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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
orpheus10 OP
8,668 posts
 

"The many faces of Charlie Haden" is a subject worth exploring, for we also explore the many faces of jazz.

Old and New Dreams was a jazz group that was active from 1976 to 1987. The group was composed of tenor saxophone player Dewey Redman (doubling on musette), bassist Charlie Haden, cornet player Don Cherry and drummer Ed Blackwell.[1] All of the members were former sidemen of free jazz progenitor, alto saxophonist Ornette Coleman, and the group played a mix of Coleman's compositions and originals by the band members.

They released two records on the German jazz label ECM: a self-titled release in 1979 and Playing, recorded live, a year later. These discs were bookended by a pair of discs on the Italian Black Saint label: a studio record from 1976 (also self-titled) and 1987's A Tribute to Blackwell, capturing the quartet's final concert at a birthday celebration for Blackwell.

Each member is now deceased, Haden died in 2014, Redman in 2006, Cherry in 1995 and Blackwell in 1992.

Here is a cut from the first LP I acquired by them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QU6Jb5m9DbM

Enjoy the music.
frogman
7,478 posts
 
O-10, thanks for the Old & New Dreams cut. Beautiful music and one of those improbable times when ingredients that one would think would not make a good recipe somehow come together into an unusual but delicious dish. I don't mean the individual players, as they are each masters who can play in many different styles and clearly work well together, but the individual musical parts of the tune: a beautiful and haunting melody by the horns in half-time, Ed Blackwell sounds amazing in double-time (!), while Charlie Haden's bass is the glue that holds the two contrasting forces together by straddling a fine line between the two meters. I think his ability to do that so well on this tune is a great example of, as you pointed out, the "many faces of Charlie Haden". Great stuff!
orpheus10 OP
8,668 posts
 

Rok, I would rather git whupped with an ugly stick than post a negative response, but since I know you've been waiting for some kind of response, so be it.

The music was alright, it was this thing I have about the "jazz classics". The way me, you, and Frogman went round and round over "Moonlight in Vermont", I don't understand how you didn't know that. For me, it's a Cardinal sin to try and re-do the classics, and the Beys did it six times in a row. After that, I couldn't hear the music, but I'm sure it will sound different when my mood changes, and I just listen to their music.

While Babe Ruth was the home run king for a long time, he was also the strike out king. The reason I mention this is because your record is much better than his, this is the first time you missed hitting a home run in regard to your recommendations

Enjoy the music.
orpheus10 OP
8,668 posts
 

Frogman, only a true aficionado, and musician would have noticed all of that. Your appreciation of that submission made my day.

Enjoy the music.
acman3
4,275 posts
 
Thanks O. I loved the Old and New Dreams.

Another face of Charlie Haden.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZZg46FN_rQ
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