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.
31,743 responses Add your response
@frogman
https://youtu.be/r4P6c8EH6g0 Dear Abby, dear Abby... Interesting, Wynton's playing on this track seems unemotional, unengaging and downright mechanical to me. Lee Morgan mails it in. Wayne Shorter steps in to elevate the entire track with his typical genius and vision. Please let me know if I'm off base. Signed, Noisemaker |
https://64.media.tumblr.com/268a201e9b64c7807c8c95fcd444b2f9/tumblr_mlubekIYjc1qb5wa0o1_1280.jpg The Lady and horn player.... The Lady in color... https://www.hypeness.com.br/1/2020/11/1c751106-billie-holiday-2.jpg |
No worries. Some of them connect in wiser ways; we hope. Those wrinkles, ‘though..... https://youtu.be/r4P6c8EH6g0 |
Big fan of Red Garland. I have the album alec posted and the Red Garland trio albums frogman posted. I also have all of the Miles Davis Prestige sessions with Red on them. I like his "sound" a lot and thanks frogman for posting about the block chords which evidently is part of the reason I like Red’s playing. I am probably one of the only members here that have more Red Garland albums as a leader the Bill Evans albums. |
Coltrane had an uncontrollable sweet tooth. From “John Coltrane: Impressions Of His Life And Music”: +++Now twenty-six, he was using heroin, smoking cigarettes, and drinking fairly heavily, gaining weight, and generally not in good spirits. In addition, his teeth hurt him constantly as a result of his inability to control his love of sweets. He consumed candy bars, other sweets, and Coca-Cola so rabidly that his teeth began to deteriorate.+++ Nice to see you back, Mary_Jo. https://youtu.be/tXy0LvwYCW8 |
Great choice by Alex; great record. I love Red Garland’s playing. Obviously, we all like certain styles of playing and not others and Garland sure had a very distinctive style; and one which influenced many other piano players. For me, there was a tremendous amount of swagger In his swing feel, but it was his pioneering use of “block chords” for soloing that made his style distinctive and influential. Instead of single note lines in a solo, each note would be harmonized in like fashion. One hears a series of chords (with the melody notes on top of the chord) instead of the usual single note lines with independent left hand chord accompaniment. Both hands moved together. Btw, Keegiam it was Bill Evans on “So What” from KOB. If you have the 1986 reissue, Wynton Kelly played on a different and alternate take of “So What” that does not appear on the original KOB. Is that what you refer to? Garland played on the Miles’ record “Milestones”. Check this out for a great and fascinating explanation-by-example of block chords. At the start of this tune from “Relaxin With The Miles Davis Quintet” we can hear “studio chatter” from the players. Garland starts the intro to “You’re My Everything” with a typical single note line. Miles is heard whistling loudly to stop the band and we hear his gravelly voice saying “Play some block chords, Red..block chords, Red”. They start the tune again and we hear Garland’s intro again, now with block chords. That was his signature sound. Obviously, Miles liked it. https://youtu.be/COqizkflS9U From “Milestones”. On his solo on this tune Garland changes from single note lines to the use of “block chords” at 7:30: https://youtu.be/erlKauAFwSw Two other favorite Garland recordings that may or may not change your mind: https://youtu.be/57IY0wDqdCs https://youtu.be/LYVgQVnUkmA https://youtu.be/2fj0Qu8d864 https://youtu.be/GBLQMPtgGbU |
How about this album? https://youtu.be/ngoTwjgktHo https://youtu.be/etj3ZXqPcgM https://youtu.be/Xu2DtBIrQuE |
https://i.imgur.com/8DRjQNS.png John Coltrane, Blue Train session, Hackensack, NJ, September 15, 1957. A cropped version of this Francis Wolff photograph became the cover for Blue Train, Coltrane’s only Blue Note album and his first recorded masterpiece. Pulling back to view the full image, Blue Note founder and producer Alfred Lion is seen behind Coltrane. 'For years, many jazz fans, especially those that had once played saxophone, thought the Coltrane was moistening a reed in his mouth as saxophonists were wont to do before putting the reed on their mouthpiece. When we developed the full image, it became evident that John Coltrane at that moment in the Blue Train session was deep in thought and sucking on a lollipop!" - Michael Cuscuna |
https://fotos01.noticiasdealava.eus/2020/08/29/690x278/vuelo-eterno-1.jpg Portrait of Charlie Parker, Tommy Potter, Miles Davis, and Max Roach, Three Deuces, New York, N.Y., ca. Aug. 1947Part of William P. Gottlieb Collection (1,804), Colorized Photo |
I had 8 out of the top 10 albums in 1970; how many do you have? https://jazztimes.com/features/lists/top-10-jazz-albums-1970s-readers-picks/nggallery/image/10-weath... (click on the dots at the bottom of the frame) |
keegiam Someone else posted that Joe Pass Ella live link within the last year (that was the first time I heard it as well) but I did click on your link and listened to a little and saw this on the same page so I clicked on it and I couldn't stop listening to it. Oscar Peterson was not only one of the greatest to sit behind a piano but a very intellectual man as well and the following footage featuring Joe Pass and Bill "Count" Basie is a fantastic video. Oscar and the Count are both quite witty and they talk about how they were both intimidated by Art Tatum. The "Count" is also a very intelligent man. I wish I could have sat between Mr. Tatum, Oscar and the Count for a long conversation. This video is the next best thing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HAZP7nWo6A |
Pure artistry, keegiam. Thanks for posting that. One of my favorite musical duos ever. I have enjoyed their recordings for many years as well. In case you don’t know there is a Pablo release of live performances from two different live concerts entitled “Sophisticated Lady” that is also great. Also, may I recommend “Fitzgerald and Pass....Again” . Their second album as a duo and every bit as good as their first which you mention. I’m intrigued by your mention of “Two For The Road”. Is that a compilation of some kind or reissue? If you like Ella with guitar, Ella’s Duke Ellington Songbook recording, besides being a wonderful record overall, features one track in a duet setting with Barney Kessel playing some beautiful accompaniment. Interesting contrast to she and Pass: https://youtu.be/p76xJm-meUA |
I've cherished my vinyl Joe Pass/Ella duets ("Take Love Easy" and "Two for the Road") for decades. Until this evening, I had no idea a live performance was out there: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2olBE4C5_Gk |
Wow. Wonderful. Hadn’t heard that one. The original Children’s Songs is gem of a record also. Deceptively interesting and beautiful little compositiins. I posted it a while back: https://youtu.be/X2zpbq8mr7w |
Chick Corea has put out some great records the last decade. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIa7_X-jHQo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRs0XTDXmgM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wY0A8DcOiI |
We had a raging debate in regard to music from Africa that came over during slavery hundreds of years ago that was retained everywhere in the western hemisphere except in the USA. For me, it's just like water in the Sahara Desert, it just ain't there, I don't know what happened to it, but it's missing. This current Afrobeat eight-piece band that has our attention, has become known for the measured intricacy of their compositions, which interweave Oscar Jerome’s lyrical guitar with bandleader Sheila Maurice-Grey’s harmonic brass changes, all underpinned by percussionist Onome Ighamre and drummer Ayo Salawu, is based in London. I also find it very interesting how this new music is coming out of the UK. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MlAiVw-n5Q Nubya Nyasha Garcia (born 1991), in Camden Town, London, is a British jazz musician, saxophonist, composer and bandleader. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3GGAvb27XM |
They keep coming. Who said Jazz is dead? https://youtu.be/nh7yyloP4Bo https://youtu.be/Rr6jhXQpBYI Keep an eye on this kid. Very impressive young alto player: https://youtu.be/NFh_DbbcyVI |
O-10, I have two sons. One is a young man, the other is about to become one. It is very common for children and even almost-adults to, in order to feel in control and with a sense of power, to throw tantrums and act out in childish ways by saying disrespectful and downright insulting things when they don’t get their way. A good parent will be very accommodating and flexible when the child, in the face of their obvious brattiness, offers a token “olive branch” of faint praise. Well, you are not a child and, God help me, you are not my son. So, I would offer the suggestion that, before anything, you offer an apology to all here for your childish and disrespectful rants; most recently and specifically, for calling the contributors here “henchmen” and part of a “mob”. Not that I expect it, but you may extend any show of maturity to the “lipstick on a pig” comment. The list is long, but that would be a good start. Jus’ sayin’. Now, while it probably is not surprising, I don’t agree that “we hardly ever agree”. Fact is, that we agree fairly often. Problem is that when we do disagree over one of your “pet” topics (or anything else, really) you tend to, in your mind, assume and extend disagreement to everything else. Case in point and an example of something that has happened many times: I posted the iconic recording “Money Jungle” by Ellington, Mingus and Roach quite a while back, and you thought it was the bomb. Now, because I expressed views, backed by data, on the African influence topic that differ from your OPINION, suddenly that same music is no longer any good. Childish rant. I assure you that while it is pretty good, my knowledge of music is not encyclopedic by any means and I prefer, faint praise aside, to always remember that there is always a great deal to learn. May I suggest that you try that approach; it is a far more productive way to approach things. |
@grey9hound My apologies for mistakenly directing my thanks for the Kokoroko introduction to Acman. Let it also be known that Acman was the first to graciously inform me of my gaffe. I must have been so caught up in the performances that I got sloppy. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. It won't be long until I lose my "newbie pass." The main thing is, thank you so much for sharing your Kokoroko find! |
I believe I 've posted this album somewhere before... Herbie Nichols 'Love, Gloom, Cash, Love' https://youtu.be/nu10AdXfdA0 full album https://youtu.be/zBtMctb-9OM |
I'm deep into this music, I know nothing about the religion, and I'm not sure that I even want to. I'm fundamentally a scientist; electronics, chemistry, physics, and everything that ends with "ology"; consequently, I can only get into religion as far as it corresponds with science, but I still like the music. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvNKcil5EU8 Many of the people who are "currently" into this religion are descendants of people who were stripped of everything but their bare skins and left with this imprinted on their brain. A drowning man will cling to a toothpick in hopes of remaining alive. Feel free to contribute whatever you like to this. |