Jazz for aficionados
All this great talk of live albums has caused me to pull out some more favorites: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_lrwp53TVjMLccwjjVqQH041aeOeDUu7B8 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLeDYEULrbSfJEeZAwqR24WTKXYSz2e49d |
Personnel: “Live At Yoshi’s” Pat Martino- guitar Joey DeFrancesco- Hammond B3 Billy Hart- drums —————————— “Thad and Mel”
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Funny, all this discussion about favorite live recordings made me think of the most memorable concerts I’ve attended. While jazz is my preferred music, and I’ve attended many concerts and festivals (I’m pretty old!), not many near the top of my personal list have been jazz. Among those that were, the first concert I attended was Louie Armstrong and the All Stars with my parents at a local theater around 1952. That was wonderful and left lasting memories. While in college we drove to Detroit for several concerts at a small local club, The Minor Key. There I saw Miles, Coltrane, Evans, Cannonball, Silver, Jazz Messengers, and more. I can’t honestly say one stood out but as a group they collectively rate very high. Other top favorite live experiences were non-jazz, including The Mahavishnu Orchestra early on at a small local club, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band at our county fair, Mendelssohn’s "Octet" with a collection of top flight musicians at our Mainly Mozart Festival, and Lang Lang performing with our local symphony orchestra. In each case it was an emotional connection with the music that made them outstanding. See, I said I enjoy many types of music. ;^) |
Wow! You saw Satchmo, Miles, Trane, Cannonball, Evans, Silver, Blakey (and others) play live. Envious is an understatement. I’ve seen my share of great jazz players, but that’s a list of some of the greatest of the great. Evans and Blakey are the only ones on that list that I had the pleasure of seeing live. The few times that I heard Evans were all memorable. Other memorable ones include, Dexter, Griffin, McClean, Phil Woods, Thad&Mel, Herbie, Hubbard, Shorter, and others....but, man, Louis, Miles and Trane!! I would have given my favorite cast iron skillet to have seen Trane live 😊. I know our OP has (seen Trane, that is). Then there’s the annual Vienna Philharmonic concert at Carnegie..... |
I believe I saw Miles more often than anyone else. In addition to a couple of times at the Minor Key (quartet/sextet), also both the Detroit and Saugatuck Jazz Festivals, in Hawaii at Punch Bowl in the mid-'60s, and lastly in San Diego in the mid-'70s. For that last one when we walked in the stage was arrayed with big speakers and amps. The crowd at the Civic Theater was a near sell out but almost half the audience left at intermission. That was after the conversion to electronic-Miles but many in attendance apparently weren't prepared for that. |
