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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
ghosthouse's avatar
ghosthouse
3,718 posts
 
Thanks for introducing me to that particular piece by Frisell, @acman3. I’m enjoying it and have found on Spotify the full Blues Dream album it is from. That’s not anything I’d come across previously or had in my Spotify album collection. I do expect it’s something I’ll be spending time exploring in the next few days. Not sure it’s really brass (synth?) but I do like those "brass chorale" type chords he’s playing over.

(Thanks as well for the earlier links to Sao Paolo Underground and Kenny Dorham.  I'll be checking out SPU further.)

ghosthouse's avatar
ghosthouse
3,718 posts
 
@acman3  - 

...and for the Matthew Stevens recommendation.  

frogman
4,637 posts
 
Frisell: real brass all the way. Alto saxophone, trumpet and trombone. What’s really cool about the way he used the brass is that he voiced the brass chords in a similar way as a guitar player would play those chords on a guitar. Notice how similar the sonorities of those brass chords are to those of the strummed guitar chords. Don’t know for a fact, but I would bet that it was Frisell who wrote the horn arrangement.
ghosthouse's avatar
ghosthouse
3,718 posts
 
Ah...okay, Frogman. I’m thinking it might be the breathier reed sound of the sax that I picked up on. Didn’t realize one was in use. I heard a softer leading-edge texture and that's what made me think a synth had been used.

While I don’t know enough music theory to fully appreciate your explanation of the chord voicing, I think I DID actually notice it without understanding the "why". At one point, Frisell’s guitar comes out of the mix to solo and I realized it had been there all along playing chords (prior to soloing) pretty much in unison with the "horns" [what do you call it when it’s a mix of sax, trumpet, trombone?]

Might be the person I admire most in any number of musical endeavors:
THE ARRANGER. So often they are the ones that bring the magic.

Orpheus - How about some links to rehearsal videos? Show stuff being hammered out...who does what, who plays what, etc., etc. (apologies if it’s already been mentioned and done to death here).


ghosthouse's avatar
ghosthouse
3,718 posts
 
Finding old jazz rehearsal videos might be tough.

Did find some interesting stuff while looking. Probably already known to the regulars here...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0sru1t6YpE&ab_channel=Milestones:AMilesDavisArchive

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOJj4YXWPLI&ab_channel=J%C3%BAlioPimentel

More to discover