Jazz for aficionados

O-10, I enjoyed the Chico Freeman clip; it is, as you say, an interesting tune. I have owned that record since it came out and if I’m not mistaken that record was discussed a while ago.

I have never been much of a Chico Freeman fan and that record was considered his breakthrough recording and it was his best (by far) recording up to that time. Although it is an interesting tune and Freeman is the leader on the record, I think an argument can be made that Freeman is no more than a sideman on this particular tune. First, it is not Freeman’s tune, it was written by bassist McBee who sounds fantastic on it. Additionally, of all the soloists Freeman is the least distinguished, imo. Bobby Hutcherson sounds amazing on this tune and Wynton plays one the most exciting solos that I have ever heard from him; and he was twenty (!) years old at the time. Overall, interesting tune and some really great playing.

To put it into a certain perspective, I think it should be remembered that this record came out at a time when many were feeling that (real) jazz was dead and the arrival of “young lions” like Wynton who considered themselves traditionalists was considered a really big deal. This was the first record by Freeman in a more traditional bag and a departure from his prior avant-garde recordings. He is clearly a good band leader, but imo, as a saxophonist he is, to use an unfortunate recently used term, fairly irrelevant. Still, nice record. Thanks for the clip.

Nice clip, Alex.  That record is new to me; thanks for that.  Beautiful playing all the way around.  Great to hear Lee Morgan on muted trumpet.  Interesting that he seems to take on a somewhat different personality with the mute in; less fire and aggression in his playing which comes through when unmuted even on ballads like this.  Golson sounds beautiful.  What a tone!  Acknowledging that they are very different tunes and that the players have very different styles, it makes for an interesting contrast to Chico Freeman.  The tune in your clip was composed by Golson and he improvises on it like he owns the tune.  His tunes have always had interesting chord progressions and he plays on it with great conviction.  He nails every single chord change with beautiful thematic development and the logic of someone who knows the tune intimately.  Great stuff.  

Frogman, new people are posting who may or may not have heard this tune. While almost every tune I post will be a repeat for you; when the tune is that good, it's better to err on the repeat for those who haven't heard it.

I am a Chico Freeman fan since the "Kings of Mali" that came out in 77, long before the tune I posted.


      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buFUP2LvK2s


I buy records for the overall music, and not the sound of a specific instrument.

Another example of an artist whose tone you criticized was "Billy Bang"; while his tone most certainly is not on par with a classical violinist, I like his music much better. Me and Billy Bang are philosophical brothers; he's a vet who had hard times in "Nam".



      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R22OfE5R0_0


"Yo, Ho Chi Minh is in the House"


Git down Charley Brown!

O-10, I think it’s great that some things get multiple postings; especially since there are new participants here. Please don’t misinterpret my pointing out that something was posted previously as meaning that I don’t think it should be posted again; it’s a simple statement of fact and potentially interesting in a way.

Like you, I don’t buy music nor judge recordings for the sound of one particular instrument; that’s the very reason that I own that Chico Freeman record. In fact, I actually like his tone quite a bit.  I just don’t particularly like him as player, nor most of his recordings. I do like Destiny’s Dance, as I said; some really good stuff on it.

I think you misunderstood what I previously opined re Billy Bang. It wasn’t his tone in particular that was the main issue for me and comparison to a Classical player is not really relevant since there are jazz violinists with tone that, while not “Classical” by any means, is excellent and I like very much. I just don’t find much to enjoy in his music and find his playing to be, overall, kind of crude. That’s just for me and I’m really glad that you find much to like in his playing.