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.
- ...
- 31126 posts total
Caution, Masters at work. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3drqJ1bUmEA&list=RDsRnOZFB6afY&index=11 Cheers |
Few albums that I got lately... 'Crystal Bells' Chet Baker performing within a trio setting with the Belgian duo of guitarist Philip Catherine and bassist Jean-Louis Rassinfosse 'Baker thrived in the company of the like-minded Belgians, whose bop-inflected technical prowess on their instruments was also matched by their deft sense for melodicism and sympathetic group interplay. As accompanists alone, they're superb cohorts for the jazz legend, hanging their ears on each of his notes, outlining the harmonies behind him, and buoying his soft, lyrical phrases. There are also subtle stylistic juxtapositions within the trio with Catherine's choice of electric, amplified guitar allowing for the occasional foray into country twang, or ambient, fusion-infused colorations. Similarly, though, Rassinfosse's velvety double-bass lines reveal the influence of the impressionistic tone of Ron Carter, and he never fails to imply a clipped rhythmic pulse; a necessary skill in the drummerless setting Baker often favored in his later years. Ultimately, Crystal Bells is an absolutely magical session with inspired performances that still ring true so many years after Baker's passing' |
Chet Baker in Tokyo ...'this one shows him to have still been in complete control of his musical faculties, playing not just beautifully and well, but with energy and even speed despite his deteriorating health. His singing, too, sounds uncannily like that of the quiet young sex symbol he'd been in the 1950s, before age and heroin ravaged his face and emptied his eyes. Accompanied beautifully by pianist Harold Danko, bassist Hein Van Der Geyn and drummer John Engels, Baker plays a surprisingly varied set, from Jimmy Heath's hard bop standard "For Minors Only" to "Four" by Miles Davis and the delicately anguished "Almost Blue," written for him by Elvis Costello. Here he still plays with the sweet, dry tone that made him famous and helped to define an entire school of West Coast jazz, and sings in a voice remarkably similar to that of his trumpet. Given its context, you can't miss the poignancy of this recording; but the playing is so sweet and happy that it's also impossible to resist the spirit in which these performances were offered -- a spirit which was anything but sad.' |
- 31126 posts total