Topic: What Jazz Music Do You Enjoy?

[Richard]

Sorry have missed this thread for a bit !

ND.... I have the two original 10" LPs of those Dicky Wells sessions I love 'em, I don't know if you can still get them on CD but if not I'll do you a copy... up to you.

I have to confess that Bechet is not a great favorite of mine, although a friend mine has turned out 2 CDs of his stuff...

And MJG  go for it.. Big Sid is great and if that CD is any good get really good earful of Dave Tough, lovely touch. I must mention Rich but try and  find something from the early 50s when he was really on it and incredibly fast. I assume they have my favorite Jo Jones - forget all that Papa rubbish that nickname was invented in the 80's!

[lindy]

Had a rare treat last night in New Orlean's St. Louis Cathedral: a 12-piece jazz orchestra, 30-voice choir, two soloists (Charmaine Neville and Philip Manuel--wow!) and a tap dancer, doing a concert of Sacred Music by Duke Ellington. It was a greatest-hits show of the Master's three sacred music concerts. If you've never heard "In the Beginning, God" or "Come Sunday" or his take on the Lord's Prayer, highly recommended that you do so. Ray Moore, who attended PTCBW with Don Vappie a couple of years back, played some killer solos on tenor and baritone.

I'm serious about the tap dancer, Ellington wrote a piece for orchestra, choir, and tap dancer called "Praise God and Dance." Some classic Ellingtonian riffs being played behind a super-tight swing rhythm section while the tap dancer is doing his thing on a white marble floor a few feet from (so I'm told) the Orleans Parish bishop, with the choir singing over and over, "Praise God and dance . . . praise God and dance . . . praise God and dance . . ."

Quite a moment, one of many of a great evening.

Lindy

[Michael Kuehn]

I checked out a few jazz concerts recently.

A week ago I saw tenor saxophonist Chris Potter and his group at the Pabst Theater in Milwaukee. Chris has played with everyone from Herbie Hancock to Steely Dan. Some amazing stuff from this young tenor player. He has a few clips on YouTube, in particular his take on Dylan's "I Got You, Babe" on Bass Clarinet and Tenor Sax.

On February 14 I saw Esperanza Spalding Trio and the Gretchen Parlato Duo perform separately and together at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center in Sheboygan. Spalding is a young double bass prodigy. With a drummer and pianist making up the trio, she put on a dazzling show. Amazing at all that she came to little old Sheboygan -- I am glad I didn't miss this one.

Opening for her was the up and coming jazz vocalist Gretchen Parlato. She was accompanied by a guitarist from West Africa whose chops reminded me of some of the playing of King Sunny Ade -- I could really hear the West African influences in his playing. On a side note, apparently her father played with Frank Zappa a lifetime ago.

On February 23 I saw Jacky Terrasson at the Pabst Theater in Milwaukee. It was the first concert of this season's Hal Leonard Jazz Series. Jacky is an amazing pianist, winner of the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Piano Competition and two-time Grammy nominee. I've never been disappointed by any of the artists in the Jazz Series over the past few years. And this show was no exception. His playing reminded me of Keith Jarrett, one of my all-time favorite pianists.

Mike

[oddenda]

OK, folks -

Jazz was the first non-standard-pop music in my life as my dad was a big band fan and we used to listen to WNEW-AM (1130) on the radio; Martin Block's "Make Believe Ballroom" being the most notable show.. it was many hours/day. Went to Eddie Condon's with my father, then discovered Black bands. WOW. I eventually repaid my dad by taking him to Town Hall (NYC venue) for a concert by Duke Ellington that featured Lonnie Johnson with the band for the second half! They hadn't played together since 1927!!

At this point, my top ten are Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Gil Evans, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Vic Dickenson, Kenny Burrell, Tadd Dameron, Sonny Rollins, Roswell Rudd, Ornette Coleman. Ask me again tomorrow and you'll probably get a different list, but still with Ellington on it! I had fun for a couple of years here in Sydney doing a jazz radio show on 2MBS called "Pent Up House": from James Reese Europe to James 'Blood' Ulmer... the possibilities are endless!" My son said that I had a great face for radio, too - can't ask for more than that!!

yrs,
     Peter B.

[Stuart]

Peter:

I grew up in NJ, so "Make Believe Ballroom" was a listening staple. My dad loved that show, too. I was listening to "Louis Armstrong: The Complete Hot Five & Hot Seven Recordings" this evening. We have a station here in the Puget Sound region that has a fine jazz format, and all blues on the weekend evenings. Here's the link so you can see what's on and listen in if you want:

http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/kplu/guide.guidemain

Ken Wiley's "The Art of Jazz" on Sunday afternoons is a real treat.

[oddenda]

Stuart -

          That was when radio was really radio! Good you've got good radio. Had a jazz show myself for a few years ("Pent Up House"; 2MBS-FM in Sydney) that was a lot of fun and educational for both the listener and myself. Also, my son told me that I had a great face for radio! What more can one ask?!

          It was supposedly Duke Ellington who said, "There's two kinds of music - good music, and the other kind". Can't argue with that, now can we.

Peter B.

[Mr.OMuck]

There are so many reasons to love Fats Waller. No one evokes my hometown, New York's ethos during the thirties like he does.
No one else has that sly, fallin' apart at the seams loose yet time pumpin' rythmic savoir faire, and random pre Pythonesque hilarity, and to top it all he could do it on the mofo ORGAN!
Call me crazy but I'm one of those rare birds who loves the sound of Harpsichords and Organs. Ever listen to the Goldbergs on Harpsichord?
Fat's singing is a masterful kind of pre-scat self parodic dramatic exposition as free from the constraints of anyone's idea of correct time as you can get without things evaporating. And he just Swings and rocks and makes you feel like life is
a righteous joy. He belongs to that rare group of musicians like Big Bill Broonzy who are more potently uplifting than any anti-depressant. My Aunt and Uncle introduced me to his music along with Billie Holliday and Louis Armstrong round about the late fifties I guess. They used to see him play in Harlem, but only in integrated CP approved clubs!

[Johnm]

Hi all,
I just finished reading a wonderful back last week, "Steve Lacey--Conversations", edited by Jason Weiss, and published by Duke University Press.  It is a collection of interviews, going back forty years, with the late Jazz soprano saxophonist and composer Steve Lacey ( he died in 2004).  It is one of the very best books on music that I have read.  Steve Lacey had a very interesting and unusual career arc, especially in his early years, which determined all that came later.  He became interested in Jazz in his early teens in New York City, in the early '50s, and became a part of the scene first via taking performance photos of Jazz musicians at some of the clubs around town.  After trying clarinet and alto sax, he took up soprano saxophone, an instrument that had pretty much been deserted by Jazz players since Sidney Bechet (Johnny Hodges had played it beautifully, but gave it up in the mid-'30s).  Lacey began to sit in with Trad Jazz players like Henry "Red" Allen and Pee Wee Russell.  Pianist Cecil Taylor saw him playing and asked why he was playing such old music.  Lacey started to play with Cecil Taylor (at age 19!) and played with him for the next several years.  The popularity that the soprano sax has enjoyed in the post-'60s era can pretty much be traced right back to Steve Lacey.  Coltrane and Lucky Thompson got it from him, and it took off from there.  Lacey fairly early on became obsessed (a fair description, I think) with the music of Thelonius Monk, and Lacey's second album was devoted exclusively to Monk tunes--the first recording by any musician other than Monk to have that concentration.  In the early '60s, Lacey formed a group with Roswell Rudd, the great trombonist, drummer Dennis Charles, and forty-eight different bass players that played only Monk tunes.  The band was virtually unable to get work, but made one record, "School Days", which is currently available on the Swiss label, Hat Hut.  It is a fabulous record, with the high point being a trio version (no bass) of the Monk calypso, "Bye-Ya", on which it is often impossible to be sure what is being played by the trombone and what is being played by the soprano sax, they are so interwoven. 
By the end of the '60s, Lacey was an expat, and he lived most of the rest of his life in Paris.  He had a sextet of long standing there, and composed a lot for voice, setting poems by friends of his or other poets whose work he admired.  He was an exceptionally well-read, and well-listened man, with deep knowledge of literature, poetry, painting and music of various styles.  I got to see him play three or four times, and a couple of times late in his life, and he was an amazing improviser--in the moment, but with a beautiful measured quality.  He always sounded like he had all the time in the world, never rushed or glib.  He projected great intelligence and warmth, not qualities that always co-exist, since great intelligence can be pretty glacial on occasion.  He is one of the greatest talkers and thinkers about music I've ever encountered.  Here's an excerpt that I really liked.
   "One more thing.  You said, "your music, your music".  The music that I do, it's not my music, I don't think of it that way.  It's just something I do, it's a music I'm involved in; sometimes I do it alone but I have a lot of help too, it comes to me, it's my job to do it, but it's not mine:  I belong more to it than it belongs to me."
I expect to re-read this book many times.
All best,
Johnm
 

[Stuart]

I just finished reading a wonderful back last week, "Steve Lacey--Conversations", edited by Jason Weiss, and published by Duke University Press. 

Here's the Amazon link:

http://www.amazon.com/Steve-Lacy-Conversations-Jason-Weiss/dp/product-description/0822338157

[Rivers]

There is no film of Charlie Christian playing I understand but someone did a nice job on this photo montage with Christian going off on an extended free solo on Stompin' At The Savoy in 1941. Really fat tone on this:

[outfidel]

Speaking of jazz-related books, I'm in the middle of reading This Is Ragtime by Terry Waldo. It's a good read and seems well-researched. Lots of info on 1890s through 1920s ragtime, with special emphasis on Scott Joplin and, later, Eubie Blake.

[Stuart]

I just finished reading a wonderful back last week, "Steve Lacey--Conversations", edited by Jason Weiss, and published by Duke University Press...

I was able to get a copy through Inter Library Loan a while back. I second Johnm's recommendation. It is extremely interesting. In addition, following John's suggestion, I checked out a copy of the Steve Lacy video, "Lift The Bandstand." I strongly recommend that you get hold of a copy and watch it, if possible.

[Stuart]

Speaking of jazz-related books, I'm in the middle of reading This Is Ragtime by Terry Waldo. It's a good read and seems well-researched. Lots of info on 1890s through 1920s ragtime, with special emphasis on Scott Joplin and, later, Eubie Blake.

Michael:

Thanks for the tip. Some time ago, I picked up a copy of "Kinky and Sweet," by Terry Waldo and Bo Grumpus. Not CB, but it contains a lot of fun stuff such as, "I Like Bananas Because They Have No Bones, "Don't Give Me No Goose For Christmas, Grandma," etc.

I ran across a webstore that may interest some of you:

http://www.jazzbymail.com/

[doctorpep]

I love Jelly Roll Morton and think he doesn't receive as much attention as he should. Early Louis Armstrong is wonderful, as is early Ellington. Billie Holiday was magnificent, and Django Reinhardt was one of the finest guitar players of the 20th century, in terms of his unique sound, and the fact that his playing was both emotional and beyond technically accomplished. I also like Jimmie Noone; he did the definitive version of "Sweet Lorraine". Coleman Hawkins' earlier stuff is great.

I don't touch the Bebop stuff that most Jazz fans think is so amazing. I've tried listening to "Kind of Blue" many times, and I still don't "get it". I'd sure love for someone to tell me why, musically, Bebop is so wonderful. I suppose I don't understand because I'm not musically literate. I guess I'm a "moldy fig"!

[dave stott]

#1 Chet Baker  solo or playing with anyone

#2 Cannonball Adderly

#3 Dexter Gordon

#4 Roy Hargove

#5 Weather Report