--- a group with Monk, Mingus, and Blakey would be an inferno for the average side man. i could be wrong, but i can't see Monk and Ornette together on a full time basis. Monk didn't like Ornette's playing particularly, and Monk was known to be quite upfront about wanting his way, IIRC. the horn man i would love to see in a band with that rhythm section would be Lou Donaldson, who played with all three cats at different times. it's too bad Donaldson went the funk route, but his early work is tight.
Speaking of jazz superstar ensembles, I can't recommend this record highly enough: Their version of Caravan is monstrous.
Flim & The BB's...those records have a production value that's too clean for my taste. I like the bass player though-does a lot of session work. I listen to all forms of jazz. Some things that I like that may/may not have posted before: There is a pianist from Cadiz, Chano Dominguez I like-"Hecho a Mano" would be one to try. James Carter-really high on him, Very versatile. Courtney Pine is a another sax player I like-but I haven't kept up with him of late. When I was living in LA, Billy Childs was a pianist that I went out to see often. Eric Reed is another player I really love. And if you want to try something different, check out trombonist Wycliffe Gordon-I saw him with Reed's band last year-really good player. Of the older/classic stuff, I'd like to give a shout to Oliver Nelson's, "Sound Pieces." Arthur Blythe and Frank Morgan are alto players I like-Morgan played a lot in LA-saw him a bunch a times at Catalina's Bar & Grill. Very spiritual player. And Chucho Valdez-whew!
Oh-should probably add two live Bill Evans albums: the Town Hall and the Montreaux. The version of "I Loves You Porgy," on the Montreaux album-to me that is the best take of that tune by anyone.
that, and the fact that Mingus was subject to incredibly wild mood swings...to the point of actually hitting band mates during live shows. But notice how i never said they were actually going to make anything musical. I jsut hink it would be fun to see what those three in a room would do.
I have Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus (I think it's five times, right?). I love his version of Mood Indigo. I also have Paris, 1964. My favorite on that is probably Orange Was The Color Of Her Dress, Then Blue Silk. Mingus x5 is more or less a greatest hits release, but Paris '64 cooks. IIRC, it features Eric Dolphy on bass clarinet and alto sax (I think he plays flute too) and Clifford Jordan on tenor sax. Fantastic live show.
I played trombone in a swing band in high school. Learned about Basie, Ellington, and Armstrong back then. Had a jazz radio show in college. I was heavily into bebop and post-bop jazz. Coltrane, Davis, Parker, Powell, Monk etc. I've got into more contemporary jazz in the last decade. Cecil Taylor, Anthony Braxton, Marilyn Crispell etc. One of the truly great American art forms.
Same with me. Silver's my favorite, and pretty much any Jazz Messengers CD is great. I'm a huge fan of Bud Powell, as well. Bop, Hard Bop, and that sick organ jazz of the 60's, guys like Jimmy Smith and "Big" John Patton. In fact, there is no way not to smile when you hear Patton's version of "The Turnaround". Miles Davis, of course, and Freddie Hubbard. Herbie Hancock is a damn fine pianist, as well. Pretty much for me, the piano player needs to smoke for it to work. On a slightly different subject, but with a jazz feel, does anyone else get as sick to the stomach as I do when they hear Coltrane's version of "My Favorite Things" being used on that damn Martha Stewart/K-Mart Christmas ad? The keepers of Coltrane's estate must be hard up for cash or something.
The last Arturo Sandoval disc is a monster (although for the life of me I can't remember the title right now). Good to see someone list Guaraldi. I think he gets short shrift because he did all the "Peanuts" music and people seem to think it's "Kiddie Jazz" or something, but I love all his work.
I'm a jazz guitarist (yeah, I know ...). Wish I'd learned to play the piano or a horn but I've got a lot of history with my particular instrument. I really dig Miles, Coltrane, Wayne Shorter, Freddie Hubbard, Mcoy Tyner, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, Tony Williams, Eric Dolphy, Elvin Jones, Bobby Hutcherson, Lee Morgan, Art Blakey, Joe Henderson, Cedar Walton, Dexter Gordon, Sonny Rollins. So many greats! Of course Bird, Diz and Monk; for me it all begins with Bebop but I love Basie's and Ellington's bands too.
Hats off to Mike L. for starting this thread. I think it'll have a long life. Mike, you might like two early Lovano's, Sounds of Joy and From the Soul, both well worth checking out, and relatively inexpensive if you pick them up used from Amazon.com or Half.com. To the person who mentioned Chano Dominguez: good call! I was lucky enough to hear him play at the Library of Congress last winter: a great, rousing performance. I didn't feel the cold on the walk back to the subway. This music is so rich I'm sure we all could write for hours on it. I look forward to reading what all of you have to say.
Herbie Hancock's V.S.O.P. Live was probably the first jazz album I ever owned. I had it on vinyl and bought it when I was probably in sixth grade. Herbie Hancock, Freddie Hubbard, Tony Williams, Wayne Shorter and Ron Carter. What a lineup! That bugs the hell out of me. So does hearing Iggy Pop's Lust For Life on Carnival Cruise Lines, or Led Zeppelin on any Caddy commercial.
I just dabble in what I like, but Coltrane is a must. "Giant Steps" is one of my all time favorites. I had free tickets to see Herbi Hancock earlier this year. As a pianist myself I really look up to him but we left two songs i (Dolphin Dance and something I forget because it was quite forgetable) into the performance because they were averageing 30 minutes each. Some was really interesting, some was really repetitive, but no one including the ghost of Joe Strummer could hold my interest with thirty minute songs.
I'm jealous. I nearly became a professional jazz saxophonist, until my grandfather talked me out of it when I was still in high school. He was born in 1906, and started touring with jazz bands when he was about 20 or so, which would've been about 1926. Went all over the country, and lived through the depression playing the trumpet. His brother played sax and clarinet, and he's the guy who started giving me lessons when I was in fourth of fifth grade. They had another brother who was a trombone player but he died in 1959, three years before I was born. He died when he was in the Army stationed in Germany. His job at the time? He was the bandmaster of the US 7th Army Band. All three of the brothers, Mike (aka Mitch, my grandfather who I was named for), Fiore (the woodwind man who taught me the sax) and Lewis (the trombonist who led the Army band) were incredible musicians. My grandfather talked me out of going into music because he said it was a tough career. And after I've heard what some guys can do with the horn, I would've needed a LOT more practice before I could even approach that level. I took my Uncle Fiore's clarinet with me down to Florida over Thanksgiving and gave it to my sister's 10 year old kid who's learning clarinet now. It's a beautiful Leblanc clarinet that my Uncle Louie bought for him on a trip across the border to France in about 1955 or so. My nephew's older brother (he's 12) is learning the trumpet. And their youngest brother, who is going to be 8 in January, is planning to start taking trombone lessons when his arms are long enough to work the slide. Dad is trying to recreate the three brothers of Mitch, Fiore and Lewis. Anyway, sorry to digress. I was going to mention that I really dig jazz guitar. George Van Epps, Wes Montgomery, Joe Cinderella, Ed Rickert, Les Paul, John Pisano, Charlie Christian, Bill Frisell, just to name a few.
Awesome - thanks for posting this. I don't play music (not since I got kicked out of my school's band - due to spending too much time playing soccer, of course) and jazz is one of those things I really want to spend some time listening to and getting into, but I haven't yet. However I've been fascinated by the character and music of Django Reinhardt for a long time now - I've read a biography or two but this one sounds interesting.
Chick Corea Acoustic Piano, Synthesizer Eric Marienthal Saxophone Frank Gambale Guitar John Patitucci Bass Dave Weckl Drums Pat Metheny - g Lyle Mays - p,key Steve Rodby - b Dan Gottlieb - dr Nana Vasconcelos - perc
I remember one of my friends (he plays bass) crying all day long when he got killed... edit - Juan Carlos... Fenu... lol son of a sardinian expat without any doubt.
Another one I really liked, sadly gone. Michel Petrucciani Lots of unluck, yet an enormous amount of talent.
This morning I was driving into work and turned on XM Channel 95, aka Luna, which is XMs Latin jazz station, and I caught a song by an artist I never heard of - Claudio Roditi. I wish I could remember the name of the song, but it was good stuff. I'm assuming he's the flugelhorn player, right? There's no way that was a trumpet. Speaking of flugelhorns, no one mentioned Chuck Mangione. Sure, Feels So Good is practically a cliche for kinda crappy 1970s jazz, but ya gotta admit that Chuck had some incredible chops. I can't recall anyone making a flugelhorn sound the way he does. That is, until I heard this Roditi guy this morning. Oh, and getting back to XM, if you're a jazz fan, it's got an awesome selection of stations. My favorites are Real Jazz and Frank's Place in addition to the aforementioned Luna.
Ditto for me. Also, as far as I'm concerned ANY electric horn is an abomination, and there's far too much of that crap in modern jazz. If you can play the sax, play the damn sax, not some fake Yamaha synthysizer that you blow into rather than play like a keyboard. Then again, I feel pretty much the same way about keyboards that are supposed to be able to sound like a trumpet, French horn, tenor sax, church organ, vibraphone, yadda yadda yadda. If you want that instrumentation in your music, hire a musician who can play the real thing. There are plenty of them out there who could use the money.
I blame Miles Davis for all of this. Why didn't the rest of the jazz industry realize that they were mere mortals and couldn't possibly match Bitch's Brew? I think all these musicians started trying to "take it a step further" and wound up screwing it up.
Speaking of tone and electricity, Sonny Rollins using the mic clipped to his horn...I never liked that. I wish he would have played more into a standard mic. And I wished he would have not used an electric bass on those later records.