Jazz for aficionados

Sonny Rollins: fabulous!! And yes surprisingly neglected here. One of the few musicians who could pull off playing in a piano-less setting. Such is the command of the harmony and there is so much logic and clarity to the improvisation that it makes it easy to follow the harmonic progression of the tune without the piano to spell it out. His rhythmic authority is fantastic. Some musicians have the ability to play so "in the pocket" that the rhythm section plays to their rhythmic pull and not the other way around. Louis Armstrong had it, Ray Charles had it and Sonny Rollins has it.

Btw, you made an interesting commnent in a recent post about how you feel drum or bass solos " interrupt the flow of the music". It is often true. Not because it's drums or bass per se, but because the players of those instruments have traditionally been almost exclusively in the role of time keeper and simply haven't developed as melodists. That has changed a lot in recent times as bass players became more facile and technically and harmonically more advanced. Remember the days when all a bass player could do was play a "walking bass" solo? Basically the same thing that they would do while keeping time for a horn norm piano player. Then they graduated to attempts at melodic solos and the results were often a lot of out of tune and even wrong notes; often painful to listen to. Btw, you made an interesting commnent in a recent post about how you feel drum or bass solos " interrupt the flow of the music". It is often true. Not because it's drums or bass per se, but because the players of those those instruments have traditionally been almost exclusively in the role of time keeper and simply haven't developed as melodists. That has changed a lot in recent times as bass players became more facile and technically and harmonically more advanced. Remember the days when all a bass player could do was play a "walking bass" solo; basically the same thing that would do while keeping time for a horn norm piano player. Then they graduated to attempts at melodic solos and the results were often a lot of out of tune and even wrong notes; often painful to listen to. Now we have virtuosic bass players who can improvise with the same technical facility as horn players. Same thing for drummers, but even more of a challenge since the drums are not a melody instrument. Btw, also why, as you pointed out, they were seldom band leaders. A band leader needs to have knowledge and command of the melody and harmony side of things and not just of rhythm in order to be effective as a leader. A restaurant which has a great chef is doomed if that chef, who can't add and subtract, tries to also be the book keeper. Some drummers (Max Roach) will actually tune their drums to specific pitches in order to bring melody to the drum solo. Speaking of musical flow, notice ,how the drum solo on your Rollins clip does not interrupt the flow; Pete La Roca was a fabulous drummer.

Some favorite Sonny:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gActLqZZX68

Check out the bass solo!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=v4DTR0I7xhA

Frogman, take off your blinders, this is a new reality, unlike anything in the past; the fact that it's not happening is the "new propaganda".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bUaHIIxh50

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obho7uBg3-A

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFfUl8dHncE

Enjoy the music.

Frogman, eat a lot of turkey, and have a "HAPPY THANKSGIVING!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dvtigCGkOY

Happy Thanksgiving to Aficionados everywhere. Watching the parade from NYC. The Big Apple Looking Good!

*****how the drum solo on your Rollins clip does not interrupt the flow; Pete La Roca was a fabulous drummer. ******

I noticed this. I remember thinking when I heard the Rollins clip, "well that shoots my drum/bass thing to hell".

*****One of the few musicians who could pull off playing in a piano-less setting. *****

Does this mean he has to play more? He was playing almost non-stop.

Thanks for all the Music info.

Cheers