Hadley Caliman - Projecting LP 1976 OG 1st Pressing Catalyst Records Post Bop

$

28

*sleeve is only graded as VG because of the number written in marker on the front and subtle ringwear on back*

See photos. Last two of the piece of paper - that was in the sleeve upon me acquiring this album. I’m not sure what it is - looks like maybe a playlist? And of course as with any jazz album, lessons and delineations on leasing vs. buying can be found on the back side, exhibit 7. I plan on leaving it with the record.

*Long rant, make sure you have 5 minutes or so*

Hadley Caliman is the truth. This is one of four albums of his I’ve listened to front to back that is solid. More than solid… exceptional - all throughout. Even when he became up there in age he has was releasing bangers. I am not a music theorist or well versed in terminology, and although I’m a musician myself it’s in a discipline less complicated than jazz. But lends a lot to jazz. Anyway, I say that to say this - Caliman got me looking into song structures, terminology that pertained to stuff jazz musicians do in songs, etc. And that’s because when he plays it sounds like he’s talking to you, trying to have a conversation, if you will.

Think of a time in a track where the horn, or whatever instrument, was sounding off a few whimsical notes that sounded like it said, “hey you, you ready chill or what?” Or like it said “you’re kinda acting like an A-hole,” WHATEVER - for me it varies. This, I discovered when first listening to Caliman because I needed to know whether this phenomenon was true or if I needed to go check myself into the hospital (haha). It’s called ‘phrasing’, where they more so prioritize feel, or leaning into a note, more than just simply playing the correct ones. They’re talking to you.

Examples I can think of in jazz music of phrasing would be (my favorite) using space / rest, accenting off-beats (a close second), swinging eighth notes, and extending phrases over bar lines, which “sounds like” forward momentum (I know, forward momentum doesn’t sound like anything, technically). As far as extending over bar lines, one can connect chords, which will create a continuous flowing sound rather than a boxed-in / restricted to a single measure type feel / sound.

Disclaimer: I don’t know squat about music I just like it, so please nerds don’t attack me if I misinterpreted phrasing. Which I didn’t. Let’s just be friends.

^ Aside from that - Caliman is the man. Post bop, jazz funk, Latin jazz - they’re all in his repertoire and present in a way that none of them tend to disappear completely. One style may take a back seat to another but they’re always hanging out, and that makes his music very accessible. “Cigar Eddie” is an incredibly easy, catchy, wonderful first track one should listen to if they want the Caliman experience. It sounds like it could have been a Billboard hit and also like he could have been playing in a dark damp New York loft jazz bar in the 70s with the post-Trane musicians.

I have to just add one last thing and it’s Hadley’s look. His face. He looks like an indigenous folk amongst modern, dull humans. Super pronounced features. I’ve never met a Persian but he looks like a Persian. With an Afro… I’m telling you . The Hadley Caliman experience is something else.