Listenin' to Jazz and Conversation

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

  1. Berthold

    Berthold "When you swing....swing some more!" -- Th. Monk

    Location:
    Rheinhessen
    Gigi Gryce: Nica´s Tempo

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  2. Fischman

    Fischman RockMonster, ClassicalMaster, and JazzMeister

    Location:
    New Mexico
    Steve Kuhn/Gary McFarland – The October Suite

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    When I went into checking out this record with no previous knowledge or expectations, I had no ideas of what all it had going against it. Gary McFarland was first known as a film score composer, not a jazz composer. As such, his classical leanings were often prominent, even as he often scored for medium sized ensembles. Meanwhile, Steve Kuhn was a jazz guy from the beginning, and worked specifically in jazz idioms one would not first think compatible with classical music. Also, this was released on the Ipmulse! label which was, at the time, focusing increasingly on free jazz and improvisation while this record is far more composed. While McFarland was also an accomplished instrumentalist himself, he plays not a note on this album, serving only as composer, and leaving the playing to Kuhn and the unusual ensemble brought together for this rather odd hybrid. Kuhn's piano anchors the record, but his accompaniment is not typical of jazz, including woodwinds, a string quartet (tracks 1-3), and of all things, a harp (tracks 4-6)!

    On paper, this should have been a disaster.

    But in execution, is is a remarkable achievement, full of atmosphere, mood, captivating melody, creative harmony, and inventive rhythms, all brought together to great effect.

    Each of the six cuts starts with a 20th Century classical sound not surprisingly reminiscent of soundtrack music. But when Kuhn brings in the piano, the jazz nature of the alum becomes apparent. This sense is grounded and maintained by the rhythm section of core jazz bassist Ron Carter and drummer Marty Morell who don't necessarily swing, but rather shuffle in a most sympathetic way. For his part, on side one, Kuhn tends to be delicate with the keys, letting the music grow organically and allowing the attentive listener to absorb the music and settle in at his own pace; a marvelous effect. On side two however, he tends to be more forceful, bringing a more direct and demanding attack, which works well, especially on the first cut, "Traffic Patterns."

    In a way, these songs seem to follow the traditional there part A-B-A jazz pattern of head-solos-head, but in this case whey morph stylistically from classical to jazz and back to classical to close. Again, this shouldn't work, but somehow it does. I find every piece on this album to be either deeply moving or quite exciting.... sometimes both.

    In the end though, it seems that the things we would normally think make this kind of record impossible have been as strong as the fact that it was not only possible, but a genuine success. In his album notes, Nat Hentoff wrote:
    "The approach—letting the classical instruments function on their own terms simultaneously with jazz men following their own idiom—may well stimulate other composers and performers from both fields to explore different combinations of equals."
    Now to be accurate, this was not the first time such fusion had been recorded as composers like Stan Kenton and Duke Ellington had enjoyed some success as much as a decade or two earlier. Indeed, the term "Third Stream" had already been coined to describe Jazz/Classical fusion. But it may have been the first time it had been composed and executed in such a manner. Sadly, it seems his prediction has not come to pass, at least on the scale a record like this would lead me to hope.
     
  3. dennis the menace

    dennis the menace Forum Veteran

    Location:
    Montréal
    Art Pepper - The Return Of Art Pepper (Blue Note CDP-7 46863 3)

    Volume one of The Complete Aladdin Recordings. GREAT !

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  4. Lonson

    Lonson I'm in the kitchen with the Tombstone Blues Thread Starter

    Apparently there is an LP version. My guess is that it's two LPs.
     
  5. dennis the menace

    dennis the menace Forum Veteran

    Location:
    Montréal
    Art Pepper - The Intimate Art Pepper (Analogue Productions APR-3014)

    Again a very good sounding SACD recorded with two distinct quartets:

    1- Charlie Haden, Billy Higgins and George Cables
    2- Ron Carter, Al Foster and Hank Jones.

    Very enjoyable !

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  6. Robitjazz

    Robitjazz Forum Resident

    Location:
    Liguria, Italy
    Now I'm listening to the jazz fusion classic Prelude's by Eumir Deodato. Two tracks are renditions of classical compositions among the most popular of late Nineteenth century.

    Without necessarily making comparisons that are not always appropriate, however they are pretty good and aged well.

    I like much the melanchonic mood of Spirit Of Summer with the Spanish guitar of Jay Berliner. Carly and Carole could be a Santana's tune of those fabolous years.
    Final track September 13 delightfully funky.

    Percussion section simply extraordinaire by no means overflowing featuring Airto Moreira, Ray Barretto and Billy Cobham.

    Great sidemen such as Hubert Laws (intro of Debussy's arrangement with Carter and Deodato really awesome), John Tropea, Ron Carter and Stanley Clarke.

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    Last edited: Jan 20, 2020
  7. Six String

    Six String Senior Member

    NP Ahmad Jamal (Argo) mono lp

    Love Jamal's recordings and his Argo lps usually sound great imo. Such a great trio with Israel Crosby and Vernell Fournier. This trio is up there with the early Bill Evans trios in terms of support and exploration, imho of course.

    @AxiomAcoustics yes! That Blue Maqams album is superb. I give it a spin pretty frequently though I've never paire it with the Dead.
     
  8. Artur Torres

    Artur Torres New Improved Full Dimensional Stereo

    Location:
    Brazil
    The Poll Winners Ride Again! - Contemporary, 1958​



    With:

    Ray Brown - Bass
    Shelly Manne - Drums
    Barney Kessel - Guitar​
     
  9. Starwanderer

    Starwanderer Senior Member

    Location:
    Valencia, Spain
    Bass player Michael Janisch came to Spain to present his album Worlds Collide. He came with these wonderful British musicians:

    Nathaniel Facey - alto sax
    George Crowley - tenor sax
    Rick Simpson - piano, keyboards
    Shaney Forbes - drums

    I bought the vinyl edition after the concert. It was expensive, but it was beautiful. It came with a download code with the album mastered at 24/96.

    Michael Janisch - Worlds Collide Bandcamp 24/96

    Michael Janisch - double and electric basses, post production percussion
    Jason Palmer - trumpet
    John O'Gallagher - alto saxophone
    Rez Abbasi - guitar
    Clarence Penn - drums

    Guests:

    John Escreet - keys
    George Crowley - tenor saxophone
    Andrew Bain - drums and percussion







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  10. Six String

    Six String Senior Member

    NP Ahmad Jamal - Portfolio Of Ahmad Jamal (Argo) maroon mono labels
    It took a while for me to find a clean copy of this one as the cover is white with gold embossed printing and silhouette of Jamal on the cover. It seemed the lps would be in poor condition or the cover would have a lot of ringwear. My friend's shop got this copy a few years ago so I snapped it up.
     
  11. dennis the menace

    dennis the menace Forum Veteran

    Location:
    Montréal
    LOVE the Poll Winners !!
     
    Fender Relic and Fischman like this.
  12. Fischman

    Fischman RockMonster, ClassicalMaster, and JazzMeister

    Location:
    New Mexico
    At first blush, that looked like nothing more than a marketing ploy.... but wow! how the three came to make something really special.

    The sequels are also excellent.
     
    dennis the menace likes this.
  13. tennesseeborder

    tennesseeborder Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chuckey, Tn
    WKCR the station out of New York, will be doing a tribute to Jimmy Heath, tonight from 6-9
     
  14. dennis the menace

    dennis the menace Forum Veteran

    Location:
    Montréal
    Their records are all excellent. That`s what you get when you ask three great musicians to make music together. Great band !!!
     
  15. Yes like them all and as Barney Kessel fan have them too.
    Here is one of them

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  16. This is the real Bebop

    NORGRAN Records MG N-1053 "An Evening with MaryAnn McCall and Charlie Ventura"" - recorded August 8, 1954

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  17. alamo54us

    alamo54us Forum Resident

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    Picked this one up over the weekend and it was not at all what I expected. I anticipated a skronkfest (okay by me) but was surprised at the melodicism on display. There's certainly a lot of outside playing, but it's far more accessible than I'd imagined. I have a lot of Coltrane in my collection and I think this one will get a lot of play.
     
  18. SJR

    SJR Big Boss Man

    I think it's fantastic. As with all MM, the packaging is top notch. It sounds real nice to me ears — great instrument separation and nice deep bass.
    I've not got any other copy to compare, and I know some prefer the AP but this, to me, is all I'll ever need.
     
  19. Anselmo

    Anselmo Forum Resident

    Location:
    Messina
    thank you very much!
    I'm out of town, as soon as I get back I listen to it ... actually even in the Alto E. press Flanagan's piano, when he doesn't just accompany Dorham, increases his presence, without ever reaching the impact that trumpet and drums have. ..
    I hear from you as soon as I can!
     
  20. jonwoody

    jonwoody Tragically Unhip

    Location:
    Washington DC
    I was just reading that in the NY Times, RIP Mr Heath and bless you for the music.
     
    agedave likes this.
  21. Mugrug12

    Mugrug12 The Jungle Is a Skyscraper

    Location:
    Massachusetts
    Thx for the rec this looks fun. John Escreet is a monster!
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    Last edited: Jan 20, 2020
    Starwanderer likes this.
  22. Six String

    Six String Senior Member

    NP Ahmad Jamal Trio - Count 'Em 88 (Argo) dg, black mono label

    This one features Walter Perkins on drums instead of Vincent Fournier but doesn't change the overall excellent sound of Jamal.
     
  23. Tribute

    Tribute Senior Member

    There have been many stories of musicians whose wish is to die while playing their music, and who met that fate.

    The story of David Olney, who just passed tears me up:

    From his obit:

    “David was playing a song when he paused, said ‘I’m sorry’ and put his chin to his chest,” Scott Miller, a singer-songwriter who was performing with him, said on Facebook. “He never dropped his guitar or fell off his stool. It was as easy and gentle as he was. We got him down and tried our best to revive him until the EMT’s arrived.”

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  24. Fischman

    Fischman RockMonster, ClassicalMaster, and JazzMeister

    Location:
    New Mexico
    Bobby Hutcherson – Dialogue
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    Bobby Hutcherson – Components
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    I started my Bobby Hutcherson journey, as most do, with his most acclaimed album, "Components," but for my most recent listen, I decided to start with his first album as leader, "Components," recorded two months earlier. While "Components" will always remain his most revered, and likely my favorite, I've decided "Dialogue" is only a hair behind. The really cool thing about "Dialogue," in addition to the sense that the album is aptly titled as the musicians converse with each other... and with the listener... is that Hutcherson puts a new twist on standard genres. For instance, the opener, "Catta" is clearly presented in Latin form, but is clearly something else entirely new. The following "Idle While" has the core of a hard bop ballad, but is delivered with a bit of post bop pioneering. "Les Noirs Marchant" sound a traditional march, the most structured of all musical forms, at the beginning, but then morphs into free jazz explorations. Sam Rivers' sax make a great match for the more exploratory of these pieces while Freddie Hubbard's trumpet provides the more familiar side; again, this record shines by means of yet another contrast, with Andrew Hill's (who provided four of the six compositions on the album; bassist Paul Chambers providing the other two) being the thread that ties it all together.

    The title cut proves to be a real highlight, being both the most fully realized composition on the album as well as the one where Hutcherson himself really shines. On "Ghetto Lights," Hutcherson & Co. do with the blues what they did with other forms in previous cuts; twist it into his intriguing new musical vision while keeping enough of the original form for it to still be recognizable. And get a load of Hubbard's muted solo! Soulful stuff.

    Components, rather than exploring many styles one song at a time, is rather divided into two halves with their own coherence. The first half is exploratory and harmonically advanced hard bop while the second half wanders more fully into the free jazz idiom. Both are excellent, and it all ends up feeling like witnessing musical evolution itself, complete with a sudden but peaceful changing of the guard, making the album as a whole more than the sum of its parts. Also making "Components" just a little more special than "Dialogue" is the very welcome event of Hutcherson himself taking a little more solo time, and the album benefits from how his modern but gorgeous playing creates and carries mood throughout. While moving from Sam Rivers to the lesser known James Spaulding on sax could be considered a step back, especially given the former's skill at evolution into the avant garde, it actually ends up being a sort of improvement as Spaulding also brings his free flowing flute into the mix.

    After a solid self titled opener, the album moves on to "Tranquility," which could not be more appropriately named. If there is a more tranquil, but still musically meaningful, song out there (in any genre), I have yet to hear it. Side two kicks off with "Movement," announcing that you have now moved into the free side of the album. Hubbard's trumpet and Spaulding's flute dance about Ron Carter's bass, Joe Chambers' drums, and now Herbie Hancock's piano with movement which is at once both angular and graceful. The dance becomes even more graceful on the following "Juba Dance."

    From form to freedom, "Components" skillful demonstrates multiple personalities emerging from a single, coherent and focused musical mind.
     
  25. gov

    gov Forum Resident

    Location:
    NYC Metro

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