Jazz 2012 - Suggestions

[Trane]

Latin-jazz with some early 70's-like track

Santana's Shape Shifter... easily their best since Amigos

[Scott Bails]

This was in Sunday's Philadelphia Inquirer.

I know nothing about any of these, but I'm hoping to check some of them out.

[Progmatic]

There is new album by Kostarev Band called Kosmobob: Vegetarian...anyone heard it yet?

[Poisoned Youth]

This was in Sunday's Philadelphia Inquirer.

I know nothing about any of these, but I'm hoping to check some of them out.

Of those, I've heard the Amit Friedman and Mehldau. I'm sure the Rosenwinkel (which just came out) is good too.

Lots of great jazz being released every year though. It's really a hidden secret, in some ways moreso than prog rock.

[Steve F.]

It's really a hidden secret, in some ways moreso than prog rock.

I have to disagree. It may be a hidden secret for people that only frequent PE, but jazz has more magazine coverage, more 'fan sites', more radio interest, more festivals, more shows and more general opportunities. etc etc etc.

I know you know this Sean, but I'm pointing this out for folks who don't.

Jazz is also a much bigger 'thing' than prog, and while there is huge amounts of interest and coverage of music from earlier times, there isn't the over-arching fixation on 'the past' as there is in prog and there's more younger folks at the shows than there are at the prog fests.

IMO. YMMV. GOOTAHAB.

[Poisoned Youth]

I'm glad you pointed all this out. I agree that, pound for pound, jazz has much more publicity - more festivals, more recognition of the art form, etc.

I suppose I should clarify that, like prog, a lot of jazz culture is also fixated on the past, banking on big name artists who recorded 40-50 years ago. And the definition of jazz in popular culture has changed dramatically. So, like prog, you have all kinds of new artists today creating music fighting to be heard or recognized. And, like prog, an artist that can manage to sell 1,000 copies of his album is a huge win.

[No Pride]

I have to disagree. It may be a hidden secret for people that only frequent PE, but jazz has more magazine coverage, more 'fan sites', more radio interest, more festivals, more shows and more general opportunities. etc etc etc.

I know you know this Sean, but I'm pointing this out for folks who don't.

Jazz is also a much bigger 'thing' than prog, and while there is huge amounts of interest and coverage of music from earlier times, there isn't the over-arching fixation on 'the past' as there is in prog and there's more younger folks at the shows than there are at the prog fests.

Agree 100%, Steve.

There's many folks who never even heard of prog, but you'd be hard pressed to find anybody who hasn't heard of jazz. They might have a very misinformed idea about what jazz actually is in general, but they at least know it exists.

And yes, it's at least as alive and well as prog ever was.

[Steve F.]

additionally, the magazines don't only feature Miles, Sonny, Monk and Herbie on the covers. Think of the prog magazines. It's (nearly) always someone from the 70s or the original early 80s neo bands on the covers.

There is plenty of 'backwards gazing' in jazz (PLENTY), but there's more in prog. IMO.