What Jazz are you listening to now?

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  • Jazzrook
    replied
    Originally posted by elmo View Post
    Miles Davis & Gil " Porgy and Bess"

    This album was a revelation for me when I was about 17. I was travelling back to Wales by bus (can't remember where I'd been) and we stopped for an hour for a changeover in Gloucester. I went for a walkabout and came across a small record shop it only had one modern jazz album 'Porgy', at that time I was nuts about "ESP and Miles Smiles" and not really interested in musicals so 'Porgy' was not on my list, anyway I bought the album and it was a revelation, the orchestration was wonderful I had not heard anything like it. My mind was opened to the beauty of jazz orchestration and Gershwin's opera and also some of Miles most lyrical playing. I was a secondary modern school kid and in our school we were never encouraged musically. Classical music was not meant for the likes of us but Miles and Gil opened the world of great music for me.

    Here is "Bess you is my woman now"



    elmo
    Wonderful, elmo - will have to dig out my copy which I haven’t played for years.
    On the subject of jazz & classical music I recently came across this paragraph in Alan Zeffertt’s excellent book ‘Past a Joke’ about growing up in Portsmouth and attending Portsmouth Grammar School:

    ”In 1948, the guest at the school’s Speech Day was the famous conductor, Sir Adrian Boult. After his address, he asked the assembled throng if there were any questions. I rose and inquired of the distinguished knight what his views on jazz might be. “It should have been strangled at birth along with its protagonists and adherents,” he sneered. The headmaster dutifully shook with laughter, a number of the staff smiled, some of the boys tittered.
    I was summoned to the headmaster’s study later and admonished for insulting our visitor with trivia. It was as if I had brought the school into disrepute. My own reaction was equally ridiculous for I vowed, henceforth, never again to listen to classical music. (Indeed, it was not until my present wife gently showed me the error of my ways, some twenty years afterwards, that I relented and began to collect classical records. But jazz is still my first love. And I’ve never forgiven Sir Adrian Boult.)”

    I suspect that this prejudice against jazz still exists among many classical music fans.

    JR





    Last edited by Jazzrook; 28-12-24, 11:40.

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  • elmo
    replied
    Miles Davis & Gil " Porgy and Bess"

    This album was a revelation for me when I was about 17. I was travelling back to Wales by bus (can't remember where I'd been) and we stopped for an hour for a changeover in Gloucester. I went for a walkabout and came across a small record shop it only had one modern jazz album 'Porgy', at that time I was nuts about "ESP and Miles Smiles" and not really interested in musicals so 'Porgy' was not on my list, anyway I bought the album and it was a revelation, the orchestration was wonderful I had not heard anything like it. My mind was opened to the beauty of jazz orchestration and Gershwin's opera and also some of Miles most lyrical playing. I was a secondary modern school kid and in our school we were never encouraged musically. Classical music was not meant for the likes of us but Miles and Gil opened the world of great music for me.

    Here is "Bess you is my woman now"



    elmo

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  • Ian Thumwood
    replied
    I am usually adverse to overproduced music. Not quite convinced that this applies to Gary Clark but i feel he is relevant at a time when the blues are at risk of sounding archaic. Clark sounds like an artist from 2024 , addressing issues relevant to today's society just as artists did in 1920s.

    i have been playing Haydn piano sonatas today. The earlier pieces don't seem too more advanced than Scarlatti but i really love the clarity of his music. I am amazed Haydn is never cited by jazz musicians. Haydn would have loved jazz.

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  • BLUESNIK'S REVOX
    replied
    I like the politics and lyrics but not the guitar & general sound and what seems to me an overproduction, but I am of "an age" . But Clark's vocal sound reminded me of William Bell, of whom I'm a great fan back from the Stax beginnings. And lo and behold, Gary and William Bell together! On the occasion of Bell getting a very belated Gammy for Born Under a Bad Sign. This I do like. Both.



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  • Ian Thumwood
    replied
    Jazzrook

    What i love about this track is that it was inspired by a property dispute with a white neighbour who resented the fact that Clark had moved into the neighbourhood and was resentful of him. It is as relevant as a Rap diss track and harks back to artists like Sleepy John Estes or Bukka White who also mentioned genuine people in their music. Mr Williams is a real person. All the tracks are a powerful as this albeit some are more in the direction of soul. We have very similar tastes and am sure you will love thisakbum. The extended edition is rhe one to go for. No filler on this record. Rhe latest record is also supposed to be goid but This Land is a masterpiece. Bluesnik will love this record too.

    I was not aware of the video which is equally powerful.

    Thanks for posting.

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  • Jazzrook
    replied
    Originally posted by Ian Thumwood View Post
    One of the best albums i have heard this year is Gary Clark Jrs 'This land' and have been playing again this evening. It fascinstes me as it had beem difficult to understand that the Blues were still relevant. This disc covers si many bases as well as blues and also takes it's cues frim Motown and R n' b. It is a staggering album.where every track hits home.

    The fascinating thing about it is how it recasts the lyrics into a vitriolic attack on Trump so that the songs strike me as having as much bite as country blues from 1920s. It is truly contempotary and as edgy as any Rap. Probably the most authentic new album i have bought since James Brandon Lewis. I discovered it in the playlist flying back from Doha this year. You can find some excellent on Qatar Airways playlist but no need to fly out there anymore since getting married.

    Listening alot to Jose Mari -Chan this week who is the Phippines answer to Cliff Richard but not so edgy ! Not sure i can convert my wife to Thelonious Monk.?
    .
    Many thanks, Ian. Another one for the ‘wants list’!
    Here’s an impressive video of ‘This Land’:

    Watch the official music video for This Land by Gary Clark Jr from the album This Land.? Subscribe to the channel: https://youtube.com/c/garyclarkjr?sub_con...


    P.S. If this doesn’t convert your wife to Thelonious Monk, nothing will!

    Provided to YouTube by Universal Music GroupJackie-Ing · Thelonious Monk Quintet5 By Monk By 5℗ 1959 Fantasy, Inc.Released on: 1989-01-01Producer: Orrin Keep...


    JR
    Last edited by Jazzrook; 22-12-24, 09:41.

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  • Ian Thumwood
    replied
    One of the best albums i have heard this year is Gary Clark Jrs 'This land' and have been playing again this evening. It fascinstes me as it had beem difficult to understand that the Blues were still relevant. This disc covers si many bases as well as blues and also takes it's cues frim Motown and R n' b. It is a staggering album.where every track hits home.

    The fascinating thing about it is how it recasts the lyrics into a vitriolic attack on Trump so that the songs strike me as having as much bite as country blues from 1920s. It is truly contempotary and as edgy as any Rap. Probably the most authentic new album i have bought since James Brandon Lewis. I discovered it in the playlist flying back from Doha this year. You can find some excellent on Qatar Airways playlist but no need to fly out there anymore since getting married.

    Listening alot to Jose Mari -Chan this week who is the Phippines answer to Cliff Richard but not so edgy ! Not sure i can convert my wife to Thelonious Monk.?
    .

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  • BLUESNIK'S REVOX
    replied
    Roy Hargrove & Mulgrew Miller (duo) "Trieste" from a double album "In Harmony", live concert duets dating 2006 & 2007. I've just bought this from the States (on Resonance) and it's not just a wonderful momento of both of them, its a superb 2CD package in its own right, from a beautifully matched pairing. Recommended highly.



    And "Never let me go"

    Last edited by BLUESNIK'S REVOX; 18-12-24, 19:59. Reason: Another example of how good this is

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  • LMcD
    replied
    Currently enjoying Julian Bliss & Co live from Wigmore Hall.

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  • Ian Thumwood
    replied
    It has been great that ECM have now issued the balance of Keith Jarrett's Deer Head Inn gig. The first volume with Gary Peacock and Paul Motian has always been one of my favourite Jarrett records. In my opinion, the recent release of the rest of the gig is probably the most mainstream record i have heard by Jarrett and places him within a more orthodox context. I would have to say that i find both Jarrett and Motian to have been the last word on Broadway standards and don't think there is much to say afterwards.

    This records features aome less familiar song with the exception of a poised and compelling 'Some day my prince will come .' That said, the two highlights are 'Straight no chaser' and 'The old country ' .... the former offering some lopsided and edgy dialogue between the bass a d drums. It really puts me in mimd of Hampton Hawes' ' Green leaves of summer.' There are a few ballads but i think the disc is at it's best when the trio start cooking.

    All in all, the record is quite poignant. Motian and Peacock are no longer with us and Jarrett has retired through poor health. This is one of the best albums of 2024 yet it serves to remind how the spontaniety has largely gone from the piano trio format. Shame this kind of swinging jazz is not popular these days.

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  • Serial_Apologist
    replied
    Originally posted by BLUESNIK'S REVOX View Post
    Cootie Williams with "Buddy Powell", aged 20? "West end blues" Live 1944

    Bud demonstrating his blues chops and more!

    http://youtu.be/lzFZSf7DTn8?si=BAxA7z824zwBO9ig
    Listening to that - and after the Bud Powell COTW - I am left wondering whether it was Bud who was the first off the mark with those rapid downward whole tone scale runs, or Monk!

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  • Ian Thumwood
    replied
    Never heard that track before. It is distinctively Bud. Cootie Williams' big band did not last long but I had forgotten that Powell was the pianist. This was also the first group
    to record ' Round Midnight. Williams also had part composer credits as a consequence. The alto soloist was Cleanhead Vinson.

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  • BLUESNIK'S REVOX
    replied
    Cootie Williams with "Buddy Powell", aged 20? "West end blues" Live 1944

    Bud demonstrating his blues chops and more!

    Leave a comment:


  • Tenor Freak
    replied
    Originally posted by Ian Thumwood View Post
    Apologies for being late to the party but listening to Jamiroquai's .'Travelling without moving. '

    Having been listening to Stevie Wonder recently, I think that Jamiroquai offer a version of pip music that will appeal to jazz fans. Only taken 30 years to wake up to this band ....

    Wierd that no musician credits on the liner notes or not that I understand.
    Pleased to say I was on to this at the time. Return of the Space Cowboy being a favourite.
    Last edited by Tenor Freak; 29-11-24, 20:38. Reason: it's on an interplanetary level, innit?

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  • Jazzrook
    replied
    Thelonious Monk’s wonderful 1954 version of ‘Hackensack’ with Frank Foster, Ray Copeland, Curley Russell & Art Blakey:

    Provided to YouTube by Universal Music GroupHackensack · Thelonious MonkMonk℗ 1954 Prestige Records/Fantasy, Inc.Released on: 1982-01-01Producer: Bob Weinsto...


    JR

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