Milestones

I'm sure Michael Brekcer had a very diverse record collection.

Hal Galper is not a musician I know at all, other than his work on some Phil Woods records.

I'm curious to know what people think of Brecker's work as sideman. Of course, he did an enormous amount of this on pop and rock records, although I'm sure in most cases he is more of a "session man." The jazz stuff is big, but seemingly not huge in quantity. I'm familiar with a fair amount of it, notably records by Hancock, Corea, Tyner, Metheny, Palmieri, and Silver. But I have not found a list of such appearances, so I thought I'd come here for recommendations.

The man could really pick it!

I really liked, and was rather surprised by, the duet with Michael Buble on "Real Real Gone."

What else can you say about Van the Man. He is simply great and is the essence of living legend. Van unites rock, soul, celtic, mystical, jazz, blues, and God only know what else. I suppose he's getting a bit repetitive now, with many pieces showing up repeatedly, either as remakes or on live albums. And yet, as noted above, he still continues to write new songs. By the way, my favorite record that would be in the post-classic era is A Night in San Francisco, a 2-disc concert set that is surely the next best thing to actually seeing Van live. Talk about melting the grooves! I have two of his three quite recent records. One of these is You're Driving me Crazy, with Joey DeFrancesco as virtually a full partner. it is probably Van's jazziest record, and while not a full-blown classic it is top-of-the-line and should not be missed. Roll With the Punches, which is very blues-oriented, may be even better.

It is largely semantics. It's funny how so many of the classic big bands were actually dubbed as orchestras--everything from Count Basie to Glenn Miller. I think there is a considerable element of pretension here. A truer hybrid of jazz and classical came much later, and some are quite interesting and successful--as I pointed out in my first response. Also, these groups and works ARE rather different from "big band." Or what do you make of something like Steve Turre's Rhythm Within, with most tracks featuring 12 players including a lot of guys on trombones and/or "shells" and lots of percussion. I see virtually no resemblance to big band music as it is usually conceived. What of Gunther Schuller's giant ensemble playing Mingus' Epitaph?

I may not be the best guy to comment, since I tended to give fairly little attention to big band/orchestra--other than Ellington. But I would say this. In the golden age of the big band, there seemed to be a pretty standard setup--4 or 5 saxes (with some doubling on clarinet), 3 or 4 trumpets, 3 trombones, guitar (though not always), piano, bass, drums. You usually had 15-19 musicians. This has not even changed much, generally speaking. But you did get smaller groups like the Davis Birth of the Cool nonet and some of the early Gil Evans albums, such Gil Evans & Ten. Such ensembles were not just smaller, but generally more unusual in instrumentation--tuba, french horn, flute, violin, extra percussion, etc. We've some pretty notable bands of this sort, such as those by Carla Bley, George Gruntz, and for that matter the Mingus Orchestra. These better fit the concept of "orchestra." In addition, you have all those string orchestra albums; many of them seem entirely like mistakes, but there are some genuine classics too. Another variation is how the big band (however it is composed) is used to back a single soloist--such as Gil Evans with Miles and Cannonball Adderley and the band behind Coltrane on Africa/Brass.

All good examples, but I'm referring to records that are pretty much new, or at least within the last 4-5 years. Gerry Mulligan had a a pianoless quartet BEFORE Ornette.

Most definitely a loss. He was one of the few under-50 trumpet players that I really enjoyed. R.I.P., Roy.

We seem to be seeing a lot of these lately, though I don't mean to suggest that these are mere imitations. Most recently, we have Still Dreaming with Joshua Redman and Ron Miles (drawing most clearly on Old and New Dreams). We have The Creep with Ted Nash (alto) and Ron Horton. We have Trip with Tom Harrell and Mark Turner. Also, the new Christian McBride record is in this format. I'm finding some enjoyment. How about you?

I'd say this is officially a tough Blindfold Test. I've done some sampling of other tracks and I'm drawing blanks.

I listened to the first 6 tracks. Some good stuff, and I'm not able to identify much. Track 1 sounds like a piano trio version of "St. Thomas." It could be someone Like Hank Jones, though I feel it's not Hank. On Track 2 the trumpeter sounds like Art Farmer, but I wouldn't bet money on it. I can't say on 3 or 4. It's nice-sounding mainstream jazz, but I can't even guess who it might be. Track 5 is probably an alto-led date. Nice firm bass and loose, coloristic drumming. I can't identity anyone. Track 6 sounds like MJQ. The vibraphone player, at least, sounds like Milt. The piano player rarely sounds like John Lewis. But overall it does have that MJQ sound, or something akin to it.

Nice test...lots of good stuff. Some pieces were easy to identify, and some quite tough. I actually saw Catherine Russell in concert a year or so ago as opening act for Boz Scaggs. I may have downloaded an album too.

So that's John Lewis on #10. I have that record (cassette actually), but not with the bonus track. People may not believe me, but Oscar could play as delicately as John Lewis. Jim Hall, then? A fairly young Hall, and not as distinctive as he later became.

I never was at all a fan of the 8-track, which was starting to die out by the time I started seriously collecting in 1978. I was into rock music at the time and found some good deals, although I thought the sound quality was poor. I think the only jazz 8-track I ever bought was a Nat Adderley date from the 70's.

I think it (Lue firing) was coming, but not that quickly. Season is already quite a mess.

The first time around I suggested that #10 was in the Oscar Peterson-Joe Pass-Ray Brown vein, but I didn't think I was any of those guys. Although this is well-played and has some real feeling, it does not show the distinctiveness of those players. But it sure does owe a lot to those players and that kind of style or concept.

It seems like he should have had a bigger career than he did have. Definitely some fine work with Tyner, as pointed out. Sahara instantly comes to mind. He also spent some time with Elvin. It Don't Mean a Thing is a really good one, especially Sonny's incredibly moving performance of "A Change is Gonna Come." R.I.P.

I was intrigued by CD’s from the start, and I was the first in my immediate environment who brought a CD player. This was in 1986 or 1987. I had initially been a big Rock guy, but had already shifted into being a huge jazz fan. Still, I waited until the Beatles’ records started coming out on the new format. My first CD was the first Beatles British CD: Please Please Me. I think my first jazz CD was Way Out West; Kind of Blue was among the earliest purchases. I also happened to be deeply into Classical at that time, so there were a lot of those CD’s in the early days—especially Mozart. The early CDs were expensive, so at first I built slowly. I used to do rather well on them at Christmas! My collection did become very large, especially once there was a lot to choose from at bargain prices. I rarely buy them nowadays, relying more on downloading and streamlining. I sometimes get them sat Half Price Books, but they’re not carrying much jazz anymore (actually, you have a better selection of jazz on vinyl at these stores: some old, some new). To be sure, I like the old LPs—probably for the cover art more than anything. I still like CDs. Digital is fine by me, but there are so many contrast to the old days.

Anyone know of this? An Irish writer named John Connolly has written something like 15 mysteries starring Charlie "Bird" Parker, an ex-cop of the NYPD. Not sure if he is also a brilliant bebop pioneer. I admit to knowing virtually nothing about these books. But seriously, Charlie Parker? What's next? John Coltrane P.I.?

I got a few of these when it was first posted, and I was close on #2 (knew it was Tyner) and #3 (knew it was Haden and thought it was Ornette). Track #2 is "Uptown" from Tyner's Inner Voices. Track #5 is "Hub-Tones" by Kamasi Washington. Track #6 is "De Pois do Amor" from Wayne Shorter's Odyssey of Iska. Track #7 is "Dreaming of the Master" by Art Ensemble of Chicago. Track #9 is "Exaltation/Religious Experience" by Carla Bley Big Band. Track #13 is "Shepp's Way" by Charlie Haden and Archie Shepp (The Golden Number)

I doubt that any other instrument would produce 80 posts in short order. As I say, a LOT of tenor players out there.

Two more I would name are Lew Tabackin and Andy Sheppard. They are not youngsters (especially Lew), but well worth listening to. Tabackin seems to have been quiet for a long time, and I only know Sheppard's work through Carla Bley. I had a stretch where I really liked Branford, but I have not been much interested in his work for quite some time now.

I don't think I've seen anyone mention Kamasi Washington. An interesting case, as he was a journeyman player for at least a decade before suddenly becoming a "star." I'm not sure what to think about him; there is a hype factor. He is younger than most mentioned on the thread, at least among the names that I recognize.