Jazz for aficionados
Frogman, I would speculate that goes for everyone on this thread, but lately we seem to be able to get better recording quality. The CD's of the 100 best recordings of the 50's sound better than some of my records; it's a mixed bag, but I would venture to say that we all side with you because it's better than no record at all. |
This morning's spotlight is on "Gene Harris"; best known as the original leader of "The 3 Sounds". Wikipedia Gene Harris (September 1, 1933 in Benton Harbor, Michigan – January 16, 2000 in Boise, Idaho) was an American jazz pianist known for his warm sound and blues and gospel infused style that is known as soul jazz. (Disregard "Soul jazz") We don't need no stinkin labels. From 1956 to 1970, he played in The Three Sounds trio with bassist Andy Simpkins and drummer Bill Dowdy. During this time, The Three Sounds recorded regularly for Blue Note and Verve. Once his touch was added to familiar tunes, that made them special. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0RCdSKogeI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyNL4T7JBpg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfNIVdnz1FQ |
Regarding Mosaic, as well as some other reissue companies, I tend to agree with o10. I have a few of the Mosaic LP box sets and I typically don't enjoy hearing 2-3 takes of one song in succession. That may be OK for one listen to pick out the differences. But for repeated listening over time I don't care for it. For me it would have been better if the original recording was presented in sequence, then offer any worthwhile outtakes at the end. But that is just one person's opinion. Otherwise, I've found the Mosaic sets highly recommendable. One other related point. For many artists, regardless of type of music, I'm content with one or two representative recordings. It is only artists I really enjoy that I've accumulated from maybe 5 to 25 or more albums. That preference limits my interest in most of the Mosaic catalog. I'm not a completist. ;^) |
When I was buying "Mosaic", I had more expendable cash; it's an entirely different story now. I know I promised a review of "Marseille" by Ahmad, but three versions of the same tune is a little bit much. I'm going back to what I stated previously, and stick to "Old" New music, if you can understand that. Now it's time for me to give my take on what Alex submitted. I've never heard of Don Sleet; he's a good musician, but the music was "Mundane" except for the bass on "Brooklyn Bridge"; the rest of the music was good, but not impresssive. Alex, don't let this slow down your submissions. |
Gene Harris: Good to see my main man get a little notice. To me, he is like Oscar Peterson, in that they make music that is never irritating and never gets tiresome after repeated listening. Always had a smile on his face. His music would put a smile on the listeners face. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYbH4dnjCCE "Soul Jazz" was a term or label, used to imply that the music was too 'simple' and accessible to the masses, to be real jazz. Real Jazz had to be 'intellectual', esoteric, and could only be defined or critiqued by the performer. The noise makers brought the labels with them, to help ensure their success. A great Country and Western artist once said of Ray Charles, "He changed Country music to the point where I could sing it". The noise makers wanted to change Jazz to the point where they could play it, or at least be considered JAZZ players. Cheers |
One further thought on "Mosaic", except this time the tune, not the label. Any person who considers themself a jazz aficionado should be able to identify this group in just a few seconds, if not the tune itself. It came on my FM jazz station as I was driving home from the dentist this morning, so that inspired me to share it. Unmistakable! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzfURZdmkx8 |
Messengers: Great group and concept. I just wish Blakey would stick to keeping time. For the life of me, I cannot hear the connection between drum solos and the tunes being played. Cheers BTW, I completely agree with the 'alternate take' sentiments. I have a box set by Monk, 4 CDs, and I think they play just a few tunes over and over. Of course Monk seemed to play the same songs on all his albums. |
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mary_jo, I have gotten to know a bit about your beautiful country by way of a wonderful young lady who was my youngest son’s babysitter for many years. She and her family immigrated to the USA and were our neighbors for many years and my family was fortunate to have gotten to know them; wonderful people. The parents are actually planning on moving back to Croatia next year to a property in the countryside that looks absolutely beautiful from pictures. Every family has that irascible uncle who is extremely opinionated and prone to aggressive behavior and name calling. Of course, the best course of action is to simply roll one’s eyeballs and say “there he goes again”....and can serve as a great source of humor if one looks below the surface. I look forward to your posts. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0rEsVp5tiDQ |
This is a nice record, even with 3 different versions of Marseille. All very different versions. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tx3amqvKixs |
Acman, I have "flip-floped" on that record; which is a good record, but I object to 3 versions of the same thing, one of which is not music, but spoken French, which I don't understand. There is so much "good" music on that record, which is hard to find, that I could "flip-flop" once again, and agree with you. |
I so like it what Orpheus has recently posted on Gene Harris. And I have gone through Alex’s Don Sleet again, sharing Frogman’s opinion on this one. Very nice. If beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder, so does music should lie in the ears of the listener. However, it’s always interesting to observe the way other people see ’my kind of a music’, so the beauty lies in the differences as well. And thank you Frogman for the kind words again. Croatia is indeed pretty. But pity that Croatian people have forgotten to appreciate and nurture what they have so constant race for profit has overpowered the need of preserving the beauty. Pretty pity. It’s raining today... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSh11ZzvKOw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOpD8SOAJnM |
Sorry if this disappoints. It was I who deleted my own post. In my haste I misread pryso’s post. I thought, at first, that his “aficionado challenge” was to be able to identify a band....any band....not just the one in his link. I had responded with a resounding “Amen!” when I realized just what he meant. Way too easy 😊 |
Thanks for the excellent clips, mary_jo; two great artists. That Turrentine recording is one of my favorites from one of my favorite tenor players. He had a wonderful way of telling a story with his solos; great tenor sound. As you say, it is indeed a great pity when people do not nurture and preserve the beauty around them. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LLn3FT9BsRs As with Billie Holiday the power in the delivery of the song makes the vocal imperfections mostly irrelevant. |
The future of Jazz is not all doom and gloom. Now, just ditch the headgear. Thank You Wynton. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFs7cyPmzxk Love the tap. Cheers |
Mary-jo, since you've joined our gathering, we have a lot more activity, and I like that. Frogman, Nina Simone sings about some of the island deities; Dambalah is one of them. Those Gods from Africa survived in the Caribbean, but not in "America". (decline the controversy) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pDwH-S0KoU Sea Lion Woman ----- See Line Woman lacks logic for a title, so does C line Woman. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVEbzdN_7n0 The best of Billie Holiday settles all disputes, because that collection leaves the worst of Billie Holiday out. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRYFRvOUrvI&list=RDfRYFRvOUrvI&t=849 Not only is her voice superb, but so is the music; it captures the time of the music, which is also reflected in Billie's dress; that was a time when big night clubs were flourishing. |
I think Wynton is taking a page out of the Blakey play book. Showcase and teach the young. Love it!!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pjbalv7tGsA Cheers |
@orpheus10 You seem to think of Jazz as some passing fad. There is no past, as Ellington said, there is good music and the other kind. A hundred years from now, groups will still be playing Bach, Mozart etc... and Ellington, Mingus etc... also. There is a reason it's called 'Classic'. Hell, even Motown will be with us for ages. Only the fluff gets blown away by the winds of time. Get in the game. You supposed to be the OP!! You should spend more time in America with real Jazz, and less in places like Peru with Andean post post bebop. Just a thought. Cheers |
Thanks for the clips, O-10. Nice Billie. You may find this interesting: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haitian_Vodou From that article: *** Today, Vodou is practiced not only by Haitians but by Americans and people of many other nations who have been exposed to Haitian culture. Haitian creole forms of Vodou exist in Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Cuba,[48] some of the outer islands of the Bahamas, the United States, and other places to which Haitians have immigrated. There has been a re-emergence of the Vodun traditions in the United States, maintaining the same ritual and cosmological elements as in West Africa. *** |
Food for thought: If “there is no past”, how can there be a future? So...why the “doom and gloom”? VERY nice alto player in that Wynton clip; very inventive. I enjoyed that clip. Thanks. Now, I hope this is not taken the wrong way and I hope it simply points to why it’s important to be careful about how perception influences us all in our reactions to music sometimes. I have a strong suspicion that had Wynton not been sitting there next to that alto player, given that young player’s style of playing which is clearly harmonically very modern and had the tune not been “A Train”, that he would have been lumped into the “noise maker” category. |
I just know the Lord is testing me. Otherwise he would lift this burden from my mortal shoulders. *****If “there is no past”, how can there be a future? So...why the “doom and gloom”?***** I meant that, in the sense that ALL GOOD and TRUE JAZZ, is always in the present. Just like Classical Music. A conductor can have a 50 year career, and never conduct a piece of music composed by someone still living. BUT, Jazz music has to be created yesterday, or it's old. WTF!!! Cheer |
Frogman, my sources of the religions from Africa were books that were hundreds of years old, written by "slave traders". They were intelligent, but not highly educated; words were spelled "phonetically"; for example, Ama De Bella became Mama De Bella, because that's what it sounded like to the slave trader who did business with King Ama De Bella in Nigeria. The sources you pointed to, said slaves came from West Africa, when the reality is West Africans sold slaves; which is a fact they are now running from. There was a movie "The Comedians" starring Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor that was based on a lot of facts about "Haitian Voodoo", which was filmed in "Dahomey", the home of Voodoo. Your sources give Nigeria as the home of Voodoo; although Nigeria was the Wall Street of the slave trade. They are all running from the facts now; so much so that a lot of books have disappeared. My interest was not so much in the slave trade, but the different drum rhythms from Cuba, Haiti, different Caribbean Islands and Bahia. https://www.google.com/search?q=bahia&oq=bahia&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l5.10395j0j8&sourceid=... African rhythms in Brazil come from Bahia. |
OK, recently, if not on this page, we had requests for new/current albums. I admit to not owning any of these but pass along this list in the hopes others may find something of interest here. It comes from my local, college FM jazz station. They play a wonderful blend of that "classic" jazz discussed recently as well as recent and new releases. This is their "best" list for 2017. http://www.jazz88.org/articles/Top%5FTen%5FDiscs%5Fof%5F2017/ Also if anyone is interested in streaming their broadcast find link on that page. Yes frog, that should not have been a challenge for any aficionado here. ;^) rok, thanks for the link to the performance of Basie's music. Lastly, I just had to add that I ordered tickets to a special performance of music from this Mingus album. The promotions at the time claimed it was his favorite among his recordings. So, top musicians out of NYC and performed at one or our best sites for acoustics (<300 seats), how could I not attend? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdQVI4zTp_I |
Maybe this will cheer the OP up a bit. Remember when you used to dress like this? Or maybe you still do. :) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orhf_Xv6HCA Hope you feel better soon. Cheers |
Rok, that Cab Calloway clip is unbelievable! No words to describe how good the Nicholas Bros were. Thanks for that! Amazing dancing all the way around with great and tasteful choreography and the band sound fantastic. Just great! A humorus footnote: at 3:50 check out the two saxophone players in the front row with the Bros dancing on their tables. The alto player on screen left is cool as a cucumber. The tenor player on his left is a little freaked out as if saying “Holy sh#t , don’t hit me”. |
***A humorous footnote: at 3:50 check out the two saxophone players in the front row with the Bros dancing on their tables. The alto player on screen left is cool as a cucumber. The tenor player on his left is a little freaked out as if saying “Holy sh#t , don’t hit me”*** :)))))) If the guy who was freaked out, have had a slide saxophone, one could only guess what would have happened to the dancer... Pity I can’t find the link of the Snub’s ’The man with the funny little horn’... |
Cab Calloway: While the dancing and the babes were great, you are right, the music / band was just awesome. Wynton spreading the gospel in Havana. Speaking of Babes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dFu7__RiO4 Cheers |
No Bird, no Trane??? Interesting question. However, I have a hunch it wouldn’t be all that different except for the “sounds”. Conceptually, the instruments are just a means to an end; which is why I am always a little bewildered when some listeners say “I don’t like this instrument or that instrument”. Btw, the alto player on that great (!) clip of Wynton’s band is Sherman Irby who plays the amazing alto solo in the tune “The Sound Of Red”. One of my favorites on the scene today; few notes, great feel, great story telling. No doom and gloom as far as I can see. |
mary_jo, I am duly impressed. Few people even know of the existence of the slide saxophone. A relic and curiosity, but a real (and strange) instrument. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bPz85Ie2CdM ”The man with the funny little horn”. My wife has used that phrase...well, never mind 😊 |
