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

@audio-b-dog,

I was absolutely wonderstruck by Stephanne Grappelli in the Johnny Carson link. I’ve never even heard of him. He plays with such ease, panache with so much graceful swing. This is good stuff.

He kinda reminds of America’s Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys  jazz and blues country (western) swing.

https://gpb.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/jazz-blues-western-swing/ken-burns-country-music/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okNgLm4Ilt4

Along with Spade Cooley and his Orchestra: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D14M9uW5sF0

 

 

 

@mahgister 

You’ve got me curious. Which heavenly bodies do you associate with other well-known trumpet players? 

 

Miles Davis is Jupiter...For sure...

I had not decided who is Saturn yet and Uranus Neptune and Pluto... Too much great trumpet players to analyse and feel....

@mahgister 

I had a friend when I was in high school who introduced me to jazz. Art Tatum was the first jazz player I heard and then I picked up an Ahmed Jamal album. Ahmed played more for a jazz bar than Tatum. I just watched a piece on Tatum on the "Jazz" series and he was amazing. He blew people away with his skill. I also watched a lot of footage of Marsalis talking about Armstrong. He got on his trumpet and showed the things Armstrong invented. 

@stuartk, 

I have an album with Shankar and Menuhin. I think I must have seen them a long time ago either live or on TV. They're amazing together.

@tyray 

Grappelli played with Django Reidnhardt whose band was famous in Paris. When he came to the states much later, he's played with a lot of people. I have a number of his albums. One with Itzhak Perlman. My favorite is with Teresa Brewer. They're like a cute couple together. I loved the Grappelli/Grisman concert I saw live. Grisman is supposedly a blue grass player, but I think he transcends that genre.

@mahgister 

I can see how the dazzling, uplifting Armstrong would be the progenitor solar body and the nocturnal, melancholic Baker, the moon, but I'm not sure about Miles as Jupiter. Perhaps because Miles went through so many stylistic shifts, I'm finding it challenging to see what remained constant and characterize whatever that essence was, metaphorically. He was creatively restless; always looking forward to the next phase. I'm not sure what his capacity for reinvention suggests in terms of astronomnical phenomenon. He was of course one of the greatest band-leaders, in terms of magnetically bringing together shifting constellations of highly gifted players into his orbit or gravitational field... so many bright bodies... Coltrane, Hancock, Carter, Williams, Shorter, Holland, Corea, McLaughlin, Jarrett, etc. Perhaps if I was more scientifically astute, your analogy would be clearer to me.

@audio-b-dog 

I agree that Grisman transcends the genre, as do Tony Rice, Mark O’Connor, Chris Thile, Jerry Douglas, Sarah Jarosz, Bela Fleck and numerous others. Grisman’s pioneering Dawg Music led the way into a rich and fascinating cross pollination of acoustic genres that is ongoing. This new frontier attracts many gifted young players. I suspect many Boomers who complain about the supposed lack of high quality music at present are totally ignorant of this segment of music. Such a shame!