Jazz for aficionados

Hi all, and Happy New Year to be spent with great music.

I've been away for some time, but reading Tom Moon's book "1,000 Recordings To Hear Before You Die", a comment raised a question I thought might be of interest here.  Tom is a music critic, contributor to multiple publications, and experienced as a professional musician.  His book covers jazz, rock, classical, opera, blues, world music and whatever else you might think of.  I found his comments on many recommended recordings I am familiar with to  be very insightful.

But one really jumped out at me.  Included in his list is "Take Ten" with Paul Desmond and Jim Hall..  In that review he references "Take Five" as one of the most important jazz records of all time.  But what surprised me was his statement that album "suffers from a fatal flaw.  Brubeck's piano playing."  He goes on to say, "The esteemed leader is revealed as something of a musical clod .  .  ."

Now as someone who has enjoyed various Brubeck albums for decades I was amazed by that opinion.  I do remember back in the '60s that Brubeck was put down by some jazz fans as being "too commercial", I suppose because of his sales and concert success.  But I do't remember him ever being disparaged to this degree.

I say this because I find Moon's other reviews to be so well considered and revealing.  So surprising to say the least.

I heard a young (36 years old) saxaphonist live recently. Her name is Melissa Aldana. I was very impressed because she had her own voice, with influences, of course, but like nothing I'd heard before. And it was a feminine voice in a genre of music that is dominated by strong male voices.

I was very happy to hear a new jazz voice that would be worthy of playing in your listening room, competeing with all the giants of the past. A breath of fresh air. I think we should all be on the lookout for these new voices and open our doors and windows to new sounds.

Two other fantastic female Brazilian jazz musicians: Tania Maria (now in her late seventies) and Flora Purim (also in her late seventies.) Flora Purim's abstract jazz album "Encounter" is in regular rotation on my turntable. As is Tania Maria's "Brazil With My Soul." 

In many endeavors, I think it is time that we men open the doors and windows to women . They are much stronger than you think.

Welcome to the thread audio bdog. We definitely discussed Ms. Aldana, earlier this year. I remember I liked her live music on YouTube better than her recorded work, but I have my eye out for her. A very good talent.

HAPPY NEW YEAR ALL!

Thank you, pryso. Best wishes! I think I may be able to shed bit of light on the reason for Tom Moon’s comment. Hopefully without getting too personal. I know Tom Moon from when we were both students in music conservatory. Tom was (is) a talented, pretty good Jazz saxophone player with a remarkably enthusiastic, wide-eyed love of music, no matter the genre…..like his book (great title!). He also has very specific opinions about what is good and what is not, but with no genre boundaries. Rhythmic feel and nuance, level of Swing are important to him on a very nuanced and subtle level. As concerns Brubeck, I understand where he is coming from, even if I don’t agree with the ultimate relevance of it all! I would not refer to Brubeck as a “musical clod”. Brubeck has a sense of swing that is, generally speaking, not as relaxed, or “swingy” in an easy way as some expect from a high profile Jazz player. That is only one aspect of a musician’s musical personality, but for some (musicians and listeners) it can diminish their overall assessment of a musician in spite of other excellences. I like Brubeck’s playing and I like his compositions a lot even though, for me, his feel can come dangerously close to feeling a bit “square”.

In this interview, at the 24:50 mark you can hear Tom address this very issue:

https://www.npr.org/2008/11/03/96544112/more-recordings-to-hear-before-you-die

The tunes Take Five and Take Ten both have a 5 feel.  Very similar tunes.  Not easy to play in 5.  As Tom discusses in the interview, if one listens to the comping of Brubeck vs that of Jim Hall one can hear the difference in level of ease and relaxed feeling.

Take Five:

https://youtu.be/ryA6eHZNnXY?si=sJFffWfDfgBEKnIR

Take Ten:

https://youtu.be/rI7hArFCiR8?si=KBHyyv1hWFkK8yS6

Thanks @frogman for replying.  I always enjoy your sharing your knowledge and perspectives on music and this was helpful.  Tom Moon obviously has great love for and broad experience in music.  He is admittedly more inclusive than I am for types and styles he enjoys.  But in this case he was more restrictive, which was why I commented.

I've admitted here and elsewhere I don't have any training in music.  So many technical elements of style or performance escape me.  But I've been listening for decades and have formulated my own tastes.  I can appreciate that Brubeck often has a rather "heavy" rhythemic sense.  Quite different from someone like Basie who was so smooth and flowing while really swinging, if often minimalist.  But maybe that is why I and many others enjoy Brubeck playing with Desmond so much, they are opposite while complementary.

On the complementary side for Mr. Moon, I've been surprised by how many of his recommendations (not just jazz) are in my collection, and how often I appreciate and agree with his insights and picking those recordings.