HTF Jazz Club (1 Viewer)

[Scott Oliver]

Ok I used to think Mingus Ah Um! was the Mingus album to have as Mike suggested, but I have recently retried Mingus Dynasty (used to think of it as Ah Um! 2) and I am just loving it. It is shooting straight towards the top of my favorite jazz titles.

Two songs in particular Mood Indigo and Far Well, Mills Valley are just wonderful.

 

[Mike Broadman]

Yeah, Ah Um is more famous, probably because it was his first Columbia album which helped break him to a wider audience.

Basically, everything Mingus did at that time was gold.

Mood Indigo is of course the classic Duke tune. Mingus was huge fan and discipline of Duke, which is interesting because they sort of have similar composing and band leadership styles. This also helped me appreciate Duke's music more.

I would say that Duke and Parker are Mingus' two biggest influences. To me, he's as much an innovator as they were.

 

[JasonK]

This week I picked up:

Grant Green - Green Street

John Coltrane - Blue Train (the 'Ultimate' version)

As usual, they've got me hooked.

 

[JasonK]

Another trip to the CD store, another batch of jazz stuff.

Sonny Clark - Cool Struttin' (what a great album cover)

Miles Davis - Bitches Brew

Horace Silver and The Jazz Messengers

I've yet to listen to Bitches Brew, but will give it a listen soon.

 

[Mike Broadman]

I've yet to listen to Bitches Brew, but will give it a listen soon.

Ooh boy, you're in for something, alright.
If you dig that one, definitely get In A Silent Way, a thematically similar album that came out right before it. Though I fell in love with Brew first, I've been favoring that one more. And if you're into SACD, you absolutely must get the MC SACD of Silent Way.
And, if you get a chance, the DAD of Cool Struttin' is awesome.
Horace Silver is great- I've had Song For My Father and Six Pieces of Silver for a while and recently picked up Finger Poppin'. Though I tend to favore piano players with a more chordal, percussive style (due to my obsession with Monk), Silver has a funk and playfulness all his own.

 

[dave wright]

nice thread folks.mike,do you ever cd shop at vintage vinyl on rt 1 in woodbridge?im in there a couple times a month.might i suggest EVERYBODY DIGS BILL EVANS,i dont think i noticed it on your listing.cool and swinging with memorable playing and songs-------dave from jersey

 

[Ron Reda]

Does anyone own anything by Eric Dolphy? Apparently, he recorded some stuff with Coltrane in his later years. I came across "Out To Lunch" in the new Music Direct catalog and looked it up. After reading the review at the All Music site (5 stars), I decided to check out a couple of music clips. While I'm not a huge fan of atonal, free-form jazz, the music intrigued me. I was wondering if anyone could give a recommendation on this one?
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p...=Alfj97i88g71r

 

[Mike Broadman]

Dave,

Yeah, I've stuck my head in at Vintage a number of times. I use it mainly for my prog shopping.

Don't have Everybody Digs, unfortunately.

Ron,

Out To Lunch is the only Dolphy-as-leader album I own. It's a trip. I can't really wrap my head around it. There's an honest emotional vibe to it, which is why I do like it, but some of the squealing and squonking is a bit much for me.

 

[Ron Reda]

There's an honest emotional vibe to it

Mike,

I think that's what got me as well. Is the "squealing and squonking" much like the stuff on "Bitches Brew" from Miles? At the risk of sounding unpopular, I'm not a big fan of that album nor of that style (free-jazz) where it sounds as though everyone's all over the place.

 

[Rick Deschaine]

Hi all,

haven't been to this thread in awhile but just downloaded some things from emusic. Namely the complete Art Tatum Solo and Group Masterpieces. Anyone have any thoughts on these? I had actually posted a long time ago that I had purchased them but that was through Amazon and I really didn't have enough cash to cover the purchase. But with emusic, it was only about 60$ to get all the Art Tatum as opposed to 185$. I've heard snippets and was astounded just from that little bit, so can't wait to hear it in all it's glory.

Also Someone mentioned Eric Dolphy. I also just downloaded a Live set, "At The Five Spot Vol. 1". Sounds great! The Live in Europe stuff he recorded has got some good reviews also. Will download that soon from emusic.

I also wanted to chime in on "In A Silent Way". This may be my favorite Miles disc, even more so than "Kind Of Blue". Sacrilege maybe, but personally, it really speaks to me more than Blue does.

Later, Rick

NP - Spanic Boys; self titled

 

[Mike Broadman]

Art Tatum is the man. One of the few pianists who can play both blindingly amazing stuff but with lots of heart.

I only have a compilation of his but want to get my hands on the the box sets.

 

[John Watson]

Haven't heard the name The Spanic Boys for a few years.

Did they ever break out?

Ahh, the jazz club!

Are the Ken Burns disks good introductions? I was kind of put off by the egocentricity of "Ken Burns", but I've just picked up the Parker and the Monk disks from the set, and am anxious to get Ellington and Monk next.

One of the things I like about a series is that I can depend on all disks at least playing at a compatible volume level.

 

[Mike Broadman]

The problem with comp discs is that once you start collecting more from that artist, the comp disc becomes useless. Also, for artists like Miles, Duke, 'Trane- I just can't imagine one CD possibly representing their music. But the good thing about the Burns CDs is they compile music from different labels and if you have to get just one CD of an artist, and you can find it cheap, it's as good as any.

 

[John Watson]

You're right about the comp disks being unsatisfactory if you get into the source albums - when that happens the comp goes into the stack for the noisy car, where the heat and the bumping may take its toll.

 

[Rick Deschaine]

Mike,

 

[Rick Deschaine]

Mike,

Well I highly recommend emusic (if they get they're site working properly again). I got all of the Art Tatum Masterpieces for about 60$ by buying booster packs from emusic to augment my monthly prepaid downloads. If you just used the monthly downloads it would be even less.

They also have tons of jazz available and I mean tons. Some of the downloads are only 128k, but most seem to be of around 400-500k quality. Sounds pretty good, but don't expect SACD quality. A great way to get exposed to some lesser known jazz.