Jack DeJohnette

There's an outstanding album of Don Byron's with Jack and Jason Moran, most of the tracks dont have a bass but the sound is completely filled by all three of their unique sounds. Jack Dejohnette is the master of tension and resolution behind a drum kit and this album really accentuates it.
 
Jack is probably one of the most organic drummers i've ever heard. Especially his work with Keith Jarrett- It's almost like he lets the drums play him. Very avant garde...

I have his ride too. Fantastic instrument.

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Just to remind us all that he's still at the top of his game and indeed the greatest of the living veteran jazz master drummers still with us take the time to check this out. No need for more talk since Jack "speaks" for himself on these clips:

Part 1:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbVolyob5Ng&feature=related

Part 2:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jype90dqZ8E&feature=related

Thanks for posting that Stan. The man is amazing ! I was listening to "Tales From the Hudson" in my truck to and from work today and now this.

Yeah, he speaks for himself.
 
Thanks for posting that Stan. The man is amazing ! I was listening to "Tales From the Hudson" in my truck to and from work today and now this.

Yeah, he speaks for himself.

Your welcome Derek. His extended solo in part 1 demonstrates the true original and master of the instrument that Jack is. Totally amazing and inspiring!
 
By the way the tune Spectrum they are playing on is on "Emergency" Tony Williams Lifetime. Trio Beyond certainly is in the "spirit" of the original recorded version of Spectrum written by John McLauglin and performed by Tony Williams, John McLaughlin and Larry Young back in the studio in NY in 1969.
 
Everyone has been mentioning the likes of "Trio Beyond" and "Saudades" but I have yet to see any reference to the likes of "Standards Live"; Jarrett and Peacock with Jack masterfully driving the manic trio in the background.
I love Keith Jarrett's "ooh's and aah's" by the way, very post-depressive. Keeps things swinging indefatigably.
Really mean Ride, Snare and Bass rhythms all conjured up into one scintillating whirl pool of
percussive art. One of my favourite albums. Check it out!
 
Good call, his early albums with Jackie, Chick and Charles Lloyd, etc. (though not Miles, oddly) are often overlooked by many who think his discography begins with Keith. For the seeds of what Jack has become, it starts with this stuff!

G

I believe along with this was his trio recording with Bill Evans which is all pretty early Jack stuff. Have the Jackie M., Charles L. and the Bill Evans trio album with Eddie Gomez on bass on vinyl. The Miles stuff is only seen on the concert footage and some rare bootleg recordings which I got years ago and it is KILLING {try YouTube}

Talk about early stuff how about Cosmic Chicken with both Bob Moses and Jack on drums. Jack on melodica with Bob covering the drum chair on a few tracks. I have pretty close to what I believe to be a complete collection of all of Jack's most early recordings on vinyl I searched out at used jazz record shops many a year ago.
 
I believe along with this was his trio recording with Bill Evans which is all pretty early Jack stuff. Have the Jackie M., Charles L. and the Bill Evans trio album with Eddie Gomez on bass on vinyl. The Miles stuff is only seen on the concert footage and some rare bootleg recordings which I got years ago and it is KILLING {try YouTube}

Talk about early stuff how about Cosmic Chicken with both Bob Moses and Jack on drums. Jack on melodica with Bob covering the drum chair on a few tracks. I have pretty close to what I believe to be a complete collection of all of Jack's most early recordings on vinyl I searched out at used jazz record shops many a year ago.

Yeah, but I think everyone knows Live in Montreaux. Then there's his record with Joe Henderson, 'Power to the People' in 69, Joe Farrell in 70 and 72 (or 73), there's a ton of his early stuff that tends to be overlooked, depending on where we draw the 'early' line, I suppose. And um, I'm assuming you've forgotten about Live Evil, Black Beauty and Bitches Brew from Miles (plus the recently released 'Another Kind of Blue' on DVD from the Isle of Wight)?=)

Never liked Compost (either of them) or Cosmic Chicken, actually.

G
 
The Joe F. and Joe H. albums are pretty happening. Have both of those on vinyl too. The stuff I was thinking about was the group with Corea, McLaughlin and Dave Holland on bass. This is what came right after Tony left Miles before the whole Bitches Brew thing and around the same time as "Emergency" with Lifetime was recorded and released.

Samples from the 2 bootleg recordings I made reference to earlier of this group.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSc-YUubpFM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hryozY1sZJk&feature=related

There is concert footage too but it would appear YouTube may have removed it since I can't find anymore. It's in the collection of the chap from South America who has collected all the rare jazz concert footage, forgot his name. If I find it I will post it down the road.

Yes I REALLY enjoyed the New Directions group which followed more than the Compost band. Saw them back in the very late 70's in a small club. Amazing stuff!


Update:

Okay here we go and discovered some new rare Miles footage I hadn't seen yet but of the Miles group I had in mind. Not the exact band from the recorded bootleg around the same time period {no Miles} but some brief burning Jack with the Miles Quintet with Wayne Shorter and Dave Holland on bass. Antibes Jazz 1969:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DuUIIgjuP9Y&feature=related

And one of the same group from the collection of the jazz collector I mentioned from the same concert in 69 of Jack with Miles:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DuUIIgjuP9Y&feature=related
 
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\Never liked Compost (either of them) or Cosmic Chicken, actually.G

Gregg no like jazz rock? kidding..; )

Since you/Stan have great historical perspectives, ( and all the albums on this planet ) who do you think JdJ borrowed more from Elvin or Haynes? ( partly Tony too, with the Scofield trio stuff... )

All 3 had this incredible ability to create total freedom within the spaces of the tune and their role as drummers.
 
Yes I REALLY enjoyed the New Directions group which followed more than the Compost band. Saw them back in the very late 70's in a small club. Amazing stuff!

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Yes, I was going to ask about that. Great stuff. Back in that late 70's early 80's he was on many ECM recordings. I guess he was their staff 'go to' guy.
 
The Joe F. and Joe H. albums are pretty happening. Have both of those on vinyl too. The stuff I was thinking about was the group with Corea, McLaughlin and Dave Holland on bass. This is what came right after Tony left Miles before the whole Bitches Brew thing and around the same time as "Emergency" with Lifetime was recorded and released.

Samples from the 2 bootleg recordings I made reference to earlier of this group.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSc-YUubpFM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hryozY1sZJk&feature=related

There is concert footage too but it would appear YouTube may have removed it since I can't find anymore. It's in the collection of the chap from South America who has collected all the rare jazz concert footage, forgot his name. If I find it I will post it down the road.

Yes I REALLY enjoyed the New Directions group which followed more than the Compost band. Saw them back in the very late 70's in a small club. Amazing stuff!


Update:

Okay here we go and discovered some new rare Miles footage I hadn't seen yet but of the Miles group I had in mind. Not the exact band from the recorded bootleg around the same time period {no Miles} but some brief burning Jack with the Miles Quintet with Wayne Shorter and Dave Holland on bass. Antibes Jazz 1969:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DuUIIgjuP9Y&feature=related

And one of the same group from the collection of the jazz collector I mentioned from the same concert in 69 of Jack with Miles:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DuUIIgjuP9Y&feature=related

Yeah, you're right, that group is only bootlegged and like you, I'm happy to have all that are out there. The guy from South America on Youtube is 'Pedrosjazzvideos' or something, I love that guy, he has tons of stuff. And there are 2 Farrell albums, by the way, 'Quartet' in 70 and 'Moon Germs' in 72. Both are great. Then there are the one offs by people like Hubert Laws, Nick Brignola and a few others from the early 70's that aren't coming to me right now....

Early Jack on ECM is my favourite Jack, I love the Directions and New Directions stuff too.

As for Jack's Roy influences, I think it's pretty clear that Jack is mostly Tony and Elvin. It's been said a billion times, that's because it's true. On the early stuff, especially the Lloyd and Corea he really sounds like Tony, a fact which Jack freely admits- he WANTED to. So much so that you can confuse the 2 at times. His Elvin influence is there in the slower tempos, concept of the set as whole and his triplets. I honestly don't hear a lot of Roy at all. Jack is more fluid, not staccato, more rounded and much more complex than Roy, to name a few differences. As the years went by (let's say early-mid 70-s ish), Jack became much more highly developed as his own person and was much easier to identify, though Elvin and Tony were always there. This is why Jack is the last great true American Jazz master, he is literally a product of the 2 first real 'modern' drummers.

And I meant to say, there was a matched grip thread around here or something where Jack was mentioned- he switched because of back pain- it made him lean a certain way, so I'm told. If you watch Jack play matched, you can certainly see the lean=).

edit- oh yeah, Aydee, I like some "Jazz rock", but I just don't like those albums, even though I should for so many reasons.

G
 
Aydee I think early on Jack was coming from a extension of Elvin and his concepts but with a big Roy Haynes influence too {up tempo swing phrasing}. Tony is in the mix certainly too. On the Jackie M. album you can certainly hear the Elvin influence in this early Jack recording. Ultimately Jack became a complete original voice in my view.

Delta all those New Directions ECM recordings are a trip. I liked the original lineup {2 horns, bass and Jack on piano in a few numbers} of Special Edition too which I also saw live at a outdoor concert on their first tour I believe in 80/81 {?}. A 20 minute intense duet at that concert between Jack and Chico Freeman changed my life forever :}
 
Thanks for these, Stan... fun to watch..

Didn't know that a 'young' Lloyd was a George Duke lookalike ( ; )

Check him out with Zakir & Eric Harland too. Something called Sangam. Very cool.
 
Bingo! Okay here's the color footage of the Miles group I was thinking about which Jack is playing on. I have a cassette tape of this concert I was given a few years back.

Miles from 69. Some free playing up front with the head of Agitation kicking in at the 5.39 point. Some burning Miles, Wayne and Jack to follow :} Amazing and wish they posted more clips from this concert! :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0c_Rea--Gv8


Info from YouTube clip:

Recorded for Danish Radio broadcast on November 4, 1969 at Tivoli Konsertsal, Copenhagen, Denmark.

This was a short European Tour just after Miles and his band finished Bitches Brew recording sessions in August.

Miles Davis Quintet featuring Wayne Shorter (ss, ts), Chick Corea (el-p), Dave Holland (b, el-b), and Jack DeJohnette(d)
 
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