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

I received my copy of of Antonio Jobim's bossa nova album Wave the other day from discogs. The 1967 Pitman pressing in pretty good condition sonically and materially. Amazingly surprised by just how rich and deep the sound stages on this album musicians are pinpointed across the stage with both depth and breadth and the musicianship and songs are superb. Someone over on Reddit recommended this album so I decided to buy it sound unheard and I'm very happy I did!

About jazz...

I read a decade ago a story of a black musician who decided to  go back to Africa to study music there...

He encountered a master and discussing with him, the master said listening samplings of western music and jazz, this "does not roll"...

"this does not roll either"....Etc...

 

I am sorry to be unable to retrieve the source of this story on the net....

 

But think  now about a deep observation of Miles Davis which stayed in my mind saying most white musicians "lag behind the beat"and put it next to this African master who claimed most American music jazz or classic "does not roll"....

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/mLmMQ5vd_Jw?feature=share

 

What does it means ?

It means because of the tradition of written music in the West, musicians  trained with written music often  "lag behind the beat" and their music often  "do not roll"...

 

 

A precision: the greatest book on acoustics i ever read was written by A nigerian acoustician, a pure genius, whose doctorate was refused in London but accepted  at Sorbonne Paris... I purchase his book and it change my understanding of sound in relation with music completely. His books title is "sounds source" 500 pages. Akpan J. Essien is a genius and a master of the Yoruba speaking drum which was the basis of his doctorate thesis...

In my opinion recent research in acoustics confirmed he was right in his criticism of 2,000 years of Acoustic beginning with Pythagoras...

Music is not  just  wave in the air, it is the information of the vibrating sound source qualias,  ("Timbre" mystery )  irreducible to  linear Fourier mappings, because created by the ears/brain/gesturing body and flowing in his own non linear time domain....

 

 

Then Jazz or any music "roll" and flow without "lagging behind the beat" if it is synchronized directly with the playing body and expressing something communicated by the vibrating sound source...

https://www.amazon.ca/Sound-Sources-Origin-Auditory-Sensations/dp/1913289540

Here yoruba talking drums to illustrate what kind of music roll and did not lag behind a  given beat but emerge with it...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZOg4xIiulw&t=1078s

 

Now i thought few years ago about Furtwangler the genius of Classical orchestra as  described by  Russian Maestro  Gergiev and Ansermet the french genius as  transcendent  in his understanding of musical time...

Here too with Furtwangler in Bruckner, Beethoven Schumann miraculously, the music dont goes behind a prescribed  external time and beat but emerge with a time of his own, a time purely musical which  no metronomic writings can catch... Furtwangler music "roll" and dont " lag behind the beat"...Gergiev analysed  Furtwangler genius and i think he was right on the spot...

Especially if we compared with Toscanini, which is surely a great maestro but in my opinion a lesser one, because he impose to the music an external timing of his own without like Furtwangler letting the music spoke as the Yoruba drums spoke too only rolling ...

Yoruba masters :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4GXD-7G6T8

 These Yoruba drums roll, and create meanings as rythms gesture with no lagging behind the beat... Furtwangler directing the Schuman 4Th  symphony, one of the greatest  interpretation i ever listened to do the same... It roll....

 Furtwangler Schumann 4 th (the greatest Classical music interpretation i ever heard):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vk8AtH0t2BU

I will only add that Louis Armstrong universal recognized genius on planet earth play and sing always "rolling" never behind the beat....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyLjbMBpGDA&list=PL9FC836A421FE23B0&index=2

 

my favorite female singer all styles conflated  is Marian Anderson:

She roll and never lag behind the beat  in spirituals or classical :

 

crucifixion (a spirituals song)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiFEOhZ8Jb4

Bach Erbarme dich, mein Gott from Matthäus-Passion

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_E7zjNiz2ZI

 I could give an example of perfect musical time mastery in Fado with Amalia Rodrigues:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_-tDYhohag&list=RDEME57zQmiWw8Qt3SWu3xOuWQ&index=15

 

Why Ray Charles is such a loved genius as Armstrong was ? it roll and never lag :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRgWBN8yt_E

 

Why "kind of blue" of Miles and Coltrane is a so great success?

It roll and never lag.... All the album is ONE  single piece of art...

 

Less known Pat Martino album  "formidable" roll too ....

Dickerson and Sun Ra Album vision is such masterpiece too ...

I will stop here....

 

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@audio-b-dog 

Well, I’ll admit to not enjoying feeling "lost", especially when it comes to language. 

I don’t mean to come across as unfriendly but the truth is, more you talk about Jazz, the less clear I am about how you define improvisation. 

@mahgister 

interesting. I thought that playing squarely on the beat is more typical of western classically trained musicians -- an approach that in certain African - derived genres is considered decidedly "un-hip". The best musicians are able to feel "the center of the beat" so well that they can "lay back" or "push" the beat according to the desired feel of a particular tune. For example, Muddy Waters demanded his band members be able to play what he called "delay time". 

According to AI: 

In jazz, musicians often play slightly behind the beat, creating a "swing" feel, which is a rhythmic characteristic of the genre. While some instruments, like the bass and ride cymbal, might subtly push the beat slightly ahead, others, like the horns and keys, tend to play behind the beat to enhance the swing. Playing on the beat, ahead of the beat, or behind the beat is a nuanced technique that contributes to the unique groove and character of jazz.