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

And let’s not forget Milt’s recording’s with the Modern Jazz Quartet. Interesting mix of swinging Jazz and Baroque style canons and fugues.

https://youtu.be/7qOTELKw6p0?si=echcV-cbkwvxG97-

@stuarti 

I’m listening to Plus 4 now and have never heard The Bridge, so I’ll put it on next.

As always,  Thank you for your suggestions.

Oh, sorry.  I have heard the rest of the albums on your list and I listened to Sonny and Hawk,  Frredom Suite, Moving Out and Newk’s Time yesterday.

@alexatpos 

I listened to Sonny & The Modern Jazz and didn’t get through the first song. Maybe I wasn’t in the right mood or maybe it just sounded like more of the Modern Jazz Quartet, I don’t remember, but I’ll give it another try later.

Thanks.

@frogman

Thanks.

Somehow, I’ve never warmed to the MJQ.

 

@curiousjim

You’re welcome.

More:

Work Time

Tenor Madness

Sonny Rollins Plays for Bird

Tour De Force

 

I get it.  The MJQ’s style is of a particular aesthetic.  A particular sense of swing and emphasis on a compositional style evoking Baroque Classical music.  For me it pushes some of the same buttons as some West Coast Jazz does, Brubeck, Mulligan, for example.  Not for every listener.  But…..I like to try and not be too dismissive of any music when the musicians making it are of the caliber of those of MJQ.  I try and give their effort the benefit of the doubt when I don’t quite get it….yet and give it at least a couple of listens  “There must be something I’m missing”.  Just me.  Tough crowd!  😊

@frogman

That's an admirable attitude!

I tend to be fairly impatient. No doubt I’d have more success finding new music to enjoy were this not the case. ;o)

 

 

 

 

 

Bopin’ around the house listening to Rollin’ With Leo, Leo Parker. (1979)

Thanks @stuartk, but I got rid of two turntables and probably 90% of my vinyl maybe fifteen years ago.  I do still have two other turntables, but I haven’t spun a disk in more than a decade.
 

It’s so sad how much talent is lost to hard drugs every day.😢

@curiousjim 

Ah, OK.  No vinyl?  I guess you're not a "serious" audiophile, then!  ;o) 

Yes; my best friend was a very talented artist who eventually OD'd on meth. He'd started out smoking pot, like so many of us in the early 70's for whom experimenting with drugs was just a passing phase.

The list of Jazz musicians affected by drug use is quite long. 

 

 

 

@stuartk 

Yep, I’m a posser. 😇

And sadly the list is huge and some of the names makes me really scratch my head. Ray Charles might be on he top that list for me.

@curiousjim

From what I’ve read, the idea that heroin could improve one’s playing was largely based upon a seemingly "mythological" interpretation of the life of Charlie Parker.

By the way, "Celebrating Bird" by Gary Giddins is an excellent biography of Parker.

I can’t imagine being blind and trying to shoot up... maybe Brother Ray had help...

 

 

 

 

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Jeremy Pelt, Woven,  just popped up on Qobuz.  I found this album not really to my taste, but somehow I could not turn it off. 
Has anyone else heard the album yet?

Pelt is a major talent. Almost every record he puts out is very good and always of interest.

I will listen to the album today if possible. I suggest you look into his back catalogue.

@alexatpos

Thanks.  I saw those and they are on my list. I never heard of him until a few days ago and now I find Pelt has quite a few albums out. Would have played them tonight, but we’re supposed to be getting a bad storm here this evening, so everything is unplugged.

@curiousjim , I must admit that I have very few jazz albums that are not recorded at least 50 or more years ago, but Pelt is great player. In fact, its on these pages I have heard of him first. I do not use streamers and I try to buy every album that I like. Needles to say, the ones I am still looking for to fill my collection are getting harder to find are more expensive, even on cd’s. If I waned to have them on vinyl I would need a small fortune for that. There is one rare Chet Baker album that I am looking right now and its 100eur, for cd. Its just that ’owning’ music ’on cloud’ is something that I cant grasp, for whatever reason that might be. Its same with the books, I guess, I go to library, but there are many that I just like to have at home. I am not ’old’, I guess (52) but perhaps some of my habits are not in the tune with modern times. Anyway...song from an great album that I bought recently...

Sonny Stitt ’Last Sessions’ from 1984

https://youtu.be/JYZlVltPAMM?feature=shared

 

Does anybody else thinks that is funny to see so many jazz recommendations when ever some other thread about it shows up and yet, none of those people posts here?

 

 

@alexatpos 

listening to The Art Of Intimacy Vol. 1 and it’s wonderful. I don’t know if it’s my bad memory or what, but how have I never heard this album before?

Excellent!

@alexatpos 

In answer to your question, I’ve seen others ask the Jazz questions, but they only seem to get answers, but not the suggestion to check out this thread.

@alexatpos

Its just that ’owning’ music ’on cloud’ is something that I cant grasp, for whatever reason that might be. Its same with the books, I guess, I go to library, but there are many that I just like to have at home. I am not ’old’, I guess (52) but perhaps some of my habits are not in the tune with modern times.

I am older (69) and totally relate... if you ask me, "modern times" are growing progressively more primitive. 

 

@curiousjim

If you liked "Out of the Woods" try "Roots in the Sky".

Also the live-in-Europe "1974" and the earlier "In Concert"

R. Towner has recorded many titles on ECM, both solo and with various groups.

Try "Solstice" and "Diary".

I was fortunate to see Oregon at UCSB in ’77 . One of the best live music experiences of my life!

I just started listening to Wes Montgomery, The Incredible Jazz Guitar Of Wes Montgomery and starting with the first cut,  my toe was a tapin’.  Just the bass in  Airegin, has more energy in it than the two cups of coffee I’ve had today.

@curiousjim , @stuartk , other than obvious ones, this album and recoding is good too , Wes and Wynton Kelly 'Live in Seattle'...

https://youtu.be/3rdw02Lkfq8?feature=shared

 

...and for some energy, perhaps this one...Mel Brown 'Chicken Fat'

https://youtu.be/nHaKJjBNhvo?feature=shared

 

@alexatpos 

Thanks Alex!

Never heard Mel Brown before and Chicken Fat is a good listen. I know what I’ll be listening to for a while.😁

@alexatpos

I suspect you know that Resonance Records has not only released "Smokin’ in Seattle" , but they’ve also a half dozen or so additional Wes titles as well as previously unreleased recordings by other major Jazz artists. Wes and Bill Evans appear to be most generously represented in their catalogue. BTW, one of their Wes releases is "Maximum Swing:The Unreleased Half Note Recordings". 

For those who are unfamiliar with this label, here is a link:

https://resonancerecords.org/

 

@stuartk , yes, of course, I am aware. They have some great albums and some not so great. Have you listened the Unreleased half note? On previous editions,the sound (recording) was an issue

 

Curiousjim, another one for you...Ivan Bogaloo Joe Jones

https://youtu.be/8PleEvRgGOc?feature=shared

@alexatpos

I’ve only listened to it on youtube.

I didn’t realize this material had been released before, so I can’t offer a comparison.

If the sound were better, I would’ve bought it on CD already, but maybe this is better than other versions? I simply don’t know. Sorry I can’t be more helpful.