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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
rok2id's avatar
rok2id
4,494 posts
 
*****   her voice seems like is close to cracking but that doesn't bother me a bit and from my point of view *****

Maybe it does not bother you one bit, and i'm sure we see her from different points of view.   Being from a foreign country, I would not expect you to see and relate to her as I do.      

***** You may not like her but surely cannot stay indifferent, 'cause this lady delivers strongly. *****

I never said I didn't like her, and I am hardly indifferent, in fact, the opposite is true.  To me her life is a tragedy.   A tragedy played out countless times in this country, especially in the Jazz world.

***** Maybe people like her precisely because of her 'crack in the voice'. The perfect imperfection.*****

Maybe people in Croatia do.   Maybe some people who only think of her as a voice on a CD.

Context is everything.

Cheers
frogman
4,637 posts
 
btw, mary_jo, I agree with everything you wrote about Billie Holiday. Arguably (for some) the greatest and most influential jazz singer to ever live. As you say...the power to deliver.  And let’s not forget her song writing talents.  One of the most admired traits in a jazz artist is the ability to say the most with the fewest notes. In Billie Holiday’s case it was the ability to say the most with the fewest vocal resources. A voice that was dripping with soul and worldliness and which was barely more than one single octave in range; yet could say so much. This one kills me every time:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XK4tmKtpw54
frogman
4,637 posts
 
I don’t disagree with Rok’s comment about context and how it might influence a person’s reaction to an artist; and I think I undertand where he’s coming from, perhaps not. One of the most interesting, controversial and debated topics in all of music and it’s history. Does one put ANY caveats in the appreciation of an artist because of personal issues and how those might relate to oneself or to the world at large? Do an artist’s personal controversies diminish the art? Food for thought.
mary_jo
252 posts
 

rok2id

I might be a jazz newbie but I am surely not a life newbie. From what I can see, you are trying to ’defend’ Billie (I apologize if I am wrong) as if Billie needs a defender and as if she is unwillingly exposed to the eyes of the foreigner in her sorrow.

I dare to say that Billie does not need a defender. I see her in her performance more stronger than you can imagine. Despite of the fact that I am a foreigner (therefore you surely can understand her better, that I admit), I am also a human that can ’bleed’, like her, with the same blood color.

Also, she performs on the stage and she is perfectly aware of it, yet and in spite of that, she wants to bare her soul in front of the audience by delivering the message that is so intimate for her. Again, that is what artist is for. Work becomes an art once you decide to share it with the world.

I would never call her ’sad case’, ’cause she managed to raise the experience of her tragic life on the different level and was magnificent in it and therefore remained to be great in my eyes, an eyes of a foreigner.

This is not a lecture from me to you, this is just me trying to write down what I think or feel. I know very well that you appreciate Billie. It is not hard to guess that, I do not need right context for that.

***

Alex, very nice songs, I enjoyed listening...

frogman, thank you for the welcome words and For All We Know, because for all I know, I like it very much.


schubert
4,867 posts
 
Wagner's did . He wrote twice as many anti-Semitic published diatribes as music when he was the best known person in Germany and which made hate speech
in the German middle and upper classes acceptable in public discourse .
And words DO matter !

I studied history in Germany for 4 years in the top-rated German university for same and every single Professor drew a straight line from Wagner to Hitler .
Adolf didn't idolize him for his music .
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