Jazz for aficionados

Rok, I added that to my collection about a week ago, not one bad cut. Frogman, I have a couple LP's by lucky. He did a mean solo on "Walkin" with Miles.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iCHdv-gsnw

Enjoy the music.

I will have to find a recording of that; have always liked Harold Land's playing.

Speaking of tasteful tenor playing, the tenor player on "Evening In Paris" on the QJ link above is Lucky Thompson.

C

Leersfool, I remember Julius Watkins on numerous albums as a sideman. Jazz on a French horn was kind of unusual.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Sy0NcSvSaM

I remember him as a sideman on albums that I can't quite remember; now there's an oxymoron for you.

This is the Star Trek theme song, is that martha flowers?


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHhePr0TKfc

Enjoy the music.

Latest Listen:

Harold Land -- A Lazy Afternoon
orch arranged and conducted by Ray Ellis

Some wonderful Tenor Sax playing. No fireworks, just standards played in a very lyrical style.

Normally I think orch(with strings) + jazz soloist = disaster. Bird and Nat Cole come to mind. But this recordinmg is very well done.

Ellis has worked with some of the best jazz vocalist, Billie Holiday, Lena Horne etc.... and he arranged for Land exactly as if he were a vocalist.

The orch compliments Land perfectly and never overpowers him.

Land has great tone and articulation. The Frogman and O-10 will love it. I think this is what is known as 'tasteful' playing. He stays true to the standard's melody mostly, but does get in a little improvisation.

You like melodic sax playing? Then you have to check this one out.
The tune lineup is first rate. All well known Jazz standards

Cheers

Hi Orpheus - I was out of town for a few days there. I am actually not familiar with the soundtrack to On Green Dolphin Street. I know that's a Lana Turner film, but I have not actually seen it yet. Now that I know it has a good soundtrack, I will definitely check it out.

Quincy Jones did all kinds of different things. One of my personal favorites is a record on which he did some arrangements of a bunch of jazz standards for Julius Watkins, who was the greatest jazz hornist back in the day. Didn't do too many albums as the feature artist, but was a sideman on a great many albums, including some with Miles (Birth of the Cool being one). One of my friends is actually trying to put a group together to recreate that album in concert, but it hasn't happened yet. When it does, I will definitely participate.

Oops, got off on a tangent there - the album in question is one of those hilarious ones from the 60's, entitled French Horns For My Lady, complete with hilarious drawing of a 60's blonde holding a horn on the cover. Some of the most famous horn players in New York were in a back-up horn quartet on that album, including Gunther Schuller and John Barrows from the classical world. It was on the Philips label. Martha Flowers, of Star Trek theme song fame, does her vocal stylizing on a couple of the tunes. Hilarious arrangements.

"Body Heat" is my favorite CD by Quincy, and since every last cut on this CD is my favorite, I was forced to pick one. "Along Came Betty" was the one I picked.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZ9Il20bfWI

Enjoy the music.

Apparently Q's having a huge birthday bash in Switzerland. A commemorative show is being prepared. I follow Take 6 on Facebook where they just posted this photo of the set list, looks like a good time!

https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/p320x320/13231_531178113597660_1469039516_n.jpg

Hope the link works!

Frogman to the rescue! There is nothing Like cool jazz I haven't heard before. That sax on evening in Paris was too cool. In regard to film scores by Quincy, I forgot about them; keep it up.

Enjoy the music.

I think the guy had an OK career.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Qn336Lxy1TQ&feature=plpp

http://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=plpp&v=FfMGezw2k1Y

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Bm8Idup5B74

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=T5DnqW3F57E

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=sOnqjkJTMaA

Since Quincy Jones is far too important a musician in so many genres for me to exclusively dominate this thread with his jazz contributions to music, I'm going to let "yall" have it and hope Leersfool comes back and chimes in.

Enjoy the music.

Thank you Frogman, no one could have said it better.

Interesting that we should transition from Miles to Quincy Jones. Always changing, yes, but I can think of no other musician that so exemplifies the move of a successful and respected jazz musician (Basie, Sinatra, solo) to the commercial music field (Hollywood, Michael Jackson, rap) with an incredible amount of success.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=W146Z_-O0J0

Miles old music will never get old, I will enjoy it forever.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2K6spNGZsik

Enjoy the music.

Rok, here's Quincy in 1962 on "Soul Bossa Nova". I liked it then and I still like it now. You can follow Quincy from then till now, and his trolley never jumped the tracks of what I call good music, or according to "my taste" in music.

Maybe you can chime in on Quincy's progression through the years.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDRBbuDG5a0

Enjoy the music.

Quincy Jones:

Cannot be limited to any one genre. Great composer and arranger. Always stayed 'young'. Great personality. I became aware of him when he played with Ray Charles and later, during his 'Killer Joe' days.

The 'Wynton' of his day??

Cheers

O-10:

*****The last time I saw a live performance of Miles, he looked like Sinbad out of "Arabian Nights". *******

EXACTLY!! Great description. I have seen pictures of him appearing the same way.

**** although he said Trane played too long ******

I'm sure you have heard the sory about when Miles, Coltrane and Coleman Hawkins were just standing around talking music, and Coltrane was going on about his solos, and how once he got started he just didn't know how to stop playing.
Miles takes a drag off his cigarette, and in the raspy voice said "take the horn out your mouth" ahahahhahha
Priceless!

Guess I will have to put 'Bitches Brew' in ther player today.

Cheers

I disagree with the opinion that Miles was trying to "cash in" on the trend to go electric; or, that he was envious of their success of artists such as Sly or Hendrix. First of all, by the time that he released "Bitches Brew" he was a wealthy man and he also knew that his place in music history was well established. He admired and respected Sly and Hendrix and saw "going electric" as a new and different outlet for his creativity and not simply a commercial opportunity. I think that, in spite of his star status, the depth of Miles's genius is still underestimated. IMO, as music lovers, we would do well to always give an artist of the stature of Miles (there aren't that many) the benefit of the doubt; it can only serve to help us grow as music lovers and we should judge with a sense of humility. IOW, when the artist moves in a direction that may not be to our liking, we should ask ourselves "what am I not hearing?", instead of being quick to dismiss it as a move in the interest of financial success without real artistic merit.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dc7qiosq4m4

Chazro, while we agree that members of his band were the best of the best, Miles and I did not hear music in the same fashion. "All" music is subjective, and Miles new audiences heard what Miles heard with his "new music", but I didn't.

No one would ever attribute Miles career and legendary success to his sidemen, only that his talent for selecting the best sidemen helped his success.

In reality, this debate is more about the subjectivity of music than it is about "Miles Davis"; apparently he realized that and went were those "subjective" dollars were flowing.

Enjoy the music.

I think it's safe to say that Miles Davis was envious of the success of Sly Stone and Jimi Hendrix. They were being hailed as creative geniuses and were seen as pushing the limits of popular music. Jazz had been forgotten. Miles Davis redefined jazz by basically having jazz musicians not play jazz. To this day it's still not exactly clear what to call the music those bands played. Take a listen to "Tribute to Jack Johnson" for a fairly accessible example. Listen to "Agharta/Pangaea" for something more challenging. It's amazing music.

Rok, with all of the other jazz musicians I've followed, all of them changed, but in ways I could relate to. Miles was an "enigma", although staying relevant/ popular with the current generation was important to him. While I didn't know Miles personally, I knew his brother, and we both thought the same things about Miles new music; of course this had nothing to do with how much he loved Miles, or how much Miles loved him.

I've got Miles CD's that get played when I can't remember what they sounded like, and they come out of the player as fast as they went in. The last time I saw a live performance of Miles, he looked like Sinbad out of "Arabian Nights". There was an unknown sax player I don't remember but he really sounded good. I was deep into the sax man's solo when Miles blurted in sounding like an ardvark fart. It's for sure he never lost his ability to select the best new talent, but his ego got in the way of the music. He never would have done that when him and Trane were together, although he said Trane played too long.

In regard to his changes, while he lost old audiences, he always gained even bigger new one's, which certainly helped his bottom line; that's what I call "upwards failure". I call em like I see em.

By the way, nobody has mentioned "Quincy Jones"; he's a musician that was always changing, but each change brought about a new and interesting sound, I'm going to get into Quincy next.

Enjoy the music.

While it could never be denied that Miles was trying to 'cash in' when he went Electric, it was still creatively important music. And as usual, the members of his band were the best of the best, most of whom went on to great success (relatively speaking within Jazz that is). After this creatively fertile time of his career he 'retired' for awhile. When he came back with 'The Man With The Horn', 'Decoy', & 'You're Under Arrest' was when I felt he was truly playin' for the buck$. But Even than he still made some music to be respected like 'Star People', 'Siesta', & 'Aura'. With a career as legendary as Miles had, it's a mistake to attribute it solely to his sidemen. I've read extensively about him and those same bandmates universally felt (and I agree) that Miles was, to put it in Milesian(!) terms, a muthafka on trumpet!;)

O-10:

What is the cause or motivation for this 'elvolution' in musical style? Is it something within the player to move in a different direction, or is it some deliberate effort to stay relevant/ popular with the current generation.

Cheers

When I saw Miles it was right after he had made drastic changes, not only in his music, but in his personal life as well. Betty Mabry, who was more or less "a hippy", was a big influence in his personal life and his music; hence Miles in a fringed raw hide vest.

This was in Chicago, but fortunately I was at that set with a guy from New York (New Yorker's are always hip to everything). He explained that this was Miles new music, but that didn't make it any easier on my ears; of course that would not have mattered to Miles, he knew what he was doing; this was the music of "Bitches Brew" before it was recorded.

That's what happens when you pour wine from a bottle of whiskey. If you taste wine when you expect whiskey, you spit it out. If you taste whiskey when you expect wine, you spit it out. I expected to see the Miles I had come to know and love, not some hippy playing this very different music.

Enjoy the music.

Although I got into this because it was impossible not to, the music was hypnotic, I don't think it would be on my playlist. I would love to have been on that set. That's the difference between live and recorded, when you're on the set, it's out of sight, but not so hot recorded in your listening room.

I saw Miles live when he was into his "fringed vest" attire in the late 60's, at the time he was in his "Bitches Brew" thing, before he had recorded it, and to be honest; although I was a Miles fan, when he came out with this music, I said "What the hell......?"

This reminds me of the contrast between Coltrane live and recorded; you heard the recorded, but the live was different music, almost similar to this when he was playing that straight soprano sax.

Enjoy the music.

Loved it. Yes, Dave Liebman. Al Foster on drums, Mtume on perc, Michael Henderson on bass. Don't recognize the guitar players.

Acman3:

I listened to it all the way to the end. I consider this to be sound generation. Sounds can be enjoyable and fun.
Also hypnotic / mesmerizing. Sort of like like voodoo folks dancing in the movies.

The sounds are designed to just carry you away. No thinking allowed, just get wrapped up in the sounds, esp of the drums and rhythm sections.

I liked it. But I would not like it on CD. It's the sort of thing you have to SEE to really enjoy. Sort of like Sun Ra.

But Miles is soooo cool, he can do anything and make it at least interesting, if not profound. I did not recognize any of the players, except Miles.

That twirling sound you heard at the end, was POPS spinning in his grave.

Nice clip. Thanks

Cheers

Would all the purest cover your ears? I ran across this and thought someone would enjoy it. Real primal and African. Were they a little Pissed?

Can anyone tell me who is in this band besides David Lieberman?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxSFSdcGPLM

Rok, initially, Miles played with Monk. Coltrane was unknown when he began with Miles. Mulligan and Miles were equals, while Miles was before Adderly, it's for sure Garland had been around when he played with Miles, but Paul Chambers was young and new. Although this is in regard to what you mentioned, I was referring to groups much later in his career, like with young Tony Williams, and even later when he had very talented musicians who were unknown to me; but at the time you are referring to, all the names you mentioned were jazz giants.

Enjoy the music.

In spite of Miles' well-known ego (some would say arrogance), he was a true artist; the music always came first. I don't think he thought much about who would be able to make him a bigger star by virtue of that player's presence in the band. He was extremely forward-looking musically and was able to understand how a sideman's style would enhance and help shape "the whole" of his music's sound; even when a player was not fully developed yet. When Trane first played with Miles, Trane was still at the stage of his career when a lot of people were still saying "what the hell is that?"; his approach was so different, and many thought is was bullshit. How wrong they were.

******* Miles greatest talent, was recognizing talent in new musicians********

I always thought that title went to Blakey. Just glancing at the Miles CDs I have on the desk, 'Milestones' and 'Round About Midnight', the lineups read like a who's who of the Jazz world.

Coltrane, Adderley, Monk, Mulligan, Garland, Chambers etc... I think Miles got the best to play with him because if was mutually beneficial to all. A win / win situation. He was a star, so everyone wanted to play with him, and they made him a bigger star, while gaining a rep for themselves.

Just one man's uninformed opinion. :)

Cheers

Frogman, that came out in 58, and from that time forward I collected many LP's with Bill Evans as a sideman. My young life was fast and frenetic, consequently I only noticed the most famous players I recognized on an LP. Not too long ago, I was wandering "Who is Bill Evans"? Not realizing how many LP's I owned with him as a sideman. My point in mentioning this is that Bill never called attention to himself, he simply made everyone else's music sound better.

Beyond any shadow of a doubt, Miles greatest talent, was recognizing talent in new musicians.

Enjoy the music.

Loved the Garth Fagan clip. Thanks.

Orpheus10, that recording of "On Green Dolphin Street" is classic; jazz just doesn't get better than this. Agree about Evan's intro. He was one of those pianists that had such a distinctive tone on the piano; an instrument that one thinks has a "built in" tone. There was a sense of melancholy and introspection in most of what he played. Technically speaking, that lush, even subdued quality in his sound was due partly to his preference for not highlighting any one note in a chord; each note of a chord was perfectly balanced with the others. Many players stress or play louder either the top note or some other note of the chord voicing; this produces a different color/feeling. For me, the highlight of the recording is Trane. When he makes his entrance it is as if the sun suddenly comes up; it's a beautiful moment. It has been mentioned many times that one of the things that made Miles brilliant was his ability to assemble players that, while possessing clearly distinctive styles, created ensembles with a rare ability to compliment each other in spite of their differences of style. Great stuff.

For me, there's nothing more fascinating than the combination of jazz and dance. Garth Fagans's Bucket Dance Theatre is a good example of this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y32mOnYzOkk

Enjoy the music.

*******Glad to see you back Rok.*******

O-10,
I never went away. Lately I have been doing a little more Baching than Bopping.

But, The Frogman pulled me back in! Godfather III. :)

Cheers

That was fantastic, and I liked the interpretation, also I will get her album "Heavy Falls The Night". Where is everybody? I was asking the same question. I left something "On Green Dolphin Street" for you and Leersfool that neither one of you picked up on, so I figured everyone was on vacation.

Glad to see you back Rok.

Enjoy the music.

****Encouraging****

Exactly!

More from this interesting young singer/composer:

http://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=relmfu&v=lbKxawcRSnM

The Frogman:

EXCELLENT!! This is one of the most refreshing and encouraging things I have seen from the young folks in years. The Nicholas Brothers circa the 21st century!?!? The great stuff stays great forever!

The Jazz was great also. But it was hard to seperate the music from the dance, which is, as it should be. A Seamless performance.

My Father used to have shoes like those. He had Black and White and Brown and White. My job, shine them!

Great clip. Thanks.

Cheers

Where is everybody?

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=eZYpNi9nTW4&feature=fvwrel

Hi Orpehus - I happened to come across a photo today of the woman who recorded much of the singing for Rita Hayworth in her musicals - Nan Wynn. Didn't look up a discography for her or anything, just happened across the name and thought you might be interested.

What a coincident, I was listening to Nancy in the car on my way home; yes, she's very sensual.

You and Leersfool have given me a new perspective on the same music I've been listening to for all of my life. Take "On Green Dolphin Street" for example; I never gave any thought as to who composed it, now I'm listening to solo piano by Bronislaw Kaper, the composer of this beautiful tune.

When played by him, the music takes on a lighter than air quality, the notes just float. While this music tells a story that I'm unaware of, that's just as well because it allows me to invent my story for the music. One thing is certain, I get a glorious feeling when I'm "On Green Dolphin Street".

Now I'm going to give you Miles Davis's "On Green Dolphin Street". First, we have the lush beautiful intro by Bill Evans on piano, followed by Miles trumpet, and Trane's improvisation. All of these musicians show great respect for the composer. That lets me know the depth of their musical knowledge.

Once again, I get that glorious feeling from being "On Green Dolphin Street".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrVnm66joQk

Enjoy the music.

Sensual.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QBmrDS2Zhaw

Leersfool, although I didn't remember Abbe Lane as a movie star, you jogged my memory as to where I remember the name; here are some songs she sang that I remember, they're all dripping with "sensuality".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xA_1Roa_MkA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0O7d5C1-T8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkKNLw0jE9k

Enjoy the music.

That was a nice clip, Orpheus! They were hoping Abbe Lane would possibly be another Rita Hayworth, but that obviously did not pan out. She wasn't the dancer Hayworth was, and she certainly didn't have the acting chops. She sang better, though - she is actually more famous for that - she performed with alot of big bands in that era, though I don't think she actually recorded much.

Sensuality is such a rare quality I couldn't even find an adequate definition. Although we know it when we see, hear, or feel that state of being, words can't quite express it; music, however is much better at expressing "sensuality". "She is Michelle" by Gato Barbieri is a good example for me. What music expresses this quality for you?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0SZ4rE-QJo

Enjoy the music.

How did it happen that the American public has gotten so far away from being able to appreciate production values like this. The feeling of sensuality in that scene is amazing. Today we get explicit sexuality as an attempt to make up the for the absence of the art of simplicity and subtlety. The music (and playing) is fabulous, perfectly appropriate and beautiful. And what a gorgeous woman that dancer is!

Loved the clip. Thanks.

Frogman, I found a clip that you will find very interesting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nH17-x_bQEQ

Enjoy the music.

*****Frogman was the last person to submit music on this "music" forum******

Well hush my mouth.

Cheers

Rok-not to worry. Thanks for the reply. We'll get it figured out. Hoping maybe Orpheus has an idea. Crazy times indeed. Creativity busting out all over. In the intervening years...money & lawyers have f'd up a lot of things

Ghosthouse:

Sorry, but it does not ring a bell with me. That was a 'crazy' time. lots of folks, saying lots of stuff. But a very creative period.

My sister sent me the Last Poets LP as a gift a lifetime ago. I later got it on CD. If you ever need an example of what being 'political Incorrect' means, this be it!!

I think they were from Philly. Sorry I could not be of more help with what you are looking for. Thanks for the post.

Cheers