This is gonna be fun. I’m not the biggest collector of either of these labels, though I have a bit by default. CTI’s sister company, KUDU, ran & manged by the same guy, Creed Taylor, is off limits as well. I’m going to have to dig deep to try to bring a set’s worth of records for this, and bring enough extra in case some get played before I go on. Hopefully I can make it happen.
EXTRA! EXTRA!
Special CTI records Vs. ECM records Night @ The Straight Ahead Vol.14 is your SUNDAY NIGHT wind down @ L.A.’s own Speakeasy style Lounge, The Association. Hand Selected DJ’s will be playing a variety blend of Jazz/Experimental/Avant Garde Records from the 2 classic labels. Located right in the heart of historic downtown L.A. scene, the venue is a classy, dim-lit environment with Mixologist-style Cocktails.
GUEST DJs: ABEL, GB(Gifted and Blessed), Peepsho(Flyball, Beautiful Kalimari), and Reed Seed(Stones Throw)
Resident DJs:
Blessaid(BeatSwapMeet), Frank Foreal(Beathackers, The Noise Academy), Jason McGuiness (Analog Burners), Jextraterrestrial, Lord Vince(Beautiful Kalimari)
KIND CROMANG, & DJ Omar(RISE/KPFK)
DOORS Open:7p-1a
FREE All nite, 21+
$5 Cocktail Hours 7p-9p
@The Association-110 E. 6th St. L.A. 90014
Download Mixes @ www.Soundcloud.com/thestraightahead
Walter Bishop Jr. Coral Keys. So necessary.
Once again, the Straight Ahead is going down this Sunday. I will have a few copies of the Roy Ayers Stoned Soul Picnic RMX to give away as well.
The Straight Ahead Vol.13 is your SUNDAY NIGHT wind down @ L.A.’s own Speakeasy style Lounge, The Association. Located right in the heart of historic downtown scene, the venue is a classy, dim-lit environment with Mixologist-style Cocktails and Dj’s spinning the finest Jazz, Funk, Fusion, and Rare Groove around.
DJ Lineup:
Blessaid(BeatSwapMeet), Frank Foreal(Beathackers, The Noise Academy), Jextraterrestrial, Lord Vince(Beautiful Kalimari), and
special guest DJs: Early Worm, DJ Dean, KIND CROMANG, & Jason McGuiness
DOORS Open:7p-1a
FREE All nite, 21+
$5 Cocktail Hours 7p-9p
@The Association-110 E. 6th St. L.A. 90014
FREE Download Straight Ahead Mixes @ www.Soundcloud.com/thestraightahead
Pullin’ from the Jazz stacks because it’s Sunday.
Quantic & Alice Russell - The Robert Glasper Experiment & Bilal March 21st at the Exchange DTLA.
Quantic & Alice Russell were the most impressive to me at this show, mostly because I was pretty unfamiliar with them besides a couple Mochilla videos. Their musicianship and variety of styles, especially their cumbia work, was amazing though.
The Robert Glasper Experiment was good as well, although my favorites were the Free/Spiritual Jazz songs at the beginning and the end of his set. The only time the quartet got really experimental was during the Nirvana “Smells Like Teen Spirit” cover, which I definitely wanted more of. I like challenging Jazz and am a huge fan of experimental circuit-bending, signal mashing madness, and go to a lot of shows featuring both of those aspects, so this was a little tame in regards to both of those directions.
The rest was full of keytar-vocoded lyrics and Bilal singing things like David Bowie covers. Not really my thing, but I understand it pays the bills, gets you on the Billboard charts & gets you two sold out shows at the Exchange in DTLA, so all good. There were also beautiful solos by each of the musicians, especially Derrick Hodge’s bass solo. It would have been dope to see KING perform with them as well, but because we went to the extra added date, we didn’t get the full original lineup or special guests.
Jrocc killed it on the decks between acts, though it is a little disappointing we missed Rich Medina as they swapped him out for Jrocc on the early date. Nothing against Jrocc, we’re just spoiled out here because we get to watch him pretty regularly. Always fun when an out of town DJ is here just to hear the selection.
The worst part of the show was (AGAIN) the soundman at the Exchange. EVERY show I have been to there has been marred by their incompetence. If you’re charging $30/head w/ overpriced drinks, you NEED to have the sound on point. For Glasper’s opening song, the volume on his piano was completely out, and was drowned out by everything else. How the lead musician’s lead instrument had absolutely 0 volume is completely absurd. The promoter really needs to get that worked out or bring his own guy in.
Still it’s a dope tour, and I’d advise against missing when it’s in your area.
This Sunday at the Association it goes down again. Last Sunday I started out playing a bunch of Spiritual/Free Jazz tracks that probably aren’t the best selection for playing in public for a crowd. I had fun though & no one complained, so I might just do it again.
Donald Byrd - Blackjack. Looking forward to being done with work for the week & selecting out a set for Sunday. Probably should organize & put away the random stacks from the past 3 month as well. Quality time with records is always a good time. TGIF.
