Surly Jazz Thread

[UTCzech III 2,907]

So I posted a song in the Bass Lines thread, a funk song I had heard years ago, had it playing in the background while I was working, and then the youtube auto-pay took over.  Holy shit, some great jazz fusion pieces popped up, I'm loving it...

I picture Roy Scheider or Al Pacino driving into the precinct just as the sun comes up, crossing the Brooklyn Bridge with the NYC skyline in the background...

 

This one, I see Pam Grier coming home after a hard day at work, pouring a drink, taking off her work clothes, and, um... brb...

 

And goddam Chet Baker.

 

[triplehorn 2,664]

My brother just reminded me of a couple trumpet heavy tracks my dad used to jam on his reel to reel when we were kids.

not exactly jazz, but a trumpet pr0n qualifier (especially the notes he blows at the end):

 

 

and yeah, a smoove groove

 

Edited December 13, 2019 by triplehorn

[tantric superman 4,667]

 

[trza-hawk 269]

 

[Anton Chigurh 3,319]

Midnight Blue kind of night.

[Chad Fuck 17,658]

So I've been on kind of an Autumn Leaves kick since my kids piano teacher played a killer version of it at the piano recital this year.  Cliche, perhaps, but it's the "Johnny B. Goode" of jazz.  Every can play it, and you never hear it the same way twice as everyone puts their own spins on it.  Here are some variations that have blown me away.

We'll call this the base line, perhaps the most familiar version.

Spanish/Country style:

 

[Chad Fuck 17,658]

Sexyphone example from Stan.

 

[UpperWestside 6,159]

Just left Showman's in Harlem. Pretty well known jazz club that's been around for 80 years or so. I had a great time. The music minister from my church in The Bronx and the saxophone player were performing tonight. They are a lot of fun to listen to. Very high energy and they perform there once a month. They make singing in the choir at church a great experience every Sunday.

[trza-hawk 269]

 

[trza-hawk 269]

 

[abuelo gringo 321]

On 1/27/2020 at 1:39 PM, Chad Fuck said:

So I've been on kind of an Autumn Leaves kick since my kids piano teacher played a killer version of it at the piano recital this year.  Cliche, perhaps, but it's the "Johnny B. Goode" of jazz.  Every can play it, and you never hear it the same way twice as everyone puts their own spins on it.  Here are some variations that have blown me away.

We'll call this the base line, perhaps the most familiar version.

 

 

Wonderful version of Autumn Leaves. One of my favorite albums.

[abuelo gringo 321]

Netflix has a great documentary on Miles called Birth of the Cool.  Check it out.

[mdmost 42,997]

RIP to Jimmy Cobb. He was the drummer on Kind of Blue and multiple Miles Davis and John Coltrane albums. 

[MC Fresh Breath 4,074]

AP write up on him

 

Quote

 

Jimmy Cobb, a percussionist and the last surviving member of Miles Davis’ 1959 “Kind of Blue” groundbreaking jazz album which transformed the genre and sparked several careers, died Sunday.

His wife, Eleana Tee Cobb, announced on Facebook that her husband died at his New York City home from lung cancer. He was 91.

Born in Washington, D.C., Cobb told The Associated Press in 2019 he listened to jazz albums and stayed up late to hear disc jockey Symphony Sid playing jazz in New York City before launching his professional career. He said it was saxophonist Cannonball Adderley who recommended him to Davis, and he ended up playing on several Davis recordings.

But Cobb’s role as a drummer on the “Kind of Blue” jam session headed by Davis would forever change his career. That album also featured Adderley and John Coltrane.

The album, released on Aug. 17, 1959, captured a moment when jazz was transforming from bebop to something newer, cooler and less structured.

The full takes of the songs were recorded only once, with one exception, Cobb said. “Freddie Freeloader” needed to be played twice because Davis didn’t like a chord change on the first attempt, he said.

Davis, who died in 1991, had some notes jotted down, but there weren’t pages of sheet music. It was up to the improvisers to fill the pages. “He’d say this is a ballad. I want it to sound like it’s floating. And I’d say, ‘OK,’ and that’s what it was,” Cobb recalled.

The album received plenty of acclaim at the time, yet the critics, the band and the studio couldn’t have known it would enjoy such longevity. He and his bandmates knew the album would be a hit but didn’t realize at the time how iconic it would become.

“We knew it was pretty damned good,” Cobb joked.

It has sold more than 4 million copies and remains the best selling jazz album of all time. It also served as a protest album for African American men who looked to Davis and the jazz musicians to break stereotypes about jazz and black humanity.

Cobb would also work with such artists as Dinah Washington, Pearl Bailey, Clark Terry, Dizzy Gillespie, Sarah Vaughan, Billie Holiday, Wynton Kelly and Stan Getz. He’d also release a number of albums on his own.

He performed well into his late 80s and played in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in 2017, as part of the New Mexico Jazz Festival. Jazz fans from throughout the American Southwest came to pay their respects in what many felt was a goodbye.

Cobb released his last album, This I Dig of You, with Smoke Sessions Records in August 2019.

___

This story has been corrected to show the accurate spelling of Miles Davis.

___

Associated Press writer David Sharp contributed to this piece from Portland, Maine.

 

 

[MC Fresh Breath 4,074]

On 3/22/2020 at 3:03 PM, abuelo gringo said:

Netflix has a great documentary on Miles called Birth of the Cool.  Check it out.

+1 for this one.  Finally watched it this weekend.  That moment with him and the cops was really harsh.

[MC Fresh Breath 4,074]

Also, for something more current, I've been enjoying Shabaka and the Ancestors "We are Sent Here By History."

 

[Braff Zacklin 13,551]

This blew my mind.

Technology, my dudes.

[BoomMF 1,398]

Visiting the GOAT has been on my bucket list since I found out what a bucket list was. Did not disappoint. Chills, man.

[MC Fresh Breath 4,074]

From 2020, I think Shabaka and the Ancestors was probably my fave, followed/tied closely with "Rejoice" by Tony Allen and Hugh Maesekela.  

That album I didn't know about until I started playing Spotify's "Best Jazz Songs of 2020" playlist and then going through the albums of the songs in that list.

Oh yeah, I also enjoyed the "Jazz is Dead" stuff.

 

This list in a random gq uk article will tick off some folks as all lists do, but I've been enjoying going through it and finding some artists I wouldn't have known or considered before.

While I can appreciate all forms, it seems that 'bop' and 'hard bop' era stuff is still what I gravitate towards.  Lately any random Art Blakey album seems to do the trick.

 

 

[Anton Chigurh 3,319]

That’s a solid list.

I own 20 of them, not bad.

Was REALLY happy to see Back At The Chicken Shack in there.

Midnight Special was recorded in the same session, if you want to hear more of that quartet. Fun fact: He’s wearing the same red shirt on both album covers, too.

Song For My Father is really good, too. Glad to see it so high.

[abuelo gringo 321]

I think I had or have 12 of them.  Lost hundreds of vinyl and compact discs in a flood.  I also had many by same artists, but different albums.  Fairly good list.  Getz/Gilberto belongs, but not sure at number 3.  To paraphrase Todd Snider I have tons and tons and tons of Bix and of Louis.

[RiverwalkMiner 247]

I have 12 on the list. Monk not showing up until #40 makes no sense to me. 

[MC Fresh Breath 4,074]

To be clear, I'm not really using it as a rankings thing.  I'm using it  to discover and go through things I haven't heard.  If I already have heard it I'm skipping for now (used to have the Diana Krall on CD for example).   Mainly on Spotify, although a few of those albums are not on it and I wind up searching the youtubes for them.  I'm only using the rankings as bookmarks for where I am.  Started at 100 and am now on 77. 

 In my experiences with Jazz I tend to focus on one artist or style for too long (already have a bunch of Monk, for example), so going through this is an attempt to expand my "jazz base."

 

Edited January 13, 2021 by MC Fresh Breath

[RiverwalkMiner 247]

On 1/13/2021 at 4:54 PM, MC Fresh Breath said:

To be clear, I'm not really using it as a rankings thing.  I'm using it  to discover and go through things I haven't heard.  If I already have heard it I'm skipping for now (used to have the Diana Krall on CD for example).   Mainly on Spotify, although a few of those albums are not on it and I wind up searching the youtubes for them.  I'm only using the rankings as bookmarks for where I am.  Started at 100 and am now on 77. 

 In my experiences with Jazz I tend to focus on one artist or style for too long (already have a bunch of Monk, for example), so going through this is an attempt to expand my "jazz base."

 

That's a great idea. My dad had a jazz radio show and  was the station general manger, so my education was at home. Although, like most kids I rebeled against what was playing on my parents turntable. Of course, I was paying attention the whole time and found my own paths through the jazz landscape. 

Like Monk said " There are no wrong notes" 

[MC Fresh Breath 4,074]

That sounds like an amazing upbringing to me.  By the time I could appreciate music my parents only listened to “non-secular” music and would not allow anything else to be played in the house.

And yet as an adult I got a hold of their old vinyl albums.  In his younger college and US Marines years Dad was apparently a Monk and Brubek fan.  So those became my first jazz albums to own on vinyl.  And from family stories his larger record collection was stolen or lost in a move.  

I often wonder what my relationship with my Dad  would be like if he had not given up his love for jazz and had just shared some of those albums with me as a kid.  The only secular album I remember him sharing with me was “American Pie” by Don McClean (sp?).  Dad loved Buddy Holly so he liked that song.  
 

I try to share the music I love with my kids all the time.  They don’t really appreciate it now but I hope some day they will.  And I hope at minimum they won’t feel like I kept some treasure from them.  As I sometimes feel about my parents.

To bring this back to jazz--I really feel lately I appreciate it more and more.  It used to in the past fit into "background music" that I enjoyed while cooking or doing chores or even during some IT work I do remotely.  Now, that sometimes still happens but I find it almost too distracting--I want to hear ever piano "line" (not sure if that's the right word, probably not) on a McCoy Tyner song.   Want to pay attention to every sax note or bleat.  I think its a good thing--it seems my 'musical concentration' is expanding with jazz listening.  That may sound stupid, but I hope I'm describing it correctly.

 

 

Edited January 28, 2021 by MC Fresh Breath

[WhatTheBuck 28,771]

Don’t overlook Rahsaan Roland Kirk who appears at #61 on the list with The Inflated Tear. (One ahead of Steely Dan’s Aja and right behind In A Silent Way.) I own several of Kirk’s albums but not that one. My first was I, Eye, Aye which was recorded live at the Montreux Jazz Fest in ‘72. I would’ve expected the album Volunteered Slavery to be the one on the list. But whatever. At least they got #1 right with Kind of Blue.

Anyway, Kirk is one of the most unique and colorful individuals you’ll find in jazz. From Columbus, OH, he was a blind multi-instrumentalist who would play two or three saxes at a time, he played the flute, he played the nose flute, he played percussive instruments. He mastered rhythmic breathing where, with expanded cheeks, he could blow with the air he forced from his mouth while he inhaled through his nose and sustain a note or a solo endlessly.

Because of his unique approach, I think he was more of a novelty act who was more interesting if you could actually watch him perform. But, if you just listen to his music, it’s still legit. He was definitely on his own trip and totally original.

I’ll bet Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull would cite him as an influence.

 

[WhatTheBuck 28,771]

Oh, right, The Inflated Tear. Playing three saxes at once:

 

[thrillhammer 683]

i was surprised to find i had 18 off the list.  many other artists and singles songs from artists in mp3/spotify format.

[WhatTheBuck 28,771]

At least Louis Armstrong made it in at #74. Is that a compilation album?

[MC Fresh Breath 4,074]

WhatTheBuck, I believe that is correct.  It looks to be a 4 volume set with 20 something tracks apiece.  At least, that's what shows up on Spotify.   

 

 

[MC Fresh Breath 4,074]

To the Jazzheads--> how do you keep up or find out about new releases?  I joined a few subreddits, but that seems kind of random.  And then there is year end 'best of' lists, but again, random.  Is there a website you prefer or a podcast that introduces new stuff you like?

 

[Mole 4,330]

Honestly, that GQ list isn’t that bad as far as lists go. It has my favorite big band albums (Electric Bath and Atomic Basie) and puts Clifford Brown appropriately high. It’s also not 100% stuck in the distant past, although it still largely is.

[Mole 4,330]

Although the writer is objectively wrong about Ornette Coleman.

Here’s some great music from my favorite current jazz trumpet player. I don’t know if this music gets made without Ornette Coleman’s contribution to jazz. You hear so much of Coleman in some of the best jazz from the past few decades.

 

[Al Bundy's Napoleon Hand 13,570]

I know I've posted before, but this isn't a "performance".

 

[trza-hawk 269]

 

[MC Fresh Breath 4,074]

On 1/13/2021 at 2:54 PM, MC Fresh Breath said:

 In my experiences with Jazz I tend to focus on one artist or style for too long

 

 

Dang, I might be doing it again.  Some McCoy Tyner stuff has led me back to Coltrane. Can't quit playing "A Love Supreme."

So, jazzmeisters, please rank your favorite ( doesn't have to be the critical favorites) top however many Coltrane albums.  I'm going digging....

 

[mdmost 42,997]

Blue Train and Giant Steps are two to definitely check out. 

[Anton Chigurh 3,319]

ALS is my favorite, so here are 5 more

Blue Train
Coltrane (Prestige 7105)
Lush Life
Sun Ship (same quartet as ALS, Elvin Jones has some awesome playing here)
Giant Steps

[MC Fresh Breath 4,074]

Thanks dude.  I've heard Blue Train and Giant Steps. Will listen to them all again, though.

Just picked up "Lush Life" from the local record shop.  Good times.

 

[MC Fresh Breath 4,074]

Time to go to church.

 

 

 

[Longhornstampede 3,180]

On 7/23/2019 at 8:33 AM, jimmyjazz said:

Good topic.  I know a bit about jazz, and played it in HS, but I'd like to learn a lot more.  I have a good collection of the classics, mostly 50s/60s bop, etc. (Davis, Coltrane and the like), but certain styles appeal to me more.

In particular, if anyone could recommend great options (both the recording and the performance) for these I'd appreciate it:

-- piano trio (piano, upright bass & drums)

-- big band (real firepower like Maynard Ferguson but without the histrionics)

Here some Maynard without the histrionics.....1950 in Stan Kenton's band

 

[Longhornstampede 3,180]

12 hours ago, Anton Chigurh said:

ALS is my favorite, so here are 5 more

Blue Train
Coltrane (Prestige 7105)
Lush Life
Sun Ship (same quartet as ALS, Elvin Jones has some awesome playing here)
Giant Steps

Giant Steps has to be up there with the most amazing progression of changes. If you listen to the whole recording you can hear where even the piano player almost can't keep up.

 

[TexasHooch 5,122]

Scorching rendition of "It don't Mean a Thing" by Getz and Gillespie (supporting cast are no slouches either). 

 

 

 

[Longhornstampede 3,180]

Chet Baker was never really flashy but his improv was always so on point and true to the melody. Even when he was playing notes all over and around the melody you could still tell what song he was playing..and he was brilliant without the pyrotechnics of trying to play the highest note possible

 

Edited February 3, 2021 by Longhornstampede

[Longhornstampede 3,180]

A little more.modern but Micheal Buble does plenty of justice to lots of old standards and the band is top notch

 

[MC Fresh Breath 4,074]

9 hours ago, Longhornstampede said:

 If you listen to the whole recording you can hear where even the piano player almost can't keep up.

 

That's an interesting perspective.  I wonder if that's why McCoy Tyner did so well with him in later recordings.  From everything I have listened to, Tyner could definitely keep up.

[Anton Chigurh 3,319]

That's an interesting perspective.  I wonder if that's why McCoy Tyner did so well with him in later recordings.  From everything I have listened to, Tyner could definitely keep up.

Well, Tommy Flanagan ain’t no McCoy Tyner!

[trza-hawk 269]

The Positive and the Negative

[MC Fresh Breath 4,074]

Crossover from the vinyl thread.  But having gone a bit nuts on the Blue 80 Classics releases, it dawns on my slow ass how Joe Henderson was seemingly everywhere.  "Song For My Father" by Horace Silver.  "The Real McCoy" by McCoy Tyner. "The Sidewinder" by Lee Morgan.  Those are just the ones I bought recently, all have Joe Henderson on them.  Without looking him up on Wikipedia, I know nothing about him other than he sure shows up on some seminal records.

[WhatTheBuck 28,771]