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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
 
LOL, Rok - no sulking or pouting going on here! Haven't had a lot of time to be on this site over the holidays. If you like tenors, probably my all time favorite would be Jussi Bjorling, a Swedish tenor from the 50's early 60's. I have several of his LPs, and I am sure there are plenty of youtube things if you want to check him out that way. Fantastic voice, along with incredible musicianship and fabulous breath control. Try to find one of his recordings of Nessun Dorma.

Puccini in general is a good place for opera newbies to start. Tosca is probably my favorite, other super popular ones are La Boheme, Madame Butterfly.

A glaring omission from your short list would be Mozart. A great first opera is his comedy The Marriage of Figaro. Also Don Giovanni, though that's not a comedy (has many very funny moments, though). The Magic Flute is one of the most sublime operas ever written, though some find the story very silly.
rok2id's avatar
rok2id
7,859 posts
 
O-10:
Classical recommendations, to get you started.

Orchestral:
Beethoven 5&7 - Wiener Philharmoniker / Carlos Kleiber
Beethoven 9th - Wiener Philharmoniker / Karl Bohm with Jessye Norman, Brigitte Fassbaender and Placido Domingo

Mozart - There is just so much here!! But you gotta start somewhere. Two that I own: Symphonies 25,26,27,29 & 32 Academy of St Martin-in-the Fields / Neville Marriner
And Symphonies 35 - 41, Berliner / Karl Bohm. Mozart's symphonies were short compared to most others.

Chamber:

I would recommend any one of the Mozart 'Philips Duo' series. You get a composer's 'complete' works on two cds, for the price of one. Such as complete violin concertos, or complete Piano sonatas etc.... On the Philips label. Top tier performers and performances. Best bargains in Classical music. Found on Amazon.

That should hold you until your next be-bop attack!

These recommendations are not meant to be the definitive performances. And are just two, of many, many, Classical Composers. Just a good starting place.

Remember this, A true Jazz Aficionado, will love classical music also. :)

Cheers
rok2id's avatar
rok2id
7,859 posts
 
The Learsfool:

All of your comments on Opera were excellent. I remembered Mozart the moment I hit the 'submit' button. But, as we are just getting started, and, as in Jazz, you gotta get them hooked first. I will save him for a later day.

Questions:

(1) I have recently aquired a few Classical DVDs. I noticed in each of them, a man sitting in the middle of the orchestra wearing a headphone with mike thingy. He was dressed as a member but did not have an instrument. What is that all about? His purpose?

(2) I noticed that the trumpets look different than those I am used to. The keys / valves are now horizontal, not vertical. What's that all about? Why the change?

(3) When a composer writes a piece music, say one of Beethoven's symphony, does he write the part, every note, for each and every instrument in the entire Orchestra?

Thanks

Cheers
orpheus10 OP
8,668 posts
 

Rok, you're moving too fast. The recording quality on these 100 best tunes is better than anything I've ever heard on LP or CD. As Nica would say "Just listen to the music Rok", and that's what I'm doing. When music is this well recorded, you can hear things that you didn't hear the first time, and the recording quality has been a problem with so much jazz, that I just can't stop listening to these tunes. Trying to find something by Wardell Gray was an adventure in bad recording.

Enjoy the music.
orpheus10 OP
8,668 posts
 

Rok, we never even got to the 70's. While I liked what we've been into, this was just the beginning of "modern jazz"; it had to evolve, and so it did. As a matter of fact, when a current jazz artist attempt to resurrect that music, it sounds redundant and unoriginal to me.

While jazz evolved in the 70's, it was still jazz. The first of many artists that emerged in this time frame, that I would like to cover is "Gato Barbieri"; his soundtrack for "Last Tango In Paris" received widespread acclaim. This is from an LP I was listening to, I think you'll like it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UAT_nV9gl0

Enjoy the music.
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