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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
ghosthouse's avatar
ghosthouse
4,319 posts
 
Chazro - THANKS. Found it on the Spot and Tidal too. Safari playing now. Great stuff. Smooth sailin’ groove for sure.

Were you the one turned me on to Sao Paolo Ska Jazz? It was in another thread. Not sure. Anyway, if the Sao Paolo name is new to you, check ’em out. I got the 2009 self-titled release. I see just now they have a 2016 release, "Gringo". Haven’t heard that one yet.

Thanks again for this Anatomy of a Groove.

Alex - okay...found Liquid Soul Equinox on Spotify but couldn't find it on Tidal (there's a Techno outfit with the same name).  YES...this works for me.  

Circling back to our earlier exchange, what/who do you recommend for trombone in either a newer "funk/fusion/jazz" style as this in this Liquid Should OR in a BeBop or HardBop style.  The only name I know is J.J. Johnson but don't know much of his work.  Love that 'bone solo in Safari.

ghosthouse's avatar
ghosthouse
4,319 posts
 
@alexatpos

Liquid Soul is great (could do without the HipHop DJ'ing rap) but otherwise really enjoying the music. Thanks. 
alexatpos
1,224 posts
 
Ghosthouse, glad you like it. I am not a person that can recommend much in a 'fusion' department, but could try with something older. Posted this before, but since there is not much going on here now, hope nobody would object.

'Bob Brookmeyer (trombone) and Friends' (Getz, Hancock,Carter, Burton, Jones) from 1964.

https://youtu.be/_9nOfu1tssE
https://youtu.be/NvE4WEOJ9dY
https://youtu.be/5C9QRnJlco0
https://youtu.be/_fgoFCEpkd0
jafant's avatar
jafant
19,942 posts
 
Esperanza Spaulding
frogman
7,478 posts
 
Great Dee Dee Bridgewater clip, Rok. She sounds fantastic, rhythm section is excellent and James Carter is on fire. I don’t know about anyone else, but it seems like a pretty great party to me and would put it up there with some of the best. It also goes to a couple of the recent points made.

Alex points out that earlier periods in the evolution of jazz styles were more easily defined by name (swing, bop, etc) and recognized stylistically. There is some truth to this, but I don’t agree entirely. Seems to me that the reason there is truth to this is fairly obvious. The further back you go in the evolution of jazz, the "simpler" the music is with more easily followed melodies, less complex harmonies and simpler rhythms. This is no reflection on the sophistication in the performace of it. The closer you move toward the present the more complex the harmonies are with much more dissonance and complexity of rhythms; it puts more demands on the listener. Additionally, with each successive period in the history of the music there are more influences as part of the mix. The influence of World Musics on modern jazz is huge. Take a basic bean soup....add a lot of ham and potatoes....is it still a soup or is it a stew?....add rice and sausage....is it a stew or a gumbo? Harder to define. Does it matter? Even on this thread there has been quite a bit of confusion and misunderstanding about wether a particular performance is swing, bebop etc.. This ambiguity is one of the reasons that I think it’s pointless to try and so finely define the styles. To what end? I think we sometimes develop a bias against or for a particular style based on preconceived notions. Example: many jazz lovers don’t think too highly of Dixieland Jazz; yet, much of Louis Armstrong’s rightly revered music was "Dixieland", but it is seldom referred to as such.

Every period in music, including the present, has excellent jazz and the "best" is seldom found in the "retro" stuff. The retro stuff will never be as good as the original stuff; it is in the new stuff where the "best" of any period can be found. I prefer to focus on the excellence (or not) of the execution instead of the "style". Speaking of which:

"Liquid Soul" is just one of the "not easily defined" modern styles. Some would call it "Acid Jazz". Not sure why it’s called that, but I do know that it’s kind of fun and funky and pretty well executed. I like it ok, but if I was in the mood for something like that I would much prefer to listen to this which pushes similar buttons for me, but is executed on a higher level compositionally, improvisation-wise and overall level of skill. Not retro in 1975:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ylTE9yLRb6g

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0cDxDnKt53M

Ghosthouse asked about trombone players in funk/fusion. One of the Crusader’s founders was trombonist Wayne Henderson.

Great Bob Brookmeyer clips, thanks Alex.

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