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
Count Basie and his Orchestra

APRIL IN PARIS

Verve   1955-56 / 1997

Notes: "The Count Basie Orchestra became a staple of Jazz in the late thirties, when the leader brought the band to New York from Kansas City, via Chicago, and enlarged it to meet the swing era's standard for big bands.  America crowned Benny Goodman the King of Swing, but anyone with an ounce of rhythm in his body knew the title belonged to Basie."

April In Paris
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3-jTzSgU38

Magic
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMm-PH90SwU

Corner Pocket
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTcmPGdDecw

Shiny Stockings
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWqbQDjLK44

Cheers

This album was long  unavailable (on cd) but now I have seen it beeing printed and sold again, on Amazon.

For all Kenny Burrell fans or for ones that simply like good music

Asphalt Canyon Suite from 1969.

https://youtu.be/KjEGemtENmo

https://youtu.be/4X71q_hQ9qo

https://youtu.be/ht3l51u3H-s


Count Basie

COUNT BASIE AT NEWPORT

with / Jimmy Rushing, Lester Young, Jo Jo Jones, Illinois Jacquet and Roy Eldridge

Notes: "Lester "Pres" Young is the patron saint of modern Jazz and the most emulated tenor man of the past 20 years.  He was born in Woodville, Miss., in 1909, and jobbed around the Midwest with King Oliver and others, joining Basie prior to the exodus from K.C."

"Roy Eldridge is the link between the traditional trumpet style of Louis Armstrong and the modern style of Dizzy Gillespie.  He was born in Pittsburgh in 1911, achieved his initial fame as a member of the Fletcher Henderson band, and rose to greater prominence with Gene Krupa and Artie Shaw."

My favorites on trumpet and tenor.

Swingin' at Newport
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coCbbTdoHeY

Evenin'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqPob_ShZEo

Blee Blop Blues
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTZAH7vE__Q

Boogie Woogie (I may be wrong)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEWE8lsZ8nw

One O'Clock Jump
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFhq7eBiQCY

Cheers
Count Basie

BASIE AT BIRDLAND

Roulette Jazz
Recorded 1961 / 2007

Notes: "If the repertoire on this album is heavily weighted toward the blues, this is, after all, at its very core, a Kansas City band and one that is able to show the infinite variety and invention that can be drawn from this simple form.  Sixteen swinging men at their peak, off the road and playing at the club they call home -- it doesn't get any better!"

Segue in C 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oB0LSQGJukM

Little Pony
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4fqwu8b4cc

Backstage Blues 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqwUt8P7HwE

Whirly-Bird    (Jon Hendricks, vocal)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dITbLg8LUx0

Cheers
Count Basie

CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD

Roulette  1958 / 2003

Notes: "Blues had been a staple of the original Basie Band's diet, and it was still on the menu in 1958.  Six of the ten original 'Chairman of the Board' tracks are blues, an object lesson in the infinite variety of the 12-bar form, especially in the hands of one of its greatest practitioners."

All from the 2003 remaster.

Blues in Hoss' Flat 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjlfL1ZJoB8

Kansas City Shout 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hftPzkWGvI

Mutt and Jeff 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3eYuoHr-d00

Moten Swing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxYWsWpjCOY

H.R.H. (Her Royal Highness)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMTf_gUccfQ

Cheers