Jason, you just named the three greats!
Yes, I think we can all agree that there are some that brilliant that we can take them for granted and not even mention them.
Unfortunately there are more than “some” that are brilliant, today the masters are arguably even more brilliant than the old masters, yet their audience is painfully diminished.
Jazz: I’m not sure if Isotope 217 are distinctly part of what most people consider the acid jazz tradition, but when I was digging around for acid jazz many years ago, they were one of the acts that I ended up stumbling upon. In any case, they seem to come out of some kind of jazz tradition.
Where’s the love for Chet Baker? Or anyone from the West Coast Jazz movement? I’m sorry. I’m a California boy,—what can I say?
“No fans of Jelly Roll Morton, Louis Armstrong, or Django Reinhardt here?”
Wasn’t the “Satchmo” reference in an earlier post referring to Armstrong?
Jelly Roll Morton is great.
Chet Baker is cool. I like him a lot. He sure got a nice sound out of his trumpet. My favorite album by him is the Live in Tokyo 2-dics set, which was recorded just before his death. Oh, man, he was such a shell of a man by then from the drugs and the hard living. And to hear him sing…heartbreaking stuff.
Another dude that hasn’t been mentioned yet is Clifford Brown. I think that guy had the most lyrical sound out of all the major trumpeters. His collaboration with Sarah Vaughan in just pitch perfect. Oh, yes, and on that note, Sarah Vaughan was amazing. She’s definitely one of the very best singers of the 20th century from any genre (including opera). That woman sang with range, but also with purity. And she could be so whimsical with that god-given voice of hers.
Jelly Roll’s got nothing on the lion Willie Smith, but he’s still one of the three kings.
Anyone else into the player piano rolls of Conlon Nancarrow? If you dont know the work of this insane drunken genius, check this out…
Study for Player Piano No. 5
— some of his pieces would take years to punch into the roll— tempo canons, unplayable ideas that would take five + hands at a keyboard to realise. Whisky bottle in one hand, mad whispering angels at his ears. Rags for the end of time.
I can’t say how much I love this. I love this… too much. Because the world is beautiful and insane, and this man is to jazz and composition as Bukowski is to poetry.
Jason, I like both Jelly Roll and Django, but I have yet to get into the stuff I’ve heard from Armstrong. Yes, he’s considered GREAT, but I just haven’t found anything that grabbed me.
Bolo, I agree that Isotope has some jazz elements.
Peter,
For some reason I never listened to much Chet Baker (maybe I thought he sounded too much like Miles), but I do like a lot of “West Coast” musicians. One of my favorite sets is Stan Getz’s Roost Recordings. I really like Getz’s solos on these: they feel like they’re right in the middle of swing and be-bop—and aspect appeals to me. The music swings, too. Speaking of swinging, I also really like Shelly Manne’s Blackhawk recordings. The pairing of Paul Desmond and Jim Hall is another favorite.
Have you heard the Jimmy Giuffre trio—the one with Bob Brookmeyer and Jim Hall? I really wanted to track down some of those albums. I also want to check out some of the Gerry Mulligan-Brookmeyer or Mulligan-Desmond recordings. I love the contrapuntal playing of those groups.
Jazzaloha: Miles was no where near as good as Chet Baker
^ Blasphemy.
That Conlon Nancarrow piece is great – I must learn more from – and about – this guy.
I know but it is true – Miles was a great arranger and innovator.
You should be able to tell the difference between Miles and Chet.
If i say Billy had a terrible singing voice – would one know how that was true?
She had no range at all -she didn’t consider herself a singer she thought of herself as musician, her voice an instrument
Neil, yeah— glad someone else gets it.
Rob III — ah but man… the difference is obvious, striking…. Miles on trumpet… thats like a razorblade to the soul (especially his earliest recordings). Brutal raw musiciality in the softest, bleakest of breaths. A musician existing with his music, indivisible. Chet Baker… well its that West Coast boho-sanitised-of-all-grit thing… cool maybe, but …clinical. No friction. I’m just not feeling it. The heroin rubbed him out long before he fell out that window.
Robert said, “Jazzaloha: Miles was no where near as good as Chet Baker.”
Really? If you’re basing that assessment on purely technical ability (as it seems like you’re saying with the Billie Holiday reference), then that argument wouldn’t carry much weight with me. There trumpet players with better technique than Miles, but Miles is still a great trumpet player, imo.
Give me a few albums of Baker’s and I’ll try to track them down.
Blue K,
We talked about Brownie several posts back. I love him!
T,
I’ve heard of Nancarrow, but not his music. I’ll check out the clip.
T,
Very glad to hear some appreciation of Nancarrow. That man opened the floodgates for me.
An interesting note in his theoretical approach to composition is the canon which he composed in a √42:1 meter.
Liked the Nancarrow piece. I will look for more of his stuff.
El Fantasma,
Pretty good. Have you heard guitarist Wayne Krantz? I think you would like him. Krantz’s trio sounds very similar to the Zevious’ music.
what i love about jazz is what i love about film. the fact that there is always something new, something to surprise and delight.
“Doctor, I think I have a problem.”
“What seems to be the trouble?”
“I like Kind of Blue, but I prefer In A Silent Way.”
“Nurse!”
Is that from a movie?
Nope. Just me. The doc says I’m a hypochondriac. Like last week: I waited an hour in his waiting room, finally to tell him I woke up this morning thinking Let It Bleed was a better album than Abbey Road (he didn’t call the nurse for that one).
I might will help you make that argument for Let It Bleed.
Miles Davis, sitting up in his hospital bed, brow furrowed deep.
NURSE : Is there something bothering you, sir?
DAVIS: Yeah… country music.
True.
But Miles did have a lot of respect for Willie Nelson.
Jazzaloha:
The comparison to Billy is apt. Both took severe limitations and creatively made them into superlative work. Miles’ genius was arranging and later his innovations. He never looked back. In fact, he only went back to hardbop once when Quincy Jones asked him to perform in a concert – he died weeks later.
I saw Miles right before he went on ‘sabbatical’ in the early 70’s at Paul’s Mall in Boston. There were about 20 people there.
Chet’s discography? – no way will I tackle that mountain without a theme to work with. Because you like Getz, you can look at the early 80’s stuff Baker did with Getz.
I will mention Chet Baker, an icon i think..
Blotnik plays a lovely Gretcsh as though he is tempting and loving the music out were it sparkles and expands, and subtley begins or enters into a pattern, when I listen I really go on a trip…he plays solo, but mostly with bands with sax, stand-up, drums. He also plays with a group called Akoya, that is afrobeat.
I’m late on this but still glad to see many jazz fans in theauteurs forum.
As I recall, I started a thread last January discussing jazz artist’s compositions for films – it’s buried in here somewhere…
Many great artist already mentioned, I’d like to add Lester Young, Billy Eckstein, Art Pepper, Horace Silver, Nancy Wilson, Kenny Burrell, Dinah Washington, Sonny Stitt, Red Garland, McCoy Tyner, Lionel Hampton, Roland Kirk, Jimmy Smith, Buddy Rich…
Is Chet Baker really better than Miles? Dunno… Dizzy Gillespie is better, so is Maynard Ferguson- it’s anybody’s pick like apples and oranges!
I’ve witnessed what a master can do with a basic drum kit – Max Roach live at SF Jazz Fest back in late ’90’s. Unbelievable!
My favorite Sunday morning record, Hellen Merril with Clifford Brown, or Ellington and Basie’s ‘Count Meets the Duke’ – cure for hangover.
Let’s not forget the influential Afro-Cuban beats of Mongo Santamaria and Willie Bobo, and Brasil’s samba/ bossa nova of Antonio Carlos Jobim, Joao Gilberto and Astrud, esp. her recordings with Stan Getz.
I have most of Miles Davis’ records, but I never truly appreciated Sketches of Spain until I listened to it during deployment- while watching the sunset across the Euphrates. Quite eerie.
My rambling two cents. Cheers!
dope fiend willy
No fans of Jelly Roll Morton, Louis Armstrong, or Django Reinhardt here?