Jazz for aficionados

Beautiful performance of “Old Folks” by Wynton Kelly, Alex.   Beautiful player and one of my favorites.  Too bad he had such a crappy piano to play on that night.  A player like that deserves a better instrument.  Here is another live performance with a much better sounding piano, but mediocre recording quality unfortunately ...oh well.  “Old Folks” is at 32:00.  

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=u5qSayYcdP8

Possibly a little peek into the personal dynamics that come into play between players during a music project.  “Old Folks” was one of Wynton Kelly’s “signature” tunes.  On this project he was a sideman to a leader of well known ego and opinion; same rhythm section as the above.  Yet, they recorded Kelly’s signature tune for possibly the best known rendition of the tune.  Perhaps Miles’ ego was not as huge as it is purported to have been; or, perhaps his respect for Kelly was also huge:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=W7QY-Kh5QMY

pryso, I enjoy that O’day clip more each time I see and hear it. Great singer! Not prepared to say it’s as good as it gets, but certainly excellent. We’re lucky to have so many to choose from depending on the mood. Here’s another favorite female vocalist along with one of my favorite male vocalists (possibly my favorite if forced to choose):

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1IM3weosOTY

ghosthouse, Tim Garland is a very talented player who has obviously had serious study on the bass clarinet. Thanks for that clip; I enjoyed it. A very unwieldy instrument the bass clarinet is quite a challenge for any saxophone player to play only causally. I suspect he spent a lot of time listening to Dolphy’s work; and these recordings in particular. Of the five versions the Copenhagen concert is generally considered the best. “Let the bass clarinet play” indeed!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VD-s3des8VU

ghosthouse
Thanks for the bass clarinet Bill Bruford you tub e post. Bass clarinet is a favorite of mine in jazz music. I have a lot of bass cl arinet music
I kind of overlooked Bill Bruford . Was familiar with his contribution to Yes and King Crimson and purchased 2 solo albums but lost track of him. I am going to purchase this album after listening to several other cuts.
I have also been listening to Soft Machine anoth er jazz rock group again.

nsp

Not to divert too much but this was the first version of "Old Folks" I heard as this album was an early jazz purchase for me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLUP9-126nk

I too enjoy the sounds of the bass clarinet.  But I never found many recordings.  One I had early on but somehow it disappeared over the years was Herbie Mann's "great ideas of western mann".

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

@nsp
You are very welcome. I love the tone of bass clarinet. Much preferred over the standard B-flat instrument. I played both years ago...not very well, mind you. Wish I’d taken opportunities with the bass clarinet more seriously; "Youth is wasted on the young"...a poster child here.

Anyway, other than Dolphy and now Tim Garland (multi-instrumentalist in a late incarnation of Bruford’s "Earthworks") who else is there to check out?

BTW - am familiar with Soft Machine.  Got a boxed set of several CDs (Amazon UK).  Had 5 years ago.  That is still the one I appreciate the most.

Pryso - Herbie Mann...gosh only thing I know of him is that hot disco flute sound he had going in the ’70s. I’ll quickly confess to being more of a jazz dilettante than aficionado...but a committed one! Don’t tell O (actually, I already have). Where is that cat anyway?!

Random Acts of Happiness is very good. Excellent compositions and musicianship. Sonics are exceptional...especially given it is a live recording. Another Bruford I recently found and bought: If Summer Had It’s Ghosts (Bruford/Towner/Gomez). Worth checking out but no bass clarinet on this one...no reeds. Different style than Random Acts. Whatcha do get is some great piano by Ralph Towner! (along with his always excellent acoustic guitar work). His piano work kind of surprised me...it’s very good; I didn’t realize he was that accomplished. Also, starting to be become a bit of a Eddie Gomez fan. Love his nimble, melodic work on this album. He’s well recorded on it too.

Frogman - your input always valued. Bruford fired his original reed player to give Garland a spot. Quality will tell, I guess. Will have to check out the Dolphy performance. He is still a stretch for me but I admire the heck out of him. Maybe one day he’ll click for me.

Thanks to all for the comments and input.