Jazz for aficionados

O-10,

I have 'The Electrifying Eddie Harris' on LP. I will now have to get it on CD. I had forgotten what I was missing.
That cut does bring back memories. Like, when you could find Jazz on juke boxes in bars. Great tunes.

I have had "Bean Bags' on my 'to order' list for a while now. It will be on my next order.

I spent quite a long time in Atlanta myself. Used to work for IBM on Peachtree back in the mid/late 60's. A great time for music.

For computers also. I worked on the IBM Model 360. Which has since been replaced by my 99 cent cascio calculator. :(

I am sure I have everything Nina ever recorded. :) Her 'Four Women' stays on my desk. You can never get enough Nina.

I was in memory lane last night. Listening / watching DVDs.
Three Mo'Tenors, EW&F, Playing For Change and Smokey Joe's Cafe.
Nothing can possibly sound better than listening thru HD 650s and a first rate Sound card.

I have about 80 CDs to catalog on the puter. So I better get busy. Great to have you back.

Cheers

Rok, I had more fun in Atlanta than in any town I can remember. This is a follow up to my last post about "Nina". These tunes illustrate how great a jazz pianist she was; they give you another aspect of her talents to focus on. Nina gives you two for one, a great vocalist and pianist.

Nina Simone "Good Bait".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwPw9YiBXtM

Nina simone "African Mailman".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xz0VOq9UuyQ

Nina Simone "Central Park Blues".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ne8XQRBm_Gw

Nina Simone "Flo me La".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWX0beegGA0

Enjoy the music.

Rok, I checked Rodrick Dixon singing "This Song For You"; the "soul" was palpable. That word should be reserved exclusively for vocalists like him; I can believe he's really singing this song for the lady he wishes he had back.

Enjoy the music.

Frogman, I saw that movie "The Americano" on you tube and watched it all the way through; I liked it. Although I remember my older cousin taking me to see that movie, all I remembered was the music.

Enjoy the music.

leersfool, as a jazz aficionado, it's only natural that I think jazz musicians are the best; I said "musicians", and not music, because that's too subjective. The best music is whatever the listener likes best.

However, there is another type of musician that deserves equal or higher status depending on how you rank musicians; and that is the "pit musician". I had the unusual, and unique opportunity of seeing one in action. They only appear at the best full production plays, as far as I know, and even then they're down in a sunken pit right in front of the stage; consequently the audience looks over and past them, they're out of sight.

My seat was up front and far left of the stage where I could look down into the pit. I saw these musicians seated in a row, side by side. Each musician had several instruments, of whatever type he played, in a rack; plus his sheet of music, in front of him. I was closest to "the reed man", he had every reed horn you can think of, including that strange one called a basoon in a rack in front of him.

Although it was a fantastic play (I had read the book), my attention was focused on "the reed man". His eyes never left the the sheet of music in front of him as he slid one horn out of the rack, and another in. While the music was spectacular, this was a dramatic play, and not a musical. The music flowed seamlessly with the action on stage, while the pit musicians were constantly changing instruments and sheets of music.

When what sounded like improvised jazz was called for, I watched the reed man blow like "Trane", and his eyes never left the music in front of him. If I closed my eyes, I would have sworn that I was hearing a jazz musician, maybe even "Trane"; but I could see the reed man blowing what was on the piece of paper in front of him. That told me that what sounds like "improvised jazz" can be written on a sheet of paper, I didn't know that.

Now that you and Frogman know what I saw, maybe you could further enlighten us.

Enjoy the music.