What Jazz are you listening to now?

[Stanfordian]

Whole lotta Blue Note going on! But it's hard to go wrong. Not quite as reliable as Tamla Motown, but great all the same.

Hiya Beefy,

All little bit of what you fancy....

As you can see from my jazz choices I am a fan of hard-bop and the early modal years.

When you read the individual biographies of the artists on the Blue Note and other similar jazz labels of the late 1950s and 60s drug addition was rife so I'm not surprised the music can be uneven at times.

The unevenness doesn't bother me with Jazz. It's not perfection I'm looking for, its all about performance!

[Beef Oven!]

Hiya Beefy,

All little bit of what you fancy....

As you can see from my jazz choices I am a fan of hard-bop and the early modal years.

When you read the individual biographies of the artists on the Blue Note and other similar jazz labels of the late 1950s and 60s drug addition was rife so I'm not surprised the music can be uneven at times.

The unevenness doesn't bother me with Jazz. It's not perfection I'm looking for, its all about performance!

]

Yes, a good approach.

My favourite years for jazz seems to be roughly 1964 - 1967.

[Stanfordian]

Yes, a good approach.

My favourite years for jazz seems to be roughly 1964 - 1967.

I can rather struggle with my Jazz in the late 60s and after.

[Serial_Apologist]

I can rather struggle with my Jazz in the late 60s and after.

That said, jazz is supposed to be "the sound of surprise", much of the Blue Note stuff you mention listening to having been such at the time it was recorded; but after that I think you have to go further into the free jazz of that same time to prepare oneself for the surprises that kept jazz going, without which Ian Thumwood would would would (etc) have little to be getting excited about in today's scene !

I don't often contribute to this thread, but it's page 127 and that's my lucky number, and I have just been listening to the C90 I recorded of the Jazz on 3 programme recorded in June 2010 of Messrs Alex Maguire on piano, Jim Dvorak, trumpet, Simon Picard (son of that fine mainstream trombonist John) tenor and soprano sax, Paul Rogers bass, and Tony Levin drums, playing wonderful free improvised jazz and jazz-rock in the then recently-departed Elton Dean's flat in Hackney. I can't belieeeeeeeeve it's seven years since the BBC publicised pictures and a short video of their people going into the premises, walking up the narrow stairs with equipment, being greeted by Elton's charming French missus and the members of the impromptu gathering, and being shown those walls covered in historical memorabilia. In seven years' time I'll be 79!!!

Here's the official link, though sadly the programme's no longer playable. It says you need Flash to play the links to the pics, which I thought I have...:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00tmj9c

[Stanfordian]

‘Up and Down’
Horace Parlan with Booker Ervin, Grant Green, George Tucker & Al Harewood
Blue Note (1961)

[Beef Oven!]

[Conchis]

Today:

Lee Morgan - Candy

Freddie Hubbard - Here To Stay


Both charity shop acquisitions, for a quid a throw, and both excellent. :)

[Quarky]

Yes, a good approach.

My favourite years for jazz seems to be roughly 1964 - 1967.

In terms of American culture, I would rate the optimum period for Jazz was the 40's and 50's. Then commercial considerations stepped in and almost killed the goose that laid the golden egg.

[Serial_Apologist]

Alexander Hawkins Ensemble All There, Ever Out (Babel, 2010)

Well worth seeing this lot if they come round your way.

There's a Dolphy influence - as can be subtly inferred from the above title - still remaining in the utube linked to below, where Shabs, who is not on the CD, takes a bass clarinet solo - the first. Among other compositonal influences that arguably bring this band close to Schuller's notion of Third Stream are 20th century Euro modernism pre-Darmstadt and Anthony Braxton - the latter a big acknowledged influence on many of today's youngsters pushing the envelope compositionally - and on Hawkins himself, a phenomenal player able to execute fluently the most complex sponteaneously conceived ideas, Monk, Cecil Taylor, Keith Tippett occasionally (especially in company with regular boss Louis Moholo-Moholo), Pat Thomas and Richard Muhal Abrams. Going through the other links is strongly recommended to get the scope and sheer imagination of man and band:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYnZLgLjS0Q

[Stanfordian]

‘The Big Beat’
Art Blakey with Wayne Shorter, Lee Morgan, Bobby Timmons & Jymie Merritt
Blue Note (1960)

[Jazzrook]

'Mating Call' from 1956 with Tadd Dameron(piano); John Coltrane(tenor sax); John Simmons(bass) & Philly Joe Jones(drums):

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

JR

[Serial_Apologist]

'Mating Call' from 1956 with Tadd Dameron(piano); John Coltrane(tenor sax); John Simmons(bass) & Philly Joe Jones(drums):

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

JR

There can't be that many recordings in which Tadd Dameron is playing, as opposed to having one of his compositions or arrangements played by others. I for one haven't got any. Or am I wrong?

[Ian Thumwood]

The best Dameron recordings are the ones made in the late 40's with Fats Navarro. I have an all-star big band album of his which he released around about 1960 but, despite the truly stellar cast, the album is pretty short in duration and even my Dad once commented that it sounded pretty old-fashioned for the time. At least two of the charts were previously in Benny Goodman's book when he toured Europe with "Swift as the wind" actually being played much better by Goodman's band. It is a shame that he didn't produce that much music whilst he was in his prime although I would have to say that the Prestige recordings were already made quite late in the day insofar that he was a prominent arranger for the likes of Harlan Leonard in the late 30's. (Incidentally, his composition "Lady Bird" was written around this time.) Dameron is often cited as produced some of the most beautiful be-bop records ever made - a view that I would concur with. However, he had already enjoyed a career of in excess of ten years by the time he recorded with Dameron.

Today I have been playing Herbie Hancock's "Fat Roland Rotunda", a prime slice of late 1960's Fatback funk. It is a record that get over-looked due to the fact that it is something of it's era and the music is not especially challenging to listen to. If you like, it is a fun record. That said, "Tell me a bedtime story" is something of an ear worm for me. I had forgotten that Johnny Coles was on trumpet on this record albeit not as standout as he was on Gil Evans' work. Hancock is a musician like Ellington or Metheny in that he can make complicated and sophisticated musical ideas appealing to a wider audience. Probably the most commercial record he made, it is extremely catchy and something you might want someone to listen to if they had expressed a lack of enthusiasm for jazz.

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

There can't be that many recordings in which Tadd Dameron is playing, as opposed to having one of his compositions or arrangements played by others. I for one haven't got any. Or am I wrong?

The Dameron/Miles Davis Quintet that played the Paris Jazz Festival in 1949. The live album (James Moody on tenor) is on Columbia and its excellent of its period. Miles wanted Dameron permanently in the Charlie Parker quintet instead of Duke Jordan, who he didn't have a lot of time for. I think DJ played sumptuous intros if nothing else.

[Serial_Apologist]

Today I have been playing Herbie Hancock's "Fat Roland Rotunda", a prime slice of late 1960's Fatback funk. It is a record that get over-looked due to the fact that it is something of it's era and the music is not especially challenging to listen to. If you like, it is a fun record. That said, "Tell me a bedtime story" is something of an ear worm for me. I had forgotten that Johnny Coles was on trumpet on this record albeit not as standout as he was on Gil Evans' work. Hancock is a musician like Ellington or Metheny in that he can make complicated and sophisticated musical ideas appealing to a wider audience. Probably the most commercial record he made, it is extremely catchy and something you might want someone to listen to if they had expressed a lack of enthusiasm for jazz.

I remember buying that at the time it first came out, and getting rid of it!!! In many ways it looks forward 3 years to the Headhunters, in an acoustically speaking sort of way; I think HH described it as his first response to James Brown.