I guess I will have to start charging royalties for the use of the word 😊. Of course, had the OP been reading carefully what has been written instead of always looking for a way to put some sort of negative slant on the topic that he, himself, brought to the table and now claims to not like (for reasons of allegiance more than musical, btw) he would notice that what jzzmusician wrote is exactly what I wrote previously; at least once.
Great clip jzzmusician; and your commentary is exactly right. Machito and his orchestra were one of the greatest of the Latin bands; and, of course, Dizzy is a great fit.
1977 in fusion coming up; sandwiched between Acman3's great post of DiMeola's Classic 1976 record and Alex's 1978 Jack DeJohnette, who for consistency as an artist has few peers. Amazing drummer and classic ECM recording.
Beautiful clips by Rok of The Duke. Those and the Weston clips made me think of the subject of "influence"; the influence of the music and style of one player on others. The Ellington clips highlight what a brilliant musician he was and what a phenomenal band he had. Listen to the impeccable ensemble playing with the beautiful sense of blend with matched vibrato; all the while letting the unique sounds of the key players (Hodges, Carney) come through. A LOT of nuance in their playing creating a velvety sound with that great sense of swing. Before anyone gets worked into a tizzy I will preface these comments as a point of interest;THIS IS NOT WYNTON BASHING:
Duke's band makes clear why, eventhough Wynton deserves tremendous credit for "keeping the flame alive" (in a way) as Rok says, why I when I listen to Duke's recordings and then to Wynton playing the same music I am always left with the feeling of "why?". Why listen to Wynton's band playing this music when I can listen to Duke; just not on the same level. Of course, that's not the only thing Wynton's band plays. Thanks for the great clips, Rok.
The above and Randy Weston make a case for why "influence" needs to be organic. Alex makes a comment that I agree with. I prefer Randy Weston's earlier recordings; they ring true to what HIS musical persona is. In the intro to the later "jk blues" one hears a clear McCoy Tyner influence and on that and other later an overall Horace Silver influence with some Ahmad Jamal thrown in. I don't hear Monk (?!) at all as Rok does; perhaps it's the presence of Booker Irvin that is why he makes the association.
I wish I could share the enthusiasm for Hugh Masekela. I don't care for his brand of Africa meets West music which often ends up sounding like mediocre Smooth Jazz to me. I find him to be a pretty good flugelhorn player with some problems as an instrumentalist; shaky intonation and limited technical facility compared to the greats on the instrument. Greatest ever? Not in my book. "Stimela": Yikes! Barry White goes on a safari. Not my cup of tea.
1977 soon. Is that applause I hear? 😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃
