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.
Notes: "Dear Friends Fans and Public As a lover of "Hot Music" as well as a player, I have been asked hundreds of times if I thought "Hot Music" would die out. I said NO INDEED. I should say: "Hot Music" will last forever. There'll probably be new names for it, that's all. There has been several names since I can remember way back to the good ol' days in New Orleans, Louisiana, when Hot Music was called *Rag Time Music*, *Jazz Music*, *Gut Bucket Music*, *swing Music* and now *Hot Music*. So you see instead of dying out, it only gets new names." -- Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong 1934
Louis Armstrong(trumpet, vocal), Oscar Peterson(piano), Herb Ellis(guitar), Ray Brown(bass), Louie Bellson(drums) Verve 1957 / 1997
"It is difficult....for some people, who only know Armstrong’s singing from his latter-day pop hits, to realize that he was one of the most influential vocalists of the twentieth century....His unique phrasing and masterly vocal readjustments of a song’s rhythms influenced countless singers..." -- John Chilton
THE COMPLETE LOUIS ARMSTRONG & DUKE ELLINGTON SESSIONS
Louis Armstrong(trumpet, vocal), Duke Ellington(piano), Barney Bigard(clarinet), Trummy Young(trombone), Mort Herbert(bass), Danny Barcelona(drums)
Roulette / Capitol 1961 / 1990
Notes: "...Forsaking his own famous big band, Ellington would take the place of pianist Billy Kyle with Louis Armstrong’s All Stars. Repaying the compliment, Armstrong would play a program consisting entirely of Ellington compositions. It was a case of noblesse oblige, the obligations being accepted with a generosity as refreshing to witness as it was rewarding in musical results." -- Stanley Dance
**** That they kept playing it until they got it ’right’? ****
Yup. Or, at least until they had a take that they liked. Some producers want options to choose from later.
**** Does that mean the higher the ’take’ number, the better the performance? ****
Not necessarily. This concerns the first question as well. Sometimes, the producer or leader isn’t exactly sure what he wants, so he may want a version that’s a little faster or maybe a little slower. Or, one take may have a great alto solo, but not so great piano solo. Or, they’ll have a great take 11 and Nat farts during Cannonball’s solo (it happens) and they can’t edit it out.
**** Does the ’take’ number become part of the name of the tune? In other words, if that performance was used later on another disc, would it still be listed as (take 12).****
Not necessarily. More times than not an alternate take is used and nothing is printed about it unless two or more takes of the same time are included on the same record. Or, is a different take than the one on the original record and appearing on a later release.
**** Is the order in which the tunes appear on the CD / LP of any significance?****
Definitely. They strive for a certain logic or flow in the order. You don’t want two or more ballads back to back, or all the fast tunes back to back for example. Kind of like movements of a symphony.
Excellent Booklet with pictures and recording data on each song. Not a lot of Jazz, but a compilation of many of his most popular 'hits'. Hip-o / Verve 2006
On one of the Cannonball postings, I noticed that one tune was listed as (Take 12). What should we make of that? That they kept playing it until they got it ’right’? Does that mean the higher the ’take’ number, the better the performance? Does the ’take’ number become part of the name of the tune? In other words, if that performance was used later on another disc, would it still be listed as (take 12).
also
Is the order in which the tunes appear on the CD / LP of any significance?
Notes: "To quote Arvell Shaw, long-serving bassist with Armstrong, "Before Louis, the musicians would play the melody and heavily syncopate it. What Louis started doing was improvising on the chord structure. By himself, he made Jazz into a soloist's art." No wonder that, by 1930, Louis Armstrong was publicized as "The World's greatest Trumpet Player." --- Brian Peerless
Check the instruments on the front cover. A lot of horns, but only one Trumpet and Trombone. With Louis and Higginbotham, all you need is one!
FYI, The Lee Morgan 8-CD Box "Complete at the Lighthouse" can be pre-ordered on Amazon. LP Box also. 12-LPs I think. This is the real Blue Note recording. Will be released on 30 July 2021.
Hey rok I am excited about this release. I have the original 3 CD set and it is Lee Morgan at his best after he stopped using heroin but sadly just 18 months later he was gone. He did record 1 more studio album before he was murdered.
Blue Note released the album 3 months after his death and gave it a fitting title - THE LAST SESSION. I have it and it is a really good album.
I know you like Lee and if you don't have THE LAST SESSION you may want to add it to your collection along with this DVD
FYI, The Lee Morgan 8-CD Box "Complete at the Lighthouse" can be pre-ordered on Amazon. LP Box also. 12-LPs I think. This is the real Blue Note recording. Will be released on 30 July 2021.
As I just posted on another thread; the whole Sound Liaison collection is now on BandCamp in 24/96. Except for the Visual Sound Sampler, that’s in 24/192. The price is right too; a ten-spot per album. https://soundliaison.bandcamp.com/
Louis Armstrong (trumpet, vocals), Trummy Young(tb), Dave McRae(cl), Billy Kyle(p), Nick Tragg(org), George Barnes(g), Mort Hebert(b), Barrett Deems(d), Plus Choir. Orchestra Conducted by Sy Oliver 1958
CD consists of two albums, 'Louis and the Good Book' and 'Louis and the Angels'. These tracks are from 'The Good Book'. The tempos are perfect.
with / Ella Fitzgerald, Oscar Peterson, Herb Ellis, Ray Brown, Buddy Rich Verve 2CD set
Excellent Booklet! "We speak of the sound of Jazz. We might as well say the sound of Louis Armstrong. But Louis was more than that. He was the sound of humanity and hope." -- Norman Granz
Louis Armstrong(trumpet & vocal), Trummy Young(trombone), Edmond Hall(clarinet), Billy Kyle(piano), Arvell Shaw(bass), Barrett Deems(drums)
Sony / Columbia 1955 / 2000 Playable on SACD players only
Notes: "This is a souvenir -- recorded on the spot -- of Louis Armstrong's concert tour of western Europe in the fall of 1955."
"In Louis Armstrong, America never had a more widely beloved ambassador because "Satchmo the Great" was, and to a great extent still is, the essence of Jazz. It was Armstrong (1901-1971) who, more than any other improviser placed the spotlight on the soloist; he also invented virtually single-handedly, the very notion of "Jazz singing," and was the warmest of all show business personalities."
Nat(cornet), Wes Montgomery(guitar), Bobby Timmons(piano), Sam Jones or Ketter Betts(cello or bass), Percy Heath(bass), Louis Hayes(drums)
Riverside / Original Jazz Classics 1960 / 1989
Notes: "This is an album with a sound you are guaranteed not to have heard before, featuring a distinctive and fascinating front-line blend in which the melody instruments --- the three "horns", you could say---are cornet, guitar and cello! Admittedly, the search for 'new sounds' in modern Jazz has sometimes led to little more than arbitrary and contrived novelty effects. But on the other hand, when all the ingredients are right the result can be just such a musically valid and excitingly different 'new sound' as Nat Adderley has come up with here.-- Orrin Keepnews
Cannonball(soprano and alto), Nat(cornet), George Duke(keyboards & synthesizers), Mike Wolff(keyboards), Sam Jones(acoustic bass), Walter Booker(acoustic & electric bass), Louis Hayes(drums), Roy McCurdy(drums), Airto Moreira(percussion, conga drums)
Fantasy Records April 1975 / 1999 Julian "Cannonball" Adderley died in August 1975
Almost like a greatest hits issue, but this is not a reissue of previously released performances, all of these versions were recorded in 1975. Four moths before his death. As you can see, the lineup is very different. An overview. Better?
Cannonball(alto), Wynton kelly(piano), Paul Chambers(bass), Percy heath(bass), Jimmy Cobb(drums), Albert "Tootie" Heath(drums) Riverside / Capitol Jazz 1959 / 2002
Notes: Recorded in the spring of 1959, this was only the third of some 15 albums featuring cannon that I produced for the Riverside label. ....I think of this era as Early Cannonball. Early means the period before stardom. Before he put together his notable quintet (with his brother Nat on cornet and the funky composer Bobby Timmons on piano) and convinced me to record them in performance at the Jazz Workshop in San Francisco late in '59, thereby turning himself into a full-scale major attraction and Jazz household name, and almost single-handedly launching the 1960s phenomenon known as "Soul Jazz." -- Orrin Keepnews
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