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
O-10, thanks for the clarification. Issue of semantics and personal definition at work here. For me, "cerebral" and "cerebrally" would seem to mean the precise opposite of your definition. While I do agree with your description of the process of listening, it is (again, for me) applicable only some of the time. Being that music being listened to is someone else's expression of their experiences and memories, there are times that what the music precisely demands of me is a concentrated effort to hear it.
O-10:

Did you notice how Clark Terry and Muddy Waters meshed so effortlessly? Someone once said, Cannonball maybe, "It's not the same thing, but it's from the same thing". Speaking of Blues and Jazz. Cannonball loved to talk.

Two guys from the 50's that were rumored, to be able to play.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVFLYz0SdKg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zH3JpqhpkXg

Aaron Copland - "Is there a meaning to music? Yes. Can you state in so many words what the meaning is? No."

Cheers

Rok, I think the Bobby Timmons Trio's are the best for focusing exclusively on his music.

The most amazing thing about his music, was it's instant ability to communicate even without words; take "Moanin" for example; somehow I heard the words before "Lambert, Hendricks, and Ross" sang it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldXi8bs6PSw

Whatever the art, the bottom line is "communication". Bobby Timmons music was uncomplicated and it communicated.

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEnbXVqQ1go

Bobby was not economically successful for a number of reasons that are too depressing to go into, and one of them was drug addiction. Heroin was very expensive, and it turned a man into a slave. While some jazz musicians had such heavy psychological baggage that it's possible they would have used drugs whether they were musicians or not (Bird and Lady Day) others, such as Bobby Timmons had no such baggage, neither did Tina Brooks; I'm referring to the sociological background. I suspect the availability of drugs in New York and the influence of other musician addicts precipitated their use of drugs. One time and a person is hooked, there's no turning back, and then there's the living death before actual death. In regard to music, they couldn't play "Jingle Bells" when they got high; it always amounted to a "no show". Fortunately, that problem is not prevalent with today's musicians.

Enjoy the music.