#milesdavis — Public Fediverse posts

Kind of Blue, trionfo o fallimento?

🛑Miles Davis aveva un’opinione molto strana 👇

https://wp.me/pey833-69j

#jazz #milesdavis #kindofblue #cannonballadderley #johncoltrane #billevans #modaljazz #UnoRadio

This morning's #workout #music is a set from early fusion era #MilesDavis doing Bitches Brew and other late 60s works. Nothing needs to be said here. Classic.

https://youtu.be/cex5IOgTuVw
#jazz #PostBop #JazzFusion #KettleBells #BodyWeightTraining #Wellness #BalanceTraining

‘It’s the story of what happens when the music stops’: bringing tormented jazz legend Bill Evans to life
By John Lewis

Having directed documentaries about David Bowie, Radiohead and Joy Division, Grant Gee takes on a biopic of the turbulent and tragic American pianist

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/aug/28/tormented-jazz-legend-bill-evans-grant-gee

#Film #BillEvans #Biopics #Jazz #MilesDavis #Culture #Music #Dramafilms #TheGuardian #JohnLewis

‘It’s the story of what happens when the music stops’: bringing tormented jazz legend Bill Evans to life https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/aug/28/tormented-jazz-legend-bill-evans-grant-gee #Film #BillEvans #Biopics #Jazz #MilesDavis #Culture #Music #DramaFilms

`Motian noted, "We were supposed to make a record date with Miles [Davis]: the trio, Bill, myself and Scott. ... We were talking to Miles about it, it was all set up, and then Scott got killed and the whole thing got forgotten."`

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_LaFaro#Death

#ScottLaFaro #bass #jazz #history #music #BillEvans #MilesDavis

“I could describe Wheeler’s sound as a cross between #MilesDavis and #Chet #Baker, but in fact #Wheeler inhabited his own #musical space.” #KennyWheeler #jazz #JazzSky #music #MusicSky #ECM open.substack.com/pub/leemergn... #trumpeters #trumpet #TrumpetSky

My Top Ten ECM Albums

#DemandezLeProgramme :
1971 - The Jazz Weekend in London
- #KidThomas Preservation Hall Band
- #OrnetteColeman Quartet
- #MilesDavis Septet
- The Giants of Jazz : #TheloniousMonk, #DizzyGillespie, #SonnyStitt, #ArtBlakey, #KaiWinding, #AlMcKibbon
#jazz

6 Artists That I Am Amazed I Saw Perform Live

1) #YmaSumac
2) #Odetta
3) #JimmyScott
4) #MilesDavis
5) #AstridGilberto
6) #EarthaKitt
7) #HerbAlpert
😎 #MaryTravers
9) All #TheBeatles but Ringo

Artists that I came close to seeing live ... but didn't

1) #WandaJackson
2) #AlGreen
3) #GordonLightfoot
4) #LucindaWilliams

Artists I heard singing but never saw 😳

1) #JoniMitchell
2) #MarvinGaye

Artists I still REALLY want to see live (okay there are probably too many to list)

1) #NinaNastasia
2) #KateBush
3) #DylanLeBlanc
4) #RomeoVoid/ #DeborahIyall

Artists I REALLY wanted to see, DID see, but no one I know cares ...

1) #Melanie
2) #JDSouther
3) #NinaHagen
4) #WendyWaldman
5) #Tamino
6) #ElyGuerra
7) #ShannonMcNally

Tell me your stories ...

#livemusic #concerts #music #musicworld

RE: https://mastodon.social/@luizsantosmusic/116517419267462683

#jazz #music #Columbia #MilesDavis #DaveBrubeck

1960 - Miles Davis Quintet featuring Sonny Stitt, Thelonious Monk trio, Betty Carter, James Moody, Eddie Jefferson - Apollo Theater - New York
#jazz #MilesDavis #SonnyStitt #TheloniousMonk #JamesMoody

Interested in exploring jazz? I just posted this as a reply elsewhere and will add a dedicated post. Just my 2 cents.

--

Up to the 70’s it’s easy to align jazz styles to decades - there were clear stylistic shifts each decade from the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s. After that it’s a bit messy but let’s see. I'm not a musician, just a fan.

20’s and 30’s
Not my sweet spot really. Swing and big band, Dixieland…..Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Count Basie I guess would be places to start.

40’s - Bebop
Bebop was a “hot”, fast and frantic style. Think Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie.
Charlie Parker - “The Best Of The Complete Savoy & Dial Studio Recodings”

50’s - Cool (or West Coast) Jazz
A reaction to bebop, Cool Jazz toned down the heat and was calmer, more composed.
Miles Davis - "Birth Of The Cool"
Gerry Mulligan - “Night Lights"

Mid-late 50’s - Hard Bop
A reaction in turn to Cool Jazz, hard bop is not as fast as bebop and is rooted in soulful rhythm and blues, gospel and blues itself. It’s generally what jazz sounds like to people who know nothing else, in a good way. I could play this stuff for hours and often do. They play the melody, then each musician takes turns to solo based on that, then they return to the melody to close.
Cannonball Adderly - "Somethin Else”
Hank Mobley - “Soul Station”
Sonny Clark - “Cool Struttin"

Special mention here for Miles Davis’ “first great quintet" (Davis, John Coltrane, Red Garland, Paul Chambers, Philly Joe Jones). Released a string of great albums in the mid-late 50’s, four of which are from two 1-day sessions: “Workin’", “Cookin’", “Steamin’", “Relaxin’". Others include “‘Round About Midnight", plus an earlier band with “Bags Groove”.

Late 50’s - Modal Jazz
To the non-musician this is difficult to figure out, but basically its like hard bop but they solo over modes, or scales. I dunno - it generally just sounds ace. Kind Of Blue is modal, as is Miles’s album Milestones. Incidentally KoB features the single greatest cymbal crash of all time, at the beginning of So What. Brilliant album.

Late 50’s - other classics
John Coltrane’s “Giant Steps”. There's a video on YT that explains the infamous ‘Coltrane changes’ over the 2-5-1. Great album even to a non-musician.
Charles Mingus - "Mingus Ah Um” - like the man himself - bold, brash, raucous, angry.
Bill Evans - “Explorations” - brilliant piano trio - this trio blazed a new trail where the bass and drums wouldn't just be ‘walking’ behind the piano, but would effectively be improvising even as Evans is soloing.

Anything from the hard bop era is best enjoyed with a Manhattan or Dry Martini in hand. You just feel cooler with this stuff playing.

60’s - post bop
In the 60’s, hard bop evolved to be more modal and generally more abstract and edgy. Best example of this is Miles Davis’s “second great quintet" (Miles, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, Tony Williams).
Miles Davis - “ESP”, “Miles Smiles”

This might be the best spot to mention Coltrane’s "A Love Supreme”. When the “greatest jazz album of all time” question comes up its generally Kind Of Blue, but ALS is alway a close second. Or even first. A totally different feel. There's a video that explains how he solos using a psalm/invocation. Charles Shaar Murray (I think) once said that he didn’t understand the ALS album but it just sounds brilliant played loud in a thunderstorm. Certainly intense. (Everything from Coltrane after this album is avant-garde and a tough listen, IMHO)

70’s - funk and fusion
Not my favorite decade. The major stylistic shift was to electric funk and fusion which started in the late 60’s. There’s some funk that’s OK…..but 70’s fusion generally leaves me stone cold.
For funk - Herbie Hancock - “Headhunters”
For fusion - I dunno, the bands would be Weather Report (“Heavy Weather”), Chick Corea’s Return To Forever, maybe Brand X “Unorthodox Behavior”.

80’s
Not great for jazz, IMHO, but one of my all-time favorite artists released his best stuff here so let’s see:
Pat Metheny Group - “Offramp”, “Travels”, “First Circle”. Sort of jazz-rock-ish with Metheny’s guitar synth a common feature.

A movement evolved that was loosely centered around Wynton Marsalis called the “Young Lions”, a sort of reaction to the electric fusion years that turned back to 60’s style acoustic post-bop. Not sure I’d recommend much here though, the 60’s stuff is better.

90’s
Another tough one. Stylistically all over the map.
Joshua Redman’s “Moodswing” from 1994 is a great straight ahead set, with four of my all-time favorite musicians - Redman, Brad Mehldau, Christian McBride and Brian Blade.

2000’s - ECM
The German ECM label has a real vibe all its own. Not blues based at all, an often austere, icy crisp production quality. Usually introspective & mellow but can get quite avant-garde. I love a lot of what’s been released.
Marcin Wasilewski Trio - "January"
Michel Benita & Ethics - "River Silver"

2000’s - modern fusion
There’s a wave of modern fusion bands that surpass the 70’s fusion style. Snarky Puppy, Darcy James Argue, Jaga Jazzist among others.
Snarky have a great video at NPR’s Tiny Desk - the second tune has the leader teaching the audience a polyrhythm and then they play a great tune.

Another favorite band is Brian Blade’s Fellowship Band - start with “Perceptual” and “Landmarks”. A real folkloric, Americana feel.
And for modern straight-ahead, Christian McBride’s Inside Straight album “Kind Of Brown”.

2000’s - London
And finally, London has a thriving scene with an often urban, hip-hop mix.
The Comet Is Coming - see them live at NPR
Other London acts to try would include Sons Of Kemet (“Your Queen Is A Reptile” - just two drummers, a tuba and sax), Nubya Garcia (“Source”, dub-wise basslines), many others.
I also like the spiritual Alice Coltrane feel of Matthew Halsall ("Colour Yes”).

--

From 2025 I am enjoying Brandee Younger's "Gadabout Season"and the Aleph Quintet's "Hiwar".

That will keep you busy. And will also help you decide whether to dive in further or just run away.

#jazz
#music
#milesdavis
#johncoltrane
#patmethenygroup
#HankMobley
#cannonballadderley
#sonnyclark
#charlesmingus
#billevans
#herbiehancock
#bradmehldau
#christianmcbride
#brianblade
#joshuaredman
#marcinwasilewski
#NubyaGarcia
#brandeeyounger
#alephquintet #MatthewHalsall

@davep I made a list with some recommendations a few years ago for a friend and will cut and paste below:

--

Up to the 70’s it’s easy to align jazz styles to decades - there were clear stylistic shifts each decade from the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s. After that it’s a bit messy but let’s see. I'm not a musician, just a fan.

20’s and 30’s
Not my sweet spot really. Swing and big band, Dixieland…..Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Count Basie I guess would be places to start.

40’s - Bebop
Bebop was a “hot”, fast and frantic style. Think Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie.
Charlie Parker - “The Best Of The Complete Savoy & Dial Studio Recodings”

50’s - Cool (or West Coast) Jazz
A reaction to bebop, Cool Jazz toned down the heat and was calmer, more composed.
Miles Davis - "Birth Of The Cool"
Gerry Mulligan - “Night Lights"

Mid-late 50’s - Hard Bop
A reaction in turn to Cool Jazz, hard bop is not as fast as bebop and is rooted in soulful rhythm and blues, gospel and blues itself. It’s generally what jazz sounds like to people who know nothing else, in a good way. I could play this stuff for hours and often do. They play the melody, then each musician takes turns to solo based on that, then they return to the melody to close.
Cannonball Adderly - "Somethin Else”
Hank Mobley - “Soul Station”
Sonny Clark - “Cool Struttin"

Special mention here for Miles Davis’ “first great quintet" (Davis, John Coltrane, Red Garland, Paul Chambers, Philly Joe Jones). Released a string of great albums in the mid-late 50’s, four of which are from two 1-day sessions: “Workin’", “Cookin’", “Steamin’", “Relaxin’". Others include “‘Round About Midnight", plus an earlier band with “Bags Groove”.

Late 50’s - Modal Jazz
To the non-musician this is difficult to figure out, but basically its like hard bop but they solo over modes, or scales. I dunno - it generally just sounds ace. Kind Of Blue is modal, as is Miles’s album Milestones. Incidentally KoB features the single greatest cymbal crash of all time, at the beginning of So What. Brilliant album.

Late 50’s - other classics
John Coltrane’s “Giant Steps”. There's a video on YT that explains the infamous ‘Coltrane changes’ over the 2-5-1. Great album even to a non-musician.
Charles Mingus - "Mingus Ah Um” - like the man himself - bold, brash, raucous, angry.
Bill Evans - “Explorations” - brilliant piano trio - this trio blazed a new trail where the bass and drums wouldn't just be ‘walking’ behind the piano, but would effectively be improvising even as Evans is soloing.

Anything from the hard bop era is best enjoyed with a Manhattan or Dry Martini in hand. You just feel cooler with this stuff playing.

60’s - post bop
In the 60’s, hard bop evolved to be more modal and generally more abstract and edgy. Best example of this is Miles Davis’s “second great quintet" (Miles, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, Tony Williams).
Miles Davis - “ESP”, “Miles Smiles”

This might be the best spot to mention Coltrane’s "A Love Supreme”. When the “greatest jazz album of all time” question comes up its generally Kind Of Blue, but ALS is alway a close second. Or even first. A totally different feel. There's a video that explains how he solos using a psalm/invocation. Charles Shaar Murray (I think) once said that he didn’t understand the ALS album but it just sounds brilliant played loud in a thunderstorm. Certainly intense. (Everything from Coltrane after this album is avant-garde and a tough listen, IMHO)

70’s - funk and fusion
Not my favorite decade. The major stylistic shift was to electric funk and fusion which started in the late 60’s. There’s some funk that’s OK…..but 70’s fusion generally leaves me stone cold.
For funk - Herbie Hancock - “Headhunters”
For fusion - I dunno, the bands would be Weather Report (“Heavy Weather”), Chick Corea’s Return To Forever, maybe Brand X “Unorthodox Behavior”.

80’s
Not great for jazz, IMHO, but one of my all-time favorite artists released his best stuff here so let’s see:
Pat Metheny Group - “Offramp”, “Travels”, “First Circle”. Sort of jazz-rock-ish with Metheny’s guitar synth a common feature.

A movement evolved that was loosely centered around Wynton Marsalis called the “Young Lions”, a sort of reaction to the electric fusion years that turned back to 60’s style acoustic post-bop. Not sure I’d recommend much here though, the 60’s stuff is better.

90’s
Another tough one. Stylistically all over the map.
Joshua Redman’s “Moodswing” from 1994 is a great straight ahead set, with four of my all-time favorite musicians - Redman, Brad Mehldau, Christian McBride and Brian Blade.

2000’s - ECM
The German ECM label has a real vibe all its own. Not blues based at all, an often austere, icy crisp production quality. Usually introspective & mellow but can get quite avant-garde. I love a lot of what’s been released.
Marcin Wasilewski Trio - "January"
Michel Benita & Ethics - "River Silver"

2000’s - modern fusion
There’s a wave of modern fusion bands that surpass the 70’s fusion style. Snarky Puppy, Darcy James Argue, Jaga Jazzist among others.
Snarky have a great video at NPR’s Tiny Desk - the second tune has the leader teaching the audience a polyrhythm and then they play a great tune.

Another favorite band is Brian Blade’s Fellowship Band - start with “Perceptual”. A real folkloric, Americana feel.
And for modern straight-ahead, Christian McBride’s Inside Straight album “Kind Of Brown”.

2000’s - London
And finally, London has a thriving scene with an often urban, hip-hop mix.
The Comet Is Coming - see them live at NPR
Other London acts to try would include Sons Of Kemet (“Your Queen Is A Reptile” - just two drummers, a tuba and sax), Nubya Garcia (“Source”, dub-wise basslines), many others.
I also like the spiritual Alice Coltrane feel of Matthew Halsall ("Colour Yes”).

--

From 2025 I am enjoying Brandee Younger's "Gadabout Season"and the Aleph Quintet's "Hiwar".

That will keep you busy. And will also help you decide whether to dive in further or just run away.

#jazz #music #milesdavis #johncoltrane #patmethenygroup #HankMobley #cannonballadderley #sonnyclark #charlesmingus #billevans #herbiehancock #bradmehldau #christianmcbride #brianblade #joshuaredman #marcinwasilewski #NubyaGarcia #brandeeyounger #alephquintet

Mick Jagger Producing Miles Davis Romance Movie Starring Damson Idris & Anamaria Vartolomei; Goodfellas Launching Sales At Cannes
#News #AnamariaVartolomei #BillPohlad #Cannes #CannesMarket #DamsonIdris #JaggedFilms #MickJagger #MilesJuliette #MilesDavis

https://deadline.com/2025/05/mick-jagger-producing-miles-davis-movie-damson-idris-1236393415/

G-Nitro’s Daily Music Wrap-Up - 12/30/24

I check out a Miles Davis' classic for the 1001 Albums challenge.

Favorite Videos include a live performance from Satomi Shigemori, a Brazilian Bossa Nova vinyl set, and more!

https://g-nitro.com/g-nitros-daily-music-wrap-up-12-30-24

#Music #MusicVideo #MusicAlbum #1001Albums #MilesDavis #SatomiShigemori #BrazilianMusic #BossaNova #LatinMusic

#nowplaying #vinyl #vinylrecords #MilesDavis #PaulChambers #JimmyCobb #KevinGray #WyntonKelly #SonnyStitt #Jazz #CoolJazz #Bop

Mamaleek – Vida Blue Review

By Dear Hollow

Vida Blue feels like watching a baseball game in the ’70s with your alcoholic dad. You can hear the Oakland crowd go wild, and Dad’s drunken groans echo around the wood-slatted family room. You wince as he tightens his fists. You can hear your mom making beef stroganoff in the kitchen with the radio going, smell the weighty hamburger meat right before she adds the roux and a healthy helping of apathy. It’ll make your bones grow, she whispers when you ask. The fuck you say, your dad growls, crumpling the can of his eighth beer and throwing it at the trash can’s broken teeth. You try to watch the game and witness Dodgers hitter Van Joshua out by Rollie Fingers on a groundout to end the series. Oakland’s Swingin’ A’s in a threepeat, 4-1. Mom and Dad start throwing fists and divorce threats like there’s a World Series at stake, and you can’t tell if you should cheer for the A’s or feel sad for the Dodgers because your parents are fighting over beef stroganoff and growing boys.

Vida Blue, Mamaleek’s ninth full-length, mourns the 2023 death of member Eric Livingston – paralleled by the Oakland Athletics’ relocation to Las Vegas. It reflects on legendary pitcher and namesake Vida Blue’s legacy – and Livingston’s. In honor and homage, Vida Blue takes the squelching and jangling hemorrhaging cyst-blues template of 2022’s impressive Diner Coffee, painting a ’70’s folk-, blues-, prog- and jazz-rock sheen across it with reckless abandon. Bass lines are the backbone of each track, frequently shattered and crippled in flute or brass explosions; jazzy southern rock and metallic licks drool across the bandstand; abrasive noise and groaning post-punk drive their teeth into the proceedings. Ultimately, Vida Blue is everything that makes Mamaleek completely divisive – and utterly brilliant.

Vida Blue does a good job capitalizing upon Diner Coffee, unsteadying the Oxbow-esque blues-rock foundation and its avant-garde elements. It adds to Mamaleek’s freeform figure, enhanced by the brothers’ unhinged roars, agonizing groans, and disconcerting spoken word. From the opening lick of “Tegucigalpa,” a ZZ Top-esque guitar drawl colliding with the Jethro Tull’s soothing flute, it does its damnedest to draw you in with its plethora of avant-garde stylings only to pervert them into a cheese ball of rot. While the elevator music of “Vileness Slim” and the funky bass lines of “Vida Blue” and “Hatful of Rain” are cracked by brass and flute ejaculations, crescendos of discordant plonks and nostalgic chords seamlessly war in an undecided battle – elements like chimes, harmonica, backing choirs, noise, and even whistling adding to the trademark jangle. Big band orchestra a la Glenn Miller sprawl across tracks like “Vida Blue” and interlude “Momentary Laughter Concealed from My Eyes” add a tantalizing question mark in sudden yearning romance.

While Diner Coffee’s foundation of grotesque jazz lent itself to Miles Davis-esque moments of modal clarity, Vida Blue is much more fluid in its expressions, a grin of melody that shakes hands with the surrounding chaos – landmarks likewise including a tasteful dose that adds texture and nuance to the ugliness. “Ancient Souls, No Longer Sorrowful” features a droning southern rock line that fuses into infectious brass explosions before collapsing into a piano line that morphs from wildly improvised to suddenly beautiful, before returning to a Tom Waits-esque doo-wop bastardization. “Black Pudding Served at the Horn of the Altar” features an off-kilter post-metal rhythm that Isis would be proud of beneath a slowed pedal effect of Rage Against the Machine’s “Killing in the Name Of,” achieving a strangely liturgical aura through its ominous chanting. Finally, ten-minute behemoth “Legion of Bottom Deck Dealers” feels ironically the most traditional, Joy Division-esque moans harmonizing atop a strange fumbling of glitching metallic guitar riffs that swing between beautiful and discordant.

As always, Mamaleek features a lot to unpack – discordant, freeform, and downright painful at times. Vida Blue is its most glorious train wreck yet, collapsing upon the fucked up foundation laid by Diner Coffee. In ways that pay homage to their fallen bandmate and to the city that moved on without the A’s lefty pitcher, the act’s ninth offering feels simultaneously more maniacal, more exploratory – yet the jangling trademark works stunningly in its favor – and, dare I say, Mamaleek feels more human. But as the saying goes, as the sounds of both baseball and domestic discord fade, you’re left with only the memories.

Rating: 4.0/5.0
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: The Flenser
Websites: mamaleek.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/Mamaleek
Releases Worldwide: August 9th, 2024

#2024 #40 #70sRock #AmericanMetal #Aug24 #AvantGardeMetal #Blues #ChamberMusic #FunkMetal #GlennMillerOrchestra #Isis #Jazz #JethroTull #Mamaleek #MilesDavis #NoiseRock #Oxbow #postPunk #ProgressiveRock #RageAgainstTheMachine #Review #Reviews #TheFlenser #TomWaits #VidaBlue #ZZTop

Mamaleek – Vida Blue Review

By Dear Hollow

Vida Blue feels like watching a baseball game in the ’70s with your alcoholic dad. You can hear the Oakland crowd go wild, and Dad’s drunken groans echo around the wood-slatted family room. You wince as he tightens his fists. You can hear your mom making beef stroganoff in the kitchen with the radio going, smell the weighty hamburger meat right before she adds the roux and a healthy helping of apathy. It’ll make your bones grow, she whispers when you ask. The fuck you say, your dad growls, crumpling the can of his eighth beer and throwing it at the trash can’s broken teeth. You try to watch the game and witness Dodgers hitter Van Joshua out by Rollie Fingers on a groundout to end the series. Oakland’s Swingin’ A’s in a threepeat, 4-1. Mom and Dad start throwing fists and divorce threats like there’s a World Series at stake, and you can’t tell if you should cheer for the A’s or feel sad for the Dodgers because your parents are fighting over beef stroganoff and growing boys.

Vida Blue, Mamaleek’s ninth full-length, mourns the 2023 death of member Eric Livingston – paralleled by the Oakland Athletics’ relocation to Las Vegas. It reflects on legendary pitcher and namesake Vida Blue’s legacy – and Livingston’s. In honor and homage, Vida Blue takes the squelching and jangling hemorrhaging cyst-blues template of 2022’s impressive Diner Coffee, painting a ’70’s folk-, blues-, prog- and jazz-rock sheen across it with reckless abandon. Bass lines are the backbone of each track, frequently shattered and crippled in flute or brass explosions; jazzy southern rock and metallic licks drool across the bandstand; abrasive noise and groaning post-punk drive their teeth into the proceedings. Ultimately, Vida Blue is everything that makes Mamaleek completely divisive – and utterly brilliant.

Vida Blue does a good job capitalizing upon Diner Coffee, unsteadying the Oxbow-esque blues-rock foundation and its avant-garde elements. It adds to Mamaleek’s freeform figure, enhanced by the brothers’ unhinged roars, agonizing groans, and disconcerting spoken word. From the opening lick of “Tegucigalpa,” a ZZ Top-esque guitar drawl colliding with the Jethro Tull’s soothing flute, it does its damnedest to draw you in with its plethora of avant-garde stylings only to pervert them into a cheese ball of rot. While the elevator music of “Vileness Slim” and the funky bass lines of “Vida Blue” and “Hatful of Rain” are cracked by brass and flute ejaculations, crescendos of discordant plonks and nostalgic chords seamlessly war in an undecided battle – elements like chimes, harmonica, backing choirs, noise, and even whistling adding to the trademark jangle. Big band orchestra a la Glenn Miller sprawl across tracks like “Vida Blue” and interlude “Momentary Laughter Concealed from My Eyes” add a tantalizing question mark in sudden yearning romance.

While Diner Coffee’s foundation of grotesque jazz lent itself to Miles Davis-esque moments of modal clarity, Vida Blue is much more fluid in its expressions, a grin of melody that shakes hands with the surrounding chaos – landmarks likewise including a tasteful dose that adds texture and nuance to the ugliness. “Ancient Souls, No Longer Sorrowful” features a droning southern rock line that fuses into infectious brass explosions before collapsing into a piano line that morphs from wildly improvised to suddenly beautiful, before returning to a Tom Waits-esque doo-wop bastardization. “Black Pudding Served at the Horn of the Altar” features an off-kilter post-metal rhythm that Isis would be proud of beneath a slowed pedal effect of Rage Against the Machine’s “Killing in the Name Of,” achieving a strangely liturgical aura through its ominous chanting. Finally, ten-minute behemoth “Legion of Bottom Deck Dealers” feels ironically the most traditional, Joy Division-esque moans harmonizing atop a strange fumbling of glitching metallic guitar riffs that swing between beautiful and discordant.

As always, Mamaleek features a lot to unpack – discordant, freeform, and downright painful at times. Vida Blue is its most glorious train wreck yet, collapsing upon the fucked up foundation laid by Diner Coffee. In ways that pay homage to their fallen bandmate and to the city that moved on without the A’s lefty pitcher, the act’s ninth offering feels simultaneously more maniacal, more exploratory – yet the jangling trademark works stunningly in its favor – and, dare I say, Mamaleek feels more human. But as the saying goes, as the sounds of both baseball and domestic discord fade, you’re left with only the memories.

Rating: 4.0/5.0
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: The Flenser
Websites: mamaleek.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/Mamaleek
Releases Worldwide: August 9th, 2024

#2024 #40 #70sRock #AmericanMetal #Aug24 #AvantGardeMetal #Blues #ChamberMusic #FunkMetal #GlennMillerOrchestra #Isis #Jazz #JethroTull #Mamaleek #MilesDavis #NoiseRock #Oxbow #postPunk #ProgressiveRock #RageAgainstTheMachine #Review #Reviews #TheFlenser #TomWaits #VidaBlue #ZZTop

Mamaleek – Vida Blue Review

By Dear Hollow

Vida Blue feels like watching a baseball game in the ’70s with your alcoholic dad. You can hear the Oakland crowd go wild, and Dad’s drunken groans echo around the wood-slatted family room. You wince as he tightens his fists. You can hear your mom making beef stroganoff in the kitchen with the radio going, smell the weighty hamburger meat right before she adds the roux and a healthy helping of apathy. It’ll make your bones grow, she whispers when you ask. The fuck you say, your dad growls, crumpling the can of his eighth beer and throwing it at the trash can’s broken teeth. You try to watch the game and witness Dodgers hitter Van Joshua out by Rollie Fingers on a groundout to end the series. Oakland’s Swingin’ A’s in a threepeat, 4-1. Mom and Dad start throwing fists and divorce threats like there’s a World Series at stake, and you can’t tell if you should cheer for the A’s or feel sad for the Dodgers because your parents are fighting over beef stroganoff and growing boys.

Vida Blue, Mamaleek’s ninth full-length, mourns the 2023 death of member Eric Livingston – paralleled by the Oakland Athletics’ relocation to Las Vegas. It reflects on legendary pitcher and namesake Vida Blue’s legacy – and Livingston’s. In honor and homage, Vida Blue takes the squelching and jangling hemorrhaging cyst-blues template of 2022’s impressive Diner Coffee, painting a ’70’s folk-, blues-, prog- and jazz-rock sheen across it with reckless abandon. Bass lines are the backbone of each track, frequently shattered and crippled in flute or brass explosions; jazzy southern rock and metallic licks drool across the bandstand; abrasive noise and groaning post-punk drive their teeth into the proceedings. Ultimately, Vida Blue is everything that makes Mamaleek completely divisive – and utterly brilliant.

Vida Blue does a good job capitalizing upon Diner Coffee, unsteadying the Oxbow-esque blues-rock foundation and its avant-garde elements. It adds to Mamaleek’s freeform figure, enhanced by the brothers’ unhinged roars, agonizing groans, and disconcerting spoken word. From the opening lick of “Tegucigalpa,” a ZZ Top-esque guitar drawl colliding with the Jethro Tull’s soothing flute, it does its damnedest to draw you in with its plethora of avant-garde stylings only to pervert them into a cheese ball of rot. While the elevator music of “Vileness Slim” and the funky bass lines of “Vida Blue” and “Hatful of Rain” are cracked by brass and flute ejaculations, crescendos of discordant plonks and nostalgic chords seamlessly war in an undecided battle – elements like chimes, harmonica, backing choirs, noise, and even whistling adding to the trademark jangle. Big band orchestra a la Glenn Miller sprawl across tracks like “Vida Blue” and interlude “Momentary Laughter Concealed from My Eyes” add a tantalizing question mark in sudden yearning romance.

While Diner Coffee’s foundation of grotesque jazz lent itself to Miles Davis-esque moments of modal clarity, Vida Blue is much more fluid in its expressions, a grin of melody that shakes hands with the surrounding chaos – landmarks likewise including a tasteful dose that adds texture and nuance to the ugliness. “Ancient Souls, No Longer Sorrowful” features a droning southern rock line that fuses into infectious brass explosions before collapsing into a piano line that morphs from wildly improvised to suddenly beautiful, before returning to a Tom Waits-esque doo-wop bastardization. “Black Pudding Served at the Horn of the Altar” features an off-kilter post-metal rhythm that Isis would be proud of beneath a slowed pedal effect of Rage Against the Machine’s “Killing in the Name Of,” achieving a strangely liturgical aura through its ominous chanting. Finally, ten-minute behemoth “Legion of Bottom Deck Dealers” feels ironically the most traditional, Joy Division-esque moans harmonizing atop a strange fumbling of glitching metallic guitar riffs that swing between beautiful and discordant.

As always, Mamaleek features a lot to unpack – discordant, freeform, and downright painful at times. Vida Blue is its most glorious train wreck yet, collapsing upon the fucked up foundation laid by Diner Coffee. In ways that pay homage to their fallen bandmate and to the city that moved on without the A’s lefty pitcher, the act’s ninth offering feels simultaneously more maniacal, more exploratory – yet the jangling trademark works stunningly in its favor – and, dare I say, Mamaleek feels more human. But as the saying goes, as the sounds of both baseball and domestic discord fade, you’re left with only the memories.

Rating: 4.0/5.0
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: The Flenser
Websites: mamaleek.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/Mamaleek
Releases Worldwide: August 9th, 2024

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