For some reason that I can't explain, Fables Of Faubus has been running through my consciousness for the last several days and I haven't listened to Mingus Ah Um in quite some time.

Just saw Bob Mintzer play at the local downtown club and wasn't too moved... Nothing wrong with what he played, I just wasn't blown away by the tenor the way I was when I saw Michael Brecker or Sonny Rollins... After this I've been listening to tons of tenor greats. Rollins and Brecker are my top two, also like Coltrane and Hawkins obviously. For the modern guys, I think Joshua Redman KILLS and I like Chris Potter a lot too. If anyone ever listens to classic sax stuff James Houlik is a monster who I have spent a couple weeks with. (Used to be very serious about tenor but haven't been since I started college 4 years ago.)

These 3 seriously can bring me to tears in the library with everyone thinking I'm crazy.

Sonny Rollins - My One and Only Love
Michael Brecker - Round Midnight
Joshua Redman - Straight Ahead

It really isn't fair to compare anyone to Sonny Rollins. If anyone who is considered a legend could still be underappreciated it is Mr. Rollins. Exceptionally talented in his own right he also seems to be influenced by the best of his contemporaries.

Few combine the technical skill and the expressiveness found in his work. His playing covers the entire spectrum of human emotion. One doesn't have to listen too deeply to hear the soul of a man on display.

Be thankful that you had the experience of seeing Sonny live.

How about some love for Freddie Hubbard - Red Clay.

Also really like Herbie Hancock. I downloaded his complete blue note 60's sessions, and found most of it to be really enjoyable. Some favorite tracks from that collection are "Theme from Blow Up", "Triangle", "Toys", "The Egg".

Oh I know Max.. Kind of just name dropping anyway... hah. Saw Rollins almost a year ago in Austin at a nice hall. Wasn't even close to sold out which was sad but he ROCKED it and had a 10-15 minute standing ovation before he finally took a bow. Anyone ever listen to Ben Webster?

This is criminal and an example of his underappreciation. At almost 80 years old and rarely venturing out of New York there is no excuse for not seeing him if he makes an appearance in your town.

Since it is Valentine's Day and this musician has yet to be discussed, a little Leon Redbone is in order:

Seduced by Leon Redbone:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RSQ1JSwP24


-Zeno

Can't believe I just now found this thread. I'm in love with jazz and, as the OP pointed out, it really is the most American of any type of msuic. I've played the trumpet for nearly 15 years now, including a lot of jazz and improv.

Will need to read through the thread this week. I'm always looking for new (to me) and little known albums to listen to.

Only have a minute, but some of my favorite jazz trumpeters (in no particular order):

-Maynard Ferguson

I might be biased because when I played (I have taken some time off now that I'm in law school I guess), upper register playing was probably my best asset as a trumpet player haha and that's what Maynard does best, probably better than anyone.

-Wynton Marsalis

Known more for his technical ability, Wynton puts out some really great jazz albums.

-Chris Botti

Like Wynton, he isn't known primarily for his jazz albums. He is more of a lyrical player, but he combines that lyrical style extremely well with jazz on many great releases. A trumpet player with an extremely unique sound which can be attributed to a combo of his style, feel and trumpet (he uses a pretty rare instrument).

-Chuck Mangione

I have yet to hear anyone else combine showmanship, the flugel horn (trumpet) and an appeal to the mainstream like Chuck.

-Miles Davis

Greatest album ever released (Kind of Blue), regardless of genre.

-Dizzy

Goes without saying. Changing chords during a live improv set every half measure while flying at the speed of a rocket? Sick.

Running out of time so here's some others:

Arturo Sandoval
Chet Baker
Clifford Brown

Oh I could go on forever.

Wynton Marsalis, Chris Potter, and Pat Metheny are all coming to Austin in the next 6 weeks. Pretty exciting to me. I've been trying to teach my girlfriend a little about jazz but don't really know where to start. She used to listen to lots of swing band stuff and seems to like everything I put on but I think she isn't very discerning yet. Are there a few albums I can give her in a specific order or something that might give her an epiphany or something? She liked the Basie I put on yesterday fwiw.

EDIT: wow add Chick Corea, Spyro Gyra, and Tower of Power to that list that I'll be buying tickets to. March and April look to be awesome months for jazz in Austin...

One of the great misconceptions regarding jazz is that a listener needs to be discerning to enjoy the music.

If your girlfriend likes the more structured, big band sound she may find Duke Ellington's Live At Newport album listenable. Miles Davis' Birth Of The Cool and Miles Ahead also have a more orchestral sound than his much of his other work. Charles Mingus' Mingus Ah Um would also be worth a spin as it is also quite accessible.

I'm going to bump this thread with a little Herbie Hancock discussion and throw in my two cents on some of his albums/songs as well.

When it comes to Herbie Hancock, I can't really think of anything to say but that he might be the stone cold nuts. Those songs you mentioned are great, but when it comes to Herbie, I would strongly advise everybody to drop what they are doing and wander on over to the produce section with a little Watermelon Man. I can't get over how good that song is, it's just simply amazing. This particular version from Takin' Off has to be my favorite. As far as albums go, Headhunters, Maiden Voyage, Man-Child, My Point of View, and Thrust are all great.

A few awesome songs from each album:

Headhunters
Chamelon - See the related videos for part 2
Sly
Vein Melter

Maiden Voyage
Maiden Voyage
Dolphin Dance

Man-Child
Hang Up Your Hang Ups
Steppin' In It

My Point of View
Blind Man, Blind Man
A Tribute to Someone
King Cobra

Thrust
Palm Grease
Actual Proof
Spank-A-Lee



Re: The whole Kind of Blue debate, while it's definitely one of Miles' better works, my favorite Miles album continues to be A Tribute to Jack Johnson. When I searched this thread to see if anyone else had brought it up, I was pretty surprised to have the results come up blank. As far as jazz fusion goes, Jack Johnson blows the doors off of everything, and there's only two songs, Right Off and Yesternow. If you look at the lineup, it's no wonder this album was so damn good:

Apparently when Miles was at a Stevie Wonder show in the early '70s, he went up to Stevie afterward and simply said "I'm stealing your ****ing bass player," which is just about as awesome as the album itself. I'd highly recommend checking it out.

Bitches Brew usually garners the most discussion of the albums during this period but you are correct. Jack Johnson and In A Silent Way are both underappreciated records from this era.

So glad I found this thread......some really great stuff in here. Thanks guys!

To be fair, I went through this whole thread today, and the album was brought up more than a couple times. On a somewhat related note, I'm surprised nobody has brought up John Mclaughlin.

Oh, guess I should have just searched Jack Johnson. I might see John McLaughlin this weekend, true story.

me too

Confirmed saw John McLaughlin at the Keswick Theatre on Friday night. It was a pretty good show, I'd definitely recommend seeing him if he comes around to a venue near you. His band "The 4th Dimension" was really good as well, especially the bassist who was flat out amazing.

Max,

I'd run to see him. He did an interview on NPR a while ago (don't remember if it was the national or local station, though). He mentioned playing the uncredited sax part on The Rolling Stones' "Waiting on a Friend." They were going to give him credit, but he decided not to it so as not to disappoint his hard core jazz fans.

I've seen Sonny Rollins a number of times in the last 15 years, and imo his groups have been somewhat inconsistent in quality (though he personally is still great).

But if you haven't seen him, then yes, I'd definitely make sure to do so while he's still active.

I'm a 19-year old Finn, so it's not too common in my circles that somebody likes jazz, but with my hobby of playing the piano for almost 10 years now, I've learned to love it. Just noticed the thread, and don't have much time to read/discuss right now, but posting to subscribe so I'll remember it later. Here's my contribution, my version with a self-written chorus of Dave Brubeck's legendary song Take Five:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8gNLK1TfWg

Damn, that was good, Jabonator. I'm not really into jazz at all, but Take Five is one of the few jazz songs I know and like.

Jazz, the perfect sound on a Sunday morning over a cappuccino, especially this song (La mer, which many will recognize): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jTo3Q0EOMs

Form this album which I highly recommed:

http://www.putumayo.com/en/catalog_i...p?album_id=999

-Zeno

Can't believe i missed this thread, seeing as im playing jazz myself..
I went to NYC for a week last summer (kind of a big deal for me, since i'm a euro guy). It may have cost me pretty much all my poker roll but it was worth it.
I was there during the CareFusion Jazz Festival and went to a jazz concert almost every evening. Saw Rosenwinkel at the Village Vanguard, Pat Martino at Iridium and Anat Cohen with the excellent, lesser known guitarist Gilad Hekselman at Jazz Standard but clearly the highlight was seeing Herbie Hancock's 70th birthday concert at Carnegie Hall, with a line-up to make any Jazz fan drool :
Besides being hosted by Bill Cosby, the first set included:
India.Arie(voc), Terence Blanchard and Wallace Roney (tp), Ron Carter and Dave Holland (b), Wayne Shorter and Joe Lovano (sax), Lionel Loueke (g) ,Vinnie Colauita and Jack DeJohnette (dr)
2nd set was him playing his current "imagine" project along with Kristina Train (voc), Vinnie Colaiuta, Greg Phillinganes (keyboards) and Tal Wilkenfield (b) plus special guests Derek Trucks(g) and Susan Tedeschi(voc).
Unfortunately, I can't seem to find anything from the first set, but i figure i'd contribute to this thread with some videos from the second set , sound quality is unfortunately only so-so , but imo not so bad as to take the pleasure out of listening. So enjoy (hopefully):

Herbie Hancock:
Times they are a changing / Change gonna come
Herbie rocking the key-tar on Chamaeleon
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P24aoEZknqo

All the performers
(Blanchard, Philinganes, Lovano, Holland, Shorter, DeJohnette, Trucks, Loueke, Wilkenfeld, Arie,Tedeschi, Train, Colauita)

Pat Martino Trio (w Tony Monaco on B3 and Jason Brown on drums):
Sunny
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m05Rj6oxwVM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tr-HRvQwpKM

Anat Cohen (w Gilad Hekselman):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KYkLs8hyT4

Special treat from the "tribute to Herbie" jam session (really bad quality tho):
That's Chris Potter on piano and Rosenwinkel on the drums with Jeff "Tain" Watts scatting..

Man, i miss that city...

Oh, also , to add to the Jazz is dead/dying discussion: I personally have a mixed opinion on this.
Some musicians I talked to weren't the most optimistic about the state of Jazz (in the US), basically saying "no non-musician cares".

On the other hand.. I wanted to see one of the free jazz concerts in Central Park, show was supposed to start at 7pm, when i arrived there 15 minutes late, they wouldn't let anyone in.. and the area was huge. And that didn't keep 500 people from wanting to listen to the concert from a 500 feet distance with bad acoustic.
Even at that tribute session to Herbie Hancock: granted, it seemed like everyone from NYC having to do with Jazz was there, but still: I arrived at 2am and actually had to wait at the door for an hour til they let me in, bc they too were over capacity.

Of course, sample size, summer, festival season etc. Still, I dont think the "state of Jazz" is as bleak as some make it out to be