Jazz for aficionados

**** Women - mostly pretty. ****

Well, we knew that! 😊

I may have mentioned this at some point. My youngest son’s babysitter was the oldest daughter of a Croatian family that lived on our block. Some of the most wonderful and righteous people I have ever met (the girl is stunningly beautiful). The parents recently moved back to Croatia to their house in the country side. We have an open invitation to visit and hope to make it happen sometime. Sounds like a wonderful place.

Wonderful Tristano clip. Amazing player and one the most interesting and unusual jazz voices. That walking bass line in the left hand is incredible. Very different and unique harmonic concept and general approach to jazz that some critics considered “cold”. Funny, how the concept of “studying and learning” jazz concepts is derided by some self-proclaimed purists when so many of the giants, as you point out, went to Tristano (the first to teach Jazz concepts) to expand their knowledge of harmony and improvisation as a necessary step to take their own playing to the next level.

One of Tristano’s disciples. I find that one has to leave behind a lot of our preconceived notions of what Jazz is “supposed” to be like in order to “get” playing like this. The connection to Tristano’s approach is more than obvious:

https://youtu.be/LAufCG4rH6o

Very “appropriate” clip. One of Bird’s signature tunes (well, both he and Diz claimed to have penned it). Konitz is one of the few major players who was able to resist the powerful influence of Bird. He sounds little like Bird.

Another Tristano protege was the tenor player Warren Marsh. Just like Konitz/Parker he was able to remain untouched by the Coltrane tsunami. I have always found his tone to be a little “difficult”, but he sure was an interesting player.

https://youtu.be/Kvkmq8E5f3A

Imagine a TV series with intelligent discussion about Jazz and featuring major stars!!!

https://youtu.be/QQMSPEi6WPc

https://youtu.be/DXxBzEw6z8E

pjw, I like Schubert’s Lee Konitz recs.  “Motion” is great and a nobrainer.  Another favorite is the one I posted a couple of days ago “At Storyville”.  For something different and interesting one if you like a Third-Stream vibe is “An Image” featuring Konitz with string section.  For something later in his career I like “Alone Together” with a Brad Mehldau and Charlie Haden.  

So, what’s worse? To have to bite one’s ideological tongue and follow clearly stated guidelines in the context of an Internet forum (!?) that we choose to participate in in spite of those stated guidelines and where one interacts with (almost) complete strangers? Or, to give up the opportunity to spread the Jazz word so as not to forsake an unrelated personal principle. As a fellow Jazz lover with conservative leanings, it seems to me that it is not a particularly conservative attitude to “resign” from the thread for having to follow rules. If so, they won.

Over 1,700,000 views and God knows how many posts of examples of this great music (thanks, O-10); many (you would say “most” ☺️) of which you are responsible for. Not to mention the very principled attitude toward the music that you bring to the table. Agree or disagree on some of the particulars, there is no question that you love the music; and possibly even more importantly you understand the music and its history in some ways that some listeners never will. Music is of much higher value than the toys we play it back on. You get that.

I hope you reconsider, Rok. Besides, it’s possible your post had nothing to do with “that other thing”.

Now, where else will you see this posted; it will surely lure you back 😊:

https://youtu.be/5UBt2Ek8f1o

Great clips.  Thanks!  That “Night And Day” is simply amazing.  And I can understand the appreciation of Sullivan given what I know about your appreciation of Bennett.  The common thread, as I hear it, is the sense of a kind of humility in the singing....the music is always greater than the performer’s ego.  The playing of the musicians accompanying is fantastic.  

Finally went to see “Amazing Grace” tonight.  Amazing!  Loved everything about it.  Aretha was a force of nature; incredible artist.  Highly recommended.  

I have a feeling He would be more forgiving than my wife would be.  Kidding, she’s the coolest.  All in good fun.  

O.P. for OP:

https://youtu.be/BEBa6q2C2Qg

Yes, Mary_Jo, that is what I was talking about; a post that was also deleted. Personally, I consider the posts deleted over the years ample warning. As I recently told my upset kid (son), sometimes it’s best to kill them (Agon) with kindness instead of indignation. Works both ways; and it did work.  I’m glad our happy little family is back.

Btw, I do like “fro”. Please don’t shoot the messenger 😊

https://youtu.be/02QUmKVsyFY

Beauty, talent AND fire......

https://youtu.be/Y8EMndSFFMk
😍

(I hope O-10 doesn’t see this)

Happy Easter, all!

Acoustic Pass:

https://youtu.be/Jzj1xyrmjn4

**** Has anyone else ever tried to 'sing' Monk? ****

https://londonjazzcollector.wordpress.com/2014/04/01/blue-note-missing-over-fifty-years-discovered/

The great Pat Martino:

https://youtu.be/8kEdoHGmDwU

https://youtu.be/hwuz-6g_t1g

https://youtu.be/2o0AoEqSlB0

Oleo, cont.

https://youtu.be/RFSmzGiI5Bs

Wonderful. “Satin Doll”; classic tune that players love because of the relative simplicity and obvious logic of the harmonic changes.

I posted this a while back.  Pass and Niels-Henning Pederson had a special affinity for each others’ playing and styles. The changes for “Tricotism” are more obtuse, so harder to improvise melodically over them:

https://youtu.be/JoH48Yyuwy4

Pass was a fantastic bebopper with a pretty straightforward style and was pretty much untouched by what could be described as the post-60’s harmonic sensibility and swing feel. Pat Martino’s bebop style is more forward looking with a less “swingy” feel and a rhythmic drive that shows his fusion side; it owes more to the Miles/Coltrane wave:

https://youtu.be/6GcOhbabHPg

https://youtu.be/Ql_bHgaQQZE

It’s not about “technique” in the usual sense (chops). Pass had tons of it; possibly more than even Martino. And, you’re right, “why would Pass change?”. Who says he should have? Different players. Mozart and Schubert were great melodists.  So were Prokofiev and Shostakovich; in entirely different ways. The best? I don’t see the point.

Btw, he WAS sick. In 1980 he suffered a brain aneurysm and after surgery he was left with total amnesia. No recollection of anything including how to play his instrument which he had to relearn. Took years. One of the most remarkable comeback stories.

Well, Schubert shamed me into the apology 😊.   I guess all is well that ends well.

“Final Comedown”. Interesting factoid: first soundtrack album released by Bluenote Records. Makes me wish I could grow an Afro (I hope that doesn’t upset any censors out there). So 70’s!

Hey Mary_Jo, apology for my earlier indiscretion; all in good fun. I have a feeling you can handle it. 

I have to ask: DJ PP?

Listened to this last last night; one of my faves.  I can never understand the knee jerk reaction that some have to strings in Jazz.  The “sound” of the instrument(s) doesn’t matter nearly as much as what it (they) is playing.  Gorgeous arrangements and, for me, some of the most beautiful and suave alto saxophone playing on record.  Interesting in that Cannonball doesn’t play with his usual urgency and front of the beat vibe. 

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_mVSPJMh-wAI9C-S6l8Df6ks8acEjoht-o

Wycliffe Gordon “Dreams” !!!  Great vibe all around.  Loved it.  Great clarinet player on the date.  This is one to get.  If not too much trouble I would like to know on which of the posted tracks Wycliffe plays trumpet on instead of trombone.  Searched for actual per track personnel info and couldn’t find it.  

I have no idea what happened. Everything I know is there for everyone to see on this and the “other thread”. If O-10 (or Rok?) would like to fill us in it would be appreciated.

O-10, as always, I hope you reconsider. Best wishes.

"I never heard of a Jazz musician who retired. You love what you do, so what are you going to do... play for the walls?" - Nat Adderley

Thanks for the info!

Classic record. Love the attitude on this:

https://youtu.be/cuKCQQYSMQ8

Messiah: Lovely! Very nice; and I agree. The supersized orchestra thing didn’t happen until after his death. Go figure.

Check out this performance. A little “bigger”, but still has airiness and agility.

https://youtu.be/JH3T6YwwU9s

https://youtu.be/CORJHP3Bmqg ☺️

The previous link was supposed to be the full album:

https://youtu.be/tfqsKcR9rBg

Before making a statement like that, first get your facts straight re what’s what; not to mention my feelings about Wynton. I think it is someone else, currently pouting, who is the leader of that faction. I have been very complimentary of some of Wynton’s many talents.

Now, re your comment. You said “strings ALWAYS make everything smooth and mellow”. Not so. String sections can have very different characters; including in Jazz settings.

**** Composing a piece that includes Jazz players and Strings, is different from (Jazz player) with strings. ****

Huh? I think I know what you mean. But here’s the point. There is fundamentally no difference in the role of the strings in the Cannonball/strings arrangements and the Getz/Focus (and Wynton) arrangements other than style and level of complexity of the writing. In all cases there is a Jazz soloist with strings playing in a supporting role at some points in the arrangement and in a lead role in others. Also in all cases, the soloist plays the composed part as well as improvises (Jazz).

Listen to the Cannonball record again. When you hear strings, imagine it is a piano player playing the exact same parts instead. Object then? Its like having a bias against, say, the clarinet. Kinda silly. It’s not the “sound” is the instrument(s) that matters most, but what it is playing.

https://youtu.be/FIRdvFfpDIA

Great Sonny Stitt, btw.  Thanks.  Your link wouldn’t play.  I assume it was this:

https://youtu.be/ANueEvcA3N8

You would get no real argument from me on that.  I think we can all agree that “soul”, in all it’s different and personal flavors, is a requirement for greatness in art; and, to a degree, in the ear of the listener.  Shorter is one of the tallest of the giants alongside Miles, Trane, Bird.  Not only a great improviser with a unique and very personal voice, but one of the truly great composers in jazz.  Having said that, it’s kind of hard to pick one above the others when the others are Cedar Walton, Art Blakey and Bob Cranshaw.  Still, if forced to choose who was the most relevant of the four, I think it would have to be Shorter.  Thanks for the Mintzer clip; one of the most relevant current player/composers.

Great arrangement! Very clever and very West Coast. Nice playing.

My favorite instrumental version of that great tune.  Fantastic feel.

https://youtu.be/JwpD3-ojtqM

Always good to see you here, pjw. Good luck with your new business; especially during this difficult time. Nice clip. Only listened to “Lester Leaps In” so far. James Carter taking no prisoners. Solo order: Golson, Carter, Ashby? If you have info, please confirm. Don’t be a stranger.

Schubert, that’s interesting. When I click on the link it names the tune “People Will Say....”, but link won’t play. Couldn’t find Stitt’s “Foggy Day”.

I guess we will have to settle for second best 😉. No strings 😱 this time.

https://youtu.be/Vi4U3U5UN_k

I lied 😉

Lets try it this way. O-10, you accept that there was a strong Afro influence in Brazil’s music along with native and Portuguese. Why then, was not a similar, if not identical, influence exerted unto American music (in New Orleans, initially)?

Rok, you’re right, I never did. I can’t recommend enough the set on DG by Gidon Kremer and Martha Argerich. I’ve been a fan of both Kramer and Argerich for a long time and these are terrific interpretations.  

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/7936469--beethoven-violin-sonatas-nos-1-10

I was speaking to a friend recently who is a wonderful violinist and who is also a fan of the Kremer recordings and he also likes the Isabelle Faust recordings on Harmonia Mundi.

pjw, loved that intro.  Beautiful heartfelt words.  Thanks for sharing.  

I posted this yesterday; my favorite instrumental version of “A Foggy Day”. Released in 1957. Listen to the intro by Garland:

https://youtu.be/JwpD3-ojtqM

Now, listen to this well known tune by Miles (?!). Recorded just a few months later in 1958. Same piano player, Red Garland (and same bass player, Paul Chambers):

https://youtu.be/k94zDsJ-JMU

Hmmm.....fee if fo fum. Do you suppose Miles shared his royalty payments? 🙄

End of August!?  Doesn’t sound too “presto” to me.  

My favorite rhythm section.  Miles’ ‘60s rhythm section with the great Freddie Hubbard.  I love everything about this record:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL84EB0EC94DB33611

Beautiful Isbin, mary_jo. Effortless musicality.
Loved “Fellini”, pjw. Thanks both.

Wynton Marsalis’ playing hasn’t always gotten a whole lotta love here. Check out his solo on this. He’s on fire.  Particularly impressive for being in a genre not usually associated with him.  Ruben Blades is fabulous as always.

https://youtu.be/hqpJH6p6Z2g

pjw, in no way did I mean to suggest that I think Wynton has been “overlooked”.  Quite the contrary. In fact, the tremendous amount of attention that he has received (deservedly, IMO) has been part of the reason for some of the cynical criticism from some. He is a formidable contributor to jazz in many respects. However, his playing as a jazz improviser has received quite a bit of criticism including from some here; hence my comment.

Btw, I agree about Heath. I posted a fair amount of Jimmy Heath a while back, but he deserves much more.

https://youtu.be/rbufxZe8550