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Rick Hein - perhaps these
selections are a little too funky and rocky for
traditionalists. More to come...
Tower of Power - Back to Oakland
Warner
Brothers 2749-2 - "Squib Cakes"
Francis Rocco Prestia is one on the leading
practitioners of finger-style funk bass, and his
interactions with David Garibaldi on drums and Steven
"The Doctor" Kupka on Baritone Sax make this one of the
funk jams of all time. Check out Chester Thompson's
percolating Hammond B-3. Or choose to go "Walkin' Up Hip
Street" on Urban Renewal - Warner
Brothers 7599-26349-2.
Miles Davis - The
Complete Birth of the Cool
Capitol Jazz (EMI) 7243
4 94550 2 3 -
A new style is born. Arrangements by Gerry Mulligan,
John Lewis, Gil Evans, and John Carisi. French horns and
tuba swing. Current favourite is one of the the live
sessions of "Move", track 23 on this cd. Just put it on
and enjoy ensemble.
Stan Getz and Joao Gilberto featuring Antonio
Carlos Jobim - Getz/Gilberto Verve
521 414-2
Follow up to Jazz Samba remains one of the
masterpieces of the genre. Joao insisted his wife Astrud
sang at the session, and so we have "The Girl from
Ipanema" and Corcovado (Quiet Nights of Quiet
Stars) to choose from. This CD reissue also contains the
45 edits of Ipanema and Corcovado. Go
"Aaaaaaah..."
Dave
Grusin - Mountain
Dance GRP 95072 - "Mountain Dance"
Feeling depressed? Put this track on and feel the
earth move. Recorded direct to two track digital - no
remixing or overdubbing.
GRP 10th Anniversary Collection - Three discs -
GRD-3-5008
A sampler of the GRP catalogue - Tom Scott, New York
Voices, David Benoit, Yellowjackets, Crusaders, Angela
Bofil, Dave Grusin. To many special tunes to mention -
listen to the new take on "Sister Sadie" by the GRP
All-Star Big Band; Nelson Rangell, Eric Marienthal, Bob
Mintzer, Ernie Watts, Tom Scott; Arturo Sandoval, Randy
Brecker, Sal Marquez; George Bohanon; Kenny Kirkland,
John Pattituci, and Dave Weckl. Swinging!
Blossom Dearie - Blossom
Dearie Sings Comden and Green - "The Party's
Over"
Blossom Dearie accompanies herself on piano, Ray Brown
on Bass, Ed Thigpen on Drums and Kenny Burrell on guitar.
This sentimental dirge gets a swinging blues treatment.
Listen to the vocal phrasing and the economy of piano
accompaniment. The swing starts with Ray Brown's bass
intro and takes no prisoners all the way through to his
coda. Classic.
Back to Top
Jon Hodge
"Being a trumpet player, I gravitate toward
that instrument, so I'll start there. As I'm sure
Kind of Blue and all the
really important stuff by Miles has been suggested, I'll
go with some choice stuff that's perhaps not been
mentioned but represent some of the best ballad playing
that can be heard:"
Clifford Brown with Strings EmArcy
records 814 642-21955 Arrangements by Neal Hefti
This is the only "with strings" recording that I can
recommend.
Here is a 25 year old genius playing Ballads like
Stardust, Smoke Gets in Your Eyes, and Portrait of Jenny
like few ever will.
Clifford
Brown Information | Clifford
Brown at jazztrumpetsolos.com | on
Amazon.co.uk
The Best of Chet Baker Sings Blue
Note/Pacific Jazz/Capital Records 0777 7 92932 2
3
Blue Note considers this one of it's best 25
recordings
In 1955 Chet's recording of My Funny Valentine hit #1
on the pop charts.
The recordings here span the best from 1953 to 1956
and belongs ineveryone's collection. If you want to teach
phrasing to instrumentalists and singers, there is a lot
that can be learned fromthis collection. These were some
of the recordings that made the Jazzworld realize that
Miles had not cornered the market on cool.
"Okay here are two recordings I keep coming
back to. It doesn't matter if I want to teach my students
something or if I want to remind myself how I really want
to play. These recordings are excellent live to two track
performances, no overdubs, and set a standard for how any
acoustic jazz ensemble ought to sound."
Moanin' Art
Blakey and the Jazz Messengers Blue Note 0777 7 46516 2
2
Another of the Blue Note best 25
Lee Morgan on Trumpet Benny Golson on Sax and
contributing four songs Art Blakey's most successful
album. Art Blakey could have made a box of rocks groove,
and the grooves are deep on this one. All the playing on
this album is very accessible, yet the playing still has
a fresh, modern approach. It is some of the best post-Bop
playing there is.
Official
Art Blakey Web Site
Sarah Vaughan EmArcy 814 641-2 at
Amazon.co.uk
(now discontinued)
Herbie Mann, Flute: Clifford Brown, trpt; Paul
Quinichette, tenor sax Roy Haynes, on drums and Jimmy
Jones on piano. This one seldom leaves my car. Kurt
Weil's September Song is as difficult a ballad as any,
and it probably will never get as good a performance as
it does here. This is really an outstanding recording. If
you get this one, makes sure it is the right one; there
are many "Sarah Vaughan" collections on the market, but
this is a single session original release from 1955, with
all the same great players on every track. It's marketed
by Phonogram in Germany and like the Clifford with
Strings, is easier to find in Europe than it is the
U.S.
Back to Top
Bob Rigter -
Tenor saxophonist par excellence. Many of
you directors will remember his quartet playing at the
Director's Dinners at the International Honor
Band and Choir Festivals held in The Hague. Check
out his web site!
Ultimate Lester Young
(selected by Wayne Shorter), Verve
539 772-2.
Lester was the first great modern
tenor saxophonist. Other than Coleman Hawkins, who played
up and down through as many chords as he could, Lester
developed a beautiful, light and swinging "horizontal"
style. He let the shifting chords do the work and stayed
on top. Other than the huge vibrating tone of Coleman
Hawkins, Lester's sound had a lyrical personal quality
almost without vibration but rather with bends where he
needed them. Lester influenced a later generation of
tenor men such as Zoot Sims, Stan Getz, Jimmy Giuffre,
Bill Perkins, Belgian Bobby Jaspar and Dutch Ruud
Brink.
Miles Davis The Complete Concert + Four and More,
"My Funny Valentine"
CBS cdcbs 85558.(at Amazon.com)
Miles trp, George Coleman ts,
Herbie Hancock pi, Ron Carter b, Tony Williams drs. A
benefit concert for voter registration in Mississippi and
Louisiana, recorded February 12, 1964 at New York's
Philharmonic Hall.
This is one of the greatest
concerts in jazz history. In this concert we can hear the
new quintet concept that Miles developed and that evolved
from the hard bop concept of Blakey's Jazz Messengers,
The Horace Silver Quintet, etc. The responsibility for
the sum total is shared equally by all the musicians.
There is no preconceived arrangement. Miles once said: "I
pay my musicians to rehearse on stage." The interplay of
the musicians in this concert is fantastic.
Bill Evans Trio, Sunday at
the Village Vanguard, Riverside OJCCD-140-2. at Amazon.co.uk
Bill Evans pi, Scott LaFaro b, Paul
Motian drs. Live recording June 25, 1961. Bill Evans is
"a musicians musician". This trio developed a new way of
playing. It is no longer piano with rhythmical
accompaniment. The musicians each contribute equally to
the whole. The young bassist Scott LaFaro had already
developed a new way of playing the double bass. Listen to
him. Bill Evans gives him plenty of space. Scott died in
a car accident shortly after this recording. Without the
music of the Bill Evans Trio, the later trio concept of
Keith Jarrett pi, Gary Peacock b, and Jack De Jonette
drs, would have been inconceivable.
Stan Getz & Bill Evans,
Verve
833 802-2.
Stan Getz ts, Bill Evans pi, Ron
Carter/Richard Davis b, Elvin Jones drs. Getz and Evans
are both lyrical white master musicians. They form a
likely combination. The recording owes its fantastic
quality to the fact that Elvin Jones is at the drums. He
is a black musician who worked with John Coltrane,
developing a drum style radiating enormous energy. The
fact that I make the black-and-white distinction here is
due to the disgusting reality of American cultural
history. Hurray for the fruitful and loving integration
of styles and approaches that makes the music on this cd
one of the highlights in jazz history.
Gerry Mulligan Quartet with Chet
Baker, Giants of Jazz CD 53027 AAD.
Blue
Note Reissue of Pacific Jazz - covers all tracks
recorded for Pacific Jazz
Revolutionary recordings made in
1952. Gerry Mulligan bar, Chet Baker trp, Carson
Smith/Bobby Whitlock b, Larry Bunker/Chico Hamilton drs.
Why revolutionary? Because there is no piano to provide
the underlying harmonic structure of the tunes. The
challenge was to suggest this structure by the interplay
of baritone sax and trumpet. I can never get enough of
the music that evolved.
Konitz Meets Mulligan. Lee
Konitz & the Gerry Mulligan Quartet. Pacific Jazz
CDP7 46847 2
Blue
Note Reissue of Pacific Jazz
Lee Konitz, a great alto player in
the Lennie Tristano school, sits in with the pianoless
quartet of Gerry Mulligan bar, Chet Baker trp, Carson
Smith/Joe Mondragon b, Larry Bunker drs. Anyone
interested in what can be achieved on the alto should
listen to this 1953 recording anyway. But the sheer
musical joy that it provides makes it one of my most
precious possessions.
Four. Chet Baker in Tokyo.
King Record Co. K 32 Y 6281. at Amazon.com
Live recording in Tokyo, June 14,
1987. Chet Baker trp, Harold Danko pi, Hein van der Geyn
b, John Engels drs. It is true that Chet Baker's musical
career peaked in 1952, when he made many records with
pianist Russ Freeman, and when he played in the Gerry
Mulligan Quartet which won world-wide acclaim. It is
often thought that, after this period in the fifties, his
life and music deteriorated dismally. It is true that he
lived through a period when his teeth were knocked out so
that he could not play. But Chet was a great musician of
enormous determination. With dentures, he had to develop
a new technique and that is what he did. Listen to his
fantastic tone, his lyricism, his alertness, his
unfailing musical intuition in this 1987 recording. At
the end of his life he was still one of the greatest
trumpet players in jazz. By the way, Harold is English,
Hein and John are Dutch. They are not bad either.
Back to Top
Jim Yarnell
Miles Davis - Kind of Blue Columbia/Legacy
CK 64935
"A real jazz standard everyone should know," states
Jim Yarnell.
Reissued and with the tape taken from the master
recording machine that was running at the correct speed,
with an alternate take of Flamenco Sketches. Duane
Allman, lead guitarist of The Allman Brothers is
quoted in the new liner notes by Robert Palmer, "You
know, that kind of playing comes from Miles and Coltrane,
and particularly Kind of Blue. I've listened to
that album so many times for the past couple of years, I
haven't hardly listened to anything else."
Laura Lentz
I'm a big fan of jazz and have a lot of knowledge about it (I grew up with my dad who played with some of the big bands like Woody Herman so it was unavoidable).
Here's my list (just brief descriptions)
Duke Ellington—master pianist/conductor/orchestrator for big bands
Keith Jarrett—Koln Concert, pianist who is famous for his solo piano improvisations, this is his most well-known album and a must-have
Pat Metheny/Brad Mehldau—duo CD released recently, incredible dialogue between guitar and piano (reminiscent of Bill Evans and Wes Montgomery work)
At Amazon.co.uk
Billie Holiday—classic jazz singer with her own style
John Coltrane—Love Supreme and Giant Steps, two must-have albums
Cal Tjader—Latin Jazz vibes player
Jane Bunnett—Latin Jazz flute/sax player
Miles Davis—Kind of Blue, a must-have
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