All That Jazz ...

[Nikhil]

NYT Review: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/09/arts/music/redman-mehldau-mcbride-blade-roundagain-review.html

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Had a chance to listen to this album yesterday. Only the title song "Right Back Round Again" stood out for me. The album is more notable for the artists who are now established and in their prime. We all have different tastes of course so as always YMMV.


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[Fiftyfifty]

Had a chance to listen to this album yesterday. Only the title song "Right Back Round Again" stood out for me. The album is more notable for the artists who are now established and in their prime. We all have different tastes of course so as always YMMV.


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Yes, it's on Spotify

 

[oldmonk]

Welcome to the forum and welcome to this thread @oldmonk . Do tell us about your favorite jazz artistes and genres!

hello fiftyfifty..

I have a small music collection and some jazz - Miles Davis and some John Coltrane and i listen to some world music and some Indian classical some bollywood - some usual rock some Leonard Cohen - wide taste... but a small collection of music on my HDD which i use listen to on my CD player which has a headphone out or my laptop.

happy listening !

 

[Fiftyfifty]

Had a chance to listen to this album yesterday. Only the title song "Right Back Round Again" stood out for me. The album is more notable for the artists who are now established and in their prime. We all have different tastes of course so as always YMMV.


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Nikhil,

Heard the album today. I felt it is one of those albums that deserves multiple listens. A lot of play with tempo in Redman's blowing and a lot of classical influence in Meldhau's keyboard work. Both McBride and Blade very subdued yet effective. I'm biased in favour of the quartet format in jazz

Like you rightly said, each listener's MMV and the same person's MM also V over time!

Thanks for posting this!

 

[himadri]

The Incomparable Clifford Brown! Absolutely must be heard on vinyl

Thanks for the heads up guys . Listening to this great album on Spotify.The artist was completely under my radar.

 

[kartick]

I have been on a mission to expose myself to more and more Jazz music out there and also to build my Jazz CD collection. I started first by putting together a modest LP collection but lately have been smitten by CDs as well and hence the effort. Anyway, in my recent haul, I picked up a Joe Lovano CD on Blue Note. The album is Celebrating Sinatra. I played it for the first time yesterday and since then have listened to it thrice already. A lovely and heartfelt rendition of Sinatra's music. Joe is at his best and accompanying musicians are mighty fine. They retain the aesthetics of Swing but still infuse their own take on each of the songs. There is an overall undertone of intrigue and dark suspense that came across to me. Reading the CD liner notes was also educational. Joe collaborated with his family and friends to select which tracks should go on this album as listening to Sinatra's music was pretty much a family activity to them.

In case any of you haven't checked this album out, please do:

 

[shyamv]

Wow! This is a nice thread!

Jazz - a vast, all-encompassing, constantly-morphing art form! In the 50s and 60s, Jazz was probably the only music that was played live in most clubs and hotels in cities of India. Read the fascinating book 'Taj Mahal Foxtrot: The Story of Bombay’s Jazz Age' to know more about Jazz's golden age in India.

Since then, the popularity of Jazz has steadily declined in India. I want to give a shout-out to some Jazz bands/musicians/singers that are carrying the torch for Jazz in India. I have heard all of them several times, I love their music and many of these are good friends. Pardon me if I forgot to include others.

- Tarun Balani Collective
- Aditya Balani
- Refuge
- Aman Mahajan
- HFT
- Amit Heri Group
- UNK: Radha Thomas Ensemble
- Syncopation
- Tinctures
- Drift Trio
- Vinay Kaushal

With live venues being forcibly shut down in Bangalore (and maybe other cities) citing nonsensical civic disturbance rules, and now with the ongoing pandemic, these musicians are finding it increasing difficult to find their audience. You can stream their music off Spotify or Amazon Music or Tidal. Please support them and all musicians through these tough times!

 

[shyamv]

My Essential Listening Jazz list of 20 albums across various sub-forms of Jazz - Avante-Garde, Bebop, Post-Bop, Jazz-Fusion, Jazz-Rock, Contemporary Jazz etc. These albums are my personal favorites and have provided me endless hours of pleasure. In no particular order...

Miles Davis - Kind of Blue
Miles Davis - Birth Of The Cool
John Coltrane - Giant Steps
John Coltrane - Blue Train
Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers - Moanin'
Ornette Coleman - The Shape of Jazz to come
Herbie Hancock - Maiden Voyage
Charlie Parker - Jazz at Massey Hall
Cannonball Adderley - Something Else!
Wes Montgomery - The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery
Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong - Ella and Louis
Dave Brubeck - Take Five
Mahavishnu Orchestra - The Inner Mounting Flame
Billy Cobham - Spectrum
Thelonious Monk - Misterioso
Charlie Mingus - Mingus Ah Um
Sonny Rollins - Saxophone Collosus
Weather Report - Heavy Weather
Jaco Pastorius - Jaco Pastorius
Kamasi Washington - The Epic

Happy Listening!

Would love to hear about your Top 20 as well!

 

[Fiftyfifty]

My Essential Listening Jazz list of 20 albums across various sub-forms of Jazz - Avante-Garde, Bebop, Post-Bop, Jazz-Fusion, Jazz-Rock, Contemporary Jazz etc. These albums are my personal favorites and have provided me endless hours of pleasure. In no particular order...

Miles Davis - Kind of Blue
Miles Davis - Birth Of The Cool
John Coltrane - Giant Steps
John Coltrane - Blue Train
Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers - Moanin'
Ornette Coleman - The Shape of Jazz to come
Herbie Hancock - Maiden Voyage
Charlie Parker - Jazz at Massey Hall
Cannonball Adderley - Something Else!
Wes Montgomery - The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery
Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong - Ella and Louis
Dave Brubeck - Take Five
Mahavishnu Orchestra - The Inner Mounting Flame
Billy Cobham - Spectrum
Thelonious Monk - Misterioso
Charlie Mingus - Mingus Ah Um
Sonny Rollins - Saxophone Collosus
Weather Report - Heavy Weather
Jaco Pastorius - Jaco Pastorius
Kamasi Washington - The Epic

Happy Listening!

Would love to hear about your Top 20 as well!

I could copy paste your list and say 'me too' . In addition, I'm fond of vocal jazz. Will post my list soon.

 

[Fiftyfifty]

I could copy paste your list and say 'me too' . In addition, I'm fond of vocal jazz. Will post my list soon.

Some others that I would as an add-on to your list:
Duke Ellington - Live at Newport
Dave Brubeck - Jazz at Oberlin
Chick Corea - My Spanish Heart
Oliver Nelson - The Blues and the Abstract Truth
Al Jarreau - Look to the Rainbow
George Benson and Al Jarreau - Givin'it Up
Miles Davis - Tutu and Filles de Kilimanjaro
Diane Reeves - Good night and Good luck
Jon Hendricks - Freddie Freeloader
Bobby McFerrin and Chick Corea - Play
Bird motion picture soundtrack featuring Charlie Parker
Tsuyoshi Yamamoto - Misty
Joshua Redman- Walking Shadows
Lee konitz - Jazz nocturne
Ella songs the Core Porter songbook
Weather Report - Sporting Life
Joe Zawinul - My people
Wayne Shorter - Speak no Evil
Dennis Rowland - Now Dig this
Nar King Cole - Quadromania
Clifford Brown - Study in Brown
+ With Max roach - A night at Birdland

The list is not exhaustive and my apologies to those i missed out on.

Cheers!

 

[shyamv]

Some others that I would as an add-on to your list:
Duke Ellington - Live at Newport
Dave Brubeck - Jazz at Oberlin
Chick Corea - My Spanish Heart
Oliver Nelson - The Blues and the Abstract Truth
Al Jarreau - Look to the Rainbow
George Benson and Al Jarreau - Givin'it Up
Miles Davis - Tutu and Filles de Kilimanjaro
Diane Reeves - Good night and Good luck
Jon Hendricks - Freddie Freeloader
Bobby McFerrin and Chick Corea - Play
Bird motion picture soundtrack featuring Charlie Parker
Tsuyoshi Yamamoto - Misty
Joshua Redman- Walking Shadows
Lee konitz - Jazz nocturne
Ella songs the Core Porter songbook
Weather Report - Sporting Life
Joe Zawinul - My people
Wayne Shorter - Speak no Evil
Dennis Rowland - Now Dig this
Nar King Cole - Quadromania
Clifford Brown - Study in Brown
+ With Max roach - A night at Birdland

The list is not exhaustive and my apologies to those i missed out on.

Cheers!

Great list. Several of these would find a place in my Top 30 or Top 50 lists. I guess these lists can never be exhaustive. All they can be is serve as a starting point for someone who is new this music form. In addition, these lists can be in some ways a 'gold standard' that is representational of a certain type of music and has stood the test of time.

On an aside, Jazz even from the 50s and 60s are so well recorded in comparison to pop/rock music of the same time. Maybe the jazz artists were more particular about recorded sound or could be that the music lends itself to a better listening experience. 8 times out of 10, I end up using a jazz cd (with the possible exception of Steely Dan) as a reference for testing my equipment.

 

[Fiftyfifty]

Great list. Several of these would find a place in my Top 30 or Top 50 lists. I guess these lists can never be exhaustive. All they can be is serve as a starting point for someone who is new this music form. In addition, these lists can be in some ways a 'gold standard' that is representational of a certain type of music and has stood the test of time.

On an aside, Jazz even from the 50s and 60s are so well recorded in comparison to pop/rock music of the same time. Maybe the jazz artists were more particular about recorded sound or could be that the music lends itself to a better listening experience. 8 times out of 10, I end up using a jazz cd (with the possible exception of Steely Dan) as a reference for testing my equipment.

Fully agree that quality of recording is better on jazz albums. My test discs are Take 5 and the Ellington/Armstrong version of It Don't Mean a Thing. In the exception list for testing equipment, Aja of course, also Zappa's Yellow Shark and Beach Boys Pet Sounds

 

[shyamv]

Yes. Aja of course..probably the best recorded album of all time!

 

[coaltrain]

Man, I love lists! And, I’m relieved to see I’m not the only one with this affliction
But just to spice things up, I’ll be posting variations of ‘essential top 20 jazz albums’.

Here‘s my ‘Top 20 Blue Notes in Regular Rotation’ list
(Posting pics so you can check out the other musicians on the album. Classic Blue Notes from the 50s/60s always had amazing lineups.)

 

[Fiftyfifty]

Man, I love lists! And, I’m relieved to see I’m not the only one with this affliction
But just to spice things up, I’ll be posting variations of ‘essential top 20 jazz albums’.

Here‘s my ‘Top 20 Blue Notes in Regular Rotation’ list
(Posting pics so you can check out the other musicians on the album. Classic Blue Notes from the 50s/60s always had amazing lineups.)

View attachment 48758
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View attachment 48760
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View attachment 48762

And these are fantastic cover designs too. Worth a small fortune even without the record inside!

 

[Jayant_S]

Man, I love lists! And, I’m relieved to see I’m not the only one with this affliction
But just to spice things up, I’ll be posting variations of ‘essential top 20 jazz albums’.

Here‘s my ‘Top 20 Blue Notes in Regular Rotation’ list
(Posting pics so you can check out the other musicians on the album. Classic Blue Notes from the 50s/60s always had amazing lineups.)

View attachment 48758
View attachment 48759
View attachment 48760
View attachment 48761
View attachment 48762

I see so many of my favorites in there!
It's hard, almost impossible to have a fixed top 20 in Jazz. But for sure some of these remain in a fixed top 20 rotation for me too. Now I'm inspired to pull out my current 20 fav spins and parade them
An enjoyable task for the weekend

 

[coaltrain]

Now I'm inspired to pull out my current 20 fav spins and parade them

Yes please, Jayant!
With most ‘best of’ lists, we tend to select all the well established classics. I’d love to see lesser known favourites grab the spotlight for a change.
Rest assured, I’m scribbling down all the stuff I haven’t heard

 

[shyamv]

Yes please, Jayant!
With most ‘best of’ lists, we tend to select all the well established classics. I’d love to see lesser known favourites grab the spotlight for a change.
Rest assured, I’m scribbling down all the stuff I haven’t heard

Absolutely. My intent was to first pick the most loved albums which are regarding as 'Gold Standard' in various sub-forms of Jazz that can serve as a primer for someone who is new to it.

Now to lesser known artists/albums!

 

[moktan]

Hard swinging bop .. one of the best releases this year.
Dialogues on Race , Vol 1
Gregg August

 

[Sushant Sharma]

Hardly a jazz great who Idrees Suleiman did not play with. Theres beautiful melodic playing whether he is just playing straight out or improvising or whatever else.