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.
orpheus10
I have a story. 

 A few weeks ago I noticed that all the Jazz cataloged on my computer storage device, from E thru H had disappeared.  Finally finished inputting it all again.  Including this gem.  Perfect for a rainy afternoon.

Getz said, "How refreshing it is to play with these pros."   Sums it up for me.

I want to be happy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXFf__8U0g8  

pennies from heaven
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_lIEU7mz8s  

ballad medley
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Y8_73CLLxg   

bronx blues
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C380vXYedbo   

Cheers



Frogman, I have more stories to tell, but I will only tell them with your permission. My next story centers around this song;


        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CP6mX_HtgGI
Sometimes it's sweet to put oneself in the hands of a good FM deejay (for me, usually when driving).  I'm lucky to be within range of WPFW in DC.  A few recent gems:

Oliver Nelson Septet, "Stolen Moments"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbaGDDbpcQ4

Bobby Watson & Jack Walrath, "Cristo Redentor"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPIs7ZHLHFY

Miles Davis, "Circle"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRiwDuzadl0

Mary Jo, your Duke piece has been viewed almost 12M times in 13 years.  Reassuring, ain't it?
So cool.  I posted Oliver Nelson's "Stolen Moments" before I went back and played all your great links this evening.  Imagine my surprise to find it was the prominent title today.  How does this stuff happen?

Mary Jo, that Lovano is gorgeous, thank you.
rok, all of those Getz tunes are great, but "Bronx Blues" really does it for me.  So sweet.
Likewise, not much posts about Eddie Harris

’Mean greens’ from 1966.

I like the trumpet player here, Ray Codrington, does anybody cares to mention some good albums where he plays?

https://youtu.be/yibgqq9N1Ds

https://youtu.be/kZ1QyYVNe6E
Good player, Codrington. My first exposure to his playing was on this other Eddie Harris record which I posted a while back. Probably his best known record, it features Codrington and Harris’ best known composition “Freedom Jazz Dance” which has become a modern Jazz standard.

https://youtu.be/iDrH5urtCbQ

Alex, Codrington’s best known associations were with Harris with whom he recorded several records and with the great pianist Larry Willis. Not on YouTube (sorry), but I recommend Willis’s record “Sanctuary” featuring Codrington.

Speaking of Harris and trumpet, Harris pioneered the rather bizarre hybrid instrument the reed trumpet. A trumpet with a saxophone mouthpiece:

https://youtu.be/NMmjh4qkEZY
Acman, thanks, just listening. That and theirs other album is on sale here

https://www.freshsoundrecords.com/the-jfk-quintet-albums/5773-new-jazz-frontiers-from-washington-you...

Frogman, thank you too, I am aware od that Harris album, infact it can be bought as double edition with an album I posted.
Will search for that Willis album as well.


Eddie Harris:

Never considered him a ’serious’ Jazz player. Don’t ask me why.  Loved him on Swiss Movement. Maybe he had too many "Hits."

Cheers
**** Never considered him a ’serious’ Jazz player. ****

Probably because much of his work is on the “funky” side. He is a serious Jazz player with a very unique tenor sound. Maybe these will change your mind:

https://youtu.be/E3B4locAgDg

https://youtu.be/xU8uitaeFQw

https://youtu.be/pjwrk8mn58A
https://youtu.be/tg3JeqxDprc?t=3
This Korean kid IMO has such swing and harmonic grove he has unlimited
improv future in Jazz with his Evan hears with classical training .Those Rhodes are something .
For a kid to get to the Jazz essence of this without smaltz is a feat IMO.

https://youtu.be/Ul6tPaQPPhk?t=2


Ahhhh          https://youtu.be/KFl2DiviMzE?t=2
Very nice “Just The Two Of Us” by that kid, Schubert. Plays with a very nice time feel, clean technique and easy touch. Enjoyed it, thanks.

https://youtu.be/ctUownP7Kqw
You have all been demanding to know what was hot in 1945, according to METRONOME magazine. Soooo....

Courtesy of my Local FM station.

Reviews by Leonard Feather.

Grade A-

Ike Quebec -- BLUE HARLEM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7qPdSwTCSE


Anita O’day with the Stan Kenton Orchestra -- ARE YOU LIVING OLD MAN
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KsacrLFOl8


Artie Shaw (Ray Conniff arrangement) -- S’WONDERFUL ***
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tW-DDh_tYCQ

75 years ago. The best measure of greatest, longevity!!

Cheers

***note for users of ancient technology, For best results use Victor needles.  :)

@schubert

This kid grooves, and I can't help but notice his first name is Yohan.

This isn't the first time I've been stunned by a prodigy, so I plan to start a new thread on the subject.  Why not?
Three very nice posts , 2id. Esp. the Shaw/ Conniff outing !
Could listen to Shaw 5-6 hours and sometimes do .Will be superb centuries  from now .Hope someone will still be alive to hear him.

Why not k? I look for talent outside the US .
frogman, 40% of S. Koreans are Christian . As you know interesting as any nation in the world .Several Korean Churches within 3 miles
of my home in St. Paul and they are well attended .
The kids light touch is great and sound clean as a dog's bone .
I think they overlooked a couple. Ya think?


Don't shoot the messenger.  Anyway, I didn't hear the entire program.

Cheers

Korean Christians:

Looking out over the Seoul skyline at night, you will see literally hundreds of Red Neon Crosses.  Each denoting a Christian Church.  Really something to see.

My town may be around 10% Korean, with many, many churches.

Cheers


"Thanks keeg"

Appreciate that MJ, but it's scary similar to "geek."  Let's stick with "keegiam" if you don't mind.
"Nightmare" is amazing but helps me understand why my mom, born in 1916, didn't like Artie Shaw.  Too much stark reality for her.  Life in the 30s and 40s was a combination of fear and joy, and she preferred the latter.  Artie did plenty of sweet music, but he also went dark.
Always loved 'Nightmare'.
I do not mind for dark Artie either. 
Actually love it.
He looks like saying: Are you sure you wanna play like that?
Nice photo kiddo...

When I saw "Trane" he was blowing the Soprano sax, it was the same one Miles had given him. Miles said that John Coltrane had helped to make both of them legends.

According to Miles; "Trane was the loudest, fastest saxophonist I’ve ever heard. He could play real fast, and real loud at the same time and that’s very difficult to do.

After I gave him that soprano saxophone, it had an effect on his playing, his style changed; while he sometime played like Bird, Stitt, Lockjaw, or Dexter Gordon before, after he got that horn, he didn’t sound like nobody but himself. He found out he could play lighter and faster on the soprano than he could on the tenor. He found he could think and hear better with the soprano than he could with the tenor. When he played the soprano, after a while it sounded almost like a human voice, wailing"

That’s what Miles had to say about Trane.

This is the album that was hot when I saw John Coltrane;


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWG2dsXV5HI


The place was packed with professional musicians (minus girlfriends). If I had come minus girlfriend, I would not have had one when I got home; she liked Trane as much as I did. We were fortunate enough to have "Kenny Rice" a professional drummer, sit at our table.

All those professional musicians were there for a reason, which I was soon to discover; Trane didn’t repeat what was on the album, but played a much extended version, that was long enough to take me to a place that I had never been, but always wanted to go; a blissful musical heaven.

This was in a nightclub setting and we were close enough to the musicians to see every bead of sweat, and the expressions on their faces as they took us through different moods; naturally, Elvin Jones, the drummer was dripping with sweat as he propelled Trane to higher ground.

Near the end of the set, Trane really stretched out, that was what the professional musicians came to hear; "Coltrane unleashed", going places where no musician had gone before, out into the far reaches of the seventh galaxy. He reworked and extended "My Favorite Things" into a 35 minute tune. A grand time was had by all.

Mary_Jo..........OK, I need to get to the bottom of this! I always struggle with this when addressing you, so please set the record straight. Which do you prefer? Mary_Jo, mary_jo, or Mary_jo? Perhaps MJ? I have a sister in law with the same name as you (lovely name, btw). We call her simply, Jo. Which do you prefer?

Oh, almost forgot: JQ?

Re your funny comment about that great Monk/Rouse pic.  Reminded me of a joke often used by musicians when talking to another: “I like what you’re trying to do, man” 😎 Subtle.