Music you "discovered" in 2007

[papsrus]

While stitching together a "Best of 2007" list (which I still haven't settled on to post here), I started to compile yet another list: Musicians or music from any era that really had an impact on my listening this year. Some are familiar names that I started to hear anew. Others are altogether new to me.

Anyways, thought I'd post it here and ask, what music or musicians had the most impact on you this year.

Here's my somewhat scrambled list:
(Note: This is not a best of 2007 list. That thread can be found here.)

1. Phil Woods (I'm late to this party, but what a party it is. Bird lives! Thanks to HutchFan for guiding me to a few of this extraordinary alto player's gems.)
2. Dennis Gonzalez ("Idle Wild" was one of my favorite non-2007 discs this year. And this year's "Dance of the Soothsayer's Tongue" is a great album.)
3. Ralph Peterson (The Fo'tet Augmented discs are a joy.)
4. Herb Robertson (In many ways, it was the year of the trumpet for me. Robertson's adventurous "Live at Alchemia" was another favorite this year.)
5. Loren Stillman (a young alto player with a sensitive tone and a fast-growing list of titles under his name. Thanks Michael.)
6. Lisbon Improvisation Players (A Clean Feed discovery. Loosely structured adventures in free improvisation, much like my childhood.)
7. Miles Davis (I started digging into the early second quintet stuff this year and it opened a whole new view of Miles Davis for me.)
8. Drew Gress ("7 Black Butterflies" and "Spin and Drift" are both wonderful examples of music that is cohesive and tight without sacrificing a strong curiosity for improvisation.)
9. Tim Berne (I gobbled up almost everything in sight by this forceful alto player and virtually all of it was outstanding. A brilliant, intense musician.)
10. David Binney (Another alto player who, much like Stillman, constructs improvisations that serve to reinforce the melodic themes rather than leave them in the rear-view mirror -- and what gorgeous melodies they are.)

[Chris Covais]

Bobby Hutcherson

[straight-up-and-down]

2007, the year of the massive reinvention of yesterday's heroes.
Hannibal
Johnny Coles
Very few records under their own names, a lot of fantastic music throughout.
Note: both were Gil Evans' trumpets of choice.
(I'm still digesting that one)

[Freek]

2007 was the year of my re-appreciation of indie/alternative rock (for lack of a better label, hate those terms). Also the year I discovered reggae, what a delight! And finally it was the year of the AACM related jazz; especially Art Ensemble Of Chicago and Air, and all kinds of spin offs by their individual members.

[justHerb]

The Ruts

And a bunch of other semi obscure bands that I read about on Henry Rollins' Harmony In My Head site and in his Fanatic books.

[wordsandsounds]

Henri Texier... Great, great music.

[Matthew]

Two discoveries in 2007:

1. Andrea Centazzo: I've become a big Centazzo fan, he covers many different styles, and his music has evolved over the years from free-jazz to "New Age" music, all of which I find interesting and enjoyable.

2. Grateful Dead: Maybe not a discovery, but a rediscovery. I was off the Dead for all most a year, but I started to listen again a couple of months ago, and something really clicked this time. I'm getting vast amounts of enjoyment from the Dead now, and I'm even downloading tons of concerts off the 'net.

[HutchFan]

Easy question. My biggest new discovery this year has been this guy:

I'd enjoyed Phil Woods in the past. But this year, I really HEARD him for the first time... and his music knocked me flat. His music set off what I half-jokingly call "A Roundhouse": a near obsessive inquiry/buying spree. Past major roundhouse subjects have included Ives, Miles, Mingus, Hutch, and Ellington. Add Woods to the list. He's now officially in my pantheon of music gods.

I guess it's been an "alto year" for me. Along with Phil, I also circled back 'round to Bird and Cannonball. (Plus, Lee Konitz and Jackie McLean continued as a carry-overs from last year.) Also, I developed more of a taste for old-school be-bop than I'd had in the past.

Another discovery: Steve Kuhn. His albums The Best Things and Live at Birdland were in heavy rotation throughout the year.

A spin-off from the Phil Woods thing has been a new exploration of the music of Tom Harrell. He's another guy that I'd heard before, but this year he really popped for me. Now, he's one of my favorite trumpeter players.

[papsrus]

Originally Posted by HutchFan

Easy question. My biggest new discovery this year has been this guy:

I'd enjoyed Phil Woods in the past. But this year, I really HEARD him for the first time... and his music knocked me flat. His music set off what I half-jokingly call "A Roundhouse": a near obsessive inquiry/buying spree. Past major roundhouse subjects have included Ives, Miles, Mingus, Hutch, and Ellington. Add Woods to the list. He's now officially in my pantheon of music gods.

I guess it's been an "alto year" for me. Along with Phil, I also circled back 'round to Bird and Cannonball. (Plus, Lee Konitz and Jackie McLean continued as a carry-overs from last year.) Also, I developed more of a taste for old-school be-bop than I'd had in the past.

Another discovery: Steve Kuhn. His albums The Best Things and Live at Birdland were in heavy rotation throughout the year.

A spin-off from the Phil Woods thing has been a new exploration of the music of Tom Harrell. He's another guy that I'd heard before, but this year he really popped for me. Now, he's one of my favorite trumpeter players.

I agree with you on Woods, and again, thanks for pointing me in the right direction there. And I have to agree on alto players in general. A variety of alto players and trumpet players definitely caught my ear this year.

Speaking of which, Lee Konitz (who I know you caught in NYC earlier this year) had a great live disc from 2006 that I really enjoyed this year:


On pretty steady rotation here.

[HutchFan]

Originally Posted by papsrus

Speaking of which, Lee Konitz (who I know you caught in NYC earlier this year) had a great live disc from 2006 that I really enjoyed this year:


On pretty steady rotation here.

Yeah, I've got that one on my emusic "to get" list. (I think I'm going to re-join come January.)

I've heard that he's got another nonet recording (from back in the 70's maybe?) on the Chiaroscuro label that's also supposed to be really good. I think it's also available at emusic, IIRC.

[MartinC]

In 2007 I discovered and fall in love with
Sun Ra
Eric Dolphy
John Coltrane(post 1965)

[papsrus]

^ Hutch, I think you'd definitely enjoy the Konitz Nonet. It really is quite good.

[MartinC]

In 2007 I discovered
Sun Ra
Eric Dolphy
John Coltrane(post 1965)

[WorldB3]

I think about a 3rd on my Best Of (Favorites) 2007 list are new discoveries; Kenny Werner, Sam Yahel, Fred Anderson, Dino Saluzi that I have one release from. Artists that got multiple purchases that were new discoveries were Enrico Pieranunzi my new favorite piano player, Donny McCaslin either solo or with the Dave Dougals Quintet and anything with William Parker and Hamid Drake. Those two together are phenomenal.

Originally Posted by Matthew

2. Grateful Dead: Maybe not a discovery, but a rediscovery. I was off the Dead for all most a year, but I started to listen again a couple of months ago, and something really clicked this time. I'm getting vast amounts of enjoyment from the Dead now, and I'm even downloading tons of concerts off the 'net.

Same here, I hadn’t played them in several years. I guess you could say I was a casual fan but not a head. Growing up in Northern California the Dead were just part of the culture. I was like those people who are not into Baseball but would still go to the games and know the names of the players on the local team. I don’t know if it was nostalgia and missing a Bay Area that doesn’t exist anymore but I found myself revisiting the old records and buying all the Dicks Picks from 1973 and downloading shows from 1974 and 77. To me the 1973 period of shows they seem more like a Jazz band instead of a Jam Band. I love the way Keith and Bobby would comp behind Jerry with their use of voice leading and the swing like drumming from Billy plus the dynamics in the group were very strong. I also liked how they would sometimes take the jams inward because the groove and vibe were more important then the solo. It seemed like if I needed a break from Jazz the Dead would hit the spot for me, like comfort food in a way.

[Jay Norem]

Mulgrew Miller and Andrew Hill. Also the album "Max Roach + 4" with Kenny Dorham.