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

Showing 50 responses by inna

Orpheus10, I heard I think all of the albums from your best 25 list.
The very best for me is Bitches Brew, the rest I no longer listen to.
orpheus10, her violin to a degree reminds me of some Eastern European Gypsy tunes. I think, she has more to say than she can thru this instrument.
Never seen anything like that. But he is an old master, he can afford playing popular song in a restaurant, or whatever this place is.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJ1SaCHoakk
Oops.
Santana always plays his best when he plays with McLaughlin. Life Divine is a great fusion composition. And another, acoustic piece, is new to me - Latin, flamenco and jazz mixture. 
orpheus10, this is very far from any jazz, but listen to this simple instrument. It's like a cosmic wind.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5V3y04oHhY
orpheus10, sure I do, Japanese pressing. And Casino and Splendido Hotel. But I don't listen to every track on them, I move the needle.
orpheus10, you might've seen this movie or you might not. Soundtrack composed by Hans Zimmer, Gasparian's duduk. He is thought of as the greatest living duduk player.
No, Armenian music is far from Arabian in many ways. Armenia itself is a very ancient area, they also had been part of Persian Empire for many centuries, so they are closer to Iran and yet very distinct. I am a little familiar with those people. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dpo3RwiJO9c
Great belly dance music. I'll try to find some interesting Moroccan or Egyptian or Turkish music.
In the meantime, let's call it Iranian jazz. Not bad, I think.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DayfXQXyenQ
Orpheus10, I liked the second track most, but they are all good.
Iranian and Indian rhythms and art of improvisation go back thousands of years and must be respected regardless of preferences. I do not listen to Indian music much, it doesn't really resonate with me with some exceptions. Iranian culture in general and musical tradition in particular are much closer to European. Indo-Iranians separated about 5000 years ago, so India is something different, but roots are the same.
Armenians don't improvise much, their main musical form, besides folk and dance, is what I would call existential ballads, whether there is vocal or not.
Azeri are close to Iranians. In fact, many talented musicians and singers in Iran are ethnic Armenians and Azeri, it appears that Armenians have a particular talent for singing.
Orpheus10, the first track is absolutely great. It is not just her singing but the musicians too. Haunting, evocative, powerful, nostalgic in an unusual way, coming from very distant times. Now that resonates.
Scandinavians, especially Norwegians, are very musical people. But in this case it is more than that and not quite Norwegian. Sami people, if I remember this part of history right, were actually the first modern people in those lands, they are natives, just like natives of Americas. Norwegians themselves are Germanic tribes, like Danish and Swedes.
Indian shamanic songs are nice too but.. They do in some way remind me of certain Mongolian songs, though the latter are more powerful, often aggressive and freighting. Well, Mongolians swept thru most of Asia in 13th century, wild people.

Orpheus10, you might indeed have American Indians' blood in you, or your predecessors had a lot of more than superficial contact with them. Memory is a very complex and in many ways unknown thing. There is a kind of memory called memories-in-feelings. This may be what you are experiencing when listening to them. In this case, you resonate because you remember, their music activates your emotional memories which might be hidden deeper in your mind. But not too deep to be totally inaccessible.
Frogman, I never thought of it in the words that you used, but I think you are right - no tension/release in Armenian music. Different state, 'position'. And constant tension/sorrow/longing, I would say.
I intentionally don't post purely ethnic music here, this would take us too far from the thread. I don't even post traditional flamenco, which I am fond of.
Mongolian throat singing, anyone ? No thank you, not for me, but it is interesting.
But I will make one exception. He is very famous, plays a few instruments, leads a group, plays with different musicians from various musical traditions, tours the world, teaches theory. He is very traditional but he sometimes takes the tradition further. Not of course exactly, but in some way he is kind of Iranian McLaughlin.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y034jkNTYgo
Orpheus10, they are not dead, they live in you, your memories and your music. Yes, we are much more than we may think, it is just often difficult to access and articulate, make it more present and create this oneness.
Try album Suspended Memories - Forgotten Gods. It is tribal ambient music, I listened to it hundreds of times. Jorge Reyes is a white man who grew up in Indian village in Mexico, Steve Roach is Arizona desert dweller and Suso Saiz on electric guitar is Spanish.
I always thought that Paco de Lucia and Al di Meola do not really match well. McLaughlin, as a leader of the trio, in most cases smoothed things out and bound them together. Find their performance in Germany in the year 1981, I guess. They perform somewhere in the open, another concert in Berlin or wherever was not that good.
Flamenco is an Andalusian art but it is a fusion of a few musical traditions, including Middle Eastern. Until 19th century it was almost always just singing and dancing. If I remember right, Nino Ricardo and Ramon Montoya developed modern flamenco guitar as we know it. Paco followed the school of Nino Ricardo. I strongly prefer it to all others, don't like Sabicas, for example. 
I understand preference for traditional American jazz, I myself prefer American blues. Hell, maybe I am partly black. Don't look it, though.
 
pjw81563, no not this concert, though it was the same tour. The recording you referred to is only about one third of that concert in San-Francisco. It was an excellent performance but not the best.
Here, found it. Part 2. Germany, 1981.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5uAdifa648&t=2005s
Orpheus10, I can't say I like that Japanese sort of jazzy new age, though there are a few brief moments. By the way, masterless samurai is no longer a samurai. Some of those became ninjas, others landlords, masters themselves, and then some of them became artists. I don't know much about them, just read a few lines.
As for Japanese traditional music, it is hard for me to access it, Japan is quite a distant culture.
Frogman, that Armenian musician perhaps can play but what he plays sounds gibberish to me.
" My brother ! " means my family, my family means my home. Both black people in America and Gypsy lost their home, not on their own will. When you improvise it is as if you are trying to find the right notes. In time it becomes a habit, a compulsion, almost a thing in itself. Finding right notes signifies finding home. But you never can really, what is lost is lost. You keep playing. Others keep listening. The same.
A few generations time does not change that, ask Orpheus10.
Better argument - what about Iranians and Indians who apparently haven't lost home, their music doesn't exist without improvisation ?
We can speculate. What I said was in fact an invitation to do it.
Historically speaking, Iranians and Northern Indians are not natives to those lands. There were advanced cultures before they came there. Indo-Iranian tribes came from the North, from Great Steppe. 

Rok2id, he was just improvising, trying to find his own style. No worries.
Someone said - If you ask what jazz is you won't understand it. 
I like some of Ray Charles, by the way.
Orpheus10, while the other participants are at it,
do you have Tonny Scott - Music for Zen Meditation LP ? He plays with Japanese musicians, and that I can access. Like it a lot, in fact.
This is not Japanese orthodox classical music but it is still quite traditional. I think, it is a unique album, or very rare at least.
German original pressing sounds best, I think. No Japanese pressing.
Rok, I must be psychic - I had no idea of your connections to Tucson.
Interesting, isn't it ? Pure coincidence, right ?
You just seemingly didn't get it. It's a caveman's song. This is you, this is you 30000 years ago.
Yes, this is me 30000 years ago too.
Cheers

PS In any case, Steve Roach is excellent with synthesizers, as always
Damn, I should've lied, though it is against my barbaric nature.
In any case, I am in a good company led by Miles and John and backed by Coltrane.
Frogman, you simply don't hear what Malmsteen plays. It's not bombastic, it's power, and there are a lot of nuances. He played a lot of junk, no doubt. But who didn't ? I think in fact that Malmsteen screwed up his career, great talent. Not jazz, though, neo-classical.
There is also certain scary madness to Malmsteen's playing. I like that too. Besides, technically he is one of very few musicians who could try to play Paganini.
For my taste his best album is the one recorded with Japanese orchestra. Not everything is great there but it is what it is. Don't buy that cd, people, even Japanese one sounds terrible, listen on youtube. 
Alex, generally speaking, I like deeper sounds and also soaring sounds like Miles' trumpet. I heard most of what has been posted, heard it a long time ago. I even used to like Ben Webster and Ella/Pass duo, as an example. 
Orpheus10, that French song was not exactly romantic, listen to it again. 

He who loves everything is clearly an imbecile.
Orpheus10, I don't speak French either, and the translation is in Bulgarian, another language that I don't understand. And I was not referring to picture, only to the music and singing. It conveys intense and not simple feelings of a loss experienced by a woman.
So, in this sense it is not romantic but these things can be romanticized, true, that's why I said "not exactly".
French are complicated.
None of the above. Depends on a woman, I might even sing myself.
The Inner Mounting Flame and Visions Of The Emerald Beyond are better than Birds Of Fire. Three Japanese copies of each, but I have rare Japanese pro of Birds Of Fire. Best cut there - Sanctuary.
I get especially romantic when I sense an opportunity, and here there is a big one. I like that woman.
Frogman, appreciate your thinking about me, but she is mine.
acman3, I said that ? Right, now I remember. Yes, Rollins is irrelevant. Armstrong, Davis, Mingus, Coltrane are very relevant. Tony Williams too. Peterson is probably the best jazz piano player, I do like him more than Monk whom I don't care about at all. When I say "boring" it means that I at least pay attention.
Orpheus10, you like Dead Can Dance. I do too, though I virtually stopped listening to it. Lisa Gerrard is an excellent singer but she is abstract, distant, not really inviting. This is different , I like this voice.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MR7Le2ownH0