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So, What Are You Listening To NOW?


JSngry

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39 minutes ago, erwbol said:

Currently the only Greg Osby as leader I own. The two albums from Andrew Hill's second stint with Blue Note I play regularly.

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I highly recommend Inner Circle from Osby's Blue Note years.  It is my favorite and probably would make my list of favorite albums from 2000-19.

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it's definitely on the lightweight side, but for me it works almost perfectly... (what I also learned yesterday and really wouldn't have expected is that the cover photograph is by the legendary Chargesheimer, a contemporary of the musicians in late 60s Cologne)

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16 minutes ago, Niko said:

it's definitely on the lightweight side, but for me it works almost perfectly... (what I also learned yesterday and really wouldn't have expected is that the cover photograph is by the legendary Chargesheimer, a contemporary of the musicians in late 60s Cologne)

Lovely album - I’ve got it on a SABA vinyl, which I will dig out today. Always liked the way Boland uses trombones in the backing.

That’s interesting concerning the cover photo - been a fan of that one too. 

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1 hour ago, Niko said:

it's definitely on the lightweight side, but for me it works almost perfectly... (what I also learned yesterday and really wouldn't have expected is that the cover photograph is by the legendary Chargesheimer, a contemporary of the musicians in late 60s Cologne)

Didn't know about Chargesheimer .... thnx ....

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This is the other 2 CD set in this Columbia House series i recently got.  As you can perhaps see from the track listings, there are quite a few more jazz artist represented here.

Hoagy Carmichael is perhaps an instance of less being more.  In order to get 40 tracks here, they had to dredge up some pretty awful songs.  That Claude Thornhill track, "We're The Couple In The Castle", is such a steaming, fetid pile of overripe schmaltz that I could not make it to the end (and I'm one who is not averse to a little schmaltz in vintage recordings).  It's horrible and I then come to find out -- not from the liner notes, since there are none in these sets -- that the lyrics were by Frank Loesser, one of my very favorite songwriters!  The other titles there that seem unfamiliar to you, there's a reason why.  Still, when just two of the melodies you've written are "Georgia On My Mind" and "Stardust" you've entitled to strike out a billion times and you still win.  Yep, you just win.

Then there is the issue which must be addressed on some of these tunes.  If it would be too controversial nowadays to label the lyrics "racist", some of them certainly have uncomfortable racial overtones.  Listeners might be willing to overlook it in a tune like "Lazybones" since the tune itself is kinda catchy, but there is no justifiable reason to include "Snowball" in this collection.  It's hopelessly dated and racially insensitive and really not that strong a tune.  Some songs deserve, if not to die, then to at least fade away when their time has passed.  (Besides, 40 tunes and they didn't find room to include "Billy-a-Dick"?  Now there's a tune!)

"Memphis In June" is presented as an instrumental by the Harry James band.  It's nice enough, but that tune is forever wedded in my mind to the very evocative and languid lyrics of Paul Francis Webster to really capture the essence of summer.  There are two versions of "Rockin' Chair" (Frankie Laines the hell out of it!), but oddly enough, neither of them by Mildred Bailey, aka The Rockin Chair Lady.  This version of "Baltimore Oriole" is done by someone who might politely be described as a caberret singer.

Then there is "Stardust" by Louis Armstrong.  It's hard to describe in words how much I love this recording.  Each time I am hearing it I am laughing and like a baby I am crying (tears of joy, to be sure).  (And oddly enough, it's probably only my second favorite recording of "Stardust" -- The Nat Cole version with those soaring strings, that's my favorite version.  See, I told you I was not averse to schmaltz.)  You get a really good vocal by Louis and his version of the lyrics bear a resemblance to the original words, but in Louis' hands they mean so much more.  And then it hits you -- every time -- it hits you -- Oh memory . . . Oh memory  . . . Oh memory . . .   And the brilliance is, his tone and phrasing are such that you the listener can read into those "memories" whatever you want to.  It could be a joyful memory or a sorrowful memory or a humorous memory or a romantic memory or a bittersweet memory -- you decide!

And then there is Louis' trumpet solo.  All I know is, Louis was Buddha and this trumpet solo is one of his more eloquent and most profound teachings.  Not about music.  Louis wasn't no damn music teacher.  He learned music anywhere and everywhere and so should you if that's you're desire.  No, Buddha Louis taught about LIFE in his music and our nasty, bickering, squabbling old world would be a much better place if more people took the time to listen and learn what he had to teach us.

Edited by duaneiac
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22 minutes ago, duaneiac said:

Then there is "Stardust" by Louis Armstrong.  It's hard to describe in words how much I love this recording.  Each time I am hearing it I am laughing and like a baby I am crying (tears of joy, to be sure).  (And oddly enough, it's probably only my second favorite recording of "Stardust" -- The Nat Cole version with those soaring strings, that's my favorite version.  See, I told you I was not averse to schmaltz.)  You get a really good vocal by Louis and his version of the lyrics bear a resemblance to the original words, but in Louis' hands they mean so much more.  And then it hits you -- every time -- it hits you -- Oh memory . . . Oh memory  . . . Oh memory . . .   And the brilliance is, his tone and phrasing are such that you the listener can read into those "memories" whatever you want to.  It could be a joyful memory or a sorrowful memory or a humorous memory or a romantic memory or a bittersweet memory -- you decide!

And then there is Louis' trumpet solo.  All I know is, Louis was Buddha and this trumpet solo is one of his more eloquent and most profound teachings.  Not about music.  Louis wasn't no damn music teacher.  He learned music anywhere and everywhere and so should you if that's you're desire.  No, Buddha Louis taught about LIFE in his music and our nasty, bickering, squabbling old world would be a much better place if more people took the time to listen and learn what he had to teach us.

Yes, Yes, and Yes! :tup 

 

 

NP:

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Charles Lloyd - All My Relations (ECM)
Features one of Lloyd's best bands, IMO, with Bobo Stenson (p), Anders Jormin (b), and Billy Hart (d). 

 

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