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.
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R.I.P. Jerry Gonzalez I still plan on going to the Larry Willis And The Heavy Blues Band show Friday evening October 19th at 7pm (1st show). Larry Willis was a former bandmate of Jerry Gonzalez. http://www.smokejazz.com/index.php/calendar/ |
nsp, Why would you sell your SM discs? I have all of the 40th anniversary King Crimson Discs including Discipline. Each set comes with a DVD-A or SACD with the complete album in 5.1 surround mix. I also have all their latest live discs. They are releasing a live disc from Mexico City: https://www.amazon.com/Meltdown-Live-Mexico-KING-CRIMSON/dp/B07G1XK9FZ/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF... My stepfathers son, who is 8 years older then me, first introduced me to TYA when I was 13! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZnyVRkAphs |
When talking about Nina, I forgot to post this: Nina Simone with Emil Latimer - Black is the color of my true love’s hair https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWmCbEbMmeU And since I hear this song in my head when playing the above one, have to post it too: Cat Stevens - Lady D’Arbanville https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZP54bClDRw |
nsp, I forgot to mention last night its been at least 5 years since Alvin Lee passed away. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biM7yobcI50 |
Good afternoon mary_jo, (its 5:37am in NY). Hear is another one from Annie Lennox album "Nostalgia" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eC7IcjhYW0c |
alex, I saw your favorite live list. Excellent choices. I was not even aware of the Coleman Hawkins Village Gate release. I already ordered it thanks! One of my favorites, right off the top of my head at 6am, is John Coltrane's "One Up One Down-Live At The Half Note" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1kcr-dTdew&t=747s It is a 2 disc set featuring extended soloing by Trane and his quartet. The sonics are not great but very listenable. They recorded it live while it was also broadcast live to a local jazz radio station in NYC. |
All this great talk of live albums has caused me to pull out some more favorites: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_lrwp53TVjMLccwjjVqQH041aeOeDUu7B8 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLeDYEULrbSfJEeZAwqR24WTKXYSz2e49d |
Personnel: “Live At Yoshi’s” Pat Martino- guitar Joey DeFrancesco- Hammond B3 Billy Hart- drums —————————— “Thad and Mel”
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Funny, all this discussion about favorite live recordings made me think of the most memorable concerts I’ve attended. While jazz is my preferred music, and I’ve attended many concerts and festivals (I’m pretty old!), not many near the top of my personal list have been jazz. Among those that were, the first concert I attended was Louie Armstrong and the All Stars with my parents at a local theater around 1952. That was wonderful and left lasting memories. While in college we drove to Detroit for several concerts at a small local club, The Minor Key. There I saw Miles, Coltrane, Evans, Cannonball, Silver, Jazz Messengers, and more. I can’t honestly say one stood out but as a group they collectively rate very high. Other top favorite live experiences were non-jazz, including The Mahavishnu Orchestra early on at a small local club, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band at our county fair, Mendelssohn’s "Octet" with a collection of top flight musicians at our Mainly Mozart Festival, and Lang Lang performing with our local symphony orchestra. In each case it was an emotional connection with the music that made them outstanding. See, I said I enjoy many types of music. ;^) |
Wow! You saw Satchmo, Miles, Trane, Cannonball, Evans, Silver, Blakey (and others) play live. Envious is an understatement. I’ve seen my share of great jazz players, but that’s a list of some of the greatest of the great. Evans and Blakey are the only ones on that list that I had the pleasure of seeing live. The few times that I heard Evans were all memorable. Other memorable ones include, Dexter, Griffin, McClean, Phil Woods, Thad&Mel, Herbie, Hubbard, Shorter, and others....but, man, Louis, Miles and Trane!! I would have given my favorite cast iron skillet to have seen Trane live 😊. I know our OP has (seen Trane, that is). Then there’s the annual Vienna Philharmonic concert at Carnegie..... |
I believe I saw Miles more often than anyone else. In addition to a couple of times at the Minor Key (quartet/sextet), also both the Detroit and Saugatuck Jazz Festivals, in Hawaii at Punch Bowl in the mid-'60s, and lastly in San Diego in the mid-'70s. For that last one when we walked in the stage was arrayed with big speakers and amps. The crowd at the Civic Theater was a near sell out but almost half the audience left at intermission. That was after the conversion to electronic-Miles but many in attendance apparently weren't prepared for that. |
Good afternoon pjw81563, thank you for the song! Great artist, Annie. p.s. It's six hours of time difference, about 16 h at your place now, +6 here. This now reminds me of...(if there are any blondes here, I will kindly ask you to skip the post) Time difference A blonde called a telephone operator. Blonde: “Could you tell me the time difference between Singapore and London?” Operator: “Just a minute…” Blonde : “Thank you” puts down the phone *** |
pjw Sorry I did not fully explain myself. I don 't want to sell any o f my SM collection I just mentioned them in case you were interested about information on other SM titles/groups in future. For now you h ave plenty SM to listen to. L et me kno w what you think. Been a SM fan 40+ Years.Alvin Lee was surely a guitar virtuoso who belongs with Jeff, Jimi, Eric, Jimmy Page. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGbi-_vQ2sk |
Pryso, respect....Frogman, not bad, either... Just to mention, saw Pat Martino alive, couple years back...Paco de Lucia too, with sextet... Than, of greats, McCoy Tyner with Latin all stars,Frogmans very favourite Michael Brecker, Abbey Lincoln, Randy Weston,Charlie Haden,Joe Zawinul sindicate... More interesting, all of them and some more in my hometown... Reuben Wilson,Fred Wesley, Marc Ribot, Manu Katche, Trilok Gurtu are also comming to mind... But than again, I enjoyed the Gorillaz, Massive Atack, Stereo McS and Nick Cave, as well... Also, I missed some that I have already bought tickets.. If I may share a story, for one such 'sad' ocassion...once I bought a ticket for a Ernest Ranglin and Monty Alexander,performing together... https://youtu.be/H0tpI4Y4W7I The concert was a part of their world tour, at time held in Berlin. To cut long story short I was dating a girl for a few years, that lived in Berlin and I was quite often there...and vice versa....at the time of that particular concert I was already there week before, visting (my turn) and was very excited looking forward to see them... One evening we went in a quarrell and after sleeples night, in the morning I was leaving Germany, heading home...eventually we get back together again, but I never managed to forget about that concert,ha,ha... |
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pryso, I'm jealous to say the least!!… Miles, Coltrane, Pops, Cannonball, Blakey!!.. that's quite a resume you have of concerts you've attended. IMHO, the first Miles electric years 1968-75 were awesome. Do you remember if he played one long jam before and after the intermission or were they broke down into songs? |
pjw, Ellington At Newport 1956 is a no-brainer, but it was already on the top ten list that nsp linked. I think the idea was to add to that list. Certainly would have been on my list. mary_jo, funny joke. Here’s one for you, all in good fun of course and courtesy of my dear wife, a blonde: **** A young brunette goes into the doctor's office and says that her body hurts wherever she touches it. "Impossible," says the doctor. "Show me." She takes her finger and pushes her elbow and screams in agony. She pushes her knee and screams, pushes her ankle and screams and so it goes on, everywhere she touches makes her scream. The doctor says, "You're not really a brunette, are you?" She says, "No, I'm really a blonde." "I thought so," he says. "Your finger is broken. **** |
A couple more favorite live recordings: Same rhythm section that would be part of Miles’ Second Great Quintet, but this time with the under-recognized George Coleman on tenor instead of Wayne Shorter: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3hnjrGvXddo For when only the bass clarinet will do: https://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLy016JoBl4MCWDgDOxw12Z706ZpxG5aEe |
frogman Funny joke!! I also like Miles Live At The Blackhawk http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jpDc5Cp1jLU I really like Mobley's solo. |
pjw Tough decision on live Soft Machine as I have 7 live discs just from the period 1970-1978. Different lineups, different drummers. I think your input might be a factor. Could depend on which drummer you like they are very different. Give me a couple of days to go back and listen .I will come up with recommendation(s). I was listening to King Crimson's Lizard and noticed R Fripp used some top notch British Jazz musicians on the record. Several of them also played on Soft Machine's album Fourth, one of my favorites. |
nsp, I don’t think I’ve ever heard anything by Mobley that I didn’t like. Great player and great record! You’re right, Dolphy was the first in jazz to play bass clarinet with that level of proficiency. Harry Carney played it in Duke’s band quite a bit before Dolphy came on the scene, but it was mostly in the context of Duke’s great orchestrations and he didn’t improvise on it that much. The great clarinetist Buddy DeFranco and a couple of other contemporaries of Dolphy flirted with the bass clarinet, but not seriously like Dolphy did: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BFinfHYnOCQ |
Great music for a rainy Fall afternoon; thanks, acman3. What a beautifully creative musician Wayne Shorter is! I may have posted this previously; not sure. My favorite of his post-Weather Report offerings: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUDRRCQj0TE&list=OLAK5uy_n2MDlw1r7tcZV_1taNfZXpofkXyD5XKb4 |
Cannonball Adderly’s "Something Else" with Miles Davis sitting in. "Gerry Mulligan meets Ben Webster" John Coltranes "A Love Supreme" (might be the greatest record of all time, all categories) Gato Barbieri’s "Third World" on Jazz Pacific is a personal favorite "Charlie Parker on Dial" Jon McLaughlin’s "Birds of Fire" Any good Duke Ellington compilation from his heyday. Any compilation with Billie Holiday singing Strange Fruit |
skyscraper mentioned a personal favorite from Gato Barbieri. Here is one I like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7aG0FUCGQU "Latin Free Jazz" with some harmonics merged in at times |
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"Skyscraper", what a moniker; I like it. You could have picked your list from out of my collection, and I mean the original records from about the time of their release; except for Bird and Lady Day, and Duke of course; I was too young. But I bought "Something Else" in 59; it was the hottest piece of wax available at that time. "Gerry Mulligan Meets Ben Webster" came out at about the same time. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMT8-9jiUW8 Gato, "Third World" is from early Gato which is my favorite period. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RD3nK8700NA "Charley Parker on Dial", exists in some form on compilations in my collection, but not that specific record. Many people don't realize that "Bird" is several different musicians rolled into one; he can sound so different from one record to another that it's like hearing another extremely talented musician. John McLaughlin; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSh0nmretso Lady Day; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Web007rzSOI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUMuDWDVd20 Too cool for words; Alice and John. Welcome to the thread. |
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Thank you mary_jo for the kind thought. Unfortunately, my responses will be intermittent for reasons that you are aware of, that need no discussion. Art Pepper's book made him more than just another jazz musician, he is a person who we feel that we know. That is the most beautiful tune I have ever heard by Art; those notes have so much romanticism, they convey the intensity of a new love affair. |
Schubert and Mary J; my favorite love song, by just about any body; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyp1yvSBq5I https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdVZq20QAYc |
Schubert it's good to talk to old friends; I'm glad to see you up and about. Acman has introduced me to the only new artists that I like, and although Mary J. heard this before, it might be new to you. Lisa Simone is new to me; while she's Nina Simone's daughter, she is her own person; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xbUx44mKpA&start_radio=1&list=RD5xbUx44mKpA&t=0 |