Milestones

I'm sure we could go all day on the issue of "timeless." For me, several tunes by Yes are timeless. Sure, neither the group nor its best songs are not as timeless as The Beatles or Dylan or The Stones or The Who. I am quite certain that timeless song/compositions exist in every genre of music.

I never had much Yes in my collection, and only album (so far) in my digital collection. It's a group I had largely forgotten, but I can see value in re-exploring their best work. Was it a group of its time? Is there a certain timeless quality? Opinions will vary.

I'm thinking we have more King Crimson fans around here.

Any thoughts on Yes, since they are in the news for being elected into the Rock Hall of Fame? I was a fan of Yes before I was into jazz, and maybe those long pieces with frenzied solos helped set me up to be a jazz lover a few years later. Clearly many members of Yes love jazz--witness Bill Bruford's extensive work in the field. Steve Howe seems pretty deep into it as well, with several records that sound like a traditional guitar/organ/drums trio.

I had no idea about her. She sounds intriguing.

I've checked out samples and they sound good to these ears. I like the Stones a lot, yet I've never had a huge amount of their discography. I can see myself adding this one.

I think this is a tough one, since most jazz most jazz artists are so eclectic and open-minded that we are not terribly surprised by anything that they do. But I'd be willing to nominate Monk's swan song on Columbia: Monk's Blues. Definitely out of character in a bad way.

It's interesting that on The Opener he led off both sides 1 and 2 with ballads. That must be quite rare in Blue Note history.

He got off to a booming start, that's for sure.

He was sure on a lot of different labels, but then that was the case for most jazz players.

I'm wondering what people think of Curtis Fuller. Certainly he was a major of force on trombone a generation after J.J. (or more like half-generation). I find that I have decent amount of his work, though mainly as a sideman. He was often under-utilized, with only a brief spot, or sometimes not even a solo. Of course, he is great on the first Jazztet record, as well several encounters with Benny Golson. He was also a member of the Jazz Messengers for about four year, and I have a lot of those records. But I'm trying to hear him more as a solo artist, and to that end have just acquired The Opener and Soul Trombone--worthy records both.

I enjoyed it a lot. I'm a big Kenny Burrell fan, and it was cool to see him on this show. Tavis loves his music, including jazz, but getting Burrell on the show...I'm simply impressed. Kenny Burrell is all about taste in his person and music, yet he is also one the greatest blues players on the planet.

A fine actor. I liked him as Napoleon Solo (who wouldn't?), and he had some pretty memorable film roles (after Magnificent Seven I usually think of Bullitt). It's too bad he did't get a late-career, long-running, high-profile gig like McCallum as Ducky.

So Lou Donaldson is now 90. Jimmy Heath turned 90. Randy Weston turned 90. Aren't they all still active?

Monk.

Not to mention that Roth is now well past 80, and the Swedish Academy is unlikely to award another American within 10-15 years.

Maybe it's time to add a couple more Nobel categories--cinema and music. In music we could have had Miles, Trane, Ellington, etc. The literature prize has always been the odd one out among the Nobels. As for Dylan, I remember finding a book of his complete lyrics back in 1978. At the time I had not heard much Dylan, but I read through just about all those lyrics--and they were, for the most part, fascinating. As a songwriter/poet, they don't come any better than Bob.

This is a tough thing, and why not 10 instead of 5? My approach would be a top record by my all time favorites, so.... Blanton/Webster Band--Ellington Kind of Blues (or Milestones)--Miles Davis Brilliant Corners (or Monk's Music)--Monk Crescent--Coltrane Great Concert of Charlies Mingus w. Dolphy

Byrd, along with Wes Montgomery and many others, often selected pop material such as songs by the Beatles (the gentler ones) and big pop hits of the day. For that matter, isn't bossa nova basically popular (pop) music of Brazil? This is different from someone like Pat Metheny, who features a strong melodic element in much of his work--but nearly always writes his own stuff. I've always understood "blues" to the a key element to the work of nearly all major jazz players.

Yeah, I remember seeing that one with Ellis on Spotify.

Here's a good one from later career--Moments like This, the ultimate meeting with Peplowski.

There's also an early record named Blues for Night People, which is rather good. But I agree that the track of the same name (on the Village Gate record, yet not on the earlier studio LP) is really superb.

I liked Gary Giddins' collections of articles, such as Visions of Jazz.

Calling on Charlie Byrd fans. This was a guy that I seriously under-valued. I mainly knew him for bossa nova and the Stan Getz connection. I think I actually took more notice of his fine contributions to Ken Peplowski's It's a Lonesome Old Town. And now I have done a little more investigation, and overall I really like what I hear. True, he did have an attraction to pop material, but his huge discography shows what range he had. He was not so soft as I had presumed, and indeed there's plenty of blues quality in his work. He was a well-trained musician and excelled in all kinds of settings. I do wish, however, he'd recorded more often with jazz heavyweights--as he did with Clark Terry on a live record. While not a player who really produced masterpieces, Charlie Byrd offers much that can be thoroughly enjoyed.

He is indeed a subtle player, but this is a man who was certainly committed in everything he did.