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.
I have Black Byrd to and I like In Flight but I listen to Ethiopian Nights far more often then Black Byrd. Just cant get enough of "The Emperor" and "The Little Rasti"....a combined 32 minutes of jazz/funk bliss. Some of my other favorites in a similar style of jazz/funk is Jimmy Smiths "Root Down" and Dr. Lonnie Smith's "Think!", and "Live at Club Mozambique" so you know where I'm coming from!
You folks are like the poker players on the Titanic.
Don't you realize that a rapper named Kendrick Lamar was awarded the 2018 Pulitzer Prize in Music for his album 'DAMN'? Talk about misguided pointy headed do-gooders.
This award has always been awarded to real music artist, in Jazz and Classical genres.
@orpheus10 No argument with your appreciation of Herbie Hancock in fusion...but don’t you think Chick Corea ranks right up there as a "fusion" peer? Maybe you don’t - and if that’s the case I’d be interested in the reason "why" if you are so inclined. Not trying to generate yet another tedious controversy here...just like knowing what other people "hear" or don’t hear!
Anyway, never listened to Sextant but I found it on Tidal and will check it out later. Headhunters I sort of know. Maybe I need to revisit it. Certainly wasn’t smitten during previous encounters.
And that ain’t intended as a shot at or put down of the band or anyone here who happens to like them or their music.
Herbie Hancock’s “Headhunters” band was one of the greatest bands ever assembled. Thanks, acman3. I posted that a couple of years ago and as I remember Rok’s comment was about Herbie’s shoes 😊. Absolutely killer ensemble. If one puts his genre-neutral hat on this band becomes every bit as great as any of the great jazz ensembles. Amazingly solid grooves and musical interplay. I’ve posted this before. For me, this record is a masterpiece. The synth sounds can sound a little dated; but, for my tastes, the creativity, ensemble playing and soloing is about as good as it gets. And if this is not jazz “reflecting society” at that time........If anything, check out the interplay between Herbie and drummer Harvie Mason in “Sly” (22:14) during the piano solo at 27:40:
I have not checked in for a while. Nancy Wilson is great no doubt about it and I forgot to mention her on my post up thread. Stanley Turrentine is another great sax player and another great but relatively unknown sax player is Jimmy Forrest.
Nobody mentioned the late great Donald Byrd on trumpet. For shame!..Donald was great on hard bop and flowed right into the jazz/funk scene of the late 60's -early 70's. I listen to Ethiopian Nights in full at least once a month!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtKcvoeO2vA&t=30s
o10, maybe I'm mixing sexual too much with romantic ("the most romantic"), but what about Julie London? Before anyone jumps on that, I admit Julie may not have had the jazz chops of many female vocalists, but she certainly could convey a mood or emotion. Almost every time I heard her she blew in my ear. ;^)
frogman Nancy Wilson-lovely voice. Great with torch songs.Did someone post her cover of "Ode to Billie Jo"? Ihave to wonder if she picked that song to record or was pressured by record c ompany to include "current" pop hit on album to sell records. You saw this a lot in jazz back then with artists doing beatle covers, etc. It worked sometimes example: Buddy Rich's BB . I also did not like sarah's "Something" and I listened to h er version of "And I Loved Her" and did not like it either. Wilson's album "Lush Life" seems like a keeper.
Frogman, my collection is full of Grover; even the pictures of him on the cover of his LP’s are highly significant; his dress was the casual epitome of style for whatever time they appear, and similar articles of clothing could be found in my own wardrobe.
"Desmond Blue" is one of the most beautiful tunes ever recorded, and that includes the cover; that girl very closely resembles my high school honey, including the scarf.
Paul Desmond – alto saxophone Albert Richman – French horn (tracks 1-4, 8 & 9) Phil Bodner (tracks 5-7), Robert Doty (track 1), George Marge (track 1), Romeo Penque (tracks 2-9), Stan Webb (tracks 2-4, 8 & 9) – woodwinds Gloria Agostini (tracks 2-9), Eugene Bianco (track 1) – harp Jim Hall – guitar Gene Cherico (track 1), Milt Hinton (tracks 2-9) – bass Connie Kay (track 1), Bobby Thomas (tracks 2-9) – drums Unidentified string section conducted by Bob Prince
Grover was an underrated saxophone player, imo. Often lumped in with the “smooth jazz” saxophone crowd who typically don’t get much respect as “serious” players, he was actually a really good player who could play very sensitively and delicately when he needed to; unlike a lot of the obnoxious (to me) sounding smooth jazz saxophone guys. This is a beautiful and interesting record. His take on some of the most beautiful operatic songs or arias ever written. Very sweet soprano saxophone sound:
The original “Sugar” IS smoking. One of my favorites in the CTI catalog. I haven’t always been a fan of CTI’s sometimes overproduced studio sound, but that one is a classic. Here’s one by some young guys with a couple of the “old heads” onboard. Bobby Malach has one of the nicest modern tenor sounds of all the young (ish) post-Coltrane tenor guys, but for me it’s trumpeter Brian Lynch that really tears it up on this one:
bluesy, I liked the Philadelphia Project clip, especially “Just The Two Of Us”; McBride sounds great. Had a little trouble finding the magic in “Mr. Magic”. Nice, but for me “Mr. Magic” is so much about the rhythmic groove of the original that the tune kinda gets lost when playing with in such loose way; I kept thinking it was a very long introduction to the tune that never came. Boy does this bring back memories for this old head:
Live version of Sugar, which is on the remastered recording. Actually may be better than the smoking original. Adds Airto, Billy Cobham, Hubert Laws, and Johnny Hammond.
Well, I probably would not buy a recording of Zimmy singing “Something”, but I actually liked the way he sang the song. It’s a rock ballad and that is a lot closer to home for Dylan than for Vaughn. Just as John Lennon would probably not be able to pull off “Lush Life”, Sarah is out of her stylistic comfort zone. The song works best with a certain feel that is decidedly not “jazzy”. It almost makes one cringe to hear Sarah swing some of the phrases. Sometimes we think that someone as great as Sarah would be able to sing anything. It’s not so. Listeners can always benefit by being more genre neutral, imo. Same thing for singers/players. Not all can hide their musical “accent”. Like an American actor speaking with a British accent, but it’s obvious that it is not his native accent. Some artists cultivate and use that kind of flexibility in their style while others don’t or can’t.
acman, you had me with the Zimmy reference. Never heard him called that before. After going back, I think I heard what you suggested. But it was in a couple of her word pronunciations, not in the tone of her voice.
But I have to say, while I liked the original version of "Something", I didn't care for either of those covers.
frog and I discussed songs written by non-jazz artists becoming standards. Of course many songs have been covered by jazz musicians but not always with much success. Great as Sarah was, her attempt fell into that last group for me. So it's not the talent, but either something about the song itself, or likely the arrangement. I'm sure frog could expound on that. ;^)
I would say that Nancy Wilson was less popular than singers like Sarah Vaughn among the jazz crowd. I don’t know, but I’m not too sure total record sales would support that idea across all the genres that she covered. Nancy Wilson recorded more solo records than Vaughn and during the ‘60s alone had nine top 100 hits including a couple of top 20 in the pop/r&b charts. Extremely flexible singer who was clearly a jazz singer in the true sense of the world, but could also sound great singing a torch song or a pop/r&b ballad. Singers like Ella and Sarah who were arguably standard setters as jazz singers simply didn’t sound as “in their element” outside their comfort zone. Ella singing the Beatles songbook is mostly great because she’s Ella, but a little strange to my ears. One more:
This is the only Nancy Wilson album I'm familiar with, not bad to include Cannonball. In spite of her talents it didn't seem to me she had the popularity she deserved.
Now for favorites, this rates high on my list. Some will consider it a transition to jazz from pops/blues, but again, does that matter? It's one of my most played female vocal albums.
acman3, the Orrin Evans trio clip is amazing. What a player he is! Reminds me of the type of clarity that Herbie Hancock has in his playing. Incredible sense of direction in his soloing. Loved it, and thanks for that.
I think Rok would like this too. One more from the same album as before. These arrangements kill me. Simply masterful and masterfully played. Inventiveness, great feel, gorgeous and soulful singing. That’s when whatever the genre is becomes irrelevant. Check out the very ending of the song and what the orchestrator had the players do.
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