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.
A reach out from the bottom of my heart to the "City of Lights" for the horrific event of yesterday . https://youtu.be/9Od4TJYxjgk
The first few seconds are shot from the roof of Notre Dame, gargoyle and all . And numerous times after at all angles . No one loves jazz more than the French . Dieu benisse la France .
Schubert Doris Day had a beautiful voice for sure. Here in one of my favorite fem jazz vocalists. Her parents immigrated here from Croatia which is alex and mary jo's neck of the woods.
Miss Merrill and Clifford Brown had me in a trance in that last song so I had to snap out of it with these two masterpieces. Both feature legendary drummers. A young Billy Cobham with the Horace Silver Quintet and Shelly Manne leading his band:
I read somewhere that Gale was mainly a hired hand as a session guitarist. His sessions as a leader unfortunately lean toward the "smooth jazz" genre which I do not like. Of course those sessions were produced by CTI - Creed Taylor who even made a Wes Montgomery session sound like "elevator music"
All nice postings and one imho extraordinary from pjw, thank you, you made my day with that. Jelena Ana Milcetic (Helen Merrill)’s parents are indeed from Croatia. But she was born in NYC.
I have been reading about her and can’t help noticing that she was underrated singer since I stumble on some names all the time but not that often on hers. It’s a quite pity if you ask me, mildly would be to say that I like her singing, her soothing, breathy and husky vocal.
She was quite popular in Japan and was called there “the Sigh of New York.” She traveled and performed abroad a lot; Germany, Brazil, Italy, Japan, what probably made her less popular in USA...
She was at first into folk music but she said later that jazz called out to her: “Because it sounded honest to me, and it seemed like a place I could enter with my strange conception of music.”
p.s. I must say that I was recently offered to sing on a jazz composition (!) by one, Segovia would say, REAL composer. Can you believe that? Of course, I can't accept it since I have no idea how to do it, it takes years of practice, but it feels good just to get the offer like that.
mary jo why not give it a try? Astrud Gilberto never sang professionally until the group Stan Getz had assembled in Brazil had to wait a couple days for the professional singer to show up and he asked band member Joao Gilberto to have his wife sing so they could practice while waiting for the professional singer. Stan liked her voice and she went on to sing one of the greatest jazz songs ever in popularity and in sales:
pjw, maybe people liked her precisely because she wasn’t a trained singer. She seemed shy and introvert, with the quite simple and honest tone in voice, what hit the center. I never underestimate such effect. Not to forget the great musicians by her side. Wonderful story.
schubert, regarding the massive blaze at Notre Dame Cathedral, besides Voltaire who would probably yelled "Écrasez l’infâme", majority was shocked by the scene of devastation. 850 - year - old Cathedral.
Talking about the history, did you know that the structure of the cathedral in Alex’s town - the Cathedral of Saint Domnius, built AD 295 – 305 (!) as the Mausoleum of Roman emperor Diocletian is the second oldest structure used by any Christian Cathedral in the world? Mausoleum became a Cathedral in the 7th century. And the Cathedral is still in use!
If I could, I would change the cathedral for a good jazz club....in fact, I am quite sure that we have too much cathedrals and not enough jazz clubs...
You see, Schubert, thats exactly what I am talking about....you would not need to read about those guys (its an ugly stuff) if there were more (any, in fact) jazz clubs...
p.s. "No mary jo. I did not not. I’ve never been to Croatia and only time It came up in my History studies was about the Ustashe. Interesting though."
Man, can’t believe it. Since this what schubert is saying sounds quite defeating to any normal Croatian citizen, I just have to write something on that subject although this will not change anything and this thread is certainly not a place for politics. It is not that I am too surprised with the way the World sees us, it is just that I was hoping for at least wider side of the picture.
I will be as short as possible.
Facts:
Croatia is former republic of former SOCIALIST federation Yugoslavia.
Yugoslavia consisted of 6 Republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina, CROATIA, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia.
When the World War II started, military operations in Yugoslavia began with the RESISTANT movement which is considered to be Europe’s most effective anti-Axis resistance movement during World War II (!)
The movement was consistently referred to as the "PARTISANS" throughout the war.
In Partisans were people from Bosnia and Herzegovina, CROATIA, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia.
"By the middle of 1943 partisan resistance to the Germans and their allies had grown from the dimensions of a mere nuisance to those of a major factor in the general situation. In many parts of occupied Europe the enemy was suffering losses at the hands of partisans that he could ill afford. Nowhere were these losses heavier than in Yugoslavia."
—Basil Davidson (British historian)
At the SAME time, during WW II, on the territory of Yugoslavia were also (in MINORITY but did existed) Serbian Chetniks and Croatian fasicsts Ustashe who both were domestic traitors cooperating with the Nazi Germany.
So as you can see, there were Partisans, Chetniks and Ustashe. The first were fighting against the fascists, the second and the third were cooperating with them. My ancestors belonged to the first ones.
Unfortunately, today must admit that our country is ashamed of her role in the history of anti-fascism and prefer to identify itself more with fascism. Why is that so, that is a complex story to be told somewhere else, not on this thread.
I apologize for bothering you with this subject but after schubert’s line I just had to.
Thanks mary jo . Actually I did know all that stuff but at my advanced age need to conserve the little energy I have .Almost every country has a lot of blood on its hands , many with more than Croatia .
The actual definition of Fascism is simply a form of government where you can’t tell where the corporations end and the government begins .Mussolini, its father, said it was better called Corporatism but as the word itself derived from the signs of power in Ancient Rome, it had more mass appeal . .
pjw thanks for the posts on Helen Merrill. Did not know her ethnic background.I have been a fan of hers for quite a while . I think she has a very expressive voice. Was surprised others know of her as she was not as popular/did not have exposure of other singers back then. Especially like the Stan Getz tune with her can never get enough of his playing!!
pjw Nice old broadcast with S Manne & his group. The 1st song after the group is introduced "The King Swings" is from a soundtrack for an old tv show " Checkmate" . Don't know if you have the album it's on contemporary records I suggest you check it out.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qq57pw67ttw schubert This ones for you! Not only is Tony's vocal great but this is an old song I play on piano occasionally. I had to laugh at the poster's comment that this was a union of the two greatest jazz singers alive. At least he was accurate regarding Tony.
If I did that post it was to show how bad not how good . I hope who ever is Pres when Tony passes ensures all flags go half -mast . Crow has a good voice , listening to it dawned on me that she was singing the song , but Tony was living it ! An Artist’s Artist ! On the Duo’s I have the only other artist that was on Tony’s level was Aretha. And over 90 , a miracle .
Her with the GREAT Claude Thornhill band ! The"high road " is a soldiers soul returning to Scotland . Both my grandmothers were from Glasgow . Was sacred in our house as my maternal grandmothers father took that road as a piper in the Black Watch in 1915 . https://youtu.be/8_cCkKz4dsc
Claude Thornhill was writing and playing music in the 30's and 40's that would be hip today .This song , "Snowflakes " was written and arranged in 1940 by him and him alone . He had things like a 6 clarinet choir, Danny Polo was lead and fabulous .
Great clips. Thanks! That “Night And Day” is simply amazing. And I can understand the appreciation of Sullivan given what I know about your appreciation of Bennett. The common thread, as I hear it, is the sense of a kind of humility in the singing....the music is always greater than the performer’s ego. The playing of the musicians accompanying is fantastic.
Those were the Thornhill gang . The music is their ego .
Danny Polo getting after it , he could swing your house down or play your baby a lullaby !https://youtu.be/XM1xmxeEBvI?list=RDXM1xmxeEBvI Danny comes in late , as usual with his band but ................
Here are a couple of offbeat but in my opinion great jazz discs, made of of unusual duo's.
* The first, which from a search of threads appears not to have appeared here yet is a SACD/CD called "Superbass 2". It is a sequel to any earlier 2006 release entitled "Superbass". It is a trio consisting of three bassists - Ray Brown, Christian McBride, and John Clayton. On two tracks they are aided by a bit, but just a bit, of percussion. The album covers standards and some really neat originals, which cover the gamut from ballads to swinging tour-de'forces. Sound boring? It's not .... try it. Telarc SACD 63483.
* The second is an album featuring saxophonist Houston Person and bassist Ron Carter. They have played together off and on for years, and cover everything from standards to a couple of originals. As much as Superbass swings, these two are modern cool .... but extremely musical. Houston is a superb solist and Ron Carter an accomplished bassist, and they clearly are on the same musical wavelinks. HighNote HCD 7315,
If you want a break from the usual, give these two a whirl!
mary jo aside from jazz I read military history books. The partisans and "bandits" as they were also called drew many reprisals for their activities in the Balkans and around the city of Trieste. The infamous Odilo Globočnik took charge of the Balkans area in 1943 and he and his men were ruthless.
nsp. love that En Passant . Manne was one of first jazz records I ever bought .Unbeknown to me , I liked "locked" groups .My motto is if its good just keep on keeping straight ahead . Thanks for that beautiful soprano 81563 . one hears it so seldom . Every time I hear Hank Jones I remember how dumb I am not having any of his stuff . I’m lucky Jazz station in Mpls . plays him a bit . Harrylavo , I tried to listen to SuperBass but my Sennheisers blew up half -way through !
Schubert I have a really cool disc with Hank Jones called Salt and Pepper. Its a Sonny Stitt led session but you can hear how good Hank is as an accompanist. Also the first few tracks feature Paul Gonsalves on Tenor and Sonny on Alto. Hank sounds great when he gets a solo.
Ain’t this a B....word , had to go to a Danish festival to see a German Trumpeter do a real-deal version of one my very favorites of the Great AMERICAN Song Book .US players from the greatest to the least tend to butcher it . https://youtu.be/akp2CrjfRUI Bet Satch was smiling that day .
Happy Holiday all!!! pjwEnjoyed the Eric Gale tunes you posted. My friend always bragged about him but I never liked his "S Don't know if you have the 2 discs S Manne cut with B Evans on Verve records but those dates both players are in excellent form and meshed well.
schubertLiked the Joey Alexander cut you posted. I am a sucker for Bass Clarinet in a jazz setting. Potter doesn't play Bass Clarinet much on his recordings would like to hear more from him.Found this bass clarinet video I like not sure how to classify it probably "world music"
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