Make a Jazz Noise Here

[Henk]

Can't say I'm fond of Miller's music.

It's ok, John.

[Brian]

Just read this.



Brilliantly written, although imaginatively - a scene where Ben Webster hears Charlie Parker for the first time in Harlem, and reacts angrily, is pretty patently bogus since they jammed together in Kansas City. I guess Dyer's going for the "emotional truth" rather than literal truth, and with that, he's enlightening. Definitely changed the way I see Monk, Webster, and Chet Baker.

This book was also the first time I'd ever even heard of Art Pepper (!). How much have I been missing?

The discography at the end inflated my Amazon jazz wishlist by fully a dozen albums new to me, inc. Baker/Pepper "Playboys", Rollins "Tenor Madness", "Art Pepper Meets the Rhythm Section", "Study in Brown", "Mulligan Meets Monk", "Thelonious in Action"...

[San Antone]

Art Pepper and Chet Baker - the white junkies of jazz. 



Hampton Hawes, also a junkie, but not white, but a great piano player from the West coast.  Tenor Madness is a classic; Coltrane and Sonny blowing chorus after chorus is a must hear. All those are great jazz - must be a good book to inspire you like that.

[Brian]

Hampton Hawes, also a junkie, but not white, but a great piano player from the West coast.  Tenor Madness is a classic; Coltrane and Sonny blowing chorus after chorus is a must hear. All those are great jazz - must be a good book to inspire you like that.

It's a good book and I love jazz already so it was handy seeing a critic list out some albums I need. I took a box of 7 or 8 Hampton Hawes albums with me on a road trip recently and enjoyed getting to know him. I don't always respond as well to West coast stuff - it can be a little too "easy"? for me - but there were some definite gems.

[San Antone]

It's a good book and I love jazz already so it was handy seeing a critic list out some albums I need. I took a box of 7 or 8 Hampton Hawes albums with me on a road trip recently and enjoyed getting to know him. I don't always respond as well to West coast stuff - it can be a little too "easy"? for me - but there were some definite gems.

I mentioned him because your list seemed about WC jazzers, Mulligan, Pepper, and Baker. 

There is a hard bop WC group, Charles Mingus, Dexter Gordon and even Stan Getz could be included although he was the quintessential West Coast cool.  But they moved to NYC and do not really represent WC jazz other than that's where they started out.  Ornette Coleman, from Forth Worth, put together his quartet (Charlie Haden, Billy Higgins and Don Cherry) in Los Angeles.  So it's not all Shorty Rogers.

[Brian]

I mentioned him because your list seemed about WC jazzers, Mulligan, Pepper, and Baker. 

There is a hard bop WC group, Charles Mingus, Dexter Gordon and even Stan Getz could be included although he was the quintessential West Coast cool.  But they moved to NYC and do not really represent WC jazz other than that's where they started out.  Ornette Coleman, from Forth Worth, put together his quartet (Charlie Haden, Billy Higgins and Don Cherry) in Los Angeles.  So it's not all Shorty Rogers.

I think the list is West Coast-focused because that is my blind spot, where my collection is still very light. I have more Monk, Messengers, & Mingus, comparatively little coverage of the Westerners.

[San Antone]

One of the best West Coast boxes IMO is

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[Brian]

Tonight I listened to the Jazz Messengers' spectacular album Free for All.

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One of my two or three favorite Jazz Messenger albums (with Mosaic and maybe Roots and Herbs).

But...is it just me or is Curtis Fuller a pretty terrible improviser? He often lacks imagination and emotion, and falls back repeatedly onto some of the same devices. Most notably, there's the long note followed by a descending 1-2-3-4 figure. Fuller is usually bearable, but on the live Complete Three Blind Mice double album he ruins several of the tracks - Wayne Shorter will build up this freight train of impassioned, even feverish playing, and then Fuller kills all the energy with a lackadaisical wub-wub-wub solo.

Sorry for the rant. The Fuller-era Jazz Messengers formation (young Shorter, either Morgan or Hubbard on trumpet, & Cedar Walton) is one of my favorite jazz bands of any type...except for Fuller dragging 'em down. He's not a bad composer, though, and usually with a song he's composed he sounds a little more prepared to improvise something unboring.

[bhodges]

Columbia University's radio station, WKCR (89.9 FM) is playing wall-to-wall Duke Ellington (and friends) today for his birthday.

https://www.cc-seas.columbia.edu/wkcr/

--Bruce

[Henk]

James proved again he is (was) a sucker for starting this thread.

[Mirror Image]

Tonight I listened to the Jazz Messengers' spectacular album Free for All.

[asin]B0002KQNZO[/asin]

One of my two or three favorite Jazz Messenger albums (with Mosaic and maybe Roots and Herbs).

But...is it just me or is Curtis Fuller a pretty terrible improviser? He often lacks imagination and emotion, and falls back repeatedly onto some of the same devices. Most notably, there's the long note followed by a descending 1-2-3-4 figure. Fuller is usually bearable, but on the live Complete Three Blind Mice double album he ruins several of the tracks - Wayne Shorter will build up this freight train of impassioned, even feverish playing, and then Fuller kills all the energy with a lackadaisical wub-wub-wub solo.

Sorry for the rant. The Fuller-era Jazz Messengers formation (young Shorter, either Morgan or Hubbard on trumpet, & Cedar Walton) is one of my favorite jazz bands of any type...except for Fuller dragging 'em down. He's not a bad composer, though, and usually with a song he's composed he sounds a little more prepared to improvise something unboring.

That is a fantastic album. I'm not too impressed by Fuller but I'm not a big fan of the trombone in general unless it's classical, which, in that role, I certainly appreciate more. This said, I don't think Fuller ruins anything or zaps any energy from a performance. I tend to ignore him and focus on Freddie Hubbard (or Lee Morgan), Cedar Walton (or Bobby Timmons), Wayne Shorter (or Benny Golson), and Blakey. For me, the best Jazz Messenger albums are A Night in Tunisia, Moanin', and The Big Beat.

[Brian]

I'm not a big fan of the trombone in general unless it's classical, which, in that role, I certainly appreciate more.

Maybe we can open this up to jazz trombone in general. I am close to sharing your skepticism, but not quite there. I like Kai Winding, but haven't found a trombonist I like more than Jimmy Knepper's work on the Mingus albums.

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

Maybe we can open this up to jazz trombone in general.

I like Jeb Bishop, but I only know him from recordings with the Vandermark 5. Apparently he has his own group now.

Going way back, there's the great J.J. Johnson.

[escher]

That is a fantastic album.

Pensativa is one of my favorite tunes and I love the version on this album. Even if Clare Fischer who composed it didn't like how the rhythm was changed.

[escher]

I like Jeb Bishop, but I only know him from recordings with the Vandermark 5. Apparently he has his own group now.

Going way back, there's the great J.J. Johnson.

I'm a fan of the late Jack Teagarden, and by the way this blues deserves to be better known
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNLG4mkC-kc

[San Antone]

Some still active jazz tombonists

Ray Anderson, usually in an experimental context
Steve Turre, traditional hard bop and some latin
Steve Davis hard bop
Craig Harris, also experimental worked with Sun Ra
Delfeayo Marsalis, 'nuff sed
Jerry Zigmont, New Orleans style
Rob McConnell, traditional valve trombonist

Recently passed: Bob Brookmeyer

After posting I thought about a couple of others - Roswell Rudd, check out his stuff with Steve Lacy and Wycliffe Gordon played with Wynton Marsalis and is excellent traditionalist.

[escher]

Some still active jazz tombonists

Rob McConnell, traditional valve trombonist

I really like his big band, but he died five years ago.

[San Antone]

I really like his big band, but he died five years ago.

I kind of thought he might not still be alive but was too lazy to Google him.  Yep, great band.

[Karl Henning]

In our day of zombie-infatuation, death may not prevent him from remaining active . . . .

[Mookalafalas]

Saw that video on facebook of the 11 year old piano whiz from...Malaysia? Anyway, suddenly wanted jazz, and badly!

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