Jazz for aficionados

O-10:

*****Rok, after getting me into this Classical, Opera bag, you failed to comment on my responses;*******

I did comment in my head, just forgot to type and send. The CARMEN piece was good. I had not heard it by this singer before. Her last name was von Manteuffel. That was the name of a German General in command oif one of the Army groups that fought in the Ardennes during the battle of the bulge. He was also an olympic Fencing Champion I believe. I wonder if they are related.

I have many CARMEN's, my two favorites are by Callas and excerpts from the film featuring Julia Migenes Johnson and Domingo. Now that's a CARMEN!! I must get that on DVD. Once you read the story line, you will know why Carmen has to be a beauty, and Johnson is that for sure!!:)

BOLERO, is as I said, beloved by all, except the composer. The clip you sent, Berlin/Dudamel, was very good. I see where the snare drummers were very forward. In fact they were in the violin section. I did not know they did that. I assume all orchestras do it given the prominence of the drum in the music, I just have not seen BOLERO on video before.

The condutor, Gustavo Dudamel, is the lastest whiz-kid from Venezuela. He formed a youth orchestra in Venezuela that was very highly regarded. I hope he does not let fAME cause him to abandon that project.

I have two zillion CDs with Bolero included. My go-to copy is by Orchestre de Pairs / Daniel Barenboim. It's French music, and they seem to play it best, to my ear.

If you will notice from the clip, it's one of the few classical pieces with a part for saxophone. The Sax being a French creation, I guess Ravel wanted to give it a little action and exposure.

The Carmen soundtrack I mentioned earlier is also by a French Orchestra. Again, French music.

I liked the music by Chico also, but it was hard to concentrate. I kept expecting / wishing for Liz to have a ' Wardrobe Malfunction' . hhahahahah

Nice clips. Thanks.

Cheers

Learsfool:

Thanks for the thorough and informative responses. look forward to the others.

O-10: I was listening to 'Louis Armstrong Plays W.C. Handy' this weekend. SACD only. That's music from your neck of the woods.

Cheers

Happy New Year to all! Glad to see the thread alive and well with some great music clips. Hadn't checked the thread in quite a while, and while not intending to post, this subject is a little too close to home to let a factual error slip by:

The saxophone was not a French creation but the creation of Adolf Sax, a Belgian, who in 1842 moved to Paris from Brussels to demonstrate his new creation to his friend Hector Berlioz who went on to promote the new instrument. Sax's father was also an instrument maker, and Adolf's other major achievement was the development of the bass clarinet to, essentially, what we know today. Interestingly, Sax's first saxophone was a bass saxophone (in C). The instrument gained in popularity pretty quickly and it became almost "de rigueur" for major composers to use the instrument in at least one new work. "Bolero" was one of these with two saxophone parts usually thought to be soprano and tenor. In fact, the parts were written for sopranino and tenor. Due to the relative rarity of the sopranino and the fact that, due to its range, the sopranino has to "hand off" the last several measures of the solo to the tenor, it became common to play the sopranino part on the soprano which is capable of playing the entire melody.

Good listening to all!

You may find this video interesting; it ties together a few themes covered in this thread: the saxophone, Johnny Hodges, Frank Wess and his recent passing, and instrument repair technicians and their love for the instruments.

My saxophone repair technician is the great Tomoji Hirakata in NYC. He was also Frank Wess' technician and I happened to be in Tomoji's shop when Frank brought in Johnny Hodges' alto (which he then owned) for an overhaul. It was easily the most beautiful saxophone that I have ever seen, and to hold and play it for a few moments was an experience that I will be never forget; to think of all the amazing music that Hodges made on that horn defies description. Tomoji made this video of part of the overhaul process (with some commentary by Frank) not only as a tribute to Hodges, but as a tribute to the instrument itself. It's an opportunity to appreciate the unique beauty of this particular saxophone and also to get a close-up look at the mechanical complexity of Adolf Sax's creation.

Enjoy.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Ad_NFvmyPvA&feature=c4-feed-u

Of course, it should be Adolphe, not Adolf; hate this spell checker.