All That Jazz ...

Wayne Shorter's debut album as a leader. A stellar lineup with his Jazz Messengers band mate Lee Morgan, and the Miles quintet rhythm section of Wynton Kelly, Paul Chambers and Jimmy Cobb. Just superb listening. Paul Chambers is as tight and commanding as ever here, Lee Morgan stretches his legs out and has a ball - a must listen!

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"Lee Morgan stretches his legs out and has a ball". I'd like to listen to that.
 
Wayne Shorter's debut album as a leader. A stellar lineup with his Jazz Messengers band mate Lee Morgan, and the Miles quintet rhythm section of Wynton Kelly, Paul Chambers and Jimmy Cobb. Just superb listening. Paul Chambers is as tight and commanding as ever here, Lee Morgan stretches his legs out and has a ball - a must listen!

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Interesting and impressive lineup
 
Way back in the late 70s, every kid knew ’Love For Sale’ as a cool groove by Boney M. It would take decades before I discovered that the best rendition was by God herself:

 
Wayne Shorter's debut album as a leader. A stellar lineup with his Jazz Messengers band mate Lee Morgan, and the Miles quintet rhythm section of Wynton Kelly, Paul Chambers and Jimmy Cobb. Just superb listening. Paul Chambers is as tight and commanding as ever here, Lee Morgan stretches his legs out and has a ball - a must listen!

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Nice one, Jayant.
Shorter’s writing is something else.
 
Wayne Shorter's debut album as a leader. A stellar lineup with his Jazz Messengers band mate Lee Morgan, and the Miles quintet rhythm section of Wynton Kelly, Paul Chambers and Jimmy Cobb. Just superb listening. Paul Chambers is as tight and commanding as ever here, Lee Morgan stretches his legs out and has a ball - a must listen!

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Thanks Jayant, this is such a wonderful album - helps me stretch out my own legs and enjoy the music. I just felt that the band lost the spirit of "Mack the Knife" in this hard hoppy version. But for that one track, it was just superb!

Strange title, because Shorter was already well known and well respected as a principal member of the Messengers by then and needed no 'introduction'.

I feel excited following the music of Shorter and Herbie Hancock whose discography truly reflects the journey of 'black American music' over the decades.

Keep posting Chief!
 
Thanks Jayant, this is such a wonderful album - helps me stretch out my own legs and enjoy the music. I just felt that the band lost the spirit of "Mack the Knife" in this hard hoppy version. But for that one track, it was just superb!

Strange title, because Shorter was already well known and well respected as a principal member of the Messengers by then and needed no 'introduction'.

I feel excited following the music of Shorter and Herbie Hancock whose discography truly reflects the journey of 'black American music' over the decades.

Keep posting Chief!
Completely agree on the discography and progression of Shorter and Hancock. There's just so much to absorb and appreciate in their work

I thought a hard bop cover of Mack the Knife was discordant in the album's flow - although I liked it!
 
QUOTE OF THE DAY
"Sincere jazz musicians aim at excellence and apparently nothing else. They are hard to buy and if bought they either backslide into honesty or lose the respect of their peers. And this is the loss that terrifies them. In any other field of American life, great reward can be used to cover the loss of honesty, but not with jazz players—a slip is known and recognized instantly. And further, while there may be some jealousies, they do not compare with those in other professions. Let a filthy kid, unknown, unheard of and unbacked sit in —and if he can do it—he is recognized and accepted instantly. Do you know of any other field where this is true?"
- JOHN STEINBECK
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QUOTE OF THE DAY
"Sincere jazz musicians aim at excellence and apparently nothing else. They are hard to buy and if bought they either backslide into honesty or lose the respect of their peers. And this is the loss that terrifies them. In any other field of American life, great reward can be used to cover the loss of honesty, but not with jazz players—a slip is known and recognized instantly. And further, while there may be some jealousies, they do not compare with those in other professions. Let a filthy kid, unknown, unheard of and unbacked sit in —and if he can do it—he is recognized and accepted instantly. Do you know of any other field where this is true?"
- JOHN STEINBECK
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Profound words Kishore. With regards to "sit in" as mentioned. The thriving jazz culture and clubs and band leaders picking up talent as they use to, I doubt it happens now and to the degree it was possible earlier. Lee Morgan a young talent blowing that horn and making waves from an unknown commodity comes to my mind but I am not familiar with the road to his rise per se. Nobody wants to compromise his/her art but a commensurate reward in terms of money or recognition must be on artists minds.
 
This is just such a pleasure to listen to. It's a radio programme. In the write-up, some videos also included. Nostalgia, artistry, legendary, fine and mellow:
 
A whole set of shows hosted by David Brent Johnson on Nightlights, featuring some great performances:
 
Found this gem of an album. Haven't seen the movie, has anyone?
Thanks for the share :). I watched this movie last night (Prime video) and almost liked it! The excellent Jazz soundtrack complements the narrative, very well.

This film is based on Jonathan Lethem's, 1990s book of the same name. But, Edward Norton has transposed the tale to 1957 from the 1980s in the book, to make the characters seem more authentic. The end result is that we have a film which resembles the film noir era, albeit with a modern touch.

Edward Norton plays a detective, Lionel, with an incredible memory, some OCD and Tourette's syndrome. The affliction in his brain causes him to suddenly blurt out meaningless and often objectionable words, which results in several humorous exchanges throughout the movie. Many of these are unintended, resulting due to Lionel's condition, but its there and gives the movie some of the deadpan humor resembling the period. Norton was excellent here as the funny/sad loner detective.

The movie's plot (not the ending) is quite predictable, but the very good acting overall (especially Edward Norton), decently developed characters and the fast pacing kept this on a boil, till the end. This also brings back memories from a period (like Roman Polanksi's "Chinatown") involving a lone investigator getting embroiled in a convoluted scheme he never imagined when he started out on. Instead of over the top action and special effects, this uses the narrative, characters, structure and soundtrack to build and maintain its tension.

However, there are some trite and in your face elements in the story, which might dampen the mood :)
 
Thanks for the share :). I watched this movie last night (Prime video) and almost liked it! The excellent Jazz soundtrack complements the narrative, very well.

This film is based on Jonathan Lethem's, 1990s book of the same name. But, Edward Norton has transposed the tale to 1957 from the 1980s in the book, to make the characters seem more authentic. The end result is that we have a film which resembles the film noir era, albeit with a modern touch.

Edward Norton plays a detective, Lionel, with an incredible memory, some OCD and Tourette's syndrome. The affliction in his brain causes him to suddenly blurt out meaningless and often objectionable words, which results in several humorous exchanges throughout the movie. Many of these are unintended, resulting due to Lionel's condition, but its there and gives the movie some of the deadpan humor resembling the period. Norton was excellent here as the funny/sad loner detective.

The movie's plot (not the ending) is quite predictable, but the very good acting overall (especially Edward Norton), decently developed characters and the fast pacing kept this on a boil, till the end. This also brings back memories from a period (like Roman Polanksi's "Chinatown") involving a lone investigator getting embroiled in a convoluted scheme he never imagined when he started out on. Instead of over the top action and special effects, this uses the narrative, characters, structure and soundtrack to build and maintain its tension.

However, there are some trite and in your face elements in the story, which might dampen the mood :)
I'll watch it now after your inspirational post. Thanks!
 
The spiritual side of John Coltrane reflects in his music. For me there is a certain common thread in these following songs.

Alabama from live at Birdland
Attaining from Sun ship
Psalm from A Love Supreme
Spiritual from Alove Supreme
Equinox from Coltrane"s Sound

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Elvin jones is the drummer on all of these (I think) and his thunderous style of drumming on most of these tracks also lends a very particular atmosphere to the sound.
 
The spiritual side of John Coltrane reflects in his music. For me there is a certain common thread in these following songs.

Alabama from live at Birdland
Attaining from Sun ship
Psalm from A Love Supreme
Spiritual from Alove Supreme
Equinox from Coltrane"s Sound

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Elvin jones is the drummer on all of these (I think) and his thunderous style of drumming on most of these tracks also lends a very particular atmosphere to the sound.
Very insightful observation Sushant! There is certainly a connect between the songs you've listed. All beautiful evocative songs!
On another note, I wonder what makes one perceive an instrumental piece of music as 'spiritual'. Any thoughts?
 
Hi Kishore. you've gone to the more pertinent and the heart of the matter straight. I agree that spoken word is easier to categorize than music or instrumentation which is more abstract.
It"d be a tall order attempting this one but I am not going to shy away from shooting from the hip once more. I must make it clear though that my philistine self is very square and dabbling into spirituality for me personally might come in time (I cant take the excuse of age anymore being not so young anymore) unless it is the "Old Monk" variety.

If we take spirituality to mean self reflection and awareness for things around us then certain music does that to us. Incorporating eastern instrumentation for Western audience sometimes is automatically termed as "spiritual". The Gong at a Buddhist monastery or a conch shell at a Hindu Temple or the Organ playing (reminds me of Church music). However, Stereotypes are very easily built up.
Also, prayer and meditation can be very spiritual for some and in that case we could look to "Church Spirituals" (not limited to) and more importantly the instruments and the vibe and atmosphere they lend and take a cue from there for one. My spirituality or the version of it could be different than others and my definition of music that moves me spiritually could be the same. Now I am really getting ahead of myself. :)


"The problem with labelling a genre ‘spiritual’ is that in commodifying a process of artistic self-discovery we limit its scope for growth outside the pre-determined definitions of the onlooker. External signifiers become emphasised and marketed to the fan who develops a sense that the artist has quantifiable attributes which we feel are necessary or admirable in our time. These attributes, which feed into preconceived ideas of spirituality, become more important than the inner journey embarked upon by the artist who wears this label. In this context an artist’s clothing, song titles, associated imagery, musical scale choices and choice of instrumentation all bolster the sense that his/her music can be adequately marketed as ‘spiritual’. The journey becomes reduced to the symbolism."
 
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Digging these albums off SPOTIFY.
 
Lovely, foot stomping, talented, superb soloing, a whole bunch of guys on horns but they are all so respectfully subdued, brings out the spirit of The Village. This was the so called west coast sound of that time. He led tentettes and nonets with all horns. I enjoyed this thoroughly and I hope you do too:
 
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