Art Ensemble of Chicago - Non-Cognitive Aspects of the City

Live album recorded shortly after the band's long-term bassist died. Their new bassist is really good though. The album is surprisingly straight-forward for the band, although there are still meandering free jazz sections scattered throughout.

Non-Cognitive Aspects
of the City

Michel Legrand - I Love Paris

Just when you thought this blog was too Francophilic. This album is a collection of orchestrated songs (accordions and violins everywhere (Miles Davis is also part of the orchestra)) that are meant to reflect all the cool stuff about Paris. The songs are designed around each other so the album actually works way better as a whole than if you just listened to individual songs. This also might be my favorite Legrand album.

I Love Paris

Martial Solal - A Bout de Souffle

Godard and jazz.

A Bout de Souffle

Pauline Paris - Le Grand Jeu

Pauline Paris is a cute chick that plays jazzy pop (or maybe it's poppy jazz), and while I'm usually not a fan of new poppy jazz (jazzy pop?) Pauline is actually pretty cute.

Le Grand Jeu

Swing Tanzen Verboten!

Nazis and swing. What more do you want? The first two discs are about German propaganda swing music and the last two are about non-Nazi funded swing musicians who rebelled against the German suppression of swing music by playing in underground clubs and stuff like that. How much more awesome could this box set be?

German Swing, Dance and Jazz Bands 1937-1944

Charlie and His Orchestra: Nazi Propaganda Swing


Swing in Occupied Europe 1940-1944


Swing in Belgium and France 1940-1944

And that's totally Edith Piaf reading Django Reinhardt's palm.

Noel Akchote - Cabaret Modern

Noel Akchote is a free jazz guitarist. He has done stuff with Derek Bailey and Fred Frith and J.G. Thirlwell. But this album is just him getting a bunch of musicians together and playing some old-fashioned cabaret songs. His free jazz background (and a lot of the musicians he got together are experimental or noise musicians themselves) sometimes shows through but not really enough to classify this as a free jazz or experimental album.

Cabaret Modern

Hipsters' Holiday: Vocal Jazz and R&B Classics

Goddamn this is the epitome of this blog.

Hipsters' Holiday

Jacques Tati - Sonorama!

If you've ever watched a Jacques Tati movie (which you really should) then you probably know what this sounds like. A huge compilation of tracks from all of his movies plus some odd soundscapes (like the sounds of children playing or the sound of plastics being made). If you've never watched a Tati movie, this is still a neat compilation of fun, upbeat jazzy songs. A lot of these songs are actually done by Alain Romans or Franck Barcellini, but I think it's way cuter to credit Tati.

Sonorama!
Part Two!

Puppet Jazz: Groovy Instrumentals From West Germany in the 60s & 70s

Pretty self-explanatory. Kinda goofy, funky, electric, library-music stuff. A lot of the tracks on here were written for use in broadcast media only so they haven't really been properly distributed.

Puppet Jazz

Georges Brassens - Georges Brassens et Moustache Jouent Brassens en Jazz

Also known as The Giants of Jazz Play Georges Brassens (but I prefer the original French title), Georges gets a jazz band and shows that he can write interesting compositions when he isn't writing clever lyrics. Lots of dixieland and gypsy influences, not so much Georges singing. Probably a good Georges album for people that don't speak French.

Moustache