A record event for Off The Record – 17 people crammed into Cherry Reds to listen to jazz. Who’d have thought it?
It seemed appropriate that the host for the evening was another record holder: David Rapson, an OTR veteran who attended our first ever meetups back in London in 2015. David’s theme was “Introductions” and he began the night explaining how Charles Mingus’ jazz work spanned decades and sub-genres, and how he always used this album to introduce people to jazz.
The record itself was only six songs long (albeit with 4 bonus tracks we didn’t play, which were alternate takes) but covered a lot of ground – the group’s standout favourite was #3, “Moanin’”, which Rachel described accurately as sounding like a 70s cop show.
Discussion afterwards was positive: for most people it was their first exposure to Charles Mingus (or indeed jazz itself) and reactions were good. Even people who weren’t keen on the genre said they could imagine seeing it live would increase their enjoyment. The group averaged a 7/10 for the album, with a few hardcore jazz freaks in the corner scoring it a 9 (or even a 10!).
Afterwards it was over to the group to share their songs – we’ve got a handy Spotify playlist of the tracks, but in brief:
- George B: Freddie Hubbard - “Red Clay”
- Jon S: Acoustic Ladyland - “Iggy”
- Em Collins: The Brickbats - “Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na (The Creature)”*
- Matt R: Have A Nice Life - “Bloodhail”
- Andrea: Melt-Banana - “Heiwaboke Crisis”
- Matt A: Wu-Tang Clan - “Bring Da Ruckus”
- Rob: Steinski’s Intro - “The Xen To One Ratio”
- Abdul: Re-TROS - “TV Show (Hang the Police)”
* This song isn’t on Spotify or YouTube… it does exist, promise.
Lots of good music and good discussion (and some new faces too). A great Off The Record!
Spotify playlist of songs
See above to see who nominated each song which matched our theme, "Introducing".