Piątek 15 Lut 2008, 8:30
Kurt Vonnegut said, in his book, Timequake:
"…lovemaking, if sincere, is one of the best ideas Satan put in the apple she gave to the serpent to give to Eve.The best idea in that apple, though, is making jazz."
I've always felt the same, but have had a hard time finding recordings of the kind of jazz that makes me feel like I just had a seriously sincere bite of that apple. Lately, though, my local library has been getting in more and more classic jazz CDs, and I'm taking full advantage.
Now, when some people say "jazz", they are talking about any flaccid instrumental music played by a geri-curled white guy with a soprano sax. I say "balls" to that crap. I'm talking about guys (and gals) who know their instruments, and love making them talk, standing in a circle, taking turns just playing.
But I'm about to start name-dropping, and if you don't want to read that, at least skim through and click on the preview arrows. Do yourself a favor and give some of this stuff a listen:
I've always liked big band stuff; Harry Connick, Jr. is a top notch entertainer with a fantastic crew; listening to his stuff led me to Duke Ellington and the like. I had a "Cotton Club" CD with lots of Ellington, Cab Calloway, Lena Horne; and that used to be enough. But then…
Miles Davis - I was a trumpet player myself, and people who know that have always recommmended Miles, but I only really "got" him recently. I found a copy of Cookin' With the Miles Davis Quintet for a dollar somewhere, and picked it up. It had My Funny Valentine on it, and I thought that was cool, but it was Airegin that hooked me. And after a few listens, I knew I wanted more. So when the library had Birth of the Cool, I picked it up, only to be completely blown away by Move!
I grabbed Blue Train, next. My first impression of John Coltrane had come from high school jazz band, where his devotees struggled to sound like something other than a cat getting violated. That was unfair, and after hearing the title track of Blue Train, I was sold.
And now, I knew I liked bebop.
That gave me a good staring point. From looking at the line-ups on their album credits, I started to figure out who I liked: Philly Joe Jones and Paul Chambers were the drums and bass, respectively on those first two albums. Lee Morgan played trumpet on Blue Train… I sniffed around for other greats they had played with.
I found Wayne Shorter that way. The library had Night Dreamer and Speak No Evil this week. Freddie Hubbard's name jumped out at me from one of those albums; I knew of Freddie because he played on Billy Joel's Zanzibar 52nd Street album, and I had tracked down Freddie's fantastic Red Clay after hearing that.
Somehow, I stumbled over Cannonball Adderley, too. His Somethin' Else - which featured Miles on horn - was… and I adored his Fiddler on the Roof and Mercy, Mercy, Mercy! Live at 'The Club'.
Now, I realize that non-jazz fans have left for other journals by this point. No one likes to sit and read a list of names that mean nothing to them. I sympathize; that's what kept me from getting into this stuff for so long. But I hope something here will spark someone's curiosity enough to surf over and play a few sample tracks.
I haven't even scratched the surface of what I like, let alone what is out there. There is a whole world of great stuff; Joe Pass and Django Reinhardt, if you like amazing guitar; Weather Report, Herbie Hancock's Sextant, and other post-fusion stuff if you feel like following the trail into the future.
I'm not a very convincing serpent… but this is a damned good apple. Sure you don't want a bite? :)