JAZZ Music

[jomari]

What I call "smoove" jazz:
Spyro Gyra is a good one
Richard Elliot (sax)
David Benoit (piano)
George Benson
Steve Cole (sax)
Larry Carlton (guitar)
Sam Cardon (keys)
Michael Franks (excellent smoove vocalist/songwriter, but all my musician friends call me a p*ssy for listening to him)
Fourplay
Lee Ritenour
Mark Isham (trumpet, composer)
Boney James (sax)

I only got about 1/5 thru my collection, I'll post more later. Spend lots!

man, i just saw this posting!!!

awesome choices botch!

Michael Franks (excellent smoove vocalist/songwriter, but all my musician friends call me a p*ssy for listening to him)

one of my favorite songs is "Lady wants to know" absolutely great to listen to at dusk...

i agree on some of the postings here, and well, as jazz is, its too hard to generalize or find some common ground on what we all would agree to be is jazz.

its like saying reggae can be defined only as bob marleys material.

will have to go thru this later to see stuff to add on my listening list on pandora. :text-goodpost:

 

[PaulyT]

Just happened to see this in a going-out-of-business sale at a local Borders. (I hate to see book stores go belly-up...) It's a recently discovered (2005) tape of a Coltrane/Monk performance from 1957. It's pretty cool stuff, and the very thorough liner notes, from multiple authors, describe the sort of apprenticeship that Coltrane had with Monk during that year. There are apparently almost no other recordings of them together like this.

This is not light jazz. It's deep and requires some concentration to listen to. Though for me, Monk is that way in general. Not claiming at all that I "get" Monk's music, nor is it generally my favorite style, but it's hard to ignore his genius.

 

[Botch]

Just happened to see this in a going-out-of-business sale at a local Borders. (I hate to see book stores go belly-up...) It's a recently discovered (2005) tape of a Coltrane/Monk performance from 1957. It's pretty cool stuff, and the very thorough liner notes, from multiple authors, describe the sort of apprenticeship that Coltrane had with Monk during that year. There are apparently almost no other recordings of them together like this.

This is not light jazz. It's deep and requires some concentration to listen to. Though for me, Monk is that way in general. Not claiming at all that I "get" Monk's music, nor is it generally my favorite style, but it's hard to ignore his genius.

Haven't listened to that one in awhile. Yeah, Monk is over my head half the time.

 

[PaulyT]

Forgot where Botch posted this, but I got it and am watching it today (for as long as I have power :scared-eek: ). Yeah, excellent SQ+PQ. While I can certainly appreciate the obvious skills of these four guys, this is very difficult music for me. It's very "abstract" jazz, not even sure if it's really jazz? Fusion? Dunno what you call it, but it's hard for me to get my head around. Gonna take a few more viewings for it to soak in, I think.

 

[Botch]

Its as Fusion as Fusion gets.

They're playing at Red Butte Gardens tomorrow night, not my favorite venue and I don't have a date, but still.... :shhh:

 

[PaulyT]

Finished watching this Return to Forever vid today (got interrupted before). I like the latter half of the concert more, I can get into the music a bit more easily. And wow, Clarke's solo set is fantastic! :bow-blue: I mean, all their solos were good but his stood out to me. White's was pretty cool too, I love jazz drums (much more interesting in general than rock drums, IMHO).

Good concert, thanks Botch. This is one I'll be watching again.

 

[PaulyT]

I was a bit underwhelmed the first time I listened to this - sorta casually listening on my headphones while I was working. It's not exactly a fast-paced toe-tapping sort of jazz album.

But wow, I've listened to it more carefully and attentively a couple of times today, and now I'm seriously impressed! This is a damned fine album. But it's what I'd call "serious" music, and will reward the serious listener. This whole band are some of the finest jazz musicians around IMHO, and they all shine on this album, not just Tierney herself (who is awesome of course). Personally, I find myself paying more attention to Christian Jacob, the pianist, he's just amazing with his technique, musicality, shadings, harmonies - up there with the likes of Bill Evans in my book.

The music on this album is more subtle, with tremendous depth. The one that stands out to me right now is their version of Amazing Grace in 5/4 time. And there are other tracks, like My Man's Gone Now (they do a lot of the Porgy&Bess classics on this one) where there are some very interesting rhythmic and meter things going on. Great drumming, and some cool bass work as well, both acoustic and electric.

If you're into jazz, and especially if you're into MUSIC, get this one - fast.

 

[Botch]

Good concert, thanks Botch. This is one I'll be watching again.

Glad you liked the second half better, hopefully it'll grow on you. I was a bit surprised, knowing your classical background, that you seemed (at least at first) to like Dream Theater more than RTF.
Hmm, this just gave me a thread idea too... :shhh:

 

[MatthewB]

At the Towens GTG, Jeff Mackwood gave me a ton of music that i have slowly been getting through and lately I have been listening to two albums he gave me from a young singer (who also is an actress in a few shows I've never watched) but anyway what an incredible jazz singer named Renee Olstead. Only 21 but what a voice and so far every song I've listened to has been incredible. Here's a video clip

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnb9FxuA4zE[/youtube]

with David Foster

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAc6eB1ShUo[/youtube]

 

[PaulyT]

Ummm... yes... some of us have already heard of her. And even have one or more of her albums. bscene-buttred:

 

[PaulyT]

I'm enjoying this one a lot. Evans is one of my favorite - if not THE favorite - jazz pianists. And Adderly is awesome. This is a great album, kinda laid back, very well recorded, great great jazz.

Thanks to whoever posted this one, probably Dennie in "his" thread.

 

[No-L]

Ummm... yes... some of us have already heard of her. And even have one or more of her albums. bscene-buttred:

Yes, indeed we have and do!!!
She is just WONDERFUL!!!!!!!!!!

 

[zod]

Maybe a little off of the beaten path:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGd1DxnVO6o[/youtube]

 

[Botch]

Zod, what a Find! I need to find the movie that that came from.
Sure brought back some memories (I'm pretty sure I've even played the "Sing Sing Sing" chart). Even though South Dakota was near the bottom of the list nationally for education spending per pupil, they had a really rich music program, and I played in "stage bands" like this from junior high thru college (was the highest-chaired non-music major on slushpump!)
I'm gonna be smiling all night, thanks again!! :music-rockout: :music-rockout: :music-rockout:

 

[zod]

Zod, what a Find! I need to find the movie that that came from.

You evil bastard :angelic-green: You made me order the last US sourced one from Amazon before I could scout around. :happy-smileygiantred:

 

[PaulyT]

Don't remember who recommended this one, but thanks! This is really good. Listened to this one carefully this evening, and there's some seriously deep music here. I like it a lot. I really really love the very last track, a simple but emotional short song with just voice and (electric) guitar, very moving IMHO.

I have the SACD version, the SQ is generally very good. My only slight quibble is that they chose in most of the tracks to put the piano in only the back left channel, and the drums only in the back right. While that does lead to good acoustic separation of instruments and voice, it tends to diminish the scale of the piano and drums, IMHO. But still, it's an enjoyable surround mix, and the centerpiece is Nnenna's voice anyway. At some point I'll listen to the stereo mix, see how it compares, should be interesting.

 

[Dennie]

Don't remember who recommended this one, but thanks! This is really good. Listened to this one carefully this evening, and there's some seriously deep music here. I like it a lot. I really really love the very last track, a simple but emotional short song with just voice and (electric) guitar, very moving IMHO.

I have the SACD version, the SQ is generally very good. My only slight quibble is that they chose in most of the tracks to put the piano in only the back left channel, and the drums only in the back right. While that does lead to good acoustic separation of instruments and voice, it tends to diminish the scale of the piano and drums, IMHO. But still, it's an enjoyable surround mix, and the centerpiece is Nnenna's voice anyway. At some point I'll listen to the stereo mix, see how it compares, should be interesting.

The "stereo" mix is much better!


Dennie

 

[PaulyT]

:text-link:

This one's a little obscure, a Czech trio (Jaromír Honzák, Matt Fishwick, NajPonk) playing mostly standard jazz trio stuff - piano, string bass, drums. I came across this on a site I usually use for classical music (hbdirect.com) and their associated site of "special" albums - expeditionaudio.com - from which I've ordered a few things and have been impressed with. This album, The Real Deal, is good solid 60's era style jazz (but it's a recent recording). The playing is really good, and the SQ of the recording is excellent, especially the drums; most jazz recordings seem to put the entire drum kit in a fairly narrow spatial window on the soundstage, but not this one, you really get a full stereo spread of the entire set, different cymbals/high hat, etc. Recommended.

 

[PaulyT]

Ok I tried, I really did. I have several Coltrane albums. I bought this one (A Love Supreme) on SACD, thinking I'd give him another shot. Coltrane took a bend in the religious direction in the later 50's and this seemed like an outpouring of that, so I thought I might like it for that reason as well.

It's not that I don't appreciate his playing, yeah he's technically amazing. But ... I don't get it. I don't understand his music. His style doesn't resonate with me. I can't follow his musical direction, there doesn't seem to be any "arc" to his compositions, that I can discern. I honestly couldn't wait for it to end, though I made myself listen to it from start to finish, and really was paying attention. I really didn't like much of anything about this recording technically, either.

Y'all know me, I hate to be negative about anything. Especially someone who's such a legend in his context. I guess this is just so far outside what works for me personally that it just isn't happening.

With all due respect to Coltrane.

 

[Botch]

That's okay Paul; Miles Davis didn't get him either (even though he hired him!)

On another thread I just posted that I just don't get Lou Reed, a recognized legend (as is Trane). I guess its cool that we all find beauty and worth in different things.


We wouldn't have much to talk about if we didn't...