nsp,
Jacintha's voice is so soft and sensual, the kind you could listen to all night long.
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 50 responses by orpheus10
Sorry folks, "Maiden Voyage" is definitely best without words, just like I heard it for the first time in 66. I picture me, and I'm sailing across the sunny sea for the first time (maiden voyage) in my small craft. The music depicts the rise and fall of the waves as the wind picks up, and I feel the exhilaration of being on the ocean for the first time; I might even sail all the way to Tahiti. "The Look of Love"; Dusty Springfield is the beginning, all there is in between and the end. Words don't belong on some songs; "Round Midnight" is one of them. This song portrays the mood of the city "Round Midnight", leave that drippy love out of it. No matter which city, skyscrapers are intoxicating when you look at them "Round Midnight"; since I was a child, seeing the skyscrapers of New York was always exciting, they held so many dreams and fantasies. Now, each "Round Midnight" has a different mood; Miles begins a little spooky, but Coltrane welcomes you into this city for all the allure that cities hold at night; beautiful ladies seeking company for example. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIgLt7LAZF0 This is my favorite, it's altogether different from the last one; it's so beautiful, there's nothing mysterious about it; alluring maybe, it holds the promise of a new and beautiful experience on this starlit night around the bewitching hour. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1Xozvcf0FA |
And then in the bridge, she wrote: You are my own. Still, I am all alone, longing, waiting. I love you so, darling. This is why I'll go on believing you'll be standing by my side sooner than I realize. I need you so. Now we go from that to the lyrics in "Round Midnight"? My fiction is better than your facts Frogman. |
Thelonious Monk was 27 when he wrote "Round Midnight". Does anybody think he was thinking about the "drippy" lyrics that are now attached to the song? Girl type lyrics at that. If you're an aficionado, you got to think like a hip jazz musician. Jazz is about mood and feeling, but you also have to think like the artist who wrote it. When you think like a 27 year old hip jazz musician in New York, you will get a different picture than those "drippy" lyrics; what you get is a mood, and the feeling of the city "Round Midnight". |
Jazz is a little like abstract art, the artist paints a picture and gives it a title, the title depicts what the painting is all about; you may, or you may not grasp what the artist had in mind. Each "connoisseur" who looks at the painting will grasp the idea, but each of them will see it slightly different; that's the nature of art. Sometime the music and the lyrics are "right on"; such is the case of "Moanin". Bobby Timmons projected the depths of the emotion of being "down and out"; the lyrics to the tune do likewise. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNjRQo-zpKA 'Maiden Voyage' is a 1965 jazz composition by Herbie Hancock. Lyrics were later added by his sister Jean HANCOCK: See the sky, let's explore it's hue. Tide is high, time for your debut. Like a ship, you must leave this bay. On this trip, you'll learn love today. The time has come to take a dare. Maiden voyage, a first affair. Set your sails to cast away. Chart your course of love today. Now we're clear, homeward bound are we. Listen dear, as you sound your sea. Soon you'll cry, lovely things you'll say. Sail on high, you'll learn love today. In my opinion, these lyrics are stretching the thing far beyond what Herby was thinking when he composed the music. The picture on the cover shows one man on a small sailing craft. The music captures the feeling of a "maiden voyage"; movement: waves, ocean breezes, the exhilaration and excitement of a "maiden voyage". The lyrics are nice, but they don't work for me and the music. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwmRQ0PBtXU One might feel the same exhilaration and excitement while listening to this music and taking a "maiden voyage" in an automobile. |
Yes, the cover looks like "National Geographic", but African Roots are not imaginary; he's a descendant of slaves who came here on ships against their will; they probably picked cotton in Mississippi. Since he has African DNA, his music could have traces of his ancestors music from a village in Africa that he can't trace. I bought that album when it came out, I'll have to buy it again. I liked it better then than I do now. Alice is more consistent and original; this music sounds too much like "Trane" without Trane, or should I say like Tyner when he played with Trane. |
I've been listening to Urszula Dudziak all afternoon, and I can't quite find the words to describe her, but wild, exciting and seductive are a few words that come to mind. If only my body could keep up with my mind? Maybe if I was 30 years younger? But when your mind is like mine, who needs a body, I just went back 45 years to when I bought this album, now I can hang with Urszula. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zUBL2sg9MA |
Most jazz tunes are wordless music, it's only much later on that someone comes up with words for the tune. According to Frogman, Thelonious Monk originally wrote these lyrics for "Round Midnight" Since you went away, I missed you. Every hour, I wish to kiss you. You are in my dreams always. I need you so. You are my own. Still, I am all alone, longing, waiting. I love you so, darling. This is why I’ll go on believing you’ll be standing by my side sooner than I realize. I need you so. I have been listening to jazz all of my life, and this is the very first time I heard that. He even gave us a long story about how the song was originally called "I Need You So". You'll have to ask Frogman how the words changed to what we are now familiar with. When I hear music that normally has words, I still hear the words. When those of you who prefer words to "Round Midnight" and "Maiden Voyage" hear those tunes, do you still hear the words when the music is played without them? I find that words trap you into the same scenario even when you're listening to the music without the words, you still hear them. It begins to tell 'round midnight, midnight I do pretty well till after sundown Supper time I'm feelin' sad But it really gets bad 'round midnight Memories always start 'round midnight Haven't got the heart to stand those memories When my heart is still with you And ol' midnight knows it too When a quarrel we had needs mending Does it mean that our love is ending? Darlin', I need you; lately I find You're out of my heart and I'm out of my mind Let our… I don't want to be trapped into those lyrics every time I hear "Round Midnight", even when there is just beautiful music without words. Not only that, but if I were in that situation, I would be looking for a replacement round midnight, that's why I think it's a girls thing. When I was younger, the girls I met didn't like jazz and they called it music without words. And for the most part, I can live with that; the words are usually written for the music with words at the same time as the music, not years later. Just yesterday is the first time I was made aware of the fact that there were words to "Maiden Voyage"; thank God I never heard them before; then I would be hearing those same words every time I heard "Maiden Voyage". I find aficionados are highly individualistic, but there's room for us all. Who knew?! Who knew that Sassy, Ella, Carmen, June, Betty and.....weren’t aficionad(a)os? No, they're "Divas". |
This is off the charts for the fans of Fela Kuti. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zombie_(album) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFOc9N1kXKA |
Rok, that was beautiful; the vocal and instruments complimented one another in such a way as to project one emotion, the deepest of all emotions "Love", that ultimately leads to the worst feeling; profound sadness. Natalie Merchant, and those instrumentalists projected those emotions to perfection. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWXimvRssmQ |
You say that “Maiden Voyage” is no good with lyrics; seemingly without exception. Yet, you posted a Mandrade clip of “Maiden Voyage” which supposedly had lyrics and you referred to it as “boss”. I’m confused. Regards. I kept waiting for the words in the Andrade “Mayden Voyage” 🤔. One of my favorite tunes and Herbie has been quoted as saying that it is his favorite of all his compositions. Words were set to the tune by his sister some time after Herbie wrote the tune. Here are favorite versions; with the lyrics this time 😉: I misspoke Frogman, thank you for correcting me; it was just with her voice and the music. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Yab_N9a4Oc |
There are so many versions of "Night In Tunisia" that I like I can't count them all; here is one vocal that I especially like; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xQxN5Sxndc |
There is a female vocalist who's famous, that nobody has mentioned, but I've been playing one of her CD's that I bought in 1999 every since; that's 20 years. It's very uncharacteristic of me to play any music on a regular basis for this long, but she hits all the right notes on this album for me. The artist is Carly Simon, and the title of the CD is "Film Noir". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_Noir_(album) Every cut on this CD is boss for me, and they all seem to remind me of the love of my life; the first one especially; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0wta3xkqJo Even now, when I hear this song, I think about her; maybe there was someone in your past that you'll never forget. |
An "abstract" work of art, whether it's a painting, a sculpture, or in this case "jazz", which is an abstract musical art, takes on a life of it's own once it leaves the artist who created it. Examples of this are infinite. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gX9Tcci3nM |
Lyrics for "Stolen Moments" are pure genius, they fit the music, and they work for me as permanent in the case of the original music. Monk played "Round Midnight" differently, every single solitary time he played it, now I'll let someone else tell me how many times he played it. With that knowledge, does anyone think he had some kind of lyrics in mind? |
Once in a blue moon someone comes up with good lyrics to match good music; such is this case. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CP6mX_HtgGI |
Rok's post where he mentioned Dee Dee's interpretation of Horace Silvers music is the best example of where I'm coming from. Dee Dee used words to describe Silver's music, but that's not the same as permanent lyrics; they lock you into thinking about the same thing every time you hear the music, and that's what "Round Midnight" is not about. |
What was on the clowns mind who stopped them; he was not an aficionado, I heard the last beginning as being better than what they played after the interruption. Monk done got pissed, he ready to forget about it and go home. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=In16H9J72HY |
Frogman, I made one sentence about you " I understand Frogman how you feel when I relate in detail of seeing John Coltrane and crew on stage playing "My Favorite Things", and you add all that other stuff, but it's all true. I consider you to be a "hot house plant" you live in New York but you never write about life in New York. How did Schubert get into this conversation? I consider you a "politician" Frogman because you always have to drag someone else into any discussion you bring up about me. If someone brand new that's never posted on this thread makes a negative remark towards what I've written, you always chime in to support them, you can't get any more political than that. Am I "mean spirited"? How many more of your attributes can you assign to me? Although I always try to stay close to a pile of the red bricks that are so abundant here in St. Louis, just in case I need to chunk a few if attacked, that's called "self defense". Even when you talk about the music it's always something technical that relates to what musicians learn in school. I've had many musician friends and they never talked music, although they made music. It's the essence of the song and the music that you never discuss, that's an indication of the fact that you have never experienced life from that point of view. It's good to be a "hot house plant" and to be shielded from the elements. |
Frogman, first and foremost, I never cared too much for vocals. Of course I have many CD's by Ella, Sarah, Dinah, Billie, and Nancy. I just checked them, and only Ella has "Round Midnight". Ray Bryant's version was fantastic; had I heard it before now, the words would never have crossed my mind. Carmen McRae is the only vocalist who I have a number of "records" by, and I certainly don't have that version of her singing "Round Midnight" that you posted; this tells me how little I was into vocals, unless you call these vocals; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjf81fSUXsM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnrYk1pq12I https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWYUNJkO5Ow My vinyl collection lets me know I was even more discriminating before CD's. Just recently (last few days) I asked someone about their impression of a non vocal version of "Round Midnight" and they said it was about "unrequited love". "Those words have put a stamp on my favorite jazz tune". Now when I hear it I hear those words. This never occurred before that. I might have to go to a psychiatrist to get this curse removed. |
BTW This song was originally recorded in 1947 on Savoy 78 rpm records, and was featured on a 1956 jazz compilation LP record titled "Jazz Of Two Decades"; it's the most special version of "East of Suez". I played it so much that every syllable is stamped on my mind. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnrYk1pq12I This goes back to when I was listening to the radio; quite a nostalgic tune. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQfF84ackMM |
"Asphalt Canyon Blues" is self descriptive and that's the way it sounds; walking the city streets with the blues; while RM is exploring the city "Round Midnight", and experiencing the various emotions; always on alert, while anticipating all the exciting things that can happen "Round Midnight". Kenny Burrells version of RM is soft and alluring, like one of the beautiful ladies one might meet RM; it has none of the trepidation of the reality of exploring city streets RM; very beautiful. In Gerry Mulligan's "Night Lights" you're in a penthouse looking out at the other skyscrapers. |
Frogman, reality is what "is", not what "ain't", and no one speaks for reality, it speaks for itself. As a matter of fact our posts on this thread have been speaking "reality"; they have been saying "what is", not "what ain't"; they have been saying "Old school is the only school", and even you have been confirming this with your posts. |
In regard to "Round Midnight" it's an instrumental mood piece that paints a picture of the city "Round Midnight"; which can be inviting, mysterious, or even dangerous, but never a time to think about "unrequited love". That's because in my scenario you are in the city looking up at the skyscrapers, never in an apartment feeling lonely, but out on the town with the feeling of great anticipation and expectations for the night. I like many versions of angel eyes, both vocal and instrumental (Ray Bryant is always special); I'll present some of my favorite versions of this gem; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHGQM6GDCFg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=If77_P8v7iE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8x0RSapKapo |
Frogman, I look at my record collection and all the money I wasted trying to find something new. The funny thing is, the rich record store owner gave me advice every time I walked into his store, and he made his fortune selling jazz records. He always steered me toward the accepted giants of jazz, but I told him I wanted something "new". I bought records from him when he sold them on the corner out of a card board box; I still have some of those choice collectors items. Now he's got record stores all over the place (he never quit selling vinyl) Why I didn't take his advice, I don't know, but now I've got a ton of records for "Goodwill". Maybe I have some of that "new music" you speak of which I will give you for the postage alone. |
"The music changes and evolves and the problem is usually that the older we get the more “trapped” we tend to feel by the way the music was and what we are used to." While we are getting better trained and schooled musicians who can take a musical sheet and play it better than it's ever been played before, we are not getting the creative genius's that we got in the past; case closed. |
If Thelonious Sphere Monk had wanted lyrics, he would have written lyrics. He plays his composition "radically" different every time he plays it; if he had any lyrics in mind while he was playing his composition, he wouldn't do that. People want lyrics to "abstract instrumental music" because un-imaginative people like to be told what to think; they even like coloring books with the numbers so they know what color to paint. |
Rok, I told you these were the worst of times, and you told me these are the best of times for music because of "You tube". You were right, and I've got a secret to tell you, but you must promise not to tell any other "jazz aficionado"; I know you wont. I just discovered a tune by "Patsy Cline" that I don't think is half bad. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMq16fJ8rbM |
Watch the sunrise on a tropic isle See the pyramids along the Nile Just remember darlin', all the while You belong to me See the market place in old Algiers Send me photographs and souvenirs Just remember when a dream appears You belong to me I'll be so alone without you Maybe you'll be lonesome too and blue Fly the ocean in a silver plane See the jungle when it's wet with rain Just… Yes, every word was important, along with the beautiful voice and good music. Tropic Isle and pyramids along the Nile certainly stirred my childhood imagination. Fly the ocean in a silver plane, see the jungle when it's wet with rain; that painted a picture. Vocals are vocals, instrumentals are instrumentals; let them be separate and never the twain shall meet; unless on a temporary basis. |