Jazz for aficionados

on second thought I think you meant the thingy at the Y. I didn't like it very much either. BTW, Check out Kenny Barron!

Cheers

All due respect to Dick Hyman and his little repertory group at the 92nd st. Y.I have this session fresh in my mind as i just found the lp at as swap meet for a buck and have owned the cd for many years.This music is representative of what was known as the "Jazz Party" circuit which enjoyed an audience in the 70's and 80's and struggled into the 90's and sputtered out as the new century came in.This idea was fostered by Dick Gibson who started his Colorado Jazz party in the late 60's.These were private Jazz festivals that usually hosted around 25 likeminded musicians and the audience was made up of older fans who could travel to these events and spend the weekend with some great players in intimate and casual settings.The players ranged from Swing era vets,seasoned traditional oriented players and much in between.The Eddie Condon school always had a place with some free swinging,hard driving,vein bursting playing.Pretty much a celebration of pre- Bop music.I heard many greats at some of these events,and got to hang out with the players in casual settings afterhours when many the bottom of a bottle was visible as the sun came up.Joe Venuti,Bud Freeman,lots of great players.We got to spend the afternoon with drummmer Gus Johnson and took him to the San Diego Zoo,that is a great memory as Gus stopped playing not too long after that and passed.We talked a lot about Charlie Parker, as he was the drummer with Jay McShann's Orchestra when Bird made those records for Decca and they traveled together.I was about the same age as the "younger" players who were invited.
One of those was the brilliant Warren Vache who performs on the Hyman recording.Warren was just hitting his late 30's and playing some remarkable trumpet and cornet,as he does on that recording,as a matter of fact he outplays everybody on that date,his solos are simply incandescent.Warm and intense like Bobby Hackett.With the wit and charm of Ruby Braff.He is such a gifted player who gets little recognition nowadays,this is a pity as his last few cd's are about as good brass playing as you can hear today.This is just meat and potatoes Jazz improvisation.People always lament that this kind of honest music has died out,well it is still alive in Warren Vache and you would do yourself a solid to seek out his most recent works.They are a thing of beauty.

Jazzcourier, thank you for the wonderful account. I could not agree more concerning Warren Vache; a wonderful player who does not receive the attention nor recognition he deserves. You do a great job of describing his attributes as a player. While necessarily built-into your excellent description, I would only add that he is one of those players that has such a strong sense of swing and musical pulse that allows the rhythm section to do much more than keep time; or could play with NO rhythm section. The horn becomes the rhythmic anchor and provider of the forward impetus in the music; reminescent of players like Clark Terry and Sonny Rollins in that regard. Here is a good example of this; with one of my favorite piano players:

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nmDhnymBwnc

Rok, I didn't give that total performance a listen the first time. Although they started off with "stereotypical jazz", after that, they went into some really fine music. Since what they played in the beginning was to warm up the audience, even that was understandable.

I saw and heard "Yusef Lateef" perform "Angel Eyes", that was magical. "Jive Samba" is one of my favorite tunes, and Nat Adderley was superb, he played his heart out. That extended version was fantastic, all of the musicians played beautifully; every last one of them was at the top of his game when this was performed.

That was a marvelous contribution, and here it is for others to enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0Fo_2Jz9EM

Jazzcourier, Thanks for mentioning Warren Vache. I have been wanting to pick some of his music for a while. What is your opinion regarding his music with John Allred? I have heard good things about both men.