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Jazz for aficionados

Jazz for aficionados

I'm going to review records in my collection, and you'll be able to decide if they're worthy of your collection. These records are what I consider "must haves" for any jazz aficionado, and would be found in their collections. I wont review any record that's not on CD, nor will I review any record if the CD is markedly inferior. Fortunately, I only found 1 case where the CD was markedly inferior to the record.

Our first album is "Moanin" by Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers. We have Lee Morgan , trumpet; Benney Golson, tenor sax; Bobby Timmons, piano; Jymie merrit, bass; Art Blakey, drums.

The title tune "Moanin" is by Bobby Timmons, it conveys the emotion of the title like no other tune I've ever heard, even better than any words could ever convey. This music pictures a person whose down to his last nickel, and all he can do is "moan".

"Along Came Betty" is a tune by Benny Golson, it reminds me of a Betty I once knew. She was gorgeous with a jazzy personality, and she moved smooth and easy, just like this tune. Somebody find me a time machine! Maybe you knew a Betty.

While the rest of the music is just fine, those are my favorite tunes. Why don't you share your, "must have" jazz albums with us.

Enjoy the music.
orpheus10
learsfool
1,206 posts
 
Happy Birthday to Ella Fitzgerald!Enter your text ...
orpheus10 OP
5,988 posts
 

Alex, this was almost the standard for "Moonlight in Vermont"; a lot of DJ's used it as a theme song when they came on late night; it is sooo mellow .


        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRNpc-hFkCs





Enjoy the music
frogman
4,637 posts
 
Alex, thanks for bringing Johnny Smith back to the discussion.  What a nice player!  Beautiful and unaffected guitar sound and feel.  Jazzcourier points out his affinity for medium tempo tunes and ballads.  Ballads are probably the biggest test of any player's true mettle not having the "crutch" of the opportunity to simply show off sheer and sometimes meaningless chops.  Perhaps there is some significance to his choice of title for this tune:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gobhuQ9BKWg

However, this is not to say he couldn't tear it up when he wanted to:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=L4wbcMR3chk


rok2id's avatar
rok2id
4,494 posts
 
This guy can become habit forming.  I read the title of the tune and thought "surely you jest'.  Ended up grinning throughout the whole thing.
great stuff.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjpjGSr38d4

Cheers


frogman
4,637 posts
 
Rok, "Finger Poppin"; another classic Silver recording! "Cookin At The Continental" has always been one of my favorite Silver tunes and my favorite on the record. I believe this is the first recording by the classic Silver Quintet and those guys were in top form. Mitchell sounds amazing and "Cookin" has one of my favorite Silver solos of all time. Great stuff!

Delta City Blues:

What can be said about Michael Brecker that hasn’t been said a thousand times over? First of all, probably the greatest saxophone virtuoso (any genre, including classical) that ever lived. He was able to do things on the instrument that no one else could and with an ease that was hard to believe. Stylistically, obviously coming out of the Coltrane school, harmonic approach-wise and tone-wise. It is not too much of a stretch to say that he was the most influential saxophone player of his generation with scores of young saxophone players copying Breckerisms over the last four decades. Even the prominent younger tenor players who strive to stay "closer to the farm" (at least in their own minds) can be heard to show his influence; especially in how they inflect certain notes on the instrument. Amazing instrumentalist and, within his stylistic world, an amazing jazz player. He was also one of the most humble individuals you could ever meet. His recent death after a long illness was a great loss to the saxophone world.

Thanks for that great clip.

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