I've been a jazz listener and fan for well over thirty years and have followed the free jazz movement since my mind was first blown on hearing electric Miles Davis playing live in the 1970's.
Some of my current favorites include the downtown New York players like John Zorn and Dave Douglas; other New York players like William Parker, Matthew Shipp and David S. Ware; the Chicago sounds of Hamid Drake, Fred Anderson and Ken Vandermark; the west coast players like Horace Tapscott and Bobby Bradford and old standbys like David Murray, Sam Rivers, Anthony Braxton, Ornette Coleman and Cecil Taylor.
While a lot of the recordings made by the excellent musicans named above are not often of "audiophile" standards, just about anything by any of them beats "Jazz At The Pawnshop" hands down. And there are plenty of very well recorded free jazz LPs and CDs out there just waiting to be played back on a high end audio system.
Here's one to get you started:
Dave Holland Quartet - "Conference Of The Birds"
with Barry Altschul on drums, Sam Rivers and Anthony Braxton on reeds. Recorded in 1972 for the ECM label. Find it on LP if possible. An outstanding sounding recording of incredible music. Truly a thing of beauty.
I've been a jazz listener and fan for well over thirty years and have followed the free jazz movement since my mind was first blown on hearing electric Miles Davis playing live in the 1970's.
Some of my current favorites include the downtown New York players like John Zorn and Dave Douglas; other New York players like William Parker, Matthew Shipp and David S. Ware; the Chicago sounds of Hamid Drake, Fred Anderson and Ken Vandermark; the west coast players like Horace Tapscott and Bobby Bradford and old standbys like David Murray, Sam Rivers, Anthony Braxton, Ornette Coleman and Cecil Taylor.
While a lot of the recordings made by the excellent musicans named above are not often of "audiophile" standards, just about anything by any of them beats "Jazz At The Pawnshop" hands down. And there are plenty of very well recorded free jazz LPs and CDs out there just waiting to be played back on a high end audio system.
Here's one to get you started:
Dave Holland Quartet - "Conference Of The Birds"
with Barry Altschul on drums, Sam Rivers and Anthony Braxton on reeds. Recorded in 1972 for the ECM label. Find it on LP if possible. An outstanding sounding recording of incredible music. Truly a thing of beauty.