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Post by jk on Feb 7, 2022 9:04:55 GMT
Here's a more appropriate choice for this topic. I was fed this performance by The Brecker Brothers yesterday evening. This was the lineup I saw on that same European tour in '92. I recall Michael B's EWI freaked out at one point and performed all its tricks simultaneously, much to the amusement of guitarist Mike Stern. I also recall bassist James Genus (they forgot the i) adopted this curious stance all evening of pivoting on the toe of one foot (I can't remember which foot). Regrettably you can't see that here. What a fabulous band. Rest in peace, Michael Brecker. Sax: Michael Brecker Trumpet: Randy Brecker Keys: George Whitty Guitar: Mike Stern Bass: James Genus Drums: Dennis Chambers en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Return_of_the_Brecker_Brothers
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Post by jk on Feb 7, 2022 22:59:50 GMT
I recall Michael B's EWI freaked out at one point and performed all its tricks simultaneously, much to the amusement of guitarist Mike Stern. I also recall bassist James Genus (they forgot the i) adopted this curious stance all evening of pivoting on the toe of one foot (I can't remember which foot). Regrettably you can't see that here. What a fabulous band. Rest in peace, Michael Brecker. Sax: Michael Brecker Trumpet: Randy Brecker Keys: George Whitty Guitar: Mike Stern Bass: James Genus Drums: Dennis Chambers It was his right foot. You can see James's curious choreography at about 2:30 and maybe elsewhere in this second great performance from that European tour:
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Post by Kapitan on Feb 7, 2022 23:11:02 GMT
That is a great band. I am only (somewhat) familiar with the Breckers and Mike Stern out of those musicians, but that first song you posted in particular shows off the virtuosity of the ensemble.
I have to admit there is something about this kind of fusion that, while I still like it, I have a hard time calling jazz. Why? I don't know! I'm narrow-minded! Honestly it mostly comes down to the keyboards. Piano, organ, Rhodes or various other more specific instruments, I can accept without hesitation. The moment somebody has a Roland or Korg and has those particular sounds ("piano and strings," "electric piano and choir," or whatever), I just can't see it in the same light, though I admit there is no good reason for my feelings.
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Post by jk on Feb 8, 2022 10:16:04 GMT
I have to admit there is something about this kind of fusion that, while I still like it, I have a hard time calling jazz. Why? I don't know! I'm narrow-minded! Honestly it mostly comes down to the keyboards. Piano, organ, Rhodes or various other more specific instruments, I can accept without hesitation. The moment somebody has a Roland or Korg and has those particular sounds ("piano and strings," "electric piano and choir," or whatever), I just can't see it in the same light, though I admit there is no good reason for my feelings.
I don't have that problem. I think it helps not to have been bitten by the jazz bug. I don't understand how jazz works. I just like the way some of it sounds. And I love reading about it. As I see it, any musical category broad enough to include Louis Armstrong and Cecil Taylor can safely accept the odd ethereal keyboard or two. Mitchell Forman takes his synth a step further in "Wonderama", from his 1985 album Train of Thought. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitchel_Forman
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Post by Kapitan on Feb 8, 2022 12:31:18 GMT
As I see it, any musical category broad enough to include Louis Armstrong and Cecil Taylor can safely accept the odd ethereal keyboard or two. You're clearly correct (and in this, I do think there's a right and wrong, and I'm wrong). And let's be serious, if you've got Miles Davis, Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, etc., on one side and the dumbass Kap on the other, well... It's just a feeling for me, not a conclusion.
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Post by jk on Feb 8, 2022 13:01:24 GMT
As I see it, any musical category broad enough to include Louis Armstrong and Cecil Taylor can safely accept the odd ethereal keyboard or two. You're clearly correct (and in this, I do think there's a right and wrong, and I'm wrong). And let's be serious, if you've got Miles Davis, Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, etc., on one side and the dumbass Kap on the other, well... It's just a feeling for me, not a conclusion. Hey -- none of that, please! It's all a matter of opinion.
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Post by jk on Mar 16, 2022 17:52:43 GMT
Okay, this isn't jazz but I suspect it will ring a bell with the Cap'n. I heard it just now, and I still feel Miles' version made a deep impression on a teenage Frank Zappa:
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Post by Kapitan on Mar 18, 2022 14:54:16 GMT
100 years ago this week, the New York Times published a story out of Kansas City, Mo., about their superintendent of schools giving a speech to more than 1,000 people in which he called for legislation "against jazz."
"The nation has been fighting booze for a long time," Superintendent I.I. Cammack said. "I am just wondering whether the jazz isn't going to have to be legislated against as well. It seems to me that when it gets into the blood of some of our young folks, and I might add older folks, too, it serves them just about as good as a stiff drink would do. I think the time has come when teachers should assume a militant attitude toward all forms of this debasing and degrading music."
With all due respect to the late Mr. Cammack, I'd like to belatedly tell him to go fuck himself.
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sockit
The Surfer Moon
Posts: 234
Likes: 181
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Post by sockit on Mar 26, 2022 2:11:24 GMT
100 years ago this week, the New York Times published a story out of Kansas City, Mo., about their superintendent of schools giving a speech to more than 1,000 people in which he called for legislation "against jazz."
"The nation has been fighting booze for a long time," Superintendent I.I. Cammack said. "I am just wondering whether the jazz isn't going to have to be legislated against as well. It seems to me that when it gets into the blood of some of our young folks, and I might add older folks, too, it serves them just about as good as a stiff drink would do. I think the time has come when teachers should assume a militant attitude toward all forms of this debasing and degrading music."
With all due respect to the late Mr. Cammack, I'd like to belatedly tell him to go fuck himself.
Jazz is designed to confuse and befuddle, and that's exactly what the devil wants to do to you.... I'm sure somebody somewhere has stated that with a straight face. Just for the record, I was giggling like a school girl as I was typing.
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Post by jk on Nov 4, 2022 11:50:40 GMT
My encounter with Buddy Rich across the road reminded me that I had an album of his taped for me by a former musical colleague (now a famous Dutch jazz trumpeter and trombonist), which he'd labelled "Buddy Rich Big Band". I'd always been impressed by this album. After a little sleuthing, I discovered it's called The Roar of '74. I revisited it a couple of times and I still think it's a corker. I was floored when I discovered who the string bass player was! A magic moment, pointed out by commenter Max Edwards, "is at 27:27 when you can hear Buddy Rich say 'beautiful'": en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Roar_of_%2774
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Post by jk on Nov 4, 2022 17:57:07 GMT
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Post by jk on Nov 5, 2022 14:56:38 GMT
My encounter with Buddy Rich across the road reminded me that I had an album of his taped for me by a former musical colleague (now a famous Dutch jazz trumpeter and trombonist), which he'd labelled "Buddy Rich Big Band". I'd always been impressed by this album. After a little sleuthing, I discovered it's called The Roar of '74. I revisited it a couple of times and I still think it's a corker. I was floored when I discovered who the string bass player was! A magic moment, pointed out by commenter Max Edwards, "is at 27:27 when you can hear Buddy Rich say 'beautiful'": en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Roar_of_%2774I've since identified the album on the other side of the tape: East Coast Blow Out, with guitarist John Scofield regularly to the fore. This is the glorious opening track, "Do You Really Think... ?"
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Post by Kapitan on Feb 4, 2023 14:02:10 GMT
I stumbled upon this lovely and loving piece of writing about the brilliance of Thelonious Monk, almost a short biography. I adore this concluding paragraph, which uses Monk's approach to music to make a conceptual point (with which I strongly agree). "If approached the right way, [the song form's] rules invite one to be more imaginative, its constraints give one more freedom—an understanding of freedom apparently preferable to Monk, who referred to “free jazz” as “getting rid of structure and simply piling a lot of notes one on top of the other.” While the seventy or so originals Monk wrote and recorded in his lifetime form a planet with its own laws and atmosphere, they are also in constant conversation with a tradition of song as a tightly rule-bound medium. When Monk said simply “jazz is freedom,” he might have been referring to his own strikingly original way of thinking and working in song form." thebaffler.com/salvos/jazz-is-freedom-grimstad
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Post by Kapitan on Mar 6, 2023 13:25:30 GMT
This could go in the birthday thread, but the birthday boy is long-since deceased, and so I thought it might be better here: today would have been the 100th birthday of jazz great Wes Montgomery.
Montgomery is one of the true originals in jazz guitar, with a style of his own creation. He played a hollow-body electric guitar with his thumb instead of with picks, giving him a warm, soft sound. What's more, his solos tended to follow an interesting pattern, starting with single-note lines, moving to octaves, and culminating in full-chord solos--all played with shocking fluidity considering he was using his thumb instead of a pick. He was often lumped in with the West Coast jazz scene because of his smooth sound and penchant for playing modern pop songs as well as jazz standards, though he was from Indianapolis. He died of a heart attack at age 45 in 1968.
Here he is doing Thelonious Monk's classic "Round Midnight." Note the octaves beginning around 1:30 and chords shortly thereafter.
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Post by Kapitan on Mar 12, 2023 15:17:23 GMT
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