Jazz

Post by jb » Sat Nov 27, 2004 1:31 pm

Right now I'm listening to Roger Kellaway's "Cello Quartet". It is so great. Somewhere I have a CD of his "Nostalgia Suite" which is also so great.

He's kind of in the style of Vince Guaraldi. Very melodic, with kind of modern-classical music overtones. It's jazz, but also very written out with tons of other influences.

It's just getting me so revved up that I had to post about.

Also on my list of jazz stuff that I really dig are:

Oscar Peterson (piano)
Django Reinhardt (guitar)
Wes Montgomery (guitar)
Stan Kenton (big band)

They're all what I guess you might call "hot" jazz. No noodling, pieces written out pretty thoroughly. I guess Peterson's trio might be the closest thing to noodling, but it's always really fast and upbeat noodling.

tonetripper · Post by **tonetripper** » Sat Nov 27, 2004 2:44 pm

jb wrote:He's kind of in the style of Vince Guaraldi. Very melodic, with kind of modern-classical music overtones. It's jazz, but also very written out with tons of other influences..

The Peanuts Christmas Record, which is from the aired show, that the Vince Guaraldi Trio does is my FAVOURITE Xmas record of all time. There is so much wonderful energy to it.

There was a time when I got pretty involved in jazz. I played a couple of hot shows with a group in TO here called Groovoria. We covered some John McLaughlin, Miles off Miles Smiles, some standards and one of my favourite new era jazz groups, Medeski Martin and Wood. http://www.mmw.net/
Check out some of their new stuff. Can't download the link, you got to get a specialized player, can't blame 'em really, but the new stuff reminds me of Live Evil or in the vein there of. There was an awesome movement in the late 60s and 70s of disco or groove music melding with jazz which didn't take on to the be-bop traditionalists but I love it and it seems to be coming back in vogue.

Here are some of my faves:
Django Reinhardt
Oscar Peterson
Chet Baker
MMW
Billy Holiday
Weather Report with Jaco Pastorius
John McLaughlin (earlier works)
Mahavisnu Orchestra

Good thread JB. Anyone who hasn't heard of MMW, and is interested in jazz, should check them out cuz they are the future of jazz IMO.

j$ · Post by j$ » Sat Nov 27, 2004 6:23 pm

Miles Davis' Sketches of Spain sits in my top 5 albums of all time.

Ornette Coleman blows my mind, for some jazz with punk attitude.

Weather Report and the various solo offshoots I love despite prog leanings.

Just off the top of my head.

j$

jack · Post by **jack** » Sat Nov 27, 2004 7:34 pm

django can be pretty "noodly". he's a favorite of deadheads worldwide. and if anyone knows something about noodly music, it's a deadhead

Post by jb » Sat Nov 27, 2004 10:51 pm

jack shite wrote:django can be pretty "noodly". he's a favorite of deadheads worldwide. and if anyone knows something about noodly music, it's a deadhead

The stuff I have of his is pretty structured. Sure there's soloing, but it keeps moving. I'm not leaning back in my easy chair with headphones on or anything though, this stuff is mostly for background or in my car. I don't usually try to concentrate on it while it's playing. Well, except for Kellaway. He's that good.

jack · Post by **jack** » Sat Nov 27, 2004 11:14 pm

i love most anything by stan getz, especially the bossa nova stuff with gilberto and jobim. i also love almost anything by miles/coltrane on the prestige label. also art pepper and red garland have done some stellar solo stuff with other session players from the prestige days. great stuff.

Post by jb » Sat Nov 27, 2004 11:24 pm

It would help me to know if the people you guys are referencing would be up my alley if you'd describe their style a little bit. If links to some tracks are public, that would be pretty cool.

jack · Post by **jack** » Sat Nov 27, 2004 11:33 pm

i think all us jazz lovers ought to make JB a bunch of compilation CDs to listen to in his car and send them to him for xmas for being such a wonderful boss....

Jim of Seattle · Post by **Jim of Seattle** » Sun Nov 28, 2004 1:17 am

JB, Oscar Peterson is my all-time favorite jazz player. So inventive, so melodic. Reinhardt is also atop my list for the same reason. I'd recommend Lester Young for that reason. All his "noodling" is melodic and lyrical, and never feels too noodly. I'd stay away from Coltrane for the most part, as his is King Noodler when he gets going.

Freddielove · Post by **Freddielove** » Sun Nov 28, 2004 4:48 pm

Second the Wes Montgomery. Willow Weep for Me is fantastic.

Also a big fan of Latin Jazz. Irakere had a couple of great records, "Bacalao con Pan" is a great song. Arturo Sandoval and Chu Chu Valdez, if those names ring a bell, were in the band. I have a soft spot for Sergio Mendez, though his pop records sometimes leaned towards the cheesy, the jazz recordings are a good listen.

Caravan Ray · Post by **Caravan Ray** » Sun Nov 28, 2004 5:07 pm

I really don't get jazz. I'm sure there is something there to get - but it's just not speaking to me.

I've tried listening to Miles Davis, Django Reinhart, Oscar Petersen....but I just don't get it.

I did however love the Ken Burns TV series a few years ago on the history of jazz. When placed in the right context, a lot of the music did become quite exciting.

Jim of Seattle · Post by **Jim of Seattle** » Sun Nov 28, 2004 6:17 pm

Oh, I'm so with you there, Ray. I listen to a lot of jazz and I still think I don't "get" it. Every time I've ever said that to anyone, their response is always "Oh I recommend you listen to _______, cuz then you'll get it" but the truth is that never works.

Or I should say, not never, but rarely. Cuz I'm just about to do that: If you really want to "get" jazz, the best thing to do is listen to it a lot, even if it's in the background. Miles Davis' "Kind of Blue" and Dave Brubeck Quartet's "Take Five" are the quintessential introductory jazz albums, since they're masterpieces and go down real easy. Even if you never get jazz, you'll listen to Kind of Blue a lot because it is THE BEST album ever to have sex to. KoB is also unique because it's, I believe, the only example in all of music wherein the best album to start someone off who's new to a genre is also considered the greatest jazz album even by hard core afficionados. Can't go wrong.

jute gyte · Post by **jute gyte** » Sun Nov 28, 2004 6:21 pm

i recommend naked city's 'torture garden'.

roymond · Post by **roymond** » Sun Nov 28, 2004 7:47 pm

I love early Dizzy when I want to ride,
Louis Prima when I want to loosen up,
Egberto Gismonti when I want to think straight,
Thelonious Monk when I don't,
Wes Montgomery when I'm in a groove,
Ella when I want to smile,
Antonio Carlos Jobim when I'm feeling goofy lovey

Leaf · Post by **Leaf** » Sun Nov 28, 2004 8:08 pm

I really like Wynton Marsailas' Uptown Ruler... it has a darker vibe to it.. some interesting time things going on... very laid back. I always get a kick out of Ginger Baker's trio with Bill Frisell on guitar and Charlie Haden on bass.... very ballsy jazz.

What kind of Jazz, JB, are you referring to that is "unstructured" ... I find most jazz very structured, usually head, solos, head. Like 75% of the time. Sometimes it seems that the head will get referenced in the middle somewhere... and I don't listen to much fusion, specifically the Miles' Bitches Brew style... that stuff was too out for me... although I wonder if I'd dig it now? Is that what you are talking about? Just curious.

I was never too keen on jazz as a teen, so it's funny I went to a jazz school... as JOS says, those two albums where the diving in points. I find I like playing more of a fusion style (ala chick corea's electric band and the like)... rather than the 40-60s swing/bebop deal... but I like listening to the latter more than the former!!

JonPorobil · Post by **JonPorobil** » Sun Nov 28, 2004 8:18 pm

Thelonius Monk and Miles Davis push all the right buttons with me, but I don't know much about Jazz. The only complete jazz album I've heard is Coltrane's Giant Steps, which was interesting, though I agree that he can noodle like nobody's biz-nass. I loved it when, on the song whose name I don't remember, he slowed it down dramatically, started holding notes a lot longer.

Sounds like Jim might be onto something with those recommendations. Thanks.

Oh, also, a nice little introductory kit is the soundtrack to that Ken Burns documentary mentioned above. I got it for Channukah last year, and I love it. It's a broad sampler, starting with some old-tyme blues and really tinny-sounding brass band jazz on disc one, and advancing more or less chronologically into modern day, including a rap by MC Solaar and Herbie Hancock's "Rockit" on disc five. As someone who knew diddlysquat about jazz before listening, I found it very informative.

HeuristicsInc · Post by **HeuristicsInc** » Sun Nov 28, 2004 11:32 pm

I really like Herbie Hancock's stuff. Nice electric weirdness.
In jazz, I listen to his stuff, Miles Davis (esp. the electric stuff), and Either/Orchestra the most.
I assume you know the first two. E/O is pretty different and interesting, large band, they do a lot of the horns in unison stuff which sounds great to me.
They did a cool cover of King Crimson's "Red."
My favorite album of theirs is The Calculus of Pleasure, and especially the song "Miles Away" which is a tribute to ... you can guess who.
-bill

jack · Post by **jack** » Sun Nov 28, 2004 11:36 pm

JB...i think you outta check out Walter Wanderley. i think you'd like his stuff.

tonetripper · Post by **tonetripper** » Mon Nov 29, 2004 8:54 am

jute gyte wrote:i recommend naked city's 'torture garden'.

That's like metal jazz at points. How long 13 seconds? Been a while since I've heard John Zorn. Forgot about that. There are some sweet numbers on that record with the occasional offset of those 11 second thrash jazz numbers. I use to make tapes to listen on road trips and when I'd get to the end of the tape I would put one of those short maniacal tunes on the end where there would only be like 20 seconds or so left.

On the note of jazz, I've never been inclined to "get" jazz, but "feel" jazz. The important thing about jazz to the average listener is to find the hook. It's usually pretty hard to find or easy depending on your depth of listening skills. I had the hardest time "getting" Miles Smiles, but after multiple listens it hit me in the wildest of ways. "Orbits" is not an easy song to understand. All the parts, although seemingly jammed and probably were, were shedding light on me that they were well written and thought out movements within the music. Like replies to the other player's interpretation of the main melody (in "Orbits" case is hard to find). The call and answer. But it wasn't until I actually started playing them when it became exciting to me. Now I would never call myself a jazzer by any stretch of the imagination, but movies like "Let's Get Lost with Chet Baker" moved me in so many ways. The dripping voice of Billy Holiday, Ella tearing into a mad skat, all heard on the radio are really at the cornerstone for why I might "get" jazz now. Jazz is, essentially, a bunch of well crafted songs using chords mostly never used in conventional pop or rock formats that have been skewed by musicians into reflections of the original. "Blue in Green" is a prime example of this or for early jazz students "Autumn Leaves". Both vocal songs in their original form, but where would the jazz world be without Oscar Peterson Trio's rendition of "Autumn Leaves". Just awesome when you consider the origin. So, I will never "get" jazz per se, but man how I can "feel" it now. My own music (not SF) I use a lot of jazzy chords and the exciting thing about using a major 7th instead of a 5 chord is the melodic areas you can go with the tonic. So many more possibilities with the 7th than the 5. To me jazz is built on 7ths (minor/major). That, atleast, is how one of my good friends posed it. Exciting thread.

c hack · Post by **c hack** » Mon Nov 29, 2004 9:00 am

My favorite Jazz album is Coltrane's "A Love Supreme." But Mingus's stuff is up there too.

jimtyrrell · Post by **jimtyrrell** » Mon Nov 29, 2004 9:05 am

I'm a big fan of Vince Guaraldi. Great stuff. But the jazz Xmas album I listen to every year is Jimmy Smith's 'Christmas Cookin'. Oh man. It isn't Christmas without that organ ripping away in the background.

tonetripper · Post by **tonetripper** » Mon Nov 29, 2004 9:57 am

jimtyrrell wrote:I'm a big fan of Vince Guaraldi. Great stuff. But the jazz Xmas album I listen to every year is Jimmy Smith's 'Christmas Cookin'. Oh man. It isn't Christmas without that organ ripping away in the background.

That's cool. I'm gonna pick that one up. I also have this Christmas jazz album called "Jazz to the World" that has some excellent renditions of some contemporary and traditional songs. Definitely gonna check out Jimmy Smith, cuz I love the Vince Guaraldi trio. Always want to improve the Xmas music for the annual party.

Mingus is great. Always been a fan and while were on the topic I read a book about Mingus and it was truly an inspiring book. Talks about how he was trained initially in the cello and he would memorize the parts and not read the music when performing it in grade school or something or other. This eventually moved him into Bass where he became one of the great monsters. His later stuff seems to marry the classical ideas with the jazz.

Also, no one ever mentioned him, but I consider him jazz is Tom Waits. Any early work of his is very jazzy in sections. Frank's Wild Years. I can't remember all the album titles, but his early live stuff has some great jazz moments mixed with his spoken word poetry.

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