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.
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.
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Alex, while you are correct in that there is, overall, less Classical music being composed today than during the most prolific periods in the music (the "Classical" period of the second half of the eighteenth century was the most prolific), there is a great deal of it still being composed. Not all of it is "dissonant" and a distinction should be made between "dissonance" and "atonality". I think that your analogy to jazz is a good one. While modern composers definitely build upon established traditions of composition technique as expressed by the great composers before them, the good ones have their own individual musical vision that they often express by breaking many of those traditions through novel use of harmony and rhythm; fundamentally, much the same way that a jazz artist composes or improvises. As always, all in the context of the idea that "any good art reflects the time of its creation". |
Chazro, really liked the Brazilian Groove Band. Great chart; groovy and funky with a touch of that great "up" and traditionally Brazilian "Carnaval" vibe. I’m always a sucker for a great baritone sound and the drummer is killer with a great snare sound. Thanks for that. We recently touched on the role of the producer re CTI records. Overly produced music which aspires to stay in the (wide) realm of "Jazz" is usually a drag. Somehow, eventhough the engineer and artists might be the same, some CTI recordings (not all) tend to sound overly produced, imo. However, when "production" becomes a complete vehicle for the expression of the music the results can be great in their way. I was listening to this earlier today and thought that Ghosthouse, guitar-phile that he is, might find the guitar player (Jon Herrington) on this interesting. Killer sound and very tasty solos with a Jeff Beck-like touch. Definitely not jazz, and like it or not (I like it....sometimes....sometimes I almost hate it) the production values are amazing. In a whorehouse? Maybe: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6xk8x4bV8Mc https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-Td_kLBqDqE |
Frogman - Love Steely Dan? Love Jon Herrington. Very familiar with the latest Fagen solo project. Just listening to it the other day. Not sure why one would ever be inclined to hate such as that (though it is not Fagen's strongest, I don't think). Sure, it's not jazz (especially as Rok defines it) but much of the music by Fagen, Becker and the Dan is definitely informed by jazz. You might find this piece featuring Herrington interesting... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhboYQHDRI4&ab_channel=PremierGuitar As a musician, I hope you will enjoy this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_p0uSTcv7t8&ab_channel=bulleto79 There are in fact a series of related videos featuring Fagen and Bernhardt discussing the SD album Aja. Closing thought.... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3eLEVZ_q9eU&ab_channel=SteelyDan-Topic |
Jon Herrington, check, CTI, check! CTI tried to make a comeback in the early 90's releasing an interesting group of recordings. Unfortunately, the effort failed fairly quickly. One of the 1st was Chroma - Music On The Edge - taken from a live 1990 performance in Japan featuring an all-star line-up. The band was made more interesting by the fact that they went the ol'skool R&R route by opting for two lead gtrs, Mike Stern & Jon Herrington! CTI had a certain style of over-produced product that became their 'signature' sound. This sounds nothing like that! But anyone who's listened to CTI also knows they released a number of killa Fusion recordings. Fusion's always has had it's detractors, here and elsewhere but I'll always fly my F flag high!;) Unfortunately, this particular cut doesn't feature the horn section, that was on fire that night, Randy Brecker (tpt) and the late, great Bob Berg (sax). Oh yeah, this ain't yo daddy's Jazz, so if you give it a listen, don't forget to turn it up!!;) https://youtu.be/0Ba1PqlbcbI I know this isn't the type of music usually discussed on this thread, it's cool to see the diversity of the genre manifesting itself every once in a while. I'm sure yr regularly scheduled programming will be back in due course!;) |
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