Jazz for aficionados

Frogman, for a minute I actually thought that was Trane, Elvin Jones really made it sound convincing; he was with Trane when I saw them both. I'll have to get that.

Today's Listen:

Marcus Roberts -- ALONE WITH THREE GIANTS

Marcus Roberts Plays Solo Piano. The Three Giants are, Ellington, Monk and Jelly Roll Morton. All tunes are by these great players.

All 15 tunes are well known standards. Only three by Morton. :( The Ellington and Monk tunes are among their best. No filler here.

Roberts is out of New Orleans and it shows. Players from New Orleans seem to have a unique knowledge and feel for the music. Exquisite piano playing!!

The surprise to me was jelly Roll Morton's 'Crave'. Outstanding tune and playing. In this tune you can hear the shape of the music to come. Not sure if it was Roberts or Morton, but it gets a little Monk-ish! Great song!.

Excellent recording. No Faults. Solo piano can get tedious sometimes, but not here. This music will grab and hold you throughout.

I have notice that the closer we get to the source, New Orleans, the more songs with 'blues' in the title. A little food for thought, for my modernist / Internationalist friends, who never miss a chance to throw The Blues under the bus. :)

As a bonus to a certain Aficionado, the CD includes Monk's 'Pannonica". :)

Cheers

Can anyone recommend a " DVD " of Beethoven's 9th? A performance you have seen on a TV and has first rate audio and video.

Thanks

Cheers

Don't know about first rate audio and video, but a first rate performance is Claudio Abbado's with the Berlin Philharmonic. They did the whole Beethoven cycle on DVD about 10 years ago now. A very good set.

I have not heard (seen) the Abbado/Berlin, but I have not heard anything by Abbado that I have not liked; he is brilliant.

Two others to consider if the music is of top priority: Karajan/Berlin. There is something about Karajan's treatment of Beethoven that strikes a chord with me. I know some feel that it is stark with too much emphasis on precision; still, it somehow rings true for me. The sound is very good, the video less so with too much emphasis on the conductor. I know I am contradicting myself, given Bernstein's drama and theatricality, but my favorite and the one I own is Bernstein's 1989 performance celebrating the fall of the Berlin Wall. He conducted an orchestra comprised of members of orchestras from around the world and famously substituted the word " Freude" (Joy) with "Freiheit" (Freedom) in the chorale. Normally this kind of thing would piss off the purist in me, but the feeling of the importance and symbolism of the moment is palpable in this performance. I think it is the one to own. Both sound and video are very good. But not as good as what I heard/saw at my neighbor's place when he invited me over to check out his new 5.1 HT setup a few weeks ago. The audio and video on this Bluray release is spectacular, the music (interpretation) of this Christian Thielemann/Vienna DVD does not compare to either the Karajan or Bernstein with tempos that are too fast IMO. I'll take good sound with great music over great sound with good music any day.