Jazz for aficionados

Today is Sonny Criss’ birthday.  Beautiful, easy alto sound.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Fj00v0ssjqU

pryso, mary_jo’s clip is of the Mingus Big Band.  “Essential” is just part of that album’s title.  Mingus Big Band is a fourteen piece band and like the septet Mingus Dynasty is a Mingus repertory band.  They share personnel and were both created and run by Sue Mingus.

Thanks frog, obviously I’ve not kept up to date. I just checked them out on YT and see they have several recordings.

Oh well, they've only been around for 27 years! ;^)

Very interesting documentary featuring the under-discussed Mal Waldron. Very interesting and unique piano stylist and composer. Some great talk about the creative process in Jazz. If nothing else, check out the footage with Abbey Lincoln @ 4:25; gives me chills:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=p3XJ5x8mbxM#fauxfullscreen

The complete performance with Abbey Lincoln (Max Roach sounds incredible):

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=SPhA6Ze_rSg

His best known composition; written for Trane:

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

I have been active 6 months now on this thread. I know Joey Alexander must have already been mentioned somewhere on this thread before I started posting. This kid is amazing. He not only has total command of his instrument, but he has that feel of interplaying correctly with musicians around him in a small or big band setting that usually comes with age and experience

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FP1hnzWSTFg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTsgoNg5hlo


Opinions anyone?

Amazing young talent and clearly a prodigy.  Especially amazing given his background.  Also clearly still developing as is to be expected for someone that young.  Your first two clips are a good illustration of his development.  

On the one hand, on the simple blues in the first clip he shows a really good command of the “basics” of the language and does a lot of great and very idiomatic things like starting his solo (@ 3:09) with the same melodic figure that Wynton finishes his solo with in order to create continuity.  On the other hand, while his solo has a lot of great and very impressive individual moments, it meanders after a while without the kind of relationship between those individual moments that a more fully developed artist brings to the table to give a solo good musical shape.  The solo goes on too long and almost feels like he doesn’t quite know how to end his solo in a logical way; something that is harder to do than may seem.  But, the kid was twelve years old!!!  Incredible composure to be able to play like that with experienced players like Wynton on a stage like that.  Pretty amazing!

Fast forward two years and he sounds much more relaxed on the Monk tune in the second clip; even the tone he gets from the piano is more developed as is to be expected given his larger physical size.  Much more challenging tune to play and improvise on and he sounds impressively confident in the way that he plays a lot fewer notes, but with a lot more musical depth.  If this kid continues on the path he seems to be on he could be one of the best.  Thanks for the clips!