Jazz for aficionados

Ry Cooder

Coltrane/Hartman:

Whose name appears first in the title of a record or movie credits or.. is a big deal, contractually and ego wise. How often does one see the name of a well known singer follow the name of an instrumentalist in the title of a record? Not often. Such was the stature of Coltrane by the time this was recorded. Gorgeous record with gorgeous singing and playing; a real classic. It is interesting to note that Hartman was reluctant to accept the gig with Coltrane because he did not consider himself a jazz singer (!?); he thought of himself as a balladeer.

**** what happened to all the male Jazz singers? ****

Probably the best right now:

https://youtu.be/LLZwOOEFFKs

https://youtu.be/iXprs8-U5nA

On a funny note, and on the subject of dropping drumsticks, all the songs on this record are reputed to have been done in one take except for one which had to be restarted because Elvin Jones dropped one of his drumsticks 😎

Here's another one.  This guy can sing.  I'm not crazy about some of his original material, but a lot of it is really good:

https://youtu.be/9l8R8CHpdk4

https://youtu.be/cZ9XnEDvQl0

Today's Listen:

Kenny Drew Jr. Trio -- PORTRAITS OF CHARLES MINGUS & THELONIOUS MONK

Drew plays with a freshness and energy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6Eys6wA57g

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcegtgQy2cU

Cheers

Modern jazz is a style of jazz characterized by fast tempo, instrumental virtuosity, and improvisation based on the combination of harmonic structure and melody. This style of jazz ultimately became synonymous with bebop, as either category reached a certain final maturity in the 1960's.

I put that definition up there for others; while my definition is quite similar, it is unwavering. Anybody who doesn't like my definition can find another one, or write their own.

This definition indicates a style of jazz synonymous with "Be Bop"; that's what "Bird" invented with a little help from some friends. For the true connoisseurs of "Be Bop", "Birds" Bop is the only "Bop" that has withstood the test of time; his Bop sounds like music played at a fast pace, while others sounds like a lot of notes played real fast, and people accepted it as Bop.

In the formal definition, it states that "modern Jazz" reached it's maturity in the 60's, and that's "Koshure" with me. It doesn't have a cutoff date, like January 7, 1964, but I hope you get my drift. If you are a seasoned "aficionado", I'm sure you do.

Hopefully this post will cut down on a lot of confusion, but for some, everything adds confusion; consequently we will have to let them remain in their perpetual state of confusion.


After "modern jazz" reached it's final maturity, what followed was "Yankee Doodle stuck a feather in his hat, and called it macaroni". I figure it's good enough that we can almost define one segment of jazz, without defining all abstract music.

Presently I'm down loading my vinyl to the computer library, which is something that pays great dividends after a significant analog upgrade in the front end. The most welcome surprise is all the "brand new" old records; evidently, when I saw a new record of one of my favorite worn records, I bought it. This must have occurred when we changed from LP to CD, because for ages I didn't even have a cartridge, and therefore played no LP's. For the record, this stuff in no way compares to analog back in the day, when a BIC turntable and top of the line "Shure" or "Empire" cartridge was hot stuff.

I'm going to share with you what I just down loaded; "Bobby Hutcherson, San Francisco featuring Harold Land".


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


This tune is representative of the entire album, it's a real winner;


Enjoy the music.