Jazz for aficionados

Here is an album that's in almost everyone's collection, it just might be a point where music lovers come together;


                  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUy7UpLTKEQ&t=765s

Pjw, it's very easy for me to picture your memory when listening to that music.

We are on the same page;  here's Brubeck on piano, and Paul Desmond on alto sax;


              https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsGSxbAB3qk

It's impossible for a person to know anymore than what he has been exposed to; I remember when Cuban music was limited to what I was hearing from "Ricky" of "I Love Lucy" fame.

While we have been sharing instrumental music, I'm finding the Cuban vocalists quite interesting as well. Here's what I found on "you tube".


        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTwOTCOHG5s&t=56s


      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlb-EDeBCQM


Since I can remember, I've had Caribbean fantasies, palm trees, blue ocean, and everything that goes with that; "Fantasy Island". I almost succeeded but some unruly natives messed it up. Fantasies are better than reality anyway.

Maybe Frogman will chime in and help us out with the best known Cuban vocalists.

I like this;


    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frXv90Vl2rc


I'm looking for new music, and I think this fits the bill.

In the groove;


    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDbPdFPvsyE

In the groove;


    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDbPdFPvsyE

"A Love Supreme" goes beyond music, it's the Aficionado's mantra.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2hGu7-d6Fw

Ghosthouse, that's a real nice cut, I like it so much that I'm going to order it. We've featured a lot of Bass Clarinet lately.


    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dnIBKw4d84

Acman, that's a very appropriate title for that music; it's real cool in a way that's both old and new at the same time; call it "universal" cool.

Define mantra: a sound, word, or phrase that is repeated by someone who is praying or meditating.

Repeat, "A Love Supreme", and it takes on power each time. Mantra's are associated with Eastern religions such as Hinduism, which is the way John Coltrane was leaning at the time of his death.

If you absorbed the man and his music at this time in his life, you can truly understand what he meant when he said "All religions have a piece of the truth". Take that a step further and chant, "A Love Supreme, A Love Supreme, A Love Supreme", then stretch your imagination into it incorporating "All Religions", and you will have where Mr. John Coltrane was coming from.

I was 13 when I saw this movie, and I was more impressed by the music than I was the movie. The music was presented as Brazilian, so how was I to know that it was Cuban?


      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7PzDfeIOgk


      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nH17-x_bQEQ


Abbey Lane sang with Xavier Cougat on this one; it was my favorite music at that time;


      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZlwGflpLDs


      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lu574XH3_Vg


      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldMuNoIvWkI

Here's my favorite album by Pat Metheney, and it still sounds current.


      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6jrvwbQzLs

Schubert, when are you going to make a you tube post?

The only dummy is the person who quits asking questions before he gets an answer that he understands.  Until you make a you tube post, I will assume it's because you don't know how.
Maybe someone else will chime in on instructions.

Xavier Cugat was born in Cuba, but he was not Cuban; he was American Commercial all the way and he made a ton of money, plus he married the worlds foxiest women; he was even married to the "hoochie coochie" girl Charo, who said he had hootched his last cootchie and needed to rest.


https://www.google.com/search?q=charo&rlz=1C1CHBD_enUS858US858&sxsrf=ALeKk011o4d585-gLhFUpZ0...

Schubert, once you do it one time, you will discover how easy it is, and you will be able to post links of whatever you want to post, but you must keep asking questions and trying to do it until you are successful.

Never mind that Schubert, that's getting me confused, besides it's getting late, and I confuse easy late at night.

If I was sitting next to you, I could show you in 2 minutes; just keep trying you'll get it, you're not dumb and it's not complicated.

Shubert, check this;


    https://www.google.com/search?q=directions+for+posting+you+tubes&oq=directions+for+posting+you+t...

A very interesting development has arisen, which I will not attempt to clarify; however, I will "specify", that is to determine the specificity of the quality of the music we call "jazz".

First and foremost, the title of this thread is "Jazz For Aficionados". In regard to that title, we must define who is, and who is not a "Jazz Aficionado". Some might assume that if one graduated from "Julee Yard", that individual would qualify; "It Ain’t necessarily So". However, said individual would most certainly be an expert on all things regarding the technicalities of music.

What is an "Aficionado"? A person who is very knowledgeable and enthusiastic about an activity, subject, or pastime.
"aficionados of the finest wines". Now in our case, it’s "jazz", not wine. While it’s not stated, but implied; this is meant to be Jazz in the lineage of Charles "yardbird" Parker of which "The Jazz Messengers" sprang. While the word "jazz" is most ambiguous, when we get into the specificity of this thread, it’s not all inclusive. But since we don’t want to appear snobbish (God forbid); we’ll just hold our noses and allow all of those lesser form of music that wished to be called "Jazz" into our humble abode.

Frogman, Nancy came out in 64; the country was in a vastly different world musically at that time, and that determines the music that's chosen and gets played.

No matter how good the musicians and their music is, the public at large chooses whether or not it gets played and noticed. I'm going to select music from the mid 60's to illustrate where I'm coming from.


                https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=dusty+springfield+the+look+of+love


Carmen McRae; "Alfie" in 65 was a popular tune, that fit the description of "Our music";


  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ozYKIWfRpQ



Nina Simone; "Feeling Good", sure made me feel good;


          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHs98TEYecM


I could go on all day in regard to music in the "Mid 60's", but you get my drift. What I'm saying is the same thing you said; there are terrific musicians every year, the top music schools are still open; it's the public that determines what we hear.

There was a local establishment that I went to every week end that incorporated an African Finger piano, that sounded ever so good to me and the people who went there; but when that establishment folded, never again did I hear that kind of music.

If the best jazz band ever, played in the boonies in Indiana, we may never even know of their existence. There was a club called the "Tanganyika" that was in "Columbus, Indiana" that I went to in 64, and the club over flowed with people from surrounding towns, because there were not enough people in Columbus to support that kind of attendance. As good as that band was, I don't remember the name, and they never made it big.

If you just let Carmen play for awhile before you go to the next link, you will hear some of the best of Carmen.

When you get to Nina Simone, do the same thing, let it play. The point I'm making is that the "Mid 60's" was an incredible time for music.

Pjw, that is some really hip music, I don't know why it's not in my collection, but that will be corrected. It sounds like the South Side of Chicago, back in the day; that's the coolest place I've ever been; that guy is even dressed like a South Side hipster, look at those shoes; I always wished I could dance like that.

Miguel Zenon, Alma Adentro, is alto saxophonist Miguel Zenón’s most ambitious exploration yet of Puerto Rico’s music. It is also his best. The disc surveys the Puerto Rican Songbook, but Zenón assumes command of each tune with ease. The project features his regular quartet (pianist Luis Perdomo, bassist Hans Glawischnig, drummer Henry Cole) and a 10-piece wind ensemble conducted and arranged by Guillermo Klein.

Without a doubt, that's the best new music I've heard.


Thank you.

John Coltrane and Yusef Lateef were two jazz musicians who I revered my entire jazz collecting life, although I can't grasp mathematical concepts in music, I can absorb from a spiritual perspective.

Both Coltrane, and Lateef generated music that resonated in the deeper reaches of the soul, that is to say one felt their music more than one heard it. As I've stated before "A Love Supreme" is almost like a religious mantra. Many have spoken of the spirituality of Trane's music.

The sound of "Juba Juba" projects a slave struggling with an extremely long and heavy bag of cotton, and with each step he can taste the freedom of never having to endure this struggle again.


          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNXq4OE0Vw0&list=PL_3xd62cNSKBAgK0bqWR9sIqq3y5XFhYH


"Like it is" continues on that same theme in such a dramatic way that you can feel all the emotions of the oppressed. How this all relates to mathematics, I don't have a clue, but since both Trane's, and Lateef's music generate such powerful emotions, it must somehow relate to the mathematical theory.


                https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pz2SND7lgq4&list=PL_3xd62cNSKBAgK0bqWR9sIqq3y5XFhYH&index=2

This is one of the most perfect jazz cuts ever, "Blue Trane";


          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1GrP6thz-k

This composition is like a puzzle, and each musician's solo is the perfect piece to the puzzle.

My favorite Trane; (maybe), but there are many Trane's that are my favorite Trane on a given day.


          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWG2dsXV5HI



Enjoy the music.

Acman, that Gil Scott Heron clip was quite appropriate at this time.


I recall Gil Scott Heron from the late 60's, he believed that protest would make things better; they've gotten "exponentially" worse for the people at the bottom; may he RIP wherever he is, because he certainly would not be able to rest here.

"Into the misty mid region of Weir"; here is where this music takes you if you listen from beginning to end.


BY EDGAR ALLAN POE
The skies they were ashen and sober;
      The leaves they were crispéd and sere—
      The leaves they were withering and sere;
It was night in the lonesome October
      Of my most immemorial year;
It was hard by the dim lake of Auber,
      In the misty mid region of Weir—
It was down by the dank tarn of Auber,
      In the ghoul-haunted woodland of Weir.


              https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wftjgLr4Yds

I first heard "Blue Trane" in the Winter of 59 on a jukebox in a bar. It was selected often, that gave the music a certain amount of "validity".

Today is 05/30/2017, that was 58 years ago when I first heard it, the fact that we are still talking about this tune is not a coincident, it's a "testament"; a testament to the quality of the music, and the musicians, a testament to the quality of the aficionados who selected it for discussion.

Do you see how all these things; "Blue Trane", the musicians who made it, the Aficionados who are discussing it, the 58 years that have past since it's creation, are a testament as being of the highest order in the jazz world?

Here's a toast to you Adele wherever you are; "Manu Dibango" really rocked our boats.

Ghosthouse, I posted "Per Ulv" by Terje Rypdal as a comparison to some of the things you posted, in an effort to get closer anyway, to what might be your groove.

Chic Corea mentions something dedicated to JC, but misses. While Chic's music may sound ever so good on it's own, he's just not a hardbop kind of guy, and when he tries to incorporate this in his sound, he misses. If there is such a thing as a current up to date sound, it misses with me.

That is not to say all current music misses with me. Someone could record something right today, and I would think it was cooking, but I just haven't heard it. When You submit something, I'm asking myself the question "Will I buy it to add to my collection"; not, does it sound good?

Right now I'm listening to Chick Corea; Michael Brecker is blowing, and although he's blowing in a hardbop kind of way that sounds good, and I like it, I would not pay to add it to my collection.

Terje Rypdal recorded with some of the artists you liked, post your favorite.

I have learned more about music since this thread has been up, than I have in the rest of my entire life.


First, there are an infinite number of factors that determine what music we like best. Whatever music we like best, is the best music. The "Aristocracy", as always, claims the music they like is best, and when you combine what is said by everybody about all genres of music, "Classical" is the best; can you guess why? Because the aristocracy says it's best, that's why.

On the real side, in regard to the music we are about, when we reach a serious consensus, that's when it's time to study all the details carefully; by that, I mean to search for albums created by the artists who created that one; without the star artist on that one.


        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DKeYXG5gwk


This is an interesting album, and this is the first time I heard it; but I selected it based on my new found theory; which I bet you guessed by now.

Ghosthouse, we will apply my theory to your searches; that's why I'm looking into this ECM thing, a lot of us collected those records; that's where all the unique records (another word for "strange") records in my collection came from. Man can not live by hard bop alone, he must have a few unique records to balance things out when he wants a change.

What do you guys think of that album I selected based on my new theory.  

Ghosthouse, Your post in regard to our slight (narrow range of disagreement) in regard to Chick Corea, is "right on".

We began to form our taste in music when we were toddlers, shaking our little boody's to what ever turned us on. From that time till now has been an ongoing process; consequently, we can't be expected to agree 100% of the time, but we came close on Chick Corea.

I think we're going to strike gold with the ECM comparisons.

Astewart, your very accurate post on "Blue Train" was another confirmation of the greatness of that tune and the musicians who created it.


Enjoy the music.

As everyone knows by now, I listen to music played on reel, or computer play list; consequently I don't know who the artist is a lot of the time. It's not the same as picking up a record or a CD. Today I did not recognize one of my favorite female vocalists; I'll post 3 cuts by her, and you tell me what you think.


      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBw-w_jql4g


      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBw-w_jql4g


      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4pevIiq9As


Enjoy the music.

Ghosthouse, and Acman; we've been down this road many times before, I suggest you ignore it.

Did you click on the link for the female vocalist?

I'm sure you don't remember Frogman, but quite some time ago, I initiated that very same subject.

Ghosthouse, Dakota Staton was hot in the very late 50's, and early 60's. "The Late Late Show" was her biggest hit. Her music is taking me back in time when me and my gang, (guys and gals) would set aside Sunday, when we were all off, to listen to music. I've selected some more Dakota.


            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=am2oKRJdGwU



            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZG0p3RfunpA


This is late night with George Shearing; she could also "scat", I would say she was a jazzy singer;


            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfE6oNDbYe4


I agree on "somewhere Over The Rainbow"; I have so many good memories associated with that song I get a good feeling whenever I hear it; hers might be the best.


Curtis Fuller's "Five Spot after Dark" has a "West Coast" feel to it. Alex has, and likes a lot of West Coast jazz. Did you want to go into West Coast? Sometime it's too laid back, but "Five Spot After Dark" hits the right spot, and groove.

Here's Curtis Fuller and Benny Golson;


              https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xm8_GnA3VAU&list=PLea3N389qUMjfUassh2zOhX7sKYUBZHB7





             

Ghosthouse, I have that CD, and I only play it to discover what it sounds like.

I like Bud Powell, and I like Chick Corea even more because I have him throughout my collection; but I do not like that CD.

Bud Powell did his thing, Chick is still doing his thing, and those things are a very long way apart; trying to associate both things did not work for me.

Ghosthouse, a lot of things sound better when you come in with no expectations.

This female vocalist was on the scene the same time as Dakota Staton; she was smoother, and more "late night", without any edge.


          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYyB4tODRQM


          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Tgh5BOTCuM


          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DwPn1wCxIE


There was something super cozy about "I wish You Love" in the winter, that imagery of being in a cabin and looking out on a snow scene.


Enjoy the music.






             

Ghosthouse, here are a few "West Coast" sounds; you can give me your opinion of these before we go deeper.

Instead of listening to Stan Getz's "Focus" album as separate cuts, it's best to think of this album as a whole piece of music.


      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXxybiV4Pxs&list=PLfOleD7-7Oj90W890D0puroQgM7yTR-0P


        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCVg1UOADO8


      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syIgRlaUeow


Let me know what you think of these before we go deeper. You might like West Coast better than Hard Bop; I'm anxious to know.

Since my purpose is to discover what a new aficionado likes, I am never offended; you still have two more West Coast tracks to judge.

Frogman, on the Afro-Cuban Tutorial you posted, Ignacio Berroa discussed all the African rhythms that exist in Brazil, South America and Cuba.

Ages ago, I initiated this very subject. Before slavery, Africans lived in peaceful villages all over the continent; each village had it's on dances and style of drumming and Rhythms. Africa is a big continent, while villages are relatively small groupings of people; that means there were a multitude of villages with many different rhythms. I stated that many of the rhythms of Africa are no longer on that continent; those rhythms left that continent with the slaves on the slave ships and can only be found in this hemisphere.

There are very unique rhythms in Brazil, and I don't mean that Rio Samba thing, these rhythms  emanate from the interior of Brazil where slaves ruled for a period of time.


  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palmares_(quilombo)


Out of all the rhythms, they had the most interesting; I think it was the unusual hesitations, and then the drum beat.

As I stated, there was a multitude of villages, that's what enabled the more powerful kings to capture people after a price was put on their heads.

"Kunta Kinte (roots) was born circa 1750 in the Mandinka village of Juffure, in the Gambia. He was raised in a Muslim family."




I went on a tour up a mountain in "Cap Haitian" Haiti, and we stopped to rest and have refreshments at a clearing along the way. Not far from where we were, there were some kids playing; the oldest was 12 or 13, there was a total of 5 kids as I remember. The reason this tiny incident sticks in my mind is because it was not a part of anything, just some kids playing and entertaining themselves as kids do.

The oldest kid picked up a shovel lying on the ground, propped it against a tree, grabbed two rocks, one for each hand, and began beating out rhythms on the shovel while the other 4 kids danced. It was so hypnotic; they moved like their bodies had no bones, while the older kid beat out the rhythms. I don't want to attach the word "voodoo" to those rhythms, because to those kids, they were simply the rhythms they danced to, and how they danced, like their bodies were without bones.

Alex, I don't know how you always happen to have the albums I never heard of but wished that I owned.

This is my favorite version and the LP I have;


        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_Ne0Ig9lDU&list=PLreXLMe9iHTaEQlGrGK6M8BAfC1egQZrK

This is the ultimate West Coast; it's the soundtrack from the movie "I want To Live", good movie to.


          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPAIE4-mi80

This is the ultimate West Coast; it's the soundtrack from the movie "I want To Live", good movie to.


          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPAIE4-mi80

Here's Jeru again as Miles called him;


        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hi6n03cjNk


The West Coast was definitely more laid back than what we have been featuring. Try this one for size and tell me what you think? In general, do you like West Coast better than East Coast hard-bop?


          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12Ahmng5ee0


Enjoy the music.

Ghosthouse, when I went to the record store, it was never about "West Coast" or "East Coast", it was just about the name of the album and who the artists were. Now that I'm trying to communicate with you, in order to help your collection, I'm saying "East Coast" for that purpose.

Frogman is the only professional in our club, and the one to talk to for concise definitions. Since I never had to define things to myself when I went to the record store, I'm quite rusty; fortunately, Frogman is our go to guy for descriptions of music and definitions; he offered to teach me, but I'm too busy to learn, I find it much easier to rely on him for such things.



Enjoy the mmusic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRWAF1CIWl4

I'm presenting this because I read a book that never existed. I read a book in the 80's that was hundreds of years old; the title was "Diary of a Slave Trader". It was the kind of book that once you began reading it, you had to keep on reading until the end. The book was very detailed and explicit; it gave graphic accounts of the ugly events involving capturing and transporting slaves across the jungle and across the ocean.

Recently I looked for that book, and there is no record that said book ever existed. It had the names of the African Kings who ordered the slaves. They were the people the slave trader worked for. The Africans who are descendants of those kings are very wealthy and had enough money to erase that book out of existence.

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RoeCcwc5-l4


The rhythms we are discussing came from those slaves.

Ghosthouse, you've got one person to please, and that's you. Nobody is going to get me to learn to appreciate raw oysters, I don't care how good they are.

There is such a thing as "growing" into a new genre of music when another Aficionado is pointing things out to you; this is the way I would be if I got into classical, but you are doing right by paying close attention to the albums like "Blue Train" where there is a strong consensus, plus the very best sidemen.