Cecil Taylor – The World of Cecil Taylor
I love Cecil Taylor!!! I wished I would have been able to meet him!! The drum solo in the beginning of “Air” is everything. Archie Sheep also just blows my mind on this track.
Apparently the band recorded that track 29 times before Cecil was happy with it! I love Cecil Taylor’s style of playing. Intense and energetic, but never overrunning anyone else in the band.
He comes across super sensitive in the interviews I have watched, almost fragile but then the music is just super intense. Whenever I hear any of it I can hear myself tap dance straight away!
Byron Wallen – Indigo
I listen to this Album on repeat! Byron Wallen is one of my biggest heroes and inspirations. I want to be able to do with my tap shoes what he does with his trumpet. There is so much meaning behind the music. It takes you on a journey, makes you feel and think.
here is something really addictive about this album for me. When I start listening, I can’t turn it off.
Sam Newsome – Chaos Theory
This Album was my introduction to Sam Newsome and it blew me away. I didn’t know you could create sounds like this with a saxophone. It is amazing, almost hard to believe that this was a solo album. There is so much going on at the same time, I find something new in this music every time I listen to it. It is a great example of someone that has mastered their instrument and has complete freedom, is a master creative, a story teller. You are witnessing a genius freely expressing himself.
Beki Mseleku – Beyond the Stars
Beyond the stars is a solo piano album and was released post mortem. This album is full of emotion and momentum, another one I almost always listen to all the way through every time I turn it on. I don’t event know what to write about it, because It is just perfect in every way.
Charles Mingus – Let my children hear music
I came across Charles Mingus fairly early when I was a kid living in Germany. I grew up in a very small town in Bavaria and there was hardly any live performances by professionals ever, so my early music listening were my Grandmother’s Glen Miller Records, and whatever came in the radio.
When I was a teenager, my parents finally got satellite TV and I had then access to all the arts and culture channels. One day they showed the documentary “The Triumph of the Underdog” and from then on I was hooked. I don’t remember if I actually liked the music, or if I just found an ally in Mingus since I always felt like an Underdog myself.
The intro the “the shoes of the Fisherman’s Wive are some Jive Ass Slippers” makes me super emotional, but then when they start swinging it carries you away to a completely different dimension.
Mingus is one of the greatest composers of all time and everyone should listen to his music.
Charles Mingus – Mingus Plays Piano
I couldn’t not put this album on the list. It is beautiful, full of emotion. It sounds like he sat down at the piano and fell into some type of trance. This album really tells a story.
Booker Little – Out Front
Booker Little is Booker little. I got introduced to this album by the great trumpet player Byron Wallen who I mentioned earlier in my list. I love Booker Little’s Sound. The fact he died so young is a loss for the whole music world.
This album is super interesting for me to listen to, It feels really ahead of it’s time.
