What Jazz are you listening to now?

Started by Gurn Blanston, June 12, 2015, 06:16:31 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 2 Guests are viewing this topic.

Old San Antone



The Savoy 10-inch LP Collection [4 Disc Deluxe Box Set]
Charlie Parker

T. D.


aligreto

Louis Armstrong: A Legendary Performer





This is a bit of a "Lollipops" type album. Armstrong was older in these recordings and the songs and presentation are somewhat more mainstream. Still, it makes for pleasant listening once in a while.

Old San Antone

Quote from: aligreto on September 20, 2020, 02:34:26 PM
Louis Armstrong: A Legendary Performer



This is a bit of a "Lollipops" type album. Armstrong was older in these recordings and the songs and presentation are somewhat more mainstream. Still, it makes for pleasant listening once in a while.

You may already heard them, but his Hot Five and Seven recordings from the mid-late 20s are some of his best stuff.  I revisited them on one of the LPs I retrieved from storage.



They have released them re-mastered in a complete CD box set - which if you like the music, as I do - is mandatory, IMO.


aligreto

Quote from: Old San Antone on September 20, 2020, 02:46:38 PM
You may already heard them, but his Hot Five and Seven recordings from the mid-late 20s are some of his best stuff.  I revisited them on one of the LPs I retrieved from storage.



They have released them re-mastered in a complete CD box set - which if you like the music, as I do - is mandatory, IMO.



Yes, I have them but only on CD, unfortunately. Terrific stuff indeed. Another strong recommendation here for those who might be interested.

Old San Antone

#4585
Another LP from storage, I retrieved all my Gary McFarland records yesterday, along with about 25 other things. 



The October Suite
Gary McFarland, Steve Kuhn

    All compositions by Gary McFarland

    "Remember When" - 4:52
    "St. Tropez Shuffle" - 6:22
    "One I Could Have Loved" - 7:13
    "Traffic Patterns" - 7:38
    "Childhood Dreams" - 6:34
    "Open Highway" - 6:03

Recorded on October 14, 1966 (tracks 1-3) and November 1, 1966 (4-6).

    Steve Kuhn - piano
    Gary McFarland – arranger, conductor
    Isadore Cohen, Matthew Raimondi - violin (tracks 1-3)
    Al Brown - viola (tracks 1-3)
    Charles McCracken - cello (tracks 1-3)
    Don Ashworth, Joe Firrantello (aka Joe Farrell), Irving Horowitz, Gerald Sanfino - woodwinds (tracks 4-6)
    Corky Hale - harp (tracks 4-6)
    Ron Carter - bass
    Marty Morell – drums

QuoteThe Allmusic review by Thom Jurek awarded the album 4½ stars stating "it is an anomaly in the Impulse catalog of the time in that it did not pursue the free jazz realms with the vengeance that most of the label's other acts did during that year".

I am a huge fan of Gary McFarland (and have all his records) - he was a very imaginative arranger, and composer - America the Beautiful is his major work, a suite for jazz band.  He played vibes, and his late career material went in a bossa/lounge direction, but his recordings were always done with first rate musicians, displaying witty and colorful arranging. There was always a protean intelligence at work, and a dazzling creativity underlying even his most pop influenced tracks. 

He died tragically in 1971 at the age of 38: "... after drinking a lethal dose of liquid methadone that, apparently, he had ingested while at Bar 55 at 55 Christopher Street in Greenwich Village. It will never be known whether he took the drug on purpose or whether someone spiked his drink, as inexplicably, the police never investigated."

A documentary was made about his life, career and the mystery surrounding his death, This is Gary McFarland

He attained a small somewhat "cult" following after working with Bill Evans, Gerry Mulligan, Johnny Hodges, John Lewis, Stan Getz, Bob Brookmeyer, and Anita O'Day.

QuoteAs well as his own albums and arrangements for other musicians he composed the scores to the films Eye of the Devil (1966) and Who Killed Mary What's 'Er Name? (1971). By the end of the 1960s, he was moving away from jazz towards an often wistful or melancholy style of instrumental pop, as well as producing the recordings of other artists on his Skye Records label (run in partnership with Gábor Szabó and Cal Tjader until its bankruptcy in 1970).  (Wikipedia)

October Suite is one his more adventurous recordings, utilizing a string quartet (side one), woodwind quartet and harp (side two) along with a piano trio.  It is one of the few small group recordings in which he does not play the vibraphone, his contribution was writing and arranging the music. 

Steve Kuhn is a pianist in the Bill Evans mold, although a little more prickly:

QuoteIn his early years, Kuhn was known as an avant-garde jazz pianist. He was associated with bassist Steve Swallow and drummer Pete La Roca during the 1960s on several notable recordings: Three Waves, under Kuhn's leadership; Basra, under La Roca's leadership, which also featured Joe Henderson; and Sing Me Softly of the Blues under flugelhornist Art Farmer's leadership. Also notable was Kuhn's inclusion in the quartet on the landmark recording Sound Pieces led by saxophonist, composer, and arranger Oliver Nelson and including Ron Carter on bass and Grady Tate on drums. Among other critically acclaimed recordings there was The October Suite composed by Gary McFarland for Kuhn and an ensemble which included strings, woodwinds, and reeds. The Promises Kept album features Kuhn's compositions, piano, and strings.

For decades, Steve Kuhn has led all-star trios that have included such players as bassists Ron Carter and David Finck, and drummers Al Foster, Jack DeJohnette, and Joey Baron. He has had several live recordings made in some of New York's leading jazz clubs. (Wikipedia)

Dry Brett Kavanaugh


Old San Antone

Bill Frisell - Valentine



New vinyl; it is surprisingly heavy.  Fantastic music.

Old San Antone

#4588
Charles Mingus's Epitaph



Along with Duke Ellington's Black, Brown and Beige, which received a long overdue resurrection in 2018, Mingus's Epitaph is a long form composition in the jazz idiom that rivals 20th century classical works.  Gunther Schuller did much of the spade work in 1990, when this album came out.  However, more importantly, Montreal-based musicologist Andrew Homzy finished the job wen he found the last missing piece of the puzzle.  Hornzy pieced the score together measure by measure from hundreds of yellowing manuscripts he found in a wooden trunk in Sue Mingus' living room.

This recording from 1990 is really good, but a new complete recording is mandatory. 


Old San Antone

1959 was a very good year.  This morning's listening:



aligreto

Count Basie:





Double LP of great Swing.

Irons

Way Out West: Sonny Rollins.



My wife has little interest in my music but loves "I'm an Old Cowhand". On vinyl Rollins is hard left and Ray Brown with Shelly Manne hard right. My old preamp had a mono switch which I used to correct the imbalance. I do not have that luxury at the present time so have to live with it. I use this recording to check that the left and right channels are configured correctly in my system.
I have just noticed that on CD Rollins is holding the cowboy hat in his right hand.
You must have a very good opinion of yourself to write a symphony - John Ireland.

I opened the door people rushed through and I was left holding the knob - Bo Diddley.

Old San Antone


Artem

Pop oriented production doesn't fit well with the music here. Bass sound on some of the tracks is just not my cup of tea, although the album is fairly listenable overall.

[asin]B000002GIW[/asin]



modified


Verneri Pohjola (2020): The Dead Don't Dream

Old San Antone

#4597


Bird & Diz (LP)

Charlie Parker: alto saxophone; Dizzy Gillespie: trumpet; Thelonious Monk: piano; Curly Russell: bass; Buddy Rich: drums.

Rich has come under some criticism but as SAMUEL CHELL wrote in his All About Jazz review:

QuoteIn the liner notes, James Patrick laments the neglect this session has received, then observes that though Parker, Gillespie, Monk, and bassist Curley Russell "play beautifully," Buddy Rich is "intrusive" and should have been replaced by a "Max Roach, Roy Haynes, or Kenny Clarke. Fine, then we have another recording practically indistinguishable from the earlier Dials and Savoys.

Rich may be less flowing and propulsive than the aforementioned bebop drummers, but he's definitely not intrusive. In fact, his swing-era symmetry and unfailing metronomic pulse bring a different dimension to the music and complement, above all, Monk's clockwork. It begs credulity that a musician like Monk would have hung around the studio if he didn't appreciate Rich's time. (In the early '70s at Chicago's Plugged Nickel I saw Monk fire a drummer in the middle of the second tune of the first set!) In fact, the "world's greatest drummer convincingly retains his title on Rich Versus Roach (Mercury, 1959), unless you fault him for machine-like precision.

Which is not to say a case can't be made against him. After 1942 Sinatra never recorded with him and brought along his own drummer, Irv Cottler, even when performing with the Rich band. Rich didn't have the big back-beat, the "deep stroke," that Sinatra derived his energy and swing from. And Rich could be so symmetrical and metronomic, so unforgiving, that much of the expressive fire generated by a soloist working with an Art Blakey or Elvin Jones would fail to ignite in a small Rich ensemble.

But just when you start to question the eminence of Rich, you rediscover all of those Verve recordings he made, not just with Diz and Bird but with Lester Young, Nat Cole, Oscar Peterson, Art Tatum, Lionel Hampton, Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald. All of it so tasteful, supportive, swinging and even elegant. The man encompasses as much of the tradition as Miles Davis, though he rarely gets his due.

Still, this LP is a wonderful session, their last, showcasing the music they created which made them famous in the first place.

Dry Brett Kavanaugh

Quote from: Old San Antone on October 10, 2020, 07:53:25 AM


Bird & Diz (LP)

Charlie Parker: alto saxophone; Dizzy Gillespie: trumpet; Thelonious Monk: piano; Curly Russell: bass; Buddy Rich: drums.

Rich has come under some criticism but as SAMUEL CHELL wrote in his All About Jazz review:

Still, this LP is a wonderful session, their last, showcasing the music they created which made them famous in the first place.

VG album.

j winter

Some distinguished ladies on the list for today...

The man that hath no music in himself,
Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds,
Is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils.
The motions of his spirit are dull as night,
And his affections dark as Erebus.
Let no such man be trusted.

-- William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice