Jazz for aficionados

It's not about the color of one's skin, but the color of one's music; Pepper Adams skin might be white, but his music is "hard-bop" all the way. Check out his solo on Mingus's Moanin.


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




         

To my ears, whether something "swings" or not is not part of my sense of East Coast VS West Coast.  In general, East Coast is simply more blues based and has a harder beat.  When I was young and first getting into jazz at the end of the '50s and early '60s (yes frogman, I've got several years on you), the debate over the merits of each style was well underway.  For me, Brubeck, Mulligan/Baker, and others could certainly swing.  Maybe it was more the absence of that hard beat that contributed to the "cool" label?

Now I've lived on both coasts.  When you get within a mile or two of the Atlantic you can smell it (the sea air I mean, not backwater bilge).  However here by the Pacific I can be within a city block and not be so aware of it.  I don't know if the Atlantic is briner but in general the East Coast has higher humidity and I suspect that greater moisture in the air carries the salt smells.

I bring that up because it suggests other characteristics to me.  NYC is known to be loud, up front, in your face, while LA has the reputation to be laid back, relaxed, and yes, cool.  Whether those are fair characterizations or not, they have also been applied to the jazz associated with each.  The simplest difference may be that East Coast jazz tends to be more intense.

With all that, should I guess that Bruce Katz is from California?
 

A sorry Brubeck story - at least sorry for me.

Sometime in the early 2000s Brubeck was scheduled to perform with our local symphony.  A friend who knew I was a fan ask if I wanted to get tickets.  I declined, saying I'd seen him in concert a few times and had only positive memories.  Now at his age (late 80s at the time) I didn't want to see him and be disappointed with that last recollection.

Well the joke was on me.  Talking with a few afterwards who did attend that performance, they all said it was wonderful and his energy drove the evening.  Obviously I regretted missing that last great memory.

Agree on all points, pryso. 

Now I know why Mr. Andrew Hill's "Spiral" is the newest looking record in my entire collection, although it must have been purchased in the 70's.

This music is  slightly reminiscent of that  "Star Wars" band in the far away galaxy beyond distant stars in another universe.