Some Jazz albums you might want to hear

A Love Supreme - John Coltrane

This album completely changed the jazz world in 1965 and even today its effects can be found in many musical styles. Coltrane evolves from the extremely complex and dense harmonic language he had mastered with Miles Davis and Monk and just plays with pure, raw passion. The four songs on this album are simultaneously filled emotions of anger, joy, sadness, ecstasy, tragedy and triumph. This album also marked the beginning of a revolution in Coltrane's playing as he ventured into a freer world less based on dense harmonic language.

 

Time Out - The Dave Brubeck Quartet

This was the first instrumental jazz album to sell over a million copies. 'Take Five' was even a number one hit on Billboard's charts which is a serious feat for any jazz song (and any song in 5/4!). Brubeck used the rhythmic influences from Eastern Europe to create a very fresh sound previously unfound in jazz. The complex rhythms he uses sound very natural and are easy to listen to, probably the reason for his success. This one is guaranteed to please and intrigue its listeners.

Bitches Brew - Miles Davis

Pretty much everything about this album was controversial. Before 1970, no major record label had ever used the word "Bitches" on a release by a major artist. The recording has some very long songs and consists mostly of free spontaneous electric improvisation. Also for the first time, the recording tape was sliced and diced a bit in studio post-production to make certain snippets repeat and to add effects which was unheard of on a jazz record. Yet even with all that... or maybe because of all that... it is Miles' second best selling album of all time behind Kind of Blue. Be warned... this album is pretty "out there" and could take a few listens to understand what Miles was able to achieve.

                                                       Head Hunters - Herbie Hancock

When I first heard this album I felt I had finally found that perfect "sound" I had been searching for my whole life. Herbie had come very well known in Miles Davis second quintet and now was doing his own thing applying those concepts to funk. His experimentation on a multitude of analog synths has tremendously influenced what I do on synthesizers in my band, Gentlemen Hall. As well as numerous other groups ever since. Some critics and pure acoustic jazz-heads said this album is not jazz, but I beg to differ cause it is full of jazz improvisation and concepts. This album was so popular that it quickly sold over a million copies after its release in 1973. It's simple, funky, extremely enjoyable, and AMAZING! Listen to it over and over for maximum satisfaction.

Blue Train (Remastered) - John Coltrane (Yes, again)

Recorded in 1957, this album was Coltrane's first album as a leader. It's very interesting to hear how Coltrane was playing before he started heading to the freer, passionate playing that he evolved to in the mid 60's. Did you know that ten years earlier, Coltrane was considered just a mediocre player? He studied with others and performed SO MUCH with Miles that he became an icon of discipline. He was known to constantly practice after gigs late into the night to become the player he was on this album... and he still continued to improved after this recording! I love this album because it has such a solid, quintessential jazz sound.

Matt Garrison, “The Madness Within” (2012)

Saxophone sage Matt Garrison (not to be confused with bassist Matthew Garrison) recently made his second album, Blood Songs, and for truly talented musicians on an upward trajectory, that sophomore effort is often where the big growth occurs. Already accomplished at tenor, baritone and soprano saxes, we’re more likely to find any progression from Garrison as a composer and bandleader, and those are things where I can spot the maturation when I hear Blood Songs‘s kickoff track “The Madness Within.”

A fundamentally sound post-bop disciple to the core, Garrison nonetheless constructed a thoroughly modern tune with “The Madness Within.” He found a compelling, lilting sequence of chords worth repeating time and again, but his arrangement makes it ever better. Bassist Dezron Douglas and drummer Ulysses Owen, Jr. craft a metropolitan, deceptively shifting groove. Augmenting Douglas, Owens, Garrison and pianist Roy Assaf are guitarist Dave Kain and trombonist/producer Michael Dease, and they play important roles, too. Dease and Garrison join for a sweet sax/trombone harmony that I always dug about the Crusaders and they glide right over that groove like an Olympic ice skater. Everyone in front of Douglas and Owens turns in succinct but sharp solos; the contrast between Dease’s cool elegance and Garrison’s soulful funk that quickly follows make up the high point.

JD Allen Trio – The Matador and the Bull (2012)

Every so often, we are lucky enough to come across a record that flips previous musical conventions on its head — a record that is fresh, original and that forces us to think differently about our conception of music.
 Allen’s latest release, The Matador and the Bull, featuring Gregg August (bass) and Rudy Royston (drums), is such an album. On many records, particularly in the jazz medium, we encounter roughly 6-10 songs each ranging from 5-10 minutes long — songs that are often individually unique unto themselves and that are seemingly unrelated to one another. But here, with the JD Allen trio, we get the complete opposite. The trio presents us with 12 short tracks (most which are under 4 minutes long) that largely center on a single theme — a story of bullfight, which musically unfolds before our ears from track to track, or more appropriately, from chapter to chapter. Here, we are encountering a unique musical experience as listeners, as we are challenged to combine our visual imagination with the aural presentation, in order to piece together the story.
On most occasions during this record, the music reflects the title of the respective track. For example, on “Paseillo,” JD’s running eight notes are swinging joyously in a galloping fashion that springs to mind a clear visual of a bullfighter riding around the ring on horseback. “Ring Shout!,” which has a less direct connection to bullfighting, is a religious ritual that originated amongst slaves in Africa who performed the dance by shuffling counter clockwise while singing, clapping and sometimes shouting. After a minute into this emotionally charged tune, we begin to hear shouts of “woah” from August or Royston. This continues throughout the remainder of JD’s playing, where he explores multiphonics, the altissimo register and at times screams at the top of his lungs on the saxophone.

The Matador and the Bull is a musical novel that presents the listener’s imagination with a blank canvas, leaving us free to interpret the album in their own way. For me personally, I’m dying to hear a live performance of this same concept — a few sets surrounding the same musical story.

Joe Morris/ William Parker/ Gerald Cleaver – Altitude (2012)

Not long after Joe Morris and William Parker signed up with the then-fledging AUM Fidelity record label specializing in improvised music, AUM founder Steven Joerg and Morris talked about making a trio record involving both Morris and Parker, along with drummer Gerald Cleaver. Like many good ideas, this one fell by the wayside to make room for other projects. However, last year’s two week space set aside by John Zorn for AUM Fidelity to organize an event at The Stone celebrating its 15th anniversary gave Joerg the opening he was looking for. He booked Morris, Parker and Cleaver for one of those evenings and the music just happened. It was also documented, and that document is coming forth on CD next week. It’s called Altitude.

When I first learned of this upcoming release I was ready to swear up and down that this get-together was just the latest by these three. Nope. These exceptional musicians, all at the top of the heap for their respective instruments within the downtown New York scene have never worked together as three. Perhaps I was thinking of Farmers By Nature, which has Parker and Cleaver collaborating with Craig Taborn, or perhaps Ivo Perelman’s album from early this year, Family Ties where the saxophonist is backed up by Morris and Cleaver.

Did you know... Jazz facts.

When asked what the definition of jazz was, Louis Armstrong famously replied, “If you’ve got to ask, you’ll never know.”

"A Love Supreme" is a prayer inspired by one man's dedication to his faith after overcoming addiction and is the saxophonist John Coltrane.

Miles Davis was heralded as the "Prince Of Darkness" by media and music critics, 'cause none of them could break ice with him in interviews.

Louis Amstrong nickname was "Satchmo".

Jimmy Rushing was nicknamed "Mr. Five By Five", after a popular song.

Humor

Today we are puting a little bit of humor on the blog for all the styles of music. We hope you can enjoy it. To begin with this we present to you some Jazz jokes.

How does a jazz musician end up with a million dollars?
By starting out with two million dollars.

What's the difference between a jazz musician and an extra large pizza?The pizza can feed a family of four.

Why do Jazz musicians stand in line at the bank?
No one knows.

What do you call a jazz musician without a girlfriend?
Homeless.

What is the difference between a jazz musician and an insurance policy?
An insurance policy eventually matures and makes money.

What do you say to a jazz musician with a steady job?
Two Big Macs and a large order of fries.

Curtis Fuller – Down Home (2012)

Sounding something like the classic Blue Note recordings of trombonist Curtis Fuller’s youth, Down Home has a joy that’s contagious.

Fuller has grown by leaps and bounds since making his famous intro in the opening bars of Coltrane’s sole date for Blue Note, building upon the fiery intellect of that album’s “Locomotion” and largely shedding his early, more overt J.J. Johnson influences. By turns bluesy and then fleet and fun here, Fuller belies his own third-act vintage, offering a feisty performance that matches his own already fully realized ambitions as a writer. “Ladies Night” and the title track would have fit on any album in the classic era of post-bop.

 

 

Mike Stern – All Over The Place (2012)

There might not be a more accurate title for a Mike Stern album than the one coming out next week. All Over The Place highlights the musical personality of one of jazz’s most original guitarists of the last thirty years. Deservedly belonging in any sentence that includes Scofield, Frisell and Metheny, Stern took advanced courses in improvisation and phrasing from Miles like Sco, has developed a singular style no matter the setting like Frisell and is keen on the intricacies of melody and harmony like Metheny. Like all of those three, his comfort zone is as big as music itself.

One Stern hallmark found on this record is the ridiculous number of guest artists appearing on the album; it’s enough to make Carlos Santana jealous. But Stern has had a star-studded credit list on his records since the first one, and he knows how to put them to work for the sake of the song, not to just to have bragging rights. It never, ever feels like a “Mike Stern and friends” affair, it’s just Mike Stern making a record with some well-chosen help.

All Over The Place is set for wide release on June 19, by Concord affiliate label Heads Up International.

Chad Wackerman on the legacy of Frank Zappa

In may 2012 we celebrate the 30th anniversay of the release of the drummer Chad Wackermas's debut album with Frank Zappa: "Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch". Wackerman would eventually appear on a lot of Zappa's recordings in a period of time that lasted from 1981 to 88. But "Ship Arriving Too Late" was special for another reason, this album includes "Valley Girl", Zappa's only topo 40 in the U.S. Co- written with Zappa's daughter Moon Unit, the track peaked at no. 32 in the Billboard Hot 100.

Wakcerman has since launched a solo career as a respected jazz-fusion and rock musician, having recorded and toured with James Taylor, Steve Vai, Barbra Steisand, Andy Summers, Men at Work, Albert Lee, Terry Bozzio, Alan Holdsworth amogn others.