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Welcome to another 2 hours of jazz on Radio Mecha. As I have before, I'll be posting some links, comments and credits as the set plays, which I hope are of interest to those listening, as well as to those who come to this thread later.
In this program, I've included a couple of "live" long form peices, that are essentially improvisations. If you like extended jazz improvisations, this program and the next are going to be good ones, where the longer time formats of these works give ample room for the musicians to fully develop musical themes. Conversely, if you don't like improvisation, or these particular themes, well, maybe you'll enjoy some of the shorter tunes before and after. And as usual, after our opening theme, we'll hear from Art Tatum, and then some other early jazz by Django Reinhardt, Sidney Bechet, and Charlie Parker.
Art Tatum playing a tune George Gershwin originally wrote as an up tempo dance number, before his brother Ira and particularly their lyrics collaborator Howard Dietz had the good sense to re-think it as the beautiful ballad most of us know it as, and put in as the show stopper in the 1926 musical "Oh, Kay!".
Rex Stewart and His Feetwarmers [ Rex Stewart (cornet), Barney Bigard (clarinet & drums), Django Reinhardt (guitar), and Billy Taylor (bass) ] recorded April 5, 1939 in Paris, doing a Rex Stewart tune.
Tommy Ladnier and His Orchestra [ Tommy Ladnier (trumpet), Sidney Bechet (clarinet & soprano sax), Mezz Mezzrow (clarinet & tenor sax), Cliff Johnson (piano), Teddy Bunn (guitar), Elmer James (bass), Manzie Johnson (drums)] playing a Mezz Mezzrow tune recorded November 28, 1938 in NYC.
Billie Holiday with Teddy Wilson's Orchestra, doing a tune by Maceo Pinkard, Sidney D. Mitchell, and Kaye Alexandar, recorded July 2, 1935 at Brunswick studios, NYC.
Charlie Parker and His All-Stars [Charlie Parker (alto sax), Dizzy Gillispie (trumpet), Bud Powell (piano), Tommy Potter (bass), and Roy Haynes (drums)], with a Dizzy Gillespie/Frank Papparelli tune, broadcast live from Birdland, NYC on March 31, 1951. From the "Yardbird Suite" compilation boxed set.
#8 En Aranjuez Con Tu Amor (adagio from "Concierto De Aranjuez")
From the 1998 CD re-issue of the album "Miles Davis at Carnegie Hall: Complete," this is Miles Davis with a 21 piece orchestra led by Gil Evans, recorded May 19, 1961, doing an adaption of a theme by Joaquin Rodrigo, first recorded for the 1959 "Sketches of Spain" album. This is a "bonus" track, not included on the original 1961 LP, probably because, at 17:51 duration, it was just too long for the LP format. But it does showcase Davis and his short-lived 1961 Quintet [Paul Chambers (bass), Jimmy Cobb (drums), Wynton Kelly (piano) and Hank Mobley (tenor sax)] with some fine improvisational work.
Frank Sinatra with a November 22, 1961 recording of the Cole Porter standard, a tune he recorded 4 times from 1947 to 1977 (the last version being a disco arrangement!). This 1961 date for Reprise, with a Don Costas orchestra, is from a period where Sinatra was producing himself, and is perhaps the most polished version, although the tempo is pretty slow, and the phrasing at times nearly operatic. From "The Very Best of Frank Sinatra."
In this, the second of the long form pieces of this program, Keith Jarrett plays the first part of his January 24, 1975 concert in Köln, Germany. In total, at 66 minutes +, the whole concert is perhaps the longest solo improvisation on piano to be released with major commercial success, and this selection represents just the first part of that. The performance has been extensively reviewed and critqued, not always with kindness. At the time of its release, some critics even opined that the music wasn't "really" jazz.
I think it is jazz, as do most of the hundreds of thousands of people who've made this one of Jarrett's best selling recordings.
My day was meetings and numbers, but my work week is half over since I head out to Denver Thursday afternoon. Upon your recommendation, we're going to check out Joel Harrison Saturday night so I'm looking forward to that, among other things. :)
This is the absolute first time I've gotten to listen to MetaChat Radio, and...well...Stan Getz and Joyo Giberto! paulsc, you my hee-row. Very pleasant, after a trying day of worrying about finding the Next Big Gig while slaving to finish the present one.
(Also, rooting for the Braves to best the Marlins -- 6-6 in the top of the 4th...)
I have a new reason to get speedmarching done quickly Tues and Thurs. Glad I have a really bitchin' USB headset for long chats...it's doubled nicely as a superior set of computer 'phones.
Wow, I had no idea Jean-Paul Rampal played jazz flute too! About five bars into it I suspected 'twas him, though -- dunno, maybe it's distinctive phrasing?
Pat Metheny (guitar), Dave Holland (bass) and Roy Haynes (drums) from the 1990 CD "Question and Answer" with a tune by Miles Davis.
And yes, this is the same Roy Haynes that we heard earlier, in selection #6... The same guy I had to miss last week at the Jacksonville Jazz Fest, in order to hear McCoy Tyner!
"About five bars into it I suspected 'twas him, though -- dunno, maybe it's distinctive phrasing?"
posted by PaxDigita 24 April | 19:37
May be, but I find that Rampal gets a lot of air through his flute too, and so he gets these really fluid attacks, deep vibrato, and great tonal support throughout his dynamic range. He's one of those guys whose a good musician, but really, more a near-genuis as a technician. Tons o' technique...
Once again, The Bill Evans Trio, with Eddie Gomez on bass and Eliot Zigmund on drums, takes us out with the title track from the 1977 album of the same name. To recap, in this set, we heard:
1. McCoy Tyner - The Greeting (2:27)
2. Art Tatum - Someone to Watch Over Me (3:49)
3. Django Reinhardt - Low Cotton (3:01)
4. Sidney Bechet - Really The Blues / Tommy Ladnier & His Orchestra (3:39)
5. Billie Holiday - Sugar (That Sugar Baby O' Mine) (2:50)
6. Charlie Parker - Blue 'n' Boogie (7:20)
7. Erroll Garner - A Cottage for Sale (6:25)
8. Miles Davis - En Aranjuez Con Tu Amor (adagio from "Concierto De Aranjuez") (17:05)
9. Frank Sinatra - Night And Day (1961) (3:37)
10. George Shearing - A Foggy Day (3:17)
11. Keith Jarrett - Part I (25:59)
12. Joăo Gilberto/Stan Getz - Retrato en Branco e Prieto (Picture in Black and White) (4:04)
13. Wes Montgomery - Mr. Walker (4:33)
14. Bill Evans - One For Helen (5:22)
15. Jean-Pierre Rampal & Claude Bolling - Veloce (3:40)
16. Diana Krall - Broadway (7:27)
17. Pat Metheny, Dave Holland, Roy Haynes - Solar (8:27)
18. Ella Fitzgerald - Isn't It A Pity? (3:25)
19. Bill Evans Trio - I Will Say Goodbye (3:30)
Next time, we'll tackle "some more" of Keith Jarrett's improvisations...
In another life, there was a remote but nonetheless distinct possibility that although I'd intended to enlist in the Navy for the nuclear-power program, I suspect I'd've been a better fit as an ST (think of Jonesy in The Hunt for Red October) because I used to sit and play "Guess which composer/ which artist" listening to classical music.
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