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.
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schubert I appreciate your kind gesture and attempting to enhance my computer listening experience. Would a USB dac plug-in device enhance the sound or is it for storage of music ?Maybe a sound card upgrade like you did would be a good idea and a set of headphones or another set of speakers? but no matter how much I upgrade the computer listening system the bulk of my listening would be on the main rig which is about 2-5 hours a day. |
pjwThanks. On that big band cut James Carter actually Cuts loose a little bit before the guitar player also had an excellent solo. And also an excellent solo from the accordion player unusual instrument not seen too much in jazz. JC's solo at the end of the cut makes the band smile with the sounds and technique gets out of the horn! I can't believe you I can't believe you listen to your main rig at 115 decibels. Do you actually measure that with an SPL meter? I am surprised your wife doesn't throw you out of the house. LOL. That is concert level sound.I commend you on your Compromise regarding listening sessions. It's something I would not have to worry about as my dedicated Listening Room has a door which can be shut and if someone is down the hall in my TV room the sound does not not bother them .I am interested in JC's upcoming concerts but my girlfriend's birthday is the 15th and we have plans for the 15th and 16th so that leaves the 17th open possibly |
Uner 60 sax players: Mark Turner http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxqjAgaxyVM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbDHjb5uEhI Tommy Smith http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5q6Ctg7coQ Javon Jackson http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0AFMreHSVU |
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pjw I did read your post correctly the first time but thought it was a misprint. now that I realize you were not referring to an S PL meter reading but the volume pot on a pre amplifier. One of my pre amplifiers has a number volume pot in decibels and the - 15 DB setting places the volume control at about 2 and 3 o'clock. Normal listening setting with this preamplifier is between 12 and 2 on the volume pot. Which is about 80 Db plus or minus using an SP L meter at my sitting position. |
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https://youtu.be/F8jiQp5oDx4 WARNING , if you listen to this fasten your seat belts first ! Off the f...ing charts and headed to Mars . You'll hear no better this day and as the soloist wrote it no other day either ! |
Schubert you cant use seat belts for the following a harness is required: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJxGmD7ePME |
Schubert if you are insinuating that Grace Kelly is equally talented with an axe as Chris Potter I must respectfully disagree. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfuW_Q7LfCY I do like Grace Kelly however, and watched your recent video's of her in full. |
I'm insinuating nothing . I am saying she is among the most alive persons in jazz and one of the best guides as to where and how it needs to proceed if jazz is to thrive and perhaps even survive . I don't really care who is the best player , music is not for music's sake .It exists to uplift humanity and make this valley of tears easier to bear . Grace is a great musician, she composes, teaches and brings sunshine wherever she goes . Very few have as much to say in her voice or from her saxophone (to my knowledge she has no axe ). She says I'm alive, you are alive, lets LIVE ! That's talent of the highest order . Phil Woods didn't pass his hat to her for nothing .
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Schubert I think that Grace Kelly is everything you stated and more. Her enthusiasm and happiness is easily apparent. I was not aware that she was a student of Phil Woods. She reminds me of the great Japanese piano player and composer Hiromi Uehara whom I have seen live in person. Same happy exuberance when playing her instrument. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXsuPkyFQuQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qj5h35t86T0 Another great Japanese musician. She does not wear her happiness on her sleeve like Hiromi or Kelly. Erena Terakubo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qncDawVs-o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogHfuh3K9s8 Erena’s mannerism on stage reminds me of, well, Chris Potter! Although on this album cover she looks great: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x740WEWMQRQ |
It is better to show the world you are happy if that is who you are . Some of us , like myself . are not easy with that . Chris Potter, like me , looks like his wife left , his kid is in the hospital and both of his dogs just died . Erena. like Chris, is a wonderful player, I love her . But there are horses for courses , in the US Grace will win the Triple Crown and those like me won't even place . In every study I have seen Jazz and Classical combined are listened to by 5% of our population . Look on here , a hundred old guys are fighting over what the best Heavy Metal band was 40 years ago .and you and me over the visage of two great players . There is a war going on against serious music and people like Grace are our heavy artillery . If she was not as authentic as she is , she'd be a lowly infantryman with a pop-gun . Phil Woods , Lee Konitz and Frank Morgan were all Mentors to Grace . And all three of them were what is expressed in a German Word . mensch, " a person of integrity and honor " Oxford College Dictionary |
https://youtu.be/uIRb-j2bHQ0 https://youtu.be/jhXN-tnWx1A https://youtu.be/QJOuZNCCS1A https://youtu.be/hU4J-iCGDrk None quite as cute, however 😊 |
Very nice Cory Weeds! Among the more established young players, one of the most original and distinctive voices on the alto today. Puerto Rican player whose sound and style don’t scream Cannonball or Phil Woods. Interesting blend of jazz and his Caribbean roots: https://youtu.be/gSpElaEwR1s https://youtu.be/FZ7ERshGaH0 https://youtu.be/6qsz274yZPY |
A historical group for jazz, THE first Afro-American group to ever get a network radio show and that in 1930! The CEO of CBS overruled all every day and usually several times . I believe there biggest hit was Paper Doll 46.26 . They sold over 50 million records during hard times in a nation of 120 million . |
frogman , there is no doubt there is no shortage of great young players. I've been particularly impressed with the kids out of North Texas for some time . But wild women stuff like Kelly did in the Berklee post I made is going to get more audience than the brilliant Cherokee Alex Hahn did . Got to start somewhere . |
frogman I have 1 Miguel Zenon disc I purchased years ago titled "The Puerto Rican Songbook" and its a good one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmKbC_1t7Cs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmKbC_1t7Cs |
Shubert I don’t think jazz will ever come close to the popularity it once had. Great performances live, as you have pointed out, will help but the younger generation has to be at these shows to begin with. As far as jazz being main stream to the masses, which will never happen, here is a man that since I started posting here I have never seen mentioned and he pulled it off with this song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IyXo9jL7Vc From Wiki: Leaving military service, he worked in New York City before returning to Chicago where he signed a contract with Vee Jay Records. His first album for Vee Jay, Exodus to Jazz, included his own jazz arrangement of Ernest Gold’s theme from the movie Exodus. A shortened version of this track, which featured his masterful playing in the upper register of the tenor saxophone, was heavily played on radio and became the first jazz record ever to be certified gold. The single climbed into the US Billboard Hot 100 and reached No. 16 in the U.S. R&B chart. Some jazz critics, however, regarded commercial success as a sign that a jazz artist had sold out and Harris soon stopped playing "Exodus" in concert.[3] He moved to Columbia Records in 1964 and then to Atlantic Records the following year where he re-established himself. In 1965, Atlantic released The In Sound, a bop album that won back many of his detractors. I have the Exodus to Jazz disc and quite a few other Eddie Harris recordings including this gem at Montreux with Less McCann on piano: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UrjQSVbIkk&list=PLm7ogPYlDbGyVNmwz2txcpKuDKk4opeVH |
Strange frogman , I heard Eddie Harris Saturday on our jazz station , which according to Nielsein (?) has the biggest audience slice in the USA . Was going to find some Harris to post . "Compared to What " is absolutely fabulous ! Like a steam engine coming down the MAIN track at 110 mph . I have some de-facto family Chinese students at U of MN in my condo complex .They and American kids can get out thousands of people on "smart" phones in a hour . I had them watch Grace at Berklee on my 55" off their I-phone and without telling them to they were at it right after .she finished .I hear she got a big audience at the Twin Cities Jazz Fest last Friday . I think Jazz could get up to 10% in US , the last Classical concert will be in Tokyo . I grieve for the swing era not for the music but for the difference 70% of the nation being on that same musical page made in all aspects of life .
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https://youtu.be/dgCoYz-5PqQ?list=RDdgCoYz-5PqQ Count Basie knocks out another jewel with the vocal group that put the R in rhythm . |
Eddie Harris was a genius. Lots posted here early on; and, in fact, I would venture to say that “Compared To What” has been posted here more times than any other single tune. Don’t have the time to dig it up right now, but there is video on YouTube of that very live performance; definitely worth checking out. For me, Benny Bailey’s trumpet solo has always been at the top of my list of most exciting Jazz solos ever. |
Btw, thanks for mentioning Eddie Harris, pjw. He and players like Hank Crawford gave birth to a groove-based style of saxophone playing that all the Smooth Jazz pin heads (known to some jazz players as “mosquitos” because many sound like the buzz/whining of mosquitos) would emulate. It was all about the groove without having to scream: https://youtu.be/CsHtO_i4qzM https://youtu.be/kf7FB4ilX5w |
https://youtu.be/kCDMQqDUtv4 Apology to all Smooth Jazz saxophone players for the “pin head” comment. Just me; can’t stand that style of playing. |
frogman no apology necessary on smooth jazz as far as I am concerned.. I cant stand it either. And thanks for locating the live "Compared to What" I have "Compared to What" on my Less McCann Eddie Harris live at Montreux (Swiss Movement) disc. Every song on that album is awesome. I would also like to point out another "crossover" favorite of mine - Eddie "Cleanhead Vinson. Jazz - R & B - Blues, Boogie and Bebop. And Cleanhead can play the sax pretty darn good and sing as well. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acrN-CRL-SE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBkwd3hFgrc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFnQHVxcjuY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFWmaPpNihQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdmmbBKjn5E There is another tune called "Traveling" on the "Blues Boogie and Bebop - Meats to High" album I have that is a 7 minute instrumental which really shows off Eddies prowess on the sax but I cannot locate it on You Tube. Cleanhead with the Cannonball Adderley Quintet from 1962: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHgeiAQwWDA |
Here is another under 60 sax man - Steve Coleman. I had posted some links from him many months back but received no replies. I figured maybe because his playing is either Avant Guard or a hardbop/ Avant Guard mix similar to Jackie Mclean's "Destination Out!" Jackie Mac: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQL9_8aRqls https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MohtYWzEkOg Steve Coleman: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFPjZXWkq6g https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceIVYwaNIyY Any Steve Coleman fans out there? |
Today I went on my monthly pilgrimage to Barnes & Noble to pick up the recent issue of my Bible , "Gramophone" . As of late I have also been buying "Jazz Times " . The June issue is "A Special Saxophone Issue" . Cover picture is "Chris Potter , The Quiet Virtuoso" , another blurb on cover is "Seamus Blake, The View From Paris " . Thought at least 2 guys on here might be interested . |