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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
mahgister's avatar
mahgister
14,000 posts
 

I love Keely Smith and i listened his album "spotlight on K.Smith" non stop for years...

 

and I don’t know who else remembers Louis Prima and Keely Smith.

 

acman3
4,339 posts
 

If I remember correctly, Sinatra called himself a "Saloon Singer". Swung like crazy, probably a pop singer though. I found this interesting.

Frank Sinatra: Through the Lens of Jazz - JazzTimes

 

Frank Sinatra - Where or when (live)

audio-b-dog's avatar
audio-b-dog
428 posts
 

acman3, thanks for finding that article. That's what I was talking about when I said other musicians regard him highly. On the level of Billie Holiday! High praise.

mahgister, on the topic of Persian singers I have a story. I was a pretty wild young guy at 21. My girlfriend and I had $300 and two charter tickets to London. From London we hitched through Europe, mostly took trains through Turkey, but in Iran, people wanted to pick us up to speak English. Plus my girlfriend was beautfiul.

We were theoretically going to India, but were running out of money. We hit the last town in Iran before Aghanistan. Very religious. One guy pulled a knife on us simply for being infidels. We had a local who was showing us around and he took us into a club, I guess you'd call it. And I was floored because the Iranians at the border were so religious, but on stage was a woman singer, and she had one of the most soulful voices I've ever heard.

audio-b-dog's avatar
audio-b-dog
428 posts
 

I'm listening to the Belgian musician Toots Thielemans, the preeminent jazz harmonica player. "The Soul of Toots Thielemans" if you want to stream it for a taste. 

stuartk
3,588 posts
 

@audio-b-dog 

To my mind, unless he was attempting to invent new phrasing every time he sang, he wasn’t improvising. I’m reluctant to include any musician in the category of Jazz who doesn’t improvise, no matter how talented they might be. And just to clarify,  I’m not suggesting improv is the sole criterion! Clearly, there are other styles of music in which improvisation is central. That doesn’t make them Jazz, either. 

To my ears, Sinatra’s approach still sounds like Pop, no matter how jazzy the arrangement.  Pop with jazzy backing sounds like Vegas to me, not Jazz, but no doubt others will disagree.

I’d guess Sinatra fans did not go to his concerts wanting to be surprised by new, risk-taking interpretations -- they wanted and expected him to deliver what they knew from his records. 

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