What Jazz are you listening to now?

[Ian Thumwood]

Sorry to hear your sad news, BD.

I also got in to jazz too through my Dad's encouragement.

[Serial_Apologist]

Sorry to hear your sad news, BD.

I also got in to jazz too through my Dad's encouragement.

You're lucky! My dad's idea of jazz was based on attending tea dances at the Savoy in the 1930s, and never moved beyond the starched wing collar versions! He liked the Lew Stone/Ambrose LP I bought him back in the 1970s!

[Ian Thumwood]

It's strange that my Dad grew up with jazz as a teenager and gained a real thirst for the music when stationed out on Berlin in the late 1950's. When I was really young, he rekindled his enthusiasm for the music with the consequence that I grew up listening to the likes of Tommy Dorsey, Benny Goodman and Count Basie. This was all normal for me.

By the time I was about 14 / 15, I was so enthusiastic about jazz that I had started to get my Dad introduced in to bands he had never heard of before. A mutual friend encouraged me to explore further and by the time I was about 16, I had grown far more adventurous in my tastes. Once I was at 6th Form college I was well on my way to exploring more contemporary stuff and not only managed to drag by Dad's tastes further forward (both through records and going to gigs) but I also started to get my friend Dave to explore more unusual stuff.

I was fortunate to grew up in an environment where jazz was the norm and my sister's Rock music frowned upon. My act of musical rebellion was Thelonious Monk as opposed to Rock / pop.

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

You're lucky! My dad's idea of jazz was based on attending tea dances at the Savoy in the 1930s, and never moved beyond the starched wing collar versions! He liked the Lew Stone/Ambrose LP I bought him back in the 1970s!

My father, who was trying to sleep in the morning (he worked night shifts on the docks), stormed down the stairs and kicked my record player HARD with his heel because I was playing Bird's alto break on the Massey Hall "Tunisia" over and over and over etc...again, at full AND half speed. Then he stormed back up the stairs without a word. I had a passing (highly unsuccessful) phase of attempting to play saxophone at 14. In his later years he met Kenny Ball (long story), and said to me when I visited, "I met one of your jazz people last night, what a miserable bugger!". Parents eh...

BN.

[Serial_Apologist]

It's strange that my Dad grew up with jazz as a teenager and gained a real thirst for the music when stationed out on Berlin in the late 1950's. When I was really young, he rekindled his enthusiasm for the music with the consequence that I grew up listening to the likes of Tommy Dorsey, Benny Goodman and Count Basie. This was all normal for me.

By the time I was about 14 / 15, I was so enthusiastic about jazz that I had started to get my Dad introduced in to bands he had never heard of before. A mutual friend encouraged me to explore further and by the time I was about 16, I had grown far more adventurous in my tastes. Once I was at 6th Form college I was well on my way to exploring more contemporary stuff and not only managed to drag by Dad's tastes further forward (both through records and going to gigs) but I also started to get my friend Dave to explore more unusual stuff.

I was fortunate to grew up in an environment where jazz was the norm and my sister's Rock music frowned upon. My act of musical rebellion was Thelonious Monk as opposed to Rock / pop.

I rather expect one of the reasons for our disagreements over whether Swing was as progressive/more progressive than bebop, is that heyday thing, and stemming from the time I remember so clearly when tastes were sharply divided into Trad, Mainstream and Modern. That lasted longer among the British listening public than it did among musicians of any "school" - some of us were astounded that Stan Tracey could get together with Bilk to record "Blue Acker", though in this country the divide had started to break down with erstwhile Trad musicians heading the break into blues and some modernists like Graham Bond and Dick Heckstall-Smith, who had not toed any bebop orthodoxy, often not having mastered it, joining in, with Trad effectively eclipsing soon after as the clubs switched policy, and became associated with miners' rallies and CND marches, and modern increasingly niche. Whole dress codes were impinged upon by what music was listened to and once firm school friendships were broken!

[burning dog]

My Dad was an "early" modernist though he was quite keen on swing and R&B (as it was called then) Earl bostic Louis Jordan etc. and some trad blues, as well as quite an interest in Opera which my mother loved. She was into jazz as well, mainstream players like Ben Webster and Lester Young and a love of the young Miles and Chet which was not purely musical I'd guess....

[Stanfordian]

‘The Honeydripper’
Jack McDuff with Jimmy Forrest, Grant Green & Ben Dixon
Prestige (1961)

[Ian Thumwood]

The more I listen to jazz, the more you can see similarities between styles. I agree that the division between Trad and Modern broke down in then1960s but would add that musicians such as Albert Ayler and Lester Bowie seem to accentuate the fact that any antagonism between the two schools was ridiculous. If you can dig Lester Bowie, you should be able to dig Freddie Keppard.

The one area where I find the connection to be less solid is with regard to fusion / jazz rock. I got in to jazz when this stuff was deeply unfashionable or coming to the end of it's dominance. Sometimes the quality of the writing and player by musicians like Herbie or Wayne can lift this music but, by and large, it encouraged shows of bombastic playing and technical prowess to little musical effect. I have just been listening to the new Gilad Hekselman disc and was a bit staggered to see some of the fusion influence still remaining. I keep hearing his name mentioned in reviews but the disc "Ask for chaos" is indicative of someone using the studio as another musician. He can really play but I found the electro tracks reminded me of Allan Holdsworth who is another musician you leaves me a bit cold - rather like John McLaughlin. The balance of the tracks n the record feature a tradition trio and recall John Abercrombie. It is funny as it was not at all like the review suggested when I gave the music a spin yet it is not quite a write off either because the tunes are pretty good and some of the playing is terrific. However, the main stumbling block with jazz-rock / fusion for me remains the over-riding importance of production values which robs the music of it's vitality. Personally, I find a lot of fusion a musical cul-de-sac. After the speed at which jazz developed between the late thirties and late sixties, fusion seemed like a comfort zone in to which jazz retreated. There is something of that in Hekselman's disc and I think he would be much better in a more acoustic setting. Parts sound a bit like the recent Kurt Rosenwinkel "solo" album where he played all the parts. Clever, but the spontaneity usually present in jazz seems squeezed out.

[CGR]

I saw Gilad Hekselman at Smalls in New York a few years back. He played with just an acoustic bass & drums, no effects, guitar plugged straight into the amp - typical modern jazz guitar tone that we either love or hate. Very enjoyable.

[Ian Thumwood]

I saw Gilad Hekselman at Smalls in New York a few years back. He played with just an acoustic bass & drums, no effects, guitar plugged straight into the amp - typical modern jazz guitar tone that we either love or hate. Very enjoyable.

CGR

The trio format in the disc represents the most appealing side of this record. I would explore Hekselman again in this trio line up. However, the more electric line up is a marked contrast. The whole thing does sound fabricated and lacks the organic appeal that I think defines the best jazz. It is clever and the use of tech is impressive but I wondered with stuff like this whether it is the process that is more interesting than the result. A prime example of this is Jacob Collier. The technology he used is all very impressive and it is clear that he has bags of talent. However, I think, as jazz, it doesn't make the cut by a long chalk. Almost seems anti-jazz in it's reliance on technology. I am sceptical where the studio almost becomes an additional musician.

[Braunschlag]

After the Fall -Keith Jarrett Trio. Apprehensive about buying this, one or two indifferent reviews but I don’t know why! Beautiful album, if he could play like that after his tribulations then hats off KJ.
Some complaints about the recording but it works for me, a very pleasant and intimate sound and atmosphere.

[Stanfordian]

‘The Art Tatum & Ben Webster - The Album’
Art Tatum & Ben Webster with Red Calendar and Bill Douglass
Verve (1956)

[elmo]

A favourite early period Jackie Mclean "Tune up" from 1957.
besides Jackie two interesting players Gil Coggins and Webster Young that I wish had recorded more often.

https://youtu.be/Sa8GMEKHiAI

elmo

[Stanfordian]

'See You at the Fair'
with 3 extra tracks
Ben Webster with Hank Jones, Roger Kellaway, Richard Davis & Osie Johnson
Impulse (1964)

[Ian Thumwood]

One of the most enjoyable records I have bought in the last few years has been Erik Fiedlander's tribute to the music of Oscar Pettiford. I love the music on this record so much that I snapped up the Avid double CD by Pettiford to see what the originals sounded like. At the moment I am about half way through the big band tracks and have got to say that I am surprised just how dated and old fashioned the originals sound. There is a harp featured on some of the tracks and the line up also includes the then voguish French horn played by Julius Watkins. In the context of a fairly orthodox big band, these instruments somewhat lessen the impact. Some tracks sound more like they were recorded in the early 1940s and not 15 years later. I have not played the first CD which largely consists of smaller groups but the music seemed to reinforce my opinion of Pettiford as a virtuoso technician who was more of a Modern Swing player than an out and out modernist. You could put him I the same bracket as someone like Lucky Thompson or Nat King Cole.


I really his compositions yet the music I have heard to date seems symptomatic of what was considered adventurous in the early 1950s albeit this part of the decade has also seemed very conservative to me. Of the tracks played so far, writing is a large part of what this music is about (which is a good thing) yet some of the orchestration sounds a bit like an orchestra score for a B movie. Got to say that it wasn't quite what I expected and although you can appreciate the musicianship, a lot of this stuff has not aged well. I much prefer the Friedlander disc which is not quite so earnest in it's endeavours to be "serious."