Strictly Jazz - Suggestions and a discussion about the music.

treitz3

Hello all and good morning to you. This thread is dedicated to all those Jazz lovers out there. It is meant to highlight the musicianship, the music itself and the things that interest those who enjoy it.

I have been in private discussions over the years with a handful of folks that simply have way to much knowledge about this genre of music to keep it behind private doors.

While I have always enjoyed Jazz from time to time, recent strides in my rig have allowed me to truly bring the musicianship front and center within my room. The Jazz within the "What are you listening to" thread has also seen a recent uptick in posts, likes and responses.

Instead of those posts getting buried in a thread's abyss? How about we talk about the selections, albums, artists and performances you would like to share with your friends here at Club Polk?

One caveat.

It is preferred not to simply post a photo of what you are listening to and move along. This thread is more so about the discussion of Jazz, and everything related to it. Again, It is meant to highlight the musicianship, the music itself and the things that interest those who enjoy it. Maybe with a little bit of history thrown in the mix as well.

I'll start.



This is part of a 3 disc set that I originally bought for one song as a test track for the Sumiko setup. While I never really listened to the other songs on that album, a couple of months ago, I ran across this song while streaming and took notice of the excellent recording first, then I actually took notice of the music.

It's a rather simple song with background singers, no frills and no big band or orchestra behind Jennifer Warnes as she sings. Pretty much just an upright bass, her and the background singers. Relaxing song that in the sweet spot? Sounds wonderful. Either I was in their room or they were in mine type of sound. Very enjoyable.

Another one is "Sex in a Pan" (LP Version), by Bella Fleck and the Flecktones.



Very clear and distinct recording with a bass line one could clearly follow throughout the song. Plenty of instruments to please the ear and good tune to boot! The best of all worlds.

What would be your suggestions for a good Jazz listening session and why?

Tom

treitz3

Here is another one - Recent discovery.



I was in a discussion with @jazzman trying to find something else that turned out not to be available on streaming, so as I continued to search for his suggestion, I was listening to this entire album. "Porgy and Bess" had to have been my favorite song at the festival, as I actually listened to that one 3 times in a row. It starts out slow and builds but by the end of the song, it left you wanting more.

It's simply a great Jazz album to sit back and enjoy. It gave me an appreciation for the talents of Jean-Luc Ponte......and for what it's worth? This was the first time in my life that I have even heard of him.

This was the suggestion I was trying to find on Qobuz, to no avail. Looks like I will have to order it.

Jazzman wrote:

However, when reading your reviews of bass and strings texture with your new clock, well...

The Rite of Strings, by Stanley Clarke (Jazz bassist of Return to Forever fame), Al Di Meola (guitarist also of Return to Forever fame), and Jean-Luc Ponty (Jazz fusion violinist). All three virtuoso musicians.

Listen to the first couple of tracks: "Indigo" and "Renaissance".

I hope he doesn't mind me quoting something from a PM, but I thought it to be relevant to this thread.

Tom

heiney9

This is a very high quality recording of some great Jazz music with some superb improvisation in a live setting. This is among my demo music when evaluating gear. This is one on Qobuz too. Fantastic listen. You can really just close your eyes and take a musical journey.

Extended version of "School Days" is excellent, both performance and sound quality.



H9

P.s Great thread. Jazz is one of the harder genres for me to delve into. There is a lot of variety as Jazz can be many things. Hopefully people will post a lot of suggestions to seek out. We all know the legendary Jazz musicians, but hopefully here will get some great recommendations to explore.

P.s.s Just about anything with Al DiMeola on it is worth auditioning. Probably one of my favorite non-rock guitar players.

treitz3

Well, I know what album will be put on after I am done with a Trombone Shorty album!

Thanks H9.

And I agree with your assessment on your P.s.s.

Tom

Emlyn

Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers. This is no Kenny G smooth jazz at all, although I do like Kenny G for what he does well.

More like punch you in the face to get your attention music. This sub-genre is usually called hard bop. Timing and drive is impeccable but it isn't relaxing music to listen to.

Good starting point from so many choices. He worked with a lot of top notch young musicians.

Emlyn

Including Lee Morgan blazing away in the late 1950s...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CX-Y-6kw8HU

Jazzhead

Kudos to @treitz3 for starting this thread... Thank you Tom!

@Emlyn describing Blakey's music as a "punch in the face " is spot on. This is a great listen in that Hard Bop vein although you need energy for it:



As noted above, Blakey, like Miles Davis years later (with his first and second great quartets) had a knack for discovering and developing talented musicians many of whom went on to be great bandleaders themselves - Lee Morgan and Wayne Shorter are two of several that come to mind.

Lee Morgan is one of the greatest Jazz trumpet players and composers although not as well known perhaps as Freddie Hubbard, Miles Davis etc, because of his untimely death at the age of 33. Here's one his best albums and perhaps my favorite. I especially enjoy hearing Jazz guitarist Grant Green, Wayne Shorter (who is a God in my opinion) and Herbie Hancock. This work is what one would call Post Bop, which is more experimental than the earlier Jazz described in the posts above. I can't explain it well, but I know it when I hear it (music theory...where's my deceased father, the music teacher when we need him?):



Also, there is a nice documentary on Lee Morgan's life (currently streaming on Netflix I believe):

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4170344/

treitz3

It just hit the homestead...if it sounds as good as it did while streaming, I'll be on the hunt for an LP of this one. Thanks again H9!

Tom

jdjohn

I have a couple of Stanley Clarke LPs, and honestly, I don't think you can go wrong with anything from him. He and Jaco Pastorius are at the top of the list for bass players.

Tom, do we have a hard definition here for 'jazz'?

treitz3

Not really Jody. We can segment it to death but this thread is for anything and everything having to do with Jazz.

No holds barred...

Tom

Jazzhead

This came to the house today:



It's relaxed hard bop stuff from 1960 when Morgan recorded with the Vee-Jay label before going to Blue Note. This re-issue has four bonus tracks not on the original album. I'm struck by what nice tone Morgan has for a 22 year old.

@heiney9 posting the "Live at the Greek" disc above reminds me of Stanley Clarke's earlier work with Chick Corea and Return to Forever. The 1976 album Romantic Warrior (Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke, Al Di Meola, and Lenny White ) comes to mind for those that have not heard it:



This is fantastical Jazz fusion and the blistering musicianship alone makes it worth listening to even if it's not something you would buy. There is a remastered version that sounds very nice.

On the subject of Chick Corea this is an exciting live album from 1991. @treitz3 I think you may like this one. It is a nice recording with huge dynamics:



It has a nice version of 'Round Midnight, a Thelonius Monk tune (Monk from Rocky Mount, NC ).

I mentioned Wayne Shorter in an earlier post above. This is perhaps his best album, recorded with Freddie Hubbard on trumpet. This was recorded in 1966 and is easily one of the most important of all Jazz albums. Shorter wrote all the compositions. I will write more about Shorter upcoming posts, but he was a pivotal performer and composer with Art Blakey (Jazz Messengers), and was a member of Miles Davis' second great quintet. He and keyboardist Joe Zawinul later left Davis to form the pivotal fusion band Weather Report. The Rudy Van Gelder remaster of Speak No Evil is very nice:



Finally, on the subject of Freddie Hubbard, this is a nice fusion album from the Creed Taylor production era, 1970 (an @xschop favorite), with a bunch of talented side musicians including aforementioned drummers Billy Cobham and Lenny White:



@jdjohn if you are into bass players, Ron Carter is on the last two albums above!

Happy listening!

Clipdat

I plan on going back through this thread with a fine tooth comb when I have the chance!

But, for now, anyone else a fan of Venus Records out of Japan? They have the best sound quality for jazz that I've found. Both their vinyl and SACD releases are absolutely exceptional.

You want to hear a high quality pressing with absolutely zero surface noise whatsoever? Pick up a vinyl release from Venus and you'll hear exactly what I mean. It's simply stunning.

Their single layer SACDs also have excellent sound quality. I should know, I own more of them than I care to admit online - and at $40 a pop, ouch!

SeleniumFalcon

I've been really pleased with the Tone Poet reissues on Blue Note.

erniejade

heiney9 wrote: »

This is a very high quality recording of some great Jazz music with some superb improvisation in a live setting. This is among my demo music when evaluating gear. This is one on Qobuz too. Fantastic listen. You can really just close your eyes and take a musical journey.

Extended version of "School Days" is excellent, both performance and sound quality.



H9

P.s Great thread. Jazz is one of the harder genres for me to delve into. There is a lot of variety as Jazz can be many things. Hopefully people will post a lot of suggestions to seek out. We all know the legendary Jazz musicians, but hopefully here will get some great recommendations to explore.

P.s.s Just about anything with Al DiMeola on it is worth auditioning. Probably one of my favorite non-rock guitar players.

Just listened to it on Qobuz. Very nice! I wish they had it in high res but, the way this is mastered, not sure how much more they would get out of it in high res.

maxward

This is a great thread! I’m currently streaming the above Stanley Clarke album, which is very nice. The first concert we attended post-pandemic was Ron Carter. He’s a humble genius and a pleasure to listen to. Apparently, he’s been recorded on over 2000 albums. The second concert was the Bill Frisell quartet playing his latest release, Four. Rudy Royston was filling in on drums for the drummer on the album. Rudy is a magical drummer to see live and has a few albums of his own out.

While I was working for the State of Oregon, we hired a guy to represent the State on the Hanford Waste Board. This group struggles with the issue of radioactive waste (a butt load of it) at the Hanford Site in Washington. Ralph Patt had the office next to mine. He was a bit of a Renaissance Man. He lived in the country because he needed room for his sled-dog team. It was some time before I learned that he was a rather well known jazz guitarist before working as a consulting geologist. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Patt I think I asked about his unusually long fingernails. One day at lunch, another friend and I were talking to Ralph about music. My friend offered to lend Ralph some Kenny G albums. Ralph then sat up straight at his desk and said, “If I die and go to H*ll, they’ll be playing Kenny G music.” I can’t hear Kenny G without thinking about Ralph. When he retired, he and his musician friends came and played for an hour while we had lunch and ate his cake. He played solo and with small groups at a few local venues until his health deteriorated too much. I don’t think that I’d be as interested in jazz as I am if I hadn’t known Ralph.

treitz3

https://youtu.be/BM6eNQ2F4H8?si=hFXWV-J4aV6BIqtx

This is an album that is well recorded and would be a great introduction into "Big Band" type Jazz for a new listener within this genre. I have a couple that I listen to frequently but this is one that a friend of mine always listens to when he comes to listen to/evaluate my rig. If you aren't into streaming? Well worth the cost of admission for the physical media! Here is the album it's on...



The song is called, "Backrow Politics" and while there are no words or anything having to with politics at all? Sit back and enjoy the performance! If your rig can do instruments well? You are gonna LOVE it!

......and just when you think it's over and you are left wanting more? Yeah, they ain't done. Hang on for more tunes and enjoy the rest of the song!

(Of course, you can also enjoy the rest of the album too)

Tom

jdjohn

I have a couple of additions, encapsulated in the following pic.

The top image is of a Harry James Direct-to-Disc recording from Sheffield Labs. They are well-known for their DTD pressings. I think every vinyl enthusiast should own at least one Sheffield Labs vinyl album...but that's just me.

The album in the bottom part of the pic is a quite common record from Stan Getz...and company. However, I think this particular album is better than many others from his catalog...at least from a recording quality standpoint. YMMV

maxward

I have around 8. The first was Thelma Houston and Pressure Cooker-I’ve Got the Music in Me. I was stunned by the dynamics when I first played it.

Here’s some more jazz artists: Christian McBride
Trio Subtonic
The LA 4
Charlie Haden/Pat Metheny-Beyond the Missouri Sky (The opposite of ‘In Your Face’)

mhardy6647

The Thelma Houston album, of course, was a "mid-period" audiophile direct-to-disk LP that was held in high repute in its day (ca. 1978 or 79, give or take). There's a copy of it here someplace.

Jazzhead

Expanding on Tom's mention of big band jazz, and earlier discussion of Jaco Pastorious, this is a good listen:



This 2003 album was done as a tribute to Pastorius and was spearheaded by Peter Graves of the Peter Graves Big Band of Florida, where Pastorius performed before his solo albums and works with Weather Report, Joni Mitchell, Herbie Hancock etc. The album consists of great arrangements of his compositions or notable works on which he performed, and includes performances by some of the great jazz bassists of recent times.

Toolfan66

https://youtu.be/4O3bGPTzARM?si=rlBNjxB7-u67ZLUZ

https://youtu.be/l9o3oJA9svs?si=tMsXUdtbBunhPMC1

Jazzhead

Alex Skolnick, thrash metal guitarist of Testament fame, turned his attention to jazz in the late 90's and formed the Alex Skolnick Trio as a side project. They have cut several fine albums, this being one of them from 2007:



This album includes both original material and jazz covers/arrangements of classic rock and metal tunes (check out Tom Sawyer).

invalid

Jazzhead

Going back to 1966. This is one of my favorite Wayne Shorter albums that I hope will appeal to many. Shorter is the only horn player on this album and it showcases his writing abilities and his lyrical, nocturnal, style of playing. There are many cuts on this album that have aged very well over the decades, including 502 Blues, Footprints, and Chief Crazy Horse. Every performer on this album is dripping with talent, it was very well recorded for it's time, and the Rudy Van Gelder remaster is a treat:

jdjohn

I honestly don't recall how I obtained these two vinyl records, but IMO they both sound exceptional.

Ok, only one of the two is from the jazz genre. They are both from Sonic Technology Corporation (STC), utilizing 'Direct-Pressed Disc' technology. I think there must have been a bit of competition amongst the 'direct-to-disc' formats (and such) back-in-the-day, so these are likely a by-product of that.

The recorded material is not exactly 'popular', but the execution and recordings are quite good IMO.