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

Good Morning Everyone!

Thanks for posting Kenny Drew. He's a piano player on a number of records I own. Until this thread, I wasn't familiar with his work as a band leader. Wow!

A specific, sorta-related thread question about Japanese re-issues. Are they considered sonically superior?

 

@pjw81563 Definitely a couple of good ones there.  One that I don't see mentioned often and doesn't seem to get the love I think it deserves is Fantasia.

 

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Kenny Drew is a favorite pianist of mine as well. His songs have been posted quite a lot here on JFA for the last few months and rightly so.

Every time the KD posts start up I always nominate KDs album "Undercurrent"

Not only is Undercurrent my favorite KD album it is also one of my favorite jazz albums and near the top of my desert island recordings.

Undercurrent (again)😊

 

@czarivey 

Im listening to Bohren & Der Club Of Gore, Sunset Mission and the first cut could be the background music in any old detective movie.

”I saw her walk by. She was on a mission and I was going to help her find her way”.  Actually the whole album could be the background music for Blade Runner 2049.

Thanks i will listen to it...

I liked DeFrancesco  recomendation a lot...

It seems different , it is not my liking normally but we must listen before judging...It is called nu jazz ...

 

Can dark jazz "shine" this discussions a-bit?

I’ve recently started diggin there:

Bohren & der Club of Gore

Kilimanjaro Dark Jazz Ensemble

 

Can dark jazz "shine" this discussions a-bit?

I've recently started diggin there:

Bohren & der Club of Gore

Kilimanjaro Dark Jazz Ensemble

Manet!!

Yeah, today was also a Kenny Drew day, with Come Sunrise on the box now.

As @jdougs  says, “You can never get enough Kenny Drew”.

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@curiousjim Hands down my favorite pianist!  Is that an Amazon exclusive, I'm not familiar with it and nothing comes up on Discogs?

I’m listening to Presenting The Kenny Drew Trio. Doing it on Amazon so it’s one long play.44-45 tracks and it still keeps me smiling even after listening to it many many times!

 

And if I haven’t said it yet,  Happy New Year All.

I was not aware @alexatpos that you switched over to SS gear until now. The "warmth" and "organic" adjectives are two of the most common "audio reproductive descriptions" used by tube gear lovers. These descriptions imply that the audio reproduction takes on a certain characteristic of what the particular tube gear being used is known for.

I have listened to tube gear and my ears recognized some of these characteristics. I think that most tube gear lovers enjoy these characteristics and there is nothing wrong with that. I also am aware of the hybrid tube amps (I would love to demo the newest Mcintosh pre amp/amp SS/tube hybrid). I think with tubes you have to spend a lot of money to get that ultra low noise floor with a neutral sound but I could be wrong.

Front Cover Jul19.indd (mcintoshlabs.com)

To me an amplifier should do just that- "amplify" leaving no "sound signature".

I also like to have a physical audio collection and I will always be old school like that. That is why in 2017 I purchased the best disc player in the world at its price point - the Oppo UDP 205. This player was used to test the Mcintosh tube gear in the above link.

I collect SACDs, DVD Audio, Blu ray audio, Blu ray and 4k UHD Blu ray movies.

And like you I love to read. And I have a very large physical library in my house. I save the books even after reading them.

I think you and I have been off topic a bit but nobody else was posting recently anyway (last 48 hours) except us two.

Back on topic. I am going to see the Charles Mingus Big Band tonight at Drom music venue on the lower east side of Manhattan. "Let My Children Hear Music"!!

Mingus Big Band Residency @ DROM — CHARLES MINGUS

My man Jeremy Pelt will lead the trumpet section and Alex Terrier is in the saxophone section.

 

Since we are talking (hope nobody will object, its a hidden corner anyway)...Also I enjoy digital, have many records still, but everything I bought in quite some time is on cd. I could not afford (or find) all that music on lp's, not to mention the jazz collection I've got already. The closest thing that gets me to the turntable is my belt driven cd player,ha

Bought some movies on dvd, the ones that were hard to find before everything has become available online. Its perhaps interesting that aldo I like movies as much as music, I prefer to collect music (on physical media) and not films. When I think about it, it makes no sense, but anyway...and aldo I am member of library I am still buying and keeping books. Perhaps it has something to do with habits from upbringing...that I never care to change.( do not think that ever I will own an electric car)  As for the home theater, again, it was never my thing because as long I can remember, I liked to go to the cinema, which I frequently did or do still. Even did not like to see some movie, before it was released in cinema. This has somewhat changed, because cinemas are on decline and the movies they play are more often than not aimed to broadest of audience, meaning, lots of movies never come to cinemas. For this reason I have started to watch movies at home, aldo I am not fan of doing so. In the same time, the quality of sound, the effects or the soundtrack are not of big importance when on tv. Just the basics are enough to me, I guess.Maybe the way of life has something to do it as well, as younger and single, never cared to spend much time in front of the tv. Still do not (thats way I have no any tv subscription) Reading this, it almost looks like its written by somebody who is old and grumpy, ha, but its not the case...I hope so,ha, anyway.

I have ss gear now, last system that I had was all tubes. Before that there were different combinations, ss, hybrid or ss and tubes together. I do not regard tubes as 'colored' and I do think that with right gear they can provide more vivid reproduction, but maintenance comes with it. The main reason I switched back to ss was the heat, during almost 6 month a year its very hot here and having A class tube amp made listening almost impossible much of the time. There are not many ss gear (imho) that can come close to a very good tube set up and I have picked the one I prefer the most (Burmester) but I am considering the tube preamp of different manufacturer as well.

 

Well @alexatpos what can I possibly add to that?

I knew you prefer 2 channel stereo or mono when listening to music and also you prefer vinyl/analog over digital but did not know you are not a fan of home theater.

I love my digital set up and have around 100 SACDs, DVD Audio, and Hi Res Blue ray music discs. Many are multi channel and getting a lot with atmos now as well.

I love my "movie night" and the DSP with audio immersion experience thats on tap with my AVR.

I still love 2 channel stereo and mono especially with my jazz music collection. I know its digital but I prefer a neutral and "uncolored" sound experience so tubes are not my thing.

 

 

Paul, thats a tough one, ha. Outside of jazz I pretty much do not listen anything else...I liked Sade when I was younger, but have only one lp...also have only that Diana Krall album, I guess in case if some guests arrive...But, now when I think about it, few names comes to mind... I would say, in random order, Grace Jones, Margo Timmins of Cowboy Junkies, Skye Edwards on Morcheeba’s first album, Beth Gibbons from Portishead, even Joni Mitchell (on Hissing from summer lawns and on Herbie Hancocks Gershwin world), Kay Garner on Cerrone’s ’Supernature’....there is more, but its usually a song or an album that I like, than a whole opus

As for the Dirac or dsp, or home theater, or pc audio, I use nothing of that. Just a plain two chanel stereo. I do not even use tv ( I cancelled all program subscriptions ) except when I hook the laptop and watch some movie, from some stream (its not a big tv screen either) I still must try to stop reading the news online,ha...Just remembered that I need to renew my library subscription,also,ha,ha

@alexatpos I have a Bluray of Dianna Krall Live in Rio. When I’m in the right mood I watch it, maybe once or twice a year since I purchased it.

My favorite Female vocalist is Sade Adu. I have all of her releases of live concerts either on DVD or Bluray. Sade’s natural vocals live, IMHO, have few equals of other female vocalists with Annie Lenox, of Eurythmics fame, a close second.

Sade and Annie both started to gain national attention here in the USA and globally in the early to mid 80s and I have enjoyed both of them for 40 years now.

What are your favorite contemporary female vocalists?

On the subject of audio set up I have invested in a couple of highly recommended books here and plan on using Dirac Live in the near future now that I have a 7:2:2 set up (recently installed rear wall speakers and front and side height presence). Dirac is receiving a lot of attention with audiophiles.

The Art of Digital Audio: Watkinson, John: 9780240515878: Amazon.com: Books

Sound Reproduction: The Acoustics and Psychoacoustics of Loudspeakers and Rooms (Audio Engineering Society Presents): Toole, Floyd: 9781138921368: Amazon.com: Books

Dirac Live for Home - Dirac

 

Some time ago I have posted few links about ECM editions beeing out of phase. I have very few albums of that label, but this one fits the description. When I switched the wires on my speakers I found out that it sounds better (in phase) If you have it, you may check it as well. 

Keith Jarret trio, live in Paris 1999 (could not find it on ytube)

Also, not on ECM, but this, my only, Diana Krall album fits the description

 

 

Just recently I played this cd again, to check the position of my speakers. There is interesting track, nothing new, but it turned my attention to some of the albums that I have...

 

Hello Mary_jo, glad your doing well!, and always good to hear from you! Happy New Year!

 

Thank you, pjw! Well, it has been a while, true...

Many thanks for your suggestions, will gladly take a look! :)

(waving)

@mary_jo Hello Marija welcome back and Happy New Year!! I wish you all the best and much happiness in 2024!

I have to say your first post in many many months (a year?) is a really great song by a great band (I had the privilege of seeing this exact band live).

A suggestion for you is this 2005 Live at Smoke (another of my NYC hangouts) album by Eric Alexander and Vincent Herring

And here they are over 15 years after that live recording session playing the same song at Emmet Cohen's NYC Jazz Loft.

Eric and Vincent like playing together! And they like playing "Blues Up and Down"

 

Dear all...I am happy to see you enjoying good music as always.

Just dropped by to say warm hello (waving) :--)

May the coming year be a time of renewal, growth, and prosperity...

For you


 

 

 

Having motivation problems this morning and am quietly listening to Paul Moer,  The Contemporary Classics Of The Paul Moer Trio.

Thanks... Beautiful!😊

@mahgister-Close enough, for sure.

Stephane Wrembel tours extensively. Every year he hosts a "Django-fest" in the NYC area. You may recognize the song from Woody Allen's, "Midnight in Paris."

 

 

@mahgister-Close enough, for sure.

Stephane Wrembel tours extensively. Every year he hosts a "Django-fest" in the NYC area. You may recognize the song from Woody Allen's, "Midnight in Paris."

 

@wharfy

I was lucky to catch Les in concert in '76. 

He was a master at blending Saturday night and Sunday morning -- a supremely soulful artist and a dynamic performer. 

@curiousjim 

This is the first performance by him I like. He's actually phrasing!  Who knew? 

wharfy

 

We Audiophiles will always have "Swiss Movement".

 

Happy Listening!

@jafant -

RIP. An excerpt form a Les McCann obit

"Les McCann, a jazz pianist and vocalist who was an early progenitor of the bluesy, crowd-pleasing style that came to be known as soul jazz, and who, although he released more than 50 albums, was best known for a happenstance hit from 1969, died on Friday in Los Angeles. He was 88."

Another excerpt-"His family was a musical one; he, his four younger brothers and his sister all sang in the Shiloh Baptist Church choir. "

The influence of church choirs and sacred music once again plays a role in a jazz musician's development.

I will go for it too...Thanks ...

Wharfy, that set of Art Pepper records are magic.

Happy New Year everybody!

Stuartk and Pjw, thanks for the Ow recommendation.

I will listen to it tonight and get back to you. 

Wharfy, that set of Art Pepper records are magic.

 

"By any chance did you get the new (2020 release) release of the 2 of them live at The Penthouse in 1962 titled OW!  on vinyl? I purchased the CD the day it came out. The sonics on the CD are very good."

I just purchased Ow! at my local CD re-saler. PB&J, indeed.

Anyone want any Art Pepper with their New Years Day brunch? Pepper is playing with George Cables on piano, George Mraz and Elvin Jones on drums.

 

Johnny Griffin on fire at the Village Vanguard! Around 1 minute in Grif plays a blistering solo that sounds like 16 notes per second!!

 

Happy New Year!

@acman3 Great "Lockjaw" selections. I like that live rendition of I'll Remember April a lot. Really swings. And Lock and Johnny Griffin always sound great in all of their "tenor battle" recordings. Them 2 went together like peanut butter and jelly! Lock was also known for his "edgy/gruff" tone.

By any chance did you get the new (2020 release) release of the 2 of them live at The Penthouse in 1962 titled OW!  on vinyl? I purchased the CD the day it came out. The sonics on the CD are very good.

Deluxe limited-edition 180 gm LP, mastered by Bernie Grundman Mastering Remastered audio transferred directly from the original 350 10'' tapes at 7 ½ IPS

 

@ho249 

I don't usually care for big bands but I do enjoy that Booker 'N Brass album!  

And for fans of the Griffin/Lockjaw Davis partnership, check this out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIFvEz_3FXo

Happy New Year!

Explosive detonations around our neighborhood were, for a change, mercifully confined to a merely a half hour or so. Good thing, as the quantity and intensity was way up from last year. 💣