Jazz for aficionados
Grant Green seems to be one of the artists I'm in resonance with; that's when sympathetic vibrations occur, and the music reaches you consistently. I think we're on the same fundamental wave length. I rate musicians by how much I like their version of "Round Midnight". If they don't have one, that excludes them from the top echelon of musicians. I like Grants version of "Round Midnight". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIrYlh_oq14 Enjoy the music. |
Frogman, "Many so-called "free" or "avant-garde" players have been shown to be nothing more than imposters since "musical political correctness" has been reluctant to call their playing what it is: bullshit." I mistakenly bought some of that "bullshit", and sold it the next day. I wont mention who the artist was, but someone commented that he sounded like someone was stepping on his feet. After you pointed it out, I took note of how "Idle Moments" relaxed toward the end. During that recording session, Rudy was supposed to stop Joe after 7 minutes, but every one was entranced with his solo, and Rudy decided to let him blow, consequently they had to drop another intended cut. Enjoy the music. |
Today's Listen: Lou Rawls with Les McCann Ltd. -- STORMY MONDAY Rawls(v), Les McCann(p), LeRoy Vinnegar(b), Ron Jefferson(d) Lou Rawls' first recording. Recorded in 1962 on BlueNote. 13 tunes. Mostly blues. The Count Basie, Joe Williams type of blues numbers. This is a young Lou Rawls. You can hear it in his voice. It would get better as he aged. The Les McCann Trio provide good backing. No weak tracks. Most are well known tunes like: 'God Bless the Child', 'See See Rider' etc... My favorite is "I'd rather drink muddy water" Willie Dixon said "blues is the truth", if that is true, and it is, then they recorded this session with one hand on the Bible, swearing to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Lou Rawls -- AT LAST This is Rawls 27 years later. Still on Blue Note. Sort of like a complilation. Lou is joined by Dianne Reeves, Ray Charles, Stanley Turrentine,David 'fathead' Newman and Bobby Hutcherson. A more sophisticated outing. Better arrangements and much larger band in support. I like the singing on this one best. He seems to be into the songs to a degree he was not in the first disc. Experience? This is the mature Lou Rawls that we all know. 11 Tracks. All good. He does a duet with Ray on, 'That's Where It's At' and with Dianne on 'At Last'. Great stuff. For Rawls fans, both are must haves.. His first, and close to His last. Cheers BTW, The avant-garde,and Free Jazz, Bullshit!?!?!! Why I never heard of such a thing!!! You can add Southwest Pakistani folk Jazz etc... to the list also. Where were you two, when I was saying the same thing? All I got for my trouble were attacks from all sides. You just can't keep the truth down, you just can't do it! :) Welcome to the light, and the fight. |
Rok, my feelings about "free" jazz have not changed for quite some time. I seem to recall a couple of earlier discussions about it. But, to be clear, I don't consider ALL free jazz to be bullshit; quite the contrary. If I am not mistaken, one of those discussions was about Coltrane's "free" period. I would never consider that to be bullshit. My comments were about some players who jumped on the "free" bandwagon without having any mastery of the traditional. Occasionally, a genius comes along whose innate musical vocabulary is so different that he has something to say even without any substantive roots in the traditional vocabulary, so there is real value. Many others...; well, I think I have used up my quota of that word for a while. IMO, of course, and I am sure some more "open minded" consider that opinion to be.... |
