Jazz for aficionados

Frogman, I looked at his Bio. and discovered he was self taught, which meant he was truly gifted.

Not long ago, I was telling another professional jazz musician that my friend was one of the best ever. "He was good, but he wasn't that good", was the musician's Reply. "I'll show him", I thought.

In order to prove my point, I bought every record and CD I could find by my friend, but none of them was as good as the music I remembered that summer. This caused me to reflect back on that time. He played like a man obsessed at every performance. I never have, and still don't like it when a musician plays a lot of notes/music like crazy, but when he did it, the music was coherent.

That was a long time ago, and I discovered he never recorded anything else after that summer, before he died. The music I heard, was new music that he was working on; the only place it's recorded is in my mind.

Enjoy the music.

(1) Dizzy Gillespie and his Orchestra -- AFRO

(2) The Original Mambo Kings -- An Introduction to Afro-Cubop

Most of the music on the Mambo Cd is by Machito and his Orchestra. At first I did not realize these two Cds have common music. Half of the Dizzy disc appears on the Mambo Kings disc, which is a complilation. Charlie Parker and Mario Bauza also appear on the Mambo CD.

Both are very good examples of what is called 'afro-cubop.'
I thought the Dizzy Cd was exceptional! We get so wrapped in these younger guys, we tend to forget why Dizzy is one of the true GIANTS of Jazz. I must listen to him more often. Just great trumpet playing. Gillespie seems to have a great affinity for latin music.

There is a lot of brass on both CDs, the difference is, on the Dizzy Cd, the brass is Dizzy! I think the brass was a little too much on some of the Machito cuts.

(3) Erroll Garner -- Concert By The Sea.

Great playing by a man who cannot read music. That's amazing. Mostly standards, but done very well and fresh sounding. Live recording with great ambience. Some hiss on the CD, but not a distraction. I understand this is one of the best selling Jazz records of all time! He appears with a trio. The sort of performance that makes you wish you were there.

Cheers

Rok, how do you like this Diz. Kush is one of my favorite compositions by the "Bop master".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbVRM5-bcJo

"Jazz is not dead it just smells funny",No!
Let's not forget that Jazz music is still very much alive,and it is not true that it just smells funny.
but to make sure that it stays that way, we do have to keep updating our listening experiences.Let's not forget the old Masters but encourage new Masters as well.
Check out these three audiophile albums on the small dutch label Sound Liaison.
Carmen Gomes inc. 'Torn'..best Blues ballad album ever.
Poul Berner Band 'Road to Memphis'.. beautifully told Elvis Presley "saga"
and Carmen Gomes inc. 'Thousand Shades of Blue'..intimacy, the band is so well recorded that you can practically reach out and touch them,and there's an absolutely haunting version of Bruce Springsteen's I'm on Fire.
http://www.soundliaison.com

Erroll Garners "Concert By the Sea" appeared in more aficionado's collection than any other LP I can recall, maybe the beautiful cover also had something to do with it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rH_GF4nw3JI&list=AL94UKMTqg-9Bp5HendeturB7B3gAH6W7J

Enjoy the music.