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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
rok2id's avatar
rok2id
7,859 posts
 
Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers

MOANIN'

Lee Morgan(trumpet), Benny Golson(tenor sax), Bobby Timmons(piano), Jymie Merritt(bass), Art Blakey(drums)
Blue Note   1958 / 1999

Notes: "It was Golson who recruited his fellow Philadelphians for service with Blakey over the course of 1958.  And while the sanctified Timmons composition "Moanin'" became the album's runaway hit, it was Golson who was responsible for the majority of the material."

The album that started it all.

Moanin' 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsJ3JjpZyoA

Blues March
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rld0xn9tBkM

Along Came Betty
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lJeothOwCU

Come Rain or come Shine
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EwY6efZRPo

Cheers
rok2id's avatar
rok2id
7,859 posts
 
Terence Blanchard & Donald Harrison

NEW YORK SECOND LINE

Concord Jazz / King Records Japan  1983  / 1985

Notes: "The leaders of this date, trumpeter Terence Blanchard and alto saxophonist Donald Harrison, are two examples of the importance that New Orleans has in the recent revitalization of the scene which we first became aware of through the equally youthful Marsalis brothers.  At twenty one and twenty three respectively, Blanchard and Harrison are already disciplined technicians who know how to provide the emotional fire of swing and the relaxation of subtle song that is the essence of lyricism.  And if there is any clear heritage we can associate with New Orleans musicians, it would be revealed in those two qualities, since it is the home of Buddy Bolden, Jelly Roll Morton, King Oliver, Sidney Bechet, and Louis Armstrong, to name some seminal figures." --  Stanley Crouch

New York Second Line
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoWANgGSGp4

Duck Steps
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ip-UZ8ylQwg

Oliver's Twist
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkN1XXfaCxE

Cheers
rok2id's avatar
rok2id
7,859 posts
 
Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers

JUST COOLIN'

Lee Morgan(trumpet), Hank Mobley(tenor sax), Bobby Timmons(piano), Jymie Merritt(bass), Art Blakey(drums)
Blue Note   1959 / 2020

Notes: "When Mobley failed to appear at a Canadian Jazz festival, Morgan pulled Wayne Shorter out of the Maynard Ferguson big band to take his place and Blakey liked what he heard.  Shorter remained in the tenor chair and would ultimately become the group's musical director, where his writing gave a more visionary yet still grooving edge to the music."

Hipsippy Blues
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-W_uJFYcLQ

M&M
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1y9mucc3hc

Just Coolin'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rl8NQa5wk7c

Cheers
rok2id's avatar
rok2id
7,859 posts
 
Art Blakey

THE JAZZ MESSENGERS

Donald Byrd(trumpet), Hank Mobley(tenor sax), Horace Silver(piano), Doug Watkins(bass), Art Blakey(drums)
Columbia 1956 / 1997

Notes: "One of the best groups to emerge during the period when modern Jazz decided that swing was not only not old-fashioned but a highly desirable commodity is the Jazz Messengers, a co-operative unit organized in early 1955. The musicians in this album form the personnel which has borne the Messenger banner during most of the unit’s career. They demonstrate, in these free-wheeling performances , that small-combo Jazz can be arranged with plenty of room for improvisation, and with carefully worked-out ideas to set the group in a different setting in each number."

I get the impression this could be their first recording.

Nica’s Dream
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SASVefCnow

Infra-Rae
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvgOc6tnVwU

It’s You or No one
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAhaPCWifs8

Ecaron
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LsmpcAwWSY

Cheers
rok2id's avatar
rok2id
7,859 posts
 
Terence Blanchard

A TALE OF GOD'S WILL (a requiem for katrina)

Terence Blanchard(trumpet), Brice Winston(tenor & soprano sax), Aaron Parks(piano), Derrick Hodge(bass), Kendrick Scott(drums), Zach Harmon(tabla and the happy apple)
Blue Note  2007

Well done.

Ghost of Congo Square
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkiguBj1EbE

Levees
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfEDTZxqIsI

Wading Through
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dim1lhT9trg

Ashé
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJ_KMpHBm3U

Cheers

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