Jazz for aficionados

Zoot Sims,  Plays Johnny Mandel.  (1984)

@audio-b-dog 

FYI, Naturaleza and Feminina are two different recordings. 

I was referring to the album Feminina.

@stuartk, I must have gotten confused. There is a lot going on with my qobuz screen. I'll check it out again. I liked what I heard.

Here is a juneteenth offering of Pharoah Sanders on sax with Leon Thomas singing. To me, this is spiritual music. Let me explain what "spiritual" means to me. I grew up in a secular house. I have only gotten into the concept of spiritual as I have researched my book on the suppression of women through religion. I have gone back to the beginning of humanity, when I think women were the cave painters and shamans. At that time, I believe art and religion were one thing, a celebration of existence in the universe. Then music was spiritual in that it was a joyous expression of being part of the universe. I think Pharoah Sanders expresses that joy in this set, "The Creator Has a Master Plan." It's a half-hour, so when you listen, I think you need to sit back and offer up your soul to the music.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViweO33oo2Y

@audio-b-dog,

@stuartk is correct. The confusion is the song Feminina is on this Joyce (Moreno) with Mauricio Maestro - Natureza - (produced, arranged & conducted by Claus Ogerman) (Full Album) 1977 lp.

And this lp Joyce Moreno - Feminina - 1980 is titled Feminina.

I really like both lp’s but I think this Joyce Moreno - Feminina - 1980 lp has better production value with better overall engineering making the entire song writing skills, musicianship and arrangements really stand out. And the songs Feminina and Mistérios are on this lp as well.

@audio-b-dog 

Yes; I’m familiar with that recording.

in the late 60’s, 70’s there was an intensified interest in spirituality among musicians, Jazz and otherwise.

R. Thompson, P. Townshend: Sufism.

Beatles: Yoga (TM)

Santana, J. McLaughlin: Yoga

W. Shorter, H. Hancock, S. Cowell and many more: Buddhism

McCoy Tyner and others: Islam

Some, like Coltrane, seemed not to adhere to any single path.

You might say spirituality was "in the air" in that era. It certainly affected me and a number of my friends in high school. 

I recall opening the gatefold to Caravanserai and encountering a quote by Paramahansa Yogananda before I’d even become aware of his famous aurobiography. And of course Mahvishnu Orchestra album and tune titles were an expression of the same. Spiritual themes were common in the music of The Incredible String Band, G. Harrison, Cat Stevens, , the Who, Donovan, etc. It wasn’t until a few years later that I got into Jazz and started noticing this same trend. I guess "My Goals Beyond" was probably the first for me, after Mahavishnu.

@audio-b-dog,

The Creator Has A Master Plan · Pharoah Sanders - Karma. This is nice stuff. Thanks. The musician Lonnie Liston Smith has a hauntingly similar style of playing .

Listening to Triilogy 3 by Chick Corea,  Brian Blade and Christian McBride.

(2025)

@tyray 

Feminia is a strong release, for sure! 

@curiousjim 

That was an excellent group.

In my opinion, Christian McBride is the best living jazz bass player out there and Chick Corea might be in the top five living jazz pianists. And while I am not as familiar with Blade, he kills it in all three Trilogy albums.

@stuartk, @audio-b-dog,

in the late 60’s, 70’s there was an intensified interest in spirituality among musicians, Jazz and otherwise.

R. Thompson, P. Townshend: Sufism.

Beatles: Yoga (TM)

Santana, J. McLaughlin: Yoga

W. Shorter, H. Hancock, S. Cowell and many more: Buddhism

McCoy Tyner and others: Islam

Some, like Coltrane, seemed not to adhere to any single path.

You might say spirituality was "in the air" in that era. It certainly affected me and a number of my friends in high school. 

I recall opening the gatefold to Caravanserai and encountering a quote by Paramahansa Yogananda before I’d even become aware of his famous autobiography. And of course Mahavishnu Orchestra album and tune titles were an expression of the same. Spiritual themes were common in the music of The Incredible String Band, G. Harrison, Cat Stevens, , the Who, Donovan, etc. It wasn’t until a few years later that I got into Jazz and started noticing this same trend. I guess "My Goals Beyond" was probably the first for me, after Mahavishnu.

I couldn’t have written it any better myself. It was Mike Shrieve the original Santana drummer who introduced Carlos to Coletrane, and the rest is history. I have the Caravanserai lp as well and also the Carlos Santana · Mahavishnu John McLaughlin - Love Devotion Surrender lp .

Check out the roughly made Beatles documentary of their experiences with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi who developed TM.

Many years ago I had an opportunity to become part of a medical study at Morehouse College of Medicine to take TM, totally free and all they wanted to do was monitor my blood pressure and see if TM would lower your blood pressure. It was one of the best classes I’d ever had the opportunity to take.

By the time I was 18 I had mastered about 10 Hatha Yoga Asanas  (poses/stretches). But that was a LONG time ago...

Lonnie Liston Smith · The Cosmic Echoes - Meditations 1976

@tyray, Yes, Lonnie Liston Smith is on the Karma album. I read a bit about Pharoah Sanders, and it said that after Coltrane died he had trouble finding a group of musicians who could play the type of sound he wanted. I guess he would refer to it as spiritual.

@stuartk, I think I share in all those musicians spiritual connection to the music, and I feel it when they play. But I don't share in any scripture or liturgy. If I were to rewrite "The Creator Has a Master Plan," I would substitute "She" for "He" in regards to the Creator. I think music at its essence is spirituality, and I think that's why I talk about being joyous when I listen to certain music. 

There is music that appeals to my intellect, and that's a whole different matter. I enjoy it and often get lost in it, but it does not make me feel joyous. 

@curiousjim I think that Esperanza Spalding is someone to watch on the bass. I saw her in a Herbie Hancock band, and although I was at the Hollywood Bowl and a fair distance from the stage and she was standing at the back of a lot of musicians, she was electric and I couldn't take my eyes off her hands. I felt like they were magical. The little I read about her, it sounds as if she were a savant, like many of the great musicians. Playing piano at three, performing at a very young age. If I could live my life over, I would want to have musical talent. Writing prose is not at all joyous. It's a lot of work. I was also a painter until my back gave out, and painting was totally joyous because I never knew what I was going to do next. I loved getting lost in a painting. 

@curiousjim,

Yep, Christian McBride for a young lion, is holding down the traditions of Jazz. I got another ' young cub' for you.

Chief Adjuah aka Christian Scott - West of the West

Chief Adjuah (Christian Scott) | Max Mucha | Elé Howell |Cecil Alexander| Morgan Guerin | Richard Howell

@audio-b-dog 

I don’t view spirituality as belonging exclusively to any particular path but I don’t view it as exclusively feminine, either. Just because patriarchy has had a poisonous  impact upon religion doesn’t mean there isn’t a healthy masculine aspect to spirituality. Be careful you don’t throw the baby out with the bath water!

@tyray 

My wife still does Hatha Yoga every day but it’s a very long time since I did.

+1 @audio-b-dog, 

Esperanza Spalding is SPECIAL indeed. Although she doesn't think so, I think she is in a class - all her own. 

@audio-b-dog 

I definitely agree that Spalding is a great bass player, but I don’t think her style is as diversified as McBride’s. 

@tyray 

You talking about Christian Scott?  He’s not an old timer, but he’s definitely been around for a while. Not sure how many albums he’s played on, but he’s probably put out a dozen or more as Chief Adjuah.

Oh and Esperanza Spalding has a beautiful voice!

@curiousjim,

Yes! Christian Scott/Chief (Xian aTunde) Adjuah to me anyway, is a so called ’young lion’ as is Christian McBride. Or am I missing something here?

Me thinks Esperanza Spalding is a much more, far more diversified bassist than Christian McBride (will ever be...). She sings, writes, produces, is a band leader, can put her double bass down and pick up an electric bass and jam her ass off, completely and utterly more dynamic, can do a one man (woman) show, fly to Rio de Janeiro and produce/sit in, lead the band - with Milton Nascimento, sing in perfect Portuguese while she’s playing the double bass and she’s younger than both Chief Adjuah and Christian McBride. At her age, she’s just starting to feel some blues. She just has more in her ’tool kit’, so to speak.

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/jazz-for-aficionados/post?highlight=Esperanza%2BSpalding&postid=2717403#2717403

stuartk, yes the yin-yang symbol, masculine and feminine in balance. But the Creator a man? Give me a break. The Creator was a woman from the beginning.. Up until maybe 10,000 years ago there were only female goddess symbols. Not male. For some reason (and I can think of many) men made goddesses and female power forbidden. That's Abraham's first commandment, there shall be no God before Yahweh, and he was talking about those Asherah statues in the backs of Hebrews' houses.. Anyway, we should probably take this off the forum if you want to discuss it more.

Esperanza Spalding is a perfect example of what empowered women can do. So is Alice Coltrane. And I think the great artists, including John Coltrane, are in touch with their inner feminine. Even though they might worship a male god. We were talking about different male jazz players being more feminine and others being more masculine. One of the great classical pianists Alfred Brendel just died, and he favored nuance over power. Put him in a class with Mitsuko Uchida, my favorite classical pianist. But I drift.

It would be interesting for people to name male musicians that they think are more in touch with their feminine side and those who are only into raw power. I think Louis Armstrong was both, and that's what made him a genius. John Coltrane wouldn't have married a powerful woman like Alice Coltrane if he didn't understand feminine power. Now I'm thinking about Miles Davis--maybe later Miles Davis, and I don't know. Earlier Kind of Blue Miles Davis definitely had the soft touch. Later Bitches Brew, throwing tantrums Miles Davis. I don't know, even though I own Bitches Brew and play it.