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
rok I do not have Cannonball in Europe.

Thanks for posting that I listened to the songs and now I have another disc I need to buy. I would say its a "must have" if you like Cannonball.

The WWII story was good as well.

BTW roc the civilians of Belgium suffered a lot during the Germans Ardennes offensive in December 1944. The SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte murdered over 100 civilians in the village of Stavelot and the surrounding areas as well as the over 80 American G.I.’s at Malmedy which I’m sure you already know.

Comblain-La-Tour looks to be about 50 km west of Stavelot so Brooklyn born Joe Napoli was in a safer village not near the front lines. The Germans never made it over the Meuse River bridges.
pjw, glad you liked “Sareen Jurer”. We’ll have to agree to disagree about the length of the bass solo, however.

Bill Evan’s trios were always unique in, first of all, pioneering the “conversational” style of trio playing. IOW, all the players in the trio “converse” with each other throughout, as opposed to the bass and drums being just (or mostly) time keepers for the piano player; and all are fairly equal protagonists. The bass player always got ample time to solo. In the past, bass players were much more limited as soloists than piano or horn players were and this was the main reason that bass solos tended to be short, if they soloed at all. The bass player that blew the door wide open with the ability to play extended solos at the same level as a piano player was Scott Lafaro also of Bill Evans trio fame, as I’m sure you know. Eddie Gomez continued that tradition. Back to “Sareen Jurer”:

You seem to be saying that simply because it is a bass solo that it should be shorter than the other solos. First of all, the length of a player’s solo is governed by the length of the tune and how many choruses the player plays. A player typically plays an entire chorus of the tune or multiple choruses. Often, the number of choruses that a player plays is not predetermined and is (assuming there are no time constraints) determined instead by the trio’s collective sense that the soloist still has more to say.  Except for Blues tunes which are typically 12 measures long, the vast majority of Jazz tunes are 32 measures long; iow, a chorus is 32 measures. “Sareen Jurer” is kind of a crazy tune and a very unusual Jazz tune, it is 68 measures long; very long tune by any standard. Eddie Gomez soloed for just one chorus of the tune; in keeping with standard practice. I happen to think he plays a very interesting solo on that tune and to play only part of a chorus would be musically awkward.

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