Listenin' to Jazz and Conversation

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Lonson, Sep 1, 2016.

  1. Dahabenzapple

    Dahabenzapple Forum Resident

    Location:
    Livingston NJ
    I've been listening for about 25 years since I was ~ 30.

    I've not seen many of the older legends but I did see Max Roach, Milt Jackson, Benny Carter and a number of others from the well known history of the music. I've been going to shows for many years but more heavily the last 7 years or so. I had a good run of seeing shows in the late 90's and early 00's as well.

    Although I've spent huge amounts of time listening to the history of this music - mostly post 1953 or so but that's my choice - but for the last number of years I'm mostly interested in the music of the past 40-50 years and especially the music of today / both the American and European based music - and mostly in the avant-garde free jazz areas.
     
  2. Archtop

    Archtop Soft Dead Crimson Cow

    Location:
    Greater Boston, MA
    I'll drag you back in. :D Many folks have trouble getting into the man from Saturn, but there's a fair bit of accessible material. For example, Two Tones, featuring the late, great John Gilmore and Pat Patrick (the Father of former Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick):



    One day in 1992 I decided, after 12 years of playing bass, that I needed to learn to play double bass. I had already been working for nearly eight years and had been accepted into a graduate program, so I knew that for the next few years I'd be hoarding money. I sought out a double bass for short money in Connecticut. I ended up in Lou Dileone's basement one evening in November 1992.

    [​IMG]

    He still looks the same! Anyway, I ended up with a 3/4 Czech bass from 1967 and Lou hooked me up with some nice accoutrements. Before I left, he showed me around his workshop. I saw a dusty bass in a dark corner and asked about it.

    "Oh that? That's Eugene Levinson's bass."
    "Who's Eugene Levinson?" was my ignorant reply.
    "Who's Eugene Levinson? He's the Principal double bassist for the New York Philharmonic. He played that bass in Russia as a teenager and somehow he found it here in the States when he came over."
    "Oh." (What the hell else do you say to that?)

    Anyway, in November 1992 I abandoned all forms of music other than jazz. I bought about 200 LPs and several hundred CDs of Frank, Coltrane, Mingus, Monk, Bill Evans, etc. But it was Frank that I used to self-instruct on double bass. I had to get my standards up to snuff. I spent three and a half years woodshedding this material (fortunately, graduate school in Civil and Environmental Engineering was a breeze (except for differential/integral calculus-based statistics)). I played several hundred decent-paying gigs from 1996-2001, so it was worth the effort.

    Sorry for the long-winded response, but this is a conversation thread...as for artists from back in the day, I've seen Abbey Lincoln, Charlie Haden, McCoy Tyner and Milt Jackson. Abbey Lincoln was one of the warmest and genuine human beings I've ever spoken with (she welcomed me to talk to her and her band at the Regattabar in Cambridge, MA. I also shared an elevator ride with Sue Mingus at the Regattabar/Charles Hotel in Cambridge, MA. Another gem of a human being.
     
    Last edited: Sep 2, 2016
  3. Jacline

    Jacline Forum Resident

    Location:
    Real, Real Gone
    Mon frère! Hello! :wave:
     
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  4. hockman

    hockman Forum Resident

    I've been listening to jazz for roughly 30 years now (damn! Has it been that long? Am I that old? :().

    I must say that I don't follow current jazz all that much any more although I used to. I am very selective about current artists -- I find that many of them are overhyped.

    As for famous jazz musicians of the 60s and before, I've seen among others Sonny Rollins, Miles, Dizzy, Benny Golson, Art Blakey, Art Farmer, Hutcherson, Tyner, Ahmad Jamal, Charlie Haden, Herbie, Jim Hall, Ed Blackwell, Abdullah Ibrahim, etc. Not that I am boasting :D . I just wished I saw more of them before they passed.

     
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  5. Aggie87

    Aggie87 Gig 'Em!

    Location:
    Carefree, AZ
    I realize this - my statement was somewhat tongue in cheek, which I thought seemed clear.

    However, he's also the most-recorded jazz bassist in history, according to the Guinness Book of Records.
     
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  6. drasil

    drasil Former Resident

    Location:
    NYC
    Henry Grimes has an amazing story. after jumping the hard bop ship for free jazz in the mid-60s, he disappeared. for decades, people thought he was dead, but it turned out that he had just been stranded in los angeles with no bass for 33 years, doing odd jobs and occasionally living on the street. a city social worker and jazz fan realized who he was and put him in touch with the remaining stalwarts of the NYC free scene--the vision fest folks--and they brought him home. now I see him at the supermarket all the time. he'll be 81 this year. it's a wild world.

    his tone is really unique--indistinctly intonated, hazy, and veiled, with an unusually muted, pinched sound when he plays arco. I'm guessing he's deliberately playing on spent strings. it reminds me of Morton Feldman sometimes.
     
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  7. Jacline

    Jacline Forum Resident

    Location:
    Real, Real Gone
    You prog fool...

    And no, I haven't cracked open the big Jazz yellow book yet. For people watching at home, we are talking about a reference book to end all reference books about jazz, Alyn Shipton's New History of Jazz:
    A New History of Jazz »

    Of course, since I haven't read it yet, it's a foolish thing to say that it might be the best, but I feel like it's a must have. Just like the Ken Burns Jazz series on DVD. Really. If you want to learn about jazz.

    Happy trails, people. Listening to my man Lennie Tristano while I try to go to sleep, on this first night of summer vacation. Yeah!

     
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  8. Archtop

    Archtop Soft Dead Crimson Cow

    Location:
    Greater Boston, MA
    Nest time you see him, if you're cool with it, let him know that he's got some fans out there who dig his stuff. His playing on Out of the Afternoon is fairly straight, but I can hear that New York Eye and Ear Control thing bubbling somewhere. It's funny; I hear that behind the bass sound you mentioned. I complained for years that everyone remarked how loud my bass was, but I could never hear it!
     
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  9. mpayan

    mpayan A Tad Rolled Off

    Wow thats impressive. Wish I had been into jazz during those times. But I was just a kid.

    I still want to see Wayne Shorter (my favorite saxophone player). I understand he still plays.
     
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  10. Crispy Rob

    Crispy Rob Cat Juggler

    Location:
    Oakland, CA
    Inspired by this thread, Freddie Hunbard's Red Clay with some gin and tonic to ring in the 3 day weekend after a long week. Actually started with the Zombies' Odyssey and Oracle first.
     
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  11. Archtop

    Archtop Soft Dead Crimson Cow

    Location:
    Greater Boston, MA
    Put the gin down and spell Hubbard's name right ya damn hippy freak Deadhead. :D
     
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  12. jiffypopinski

    jiffypopinski Forum Resident

    Location:
    West Virginia
    Damn! What a lineup! I'll definitely be on the hunt for that one! :thumbsup:
     
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  13. jiffypopinski

    jiffypopinski Forum Resident

    Location:
    West Virginia
    Agreed. I rate this guy pretty high myself:

    [​IMG]
     
  14. Six String

    Six String Senior Member

    I was expecting at least worth listening to since there are now a finite number of Andrew Hill albums. It was kind of a reflex. I'm curious as to how I missed the release and somehow didn't run across used copies until now. It's not very unified as a whole but I like the individual tracks. Not my favorite Hill but a worthy addition to his music.
     
  15. hockman

    hockman Forum Resident

    Well, go see him soon! He still performs but he's in his eighties. I've never seen him play live and he's one of my favorite horn players. Once when I was in Mumbai (Bombay), I saw Wayne and Herbie fooling around on the piano in the lobby! My mouth hung open...The next day I saw Herbie sitting in lobby and excitedly I went up and introduced myself but I was so in awe that I couldn't say anything beyond that...:doh:What a cool and down to earth guy.
     
  16. drasil

    drasil Former Resident

    Location:
    NYC
    my roommate for the first half of my freshman year of high school was a thirteen-year-old palestinian kid who I physically threw out of our room when he decided to piss all over my belongings as a joke. this is not that story.

    his replacement was a transfer sophomore who was a tuba player, and we got along incredibly well. he too stayed up really late and loved to talk about music. I got him into king crimson and Beefheart, and in return... he played a ton of tuba jazz for me. it was all mainstream neo-trad stuff that traded mostly on having tuba as the lead instrument, and I wasn't really into it. I liked his teacher's klezmer demo CDR a lot more.

    then, the night we came back after spring break, he burst into our room, brandishing a CD. 'you have to listen to this,' he said. 'you have to listen to this right now.' so, we sat down on the floor, and together, we listened all the way through to the shape of jazz to come.

    my mind melted. I had never heard anything like it before. it sounded like what I knew of as 'jazz,' but as though someone had told each of the players to pay less attention to the changes than to how they felt at any given moment, cohesion be damned. it was loose, freewheeling, and raucous. and it was the beginning of my love affair with jazz.

    I definitely came in through the back door, listening to stuff like Peter Brötzmann and Albert Ayler long before a love supreme or Bill Evans. but over the years, my all-consuming interest in the music has never stopped growing. jazz is like language, jazz is like bread. it speaks to something intrinsic to my spirit and physical being. and I can't imagine life without it.
     
    Last edited: Sep 3, 2016
  17. mpayan

    mpayan A Tad Rolled Off

    Great post! You set the scene well. Im blocking the peeing scene out of my mind though :laugh:

    Seriously though, was this at the time Shape Of Jazz to Come first came out?
     
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  18. Guitarded

    Guitarded Forum Resident

    Location:
    Montana
    I got lucky. Had several people turn me onto Jazz at a pretty early age. 15 or so.
    Growing up in the NY Burbs, live Jazz was only a 35 minute train ride away. Unfortunately, it was the late 80s and early 90s.
    But, I still got to see some colossal names, every year. Sonny Rollins, Jim Hall, Miles, Tommy Flannagan, even saw Roy Hargrove w/Christian McBride and 2 seats of McCoy Tyner on my Prom Night.

    Good idea for a thread, btw.
     
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  19. Six String

    Six String Senior Member

    Cheers Crispy Rob. I love a good G & T. If any three day weekend deserves a lift of the glass after a long week it's labor day.
     
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  20. drasil

    drasil Former Resident

    Location:
    NYC
    I can only imagine how mindblowing it would have been to hear shape in 1959... but unfortunately, I was negative 29 at the time.
     
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  21. Six String

    Six String Senior Member

    I saw those guys too but when they got close to where I live it was a special occassion!
     
  22. Dahabenzapple

    Dahabenzapple Forum Resident

    Location:
    Livingston NJ
    9/27/16:

    If you are near NYC, do not miss the Ches Smith trio with Craig Taborn & Mat Maneri.

    Two sets at The Stone 8:00 & 10:00 / first set acoustic / second sets some stuff plugged in

    I've seen the trio 4 times and every time they've been miraculous or close to it. See the picture by my namesake - that was this past April. It was amazing. Taborn is a great pianist. Smith is a powerhouse drummer, an excellent vibraphone player and Mat Maneri is probably my favorite living musician.
     
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  23. Six String

    Six String Senior Member

    Interesting story. Thanks for posting that.
     
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  24. mpayan

    mpayan A Tad Rolled Off

    Lucky dog! I envy you guys.
     
  25. Crispy Rob

    Crispy Rob Cat Juggler

    Location:
    Oakland, CA
    I'm on my phone and too lazy to quote messages or to spell Hubbard correctly. My first exposure to Sun Ra was picking up a CD 2-fer of Fate in a Pleasant Mood/When Sun Comes Out about 21 years ago, picked up that Singles set a year or so later. Lanquidity is a very accessible one that I picked up more recently, and then thanks to Archtop's suggestion, Angels and Demons at Play and a couple others. I like them all but even by Sun Ra standards Singles is an odd duck. An interesting often wonderful odd duck at least.

    I've been listening to jazz for 30+ years. My father had a decent collection and saw a lot of the greats but was not listening to much jazz by the time I was born. I discovered his records around the time I was 14 and he took me to see Max Roach around then. I never saw Miles or some of the others, but have seen McCoy and Wayne Shorter many times, also Ahmad Jamal, Sonny Rollins, Bobby Hutcherson, Pharoah, Dave Holland, John McLaughlin, Charlie Haden, Ron Carter, Herbie Hancock and several other of the old guard. Biggest regret as far as several opportunities missed was not seeing Elvin Jones.

    The current Wayne Shorter Quartet is amazing - go see them at any opportunity!
     

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