Good albums for checking out odd-meter playing?

1987 · #1 04-05-2010, 07:43 AM

Hey guys,

Can anyone recommend some good jazz albums/artists for checking out odd-meter playing? Any suggestions are much appreciated.

Cheers.

Jake · #2 04-05-2010, 09:39 AM

lionel loueke: karibu

5StringBlues · #3 04-05-2010, 09:41 AM

Dave Brubeck:Time Further Out

TomSauter · #4 04-05-2010, 09:45 AM

'Mad 6' by Ravi Coltrane--they play 26-2 in 9/8 and maybe a couple other odd meter tunes.

Lots of Brad Mehldau records have odd meter tunes, probably any one of the Art of the Trio records. The only one I remember for sure is All the Things You Are in 7/8 (in the key of A!) on Art of the the Trio 4. He plays Anything Goes in 5 on another one.

Then there's guys like Avishai Cohen that play lots of ethnic odd meters, I'm sure all of his records have odd meter tunes.

Marcus Johnson · #5 04-05-2010, 09:54 AM

Don Ellis. TB member DEAF PEA played with him, if I remember correctly, he was on the album "Tears Of Joy".

MonkeyBass · #6 04-05-2010, 09:59 AM

Porcupine Tree and Tool do some great odd meter stuff in the metal genre.

kesslari · #7 04-05-2010, 10:19 AM

For a master class on odd-meters, step out of jazz and go to Turkish or Indian music.
If you don't mind the absence of "Jazz" instruments, you'll get your lesson.
I strongly recommend Turkish Oud master Necati Celik.

Chris Symer · #8 04-05-2010, 10:21 AM

Steve Coleman and 5 Elements, it's on the electric and funkier side of jazz, but trying to figure out the mixed meters will give you a headache. You may still want to dance though. Lots of Dave Holland's music involves odd meters, you can even check out his earlier quintet that Steve Coleman played in and hear them both at the same time.

Dondabass · #9 04-05-2010, 10:23 AM

I agree that Don Ellis would be a great (but challenging) place to go to. One of his most accesible albums was "Connection". There are killer versions of Roundabout, I Feel the Earth Move, Theme from The French Connection, and JC Superstar on that album. Good luck!

deaf pea · #10 04-05-2010, 10:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marcus Johnson

Don Ellis. TB member DEAF PEA played with him, if I remember correctly, he was on the album "Tears Of Joy".

And "at Fillmore" . . . and the "French Connection" film score, too . . .

Thanks for remembering, Marcus . . .

. . .

Marcus Johnson · #11 04-05-2010, 11:00 AM

Man, "Tears Of Joy" twisted my head around when I was a kid. I was still playing trumpet then, and Don's microtonal/odd time thing was pretty earthshaking for me.

Robin UK · #12 04-05-2010, 11:01 AM

You could also try stuff like Bill Bruford (check out Beelzebub for some hard to follow stuff, having a go at it at the moment with one band.).

There's also a version of Autmn leaves that changes time each bar, not great for groove etc., but good for looking at how things can be divided differently. Can't remember who did it off the top of my head, i'll go and have a look.

Essen · #13 04-05-2010, 11:07 AM

Planet X, Tool, Porcupine Tree and King Crimson.

damonsmith · #14 04-05-2010, 11:21 AM

Ronald Shannon Jackson's Decoding Society albums (Nasty, Street Priest, BBQ Dog, Mandance, Etc.).
Mark Dresser is another place to start, he shifts meter a lot which really gets interesting.

ColinGWood · #15 04-05-2010, 11:24 AM

I knew i would see Tool mentioned here

TomSauter · #16 04-05-2010, 11:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Robin UK

There's also a version of Autmn leaves that changes time each bar, not great for groove etc., but good for looking at how things can be divided differently. Can't remember who did it off the top of my head, i'll go and have a look.

That's from Wynton Marsalis Standard Time Vol. 1. It's not really odd meter...metric modulation

For some other odd meter and metric modulation stuff, check out this guy's youtube channel, he has lots of good videos where he plays/explains odd meters. I think he posts here, he's a great player.

http://www.youtube.com/user/bachfugue12#p/u

Sam Sherry · #17 04-05-2010, 12:02 PM

Hey, wake up!

Let's not overlook the obvious:
Dave Holland, for example Conference of the Birds and Not For Nothing
John McLaughlin and the Mahavishnu Orchestra, for example Birds of Fire
Chris Potter, for example Gratitude

Less obvious, but well worth the price of admission is Jerry Bergonzi's Wiggy (which opens with "Just In Time" in 7).

Next participant please . . .

MR PC · #18 04-05-2010, 12:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marcus Johnson

Man, "Tears Of Joy" twisted my head around when I was a kid. I was still playing trumpet then, and Don's microtonal/odd time thing was pretty earthshaking for me.

WOW, man! I heard and saw the Don Ellis Electric Orchestra at Stern Grove in S.F. right about the time he was doing the charts from the album "Soaring".

The bassist from Soaring, Dave McDaniel, also played on Wayne Shorter's "Native Dancer", a great set of music that features Milton Nascimento on vocals. Some odd-time poly rhythms can heard be on that.

vlado · #19 04-05-2010, 02:09 PM

I don't know if any of you have ever herd of a great Macedonian band called Leb i sol. They've been working since the seventies and the music they play is a mixture of rock, jazz fusion and traditional Macedonian music. Now what's very interesting for this thread is the traditional music: a lot of it is played in odd-meter, most usual is 7/8 or 9/8, but there's also a lot of traditional tunes in 5/4, 11/8 or 13/8.
They are still active, although they have been through many changes in personnel. I'd recommend tunes from the first to albums, which I prefer, but you can check out a lot of their stuff on Youtube. This one
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xdvdy...eature=related
is the first tune on the first album and it's composed by their original keyboard player Nikola Kokan Dimuševski when he was only 18.
The next one
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2RUb...eature=related
was published on their second album and composed by the drummer Garabet Tavitjan.
This one
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Jql1...eature=related
is a traditional and has always been one of the highlights of their show, as well as this one
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbhLNeED1tU
A lot of traditional music from Balkan and Middle East is in odd-meter, so you can also check out whatever you find from these regions.

Elrend · #20 04-11-2010, 09:09 PM

Aaron Parks - Invisible Cinema, quite a bit of odd meters without subdivision.

The entire Glasper discography, lot's of polyrhythms, specifically when Chris Dave is involved.

Joshua Redman - Beyond, when the first tune starts you'll get hit with 13/4 and it just continues like that.

Also check out anything which have the names Jaga Jazzist, Shining or Mathias Eick on them.