Andrew Hill - Black Fire

Of all the albums that Andrew Hill released this is probably my most favorite one. Everything that Andrew Hill is about shines here so well. Not only is he good on this album but everyone else who participated on it. Joe Henderson (who's on saxophone here) is probably the star of the show. His expressive yet very structured play fits very well with Andrews own piano skills. This is probably most evident on the title track, Black Fire, where they both play in unison the chorus of the song.

The album itself is considered free jazz but it's actually very well structured. There's no free exploration here, it might sound free to some due to strange time signatures and unusual keys that they play (mostly major, I think?) so the album tends to sound cold and machine like. But I find a lot of beauty and energy in it. It's as if they're trying to play regular bebop but as it goes on it gets more fierce and it tries to break free of its limitations.

All in all a great and interesting album. Even if you're not that big on free jazz (or just getting into it) you might enjoy this.

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Original Dixieland Jazz Band

Hello everyone. I know I'm a "bit" late but there were problems I could not have foreseen. But never mind that, let's get to work.

Original Dixieland Jazz Band was a very old jazz, this was during the time swing became a thing. Back in the 10s and 20s of the last century they were one of the biggest bands around. And they were big rightfully so! All of the musicians in this band knew exactly what they are doing and they mastered their instruments exceptionally. When it comes to old Dixie jazz I often return to these guys. Their music was always up there with King Oliver, Hot Fives and others.

The songs I have from them aren't from just one source but from a lot of compilations (mainly from that one huge jazz compilation of 50 or so CDs). The songs themselves were sorted chronologically and I think that was a very good decision. This makes the production much more coherent and understandable. The sound itself is actually really great so there probably was some digital mastering (on a lot of newer songs you can't even hear the hiss of records).

Be sure to grab this if you're into pre-swing jazz.

Parts one and two.

Note: see comments for clarification and for a book about the band.