New: Ben Allison's "Think Free"

"Think Free," bassist/composer Ben Allison's next album drops officially on October 13, but the whole shebang is available for download and/or streaming on the Palmetto Records site.

[Palmetto's embeddable player doesn't seem to work on my browser, but here goes:]


The album is the third in a cycle that started with "Cowboy Justice" (2006) and "Little Things Run The World" (2008). "I wanted a band that rocked," Allison says, and he clearly got his wish. The first two albums featured a fusion (note the lower-case f) of the rock and jazz idioms, marked by the pairing of Steve Cardenas's guitar with Ron Horton's trumpet over the rhythm section. Think Free continues the theme with Shane Endsley replacing Horton, but Allison ups the ante by adding violinist Jenny Scheinman to the mix. It's a brilliant choice.

The first two albums were direct, often angry responses to the George W. Bush era (with titles like "Tricky Dick" and "Man Sized Safe," Allison didn't exactly qualify as a Bush Ranger). Think Free carries a lot of the same rage, but it seems to be resolving into something more hopeful. By the time you reach "Green Al," the final track, you get the sense that things may be looking up. Let's hope.

New: Ghosty's "A Mystic's Robe" EP

Just finished listening to Ghosty's new three-song EP "A Mystic's Robe."

TNLD verdict: two thumbs up (one for each hand, see?). It's everything you depend on from the Kansas City band: Peerless pop construction, beautiful harmonies and tasty lyrics. My only complaint would be that there isn't more.

It's available for streaming or download now. Do yourself a favor and lend your ears.

Related post: TNLD interview with Ghosty's Andrew Connor

Learning to listen

Darcy Jame Argue has an excellent post on Jelly Roll Morton, but this passage struck a chord with me.

Listening to pre-WWII records is an act of imagination, and the further you go back, the more imagination it takes -- in order for you to really hear what's going on, your "mind's ear," so to speak, needs to fill in a lot. This is something that I think people who were born before 1960 or so don't fully grasp, because those people have completely different expectations when it comes to recorded music -- the technology was maturing at the same time they were. (I mean, the Beatles didn't fully embrace the radical concept of stereo until after the White Album.) Obviously, this is a vitally important skill that anyone who's serious about music needs to develop, but it doesn't come naturally to most. It takes a considerable amount of practice and effort to develop.

TNLD says read the post, then follow the links.