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mhatta

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Everything posted by mhatta

  1. In Japan, young jazz (or jazz-influenced music might I say) musicians attract a young audience. Jazz-themed manga and anime movies are also popular (Blue Giant was a hit). In the U.S., when I was in San Jose a few years ago, the audiences at shows by Robert Glasper, Kamasi Washington, Makaya McCraven, and Theo Croker were quite young. Perhaps jazz fans are polarized. There are those like Glasper and his ilk, whose music is more akin to the old days of Black Contemporary, and those like myself who still listen to Blue Note, "real" Jazz and the like from the 60's. Yeah, hello us granpas!
  2. A lesser-known aspect of Sun Ra may have been that he was a full-bodied blues piano player. Sounds very authentic.
  3. Since the Arkestra is, after all, an excellent live band (as was Duke Ellington's orchestra), it seemed a good idea to list 10 live recordings. Some of them are quasi-bootlegs, but the sound quality is relatively good. 1. Music From Tomorrow's World (1960) A good record from the Chicago era. 2. Nothing Is (1966) Bordering on hard bop and free. 3. Black Myth / Out In Space (1970) Sun Ra on MPS! 4. Intergalactic Research (1971) Adventurous. 5. What Planet Is This? (1973) Tremendous live performance from his best period. 6. Live in Paris at the "Gibus" (1973) King Porter Stomp! 7. It Is Forbidden (1974) Overwhelming. 8. Live at Montreux (1976) Great as an introduction to the band. 9. Sunrise In Different Dimensions (1980) Sun Ra as a pianist shines. 10. Love in Outer Space (1983) A good sample of his later years.
  4. mhatta

    Soft spots

    Walter Bishop, Jr. SPEAK LOW -- This was the first jazz record I ever heard and I still love it.
  5. I'm not really familiar with his style, but if it is recorded ca. 1966, it might be Kirk Lightsey?
  6. Wow, I thought I've heard most of Stitt outputs, but seems this is one of the very best! And I really have no idea who were in the rhythm section...John Young on piano? (a bit Ray Bryant-ish but not heavy). Most of streaming services provide this music.
  7. This one is new for me. Booker blows at Cafe Montmartre! Maybe SteepleChase will issue this someday...
  8. I read somewhere that Dodo Marmarosa's hands were quite small. But he still could play Bach's Inventions at double speed.
  9. I was surprised to find Johnny Guarnieri's The Duke Again on Spotify; I'm pretty sure it was never released on CD. It's a good, if unspectacular, performance by a small group. Guarnieri was one of the great interpreters of Ellington Music.
  10. I meant "Blue In Green", but I wonder if "Nardis" was really written by Miles? Miles never played it, and it sounds Gil Evans or George Russell-ish to me.
  11. I wonder if they have a common source?
  12. I guess Clarence Gaskill was like Irving Mills (many of Duke Ellington's songs) and Richard Carpenter (Walkin'), who are music publishers who would sneak credits into other people's songs. BTW, are there any songs that Miles Davis definitely wrote himself until '70s, except some blues lines? Seems the authorship for most of the tunes attributed to Miles have been disputed. "Four" & "Tune Up" (actually by Eddie Cleanhead Vinson? Are there Cleanhead's own recordings?), "Donna Lee" (based on "Tiny's Con" by Tiny Kahn?), "Solar" (aka "Sonny" by Chuck Wayne?), "Walkin'" (aka "Gravy" by Gene Ammons?), "Nardis" (by Bill Evans?), "So What" (based on "Pavanne" by Ahmad Jamal?), etc.
  13. Black Market? https://youtu.be/U7_vNpVXubA
  14. Now that Wayne Shorter has passed away, I would like to see a Mosaic set of his Blue Note outputs, including the Oct. 1970 rejected session as a bonus.
  15. mhatta

    Teddy Edwards

    I didn't like Teddy Edwards much because he seemed somewhat frail, but I found the two Prestige records are excellent. Thanks for letting me know! These are eye openers. Also, I didn't like his composition Sunset Eyes much either, but I think The version on The Inimitable is great thanks to Duke Jordan.
  16. mhatta

    Gato Barbieri

    Gato had a distinctive voice. His solo on Oliver Nelson's "Swiss Suite" is quite memorable.
  17. Very good video. It's a treat since I've never seen live footage of Lucky Thompson.
  18. Young Jug: Live! in Chicago (Prestige) Late Jug: Goodbye (Prestige)
  19. I think the most important resource for getting to know Joe Albany is the 1980 documentary A Jazz Life, which is probably the only video that captures Albany playing. In the second half of the film, he talks about playing with Parker and other jazz greats. A fragment is on YouTube, but the full version is available on Vimeo. I am also a pianist and what is interesting about Albany is the choppy rhythmic feel and the intertwined style of the right and left hands. Unlike traditional left hand movements, the left hand is rather moving freely. This is a different story from Oscar Peterson or Phineas Newborn Jr. who also had an exceptionally strong left hand, perhaps closer to John Dennis, Oscar Dennard, or even Brad Mehldau in some ways. You can see a little bit of that in the video as well. Also, a regular contributor of this forum@AllenLowehas performed with Albany (and I believe his enormous ESP recording set included a tune with Albany). I guess he can give us an interesting insight on Albany from a point of player's view.
  20. For me, Wynton Kelly's Left Bank live recordings are very good. The sound quality is not great, but it is the usual Left Bank quality, not so hard to hear (maybe Vee Jay's original release was bad; Fresh Sound's was not that bad). After 1965, Kelly lost some of his lightness (probably due to alcoholism), but I think it was a "different" Kelly, or more powerful instead. His live show with George Coleman is tremendous; his exchanges with Coleman on Unit 7 are amazing, and I think Coleman's solo on Here's That Rainy Day is his absolute best. Also, the way he enters the Four solo with Joe Henderson is like flying!
  21. I recently got a used CD cheap from Amazon Japan. Some thoughts. I don't know so much about Cecil Payne's style, but I am pretty sure that the pianist is Wynton Kelly. I also think the drummer is Charli Persip. The trumpeter is boppish on the uptempo and a bit older style on the ballads, kind of like Clark Terry. I have no idea about bassist, possibly Ron Carter? I think they are all seasoned pros, very skilled ones. I think it may be a broadcast recording from a small club (Monday jam session nights from Birdland?), not a large venue. Perhaps one from the Boris Rose collection? I think the end of the song is cut off because of the Symphony Sid announcements there. The sound quality is no good, but the performance itself is not bad (although for some reason there is a track with only a woman's voice speaking). I think it's unusual to see Wynton play Confirmation (although a Seattle performance was recently unearthed); the solo on A Night In Tunisia (labeled as Kelly's Rhythm) is especially good.
  22. I guess so. I'm listening to this on Spotify via a pretty good Bluetooth speaker and sounds okay. Generally speaking, this is a good piano trio recording -- Using Tina's compositions adds a nice touch, but I hope they could choose more attractive ones (such as "Street Singer", "Miss Hazel" or "The Waiting Game", etc.).
  23. "All or Nothing at All" is one of my favorite tunes, sung by numerous greats including Frank Sinatra, Billie Holiday, and Bob Dylan. It was composed by Arthur Altman (lyrics by Jack Lawrence). Altman composed over 400 songs, but seems only this stands.
  24. My all-time favorite jazz is Milt Jackson Quartet, which is Milt / Horace Silver. The sound is very different from MJQ, and Horace is a superb accompanist. The combination of Milt with Monty Alexander is also good.
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