What Jazz are you listening to now?

[aligreto]

Doumka Clarinet Ensemble: Afar





This is wonderfully atmospheric music. The interplay between all of the musicians is wonderful and the playing from all is terrific. The bass player, for me, is a particularly fine instrumentalist.

[aligreto]

Hadn't been aware of this Yazoo collection before now.

(can something be "forgotten" and a "classic" at the same time?)

Interssting!

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Sonny's Crib - Sonny Clark.

[SimonNZ]

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Pinky - Pinky Winters.

[SimonNZ]

love the Basie Pablos

[SimonNZ]

Duke Ellington - Unknown Session (rec.1960, rel.1979)

Hadn't heard this before. A beautiful session, the forces stripped back to just a septet including Ray Nance, Johnny Hodges and Harry Carney

(the wikipedia page adds Paul Gonsalves, but he's not listed on the cd)

[aligreto]

Duke Ellington - Unknown Session (rec.1960, rel.1979)

Hadn't heard this before. A beautiful session, the forces stripped back to just a septet including Ray Nance, Johnny Hodges and Harry Carney

(the wikipedia page adds Paul Gonsalves, but he's not listed on the cd)

Nice!

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

South, Minami Yasuda.

[SimonNZ]

[SimonNZ]

Took a punt on this at the secondhand store because I didn't know the performer but like the series.

And it turns out to be quite possibly the best I've heard in Riverside's New Orleans The Living Legends series. An instant favorite. Nothing flashy: clarinet with guitar and bass backing. But perfectly polished and the kind of music that makes the world seem a nicer place.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Took a punt on this at the secondhand store because I didn't know the performer but like the series.

And it turns out to be quite possibly the best I've heard in Riverside's New Orleans The Living Legends series. An instant favorite. Nothing flashy: clarinet with guitar and bass backing. But perfectly polished and the kind of music that makes the world seem a nicer place.

I don't know the series or performer. But it looks interesting and I will check.

[SimonNZ]

I don't know the series or performer. But it looks interesting and I will check.

Looking now I see that the wikipedia page for Riverside draws special attention to that series and, it surprises me, to the Cottrell album:

"In 1960–61 Riverside produced an acclaimed series of albums featuring jazz and blues veterans such as Jim Robinson, Sweet Emma Barrett and Alberta Hunter. The objective was to record musicians before their artistry was lost forever. Many were no longer active and their union memberships had expired. Recognizing the importance of the project, the American Federation of Musicians suspended the rules. This "Living Legends" series was initially recorded in New Orleans. Later sessions were recorded in Chicago. The sessions took place at Societé des Jeunes Amis Hall, built in the 1800s. According to the producer, Chris Albertson, the hall was a "Creole fraternal headquarters and it proved to have every advantage over a studio; apart from its live sound, it gave the performers familiar surroundings... The hall's acoustical sound was exactly what I wanted to recapture: the same kind of ambience that lent such character to Bill Russell's 1940s American Music recordings from San Jacinto Hall." One of the musicians invited to participate was Louis Cottrell, Jr.[5] Cottrell organized a trio comprising McNeal Breaux, Alcide "Slow Drag" Pavageau with Emanuel Sayles sitting in playing guitar and banjo. The band was so well received that they continued to play together. The music on this album has been described as "more polite and subtle than the city's 'downtown' music... an intimate, low-key delight."[6] Cottrell's playing has also been well received:

[In 1961] Cottrell recorded a masterwork, entitled New Orleans: The Living Legends, which was reissued in 1994. To hear it is to conjure up the elegance of a bygone era by a man who did much to create it. From the opening note on "Bourbon Street Parade," to the charming "Three Little Words," to the reverent "What a Friend We Have in Jesus," the listener is hearing the living history of jazz.[7]


I was going to add that the one I see around the most is Alberta Hunter's, but checking now I see that's in a sister series they did: Chicago The Living Legends

[SimonNZ]

[Todd]

Revisiting a favorite.

[aligreto]

Chie Ayado: Natural





I like the voice and her delivery style. I also like the simple but effective presentation with very basic accompaniments. The atmosphere of the album is very chilled and relaxed.

[SimonNZ]

[brewski]

Jason Clotter Quartet, live from Smalls in NYC. Musicians very good, ambience marvelous. (Silly chat not so much, with asinine jokes about the rug on the stage.)

-Bruce

[Brian]

Took a punt on this at the secondhand store because I didn't know the performer but like the series.

And it turns out to be quite possibly the best I've heard in Riverside's New Orleans The Living Legends series. An instant favorite. Nothing flashy: clarinet with guitar and bass backing. But perfectly polished and the kind of music that makes the world seem a nicer place.

I've been collecting used copies of this series whenever they turn up, and this one is a particular favorite. It's the exact opposite of the super-lively, super-loud entries from folks like Albert Wynn and His Gutbucket Seven. (But I love those too.)

[aligreto]

Donald Harrison, Ron Carter, Billy Cobham- This Is Jazz (Live At The Blue Note)





Excellent and very smooth music making! Terrific live energy and atmosphere. Great listen!