Lego wrote:I think the best way to appreciate jazz Charlie is to get to know the standards .Good places to start are Ella Fitzgerald singing Cole Porter
Duke Ellington ,Rogers and Hart, and George and Ira Gershwin etc.
A lot of jazz is mainly cover versions of popular tunes that were well known....The same with hip hop which use samples of classic tunes .
Sarah Vaughan singing Duke Ellington and the above is what I started with and by the time I started listening to miles and Coltrane etc I knew most of the tunes and appreciated their renditions.
This was the track that got me into jazz especially the sound of the brushes just after 7:30 mins,they nearly made me jump out of my chair,which was about 4 ft away from my mission 700s , smallish bedroom.I've never managed to recreate that immediacy since then.
I have a couple of Ella songbooks (Cole Porter and Irving Berlin) but not the others. I take you point though and will pursue that route some more.
I'm streaming Lush Life right now :) I really like the way it starts and it's pretty good so far. Not reached 7.30 yet :)
I think I need to buy jazz on vinyl to give it a real chance though. I stream Google play via my iPad/iPhone and headphones quite a bit whilst working, now that I've moved my office above the garage. It's definitely better than the CD players in our cars and enables me to enjoy artists I know and try out new rock/pop albums. But anything outside my comfort zone is more of a struggle, especially improvisational jazz.
1. There was a nice little planet in outer space. The Congress once said to the astronauts - "Why don´t you go planet "Earth" and see what´s it´s like!" - "Yep, we will! Sure!"
They came back and one of them reported that it was awful - we came to a place they called Svalbard, exstremly cold and there was something they called polar bears who tried to eat us!
The other one said - well, I found it quite nice, they called the place "Ibiza" and I wanna go back there again.
Yeah, said the next astronaut, I can´t figure it out - I first came to something they called "The Atlantic Ocean" - boring and hard to breath; next I came to something they called "Haiti", and then I came to "Aushwitz", they called it, and then to a recording studio in New Jersey.
The Congress said - we think we have to find another name for the "Earth", let´s try "Jazz".
2. Most jazzrecordings are documentarys - this is the way these musicians played together in this location at one given time. It´s not a "production" - most often the musicans themselves are in charge.
3. In the spring 1959 two great jazz recordings were made: "Back to back" by Duke Ellington and Johnny Hodges and "Kind of blue" by Miles Davis. Kind of blue pointed forwards, Back to back was a summary of what has happend before. Both are invaluable.
4. You can also try "Somethin´ Else" by Cannonball Adderley, "Idle Moments" by Grant Green, "Midnight Blue" by Kenny Burrell. These are Blue Note-LP´s but of course available in other formats too.
I bought my first jazz record in 1957 and I´m still hooked.
Beware - dangerous stuff!
P.S. The Blue Notes were recorded by a famous recording engineer ... Ds.
Probably earlier than your period of interest, but I can recommend the 1938 Benny Goodman Concerts at Carnegie Hall, especially if you can find the 1950s 2-LP album to enjoy on a well sorted LP12*. I have on MP3 too, from the late 90s CD re-release, but it's not the same...
* of course it helps that this was my introduction to jazz courtesy of my dad, his Sondek, and his cellar - best with a good whisky or three :)
tokenbrit wrote:Probably earlier than your period of interest, but I can recommend the 1938 Benny Goodman Concerts at Carnegie Hall, especially if you can find the 1950s 2-LP album to enjoy on a well sorted LP12
Thanks tokenbrit - I will check them out via streamer first, but I definitely want to buy some more jazz on vinyl.
tokenbrit wrote:Probably earlier than your period of interest, but I can recommend the 1938 Benny Goodman Concerts at Carnegie Hall
Not really my thing tokenbrit but I do appreciate the recommendation. Reminded me of a dance scene in a wartime movie - not sure it was that era though. I guess some of the Duke Ellington stuff I like is similar, but for some reason I enjoy that.
Rudy van Gelder wrote:You can also try "Somethin´ Else" by Cannonball Adderley
I like the first track, 'Autumn Leaves'. I'm starting to get a taste for Miles' melancholy playing. The second track is pleasant enough. Don't like the third at all - one of those 'nothing' tracks for me. I think Leo's idea of a Jazz playlist might be right for me since I'm tending not to like everything on a single album. Anyway, enough about me and my jazz pursuits. I will keep searching and playing some Miles at least. Thanks again everyone!!!
Not finished yet Charlie ...Miles 50s mono albums might be up your street ..they were recorded in the middle of the night to get that late night feel ..sound quality is superb, muted horn etc
Lego wrote:Not finished yet Charlie ...Miles 50s Pestige mono albums might be up your street ..they were recorded in the middle of the night and get that late night feel..think it was rushed to fulfil contract so he could move on ..sound quality and atmosphere is superb, muted horn etc
Lego wrote:Not finished yet Charlie ...Miles 50s mono albums might be up your street ..they were recorded in the middle of the night to get that late night feel ..sound quality is superb, muted horn etc
Another is is called elevator to the scaffolds which is a soundtrack to a French movie ie Ascenseur Pour L'échafaud
Thanks Leo. There is music in there for me, I'm sure of it. I streamed a couple of them this morning, but lots of work interruptions. I like his playing on My Funny Valentine in particular. I am not so taken with the up-tempo pieces.
I can only find 'Elevator to the Gallows' on Google Play. I'll investigate further.
Thanks jewa. They look like they are having fun together! It must be great to play an instrument at that level and play off one another. However, it's also the sort of jazz I don't enjoy listening to. The only interest for me would be to appreciate their musicianship, but that's never enough to sustain me long term. It was good to see though. There is some jazz that does engage me in a more emotive way, so I will focus on finding more of that. Cheers.
I should have probably jumped into this a while ago as I am into a fair bit of jazz but it always comes down to finding some time. With the companion changes and helping them move that was involved I have been quite busy. Having the house to myself also allowed me to completely redo the kitchen (and I do mean completely) so I haven't played a record for about three weeks as my living room has been full of Ikea cabinets, the refrigerator, the new dishwasher, the new flooring, etc. However, much progress has been made and it is a slow day so far today at work so here are some ideas.
If you want to explore jazz but aren't into the more dissonant versions of it there is still much you can give a listen to. In the mid-70s I gave up on rock for a while as all my favorite groups either fell apart (King Crimson, Pink Floyd) or seemed to have passed their peak and were rapidly on the way downhill (ELP, Yes, Jethro Tull, Moody Blues, etc.) so it seemed like a bad time for rock music and particularly progressive rock. But I was listening to a local radio station that played a very eclectic mix of music during the day. You might hear Jimi Hendrix followed by a Beethoven symphony followed by King Crimson followed by Egberto Gismonti, etc. It was here I heard a number of jazz pieces that got me more involved in that genre. My girlfriend at the time had introduced me to Keith Jarrett and the Köln Concert, but the radio station was playing other jazz that caught my interest which mostly also came from the ECM label. At the time ECM seemed to be running full power and were coming out with a lot of really good jazz, much of it on the mellower side. Within a few years I had about 80% of their catalog. So I will list here some of my favorites that I think a lot of people might like and would be appropriate IMO for jazz newbies as well.
Egberto Gismonti and Nana Vasconcelos - Danca Das Cabecas
Eberhard Weber - The Colours of Chloë, Yellow Fields
Chick Corea and Gary Burton - Crystal Silence
Egberto Gismonti - Solo and Sol Do Meio Dia
Ralph Towner - Solstice
Ralph Towner and Gary Burton - Matchbook
Ralph Towner and Glen Moore - Trios/Solos
Ralph Towner and John Abercrombie - Sargasso Sea
Terje Rypdal - After the Rain
Jan Garbarek - Tryptykon
John Abercrombie - Timeless
Michael Naura - Vanessa
Kenny Wheeler - Gnu High
Colin Walcott - Grazing Dreams
Dave Holland - Emerald Tears
I could go on but this gives you a good start. I honestly haven't listened to all of these recently so I am going a lot by what I remember I really liked so there is a possibility something a bit more free form might have slipped in there. On the other hand I did leave out Jack Dejohnette - Special Edition which is quite dissonant. I often used for demonstrations at the time as only an LP12 was able to sort it out and make "Zoot Suite" musical - and then not to everyone. ;-)
Although in my opinion there is a lot of very good music listed up there I would particularly recommend checking out the first three on the list with The Colours of Chloë the Eberhard Weber one to try first of his. I still have a vivid memory of driving along listening to the radio and hearing a short jazz piece I really liked and waiting to hear who did it but it was immediately followed by another piece that I also loved, and then another and another. I figured I would have to pull over to write down all the titles and artists only to find out at the end that it was one piece! It was titled "No Motion Picture", ran almost 20 minutes, the entire second side of The Colours of Chloë, and consisted of several different parts and solos all tied together - still one of my favorites. Just for an additional opinion here is some info on it from wikipedia: The Allmusic review by David R. Adler awarded the album 4½ stars stating "Eberhard Weber's first record remains his most well-known and influential. An ambitious work of what might be called symphonic jazz, The Colours of Chloë helped to define the ECM sound -- picturesque, romantic, at times rhythmically involved, at others minimalistic and harmonically abstruse... People will disagree about whether The Colours of Chloë stands the test of time, but Weber's aesthetic played a significant role in the creative music of the '70s, attracting a fair share of emulators". Well worth checking out.
Dancas Das Cabecas is another all time favorite album and I feel it is worth checking out pretty much anything Egberto Gismonti has done. Imagine a guitarist who is fast, expressive, creative, easily up there with the best acoustic guitarists IMHO who also happens to be able to play and compose for piano as well as Keith Jarrett. Then team him with a master percussionist and you have an album that sounds like four or five people could be playing on it. But Gismonti is known for that. One of his other albums listed above specifically states "There are no guitar overdubs." as it sounds like there are three people playing on some of the solo pieces. He is a true master.
There is plenty more from the label and also from the artists listed above if you find you like any of them. I would also recommend you check out the Paul Winter Consort (especially Icarus) and Oregon (Music From Another Present Era and Distant Hills are both winners). Actually you will have an introduction to most of them above as Oregon consisted of Ralph Towner, Paul McCandless, Glen Moore and Colin Walcott all of whom had been part of the Paul Winter Consort and had also recorded separately solo and in various pairings for ECM. Interestingly Icarus, which bridged small-combo jazz and world music, was produced by George Martin who said it was "the finest record I ever made" in his autobiography - quite a statement from The Beatles producer. Oregon followed on in the same vein after leaving the Consort.
Later on, when ECM was one of the first labels to embrace digital recording, and many of their artists also seemed to be running out of ideas, I stopped collecting the stuff and discovered that there were some new rock people that were piquing my interest such as Dire Straits, The Police, Stevie Ray Vaughan, etc. But that was another stage in my musical journey.
The LP12 Whisperer
Manufacturer, Distributor, Retailer and above all lover of music.
The album mentioned in the original post, Sunday at the Village Vanguard, is part of a two record set, the other record being Waltz for Debby. The Bill Evans Trio with Scott Lafaro (bass) and Paul Motian (drums) has been credited by some for changing the way a piano trio works, with each member playing an equal role. The two recordings capture live dates from 1961, and are considered two of the finest live jazz recordings of all time.
Unfortunately, Lafaro was killed in a car accident just ten days after the last live date. The producer decided to feature Lafaro more prominently on the Sunday at the Village Vanguard release, while Waltz for Debby was more balanced between the three members. This trio made two earlier studio recordings called Portrait in Jazz and Explorations, both are great.
Starting down the path of listening to and learning about jazz can be a bit daunting. A good place to start would be to stream WBGO (www.wbgo.org), one of the world's great jazz stations, from Newark, NJ. WBGO has another stream call the Jazz Bee which features new and up and coming jazz artists. BGO does a great job covering jazz from Louis Armstrong to the present day, no small feat.
The recording that threw the switch for me was the Miles Davis/ Gil Evans collaboration Sketches of Spain.
I am also learning my way around jazz. I have just purchased Lyn Stanley "Potions "on CD, which is brilliant; I have ordered the LP version as well, which is coming from Germany
