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

@pjw81563

RE: RTF live-- I’m a few years older than you (67) and my first exposure to anything connected to Jazz was in 1972, when I first heard "The Inner Mounting Flame". The first track I heard was, if I remember correctly, "The Dance of Maya", which definitely blew my mind. But it didn’t inspire me to explore Jazz. That began about five years later and once started, pretty much snowballed. I wish I could find another genre to explore that stimulated me as much as my exploration of Jazz but I don’t think it’s gonna happen, at this point.

I heard the Heath Brothers (all three) when they still had Stanley Cowell on piano and have a few Jimmy Heath cds in my collection.

 

For whatever it may be worth to any one listener, among current and recent tenor saxophone players there is something on which there is, I would say, at least 95% agreement. The three greatest tenor players have been Trane, Rollins and Henderson. Probably in that order. Bottom line is, who has gotten copied the most by other tenor players? Those three are the top three. Of course, they did their share of copying themselves.  It’s the nature of the music.

Rollins was amazing. He was one of those players who had such commanding musical presence, particularly in the area of rhythm, that when one listens to him there is the strong sense that, instead of the horn player playing to the rhythm section’s groove, as usual, he is setting the groove and the rhythm section plays to him. Amazing.

https://youtu.be/6aDeFA1iO2Y?si=ThiB94ghvhEyBUGg

Sonny Rollins is definitely on my top ten list. And the good news is that there are so many examples of his work that were recorded, we can listen to a different album every day for almost three months without repeating!

Listening to Art Blakey And The Jazz Messengers,   First Flight To Tokyo: The Lost 1961 Recordings.

Excellent!