5/6/09

Dexter Gordon

Jazz Photo Compilation








Dexter Gordon in Round Midnight



As Time Goes By


Blue Note's Blue Bloods - Blue Notables - Vol. 3

31/5/09

Gerry Mulligan

Jazz Photo Compilation












Years of Solitude · Astor Piazzolla & Gerry Mulligan · 1974





The Gerry Mulligan Quartet


I Never Was A Young Man

California Cool

Miles Davis

Jazz Photo Compilation


















Miles Davis · Cool and Collected




01. So What
02. Summertime
03. Générique
04. Stella By Starlight
05. Fran-Dance (Put Your Little Foot Right Out) (Alternate Take)
06. Milestones
07. 'Round Midnight
08. Bye Bye Blackbird
09. Seven Steps To Heaven
10. Time After Time
11. E.S.P.
12. Human Nature
13. It's About That Time (Remix Featuring Carlos Santana)





Here's what it is.
There are certain aspects of life that just are not meant to be defined by words. You know what it is when you encounter it, but it works on a level words can't touch.
The whole concept of cool is like that. In fact, cool is so cool that dictionaries often use the word itself to attempt to describe it. "Socially adept" doesn't quite cut it. A lot of people describe themselves as cool, but those are people who don't have a clue as to what cool is. The people who are cool are, well, too cool to label themselves that way. When you're cool, other people already know it, so there's no need speak of it.

Miles Davis never said he was cool. His music said it all.
Cool and Collected is something of a sound bite in relation to how his music defined jazz in the latter half of the twentieth century. But what a sound bite it is!

Focusing mostly on the work he did in the mid- to late-'50s with various incarnations of the Miles Davis Quintet, this compilation showcases some of the tunes that made Miles Davis the epitome of cool. So What, arguably the tune that veered jazz away from bebop toward a more modal style, appropriately opens the album. In this 1959 version, Cannonball Adderly on alto sax and John Coltrane on tenor sax are also featured, as well as Bill Evans on piano, bassist Paul Chambers, and drummer Jimmy Cobb.

Much of Cool and Collected centers around the triumvirate of Davis, Coltrane, and Adderley. "Milestones," "Stella By Starlight," and "Fran-Dance" all showcase the three horn players bouncing scales off each other, and the interplay between them, nearly forty years later, still astounds. Between those four pieces alone, there's nearly 25 minutes of trumpet and sax swirling and dipping like the aural equivalents of birds at play.

But it's when Davis and Coltrane play together on the Thelonious Monk classic, "'Round Midnight," that may be the single most telling moment of what made Miles so freakin' cool. Here (and to a lesser extent, on "Bye Bye Blackbird"), we're reminded of an era when smoky, dimly lit bars were a sanctuary from the pressures of the middle class, and when mystery lay just beyond the next cocktail.

While the bulk of Cool and Collected focuses on his cool jazz work in the '50s, it does offer a few glimpses of where Davis would later head. A young Herbie Hancock is featured on "Seven Steps to Heaven" (1963), and the 1969 recording of "E.S.P." also features Wayne Shorter on sax and Ron Carter on bass. Particularly on the latter piece, we hear an inkling of the profound influence Davis had on the fusion movement, which would become the driving force of jazz in the 1970s.

No single album can encapsulate the work of a man whose career spanned nearly fifty years, especially in the case of someone like Miles Davis.
He defied every convention placed before his vision, and for over forty years, he constantly redefined jazz. What Cool and Collected does is show us in snapshots how he rose to that stature. While I would have liked to see more '70s work, what's included here is a valuable primer as to how it all began.
And how cool is that?


Miles Davis


Mr. Pastorius

The Best of Blue Note

25/1/09

Atlantic Jazz · Kansas City




Atlantic Jazz · Kansas City
Atlantic · 1990 · 69,70 Mb

01. You're Driving Me Crazy · Big Joe Turner
02. Lamp Is Low · Buck Clayton, Vic Dickenson
03. Hootie Blues · Jay McShann
04. E-Flat Boogie · Buster Smith
05. Confessin' the Blues · Jay McShann
06. Jumpin' at the Woodside · Jay McShann
07. Until the Real Thing Comes Along · Jay Turner
08. Undecided · Buck Clayton, Vic Dickenson
09. Evenin' · T-Bone Walker
10. Buster's Tune · Buster Smith
11. Piney Brown Blues · Big Joe Turner









Review
The Kansas City sound brought earthy yet lithe energy to both jazz and R&B: From the impulsive swing of Bennie Moten and Count Basie to Big Joe Turner's genre-straddling work, K.C.'s impact on music can be heard in rock, soul, and even funk. As part of its mammoth jazz box set, Atlantic spotlights such key K.C. figures as Jay McShann, alto saxophonist Buster Smith, and Turner himself. As a sort of potent aside, the disc also features some fine combo swing commandeered by Basie alum Vic Dickenson and Buck Clayton. And while the inclusion of T-Bone Walker is something of a mystery (a Texas native who worked out of L.A. for a good stretch), the inclusion of his cut of the classic "Evenin'" fits right into the flow here. Get out the whiskey and clear the dancefloor.
allmusic.com


Jay McShann




Review Extract
Pianist and vocalist Jay McShann, with whom Charlie Parker got his start, is the featured artist on three tracks recorded in 1977, a little late to get that authentic Kansas City taste. To hammer the point home, on one of the tracks McShann plays the electric piano. I can’t fault his choice of musicians, though, which include Buddy Tate and Paul Quinichette on tenor sax, Milt Hinton on bass, and a
young John Scofield on electric guitar, as they play on McShann's "Hootie Blues" and "Confessin' the Blues" and on Basie's rug-cutter, "Jumpin' at the Woodside."
epinions.com

18/1/09

Mas i Mas Festival




Mas i Mas Festival · Barcelona
2004 · 63.05 Min · 89,60 Mb

01. Llibert Fortuny Electric Quartet · Revolts
02. Kurt Rosenwinkel · Blue Line
03. Mehldau & Rossy Trio · At a loss
04. Martirio & Chano Domínguez Trío · Tatuaje
05. Perico Sambeat · Mirall
06. Laura Simó · Senza Fine
07. Robert Glasper Trio · In Passing!
08. Marc Ayza · Esencia de coco
09. Marcelo Mercadante · Rajá Turrito rajá
10. Albert Bover · The Peacocks



Mas i Mas Festival

16/1/09

Mosaic: A Celebration Of BN Records


Mosaic: A Celebration Of Blue Note Records
Blue Note · 2009 · 142 Mb

01. Mosaic · The Blue Note 7 · 8.30
02. Inner Urge · The Blue Note 7 · 7.34
03. Search For Peace · The Blue Note 7 · 7.56
04. Little B's Poem · The Blue Note 7 · 6.24
05. Criss Cross · The Blue Note 7 · 6.53
06. Dolphin Dance · The Blue Note 7 · 7.06
07. Idle Moments · The Blue Note 7 · 6.34
08. The Outlaw · The Blue Note 7 · 6.29
09. Mosaic · Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers · 8.10
10. Inner Urge · Joe Henderson · 11.55
11. Search For Peace · McCoy Tyner · 6.27
12. Little B's Poem · Bobby Hutcherson · 5.07
13. Criss Cross · Thelonious Monk · 2.54
14. Dolphin Dance · Herbie Hancock · 9.14
15. Idle Moments · Grant Green · 14.51
16. The Outlaw · Horace Silver Quintet · 6.04


Review
Blue Note 70th Anniversary

From the jump in 1939 jazz aficionados Alfred Lion and Frank Wolff, emigres from Berlin, followed their instincts by recording great artists playing pure jazz. The 50s and 60s were, and still are, considered the classic Blue Note period in relation to not only what they recorded but the engineering of Rudy Van Gelder, the photography of Frank Wolff, and, eventually, the art direction of Reid Miles.

The so-called hard bop of the mid- 50s in New York essentially began with a Blue Note album, Horace Silver and the Jazz Messengers. What hard bop did was to draw on rural blues and gospel music in finding a whole new audience for jazz.



The idea for a group to carry forth the tribute during Blue Note's 70th year originated with booking agent Jack Randall, and was formed by musical director Bill Charlap, Randall, and Danny Melnick. When plans for the extensive tour reached more than 50 American cities, the idea of a recording was inevitable.

The Blue Note 7 was not conceived as an all-star group but it is stellar in stature. It is more than a tribute band, a cadre with a cohesive compatibility, dealing with powerful music and reinterpreting it through their new arrangements and individual solos.
Amazon.com

Blue Note 7
Nicholas Payton trumpet
Steve Wilson alto sax, flute
Ravi Coltrane tenor sax
Peter Bernstein guitar
Bill Charlap piano
Peter Washington bass
Lewis Nash drums

Mosaic: A Celebration Of BN Records