Jazz for aficionados

Jun.....I mean, Rok, in local vernacular you have "downtown", "midtown" and "uptown".  each of those broad areas has smaller sub-areas with names such as The Village, Soho, Harlem.  "Midtown" covers roughly 34st to 66st.  The heart of midtown would be Times Square at 42st and Broadway, the area where the theater district is.  Lincoln Center is at 62-66 Sts.  "Uptown" would be the streets North of midtown all the way up to the 200's (below the Bronx).  The center of Harlem would be at 125 St. "Downtown" refers to the streets Souh of midtown all the way to the bottom of Manhattan Island.  That is, loosely, the geography.  

The three terms also have certain tacit meanings or implications as used locally and in the arts world.  Moving "Uptown" used to mean that the person has "made it".  Most of the expensive real estate is North of midtown (especially on the East side) but South of Harlem; although that's changing.  "Downtown" is where the hipster are, the avant guard, the "new" music scene, also a lot of the jazz clubs.  A person that is a very hip dresser and has a certain attitude can be said to look very downtown: or certain music can be said to have a downtown vibe.

Today's Listen:

Hampton Hawes -- HAMPTON HAWES TRIO VOL. 1

Another great one addicted to Heroin, dead at 48, and he didn't even record for BN.   Sentenced to 10 years in jail in Texas.  pardoned by JFK after 3 years.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8iSgxAZUtk the most

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_oMwwwOANI hamp's

Seems to be a whole lot of in your face quoting on this one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWxJeaTm8sg

Great Player..

Cheers

Fellow "Aficionados" I'm trying to get a feel for the recordings made in 1960, 61 and 62. I'm not going to provide links for these recordings because if you are a jazz aficionado, they should be in your collection, just pull them out and give a listen.

First I want to establish the jazz mood for that period of time, next I want you to compare that to these "Grant Green" albums that I ordered which were not released, and I want you to give me your honest evaluation in regard to the mood at that time in regard to jazz in general. The question is, were these albums by Grant Green so out of step, that you, yourself would not release them if that was your decision to make. Remember, you are not comparing this album to that album, but the general mood of the jazz buying public, that is the question you're trying to answer.

Since we've recently had a heated debate about this, they (the debaters) probably think I'm trying to win an argument, when all I'm trying to do, is get some valid answers, and there is no better way to get them than to ask anyone who reads this thread for the answer.

Since there is a possibility you haven't heard the Grant Green, Sonny Clark albums, I'll provide them for you to compare with other prominent jazz musicians who put out albums at about that time.


Disc 1

"Airegin" (Sonny Rollins) - 7:32
"It Ain't Necessarily So" (Gershwin, Gershwin) - 10:22
"I Concentrate on You" (Porter) - 5:48
"The Things We Did Last Summer" (Cahn, Styne) - 5:56
"The Song Is You" (Hammerstein II, Kern) - 7:46
"Nancy (With the Laughing Face)" (Van Heusen, Silvers) - 6:25
"Airegin" [Alternative Take] - 7:37
"On Green Dolphin Street" (Kaper, Washington) - 6:26
"Shadrack" (MacGimsey) - 6:23
"What Is This Thing Called Love?" (Porter) - 5:50


Disc two


"Moon River" (Mancini, Mercer) - 5:37
"Gooden's Corner" - 8:14
"Two for One" - 7:41
"Oleo" (Sonny Rollins) – 5:37
"Little Girl Blue" (Hart, Rodgers) – 7:15
"Tune-Up" (Eddie Vinson) – 7:19
"Hip Funk" (Green) – 8:39
"My Favorite Things" (Hammerstein II, Rodgers) – 8:32
"Oleo" [Alternative Take] - 6:00
Personnel[edit]
Grant Green - guitar



Miles Davis 1961 "Sketches of Spain" and "Someday My Prince Will Come"


Art Blakey and the messengers Lee Morgan, Bobby Timmons, Bennie Golson, Jymie Merit "Moanin, Blues March, and Along came Betty."

John Coltrane 1961

John Coltrane — soprano and tenor saxophone
Eric Dolphy — bass clarinet, alto saxophone
McCoy Tyner — piano
Reggie Workman — bass
Jimmy Garrison — bass
Elvin Jones — drums
Garvin Bushell — probably cor anglais (described wrongly in the disc notes as an oboe),[7] contrabassoon
Ahmed Abdul-Malik — probably tanpura (described wrongly in the disc notes as an oud)[7]
Roy Haynes — drums

1961 village vanguard recordings

Yusef Lateef 1961 recordings
Eastern sounds


I'm going to provide links for songs you're familiar with like : "It ain't Necesarily So"; "On Green Dolphin Street" , and "My Favorite Things" by Grant Green and Sonny Clark.


                    "It Ain't necessarily so"


                https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vP1iyEUyHeI



                    "On Green Dolphin Street"


              https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgYNRz8y6R8



                    "MY Favorite Things"


            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTD-4AozN5o


Since everyone knows I'm biased, I don't get to vote or make a statement in regard to this. The question is, do you think this album would be acceptable to the jazz buying public at that time.


Enjoy the music.

Hampton Hawes music was like a breath of fresh air; when I say that, I mean no stereotypical cliches.

A ten year prison sentence for a person who's on a self destruct mission, doesn't seem like a right bright thing to do by the judge, but that's the way it was. Since we have an epidemic at the moment, if they keep that up they are going to have to build a lot more prisons.

Heroin addiction is not a musician exclusive thing, and from what I've seen up close and personal, music has nothing to do with it. Contrary to popular belief, it never helped their performance, nor did they believe it would. They used heroin for the same reason all the rest of the addicts used heroin; to feel good. That is until "Ma jones comin down on me".

Enjoy the music.

O-10, I realize that I haven't earned the classification of "aficionado" (although I seem to have graduated to "connoisseur"), but since this is an open forum I will give this a stab eventhough you ask the question of your fellow "aficionados".  Moreover, so far as I can tell, only one poster has expressed an opinion on the matter that you have not dismissed completely.  So, your use of the plural with "aficionados" must mean that you are being inclusive.  You obviously don't care about the calls from other participants here to drop this Grant Green business and at some point you are going to have to understand that you set yourself up for disagreement and worse.  

Several possible reasons have been given for why those recordings were not released. You have dismissed every single reason given as 100%, even 200%, wrong.  Not only does claiming someone is wrong suggest that you know what the correct answer is, but you have failed to give your own (presumably correct) answer.  So, what is it?  Why don't we start there.  My contention is simple, the records were released as dictated by Grant's contract.  So, anything else, right or wrong, humane or not, is moot.  You admit a bias (good!); so, it seems to me that rather than cherry picking the recordings that YOU feel "set the mood" for the time, shouldn't those recordings be picked by others?  

"Sketches Of Spain": with everything that was going on in jazz in 1961, "setting the mood"?  Seriously?