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
pjwI have Eren a Terakubo's North Star CD and I just ordered "a time for love". just ordered  two new James Carter CDs and I've been listening to your post of "out of nowhere"






two new James Carter

Am I the only one who finds small group jazz sounds better in mono ?

Got me to buy a Grado mono cart .

R.I.P.  João Gilberto - Jun 10, 1931 - Jul 06, 2019 (age 88)


Some called him the father of Bossa Nova. All I know is he wrote beautiful songs, played them beautiful on his guitar while singing them beautifully.


In his native Brazil he was known as O Mito - "The Legend"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQC4Ye7hr9Y

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckmcdcQ2mEg

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





nsp

I’m glad you liked JC’s "The Real Quiet Storm"

"Out of Nowhere" is a furiously paced session recorded live at the Blue Note in NYC in 2004. My favorite song on that session is called "Highjack" although the whole record is a scorcher.


Two other live JC albums I would recommend are here:
https://www.amazon.com/Live-At-Bakers-Keyboard-Lounge/dp/B0001HJT7C/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=james+carter...
Amazon reviewer on the above session and JC in general:

Artistic expression spirals up as greater and greater facility with the medium of expression provides new aesthetic experiences on unchanging emotional constants like love, loss and happiness.

James isn’t showboating, he’s just moving everything up and making a lot of people uncomfortable in the process. He can do more with the horn than anybody else out there, and isn’t afraid to make use of it all in his solos. He may be saying something the references back to playing jazz, or playing that blues chorus for the billionth time or trying out things that saxophones can’t usually do while trading 4s with a violin, but he’s always expressing, and doing so on the next level. When you bring new tools, there is going to be a new aesthetic, and the old guard will grouch about it until the pain this new development has applied to their ego subsides.

There is a tension between artistic expression and technical/structural complexity. I can emote with a single note, but I still value the exquisite intricacy of a fugue. James throwing in multi-phonics, tongue-pops and entire choruses in the upper registers is usually derided as a bag of cheap tricks, but listen carefully, and you’ll find new levels of expression. You’ll find subtlety in what you are labelling crassness. Maybe you can’t hear it, but that doesn’t mean the emperor has no clothes, it means you need to brush up on your Bechet, Hawkins, Young, Coltrane etc.

James has played more music than any of his listeners ever will, and the experience shows in his attitude at times and the minute detail all the time. If you want to be comfortable, go listen to Joshua Redman. If you want to catch the real innovation happening right now, you have to be listening to James. Over and over.

And this one:
https://www.amazon.com/Heaven-Earth-Carter-Medeski-2009-08-25/dp/B01K8QF7P8/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2X8M01AK...


btw, I have my tickets to JC's show at the Blue Note next Wednesday 17 July hope to see you there.