Jazz for aficionados
While no one associates "Ray Charles" with jazz, I have two jazz albums by Ray that are on par with some of my best. "Soul Brothers" with Ray and Milt Jackson, has already been reviewed, so I'll go to Ray Charles, "My Kind of Jazz". He gives us his unique interpretations of jazz standards. There is a reason they call the man "genius", and it can be heard on this album. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiZg5pvRT8k Enjoy the music. |
O-10: I have the Genuis + Soul CD, but it does not include the 'my kind of Jazz' addition. Ray was a genius. He changed C&W forever, and for the better. Check out his Country and Western CD if you don't have it. I have a complete shelf dedicated to his music and that does not include the box sets. A person can't have too much Ray. A woman once said: Ray Charles can play so slow he makes you wanna scream! I love that. I am in the process of listening to my latest Miles and Jimmy Scott. Both are keepers for sure. Cheers |
Orph & Rok, Ray always has had a very special place with me!! And his backround singers the "Raelettes" ... they had to "let Ray" My offering is Jimmy Smith "Angel Eyes" with: Roy Hargrove, Christian McBride, Nicholas Peyton, Mark Whitfield, Gregory Hutchinson. Low key and mellow. It can be turned way up, which I like!! The follow-up album is titled "Damn" (!!) |
Rok, Frogman, Leersfool; here's music we can all agree on. It has the best elements of several genres of music, and I get carried away every time I hear it. Maybe Frogman, our musical encyclopedia will give us the history of this song. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhFC7LB5OXs Enjoy the music. |
Ah, GREAT choice! One of the all-time great melodies, IMO; and one of the favorite vehicles for improvisation of jazz players. I didn't know this version by Harold Land, but I love it; thanks for sharing. Besides being a beautiful and haunting melody, it is a favorite of jazz players due to the fact that its harmonic structure and progression is musically logical and relatively simple, so it lends itself very well to improvisation. If one listens carefully, one notices that after the C minor 7 chord in the opening measure there is no chord change for five measures (an eternity in jazz). When the opening (and very distinctive) opening motif is repeated eight measures later it is modulated up a minor third (Eb minor 7), the same thing happens: no harmonic change for five measures. Things then get a bit more complex harmonically until the end, but still in an extremely logical way. It is one of the first tunes that jazz students learn. The tune was written by Polish composer Bronislaw Kaper who also penned "On Green Dolphin Street", another favorite of improvisers, for a film in the '50's starring Lana Turner (!!! Talk about great chord changes ;-), I don't remember the name of the film, but I do know that it was not a big hit. Bronislaw's score for that film was then reused for a film "Invitation"; the title of the tune. I am a fan of performances of music, regardless of genre, by the composer him/herself. I think the reasons are obvious, although we may have personal preferences for versions by other artists. Here is the composer himself performing "Invitation": http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=v7F6_6kVtPQ&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Dv7F6_6kVtPQ It's a beautiful performance which really conveys the haunting feeling of the tune; BTW, one of the reasons Land's version is so great. Land also captures a similarly haunting feeling with a very similar pacing; as opposed to the most commonly sited version, which while being equally beautiful is less atmospheric and relaxed than Kaper's, and is the version that put the tune "on the map": http://vimeo.com/33852454 As I mentioned, this tune is one of the first that jazz students learn, and saxophone geeks in particular consider the saxophone solo on this next, very different, version to be one of the very best recorded examples of saxophone virtuosity by the most emulated and transcribed post-Coltrane saxophone player (unfortunately, I am only aware of a link to the improvised solo, not the whole tune from guitarist Jack Wilkin's album): http://harderbop.blogspot.com/2011/04/michael-brecker-invitation.html Enjoy! |
