Jazz for aficionados

Ghosthouse, and Acman; we've been down this road many times before, I suggest you ignore it.

Did you click on the link for the female vocalist?

@alexatpos .  This could be quite the rabbit hole.  Mostly a joke, if a poor one, but, for me, most simply, it's the snobbery and, perhaps in clearthink's words, prejudice and self-righteousness.  "Worth" has little to do with my opinion.  "I'm a better, more complete, person, because I listen to X.  You are a mindless, inattentive, simpleton and follower, because you waste your time spacing out to Y and won't or can't appreciate X."  Or, perhaps, "You just need Bose cubes, because you listen to Y.  Anything better is wasted on your dumb ass."

Anyway, there absolutely are combined elements of relativism and subjectivity in viewing the "worth" of music or art.  To go further, one might spend some time examining the purpose of music, if there is one.  Is it to move the soul, to evoke an emotional response, to get closer to God, to provide an escape or distraction, to feed some glitch in the lizard brain, to fulfill pre-destined expression of a mathematic imperative, to enhance communication, etc.?  Is that purpose static across time, cultures, and/or multiple areas of human development (e.g., politics, technology, mathematics, etc.)?

So, sure, there's bad music and good music.  Thought that might be clear in the "hypocrite" comment.  I'd like the low-res vocal auto-tuner to be retired, for example, but I don't think folks who like it are beneath me.



As to the OP.  John Coltrane, A Love Supreme.

@orpheus10
Okay - I am playing your Dakota Staton tracks. Think you got a duplicate in there. 2 of Green Dolphin Street. Recorded NYC 1960... Woulda been 8 years old. Every morning up for school, my pop getting ready to leave for work. Old gray plastic AM radio tuned to WOR’s Rambling with Gambling (Pack Up Your Troubles was his theme song). Probably played something like this on that station at that time. Music from another era for me. I know less about female vocalists from back then than I do about jazz (which already ain’t a lot!).

Dakota has a powerful voice but it has a bit of an edge to my ear. I do like Dakota’s phrasing and expressiveness in Cry Me a River.
(Not to get ridiculous but the beginning of that Cry Me a River sure sounds like Bond movie theme music. Wonder who borrowed from whom?)

Sorry can’t offer any greater insight on your Ms. Staton. Post the 3rd link you intended. I will check that out.

I heard something in a popular context a long time ago. Sarah Vaughn doing the honors. Made an impression (hang with it to 1:10)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Nk4lhxKK6k&ab_channel=JFWILLIAMBILL

Something from earlier in her career. She makes it seem effortless.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hs58v0rKQgY&ab_channel=VanAllesWat33

I just listened to that 3 times in a row. Not sure you can get much closer to perfection.

But like I already said, I know next to nothin’ ’bout these women singers.

PS - I enjoyed the Curtis Fuller "Five Spot After Dark". Seems an odd little piece. Not sure why. Nobody plays over the top. Gives it a restrained kind of late autumn feel to me. I seem to always like Tommy Flanagan’s piano.

PPS - part 2 on the Curtis Fuller, O. Found the entire Blues-ette on Tidal.
TF plays a really nice solo starting at 0:50 and running to about 2:13 on Undecided. You can learn all the technical chops in the world. Not sure anybody can teach "good taste and elegance". Do think Tommy has more than his fair share of those. Another great piano solo right at 3:21 on Minor Vamp.

The Tidal write up is very complimentary about this recording and seems on the mark from what I’m hearing. This recording is a little gem. Might have to put it on the "buy" list. See first how often I come back to it on Tidal. Good recommendation. Thanks.

I enjoy reading reviews while listening.  On the off chance you are similarly disposed, copied this from Tidal:

"Sessions in any genre of music are all too often described as "sublime," but seldom has that description been better deserved than with this relaxed hard bop classic. One looks to other catchalls such as "effortless" and "loose," but even those slight this amazing date by implying a lack of intensity -- and intensity comes in all forms. For all intents and purposes, this is the first recorded meeting of what would become the famous Benny Golson/Art Farmer Jazztet (albeit without Farmer), a group most commonly associated with its 1960 Chess session, Meet the Jazztet. Curtis Fuller’s next date, The Curtis Fuller Jazztet, and his appearance on the Chess date, only compound this point. Like perhaps Jimmy Smith’s flagship, The Sermon, Blues-ette’s brilliance manifests itself not only within the individual solos but also in the way the group functions as a collective. One gets the impression that these tunes could have continued for hours in the studio without the slightest lack of interest on anyone’s part. This might be because many of the themes presented here are so basic and seemingly obvious that they don’t seem like anything to write home about upon first listen. A day or so later, when you’re walking down the street to the tempo of the title track, you may begin to think otherwise. These are some exceptionally catchy heads and many have since become standards. As far as individual performances are concerned, you’re not likely to find better solos by any of the members of this quintet than you will here, though they all have extensive and very high-quality catalogs themselves. Picking highlights is a moot point. Blues-ette is best experienced as an entire LP. It would have surely made a greater impact upon its initial release had it been on a more high-profile label, such as Columbia or Blue Note, but there’s no sense worrying about that now. Any serious jazz collection is incomplete without this record. Period." ~ Brandon Burke

Ghosthouse, glad you appreciated the brilliance in Chick Corea’s "Three Quartets"; state of the art post-bop by four virtuoso players. In many respects it is Eddie Gomez sets the bar with some amazing bass playing.

This was Michael Brecker’s last recording before his passing after a long struggle with illness. Many thought he would never record again and the news of the project was welcomed as a sign of his recovering health. Sadly, he passed just a couple of months later. Probably the greatest of the post-Coltrane tenor players who built on Trane’s vocabulary he was also a very interesting composer. One of my favorite records and one which I would put in the same general category as "Three Quartets":

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HkjcLU38A6E