Contemporary jazz bands who play strictly 1950s-style jazz - hard bop and bebop

You can count me out as a fan of jazz music past the 1960s. I like the old-school stuff...Miles Davis, Dave Brubeck, Sonny Rollins, Duke Ellington, etc. Hard bop, bebop, cool jazz and modal jazz.

My questions is, what are some contemporary jazz groups who match this description? I am not looking for avant-garde, jazz fusion, etc. I am looking for strictly 1950s-style jazz with bass, drums, sax and piano.

Thanks

 

Check out Chris Potter's Lift: Live at the Village Vanguard. Some amazing bop on that album. Wynton Marsalis' jazz stuff usually stays pretty close to the classic bop.

 

I normally dislike live albums but I will check it out

 

Keith Jarrett's Standards trio. Occasionally ventures into avant-garde but is usually within the parameters you mention.

 

There are quite a few hard bop players and bands out there today. One I would highly recommend you check out is One For All. They strive for that Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers sound. The tenor sax player, Eric Alexander, has many great hard bop dates out there.

Be sure to check out the Criss Cross label's releases. I jokingly call the Criss Cross label "today's Blue Note". They have released hundreds of hard bop CDs over the years.

Kevin

 

Thanks for the suggestions...please keep them coming

 

A wonderful recording at the Radio Recorders Studio from October 1959 with Loius Armstrong and his current band playing live to record a new 'best of' album... released on RCA INTS 1084. Excellent stereo and a great sound quality... a fantastic way to hear the great man and his band in true hi-fi!!

 

Black/Note - L.A. Underground (Red)
- Jungle Music Columbia/Sony)
Cindy Blackman - In The Now (HighNote)
Dave Douglas various labels
Dave Holland (ECM)

The Black/Note albums may be hard to find but if you do find them they will most likely be cheap. A very solid band that used to play locally before they spit up.

The Cindy Blackman disc is modal jazz very reminiscent of Miles In the Sky in feel.

Dave Douglas has done some really nice tributes to both Wayne Shorter and Mary Lou Wiliams I recommend.
Terence Blanchard and Nicholas Payton are two trumpeters I like as well though I haven't bought anything by them in a while.

I recently saw a Japanese band that played 60s hardbop and did it real well. Someone posted a clip a while back, I think it was on the Jazz thread. Unfortunately I can't remember their name. Maybe someone will come along and jog my memory.

 

bump

 

another nod for Eric Alexander. Also, check out Peter Bernstein.

 

If a super revved up take on hard bop sounds interesting to you, check out the Japanese group Soil & Pimp Sessions. They refer to themselves as punk-jazz, which sells them a little short but captures the energy level of their records, especially the earlier ones. There a re a few other Japanese group who play some very nice bop and post-bop influenced music but these guys are my faves. I love them.

 

Thank you, sincerely, for the suggestion but this is pretty much the exact opposite of what I'm looking for

 

I understand that song is a bit over the top, but they do play some slower pieces as well. The drums may still be a bit too much for your tastes but they do a nice version of "A Wheel Within A Wheel" here, I don't think it's too far from Art Blakey's take on the same song.

 

While this is certainly closer, it's still no cigar....sorry...I hate to sound picky. You don't have to post any more suggestions because I'll probably just turn them down as well

I don't know...maybe there's nothing past the 1950s that sounds close enough to the bebop and hard-bop I'm looking for

 

If anybody even cares anymore...this is what I'm looking for. A perfect example of what I'm craving, or at least the best one I can find. Pure and simple hard-bop jazz

 

You may be right here, after all, the guys who created the music moved past this sound a long time ago. I think you'd be hard pressed to find any truly authentic modern version of a 60 year old art form, in any medium.

 

*sigh*

All of this makes me feel like it's a lost art. Nothing anybody has mentioned seems to come close to 50s hard bop and bebop, one of my favorite kinds of music. I guess there's nobody out there who wants to emulate that music I so dearly love. I really can't get into jazz past the 1950s...I like everything up until about 1960...then I just get so totally lost. Swing, big band, hard bop, bebop, cool jazz, boogie woogie...I love it all. Fusion, avante-garde, free jazz, smooth jazz, post-bop, I really can't stand none of it.

Oh woe is me

 

many records from wynton marsalis players should fit you on criss cross: try herlin ryley albums they are really good. some by wes anderson. try Joshua redman too.
the first terence Blanchard/ Donald harrison albums are good too, maybe post hard bop.

 

Easy solution -- stick to the sources of what you're looking for. Why are you seeking out contemporary artists who lack the creativity to add to or put a new twist on what they've learned from the masters? Seriously, I don't think I need to ever hear another Criss Cross or High Note record ever again. Most of them are revivalist in nature. How many times does one need to hear the likes of Eric Alexander make the same record over and over again?

 

Very well put, I totally agree.

 

Thank you. Sometimes the obvious isn't as obvious as it should be. Different type of music, but I think this applies quite nicely:

 

I also think this is good advice (although the shot at Eric Alexander's supposed dull repetitiveness is dead wrong).

If you want to be a jazz antiquarian, why not own it?

 

Lou Donaldson, 80 or so, is still keepin on keepin on, bless him. Benny Golson, same age or so, is the epitome of jazz suavity, and probably wrote half of the 50s hard bop classics. And don't get me started on Emperor Newk...

 

No reason for woe. Maybe it is a 'lost art', but there is so much stuff from the time period you enjoy, probably more than you'll ever be able to listen to. And there is still some great hard bop stuff in the early '60's, especially on Blue Note. But just in the late '40's and the '50's, I would bet that you haven't scratched the surface of what is available. I just found this record in great shape in a thrift store recently. Amazing stuff.

 

Prove it!