Jazz for aficionados

O-10, I believe my words were "there's USUALLY a reason they are not well known"; iow, there are exceptions to every rule.  Having clarified that, just because any one of us is not familiar with a player doesn't mean that he's not better known to others.  I have known about Dave Pike for years from his work with Nick Brignola (one of my favorite baritone players) and the Francy Boland/Kenny Clark big band, the great European big band.  That band, by the way, featured Johnny Griffin on tenor and Benny Bailey the trumpet player in the often discussed Les McCann "Swiss Movement".   Pike recorded over twenty (!) records as a leader so he is clearly well known to some.  Lastly, I don't think jazz vibes is all that popular.  I know some listeners who unfortunately downright dislike the vibraphone, so I think there's probably a smaller "market" for vibes players than most other, and more popular, instruments; so, room for fewer players to be in the limelight.  Imo.

Frogman, I like the way you answered that.  I know I would hate to be competing with "Bags" and Lionel Hampton.

Since I like vibes, I will most certainly add more of his CD's to my collection.  I'll let yall know what I have chosen after I do the "you tube" thing


Enjoy the music.

Dave Pike's CD's are running $20 used; it seems as soon as I want to buy somebody's  CD's, the price goes up; it's a conspiracy.  There are no stores that sell CD's close buy, they all went out of business, and now they're raising the prices on line.  First Leon Thomas, and now Dave pike; do those people's estates get more money, or just the record companies see more profit?

Hi all - just caught up on the last few days of this thread.  O-10, I would like  to attempt to help explain one thing you are puzzled by -  yes, one MUST practice improvising.   As Frogman said, all of these great improvisers practice all the time.  One must practice developing one's musical ideas so that they are coherent and understandable for the listener.  You can't just go up there and play whatever the hell you want, as you seem to think - that is NOT what any of them are doing.  They still have to fit in with everything else going on - the harmony, the rhythm, etc.  Think about this - if one did not have to practice improvisation, then any classical musician or rock musician or folk musician or whatever kind of musician could improvise just as well as any jazz musician could.   The reason the jazz musician is so much better at improvisation is because he has practiced it, very very hard for a very long period of time.  Classical musicians in fact used to do this, especially in the Classical era - performers would improvise during their concertos all the time, in a section called the cadenza.  Nowadays, just about everyone memorizes a cadenza and plays the same one all the time, though there are a few who do still improvise one on the spot.  One example that I have worked with a couple of times is the famous current pianist, Stephen Hough.  He always improvises his cadenzas on the spot, and when he did a children's concert with us one time, he asked the kids for melodies that they wanted worked into the cadenza, and then obliged them.  In doing this, he is going through the exact same mental processes as a jazz musician improvising is.  The only difference is the idiom, not the process.  

***** First Leon Thomas, and now Dave pike; do those people's estates get more money, or just the record companies see more profit?*****

One of the strange, and good things, about recorded Jazz music is that a lot, if not most, of the greatest Jazz ever recorded, can be had for less than $10 per CD, while the newer 'Jazz' sometime cost $20 or more.  Go figure.

KOB $6.99 on Amazon.

Cheers