Jazz for aficionados

Nice! Paul Bley was a monster. The clip and Alex’s mention of “emotion” made me think of this. I loved this YouTube poster’s comment:

**** Chet plays sometimes a note that is so tragic, so wildly sad that it feels like an angel just died, died some agonizing poison by traitor death, and then to top it off no one goes to his funeral. ****

https://youtu.be/Rl5wuQn0KJk

No second line at this one.

One of the definitions of insanity is doing the same thing over and over while expecting different results. I'll give you an example of how I did this for years.

Since I already had the best jazz artists in my collection, I began to look for new artists and new music; rarely was I successful. This became a habit; a bad habit I might add, plus, at that time you had to buy the record before you listened to it. To make a long story short, I've got a lot of records that need to go to "Goodwill".

Now that I can listen before I buy, and the names of the best jazz artists doesn't change overnight, I intend to have a 99% success rate.



I have no idea why some like this and others like that, but as Rhett Butler said to Scarlett O' Hara, "Frankly My Dear, I Don't Give a Damn". Now I go for the best (as evaluated by yours truly) and leave the rest.

It helps a lot to have other like minded people who have gone through the process of selecting what they consider the best jazz available; that enables me to add "winners" to my collection faster than I can scrape up the cash.

What's music to one person is noise to another person; that's just a fact of life.


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


Let us scrutinize that record;



Donald Byrd – trumpet
Julian Priester – trombone
Frank Foster – tenor and soprano saxophone
Jerry Dodgion (#1, 3) – flute
Lew Tabackin (#2, 4) – flute
Duke Pearson – electric piano
Jimmy Ponder – guitar
Roland Wilson – bass guitar
Joe Chambers (#2, 4), Leo Morris (#1, 3) – drums
Nat Bettis – percussion
John H. Robinson Jr. – percussion


Here again we have "Duke Pearson", plus other "A" rated musicians. I only want records that will stand repeated listens.
   

Let me explain why older jazz albums are better than new jazz albums. I heard this cut on the radio and bought the CD. I think this is a real nice cut;


    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSxcrufI6T0



I didn't think the rest of the cuts were as nice. I found that to be a consistent pattern when buying "unknowns". Rok confirmed this. When you compare the musicians on older albums with those on newer albums, you will notice many well known musicians on the older albums, as opposed to musicians you never heard of on newer albums; that makes a big difference.

While I'm always looking for something new, I don't have money to burn, therefore I'm much more selective; especially with the knowledge that I'll get more music with older albums than with the newer ones.

Here is an artist who has continued to evolve; we discussed him from the time he was on the "South Side" till now. That was a long time ago; he's still playing some of the same jams, but they are so different.


      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cytUz9KkK9M