What Jazz are you listening to now?

[San Antone]

Jack Teagarden : King Of The Blues Trombone



A beautiful collection (originally a 3LP box) of early important work from Jack Teagarden. Teagarden's trombone work is amazing – the sort that set the tone for countless players to come – and there's also a lot of warmth and wit in the recordings as well. 48 tracks in all.

[aligreto]

Ellington: Such Sweet Thunder

[San Antone]

Ellington: Such Sweet Thunder

Nice!

[aligreto]

Nice!

Yes, very nice indeed.
There is a friend of mine who listens to such music of an evening in his music room and always attempts to mellow the mood even more with a glass or two [strictly no more] of whiskey. Me, I am of a more sober inclination 

[Old San Antone]

Yes, very nice indeed.
There is a friend of mine who listens to such music of an evening in his music room and always attempts to mellow the mood even more with a glass or two [strictly no more] of whiskey. Me, I am of a more sober inclination 

You may already be familiar with much of Duke Ellington's music, but if you wish to explore more Ellington, I'd suggest the suites.  I'd start with The Far East, Latin American and New Orleans suites.  But then there's some lesser known ones: The River, Harlem, The Degas Suite, The Queen's Suite, The Goutelas Suite, The Uwis Suite, and The Deep South Suite - and maybe others I can't think of right now.

[Old San Antone]

A classic Ellington session with Louis Armstrong.



The original mono recordings.

[aligreto]

You may already be familiar with much of Duke Ellington's music, but if you wish to explore more Ellington, I'd suggest the suites.  I'd start with The Far East, Latin American and New Orleans suites.  But then there's some lesser known ones: The River, Harlem, The Degas Suite, The Queen's Suite, The Goutelas Suite, The Uwis Suite, and The Deep South Suite - and maybe others I can't think of right now.

I am always grateful for recommendations from a Newbie 
I also have the New Orleans suites but I did not realise that there were so many more. Thank you again.

[Old San Antone]

While I knew of its existence I've never listened to this stage work by Ellington before, except in scattered excerpts.  I read recently that although Ellington officially gave three sacred concerts, in reality My People and even Black, Brown & Beige can be seen as related works i.e. a continuation of Ellington's expression of his spiritual concerns, and all share musical sections.

[Alek Hidell]

Speaking of suites, here's some fantastic late-period Duke (it's not explicitly called a suite like some of the others, but as you can see on the cover, it's "a suite in eight parts"):

[George]

[Old San Antone]

Speaking of suites, here's some fantastic late-period Duke (it's not explicitly called a suite like some of the others, but as you can see on the cover, it's "a suite in eight parts"):

I had forgotten about that one, I do consider it a suite, and it is usually included in a list of them.  Thanks.  It is also very good music. 

One of the best jazz recordings.  Enjoy.  1959 saw that one come out, as well as Kind of Blue - it was a very good year for jazz.

[Old San Antone]

The album features recordings of Ellington's orchestra with the Paris Symphony Orchestra, the Stockholm Symphony Orchestra, the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra, and the La Scala Symphony Orchestra.  The Allmusic review by Scott Yanow awarded the album 3 stars and stated "With most of his all-star soloists heard from in this program and a complete avoidance of trying to make his music sound so-called "respectable" or self-consciously third stream, Ellington's arrangements keep the strings from weighing down the proceedings and the music is actually quite successful".

[Old San Antone]

Bunk, Bocage & Bechet
Bunk Johnson, Sidney Bechet, Peter Bocage, Ray Parker, George Thompson, George 'Pops' Foster

Only Bechet is playing at a high level, but despite the flaws, this series of 12 CDs is worth hearing since it captures three of New Orleans greatest musicians from the definitive period.

[Old San Antone]

Vocalist Bessie Smith's musical career, spanning 1923-33, has been collected in a 2012 10-CD box set, Bessie Smith: The Complete Columbia Recordings.

As a live performer, Smith was famous for bellowing to a theater's back rows and balcony. But by the later 1920s, she'd learned how to use the recording studio. She could lower the volume without diminishing her power. This is the Bessie Smith who influenced the young Billie Holiday, whose own early sides a few years later have a similar playful quality.

When Columbia issued the first of the five volumes in Bessie Smith's complete recordings series in 1991 -- as a logical follow-up to 1990's wildly successful Robert Johnson: The Complete Recordings box -- they were simply hoping for another hit. As the Smith series continued through to its conclusion in 1996, each volume was greeted with more enthusiasm than the last. These volumes eventually went out of print in the 21st century and left a void in her catalog. As part of its Complete Recordings series, Sony Legacy has repackaged those five volumes in a compact, handsome, justly priced ten-disc box. Each double-disc is given its own gatefold, LP-styled sleeve, and its tracks replicate the chronology of the original sets. This box contains a liner essay by musical historian, archivist, and writer Ken Romanowski and features full discographical annotation.

These recordings cover a decade-long span from 1923-1933, when Smith was a million-plus-selling artist who was justly dubbed, "Empress of the Blues," and almost singlehandedly created a mass market for blues recordings in the United States. While the general populace will be familiar with her hits such as "Empty Bed Blues," "T'Ain Nobody's Biz-ness If I Do," "St. Louis Blues," "A Little Sugar in My Bowl," and many others recorded by other artists, most blues aficionados regard these original recorded performances as definitive versions. Just as importantly, Smith's accompaniment reads like a who's-who of some of the most legendary names in the early history of jazz. They include Louis Armstrong, James P. Johnson, Fletcher Henderson, Chu Berry, Eddie Lang, Jack Teagarden, Clarence Williams, and many others. Disc nine contains the music from the 1929 biographical short film St. Louis Blues, and session outtakes and alternates. The final disc contains a fascinating, often hilarious interview by Chris Albertson with Ruby Smith (Smith's niece by marriage and a fine blues singer in her own right) about the life and adventures of Bessie. While it's true that there isn't anything here that hasn't been released before, this set is of great musical and historical value; it's essential for any blues enthusiast who didn't purchase the original sets.  [AllMusic Review by Thom Jurek]

[Old San Antone]

Kenny Burrell - 2 Guitars



    Kenny Burrell – guitar (tracks 1-6; KB with just rhythm section on 4)
    Jimmy Raney – guitar (tracks 1-3, 5-7; JR with just rhythm section on 7)
    Donald Byrd – trumpet (tracks 1-3, 5 & 6)
    Jackie McLean – alto saxophone (tracks 1-3, 5 & 6)
    Mal Waldron – piano
    Doug Watkins – bass
    Art Taylor – drums

[Old San Antone]

Getz Meets Mulligan
    Gerry Mulligan - baritone saxophone (tracks 4-8), tenor saxophone (tracks 1-3)
    Stan Getz - tenor saxophone (tracks 4-8), baritone saxophone (tracks 1-3)
    Lou Levy - piano
    Ray Brown - bass
    Stan Levey - drums

Gerry Mulligan made a series of "meets" albums: this one with Stan Getz, which is unique in that on three tracks Mulligan plays tenor and Getz plays baritone.

Mulligan also recorded a "meets" with Ben Webster, Monk, Paul Desmond, and one with Johnny Hodges.  They are all great swinging sessions, but the one with Ben Webster is probably my favorite.

[Old San Antone]

The last truly indispensable disc of the great guitar hero's career, and perhaps the most innately satisfying of all, these mid-'50s recordings boast magnificent presence, with T-Bone Walker's axe so crisp and clear it seems as though he's sitting right next to you as he delivers a luxurious remake of "Call It Stormy Monday." Atlantic took some chances with Walker, dispatching him to Chicago for a 1955 date with Junior Wells and Jimmy Rogers that produced "Why Not" and "Papa Ain't Salty." Even better were the 1956-1957 L.A. dates that produced the scalding instrumental "Two Bones and a Pick" (which finds Walker dueling it out with nephew R.S. Rankin and jazzman Barney Kessel). [AllMusic Review by Bill Dahl]

[Old San Antone]

Leyla McCalla – Capitalist Blues

The new album, her third, imaginatively maps her vision of the Afro-Caribbean diaspora and summons bodily, social and emotional wisdom through its dance music, gently taking Anglocentricism down a notch in the process. The Haitian-American singer-songwriter has said that moving to New Orleans nearly a decade ago helped her connect more viscerally to historical Haitian Creole resilience and musical expression. She's spent the years since primarily accompanying herself on cello — using it as a choppy, churning rhythm instrument rather than a lyrical one — in bilingual contemporary folk ballads and string-band compositions. This time, she laid her cello aside in favor of electric guitar and tenor banjo and enlisted an R&B-reviving veteran of the New Orleans club scene, Jimmy Horn of King James & the Special Men, to produce. A rotating cast of musicians — including specialists in the living traditions of various Haitian, Brazilian, Cajun, zydeco and calypso styles — supplies the feels and textures she wanted. [Leyla McCalla Sings 'The Capitalist Blues' With Feeling and Wisdom, January 17, 2019. NPR]

https://www.youtube.com/v/o6kHnUXHOo0

Wonderful new traditional music from New Orleans released in 2019.

[Old San Antone]

Leyla McCalla – Capitalist Blues

The new album, her third, imaginatively maps her vision of the Afro-Caribbean diaspora and summons bodily, social and emotional wisdom through its dance music, gently taking Anglocentricism down a notch in the process. The Haitian-American singer-songwriter has said that moving to New Orleans nearly a decade ago helped her connect more viscerally to historical Haitian Creole resilience and musical expression. She's spent the years since primarily accompanying herself on cello — using it as a choppy, churning rhythm instrument rather than a lyrical one — in bilingual contemporary folk ballads and string-band compositions. This time, she laid her cello aside in favor of electric guitar and tenor banjo and enlisted an R&B-reviving veteran of the New Orleans club scene, Jimmy Horn of King James & the Special Men, to produce. A rotating cast of musicians — including specialists in the living traditions of various Haitian, Brazilian, Cajun, zydeco and calypso styles — supplies the feels and textures she wanted. [Leyla McCalla Sings 'The Capitalist Blues' With Feeling and Wisdom, January 17, 2019. NPR]

https://www.youtube.com/v/o6kHnUXHOo0

Wonderful new traditional music from New Orleans released in 2019.

Only the first two tracks were traditional New Orleans music, the rest was a hodge-podge of styles, mostly not of a quality that I'd recommend.

Disappointing.

[T. D.]