good jazz???

Holerbot6000 · 08-30-2012, 07:32 AM

A good thing about Jazz is that everyone seems to play on everyone else's records, so when you find something you really like, even a single album, that can lead to a whole world of exploration. Especially true with Bop music. Listening to Coltrane led me to artists as diverse as Lee Morgan and Pharoah Sanders. I recently picked up Thelonious Monk's 'Unique' album only to discover it features Art Blakey on drums. You kind of have to learn to follow your ears and trust your instincts. Not liking most 70's Jazz fusion is a good start. ^_^

I've been listening to Coltrane's Infinity album lately - the one where Alice took some old tracks and added all kinds of posthumous strings and effects. Like so much of her music, the end result is extremely trippy and I think complements the original tracks very well. An interesting experiment.

Also getting heavily into Nina Simone, a very underrated Jazz singer and pianist who plays and sings with tremendous style and wit. There is a lot of anger and defiance in her music and maybe some folks find that off putting, but the best jazz is usually the stuff that's the most uncompromising.

Blarobbarg · 08-30-2012, 08:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Holerbot6000

Also getting heavily into Nina Simone, a very underrated Jazz singer and pianist who plays and sings with tremendous style and wit. There is a lot of anger and defiance in her music and maybe some folks find that off putting, but the best jazz is usually the stuff that's the most uncompromising.

I have such a huge crush on her. I wish I was a time traveler so I could go back and woo her into my arms.

**Janszoon** · 08-30-2012, 08:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Holerbot6000

A good thing about Jazz is that everyone seems to play on everyone else's records, so when you find something you really like, even a single album, that can lead to a whole world of exploration. Especially true with Bop music. Listening to Coltrane led me to artists as diverse as Lee Morgan and Pharoah Sanders. I recently picked up Thelonious Monk's 'Unique' album only to discover it features Art Blakey on drums. You kind of have to learn to follow your ears and trust your instincts. Not liking most 70's Jazz fusion is a good start. ^_^

I've been listening to Coltrane's Infinity album lately - the one where Alice took some old tracks and added all kinds of posthumous strings and effects. Like so much of her music, the end result is extremely trippy and I think complements the original tracks very well. An interesting experiment.

Also getting heavily into Nina Simone, a very underrated Jazz singer and pianist who plays and sings with tremendous style and wit. There is a lot of anger and defiance in her music and maybe some folks find that off putting, but the best jazz is usually the stuff that's the most uncompromising.

I don't know if I'd call Nina Simone underrated. She's very well known and much beloved. Not particularly beloved by me, but by a lot of people.

But I totally agree with what you're saying about bebop. The simple act of reading liner notes on albums I like constantly leads me to discover new artists, and Art Blakey is like some kind of jazz nexus when it comes to that, probably because he had such a long career.

Lisnaholic · 08-30-2012, 09:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Holerbot6000

A good thing about Jazz is that everyone seems to play on everyone else's records, so when you find something you really like, even a single album, that can lead to a whole world of exploration. Especially true with Bop music. Listening to Coltrane led me to artists as diverse as Lee Morgan and Pharoah Sanders. I recently picked up Thelonious Monk's 'Unique' album only to discover it features Art Blakey on drums.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Janszoon

... and Art Blakey is like some kind of jazz nexus when it comes to that, probably because he had such a long career.

Not sure if this link is going to help or just make things more confusing :-

TuneGlue° | Relationship Explorer

**Janszoon** · 08-30-2012, 09:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lisnaholic

Not sure if this link is going to help or just make things more confusing :-

TuneGlue° | Relationship Explorer

This is fantastic! Thanks!

Guybrush · 08-30-2012, 01:39 PM

The classics already mentioned are great like Coltrane, Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk etc. To those I could add that I quite like Oscar Peterson who was a brilliant piano player and that I these days also often like to listen to collaborations by Bill Evans (piano) and Chet Baker (trumpet) who together play some deliciously mellow takes on old classics.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Burning Down

I will say that I think most jazz fusion from the 70's and 80's is crap. Except for Weather Report and anything else that Jaco Pastorius did.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Holerbot6000

Not liking most 70's Jazz fusion is a good start. ^_^

What's with the fusion hate?

I love many flavours of 70s fusion rock, finding it exhilarating, beautiful and often challenging - in a good way of course. My favorite 70s fusion group may be Return to Forever. The band was at its best, I think, when its lineup consisted of Al Di Meola on guitar, Stanley Clarke on bass, Lenny White on drums and, of course, Chick Corea on keyboards. Here's an example song :

Gorgeous!

I also quite like a bit of gypsy jazz. My current favorite then is dutch guitar virtuoso Jimmy Rosenberg who is a guitar genius. Here's one of his more mellow tunes.

Holerbot6000 · 08-31-2012, 09:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tore

What's with the fusion hate?

Sorry - I was being a bit of a wise ass. There is indeed a lot of good fusion music, but I do think there is also a lot of BAD fusion music, probably more than in any other sub genre in Jazz. At it's worst, it's just a lot of virtuoso posturing, and I think that was very appealing - everyone wanted to be the next Jaco Pastorius - so, for every good fusion album, there were probably 10 bad ones. Just my opinion of course.

Lisnaholic · 08-30-2012, 09:55 AM

Glad you like it !

It`s fun, isn`t it ? I bet Miles, Zappa and John Zorn kick up a few links too.
Conversely, the saddest thing for an artist must be if you`ve got no links at all !

**Janszoon** · 08-30-2012, 10:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lisnaholic

Glad you like it !

It`s fun, isn`t it ? I bet Miles, Zappa and John Zorn kick up a few links too.
Conversely, the saddest thing for an artist must be if you`ve got no links at all !

It's funny, it doesn't necessarily come up with the most obvious connections. For example I put in Martin Atkins and Public Image Limited didn't come up as a connection, even though it's probably the most famous band he was in. Maybe it intentionally tries to go for the less obvious connections of something.

Lisnaholic · 08-30-2012, 10:09 AM

^ Yes, maybe; I really have no idea.
I just took my own advice and looked at Zappa, and pretty soon it was telling me that there`s a connection between Beefheart and Red Krayola which is news to me.

08-30-2012, 09:55 AM	#8 (permalink)
Lisnaholic ...here to hear... Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: He lives on Love Street Posts: 4,444	Glad you like it ! It`s fun, isn`t it ? I bet Miles, Zappa and John Zorn kick up a few links too. Conversely, the saddest thing for an artist must be if you`ve got no links at all ! __________________ "Am I enjoying this moment? I know of it and perhaps that is enough." - Sybille Bedford, 1953

08-30-2012, 10:09 AM	#10 (permalink)
Lisnaholic ...here to hear... Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: He lives on Love Street Posts: 4,444	^ Yes, maybe; I really have no idea. I just took my own advice and looked at Zappa, and pretty soon it was telling me that there`s a connection between Beefheart and Red Krayola which is news to me. __________________ "Am I enjoying this moment? I know of it and perhaps that is enough." - Sybille Bedford, 1953

08-30-2012, 07:32 AM	#1 (permalink)
Holerbot6000 Music Mutant Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: near a record store Posts: 327	A good thing about Jazz is that everyone seems to play on everyone else's records, so when you find something you really like, even a single album, that can lead to a whole world of exploration. Especially true with Bop music. Listening to Coltrane led me to artists as diverse as Lee Morgan and Pharoah Sanders. I recently picked up Thelonious Monk's 'Unique' album only to discover it features Art Blakey on drums. You kind of have to learn to follow your ears and trust your instincts. Not liking most 70's Jazz fusion is a good start. ^_^ I've been listening to Coltrane's Infinity album lately - the one where Alice took some old tracks and added all kinds of posthumous strings and effects. Like so much of her music, the end result is extremely trippy and I think complements the original tracks very well. An interesting experiment. Also getting heavily into Nina Simone, a very underrated Jazz singer and pianist who plays and sings with tremendous style and wit. There is a lot of anger and defiance in her music and maybe some folks find that off putting, but the best jazz is usually the stuff that's the most uncompromising.