She just died and i did not know her at all ...
Interesting voice...
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/12/arts/music/jay-clayton-dead.html
Jazz for aficionados
Jazz for aficionados
I'm going to review records in my collection, and you'll be able to decide if they're worthy of your collection. These records are what I consider "must haves" for any jazz aficionado, and would be found in their collections. I wont review any record that's not on CD, nor will I review any record if the CD is markedly inferior. Fortunately, I only found 1 case where the CD was markedly inferior to the record.
Our first album is "Moanin" by Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers. We have Lee Morgan , trumpet; Benney Golson, tenor sax; Bobby Timmons, piano; Jymie merrit, bass; Art Blakey, drums.
The title tune "Moanin" is by Bobby Timmons, it conveys the emotion of the title like no other tune I've ever heard, even better than any words could ever convey. This music pictures a person whose down to his last nickel, and all he can do is "moan".
"Along Came Betty" is a tune by Benny Golson, it reminds me of a Betty I once knew. She was gorgeous with a jazzy personality, and she moved smooth and easy, just like this tune. Somebody find me a time machine! Maybe you knew a Betty.
While the rest of the music is just fine, those are my favorite tunes. Why don't you share your, "must have" jazz albums with us.
Enjoy the music.
I'm going to review records in my collection, and you'll be able to decide if they're worthy of your collection. These records are what I consider "must haves" for any jazz aficionado, and would be found in their collections. I wont review any record that's not on CD, nor will I review any record if the CD is markedly inferior. Fortunately, I only found 1 case where the CD was markedly inferior to the record.
Our first album is "Moanin" by Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers. We have Lee Morgan , trumpet; Benney Golson, tenor sax; Bobby Timmons, piano; Jymie merrit, bass; Art Blakey, drums.
The title tune "Moanin" is by Bobby Timmons, it conveys the emotion of the title like no other tune I've ever heard, even better than any words could ever convey. This music pictures a person whose down to his last nickel, and all he can do is "moan".
"Along Came Betty" is a tune by Benny Golson, it reminds me of a Betty I once knew. She was gorgeous with a jazzy personality, and she moved smooth and easy, just like this tune. Somebody find me a time machine! Maybe you knew a Betty.
While the rest of the music is just fine, those are my favorite tunes. Why don't you share your, "must have" jazz albums with us.
Enjoy the music.
Showing 46 responses by mahgister
This album of Chet Baker at the end of his career is moving...And we see that drugs could impede him but not kill his genius ... Read the interesting article about Chet behaviour with the public ... https://jazzfromitaly.blogspot.com/2010/05/chet-baker-trio-live-from-moonlight.html
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Thanks it really interested me ...😊 I will go for a hunt ... I am already buying some ... My honored salutations and thanks for your helping ears ...
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Only Bill Evans for me rival Montoliu by far ... Yet he is not American then not well known as it is a genius pianist ... ( Keith Jarrett in third in my best of jazz pianists) As for Evans i can listen to him without fatigue... I own 50 albums on the 100 available ... Why this musician is not more well known here in America ? https://www.amazon.ca/Beyond-Sketches-Spain-Montoliu-Construction/dp/0197549284 Beyond Sketches of Spain: Tete Montoliu and the Construction of Iberian Jazz by Benjamin Fraser
«No musician did more to shape Iberian jazz than pianist Vicenç Montoliu i Massana (1933–1997), who was known simply as “Tete.” Reflecting his fascination with the modernist aesthetics of mid-century jazz, Tete Montoliu was known for his quick fingering, his carefully crafted mix of lyricism and dissonance, his penchant for discordant crashes, and his development of highly original compositions. He boasted some 100 recordings spanning Denmark, Germany, Holland, Spain, and the United States, and performed with the most notable jazz luminaries, including Lionel Hampton, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Dexter Gordon, and Archie Shepp. Acknowledging and drawing musical inspiration from the Black American jazz form, Tete fashioned an adjacent critical space shaped by his experiences as a Catalan and a person with congenital visual impairment living under the dictatorship of Francisco Franco. Beyond Sketches of Spain: Tete Montoliu and the Construction of Iberian Jazz explores the artist’s life, musical production, and international reception within a cultural studies framework. This book moves beyond mere sketches of Spanish nationhood to challenge conventional scholarly narratives and recover links between the United States, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, and Europe in the investigation of an impressive and often overlooked transnational modern jazz legacy. Eschewing Theodore Adorno’s denigration of Black American jazz, a more compelling model is found in Fumi Okiji’s notion of gathering in difference. In this work, Benjamin Fraser deftly mixes musical biography with urban history, spatial theory, and disability studies, fashioning a highly readable text for readers from all disciplines. |
I only discovered 50 of them ....on near 100 possible ... We can debate if he is beside Bill Evans and Keith Jarrett , but he is not far from them in creativity and originality ... I dislike none of all the albums i listened too ... I can listen to him for days as Bill Evans or Keith Jarrett ... I own 50 of Montoliu and near 100 of Evans and near 100 of Jarrett ... I dont need to upgrade my gear but i need to upgrade regularly my musical country ... 😊 i came to you and few others here for suggestions ...
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Here some impressions i cannot entail nor contradict, but which shows how underestimated is this Spanish master of piano : «As Richard Williams has observed, Montoliu is a far more interesting pianist today than Oscar Peterson – harmonically more resourceful, more given to subtle humour and with a greater range of mood and tonal colour. Though he has developed in sophistication and technical command over the years, he remains a player of instinct and impulse and his dexterity and clarity of execution are tools waiting to do the bidding of his inventive mind.» https://jazzjournal.co.uk/2021/08/29/jj-08-81-tete-montoliu-trio-at-ronnie-scotts/
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I explicitly said that i cannot approve or contradict these impressions from Richard Williams (not my impression then it is a quote) . I quote it to add to my own opinion about Montoliu ... I put it to reveal that not all jazz afficionados takes Montoliu ,underestimated in America, as a secondary pianist but as one who can rival Peterson in the same way Chet Baker rival Miles Davis in his own individual way . In music all great musicians are beside one another on the same podium for different reasons linked to their soul/body individual unique expression ... i like Peterson as i like Bill Evans , Keith Jarrett , Brad Meldhau, Montoliu , or few japanese pianists unknown here or Bill Charlap etc .. Montoliu and Bill Evans and Jarrett and Peterson are my favorite ...but the lists of the one i loved is too long to put here ..... jazz is no more an American genre for many decades after the war now ... Jan Johansson from sweden is one of the great jazz pianist i love for example :
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Thats the problem i had.... For me Miles Davis is the best trumpet player... No doubt ... But Baker sing better with or without trumpet ...😊 I am in a bar and the dude in front of me speak and mumble a bit ... He spoke to me right now and if you want listening Baker i can say what he spoke about with his words coming as a cigarette smoke ... Thats how Baker can play when he is not too much on drug ...😁 And he did it two times learning anew with with no teeth... Then he does not play as this with only his mouth it takes what we must call a soul as in Armstrong playing i forgot speaking of Miles as the best which is true as Jupiter exist ... Armstrong is the sun.... Baker is the moon ....Miles is Jupiter .... Evident for me .... It is jazz planetology 101 ... 😊
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Nobody can play at the same level each days on drugs... But he was used to it it seems and even with it he could play minimalistic with a power of speaking and singing expression most trumpet players not on drug can only be envious... 😊 I own 100 albums of Baker ...Save for few evident one he was professional and never played when he was unable to do his job... The only artist in my own mind thinking of jazz i will compare his artistry is the singing expressive playing of Bill Evans who as Baker try to serve a song more than serving himself with the song ... They are so great artist that i think of them more than trumpeter or pianist...poet i will say ... My thesis is they are brothers from an unknown father ...😁 But nobody will believe me here ,,, I had liked poetry all my life it tainted my musical preferences ... I was listening 17 century folk song french and english at the radio canada emission under 5 years old each noon dining ... I was listening madrigals and Choral music at 16 when my friends invited me for the Beatles ... 😊 I begun to appreciate jazz when i begun to appreciate musicians for what they are i was old already near 35... Before that i was mainly classical written choral music ...Bruckner revelation and scriabin revelation educated me and i goes on Persian and Indian ectasy till today with jazz from all countries because jazz is no more just an American language it is universal ...but jazz will never forget his black roots... By the way the greatest book i read 4 years ago on acoustics and revolutionary was written by an African Acoustician Akpan J. Essien and specialist of the Yoruba speaking drums whose work contradicting Pythagoras was just proven right this year... I spoke about him in another thread .. I speak too much but it can be useful i hope ...
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Jazz is way more powerful than we may think because it can transform any piece of music in something different and not less beautiful, proving to us that music is more than the sums of his parts. The proof about that are in some articles i recommended , a true acoustics revolution, in Bolong thread "the mystery of sound is mysticism" ... Jazz is the deal ... 😎
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Me for sure! I adore Hammond jazz... Thanks for the recommendation... I did not even know the name ... Joey Defrancesco is my best...
I identified 6 albums... I dont know if there is more... This show under is interesting... I will definitely go hunting ... 😋😎😁😊
His playings as often in funk is mesmerizing and hypnotizing ...
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I explore Shirley Scott at the recommendation of frogman... What is very interesting apart from his artful playing is a fact that i already knew to because i like Hammond a lot but go to my face with Scott : not one hammond player use the same instrument the same way with the same sound ... They all sound very different instrument from one another in a way way more evident than with piano...The instrument design vary a lot... Not just the playing ... This explain why i collected Hammond musicians ... I like it as second instrument or in solo ... I forgot to say that his piano playing exhibit the same humble devotion to the music as his hammond non spectacular playing... I like her for this simplicity at the service of the song ... I will hunt for more ... 😊
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I just finished my hunting of Scott on Hammond...😁 Thanks to frogman... Now i must look to Sanborn, i do not have a single one ... 😊 This claim coming from an accomplished musician is enough for me ... Thanks ...
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