I've recently found myself with some listening time I can count on each day, so I figure it's time to pay more focused attention to a handful of tracks and put together another of my Subway Playlists (that's a set of tracks I listen to every day for a few months, to try and absorb on a deeper level than random listening allows, so named because I originally listened to them on my subway ride--some more background here). This one is a little long (although I like iTunes' option to set markers for the beginning and end of playback on a track--I won't tell you where I've done that, to protect those bass players fine musicians whose solos were sacrificed for time). Here goes:

1. Steve Lacy/Roswell Rudd – "Think of One" (from Early and Late, 1962) A recently unearthed studio recording from the "School Days" band, which is one of my all-time favorite groups, period. The sound! The swing! The ideas! The counterpoint! The Monk! (I would kill to take a time machine back to when these guys were playing every night, but I was lucky enough to see Lacy & Rudd in New York in the 90s--read my memorial post for Lacy here.)
2. Donny McCaslin – "Recommended Tools" (from Recommended Tools, 2008) I first saw Donny in the 90s in NYC, but recently got into his playing in a big way after reading about a workshop he did at Banff--was able to see him tear it up with his current trio at SFJAZZ and take a quick but really informative lesson (in which he walked me through how the melody for this tune came to be). What I like about this track: ideas, ideas, ideas!
3. Keith Jarrett – "Semblence" (from Facing You, 1972) Still possibly my favorite Keith album for sheer inventive energy. This is a tricky tune I first came across on Gary Burton's 70s classic Times Square, presented here in a much more loose and organic way. (I play this sometimes with the Quintet when we're in the mood for a workout.)
4. Charlie Haden/Jan Garbarek/Egberto Gismonti – "Cego Aderado" (from Folk Songs, 1979) Came across this album in a used record store in Portland; it promptly sat in my "to listen" pile for 2 years, but since I finally put it on I've been wearing it out (along with its slightly more ethereal follow-up, Magico). Outstanding writing, blowing, interplay. This group has been accused of being too new-agey but I don't hear it; this is joyous, serious improvisational music, and Gismonti is an underappreciated badass.
5. Conlon Nancarrow – "Player Piano Study No. 43" (from Juergen Hocker's YouTube channel) Have been a fan ever since I saw a retrospective by Continuum in college; recently came across the whole amazing player piano series on YouTube. Lorin Benedict mentioned that his favorite was #43, so I picked that one, but they're all great.
6. Keith Jarrett – "Spiral Dance" (from YouTube--Hannover, 1974?) More Keith?! I know, but this one is totally different! It's the Euro Quartet, burning on a live version of the Belonging hit--on the studio version, only Palle D gets to blow, but here everyone gets a turn. (I confess I cut out the 5-minute free intro, which is interesting, but not something I need to hear every day.)
7. Hank Jones/Joe Lovano – "Budo" (from Kids, 2007) After Hank Jones passed away in May I made a mental note to pick up a record of his, and this was the first one I came across in the used CD bins. It's a keeper--Hank managing to sound simultaneously stately and burning, JoLo once again convincing you that even if he was standing there with no horn in his hands, somehow the same sounds would be coming out. (I need to learn this tune.)
8. Thad Jones – "Yes Sir That's My Baby" (from Mean What You Say, 1966) Another Jones brother: this was recommended to me by my friend and former teacher Bill Kirchner. The head is mock-corny in that Thaddish manner, but the solos are happening. People focus on Thad's writing, but I've been meaning to dig further into his individualistic and unpredictable playing for a while.
9. Steve Coleman & The Five Elements – "Ascending Numeration" (from Alternate Dimension Series I) This tune was introduced to me by Lorin B. and Eric Vogler, both of whom are longtime followers and/or collaborators of Mr. Coleman (they also recorded a fantastic variation on it with their new band The Holly Martins). It's extrapolated from Coltrane's "Countdown," and involves inverting the root motion as well as each chord's interval structure, with the added bonus of a wild metric pattern. Someday they will force me to play it, so I'll take any head start I can get.
10. Kurt Rosenwinkel – "Flute" (from The Remedy) I was late getting to this album, after OD'ing on his previous 4 studio records, but there is a lot going on here. Like slash chords? This is your bible.
11. Ornette Coleman – "EOS" (from Ornette on Tenor) I've listened to the Ornette Atlantic box a ton, but the person I, uh, borrowed it from somehow left out the disc with this album on it, so I heard it for the first time just recently. Classic early OCQ with everyone in fine form; as I get older, I find Don Cherry gets more and more inspiring.

Not a lot of early jazz in this one! No Louis, no Bird, no Bach, for a change (though they'll probably be back in the next one). Suggestions for my next edition? Leave 'em in the comments.

Back when I was living in New York and taking the subway every day, I started making "mix" tapes for myself with stuff I really wanted to absorb; this was based on some advice I got from Dave Liebman that "you're not in the business of listening to music 'for fun' anymore. You need to listen in a focused way."I thought he had a good point, since this was during a time when I was in a literal deluge of sound, from recorded music to live performances to street noise, and narrowing down the variety into more digestible pieces seemed like a good idea. And since it had never been easy for me to memorize recorded solos by ear, I had a certain amount of envy and perplexity toward those smartasses who'd strut by the equipment room at my school singing along with whatever record I was listening to. (Note to music students: this is always annoying. Nobody cares that you can sing Coltrane's solo on "Oleo." Go show off somewhere else.)Anyway, I found that it really worked—I was soaking up these tunes on a much deeper level than I ever could have if I only heard them once every so often and along with all the other cuts on whatever albums they came from. And for the first time, I was able to sing along just like those jerkoffs at school (though I didn't do it in public). And when I felt like I was ready for some new blood (usually after a month or two), I'd make a new one, often keeping some of the cuts from the previous tape that I thought needed more attention.Over the years, the Subway Tape became the Subway CD, which became the Subway MP3 playlist—and even though I don't live on the same coast as the Subway anymore, the idea's the same. So in case anybody's interested, here's what I'm listening to on a daily basis this month (wish I could say I was analyzing these cuts as well, but with the exception of the Tom Harrell solos, I'm mostly trying to learn by osmosis for now):1. Delme Quartet - "Contrapunctus X" (J.S. Bach). Working my way through The Art of the Fugue one contrapunctus at a time.2. Bill Evans - "Five" (Tom Harrell's solo only; from We Will Meet Again). One of my favorite TH solos--learned it last year, but still trying to decipher some of his more cantankerous lines.3. Tom Harrell - "Invitation" (Tom's solo only; from Action). Another classic TH solo from the 70s. Like a textbook on great lines for minor ii-Vs.4. Steve Lacy/Roswell Rudd - "Eronel (Take 3)" (from Early and Late). A great, rollicking, recently rediscovered cut from the "School Days" band--one of my all-time favorite front lines.5. Keith Jarrett - "Life Between the Exit Signs" (from album of same name). Phenomenal early Keith with Charlie Haden & Paul Motian, playing changes in his ecstatic, slightly unhinged way. I've been wearing this album out since I discovered it last year.6. Keith Jarrett - "Vapallia" (from Facing You). Short & meditative yet brimming with technicolor creative juice.7. Mark Turner - "Iverson's Odyssey" (from Dharma Days). Just found out about this inexplicably out-of-print CD from a few years back. MT & Kurt Rosenwinkel at their thorny best. (Their lines have that technicolor thing I love so much about early Keith, albeit a little more controlled. I can't really explain it. Just check it out.)8. Horace Silver - "Nutville" (from unreleased 1965 bootleg). I got this from a friend who got it from a teacher, I think--it's the "Cape Verdean Blues" band with Joe Henderson & Woody Shaw, tearing it up with a ferocity way beyond the studio version. Yes, you can have a copy if you want it.9. Miles Davis - "Masquelero" (Antibes, 7/26/69, unreleased). Not sure where I got this, but Miles & Wayne & Chick are on fire. I've been late in checking out this version of the band, but man are they bringing the bag of chromatic ass-kicking.10. Ornette Coleman - "Rise and Shine" (from the Atlantic boxed set). This is really a great tune--I'm surprised more people don't play it. Some great Ornette & Don Cherry.

Back when I was living in New York and taking the subway every day, I started making "mix" tapes for myself with stuff I really wanted to absorb; this was based on some advice I got from Dave Liebman that "you're not in the business of listening to music 'for fun' anymore. You need to listen in a focused way."Liebman's somewhat overbearing asceticism aside—this was right after he'd told us that the air column in a saxophone looked like a "johnson," which was why "chicks [counldn't] play"—I thought he had a good point, since this was during a time when I was in a literal deluge of sound, from recorded music to live performances to street noise, and narrowing down the variety into more digestible pieces seemed like a good idea. And since it had never been easy for me to memorize recorded solos by ear, I had a certain amount of envy and perplexity toward those smartasses who'd strut by the equipment room at my school singing along with whatever record I was listening to. (Note to music students: this is always annoying. Nobody cares that you can sing Coltrane's solo on "Oleo." Go show off somewhere else.)Anyway, Liebman suggested listening to no more than three tunes at a time—that seemed a little extreme to me, so I gave myself one 45-minute side of a 90-minute tape, or about eight tunes. The "Subway Tape" was born.I'd usually start with some classic prewar jazz—Louis Armstrong and/or Lester Young, then always some Charlie Parker, then into the later masters whose language I was trying to soak up (Miles, Trane, Woody Shaw, Joe Henderson, Steve Lacy, and Ornette Coleman made frequent appearances), and often on to snippets and short works of "classical" composers, from the Rennaissance (Gesualdo's madrigals) to Baroque (Well-Tempered Klavier was a staple) and on to the 20th century (Stravinsky's L'Histoire Du Soldat was there for months, and later, Bartok and Schöenberg string quartets, although I learned that Webern was often way too quiet for the subway).Anyway, I found that it really worked—I was soaking up these tunes on a much deeper level than I ever could have if I only heard them once every so often and along with all the other cuts on whatever albums they came from. And for the first time, I was able to sing along just like those jerkoffs at school (though I didn't do it in public). And when I felt like I was ready for some new blood (usually after a month or two), I'd make a new one, often keeping some of the cuts from the previous tape that I thought needed more attention.Over the years, the Subway Tape became the Subway CD, which became the Subway MP3 playlist—and even though I don't live on the same coast as the Subway anymore, the idea's the same. So since this site has become a kind of musical journal, it seems like a good place to post my Subway Tape/CD/Playlist, in case anybody was interested. If not, have a nice day.Subway Playlist: August '05

1. J.S. Bach: Contrapunctus II (from Die Kunst Der Fugue). I'm working my way through Die Kunst one fugue at a time.
2. Charlie Parker: Warming Up a Riff (from a really good import 4-CD box set I got for $25). This is a slower, incomplete rehearsal take of Cherokee, but it gives you a chance to hear his lines really clearly.
3. Art Farmer Quartet Featuring Jim Hall: Loads of Love (from Interaction). This is one of my all-time favorite bands and the inspiration for a lot of the ideas I try out with my own group. And Art is one of my favorite improvisers—melody trumps athleticism every time.
4. Lennie Tristano: Line Up (from The New Tristano). To create this track, Tristano recorded a "playalong" featuring bass and drums, then slowed it to half speed and recorded himself soloing over it in the very low register of the piano, then doubled the speed of his solo track (so it was now in the middle register, albeit sounding a little tinny and weird), and sync'ed it with the original drum & bass track. This annoys some purists, but I don't care—this is one of the baddest solos ever recorded; it's been on my Subway playlists for months, and it still freaks me out every time I hear it.
5. Don Ellis: Out of Nowhere (from Out of Nowhere, with Paul Bley and Steve Swallow). I got into this album through my friend Jacob Varmus, and I've never gotten tired of it. Ellis and Bley send consistent shivers up my spine, all over a background of overplayed standards.
6. John Coltrane: Resolution (from A Love Supreme). I was off Coltrane for a while, but lately my interest has been rekindled--this is a great example of language (lots of pentatonic scales in this case) really being subservient to what's being said, rather than running the show, as it unfortunately sometimes can.
7. Steve Lacy: Hoot (from Bye-Ya). A group I was fortunate enough to see, playing the hell out of a simple blues. I wonder what they're laughing about at the end of the tune. (Lacy was another of my favorite improvisers. More on him here.)
8. Miles Davis: Water Babies (from Water Babies--note: worst album art ever?). Really nice, sweet and subtle cut from the great quintet. I listen to Miles for his sound—the notes are almost irrelevant.
9. Larry Young: The Moontrane (from Unity). A formative record for me, with the amazing Young (who I'm appreciating more and more as I get older), JoHen and the goddamn 21-year old Woody Shaw, who I see as almost an anti-Miles, in that I love his language but was never that crazy about his sound or delivery. Still, damn.
10. Steve Swallow: Bite Your Grandmother (from Real Book). DeJohnette, Lovano and a gorgeous Tom Harrell solo on a fast rhythm changes tune. One of the great, unpretentious albums of the 90s, I think.

So that's it. If this is of interest to anybody, I'll post new lists as I change them.