Jazz, c. 1950-1970: Recommendations (and jazz in general)

Started by Heather Harrison, August 23, 2007, 07:02:50 PM

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Bogey

Quote from: KevinP on November 24, 2009, 06:52:04 PM


I avoided that one for years because it just didn't sound like a good idea. But damn, was I wrong. It works!

Well, the Battle Royal track just blew me away! :D
There will never be another era like the Golden Age of Hollywood.  We didn't know how to blow up buildings then so we had no choice but to tell great stories with great characters.-Ben Mankiewicz

Josquin des Prez

#301
One of the best Ellington recordings which is rarely mentioned due his reputation as a band composer:



Ellington's playing isn't as elaborate as it used to be in his earlier years but its still catchy as hell and it contains some of the best playing i ever heard from either Mingus or Max Roach. This is one of those rare masterpieces which a perfect in almost every way, similarly to Kind of Blue.

You can listen to some of the songs here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuH6VW82XnM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpAQwuzS3js
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ci7Q8d66_oI


Josquin des Prez

Quote from: toledobass on November 15, 2008, 05:15:23 AM
How is that one?  ;)

Its probably the best of Coltrane's early solo albums, before he developed his mature style. It has Lee Morgan in it, which is a great trumpet player that is rarely talked about for some reason (even though he released some of the highest selling Hard Bop albums of all times).

Josquin des Prez

As for more swing era musicians playing in small combo settings, the In Washington volumes are amazing:



The funny thing is that Lester Young isn't all that different from Charlie Parker if you actually listen closely. They both adopted a system of continuous melodic development where the accents seem to fall all over the wrong chords (yet everything is perfectly on the mark). Like Parker said, you can play anything you want as long as you play it in context. With Parker, you get a really hard edged type of improvisation, where as Lester Young seems to float above the chord progression, like a weightless cloud, but in principle they are doing the same thing.

Bogey

Quote from: Josquin des Prez on November 24, 2009, 07:30:31 PM
One of the best Ellington recordings which is rarely mentioned due his reputation as a band composer:




I believe they had that one at another used shop I hit today.  I will try to grab it down the road.

Quote from: Josquin des Prez on November 24, 2009, 07:30:31 PM
This is one of those rare masterpieces which a perfect in almost every way, similarly to Kind of Blue.


Even if it is only half of the recording of Kind of Blue, then masterpiece it must be.

There will never be another era like the Golden Age of Hollywood.  We didn't know how to blow up buildings then so we had no choice but to tell great stories with great characters.-Ben Mankiewicz

KevinP

Quote from: Bogey on November 24, 2009, 07:08:30 PM
Well, the Battle Royal track just blew me away! :D

Me too. This album was released in mono but I just can't imagine it. You need stereo for this one.

Quote from: Bogey on November 24, 2009, 06:56:29 PM
What is a decent set to fill in the 30's and early 40's, gents?

Don't think there is a decent one. This one and the Blanton-Webster Years companion volume were all I had for years and I loved them, until that Hoffman forum ruined me by opening my ears to noise reduction. Never No Lament reproduces all the material of the B-W Years set plus adds Duke and Blanton's duets, but it sounds very harsh, very digitally processed. Even the Hoffman-mastered set (more career-spanning and only two discs) was futzed with after he put his stamp of approval on his work. There may be bits and pieces here and there that sound good, but I don't believe there's an all-in-one-place set with good SQ for this period, which is easily my favourite, at least not on CD.





karlhenning

Quote from: James on November 25, 2009, 06:33:46 AM
... and Coltrane sounds as if he's in his own world in places and not really paying attention to what's going on...

You say that like it's a bad thing . . . .

karlhenning

You are at your most charming when you jive-pontificate! :^)

Bogey

Now playing:



This one is all over the place, but I have enjoyed the first 9 tracks, including the avant guade sounding Maira (1970).  I did not know that Duke took up this genre.
There will never be another era like the Golden Age of Hollywood.  We didn't know how to blow up buildings then so we had no choice but to tell great stories with great characters.-Ben Mankiewicz

Bogey

The playing of Wild Bill Davis on the organ on track 14, Sans Snyphelle, was worth the cost of this disc alone.  I need to dig around and see if he and the Duke recorded an entire album together.
There will never be another era like the Golden Age of Hollywood.  We didn't know how to blow up buildings then so we had no choice but to tell great stories with great characters.-Ben Mankiewicz

karlhenning


Todd

There have been mentions of Miles Davis, appropriately, and for newcomers who want to hear everything from that era, and every other era that he recorded in, there's now this:http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Columbia-Collection-Amazon-com-Exclusive/dp/B002EOF7U8/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1259170872&sr=8-3
The universe is change; life is opinion. - Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

People would rather believe than know - E.O. Wilson

Propaganda death ensemble - Tom Araya


Bogey

Now playing:

Now some live Ellington from the mid-1950's (various venues).  Mostly from NYC?  The liner notes are pathetic, but the music is more than making up for that.   ;)
There will never be another era like the Golden Age of Hollywood.  We didn't know how to blow up buildings then so we had no choice but to tell great stories with great characters.-Ben Mankiewicz

Bogey

Quote from: Todd on November 25, 2009, 08:43:51 AM
There have been mentions of Miles Davis, appropriately, and for newcomers who want to hear everything from that era, and every other era that he recorded in, there's now this:http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Columbia-Collection-Amazon-com-Exclusive/dp/B002EOF7U8/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1259170872&sr=8-3

I would call 71 discs a decent overview....so long as the complete Plugged Nickel set is in there. ;D
There will never be another era like the Golden Age of Hollywood.  We didn't know how to blow up buildings then so we had no choice but to tell great stories with great characters.-Ben Mankiewicz

Bogey



The above 1961 recording is next on my Ellington to buy list. 
There will never be another era like the Golden Age of Hollywood.  We didn't know how to blow up buildings then so we had no choice but to tell great stories with great characters.-Ben Mankiewicz

Bogey

Quote from: Bogey on November 25, 2009, 08:54:25 AM
Now playing:

Now some live Ellington from the mid-1950's (various venues).  Mostly from NYC?  The liner notes are pathetic, but the music is more than making up for that.   ;)

I would give the above a so-so.  Probably why Duke left them buried in his vault to begin with.  Nice to have, but I am guessing not overly essential.  Here is th cover:


There will never be another era like the Golden Age of Hollywood.  We didn't know how to blow up buildings then so we had no choice but to tell great stories with great characters.-Ben Mankiewicz

KevinP

Quote from: Bogey on November 25, 2009, 08:37:38 AM
The playing of Wild Bill Davis on the organ on track 14, Sans Snyphelle, was worth the cost of this disc alone.  I need to dig around and see if he and the Duke recorded an entire album together.

Not that I'm aware of, but that doesn't mean they didn't. But WBD did record at least one album with Johnny Hodges.

Dancing Divertimentian

Quote from: Bogey on November 25, 2009, 08:57:08 AM
I would call 71 discs a decent overview....so long as the complete Plugged Nickel set is in there. ;D

Yeah, and Cellar Door. :)
Veit Bach-a baker who found his greatest pleasure in a little cittern which he took with him even into the mill and played while the grinding was going on. In this way he had a chance to have the rhythm drilled into him. And this was the beginning of a musical inclination in his descendants. JS Bach