CHANGSTAR: Audiophile Headphone Reviews and Early 90s Style BBS
Lobby => Music and Recordings => Topic started by: Questhate on November 13, 2012, 06:08:40 PM
-
An enchanted repository for all jazz-related discussion!
What jazz album are you listening to now?
Jazz album recommendations?
Favorite jazz artists?
Favorite books on jazz?
Best recorded jazz albums?
Who's overrated?
Random thoughts?
-
I'm listening to this right now
(http://i.imgur.com/lLC82.jpg)
Listened to the Vol.1 a couple of days ago. It's a wonderful live album. Pretty well recorded too.
-
i listened to this last night. great version of "Autumn Leaves". it's also a great album to spin for enhancing foreplay and making love to ;D.
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/6d/Duke_Ellington_Indigos_LP.jpg)
-
I've been listening a lot to Denny Zeitlin the last few weeks. He has tremendous technique in the modern age from his years of intensive classical work, but has a great sense of harmonics and melody as well that make him one of the best currently active jazz pianists around. For those who haven't listened, he's like a cross between Evans, Newborn, and Tristano. The only reason he isn't more famous is because he is too busy being a world renowned psychiatrist, pioneering the Control-Mastery Theory along with Joseph Weiss. Truly a tremendous personality. Many know unwittingly him as the composer of Quiet Now, which was championed by Bill Evans (even becoming an album title for Evans) and has now become a standard, or from Invasion of the Bodysnatchers.
He's also pretty accessible, especially earlier in his career.
As always, I'd suggest to start at the beginning, with his debut album Cathexis, or just buy the Mosaic set with his first three albums for Columbia.
Here (http://www.jazzwax.com/2009/08/interview-denny-zeitlin-part-1.html)'s a very interesting 4 part interview which cover a whole host of interesting topics, from his own history, to his thoughts on jazz and the improvisatory spirit.
-
For something of latin flavor, anything from Elaine Elias before she started singing.
-
This may not make my 10-best-of-2012 list, but for sheer fun-factor it's hard to beat.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v224/burnspbesq/shimmy.jpg)
-
Jacob Karlzon.
-
For something of latin flavor, anything from Elaine Elias before she started singing.
Second that!
I also like Michel Camillo. Look up his CD "Triangulo". Awesome stuff.
The film "Calle 54" is also amazing. Highly recommend you watch it...even on youtube.
-
For something of latin flavor, anything from Elaine Elias before she started singing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfNURSHTQU4 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfNURSHTQU4)
Kind of adult contemporyish but I love the looks Mike Mainieri gives Elias during her solo.
Edit: Actually, it sounds like something they would play over the end credits of an 80s sitcom.
-
I've been listening a lot to Denny Zeitlin the last few weeks. He has tremendous technique in the modern age from his years of intensive classical work, but has a great sense of harmonics and melody as well that make him one of the best currently active jazz pianists around. For those who haven't listened, he's like a cross between Evans, Newborn, and Tristano. The only reason he isn't more famous is because he is too busy being a world renowned psychiatrist, pioneering the Control-Mastery Theory along with Joseph Weiss. Truly a tremendous personality. Many know unwittingly him as the composer of Quiet Now, which was championed by Bill Evans (even becoming an album title for Evans) and has now become a standard, or from Invasion of the Bodysnatchers.
He's also pretty accessible, especially earlier in his career.
As always, I'd suggest to start at the beginning, with his debut album Cathexis, or just buy the Mosaic set with his first three albums for Columbia.
Here (http://www.jazzwax.com/2009/08/interview-denny-zeitlin-part-1.html)'s a very interesting 4 part interview which cover a whole host of interesting topics, from his own history, to his thoughts on jazz and the improvisatory spirit.
This is great stuff right here. I can't believe I hadn't heard of Denny Zeitlin before, as this is right up my alley. Was listening to him all day on YouTube so I'm going to try to see if a local store carries that Mosaic box set so I can put it through my headphone rig. I'm glad to see that the box set features him in a trio format.
This reminds me of why I love trios so much in jazz -- the format tends to foster such great interplay that usually gets lost when there are front line players. When the rhythm section can shed their roles as supporting players and are allowed some freedom, it tends to be such a great conversation of musical ideas. Especially so for trios that can develop over time (Bill Evans, Brad Mehldau, Oscar Peterson...).
-
Totally agreed on the trios/interplay comment, though it seems the makeup of each is different. Arguably Evans' best was piano/bass/drums with lafaro early on, while peterson (and his driving, rhythmic heavy playing style did well with piano/guitar/bass. I absolutely love Mehldau's drummer, he's great at incorporating a lot of latin rhythms seamlessly with traditional pieces.
I actually discovered Zeitlin by accident a couple years ago when going through some of Downbeat's old blindfold tests (they take respected jazz artists, have them listen to jazz albums without knowing anything about it prior to hearing, and ask for their comments.) One pianist who kept coming up (Evans, Monk, and others all praised him effusively even when he was just backup) was Zeitlin. I thought I have to check this guy out, and it was a great find - he's slowly worked himself more and more into my rotation since.
If you can't find that set nearby and don't want to pay the box premium (should be 40 something dollars on mosaicrecords.com) I can lend it to you, physically or digitally (digital loan= download link, I don't listen to my copy while you 'borrow', and when you delete your copy I put mine back in rotation. Basically a loan but without shipping charges)
Today I listened to Conversations with Myself a couple times for the first time in a while. Really cool album where Bill Evans overdubs piano parts. Very ahead of its time - and unlike a lot of more modern music that makes heavy use of overdubbing, this actually sounds good, cohesive, every part necessary, with a lot of counterpoint (and Monk numbers) throughout.
-
All this trio talk made me put this on:
(http://www.radiogas.it/images/rubrica/758/bill_evans_village_vanguard_61.jpg)
Waltz For Debby/Sunday... are so hyped, but man it deserves all of the praise it gets. It's the best display of mind melding between three individuals I've ever come across. These recordings represent one of the pinnacles of human achievement, IMO. It's hard not to be inspired when listening to this.
It's really cool as a headphone recording too because ambient crowd noise really immerses you into the whole scene.
EDIT: thanks for the tip on mosaicrecords.com. I was so close to ordering it for $90 on Amazon earlier today! Going to put in an order now. woot woot!
-
For something of latin flavor, anything from Elaine Elias before she started singing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfNURSHTQU4 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfNURSHTQU4)
Kind of adult contemporyish but I love the looks Mike Mainieri gives Elias during her solo.
Edit: Actually, it sounds like something they would play over the end credits of an 80s sitcom.
LOL awesome. I've never seen that one before. That was a very young Elias before she got all sex'ed up by the record labels.
-
I agree, those albums are tremendous, and great for headphone listening too with the ambient clink of a glass here and there.
Mosaic sets are almost always cheaper on their website. They do limited one time runs, then certain sellers buy them up and sell them at a markup on Amazon, eBay, and other places in the ensuing years. If mosaic ever still has albums in stock their website is always the place to go.
One vocal jazz album I've been digging recently is Jeanne Lee and Mal Waldron's After Hours.
(http://whoisthemonk.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/front3991.jpg)
Both had done groundbreaking work in the 50's and 60's, (and Mal was Billie Holiday's go-to pianist before that), and are in their golden years by the time they collaborated for the album. Mal's playing is sparse and not very complex, but it complements Jeanne's style well, giving her room to let go a bit (she was a pillar of free jazz and sound poetry, so getting her to sing standards in a pretty structured manner was quite a feat.) The whole album is pervaded with a swirling, heady, intoxicating mood that perfectly encapsulates an after hours set at a jazz club. It doesn't have much variety, as even typically upbeat numbers it manages to give the "After Hours" treatment. What it manages to do with numbers like "You Go to My Head" and "Goodbye Porkpie Hat" is very cool, though I wouldn't call either artist a virtuoso - it's more about mood on this album.
-
Was on a guitar kick last night (all started when I had a hankering for Wes) and ended up listening to Baden Powell most of the night. He's a Brazilian guitarist, so lots of bossa nova/samba, but he also incorporates american jazz and european folk elements into his playing, arrangements, and song selection. As a real Brazilian, he also plays Choro (no, not churro) which is considered the most "authentic" original urban Brazilian music. Got a real kick out of this album last night, hadn't listened to it in quite a while:
(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_2v62San9rpI/TFBykk1ip4I/AAAAAAAAA4c/JulZ5fkVMA8/s1600/f.jpg)
-
I'm on a guitar kick too today, got this going right now:
(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5oM6UO8jBhY/TC2OGauqjBI/AAAAAAAAAoU/AA4aj4hWta0/s1600/000e0a09.jpeg)
I know Rosenwinkel from the Brian Blade Fellowship, although his own band may be more famous. I've seen him cite Allan Holdsworth as an inspiration, which certainly shows in his very long lyrical melodies. Eric Harland, the drummer in this band, is ridiculously good too.
-
Love Rosenwinkle. Did you know HF user Arcamera went to music school with him and they were in a band together, along with the drummer from the Roots? Cool stuff.
-
Whoa -- that is cool as hell. Must be surreal to see an ex-classmate on Jimmy Fallon every night.
-
Went to see Rosenwinkle five years ago back in Finland. Great stuff.
-
Was on a Phineas kick last night and ended up listening to this album twice:
(http://991.com/NewGallery/Phineas-Newborn-Jr-Harlem-Blues-493487.jpg)
Mini Rant Warning:
The knock on Newborn is similar to the one leveled against Tatum (and many pieces of audio gear as well) - that somehow the proficiency and technical brilliance take away from the "soul" of the playing. Come to think of it this is the rub with Bach by people who don't "get" him and think knowing his Prelude in C Major somehow makes them an arbiter of his headspace. I really don't get who these people think they are to judge the "soul" of jazz music - if you're not singing along with yourself tunelessly while your play 40 minute odes to your own self indulgence a la Jarret's middle period does that somehow make you devoid of the "soul" of the music? Is it lacking soul because it isn't coming from the same place where Jazz was when it first coalesced in the South with uneducated technically passable people with a whole lot of heart and their own idea of "music"?
I don't proclaim to have the definition of musical "soul" either, but I'm not sure that because any particular listener can't perceive "soul" that it doesn't exist. I can say that to me it doesn't have to be synonymous with romanticism, lack of intellect used in the music process, or lack of rhythmic and melodic structure and decently tight arrangements.
I guess part of what it comes down to is this - is soul what the musician feels or what the listener feels? I have jazz albums where the artists were so drugged out of their minds on heroin at the time that any "soul" would have been unintentional - yet many listeners claim to connect on a raw emotional level. Other albums many listeners claim is a clinical deconstruction, yet to watch Peterson playing it is to watch a man totally enveloped in the "soul' of the piece. If it is indeed up to the listener, then who is to say that a particular piece may affect every listener the same way?
To use fallacious logic: "Soul" doesn't have to exist absolutely (ie on the part of the composer/performers) for it to be perceived - and it's perception is all that counts at the end of the day. In other words, a musician, piece, album, whatever, has as much soul as the listener is willing to give it. So if something lacks soul, it is the listeners fault.
__
Anyway, I really like Newborn, even if sometimes he flies through ballads and gets a bit too far out from the melody. He's one of the rare jazz pianists that really plays with both hands (you can count these pianists on one hand incidentally) and he is a wizard with the keys. Ray Brown and Elvin Jones are the perfect complement to him on this date from '68.
-
Very nicely done. With Ron Carter and Al Foster. Recorded live at the Vanguard, originally released on Blackhawk in 1986. As near as I can tell from listening to it on MOG, Sunnyside did a great job on the reissue.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v224/burnspbesq/lifesmagic.jpg)
-
Phineas is among my very favorite players too. Now listening to this other gem of his
(http://i.imgur.com/7bHBt.jpg)
btw it sounds amazing on the LCD2
Tari, how do you like Oscar Peterson?
-
Just dug through my collection and it seems I have nothing from Phineas, will have to fix that soon. In the mean time listening to McCoy Tyner - rebirth from Sahara
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51IztssJPtL._SL500_AA280_.jpg)
-
I'm not sure I agree with you Tari about "soul" in music, I don't think it's up to the listener to hear it though what you connect to emotionally is of course subjective because we all have different perspectives and will connect to different perspectives. But there's tons of music that is technically brilliant but souless to me. Putting soul into music is about putting yourself into the music and doesn't go hand in hand with complex musical structure. Most music is not that honest or transparent in that way. Most visual art isn't either. For that matter, most people don't really show themselves openly or honestly. And for me, more than musical complexity, it'si that soul, that openness and window to something real that makes art and music beautiful to me, not how fast someone's fingers are. Sometimes technically brilliant music can be some of the least soulful because the intention behind it is arrogance rather than honesty.
-
I enjoy Tyner a lot as well. My personal favorite of his is a solo album he did in memory of John Coltrane, Echoes of a Friend. He can be a a bit less melodic and overuses certain intervals a bit - on a lot of his tracks he tries to impart a sort of eastern flavor, actually ends up replacing the classic blues scale with a more "exotic" sound with a lot of what I call "mandarin intervals." But I really dig his sound.
___
As for Peterson, to me he is untouchable within his style. He essentially took Tatum and excised most of the impossible glissandos (while still striding with the left no less - a feat pretty much only Tatum could accomplish), infused his playing with more of a bluesy influence, focused a bit more on harmonics, and reigned himself in when necessary. (If you Listen to Ella and Louis for instance, that's Oscar playing piano - he holds himself back as he is of tertiary importance in the mix, but I remember hearing it and being astounded at what he could do even when constrained like that, it totally proved to me that he's not just a player who relies on dazzling technical brilliance to distract the listener from a lack of depth.)
Anyway, he played so many dates and with so many configurations that not all his albums and performances are created equal. He's probably most well known for his songbooks (which were all the rage in the jazz world at the time, Ella kicked it off with her wildly popular songbooks in '56 and by '59 when Oscar started doing songbooks it was something every virtuoso musician and singer was being pressured to do) and Night Train. My Personal favorites are probably his trio of albums at the Blue Note and his Exclusively for my Friends series.
Again, with Oscar, its dynamic, its swinging and bluesy and there are a whole lot of notes being played - he won't be everyone's favorite, his style will be too busy for those who prefer minimalism, and he goes pretty far off book (only in the right hand, he stays very much within the song's chordal patterns even while improvising if you pay attention) - but even those who don't enjoy listening to him have to admit his colossal impact on the jazz music world.
There's a great series of interviews and duets he did with Andre Previn (conductor, arranger, and jazz musician extraordinaire) for the BBC that you can find on youtube - it's one of the most insightful things I've seen about the jazz process. He is so very thoughtful, penetrating yet humble and a truly wonderful person, a complete gentleman. When he tells the story of not touching the piano for two months when first hearing Tatum I completely get him - when he tells the story of a "prodigy" who could only play exactly in the style of others it also clicks. He was the complete package.
-
I'm not sure I agree with you Tari about "soul" in music, I don't think it's up to the listener to hear it though what you connect to emotionally is of course subjective because we all have different perspectives and will connect to different perspectives. But there's tons of music that is technically brilliant but souless to me. Putting soul into music is about putting yourself into the music and doesn't go hand in hand with complex musical structure. Most music is not that honest or transparent in that way. Most visual art isn't either. For that matter, most people don't really show themselves openly or honestly. And for me, more than musical complexity, it'si that soul, that openness and window to something real that makes art and music beautiful to me, not how fast someone's fingers are. Sometimes technically brilliant music can be some of the least soulful because the intention behind it is arrogance rather than honesty.
I guess this is what I'm trying to counteract - I think technical brilliance and soulfulness somehow being mutually exclusive is a bit of a misconception (to me) and oversimplification. I was never trying to make the opposite point, that complexity makes soulfulness - I was saying simple/complex is ultimately irrelevant in that equation.
It very well could be (and I really don't want to sound at all arrogant here) that listeners with varying degrees of musical background can be emotionally affected differently by complex pieces. For other listeners, music with simpler structure, more "singability", appeal on a more primal level - I haven't really thought about it, but that could be a piece of where the stereotype comes from. One other thing I will say is that what we think of as "soul" is much easier conveyed through the human voice than through instruments, and (to me) easier conveyed through "real" instruments than electronic ones.
One point I was making is that the motivations and where the music is "coming from" can be disassociated from the emotions it evokes in the listener. The composer, arranger, producer, musician, etc, can have horrible intentions or no intention at all and be out of their mind on the drug du jour yet it can still mean something to the listener.
__
Ha- just thought, I'm not trying to come off as insufferable at all, but it's possible that's what the reader gets out of it - if so, who am I to tell them otherwise? Maybe I am insufferable.
-
Tari, just wanted to know your opinion on OP. For some reason many jazz knowledgeable people dismiss him. I regard him as highly as you seem to do, and consider him among those very few who can play with both hands. Funnily enough his playing on the Ella & Louis series caught my attention too. Simply brilliant. The Exclusively for my Friends series is also a highlight in my stash.
When people speak of technical brilliance and soulless music Steve Vai and Satriani come to mind. Also Pollini.
-
Ahh, I knew I should have worded my last sentence more carefully but I got lazy. I was not trying to say that they are mutually exclusive. Simpler and less complex is certainly not more soulful. God no. I'm trying to say that they are unrelated though they are hopefully used together cohesively. I'm unfortunately not that into jazz (though I'd like to be, I just can't really get that into it), but if I had a top 100 list of most soulful albums, John Coltrane's interstellar space would probably be on it and it's certainly complex. I think there's something profound he's trying to get out in that album that has nothing to do with the complexity of the notes, it's something you can't even put a finger on, but you can feel. There's lots of free jazz that doesn't have that "soul".
Maybe I'm missing your original point, but all I'm trying to say is that I think music can definitely be soulless (that's kind of harsh, maybe lacking honesty is a better way of putting it), and while it is subjective to a point, I would say most music does not have much of the creator's soul in it in other words, it doesn't really communicate something truthful or real or deep about that person. For example, most pop music that wasn't even written by the artist, and is a product designed to sell albums. Or a lot of fast guitar music that is just masturbation.
-
Torpedo, I think there are a few things at play. One, an inexplicable shift towards minimalism as a "truer" art form, Peterson not being a "tortured" artist with any emotional or drug issues, and his upbeat style when "upbeat" jazz was considered past it's prime. His mainstream success was probably also not great for critical acclaim from the puritans (so odd that a genre that was about not having strictures in many ways has dogmatic puritans), and as I've mentioned I think some think technical brilliance acts as a diversion to prevent the listener from realizing there isn't depth within the work. I do not think this true of Peterson. Other jazz pianists have consistently rated him as the "best" over the years, though not always their favorite to listen to. I take the word of jazz critics who aren't well respected jazz musicians on the side very lightly myself. Jazz can have a lot of the same hoighty toighty BS that much of the art and fashion world can be afflicted with. Be arrogant or brash enough and you don't have to be good.
__
RD, I think we're agreeing then to an extent- and I guess there would be a theoretical point where I'd almost objectively call something "soulless." It's a line that I've rarely witnessed though as I tend to gravitate towards things I like and shy away from those I don't. Some of the bleached music that you hear in the supermarket I would personally call "soulless", but... I just don't think I would use the term absolutely, because if it connects to some people, a segment of the population, emotionally - I don't know, I just wouldn't personally use the term in an absolute objective sense in relation to just about any music. But maybe that's just me and my musical/artistic equivalency talking.
Regarding free jazz, there's no refrain, no chorus, not necessarily anything to familiarize yourself with as it's different from moment to moment - something like that is much harder to have a connection with, but I'm sure it can be done. I can enjoy "mild" free jazz, (some sort of rhythmic basis or maybe an understanding of key) but totally out there nihilist jazz I see as helpful for the same reason any experimentation can be - you can then definitively say "Well - I'm never doing that again."
-
Good discussion here.
The concept of "soul" is definitely a huge point of contention in black music. I think much of it stems from the emphasis that African-American culture places on authenticity. From jazz, all the way through hip-hop, there's always an element of counter-culture and a deliberate posturing outside of mainstream culture. You must be demonstrably apart from what the squares in mainstream were doing. The performance of authenticity was just as, if not more important, than the music itself from a cultural context.
Education and classical training is representative of white culture, so technical proficiency typically gets associated with being "soul-less" in the ever-changing cultural construct of "soul".
With that said, I agree with Tari in that think most critics do take that sentiment too far and is generally a cop-out. I can see praising a less-proficient artist for his intangibles that transcend pure music theory, but to automatically discredit a technically-proficient player purely based on his technical brilliance is presumptuous and totally missing the point. The two are not mutually exclusive.
-
Speaking of an artist that's not exactly technically brilliant, but has tons of soul -- I'm listening to a bit of Grant Green today:
(http://www.silverdisc.com/images/70/724385719424.jpg)
-
Mmm Grant Green is so yummy. The album is titled "With Sonny Clark" but the rest of the lineup is just as stellar. People who say electric jazz guitar is for elevator music are, to quote Bertrand Russell, stupid heads.
I think my favorite from that collection is Gershwin's It Ain't Necessarily So.
Which reminds me of another artist I've been listening to lately:
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41YJnoCfIBL._SS500_.jpg)
Andy Bey. What a voice. A bit self indulgent but not to the point where I'd consider any of the material recrementitious. It Ain't Necessarily So and his Someone to Watch over Me are so good. Too bad he couldn't do much of this type of thing earlier in his career. So soulful.
I'll chalk up the soul thing to a matter of semantics - "soul" may be as nebulous a term as "jazz".
-
I wasn't saying they were mutually exclusive, I guess I need to be more clear on that again.
-
For modern jazz, I am a big fan of the Tord Gustavsen Trio:
[size=78%]
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/316GVvjz%2BHL._SL500_AA300_.jpg)
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41nktOihrVL._SL500_AA300_.jpg)
[/size]
-
(http://store.acousticsounds.com/images/large/AJAZ_7535__16907__01152009113829-1831.jpg)
One of my all time favorites! :)p1
-
I'm unfortunately not that into jazz (though I'd like to be, I just can't really get that into it), but if I had a top 100 list of most soulful albums, John Coltrane's interstellar space would probably be on it and it's certainly complex. I think there's something profound he's trying to get out in that album that has nothing to do with the complexity of the notes, it's something you can't even put a finger on, but you can feel.
What jazz albums have you tried? We should put together an intro guide, or essential listening, on the first post perhaps.
The first jazz album I bought was Giant Steps. I did NOT like jazz at all. It was busy, chaotic, un-melodic, and not very pleasing to listen to at all. Imagine 2 of your first 3 jazz songs being Giant Steps and Countdown -- yikes. I never even made it as far as Naima until years later.
Then I picked up Grant Green's Idle Moments on a friend's recommendation, as well as Kind of Blue because it topped most "essential listening" lists. That soul blues style of Grant Green's guitar was right in my wheel house. I had the title track of that record on repeat all winter long. I listened to a lot of Jimi Hendrix back in high school, so the jump to Grant Green wasn't quite the chasm that the leap to Giant Steps was.
Then, when I finally got around to listening to Kind of Blue, I was hooked. That slow cooking modal style is like coffee and a newspaper on a rainy Sunday morning. I've listened to this record probably thousands of times, and its still one that I crave on certain days.
Anyway -- not disagreeing on the notion that "soul" is an intangible, but a critical component to my enjoyment of music. I find much pop music devoid of soul. It's all paint-by-numbers, manufactured bullshit. You could plug the Siri voice into that Carly Rae Jepsen song, and get essentially the same song.
-
I think my favorite from that collection is Gershwin's It Ain't Necessarily So.
Yeah -- the It Ain't Necessarily So on that record is my definitive version. Nothing is touching it, that I've heard so far.
-
I'm unfortunately not that into jazz (though I'd like to be, I just can't really get that into it), but if I had a top 100 list of most soulful albums, John Coltrane's interstellar space would probably be on it and it's certainly complex. I think there's something profound he's trying to get out in that album that has nothing to do with the complexity of the notes, it's something you can't even put a finger on, but you can feel.
What jazz albums have you tried? We should put together an intro guide, or essential listening, on the first post perhaps.
The first jazz album I bought was Giant Steps. I did NOT like jazz at all. It was busy, chaotic, un-melodic, and not very pleasing to listen to at all. Imagine 2 of your first 3 jazz songs being Giant Steps and Countdown -- yikes. I never even made it as far as Naima until years later.
Then I picked up Grant Green's Idle Moments on a friend's recommendation, as well as Kind of Blue because it topped most "essential listening" lists. That soul blues style of Grant Green's guitar was right in my wheel house. I had the title track of that record on repeat all winter long. I listened to a lot of Jimi Hendrix back in high school, so the jump to Grant Green wasn't quite the chasm that the leap to Giant Steps was.
Then, when I finally got around to listening to Kind of Blue, I was hooked. That slow cooking modal style is like coffee and a newspaper on a rainy Sunday morning. I've listened to this record probably thousands of times, and its still one that I crave on certain days.
Anyway -- not disagreeing on the notion that "soul" is an intangible, but a critical component to my enjoyment of music. I find much pop music devoid of soul. It's all paint-by-numbers, manufactured bullshit. You could plug the Siri voice into that Carly Rae Jepsen song, and get essentially the same song.
I've heard quite a bit of jazz. I actually took a semester long jazz history course in school to try to get into it. Kind of Blue was also the first jazz album I liked and still probably my favorite. I don't dislike jazz by any means, I have a lot of respect for the good artists and love seeing a good live show. But at home it's just not really what I want to listen to usually and doesn't move me that much except for that cerebral respect. But I imagine there being a time in my life when that changes.
I should also say that it's not from lack of understanding of music, I grew up playing classical violin, could sight read, etc. I don't much like classical music either which is why I sadly wound up stopping the violin in high school, but I don't think I've heard the stuff I'd like.
-
Jazz can be hard to break into. Like any music (well, any music that doesn't sound like a tree shredder processing another tree shredder) I suggest people give it a fair shake, try an album or two from different jazz periods and movements (at least five to ten spins of any given album) to see if anything strikes you. If not, listen to what you like and maybe jazz will be something you enjoy down the road.
I will say that due to chord progressions and tempos that are often not in consonance with the endless 6251 what people have come to expect, it may take effort on the part of the listener that they may not always be accustomed to. This is not specifically targeted at you RD, just general musings:
I think there are three things music can do -1) It can cater to the "level" of the listener, with no real effort or exertion needed on the part of the listener 2) It can be at the level it is at, which is not where the listener is, requiring the listener to strain to benefit from it, or 3) It can straddle the two, balancing a "popular" element along with more "artistic" facets.
Personally, I have my "comfort" music which I really enjoy, I have the music I have to strain to really get enjoyment out of on a musical level (as opposed to just being wowed by technical brilliance), and - this is most of my collection - music that bridges the two. I enjoy all three but music that is just a bit poppy with oodles of depth is what I find myself gravitating towards.
This middle ground is great because the balance of power is sort of in the middle - the musicians/composer makes compromises from their "ideal" of what they would put out for the sake of the listener, the listener makes compromises in listening to something they may come to enjoy in the future rather than what they enjoy now, and both parties benefit as a result.
I don't begrudge anyone their comfort music, but eating only your comfort foods make you fat, lazy, and bored. Listening to exclusively "reacher" music and moving on to the next thing as soon as you grasp the last thing isn't great either- you're never taking time to truly appreciate your music collection.
Hopefully I'm not too long winded but that's just always been a philosophy of mine and I find it beneficial.
-
What jazz albums have you tried? We should put together an intro guide, or essential listening, on the first post perhaps.
Please do! I'm growing tried of the stuff I listen to nowadays... I think it'd a good opportunity for jazz newbs like me to get started on the right track as well!
-
What jazz albums have you tried? We should put together an intro guide, or essential listening, on the first post perhaps.
Please do! I'm growing tried of the stuff I listen to nowadays... I think it'd a good opportunity for jazz newbs like me to get started on the right track as well!
As far as Coltrane is concerned, there are five albums that, while perhaps not his best or most historically most important work, are pretty accessible: "Ballads," "Duke Ellington and John Coltrane," "My Favorite Things," "John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman," and "Blue Train." That might be a good way in.
-
All good suggestions, accessible Coltrane.
For people with zero jazz background, this is usually the first album I suggest they listen to if they want to get into instrumental jazz:
(http://991.com/newGallery/Dave-Brubeck-Dave-Brubecks-Gre-475051.jpg)
It's rhythmically inventive but not too complicated musically (mostly chords in the piano) and with a bit "poppier" of a sound, with a melody that coalesces fairly quickly and solos that "stick to the script." Very "catchy" as far as Jazz goes.
If they find themselves enjoying this, my second suggestion is usually this:
(http://newjazzunited.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/lee-morgan-the-sidewinder.jpg)
Also accessible and catchy, but with some longer tracks and a bit more experimentation, especially in Lee's trumpet playing.
Next up:
(http://www.progarchives.com/progressive_rock_discography_covers/4024/cover_24522014122009.jpg)
Perhaps this is plunging in a bit fast but it's definitely the easiest Hancock pill to swallow.
Then:
(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_hLY9DmXXlH4/TSOf1m-V2pI/AAAAAAAACYg/vApeRbZ83S8/s1600/albumcoverSongForMyFather.jpg)
Followed by (of course they have to hit it sometime, but it's usually not the first album I'll suggest as many unfamiliar listeners then associate Jazz with being "a downer")
(http://www.jonathanrosenbaum.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/kind-of-blue.jpg)
If it seems like I'm focusing on the 50's and 60's, I do that for new listeners because I notice:
1) Recordings from the 30's and 40's with the real bad hiss and "bad" recording quality are often unlistenable to those who are used to listening to Elvis and onward.
2) I personally believe the brunt of the best work in jazz was done in the Bop, Hard Bop, and Post Bop eras.
So there are plenty of suggestions in Stride, ragtime, dixieland, or big band (or conversely later third stream, fusion, etc) that I would suggest if inclined to think that's a direction the listener is interested in taking.
Things branch off, too. Someone who loves Brubeck but not others listed may gravitate towards say the Cool Jazz movement, and enjoy artists like Baker and Mulligan. It really starts with one thing you can say you "like" and you can take it from there.
-
Tari,
great list. here's the first jazz album i ever bought - it still never fails to move me:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mingus_Ah_Um (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mingus_Ah_Um)
-
Excellent list, Tari. However for a beginner, I'd recommend Hancock's Empyrean Isles over Maiden Voyage. Cantaloupe Island is so fun :)
(http://i.imgur.com/gyRPK.jpg)
And would like to add this other "starter"
Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong - Ella & Louis
(http://i.imgur.com/QXQq7.jpg)
Yeah, I know, it's not instrumental, but there's so much beyond the singing in this recording, that could help a lot to "get it".
-
Then:
(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_hLY9DmXXlH4/TSOf1m-V2pI/AAAAAAAACYg/vApeRbZ83S8/s1600/albumcoverSongForMyFather.jpg)
I need the Hoffman/Gray 45RPM of this. It's the only version with the first song completely restored. :)
-
I love Jazz. Such an awesome genre... but shouldn't we also include fusion and smooth Jazz here too? David Benoit, Fourplay, Lee Ritenour, etc...? :D
-
Excellent list, Tari. However for a beginner, I'd recommend Hancock's Empyrean Isles over Maiden Voyage. Cantaloupe Island is so fun :)
And would like to add this other "starter"
Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong - Ella & Louis
Yeah, I know, it's not instrumental, but there's so much beyond the singing in this recording, that could help a lot to "get it".
Empyrean Isles is indeed another great option for starting with Hancock - I suggested Maiden Voyage as it has more "famous" songs - but they're both marvelous and relatively accessible for a newcomer.
Ella and Louis is almost always one of my first five suggestions for jazz vocals, unless I know that the person won't be able to take Louis' voice. (I personally have a very hard time listening to him sing, his voice is just too harsh and grating for me. Listening to him do duets with Ella [purely to my taste and ears] is like listening to a gently flowing crystalline stream followed by periodic bursts of a trash compactor. If I know someone else has that same reservation I probably wouldn't recommend it.) This is a case of an album I'd usually recommend even if I personally don't/can't listen to it.
If I were to suggest vocal jazz to beginners, I'd probably start off with:
(http://991.com/newGallery/Chet-Baker-Chet-Baker-Sings-549046.jpg)
Chet is mellow, pleasant, and accessible. Easy to transition to, though perhaps a bit boring for some used to other musical genres.
(http://images.uulyrics.com/cover/j/john-coltrane-with-johnny-hartman/album-john-coltrane-and-johnny-hartman.jpg)
To my ears, the best vocal jazz album ever made. And if you insist that Hartman isn't a "real" jazz singer (he uses classical voice production techniques), I'd say... who are you to define jazz?
Also a very slow album, pretty much all ballads.
(http://img12.nnm.ru/8/4/2/6/d/8426d10937e87a0601e381947a991b05.jpg)
It's hard to choose with Ella for beginners. Chose this as it's well recorded, gives you an idea of her "live" sound (sometimes she's a bit too smooth in the studio) and because the band is tastefully muted so you can really hear her.
Of course, I'm leaving out hundreds of great vocalists picking these three, but ... there's a list coming for that.
RE: Jazz Fusion, yes by all means bring that into the conversation. Here's a jazz fusion (actually more funk than jazz) album I've been enjoying recently, Donald Byrd's Ethiopian Nights:
(http://overtoned.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/byrd_donald_ethiopian_101b1.jpg?w=500)
-
(http://www.musicweb-international.com/jazz/2002/Feb02/Idris_Muhammad.jpg)
Funky Jazz Fusion
-
Best Ella for beginners:
(http://www.e-profession.com/images/ella_fitzgerald_sings_sweet.jpg)
Awesome music with awesome arrangements and amazing sound (if mastered right...)
-
Tari & donunus, thank you both for the fusion suggestions. Excellent stuff. Searching for a place where I can put orders right away :) Can't believe I've been completely ignorant of those two..
As far as Fusion and Herbie goes, 'Thrust' and the 'Flood - Live in Japan 75' are great albums.
-
Tari & donunus, thank you both for the fusion suggestions. Excellent stuff. Searching for a place where I can put orders right away :) Can't believe I've been completely ignorant of those two..
As far as Fusion and Herbie goes, 'Thrust' and the 'Flood - Live in Japan 75' are great albums.
There have been some good fusion albums in recent years. I especially like "Saudades" by Trio Beyond and "Transformation" by Tal Wilkenfeld (the bass player with the ridiculous chops who is best known for her work with Jeff Beck).
But the essential fusion records are "Emergency" by the Tony Williams Lifetime, "Spectrum" by Billy Cobham, "Where Have I Known You Before" by Return to Forever, "The Inner Mounting Flame" by the Mahavishnu Orchestra, and, of course, "Bitches Brew."
-
All great suggestions, though with Miles I'd say you can't mention Bitches Brew as Miles' essential contribution to fusion without mentioning In a Silent Way in the same breath. I'd also put Jaco Pastorius' eponymous album on that list, as well as Zappa's Hot Rats. I'm definitely in the minority here, but I also enjoy The New Tony Williams Lifetime more than The Tony Williams Lifetime, particularly the album Believe It.
LFF- that would also be a great Ella suggestion, perhaps easier on a beginner's digestion as well come to think about it.
-
All great suggestions, though with Miles I'd say you can't mention Bitches Brew as Miles' essential contribution to fusion without mentioning In a Silent Way in the same breath. I'd also put Jaco Pastorius' eponymous album on that list, as well as Zappa's Hot Rats. I'm definitely in the minority here, but I also enjoy The New Tony Williams Lifetime more than The Tony Williams Lifetime, particularly the album Believe It.
LFF- that would also be a great Ella suggestion, perhaps easier on a beginner's digestion as well come to think about it.
Agree as to In a Silent Way. As far as Jaco is concerned, I think he was less self-indulgent as a band member than as a leader. My favorite "Jaco records" are probably Bright Size Life and the live Joni Mitchell record, Shadows and Light.
-
Hard to categorize, but one of my favorite jazz albums of the 1970s. Burton, Metheny, and Weber had some mean telepathy going on on this one.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v224/burnspbesq/passengers.jpg)
-
love me some ECM...a favorite album.
(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_TPGvgtLrAHs/TLY5cltHwNI/AAAAAAAAFIA/VOat2UVXUkI/s1600/64f81492330e091fbf5b09b743b_prev.jpg)
RD, try some ECM label.
-
(http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/multimedia/archive/00346/114808224_ronin_346454c.jpg)
-
I love Baertch's work. A friend of mine got me the Illyria vinyl record for Christmas last year.
For a time I also got really hooked on the Bad Plus but somehow lately I got tired of them.
-
I love Baertch's work. A friend of mine got me the Illyria vinyl record for Christmas last year.
For a time I also got really hooked on the Bad Plus but somehow lately I got tired of them.
I like their latest album more than I expected to.
They have a two-night stand scheduled in NYC next April with special guest Bill Frisell. That could be interesting.
-
After the recent post of this:
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61rzVLQKmsL._SL500_AA300_.jpg)
I decided to give it a spin.
What a fuck-up of a remaster/recording preservation! facepalm :-DD
The RVG is loud, noisy and nearly mono in presentation. Looking at the catalog number, I know this was an original stereo recording but WHY fuck it up so bad?!?!!?
Now...I know the first track has severe tape damage but the rest of the tracks are fine and yet they still sound like shit. facepalm
I'm going to have to spend a few hours fixing this crap. :gross:
Here is a before:
(http://i745.photobucket.com/albums/xx92/FirePhoenixAudio/HP-SFMF-Before.png)
The real trick is going to be getting the 10 track version... popcorn
-
RVG is not my first choice. Mingus refused to work with him for a reason. I'd be very interested in hearing what you're able to do with it Luis.
-
Luis and his waveform teases strike again!
My copy of that album is the RVG unfortunately :'( I got it before I found this place and learned to avoid RVG's. Oh well, live and learn.
-
Unfortunately, with a lot of jazz RVG is unavoidable. Song for my father was recorded at Van Gelder studios. You'd have to get the original tapes and remaster them. Even then, there's only so much you can do, as choices like mic placement that Van Gelder made are irreversible.
Hasn't stopped me from listening to this album hundreds of times, though I do listen to it less loudly then I'd crank some other albums.
LFF- I have the King Records (Japan) reissue as a vinyl rip, I believe Yoshio Okazaki was the engineer on the remaster.
-
Unfortunately, with a lot of jazz RVG is unavoidable. Song for my father was recorded at Van Gelder studios. You'd have to get the original tapes and remaster them. Even then, there's only so much you can do, as choices like mic placement that Van Gelder made are irreversible.
Hasn't stopped me from listening to this album hundreds of times, though I do listen to it less loudly then I'd crank some other albums.
LFF- I have the King Records (Japan) reissue as a vinyl rip, I believe Yoshio Okazaki was the engineer on the remaster.
RVG was a brilliant recording and mastering engineer. RVG is a horrible remastering engineer.
I actually like RVG's placements. They make for easy remastering. You know how the instruments were placed and that makes it easier on me.
The King Records release contains the same flaws as all of the other releases.
After a few phone calls and a few hours of work, here is what I have:
(http://i745.photobucket.com/albums/xx92/FirePhoenixAudio/HP-SFMF-After.png)
This is the 10 tracks and what they should look like. Even with the full dynamic range, the restoration this thing needs is monumental. :(
I'm a few hours in, the first pass mastering is done but there are many things that still need to get fixed. Tape drop outs, clicks, pops, noises... popcorn
-
And the comparison shot...same volume...
It's shocking to see what you are missing with the RVG (dark color) vs the full dynamic recording (green):
(http://i745.photobucket.com/albums/xx92/FirePhoenixAudio/AVG.png)
-
:-DD
-
Holly shitcakes! And here I was thinking that Jazz was of the least affected genres.
-
Awesome!
-
Impressive as usual, LFF.
Having a Sonny Rollins day at the office:
(http://imgc.allpostersimages.com/images/P-473-488-90/21/2183/91PCD00Z/posters/sonny-rollins-plus-four.jpg)
(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-X0YRv6Ro5zQ/TkgV0FzNY_I/AAAAAAAAAlI/1FhrKa3_XDA/s1600/Cover.jpg)
(http://www.jazz.com/assets/2008/1/6/albumcoverSonnyRollins-NewksTime.jpg?1199600918)
My very first jazz show was seeing Sonny Rollins at the Masonic Center in SF when I was a freshmen in college. I was blown away by all of the musical ideas that poured out of that man's head in 20-minute waves of solos. He had a knack for coming up with very distinct ideas that flowed into another distinct idea seamlessly. There's the notion that a good jazz solo should "tell a story" so to speak, and Rollins was one of the best that I've seen live. How awesome would it have been to see him in his prime in the late 50's.
I've seen him probably a dozen times since then with mixed results. A couple of times he seemed uninspired, but the few times I've caught him on a good night were some of my most memorable live musical experiences.
-
My favorite Rollins record...recorded by the great Roy DuNann:
(http://cache2.allpostersimages.com/p/LRG/21/2183/W1PCD00Z/posters/sonny-rollins-way-out-west.jpg)
-
I like Oscar Peterson.. And I really like Milt Jackson.
Currently listening to
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51zpVL6jUEL._SL500_AA300_.jpg)
-
I finished the album today. Here are the fist 30 seconds...
About 9 hours of work into it.
They are volume matched for your comparison enjoyment:
Retail:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/0tj18u (http://www.sendspace.com/file/0tj18u)
LFF:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/x9mxu1 (http://www.sendspace.com/file/x9mxu1)
-
I finished the album today. Here are the fist 30 seconds...
About 9 hours of work into it.
They are volume matched for your comparison enjoyment:
Retail:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/0tj18u (http://www.sendspace.com/file/0tj18u)
LFF:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/x9mxu1 (http://www.sendspace.com/file/x9mxu1)
Very interesting!
I will wait for my pair of Paradox to arrive and make the comparison with those! ... Unless you used some other headphones to master this? :)p8
-
My favorite Rollins record...recorded by the great Roy DuNann:
(http://cache2.allpostersimages.com/p/LRG/21/2183/W1PCD00Z/posters/sonny-rollins-way-out-west.jpg)
I seem to remember a special LFF remastered version of this record on your computer. headbang
-
My favorite Rollins record...recorded by the great Roy DuNann:
(http://cache2.allpostersimages.com/p/LRG/21/2183/W1PCD00Z/posters/sonny-rollins-way-out-west.jpg)
I seem to remember a special LFF remastered version of this record on your computer. headbang
Yeah.... ;)
-
That looks incredible LFF, looking forward to comparing these
And thank you
-
Really diggin' these 2 albums right now. Quiet stunning performances all around. Jazz keeps me goin' :)
(http://img.maniadb.com/images/album/300/300540_1_f.jpg)
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61VoG8mQoGL._SL500_AA300_.jpg)
-
some good stuff mentioned so far.....here's some of my fav's to check out if you haven't already......
coltrane-stardust
cannonball adderley-mean dirty blues
dexter gordon-doin alright
bobby timmons-born to be blue
miles davis-somethin else
lester young live in washington DC vol 3
kenny dorham-quiet kenny
red garland-it's a blue world
sonny rollins -sax collossus
sonny stitt-live at the dj lounge
-
Getz and Evans, classic. I haven't heard Getz and Peterson together, however. Will check that out!
Thanks for the post.
I like this thread. Seem to have missed on tons of good stuff.
-
Highly recommend this one:
(http://ring.cdandlp.com/jazzybird/photo_grande/114394621.jpg)
-
Today is a sad day for Jazz fans. Dave Brubeck has just passed away. It's amazing to think he released two live albums last year at 90 years of age.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/music/chi-dave-brubeck-dead-20121205,0,7126256.column
-
Sad day indeed. Paying tribute by listening to this
(http://i.imgur.com/aPsqy.jpg)
-
What good stuff came out this year that I should check for? I haven't heard anything except the two Brad Mehldau's, the John Scofield and Pat Metheny albums (and the Robert Glasper, if that counts).
-
(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-oc9MJc-DVUE/T6MhNjyFYuI/AAAAAAAAAUU/0Rruz_yQV_s/s1600/tfs+cover.jpg)
Wadada Leo Smith - Ten Freedom Summers
(http://wsm.serpent.pl/sklep/okladki/okl_okl_32378.jpg)
John Zorn - The Gnostic Preludes
(http://www.smalltownsupersound.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/TheCherryThing.jpg)
Neneh Cherry & The Thing - The Cherry Thing
(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0iTJJNNER40/UDFY6xiulxI/AAAAAAAAGxo/YFtSX3XoYk4/s1600/YAnbessaw-Tezeta.jpg)
YAnbessaw Tezeta
Other than what you've mentioned QH these are the albums I've been spinning the most from this year.
Totally forgot about this thread. Will have to remember to talk some Jazz again here.
-
What good stuff came out this year that I should check for? I haven't heard anything except the two Brad Mehldau's, the John Scofield and Pat Metheny albums (and the Robert Glasper, if that counts).
Dave Douglas
Jenny Scheinman's Mischief and Mayhem
Billy Martin & Wil Blades
Vijay Iyer!!!
John Abercrombie
Lee Konitz x 2
Sara Gazarek
Luciana Souza x 2
The Bad Plus
-
Sweet! I knew you guys would come through.
Thanks for the recs. My favorite time of year catching up on stuff that I've missed.
-
Haven't listened to this in a while. Not sure why.
Interesting to look back 30 years and realize that there were "new traditionalist" movements going on in both Jazz and Country at about the same time. Terence Blanchard = Ricky Skaggs? Whodathunk that?
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v224/burnspbesq/newyorksecondline.jpg)
-
(http://www.silverdisc.com/images/60/614427902924.jpg)
European avantgarde.
-
(http://www.borguez.com/uabab/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Jens-Thomas-Verneri-Pohjola.jpg)
-
ACT is on a roll. New Rudresh Mahanthappa coming out tomorrow in Europe (1/29 in USA), and the Walter Norris/Leszek Mozdzer duo piano record go 4 1/2 stars in the current issue of Down Beat.
-
Haven't had as much time as usual to listen to music the last few weeks. One of my favorite series has always been the Live at Maybeck Hall series. I've listened to isolated albums from it quite a bit, but I'm now attempting to make my way through it methodically, quite a treat. At first I thought of writing up a disc by disc breakdown, but my notes on Brackeen and Mckenna exceeded 1,000 words and I just don't have time for that.
One of the artists I was most favorably impressed with was Hank Jones. Jones died in 2010 at 91 and recorded his maybeck recital in his 70's. He had a 67 year recording career, and played with pretty much everyone who was anyone in that time period, from bebop, bop, post bop, hard bop, zip zop boobity bop, modal and free jazz originators all the way to a duet album with charlie haden in 2010.
One thing that is always of interest in jazz to me is seeing how artists change over the course of their career. I sort of break it into 4 categories:
1) Those who are like reeds, just sort of playing whatever style is popular at the time to stay relevant. These artists tend not to have a "voice" of their own - they are just really good at applying "styles" to various standards.
2) Those who are changing, but it is real change - as a result, they sort of change the Jazz landscape. They help propel change as sources instead of sourcing others' innovations. I sort of see these artists as having many "voices" - all of which are very distinctly their own, at various stages of their life.
3) Those who are cedars - they start out playing a certain way and they'll play like that until they die, whatever innovations may be made in the rest of the music world during their career. This is from lack of talent, creativity, and open-mindedness more than anything else.
4) Those who have a voice so distinct that they never really change over time. They could easily incorporate different new elements into their style of play, but just feel it isn't them. These voices are usually easy to discern, whether playing solo or in groups.
Anyway, that whole preamble was just to setup what I noticed about Jones - while he did change in the sense of who he was playing with - accompanying Ella he played differently than how he played with the Great Jazz Trio he formed, which was different than his solo offerings... but comparing his first leading recording, Hank Jones Piano, with his work at the Maybeck almost 50 years later, his fundamental "voice" had not changed at all. Very lyrical, with a bluesy harmonic sense, but technically rock solid, Hank was Hank no matter what (even during his failed experiments with the electric harpichord on his album with Oliver Nelson.) You've probably heard Hank before as an accompanist without knowing it - heck, he was the piano player when Marilyn sang "Happy Birthday" to JFK. He knew when to be unobtrusive but didn't hold back from rich, melodic improvisation when given the chance. Well worth a listen.
-
December/January has been free jazz mode for me. I am currently up to disc 28/52 in the ICP Orchestra box set.
Some very brilliant music in this set. If Art Ensemble of Chicago were to release a similar collected works set it would be an instant purchase from me.
-
Couple cool albums I've been listening to lately:
(http://www.jazzmusicarchives.com/images/covers/alexander-von-schlippenbach-light-blue-schlippenbach-plays-monk(live)-20111225174220.jpg)
And:
(http://www.jpc.de/image/w600/front/0/0016728128421.jpg)
Both take the "real" songs (Monk in Schlippenbach's case, Bach's variations in Tepfer's) and play with them, Schlipp via "interludes" that are almost completely unrelated (he is of the free jazz school so I guess that makes sense), Tepfer via "Improvisation" which is still somewhat in a classical style but in the jazz improvisatory spirit. Both are very cool albums, I'm having more fun with the Tepfer offering right now, comparing to the "famous" Goldberg Variation performances - he's not too shoddy as a classical pianist in his own right.
Admirable though Tepfer's work is, it isn't on the level of say Pieranunzi's Sonatas and Improvisations on Scarlatti:
(http://images.music-story.com/img/album_E_400/enrico-pieranunzi-plays-domenico-scarlatti.jpg)
Which I consider a reference in that category.
-
I applaud this thread.
-
(http://images.music-story.com/img/album_E_400/enrico-pieranunzi-plays-domenico-scarlatti.jpg)
I got this last week based on this thread, and it's been on heavy rotation. Loving it. It's a cool segway for me to get into classical more. I love that it has that elegant old Europe feel, but he effortlessly flows in and out of diversions. Gonna need to seek out the original pieces for comparison.
Also ordered this today based on burnspbesq's heads up in the other thread:
(http://www.milesdavis.com/sites/mdavis/files/imagecache/discography_large/albums/121116_bootleg2.jpg)
-
(http://images.music-story.com/img/album_E_400/enrico-pieranunzi-plays-domenico-scarlatti.jpg)
I got this last week based on this thread, and it's been on heavy rotation. Loving it. It's a cool segway for me to get into classical more. I love that it has that elegant old Europe feel, but he effortlessly flows in and out of diversions. Gonna need to seek out the original pieces for comparison.
Also ordered this today based on burnspbesq's heads up in the other thread:
(http://www.milesdavis.com/sites/mdavis/files/imagecache/discography_large/albums/121116_bootleg2.jpg)
Chick's playing usually leave's me cold, but that live set is so damn good. Miles lets the band step out and explore more unhinged improvisation and it pays off.
-
Check this out. Straight-ahead stuff that swings like a mutha. Stefon Harris is da bomb.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v224/burnspbesq/thegathering_zps77911deb.jpg)
-
Hi, been a lurker of changstar for a bit and now I'm a member because Head-Fi is stupid and I need to supply my needs for this hobby. I'm an avid Jazz listener and would like some recommendations for some SOLID standing bass/double bass/whateverthehellyoucallitinyourcountrybass pieces. Thanks in advance.
-
Not sure if you have heard this album before, but Alone Together by Jim Hall & Ron Carter is one of my favorites. The interplay between Ron Carter on the bass and Jim Hall on the guitar is really superb. The quality of the recording is not the best, but with I find myself continually drawn to it as with only two instruments the bass really stands out as an integral part of the sound.
-
Not sure if you have heard this album before, but Alone Together by Jim Hall & Ron Carter is one of my favorites. The interplay between Ron Carter on the bass and Jim Hall on the guitar is really superb. The quality of the recording is not the best, but with I find myself continually drawn to it as with only two instruments the bass really stands out as an integral part of the sound.
Good call. Another Ron Carter album to check out would be "Piccolo," a live recording on which Carter plays a piccolo bass and Buster Williams holds down the bass chair. Some great playing by Kenny Barron on piano.
-
Went to the local used cd/record store and used the suggestions in this thread as my start off point. Found the Stan Getz and Oscar Peterson record which I have been listening to all day. I actually went to grade school with Oscar's daughter, so I got the privilege of seeing him play with his trio from about 5 feet away when he came in one day to talk to the class about jazz music. This was a lot later in his life (and I was about 12 years old), but it was still a really cool experience.
I also found We Three with Roy Haynes, Phineas Newborn and Paul Chambers. I definitely would not have picked that up if I hadn't read about Phineas Newborn in the earlier posts. So cheers to everyone for the recommendations :money:
-
(http://i1302.photobucket.com/albums/ag127/numbersixx6/Front.jpg?t=1368882731)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRDCHIwepgk (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRDCHIwepgk)
-
(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kwosmcMdigs/TwNjaNblKNI/AAAAAAAAAjw/NWfd0Px_npQ/s1600/Hiromi.jpg)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZaB9urlkgA
Shitty quality on the youtube video, but awsome music.
-
(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kwosmcMdigs/TwNjaNblKNI/AAAAAAAAAjw/NWfd0Px_npQ/s1600/Hiromi.jpg)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZaB9urlkgA
Shitty quality on the youtube video, but awsome music.
Hiromi will always have a place on my playlist. Voice was pretty good, but Brain will always be my fav because of Desert on the Moon, Green Tea Farm, and Legend of the Purple Valley.
-
(http://i39.tinypic.com/kbpr7n.jpg)
-
http://www.youtube.com/v/06DFATE7lBM
-
(http://i42.tinypic.com/5np65f.jpg)
http://www.youtube.com/v/ydjXxEUyD5k