadt

Scott Walker - The Childhood of a Leader, Vinyl, 4AD, 2016

Ennio Morricone - Spasmo (The X-Ray Version) Vinyl, Dagored

Vince Taylor and his Playboys - Le Rock C'est Ca! Vinyl, Rumble Records, 2015

Otto Luening / Vladimir Ussachevsky - Tape Recorder Music (Vinyl) Cacophonic, 2013  (recorded in 1952)

Maurice Lemaître - Poémes et Musiques Lettristes et Hyperphonie, Vinyl, Alga  Marghen  (Limited Edition)

V.A. - Musique Concrète Vinyl, 2016 Cacophonic (recorded in 1960)

Miles Davis - Get Up With It, Vinyl, CBS, 1974

The Rolling Stones - Necrophilia, Vinyl picture disc, bootleg, Limited Edition

Jacno - Tant de Temps, Vinyl, Gonzai Records, 2 x Vinyl 45rpm, 2016 (recorded in 2006)

Brian Eno - The Ship, Vinyl Warp Records, 2016

Milt Jackson - Wizard of the Vibes 10" Vinyl, Blue Note, 2014.  Recorded in  1952

Michel Legrand - Qui êtes-vous Polly Maggoo? Vinyl, 45rpm Single, We Release What We Want  Records,  2015.  Recorded in 1966

Earth - Earth 2 Special Low Frequency Version, Vinyl, 2006 Sub Pop

David Bowie - Blackstar ISO Records, Vinyl, 2016

BARNEY WILEN: Un témoin dens la ville & Jazz sur seine (Doxy) 45 rpm, 12" Vinyl Record

Another in the great series for the label Doxy, of Jazz music, composed for French films.  Here we have a very young French sax player Barney Wilen, who became known internationally after working with Miles Davis, on his score for Ascenseur pour l'échafaud.  Un témoin dens la ville is a classic noir-like score to its film, which one can smell the alcohol from the streets of the right bank.   Well, it does have one of the great French stars, Lino Ventura (born in Italy I think, but still...) in a film I have never seen.  I must make note... but if it's anything like its soundtrack, it's a must.  Sadly, I don't know the other musicians on this recording, but this 1958 piece of wonder really reflects on what is on the above album cover.  The mood is tense, with moments of intense beauty.

Side two is Jazz sure seine, which is Wilen playing with various members of the Modern Jazz Quartet, such as vibe player Milt Jackson on piano and the great Kenny Clarke on drums. I'm not sure if this was originally made for a film track, but it clearly brings pictures in one's head.  The music is touched with a lightness that's superb.   This is a fantastic album that will melt your brain, and bring warmth to your soul.

Barney Wilen - Jazz sur Seine (Paris Sessions) CD Album

Jazz In Paris Series

Barney Wilen – Jazz sur Seine (Paris Sessions)

CD Album, France, 1958

Jazz in Paris, Universal Music (France)

The great French Tenor Sax player Barney Wilen backed by ¾ of The Modern Jazz Quartet. Instead of John Lewis, we have the great vibe player Milt Jackson on piano, which I think is unusual. Nevertheless a great band with a fantastic rhythm section of Kenny Clarke and Percy Heath. These recordings always bring out the romantic in me, because I imagine these guys playing in a Parisian nightclub with numerous beautiful woman dressed in black with their gangster boyfriends. Drinking whiskey and water, and very little dialogue. Well, I think the Universal Music label 'Jazz in Paris' feeds that image for us foreigners, who spend a great deal of time in front of the TV/Computer to watch French gangster films of the 1950's.

So Jazz sur Seine (original title is Jazz Sessions) is a beautiful snapshot of what I imagine was a perfect time when French Jazz musicians played with American greats. It's the meeting of these two cultures that somehow becomes one-of-a-kind expression of a love shared by the few. This particular album has songs by Wilen as well as by Django Reinhardt, Charles Trenet and Thelonious Monk.

The original Vinyl album (1958)