One man's opinions:
-"Old lion with the young pups!". Josh Evans. Good young players. Frank Lacy? Ouch!
-Freddie Hubbard "Skydive". Nice clip. Never heard anything by Freddie that wasn't at least good. Great playing, but with a little of a "tenth stop on the tour" vibe. Kenny Garret is definitely someone deserving more attention on this thread.
-Oliver Nelson "Screaming The Blues". Love Oliver Nelson. His composing/arranging is so good that his playing didn't always get the recognition it deserves. The choice of Dolphy is not only "courageous" but smart; the way a great arranger is smart, capitalizing on the contrast of styles. Nelson's playing is soulful but always orderly and disciplined; Dolphy's is abstract and upredictable. Good stuff!
-McFerrin. I like McFerrin. Amazing talent, but I like his solo efforts best.
-Sister Dee Dee. Great singing; great tune. She sounds amazing singing the tune. But, singers are always walking in dangerous territory when they scat. Few do it well and she does it better than most; and, there is always an element of excitement or the simple reason that the singer is being courageous doing it. However, for me, and to paraphrase a very poignant moment in a trial scene from a movie that I saw recently: "Now, close your eyes and imagine that she is a horn player?". Personally, I don't think it would hold up.
-Abbie Lincoln. Love her and her unique style. Great stuff. Thanks for the clips!
-Clark Terry "Quicksand". Smoking! Love his style of trumpet playing. Light touch and immediately recognizable articulation and sense swing. Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson (not credited) sounds great.
"Diddling". Jazz players always say that playing a slow tempo is THE test of wether the guy can play or not. Terry plays just the trumpet mouthpiece at the beginning; gotta love it.
****I listen to Tyner, I hear Coltrane, even when Coltrane is not there****
Interesting comment and very appropriate. Both Tyner and especially Trane were key figures in the development of the pentatonic harmonic style of improvisation which defined much of the direction that jazz took in the '60's. This style uses as a building block for improvisation the first, second, third and fifth notes of any scale or tonality and is responsible in great part for the "angular" sound of much of the improvisation from that era to the present. I love it in Trane's playing, but as much as I love McCoy's playing I find that style somewhat tiresome in piano playing; I think because, with piano, the somewhat formulaic sound of this style is not offset by the flexibility of tone possible with a horn. You may find this interesting:
https://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=M66jmp4F8I8
