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.
Can't see why anyone would be offended alex . Taste changes with age and experience in any event .
I wore out several Jacquet albums to include that one . Walks that thin linebetween blues and jazz better than anyone I've heard . I keep our Jazz station on all the time in my car . Just last week the DJ played some Lou Rawls and I was surprised how good a voice he had .DJ said doesn't get much play because he is thought of as a r&b/ blues artist though he did some good jazz stuff .
If so then only until the good boy comes along. Then they dump the first one, if they are smart enough. Loving a bad one is a myth. That’s not love. They just wait for the good one to come. In the waiting time, a lot’s of things one can learn about one’s nature. And nobody said that learning is easy one to do.
As for the singers. Or any performer. Or any artist. I want blood. Allegorically speaking. The blood of an artist or the blood of the "character" that is made up by an artist. The insight in the most intimate part of the life, for which you decide to show me. Who you are, what you are and what you can be. Tell me. Or sell me a story but sell me good.
I will leave you now. A smile for the start, laughter for the middle of the story, joy for the end: Victor Borge, comedian, conductor, pianist - not necessarily in this order. Dane the Great. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=osDpTapvbWE
Alex, I’m so offended! Kidding, of course 😊. As they say, that is is why we have chocolate and vanilla ice cream. It’s so interesting how certain art touches one person, but not another. Your description of Bennett’s singing as “light” is precisely how I would characterize Dean Martin. A couple more favorite Bennett:
Well that’s what women say , mary jo . A story is a gift not a sell.
Only thing I look for in everything, to include music, is love .
And the thing I am most grateful for is God has allowed me to know it when I see it .
frog , "Lost in the Stars " is, literally , beyond words . "All the "Things you Are "is the essence of Bennett, Its not his voice , when he opens his mouth love pours out of it in a wave that washes over those who will hear it .
Don’t be , you are what you are and like what you like .And that’s OK . Only point I try to make is music is a gift of love from the source of love .
The Jesse Davis post I made is about love .Pure love .This well respected 2 lip Alto man played next to a Spanish high school tenor and she was as good as he was . Big Jesse was OVERJOYED to the point of calling out to the audience "She did it , she did it" with a smile that light up the world .
Thanks for the Dean Martin clips, Alex. No question the guy could sing; just not my flavor of ice cream. I’m sure it’s no surprise to you by now that I don’t shy away from talking about these things and I certainly would not mind in the least hearing more of your thoughts. I find this kind of discussion interesting and for me it’s never cause to take offense when someone doesn’t share my tastes.
Dean Martin was a “crooner”. That’s not a negative but a particular style that is more rooted in a Hollywood and Las Vegas sensibility; the “Rat Pack” thing. Now it’s my turn to ask that no one be offended, but in spite of the wonderful velvety quality in his voice, the way he slurs over some of the lyrics drives me a little nuts. I can’t help but feel that he has had one too many. For me, Bennett has, along with the joyful quality just bit of grit in his voice. Anyway, as I said, vanilla/chocolate.
Speaking of “Rat Pack”, Las Vegas and bongos, this Rat Packer so fully embraced the entire Hollywood/Vegas thing that if I’m in the right mood I can actually enjoy his performances....some of them, anyway...for a minute 😊
Well, ok, will share few thoughts (listening to Bennett in background )
First, let me just point out that English is not my native language, so I could have somewhat different perspective in general toward vocalists.
Also, their (singers) cultural heritage might be viewed diferent, from our very different points of perception (
geographically
and culturally)
But, bottom line is that I find (or better, feel) Bennet's singing, in lack of better words, rather 'flat' and
inexpressive, uninspiring, quite limited in range and colorless.For some reason, all songs, when sung by him seemed to be the same. I am quite perplexed why do people like his singing, as singing in general is very primitive (not meaning vulgar, but primordial) and people usually react the same when they hear something nice (birds singing for example). But, maybe its my 'fault'... I really dont want to sound harsh,again, hope nobody will be offened, as I have nothing against him, his work or personality, it just that his singing does not touch me at all...
Alex, fantastic!!! Your post is a perfect example of the reason that these discussions can be so interesting. You are a very thoughtful music listener and I always appreciate your perspective. You wrote:
**** First, let me just point out that English is not my native language, so I could have somewhat different perspective in general toward vocalists.
Also, their (singers) cultural heritage might be viewed diferent, from our very different points of perception ( geographically and culturally) ****
This is why I say fantastic. I think I can remember almost word for word a comment that I wrote and was going to include in my last post, but deleted it because I thought if might be misconstrued or misinterpreted:
***** Having said all that, I would add that as wonderful a notion as is “Music is the universal language”, I think it is true only up to a point. I think that a listener’s ethnic and cultural background plays into all this and influences the reaction to certain aspects of a performer’s musical personality. ****
Engish is not my native language either, but my native language and cultural background are closer to that of Bennett. I find all this fascinating. Thanks for your further thoughts.
schubertI love your comments about Tony B .Yes a transcendent human being a gift to all of us who appreciate him. My favorite pianist and singer together. Tony's voice is so delicate and Beautiful on this tune: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bDFDYhXqPM
FrogmanLove your comments about Tony Bennett ie " the joy of singing "and" he has the smile in his sound ".Thanks for the additional Bennett posts BTW I have compared Tony'sversion of " lost in the Stars" to Frank Sinatra's And Tony's comes out on top but I don't want to drag out this comparison I enjoy both of them on different songs.I wanted to post this song by Frank. He really feels it and makes me feel it also: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jHr5JbTeRY Listen to his voice crack at 1:25 and again his feeling at 2:15
Thanks nsp .When your for real love and truth rushes in .
The more I hear Evans the more I hear a classical pianist playing jazz . Not a bad thing . A lot of his advanced technique sounds like Bartok to my hears .
SchubertThat's an astute point you make about Evans sounding like a classical player. I cannot speak directly to this because I am not familiar with bartok's music. But I can tell you I have read in several places and maybe an Evans interview that he practiced playing classical music as an exercise at home. So it stands to reason that when he played professionally this classical influence would come out in his playing. I can't speak to the similarities between jazz and classical music maybe someone like frogman would be better for input on this matter but I do believe you are onto something regarding Bills playing.
Bill Evans was a classically trained pianist. His training was strictly classical as a young pianist and he graduated from a conservatory with a degree in piano performance. His admitted biggest classical music influence was the music of Gabriel Faure who was one of the earliest Impressionist composers. It is often stated that the influence of Ravel and Debussy, two other Impressionist compsosers, can be heard in his playing. Schubert’s comment about a possible Bartok influence is interesting and I agree. Bill Evan’s use of dissonance is closer to Bartok’s “edginess”.
Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers Complete Concert At Club Saint Germain
I bought the above 2 disc set in 2013. The version of A Night In Tunisia is 17:35 and is basically one long drum solo interspersed with brass and piano/bass bridges.
However my 2 disc set says 1959 while the above set is from December 1958. My set does have the bongo's in the stretched out percussion jam. The player is listed as unknown on the wiki page. So I'm thinking its the same recording. But the drumming sounds like Art Blakey not Kenny Clarke unless he is trying to imitate Blakey. Here is the set I have;
The wiki page says the entire concert is on a Sony 2015 box set titled The Complete Columbia and RCA Albums Collection. I just ordered this set as it has 8 discs for 20 dollars and I am an Art Blakey completist:
I can't wait to get it and compare the versions of A Night In Tunisia. I probably have a lot of the material on the 8 discs but for 20 bucks its worth it. There are 4 versions of ANIT on the set. I know it sounds crazy but I'm not buying that wiki jive that its Kenny Clarke playing drums on that 17;35 ANIT that I have.
frogman, nsp, mary jo, and Schubert thanks for the Bill Evans links and the classical links for comparison. I kept going back and forth and I learned a thing or 2
I only have 1 Bill Evans purchase but its a box set with 12 albums on it:
I’ll have to send you a Rolex for Christmas for that post frogman .Never heard Arrau do that , How he towers over everyone , the improvising on himself is unreal . IMO Arrau had the best possible personality for music, Latin passion tempered by German perfectionism . .
Faure is one of the least played truly greats , taught Revel and Nadia Boulanger all they knew. His influence on harmony is still paramount .
I've been on this Nathan Davis kick lately- aside from that recent issue of previously unreleased material from Paris on Sam Records that Mike Fremer reviewed, some of the albums he recorded once he returned to the US, and took a position as the head of jazz studies at Pitt, are pretty marvelous. "6th Sense in the 11th House" is beautiful and "Makatuka" which was the first album he recorded when he returned to the US (and features a vocal track) really show how adept Davis was at pretty much every style. There was a guy on e-Bay who had a stash of these old records, still sealed, that he grabbed when the studio went bankrupt. There is a recent issue of Makatuka, but I'm not sure of its provenance. It may be a 'Scorpio'- Glass Bead Games has been reissued by Pure Pleasure- who is always a little cagey about sources they use, but they tend to sound good. The original Strata-East pressings are now crazy money. I haven't received my copy of this latest release but am looking forward to it. A friend has an original and we may do a shoot-out. I can almost predict the outcome-- the original sounds better at X the price. Such is life. I was pleasantly surprised by the Speakers Corner re-do of Herbie Hancock's Crossings, a kind of funk/spiritual jazz thing that sounded great on Warner green label. The Speakers Corner, which is relatively cheap compared to a time vault original (I had to go thru 3 copies to find a clean player) is punchier, and has more sparkle. Maybe a little less 'organic' sounding, but Kevin Gray's work on this really brings out the sound of the Rhodes.
pjw, just listened to NIT. I think that the answer to the mystery re Kenny Clarke is simple. Wiki says Clarke and you correctly say it sounds like Blakey. You’re both correct. Blakey and Clarke are both playing on NIT; plus a percussionist (actually congas).
whart, thanks for the nice post. Big Herbie fan here. I’ll check it out.
When I think of the music being universal, G.B.Shaw's quote fits entirely in what I have in mind under this theme: "Music may be a universal language, but it is spoken with all sorts of peculiar accents."
I have no words to describe my affection for Préludes, livre de Claude Debussy by Claudio Arrau. The words simply left me. If you, by any chance have seen them, return them back to me.
Some useful link on Bill Evans. I think I have already posted this but suppose re-posting will do no one any harm. http://www.billevans.nl/Classical.htm
mary jo . IMO that is the best post ever on A’gon , by anyone about anything !.You made my MONTH as I read Evans himself state he was influenced by Bartok . And Faure’s place in modern melody . I’ve been trying to pay attention for 50 years and just knowing I can hear now and then, what’s what , is very gratifying to an old man . Thank you .
OK, so riddle me this. I just saw the Green Book and liked it. (I'm not much for Hollywood 'big' movies but thought it was good). I was aware of Don Shirley as a name before and when the movie was first released, researched his recordings, most all of which seemed to be sappy covers of pop tunes rather than classical influenced jazz- the only one that seems to fit that bill, maybe, is Orpheus in the Underwood, which looks like it never got reissued. So, it seems like the movie story line that Shirley had to cater to popular taste rather than do his own thing seems accurate. I'm not posting this as social commentary, but more as a question of catalog. Are there any recordings of Don Shirley that are more in the classical music style of playing improvisational jazz (or original compositions?) I gather he did perform some straight classical pieces at one point, but am less interested in that than classical music influenced jazz, if you get my drift. Thanks, all.
No, I watched it only once...I have no albums of Shirley, remeber that Frogman mentioned him before the movie talk started, For me the thing that got me thinking was segregation...not the first time that I saw it, of course,in film or in literature, but it is a really ugly sight... Pity that Rok (if you are reading this, hope you are well) is not participating, guess we could read some interesting explanations...
thanks, I do want to avoid the socio-cultural issues raised by the film. So, I guess the better question, more broadly, is classical piano influenced jazz- I found some Jacques Loussier Bach. Others? I guess we all have in our mind's eye (or ear) what works and what seems contrived.
Well, he will show himself eventually, I mean Rok. When or if Orpheus returns. I am sure that they know that they are needed here. It stands the same for Pryso and everybody else who contributed this thread, of course.
I have the recently released Woody Shaw Live In Bremen 1983 and I have to say it is an incredible display of a master of the trumpet. Its 2 discs and the first two songs on disc 1 showcases a master trumpet player on what must have been an "on night" for Woody. I’m so happy this was found in the vaults!
And the rest of the band is also "on point"
Mulgrew Miller on piano, Stafford James on bass, and Tony Reedus on drums
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