Jazz Anyone?

http://www.last.fm/group/MUBI

My we need to dust this thread off and post again!

I just discovered Carmen McRae. (My Romance) …. WOW.

She has an album of Monk tunes that are really fun. See if you can find her version of “Well, You Needn’t.” (The lyrics are quite fun, too.)

I shall try! :)

Here you go! (The whole album is not grooveshark, too.)

How fun! Thanks for sharing that! :)

Big Band days… Helen Forrest, Bewitched.

From The Voice of the Big Bands (found this on Pandora, can’t locate it on Grooveshark unfortunately)…

If I ever had to make a biopic, it would be on Louis Prima. I know they’ve been trying to make this film for years and I would love to see that film. It would have to be an unconventional biopic though – I don’t want no “Ray” or “Walk the Line” nonesense.

^ lol

STOP THAT RAY AND WALK THE LINE NONSENSE, OR I WILL BEAT Y’ALL SENSELESS.

@Odi

Glad you liked it.

I don’t think I’ve ever listened to Helen Forrest. I’ll try to check out her stuff later.

@Santino

Don’t know much about Prima. But I’d love to see a great bio-pic about Miles Davis (which is supposedly in the works). I’m not going to get too excited about it, though, as I suspect the filmmakers might mess it up. Personally, I’m primarily interested in the music—the way it developed, the contributions of the musicians, the concepts behind them, etc. Unfortunately, that approach probably won’t appeal to a mass audience.

Btw, I really liked Walked the Line. Phoenix and Witherspoon had great chemistry, and they were very good. They made the movie for me.

@Volupte

Don’t think I’ve listened to much of Stafford.

@Jazz Stafford was primarily a crooner in the forties, first with the Pied Pipers and then on her own. This song, which I find very beautiful, was used by Jack Nicholson in his sequel to Chinatown, The Two Jakes.

Destination-Out , a website on free-jazz, is now allowing you to listen to, Pearls, an album by the Globe Unity Orchestra (and isn’t on cd). It’s one of the best free-jazz albums I’ve heard. Maybe I was just in the right mood for this, but I only planned to listen to some snippets, but I ended up listening to the entire album in one sitting. That’s pretty rare for me, to be honest, because I think free jazz albums can be a bit monotonous. Not this one. I thought the “orchestration” was interesting, too, as the music sounds more like small group performance, but organized in an interesting way, if that makes any sense. Anyway, for those who like free-jazz, I highly recommend it.

@Volupte

I missed your post. Thanks for the feedback on Stafford. (Btw, is Two Jakes worth a look?)

Apropos of this thread being back on page 1, I must listen to Jazz this morning (no pun intended, lol).

I check in at Destination-out regularly. There’s some out of print stuff that I’m hoping they’ll add.

@Odi

Shouldn’t you be listening to me every morning (day, night, etc.)? ;)

@Michael

They have some really great stuff. I’m thinking of purchasing that Pearls album. What recordings are you looking for?

I’m looking for any of the Schlippenbach-Parker-Lovens trio that I don’t already have (I have Elf Bagatellen).

I prefer his trio to the large ensembles, but I do have a number of Global Unity albums, and I really like them.

I picked this DVD up last year and really enjoyed it:

@Michael

How’s Elf Bagatellen?

I think I only have one cd with Parker-Schlippenbach-Lovens. (50th Anniversary). I like Parker, but I think his music/playing can get a bit monotonous—although I feel that way about many free jazz recordings. (I didn’t get that sense at all with the Pearls album—which is why I listened to the whole album in one sitting, even though I didn’t plan to.)

I have 50th Anniversary, but never cared for it. Judging by your comments on Parker, I would be hesitant to recommend the trio—even though Schlippenbach is the leader, there is a LOT of Parker soloing.

I just got a duet album by Schlippenbach with Manfred Schoof. I was really surprised by how beautiful it is.

I’ve been surprised by the effectiveness of some horn-piano duos, so I’m mildly interested in that one. I think the Stan Getz-Kenny Barron recordings really made an strong impression. (Personally, I think Barron often stole the show on that.) There are some other recordings, but I can’t recall them. I liked that Gary Burton-Chick Corea Live in Zurich (I think that’s the title), although that’s obviously not a horn-piano duet.

They’re hit and miss with me too. If they sound too polite, I generally get bored.

I’ve been enjoying the album, To Much Sugar for a Dime, by Henry Threadgill and Very, Very Circus. Here’s a crazy, calypso feeling, avant-garde, kitchen sink party song (but it works!):

It sounds pretty good. I don’t own much by Threadgill, but I really like him.

I’ve been playing a lot of Andrew Hill lately. I really like “Change”, an album he did in ’66 with Sam Rivers that was released as a Rivers album in the 70s. A few years back it finally came out as originally planned.

Some of Threadgill’s new stuff with Zooid sound good, too. (There are clips from Destination-Out site, if you haven’t heard them already.)

I’ve been playing a lot of Andrew Hill lately.

Cool! I have the Mosaic box set, which has the Change album on it. I like that one and the one with John Gilmore—probably more than the other albums in the set. How do you like Point of Departure? I know that album is highly regarded, but for some reason that one doesn’t grab me. (I have a similar reaction to Eric Dolphy’s Out to Lunch.) Anyway, Hill is really interesting, especially in the way that he’s incorporated Monk. His music can be a bit on the cold, cerebral side, but it’s generally very interesting—in terms of compositions and his playing.

Have you heard the “trio” recording, Smokestack. That’s really an interesting—even innovative approach to trio. For one thing, he uses two bassists. But I use “trio” because the music sounds very much similar to piano trios. But the second bassist isn’t what makes the trio different. It’s the way the each musician seems to be operating independently (especially the Roy Haynes, the drummer).

“His music can be a bit on the cold, cerebral side, but it’s generally very interesting—in terms of compositions and his playing.”

I agree. I like Rivers with him because he adds a bit of fire. I haven’t heard PoD in ages. I just listened to “Smokestack” recently. Definitely more a “comfortable chair and a set of headphones listen”. I really love the bass interplay, and yes, Haynes is always great.

Out to Lunch is a real favorite of mine. We lost Dolphy way too soon.

We lost Dolphy way too soon.

Yeah. I really like Dolphy, but I prefer him on some of the Prestige albums, e.g., Far Cry with Booker Little (another guy that died too young). I also some of the live performances with Trane. I don’t know why, but Out to Lunch just didn’t grab me. (Maybe I should revisit it.)

As for Rivers I think I do prefer him to Henderson’s playing (at least Henderson’s playing with Hill, although I’m not a big Joe Henderson fan). I recall liking John Gilmore quite a bit on Hill’s albums, too.

The thing I find interesting about Haynes and the playing on Smokestack is that each musicians almost seems to be playing in a slightly different rhythm or groove, but each of their parts come together to form a whole, too. It’s like a giant clock, with different size gears and parts moving at different rates, but functioning well-together.

Man, it’s great to find someone else who knows and likes Andrew Hill!

@Michael F

I don’t think of Prevost as a jazz drummer at all, too. But same with Rowe (er. jazz guitarist, that is).

And yes, AMM are incredible!

Michael, this is the beginning of a beautiful relationship. :)

Have you come across any new recordings that have really impressed you? What about some new jazz musicians—or just new musicians in general?

I’ve been listening to a lot of young players from the Chicago scene. Keefe Jackson, Josh Berman, Aram Shelton, and a few others.

I’ll try to give some specific examples when I have more time than I do at the moment.

I never heard of those guys, so some specific album titles would be great.

Chicago, did someone say Chicago? Here is a sample of some of the Chicago shiznit. Nicole Mitchell crosses all the lines. This is from last night, Dec 7,2011

Chicago is undefinable. Folks can do anything here.