#464: Frank Zappa - Hot Rats (1969)

Zack: Last time I listened to a Frank Zappa album for this endeavor, I was getting very drunk on bourbon with a coworker and listening to Freak Out! I really liked that album, and I really liked Hot Rats as well. But while my fondness for Freak Out! stemmed from how impressed I was at the execution of a concept, I appreciated Hot Rats just as a piece of music. Only one track here had any vocals, but unlike Jazz Samba, I was sufficiently engrossed into the jazz-infused sounds at work here that I didn’t mind at all. The arrangements really are beautiful, and I can’t wait to relisten to it once I get a chance. It’s definitely a perfect in-the-background-while-I-work album.

Favorite Tracks: Willie the Pimp; Son of Mr. Green Genes; Peaches in Regalia

Emily: When we listened to Freak Out! way back in 2012, I wasn't sure where the next Frank Zappa album would go. My prediction was "blues, rock, noise, or something completely different?" Five and a half years later, we've returned to Zappa and the answer is (D) something completely different. Hot Rats is best described as an experimental jazz fusion album. The only words sung on the album are by our less-than-favorite guy, Captain Beefheart, but overall it's probably 90% instrumental. And it's really interesting instrumental music, not just background noise. Frankly, lyrics would have been a distraction from the unique and complex arrangements that flow beautifully throughout this album. Now I truly have no idea what other Zappa albums will entail - could be blues, could be jazz, could be Beefheart, or could be all of the above.

Favorite Tracks: Peaches in Regalia; Willie the Pimp; The Gumbo Variations

#411: Herbie Hancock - Head Hunters (1973)

Emily: Even though I've been writing about jazz at various intervals over the last 5+ years, I still struggle with the vocabulary to write about it. The adjective "jazzy" captures much of what I hear and feel about the music, but it doesn't really communicate that to an audience who hasn't heard it. Especially after attending a jazz festival this summer, though, jazz music in all of its variations is so much more about the vibe and the energy than the actual notes of music played. Head Hunters certainly embodied that. It's a jazz-fusion album that is smooth, funky, and totally engaging. It's the kind of music I'd want to hear at a jazz club, if I ever actually go to a jazz club. Does that actually do a good job of explaining what this album sounds like? Probably not, but that just means you have to listen to it for yourself.
Favorite Tracks: Chameleon; Sly; Vein Melter

Zack: We’ve run into jazz fusion before, but this was the most jazzy entry that we’ve had. It was quite exceptional. This particular entry merged a smooth variant of jazz with a dynamic funk sound. They were blended seamlessly, creating a dynamic listen. I need to listen to Head Hunters a few more times to really appreciate it, but on one listen it really popped out as an album I can play over and over again.

Favorite Tracks: Chameleon; Vein Melter; Sly

#384: Weather Report - Heavy Weather (1977)

Zack: This album made me realize how painfully unequipped I am to discuss jazz music. I’ve mentioned before about how I’ve enjoyed a lot of what we’ve come across, but even when I like something I don’t quite know how to express it. It’s very different than talking about hip-hop or alternative rock or just about any other genre, where I know the language. With jazz, I always feel like I should have a translation dictionary on hand. Which is why it’s so hard to write a post about why I enjoyed Heavy Weather. It was a really solid album, and I loved how it…sounded. That’s about the best I can do. Something about it really stuck with me, and hopefully listening to it a few more times will shake some useful adjectives out of me so I can say why.

Favorite Tracks: Birdland; The Juggler; Harlequin

Emily: I was catching up on the New York Times as I listened to this album today, and by the end I was reading an article about Kamasi Washington. If you don't know who Washington is, you should, because his debut album The Epic is simply fantastic. Washington is a contemporary jazz musician that very well might bring jazz back to the forefront - he's already started by working with Kendrick Lamar on To Pimp A Butterfly, and from the article I also learned that he's toured with both Snoop Dogg and Lauryn Hill. Washington's jazz comes from many different eras and influences, creating something entirely his own. It made a lot of sense, then, that I was listening to Heavy Weather while reading about him. Heavy Weather is a jazz-fusion album, with elements of rock and funk alongside the quintessential jazz arrangements and feel. The jazz artists of today - like Kamasi Washington - pull from contemporary influences as well (like hip-hop and electronic). I'm sure there's a long line of this tradition within the jazz community (and probably a lot of naysayers and purists as well), but the two artists I've connected with today at least begin to tell that story.

Favorite Tracks: Birdland; Palladium; Teen Town

#297: Soft Machine - Third (1970)

Emily: Sometimes, an album on this list perfectly fits the mood and situation in which I'm listening to it. It could be a happy-go-lucky day with '70s pop music in the background while I'm cooking dinner, or brooding post-punk as I organize my bedroom with seriousness and focus. Today, I was doing research and assembling fact sheets in the library about law firms for my upcoming on-campus interviewing. It was after a meeting about the interview program, and I was feeling a bit anxious but also oddly reassured. Enter: the jazz fusion stylings of Soft Machine. The jazz element made the album great music for reading and focusing on details, while the fusion elements - specifically with experimental rock - caught my attention just enough to quell my anxiety but not enough to divert my attention away from the research. All in all, Third was great preparation music - perhaps next time I'll listen to it during exams.
Favorite Tracks: Slightly All the Time; Moon in June; Out-Bloody-Rageous

Zack: We’ve run into jazz fusion a few times before, with my favorite example being Aja by Steely Dan. From the Wikipedia wormhole I’m just now emerging from, I can see that it traces a lot of its origins to Miles Davis’s Bitches Brew, which would have been released right as Soft Machine was recording Third. I have no hard evidence that they were actually influenced by Bitches Brew and haven’t listened to that album yet (another Miles Davis album should be coming up in the next 50 or so though, so maybe soon) so as to compare. But I’m going to go out on a limb and say they got a copy and liked what they heard. Soft Machine incorporate their electrical instruments in with a handful of additional musicians all playing more typical jazz instruments, with the results being a pretty free-flowing give-and-take between the jazz and rock elements. Third is just four reeeeaaaaally long songs (the shortest clocking in at over 18 minutes) that take some pretty mighty twists and turns along the way. I’ve been known to utilize some of the jazz albums we’ve come across as background music to cooking or homework – Birth of the Cool and A Love Supreme foremost among them – and I could easily see this album sliding into that rotation. It’s dynamic enough to keep you from zoning out but sedated enough that you can do other things.

Favorite Tracks: Moon in June; Slightly All the Time; Facelift