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.
stuartk, very well said! I do understand how difficult all jazz is and the degree of study and musicality that is involved. And I am really glad that you mentioned the inner feminine. As a writer, it something I have to struggle to find within myself. I think like a male, but I am learning.
In regards to appreciating the degree of musical sophistication and intellectual understanding of music that is required by jazz musicians, I am in awe of all jazz musicians I hear, especially live. I began listening to jazz is the 60s, and at some point, perhaps in the 90s, I felt I wasn't hearing anything really new, except in Brazillian jazz. And maybe that wasn't so much new as new to my ear.
Many years ago i went to hear Wynton Masalis live. Obviously the man is a great musician. Any musician who is adept at both classical and jazz has my respect. I found his music, however, not exciting. He played what I will call older jazz. I like Brad Meldhau and have seen him live a few times. Clearly he is a great musician, and I appreciate that, but I am not excited by it anymore. Whereas when I put on Tania Maria or Flora Purim, I am literally up dancing at my old age.
I went to hear Melissa Aldana live and she excited me because I found her voice to be new and unique. Although, like most young saxaphonists, she was influenced by Coltrane, her notes wavered softly in a way I'd never heard before. In a way, I felt like the first time I heard Stan Getz (backing up Astrid Gilberto on the Johnny Carson show.) What's this! My young mind asked of my young body. I'd never heard anything like that before. Bossa Nova. Wow! At that time (I was probably 15) I listened to Wagner in classical music.
I have a lot of jazz records I haven't listened to in many, many years, and I am beginning to pull them out again to see what I missed the first time I listened. And I am reeducating my ear to jazz classics. I have also been streaming some female sax players like Anat Cohen. I may be old, but I want to listen to new things, especially jazz.
Back to my poem. Yes, it does take a lot of work to become a jazz musician. I don't think it is work, though, for those who were born with a passion for music. I like to say I get lost when I am writing, and I love being lost creatively. All of these musicians, whether I think they are exciting or not, are excited by music. And that is what I mean at the end of my poem by "garce lands anyplace/ like snowflakes/ promiscuously kissing faces. I think of how so many of these jazz musicians were born into poverty, yet they were kissed by the muse who does seem to be promiscuous. I think that's partly what the movie Amadaeus was about.
So, stuartk, I think you and I are on the same page, except you can play guitar and I was a failure at playing guitar. I love music, but cannot make it. I was not promiscuously kissed, at least not by the muse of music.
Thank you for not abandoning me. I know I can be a pain sometimes.
Of course, Jazz covers a very wide range. Some styles/genres are more complex than others and needless to say, individuals vary according to their natural expressive inclinations and natural talents. Some incline towards cool "intellectual" abstraction while others are more earthy, emotional and blues-based. And these factors are not necessarily mutually exclusive. I was speaking of Jazz players who have the ability to cover a wide stylistic spectrum, including the most harmonically sophisticated scenarios.
Perhaps @frogmanwill join in and provide an inside-out perspective.
I’ve also played guitar (not Jazz) for many decades. As you know, in art we have inspiration/intuition and craft/application of techniques and concepts. The point I was trying to make is that there are no dumb Jazz musicians. For even the most naturally gifted, Jazz requires a sophisticated understanding of harmony and its application in improvising. This isn’t typically handed down by the muse.
While emotion is number one for me in enjoying music and as an artistic man, I identify with and value the inner feminine more than men of other persuasions, I think it’s important to not throw the baby out with the bathwater. Mental discipline and the ability to analyze and conceptualize have an important place in all the arts.
stuartk, good question about intellect versus funk, or what I call raw emotion. What the poem is saying is that music doesn’t come from the intellect, it comes from the streets, and I include the feminine because it is often excluded from discussion of the arts.
I am not a music scholar, but I know that many classical composers find their themes in folk music. Bartok is probably one of the most well-known for this since he studied Hungarian folk music. But I have also heard that Haydn used folk music for themes. Folk music, in my mind, comes from the streets.
I like your choice of jazz musicians, Parker, Coltrane, Davis, Shorter. All of these men include a strong emotional content in their music. A lot of jazz I hear tends more toward the intellect and I like it less. Strong emotion coralled into artistic form is what I like in all the arts. De Kooning, for example, in painting.
I apologize for my judgment. I was trying to shake things up a bit. But I judge the world--yes, the entire world--for their exclusion of the feminine, especially in the arts. I have been researching and writing a novel about the suppression of the feminine, especially in religion, so I see pretty much everything through that lens.
But in regards to music, I’m not just talking the talk. I play more female jazz musicians than male. Although, right now I am listening to Charles Lloyd’s Forest Flower. Keith Jarrett has some great passages on there, and he is a male jazz musician I listen to a lot.
Back to the feminine for a bit. It is my belief that women were our first artists. I think that they were the early cave painters who created those beautifully drawn animals. I have a lot to say about that, but I’ll stop here.
I would ask that you try Tania Maria, especially "Brazil With My Soul." I think you will immediately be struck with a feminine strength that is not found in other jazz you might have heard. You must remember that she is playing the piano. She was classically trained in Paris.On my stereo those songs fill the room and wash over me. One thing I heard that might apply is that men show their swagger by the way they move their shoulders when they walk. Women show their swagger by the way they move their hips.
If so, your willingness to pass judgement seems a bit hasty,.
Perhaps I misunderstand your poem, but are you suggesting Jazz is, by definition, all church on the one hand and alleyway funk on the other? Do you believe Parker, Coltrane, Davis, Shorter, etc. were adverse to leveraging their intellects?
I forgot one of the best classic female jazz musicians of all time. Alice Coltrane. She flies very high in "Journey in Satchidananda" accompanied by Pharoah Sanders.
This conversation feels a bit stuffy to me. Why? I was a good chess player in high school. When I went off to college I looked for chess games. A whole bunch of guys were playing in the student union. But the question hit me immediately. Where are the women? I was outa' there.
There are some mentions of Ella, and Sarah, but those are singers. In the seventies I got deeply into Brazilian jazz and man do they have some tasty women. I'd suggest Tania Maria for one. She sings, scats, and plays the piano like no get out. Now we're talking juicy jazz. I think the two best Tania Maria albums are "Brazil with My Soul" and "Piquant." Have a blast finding them on vinyl but that's the way to listen. Tania Maria is one of the best jazz pianists I've heard.
Then Flora Purim. My God! She sings on one of the best selling jazz albums of all time: "Light as a Feather" with Chick Corea. As for her own albums which she usually makes with her percussionist husband, Airto, I recommend "Encounter." But be ready to bend your ear a bit. The lady is abstract. For some "stuffy" credibility, Ron Carter, Joe Henderson, and McCoy Tyner are also on that album. I go back to it again and again and again. Again, listen to it on vinyl if you can.I have purchased all the Flora Purim albums I could get my hands on.
Sliding into the 21st century, I recently went to a concert of a saxaphonist named Melissa Aldana. I was extremely impressed that she had her own voice (on the saxaphone). I immediately purchased a couple of her albums.
IMHO, the best jazz standard I have is Coltrane playing "My Favorite Things" on Selflessness. I have more Coltrane albums (vinyl) than I can count, but that's my all time favorite. He flies in the album. Here's a poem I wrote to Coltrane back in the day:
ON HEARING A RADIO INTERVIEW
WITH JOHN COLTRANE NOV. 13, 1985
stepping out of the past
on careful paws of a cat
hissing & scratching
thru car speakers
in the Sepulveda pass
a gospel intelligence
where family words
are polished in deep drums
he doesn't say it
but somehow I hear
that music wasn't doled
out over cloistered walls
it comes from the streets
where women's bodies
turn rags to style
I stop the car &
close my eyes
listening to "Green Dolphin St."
& picture large black hands
like Icarus's wings
& think that grace lands anyplace
like snowflakes
promiscuously kissing faces
I think of jazz in 20-year periods, starting around 1915. The 30s-40s were a big band era, where Hollywood had some influence. The 50s and 60s saw some emerging greats (think of Coltrane playing with Miles early on.) The 70s has the integration of jazz with both classical and rock music (not simultaneously!) and you have the emergence of both fusion and some lighter fare that borders on the commercial - but still good. This continues from the 90s, and my enthusiasm wanes as the commercial stuff starts to take center stage (but that's just my opinion.)
Apparently, this Roy DuNann of Contemporary Records was a master recording engineer. And also apparently the above site, has a plethora of master recordings of some stone cold jazz for y’all to check out. Scroll all the way down to the bottom to see all the records.
@acman3, I got some ’spanish tinged’ jazz music ’backatya’ that’s swinging pretty darn hard!
’Out of print Barney Kessel album. Swingin’ interpretation of the Georges Bizet opera with stellar performances, featuring André Previn on keys. This is ripped from the original 1959 UK Mono pressing.’
Stuartk, I like them all, but a safe start is the Telarc mid-nineties recordings. He went on an absolute tear around then .I know the sound won't distract.
If you like Art Farmer they have a great live recording from the early 60's.
The one with Jimmy Giuffre called "Western Suite" is a Favorite.
I’ve been listening to the new Jazz releases on Qobuz and it amazes me what they are called Jazz. But there are a few out there that are worth a listen, sort of. I’m not sure if I like the remasters of the 50’s-60’s greats and some of what they’re calling new releases are just reissued or made into High Res.
I haven’t listened to him extensively but I’ve had difficulty engaging emotionally with what I have heard. Whether rightly or wrongly, I’ve come away with a sense that he’s rather cerebral. Of course, this is not to say he’s not a master. I’ve heard him with Evans, with Rollins, with Carter and the live trio... I think it was called "Jim Hall Live". Perhaps you can recommend others.
Very nice! Actually, I am starting my PB journey with last year's release "Better Angels". Anything on the Smoke Sessions series is an instant buy. Good to read that you found the sibilance culprit.
Thanks for your suggestion. I've read reviews but my understanding is that Musetech does not have a repair facility in the US. This a non-starter for me. If I'm mistaken, please let me know.
Re-DAC: Have you looked into a Musetec Audio LKS-005? I had one, sold it, and regret it :-)
It uses dual ES9038pro chips. One torroidal transformer has silver plated copper. Banks of super capacitors that act like batteries, solid silver hookup wire, 4 femtoclocks each costing multiples of the Crysteks, a revised Amanero board, result in a DAC that presents fluidity, clarity and bass extension.
After reading this thread, I went out and purchased one.
Thanks for asking. Yes; I did finally track down the sibilance to an unexpected source -- cement pavers I had under my Target stands. An easy fix and what a relief!
I’d also had a fatigue issue that I traced to my (Burr-Brown) Aqua DAC, which I sold. In its place, I began using the onboard (AKM) DAC in my Hegel H390. In the process, I lost some highs (the Hegel DAC is somewhat rolled off) and some bass extension, as well.
I was able to get back some of the bass with an ac cable upgrade but still need to work on restoring the highs without reintroducing fatigue. I recently auditioned a Mojo Mystique XSE DAC but it sounded very dull in my system. It would appear I need to try a less warm-sounding DAC.
That’s where things are at, currently. The system is emotionally and physically engaging but too dark.
Thanks for sharing! That's awesome. After giving it a listen, I looked for a CD release. Alas, it doesn't exist. Somehow, in the process I came upon this really good Niels Pedersen, Billy Hart, Philip Catherine CD. This is the first track-
Thanks for sharing! That's awesome. After giving it a listen, I looked for a CD release. Alas, it doesn't exist. Somehow, in the process I came upon this really good Niels Pedersen, Billy Hart, Philip Catherine CD. This is the first track-
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