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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
learsfool
1,215 posts
 
Frogman, love your BS comment. I agree wholeheartedly that there is too much PC going on in the music world, especially in jazz, but also in classical.
frogman
7,441 posts
 
Rok, my feelings about "free" jazz have not changed for quite some time. I seem to recall a couple of earlier discussions about it. But, to be clear, I don't consider ALL free jazz to be bullshit; quite the contrary. If I am not mistaken, one of those discussions was about Coltrane's "free" period. I would never consider that to be bullshit. My comments were about some players who jumped on the "free" bandwagon without having any mastery of the traditional. Occasionally, a genius comes along whose innate musical vocabulary is so different that he has something to say even without any substantive roots in the traditional vocabulary, so there is real value. Many others...; well, I think I have used up my quota of that word for a while. IMO, of course, and I am sure some more "open minded" consider that opinion to be....
frogman
7,441 posts
 
Learsfool, his musical style aside, how did you feel about Jack Teagarden as an instrumentalist; as a brass player? Thanks.
orpheus10 OP
8,668 posts
 

Lou Rawls had a long and very successful career; he's well represented in my collection.

I just received "The 100 best jazz tunes of the 50's", and I only quit listening to go to bed. This compilation is the perfect compliment to the book "Three Wishes". Bird's photo does not appear in the book, I believe the thought of Bird and the way he died in her apartment was too painful for Nica; but all of the other musicians in this compilation, also have photos in the book.

While I already have 90% of this compilation, I still find it a great asset; my record collection is totally unorganized since I primarily rely on CD's for my listening pleasure, that makes finding an LP a really big job. At this time I'm in a jazz aficionado's heaven.

Enjoy the music.
learsfool
1,215 posts
 
Frogman - I was actually pleasantly surprised at Teagarden's technical ability. Over this three album set (48 tunes in all!) he didn't do that much that was very technically difficult, however there were several times when he suddenly, though unobtrusively and nicely within the context, did something that was actually quite difficult (the sort of thing perhaps only another brass player would even notice). So he could definitely play. Based on this limited exposure to him and certain other famous jazz trombonists I have heard, I would put his technical ability above that of say Curtis Fuller, who I have heard live. That said, quite a bit of the time he wasn't playing trombone at all, just leading the band, I guess. His singing was actually pretty good, I was reading that some people liked him better than Frank as a singer!! But I would have liked to hear him play the trombone more than he does on this set. He was certainly an impressive musician. After hearing him, I found myself wondering why I had never heard anyone even mention his name before - I think he is mostly forgotten now, which is a shame.
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