Jazz

[Zombie]

The Pink Panther

Something more mainstream jazz, Henri Mancini's original and brilliant movie theme with sax player Plas Johnson
 

[Aditus]

You should see my seven years old nephew dance to this.

 

This is where I am every summer

[Aditus]

How could I forget this one?

 

Harlem Nocturne has been recorded many, many times, I like this version by Illinois Jacquet

[Zombie]

It’s been a while  and I meant to post this back in February when two American jazz-influenced musicians, Chick Corea and Milford Graves, both died just three days apart (they were also born the same year, 1941)

Chick Corea in concert 2017
 

Corea was a significant composer, piano/keyboard player and bandleader and Graves a percussion player, music professor and many other things (sculptor, martial arts and gardening!)

As far as I can tell their first recording is when they played together in 1964 aged 23 as session musicians for “Montego Joe” (Roger Sanders) on his debut album arriba!, and on this track (link below), Too Much Sake, you can hear Corea on piano and Graves on percussion (Joe on conga, and Leonard Goines on trumpet) - it’s a great number (by Horace Silver)

🎶Too Much Sake🎶

 

Edited May 24, 2021 by Zombie

[BigBen]

For those who are interested, www.wmnr.org in Monroe, Connecticut, which is mostly a classical station, does jazz on Friday and Saturday evenings.  The Friday jazz programming runs from 10 p.m. to midnight New York time, and the Saturday jazz shows start at 6 p.m. and run to midnight.

The Friday shows are an hour of vocal music followed by an hour of mellow instrumentals (the presenter calls it "Jazz Nightcap").  The Saturday shows are half an hour of "One Great Song" from the standard playbook, followed by two and a half hours of "The Big Band Hall of Fame."  That is followed at 9 p.m. by two hours of up-and-coming vocalists called "Turntable for One" with an hour of "Just Jazz," which is mostly instrumentals from the 60's onward.

It's a good mix of stuff.  I got started listening to these programs because my mother lived in the listening area and I was tired of the Classical 100 format of the stations I had access to at the time.  Jazz has much more nuance and sophistication than the music that has been on the popular airwaves since my childhood, which is mostly dreck.

[Ron]

Way back on November 1, 2013, I said that digital audio is the future of music. Fast forward to today and what a different world. You can get excellent quality music from more than one source nowadays. I use Tidal Audio which uses the MQA format and I can't tell the difference from a streamed source and the same thing on CD. When you stream the full Master Quality file it is much better than CD and at times even better than SACD sourced music. What a time for digital audio!

Several years ago I went to a hotel in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to listen to a Jazz band. The band leader was the brother in-law of a co-worker of my former partner. How's that for an introduction? The band leader is Rudresh Mahanthappa and the band was playing from their recently released Samdhi and one of my favorite songs is Playing With Stones.

 

This piece is quite exciting. I hope you enjoy listening to it as much as I did just now through the Tidal digital music service. And even though it wasn't given the full Master treatment this song sounded maybe just a bit better than CD quality. Good stuff.

Edit to add: I have a signed CD.

Edited April 5, 2021 by Ron

[Zombie]

In the 1980s two jazz legends from different eras, Canadian Oscar Peterson and American William James "Count" Basie, were brought together by the BBC to talk and play. Basie’s minimalist style and Peterson’s virtuosic technique work so well together and they’re obviously having a load of fun playing Jumpin’ at the Woodside 
 

 

Edited May 18, 2021 by Zombie

[Zombie]

here comes the Haitian Lady

so cool 

 

 

 

[Zombie]

smooth Belgian jazz version of the scary Doctor Who theme

 

 

[Zombie]

Jacques Loussier plays JS Bach

2019 saw the death of France’s talented composer and musician, Jacques Loussier, best know for his “jazzed up” interpretations of the works of the baroque composer JS Bach.

Whether he was the first jazz exponent of JS Bach’s music I don’t know, but he clearly recognised, understood and loved the rhythmic and harmonic qualities of certain JS Bach compositions which offered potential for reinterpretation in a jazz form which Bach would not have understood.

Or would he…?

Because the fact is JS Bach did understand one of the cornerstones of jazz - “blue notes” - which he often used to create emotional tension in dissonance and then resolution. And JS Bach was simply using techniques and conventions established centuries before during the Renaissance and possibly earlier.

So what we call “jazz” is not profoundly new, different or strange to what went on before - and maybe JS Bach would have greatly enjoyed these inspired reworkings of his music - merely a development in a particular direction focused on rhythm and “blues” of work done by generations of musicians and composers in previous centuries and across various genres of folk and popular song, and so-called “classical music”.

The point is, to quote the 60s, you either dig it or you don’t

This is one of Jacques Loussier’s more introspective arrangements of JS Bach, the Andante from his Concerto in D major BWV 1054

 

 

Edited May 26, 2022 by Zombie

[Zombie]

Boogie-woogie - London St Pancras station 2022

8 minutes of community joy from 5 travellers just passing thru…

Sir Elton John donated this piano after he gave a “street” performance here in 2016

https://stpancras.com/news-events/sir-elton-john-s-piano

Edited February 3, 2023 by Zombie

[Dhpiet77]

Our local public radio jazz station (KUVO in Denver) is one of two music stations that I listen to anymore. They   play a wide variety of jazz, and have black gospel. Tejano/Norteno, and blues programs on the weekend. The DJs always share good background on the artists that they play. I listen to jazz a lot at home. Clifford Brown and John Handy are my most recent obsessions.

[Dariusz Alexander]

When in doubt, I always return to Pat Metheny. "First Circle", "Minuano", or "So May it Secretly Be" are some great tunes!