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

[KevinP]

Thought I'd post this here since it probably doesn't warrant its own thread and might be missed in the 'What are you reading' thread by some who might want to read it.

I want to recommend a jazz book called Thinking in Jazz. http://www.amazon.com/Thinking-Jazz-Infinite-Improvisation-Ethnomusicology/dp/0226043819/

I never would have Amazoned this book if I had realised how big it is--not that I'm intimidated by lengthy books (it's 900+ pages, although only maybe 2/3 or 3/4 are the actual text), but I'm working on a PhD in an unrelated field and don't have time for such lengthy detours. It's sat on my shelf, occasionally thumbed through, for a few months until this past week which is a major holiday here and we had to go to my mother-in-law's. She doesn't speak a word of English (other than 'baby!' and 'when?') and the closest thing she has to an Internet connection is a refrigerator. So I grabbed the book and started reading it while I was there.

Wow. I want to say it's a very academic read, but I'll say that only if you understand I mean it in the best possible sense of the word. It pretty much presents jazz to people who don't know anything about it (thus more objective than subjective), which also serves as an excellent back-to-basics approach for those who do. Especially interesting are quotes from famous musicians (the author interviewed many) about some of the stupid mistakes they made when they first started out. Honestly, if I had heard some of these quotes 25 years ago, I might not have given up learning to play jazz, thinking I was the only one who wasn't hearing it right. (I never totally gave up, but I resigned myself to just playing for my own pleassure and never really advancing.)

Everything's back to normal today so I'm not sure I'll be able to keep the momentum going and finish the book in a reasonable time frame, but it's really good and, though I'm not finished with, I highly recommend it.

[KevinP]

A most excellent sounding SACD.

[Expresso]

Chick Corea - Now he sings now he sobs
Herbie Hancock - Empryrean Isles

[Bogey]

Let me first state that I am a huge fan of Coltrane.  My listening and purchasing posts hopefully idicate this.  Love his early stuff as well as later recordings, but this one?  I could not begin to get my head around it.  The track listing has My Favorite Things listed, but I could not make it out at all.  In short, 'Trane finally lost me with this one.

Now playing:

[KevinP]

Very late Trane is indeed hard to follow.

[KevinP]

Monk, Straight No Chaser (SACD). I ordered this months ago because it was given as an example of a stunning-sounding SACD. It just arrived today because copies are getting scarce and it took along time for Amazon to scrounge one up. It is indeed a great disc though.

Bad amazon picture:


Eddie Cleanhead Vinson, Kidney Stew is Fine. Slipped under my radar for years, but it's really good, as is pretty much anything on the Delmark label. Vinson, T-Bone Walker on guitar, and Jay McShann on piano.

[Bogey]

Like eating a tasty, but very rich desert at a restaurant....after two or three bites, enjoyable.  More than that and you begin to wonder why you ordered it in the first place.

[George]

How have i missed this thread? 

Heather, I will think a bit and return, if you aren't already flooded with ideas.

Actually, I have one idea, go to your fave store and buy recommended stuff but ONLY what's on sale. There's no need to spend more than 6-7 bucks for most of the CDs I've seen so far. I've built a decent collection of these CDs for cheap, buying sale items and waiting for sales to pop up for the others.

[George]

Like eating a tasty, but very rich desert at a restaurant....after two or three bites, enjoyable.  More than that and you begin to wonder why you ordered it in the first place.

[Bogey]

Now:


Love this photo of Herbie!

[sidoze]

I'm going to plug it again: anyone who loves jazz from this era with wild solos, subtle interplay and a great rhythm section should try some of the recent recordings of William Parker. I've been listening to O'Neal's Porch and it's as good as any other jazz I've heard.

[KevinP]

Now:

[KevinP]

Just bought these. I had forgotten how good they are. I had them on vinyl years back but never replaced them with CDs--not sure why but changing the cover of Someday my Prince Will Come to a picture of Miles Davis on the CD version sure didn't help.

[Bogey]

Easily one of my favorite Miles' albums Kevin.  Somewhat overlooked IMO.

[Bogey]

Now spinning:

[Mozart]

So how do you interpret jazz?

[KevinP]

Could you be a little more specific? I'd like to answer but your question is pretty vague and I'm not sure I understand it.

[Mozart]

Ok well what makes a good jazz song? What exactly do you look for? Before I got into classical I listened to the jazz stations but I found so little I liked I moved on. One piece I like was take 5, mainly the sax part. Anything you can recommend like this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch/v/DDOgYw5-pNs

[Grazioso]

Ok well what makes a good jazz song? What exactly do you look for? Before I got into classical I listened to the jazz stations but I found so little I liked I moved on. One piece I like was take 5, mainly the sax part. Anything you can recommend like this?

What makes a good jazz song? Well, first ask what makes a good jazz performance, because jazz isn't so much about the tunes, even though jazz has many great ones. Rather, the tunes provide springboards for individual, spontaneous musical statements, usually within a collective context. (More than a few commentators have drawn parallels between that balance and the American democratic ethos.) How is the soloist interpreting the piece or weaving his own musical statements into it? Listening to many performances of the same standards will highlight the differences in approach and reveal when one player is quoting or alluding to an earlier performance. And since jazz is so personal (cf. classical music's obsession with the abstraction of notes written on paper), be sure to listen to the subtleties of each individual player: the nuances of tone, attack, rhythm. Hear each player as a unique voice speaking with individual inflections, not just someone playing notes. It's the how as much as the what.

Listen too for interaction: how does one player respond to, support, spur on, or contradict the other? That can take some real careful listening to pick up on.

Also, on the most apparent level, jazz generally places a higher emphasis on rhythm and a swinging groove than melody or harmony (though jazz harmony can be incredibly rich and there are plenty of tunes that will stick in your head for years). So, does the performance swing hard and get your toes tapping? And you'll hear across the different developmental periods of jazz how the the roles of the rhythm section have altered, with the drums, for instance, becoming more and more a coloristic and even quasi-melodic instrument, while the bass more obviously keeps time. Or perhaps the time is just implied with all the instruments playing around it. In fact, the pushing or pulling of the beat, the movement between obvious emphasis and subtle implication, plays a key role in jazz.

[Shrunk]

I think the point is worth emphasizing:  Jazz is a performer's music, classical music is a composer's.