Jazz for aficionados

Today's Playlist:

Charles Mingus -- Oh Yeah
with/ Booker Ervin, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Doug Watkins, Jimmy Knepper, Dannie Richmond
On this set, Mingus plays piano, not bass. I think they needed him on piano.

I suspect there are a lot of 'tongue started notes' on this one. This is one of my favorite CDs by Mingus. This guy really has a good time and it is infectious. If you don't like this CD, you are beyond help.

How can a group have both Booker Ervin and Roland Kirk on tenor sax? Dosen't that violate some law of nature!! Of course Kirk plays everythiong else also.

Quebec might know what is coming after every phrase, I am not sure these guys know or even care! But it is great!

I would like to hear the Frogman's take on the Sax playing on 'Hog Calling Blues'. There was a time, (a lifetime ago) when I would just dismiss it as confused noise, now I hear it as just awesome!! No Filler!! Every tune a winner.

The last track is Mingus being interviewed by Nesuhi Ertegun. Your guess is as good as mine.

If you call yourself a Jazz lover, you gotta have it!

Cheers

last of Today's Playlist:

Oliver Nelson -- Blues and The Abstract Truth
featuring: Paul Chambers, Eric Dolphy, Bill Evans, Roy Haynes, Freddie Hubbard and George Barrow

If nothing can be perfect, then it's just FLAWLESS!

But I do have a few comments:

Everytime I hear Eric Dolphy, his passing seems even more of a devastating loss to Jazz. What a Talent!

Why isn't Freddie Hubbard mentioned more often, when people talk of the Jazz Trumpet greats?

I have this on LP from back in the day. The liner notes / booklet with the CD is an outrage. Especially considering the importance / significance of this performance. Just a folded piece of paper with micro print.

You won't find better playing, writing or arranging anywhere else. If you ain't got it, the question is, why not??

Cheers

Thanks for the very nice words, Rok. Will listen to the Mingus cut (it's been a few years) and get back to you.

Roland Kirk is not an imposter, he is the real deal. He is one of those players who can play "free" or "outside" because he can also play inside and within the tradition. There have been many imposters whose playing consists of squeals, honks, and "energy" only, and who have managed to gain notoriety because of fickle critics and some gullible listeners, eventhough what they are doing is nothing more than bullshit.

I think that Kirk is brilliant on this cut. Notice how he never strays from the tradition for too long; no matter how far he goes in the direction of cathartic honks and multiphonics, he always returns to home base with a swinging blues-infused phrase. He always reminds the listener that he knows what he is doing.

A player's intonation can serve a certain purpose. While the great players don't necessarily make a conscious decision to play a little flat or sharp, they may hear what they want to say a certain way because of the mood it can create. Notice how Kirk plays consistently a little on the flat side of the pitch. This highlights the bluesy attitude of his solo, and adds to the rawness and looseness of his playing in general. In case anyone wondered, the percussive sounds at 4:50 are "slap tonguing"; a way of hitting the reed with the tongue while stopping the air stream in short burts.

His playing fits the mood of the piece perfectly; they are calling hogs, after all.

Here's a link to Mingus' "Hog Calling Blues". BTW, my comment above should, of course, read Kirk WAS not an imposter; he passed in 1977:

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Hv1Yewr6Z5s