Reminder, and a Request of a musical sort

[lagilman]

Contest the First has twenty-four hours left! Give me a haiku on why you want/deserve a copy of STAYING DEAD and you might win it! (Prizes awarded for best and worst offering, as judged by the judges). Contest the Second will be posted on 4/16. Yes, you can enter both.

And, in a different topic: cuing up for...something, I seem to be on a jazz kick again, acquiring several new albums over the weekend. My genre knowledge is scattershot, and I know that I'm missing out on a lot of new artists -- can anyone point me to a few folk I might like? For reference, this weekend I listened to Coltrain, Spyro Gyra, David Sanborn, Diana Krall, Rick Braun, Pat Metheny Group, and Stan Getz (off the top of my head).

Sax is a plus, as you may have gathered, but I'm a sucker for a well-played trumpet, too.

Comments

[neutronjockey.livejournal.com]

...whenever I get into the Jazzie mood it's typically Preservation Era Jazz ('Nawlins style, big band, big swing), or sultry jazz vocalists --- because it takes a real man to handle Nina Simone.
*shudder*

[lagilman]

Preservation Era jazz is where I started, via my dad, but I have to really be in the right mood for that.

[neutronjockey.livejournal.com]

I use jazz to bring me out of a mood or funk. The exception being Miles Davis-- but I'm crossing into blues territory, deep blues, deeep nasty bluez. Miles does things to my brain.

Jazz? You want Jazz?

[rosenhaus.livejournal.com]

Some suggestions:

Dave Brubeck Quartet: Time Out (also known as Time Out/Take Five). The DBQ with Paul Desmond (the coolest alto sax player I have ever heard. You'll have heard the tunes (Brubeck is known best for "Take Five" but Desmond wrote it). It's hard to believe they recorded this in the late 1950s. Really. Oh, and Brubeck started out playing with Getz.

A little while back Columbia Records had a series called "The Essence of"; if those are still available, they make great introductions to jazz. My favorites are the Miles Davis and Thelonius Monk CDs.

That help?

Steven

Re: Jazz? You want Jazz?

[lagilman]

Take Five I've got, and somewhere in the stuff Still in Storage should be a copy of the Carnegie Hall concert. (I was Very Annoyed to miss DB last year two years ago? because I was out of state that weekend. Bah.)

[girasole.livejournal.com]

You might possibly enjoy Rodrigo y Gabriela, two Mexican guitarists who now live in Dublin. Their style is a luscious combo of Spanish/folk/flamenco/rock/Celtic, occasionally jazzy sort of the way Metheny is. I play their CD a lot. Their versions of "Stairway to Heaven" and "Orion" are not to be missed.

[jon-chance.livejournal.com]

I adore Brubeck. I'm very glad I saw him perform a few years ago... he was amazing and still had it. I am also quite glad I've seen Les Paul perform live as the man is about a bazillion years old and who knows how much longer he'll be able?

How about Vince Guaraldi, the man who did the wonderful music for "A Charlie Brown Christmas"? In that "cool jazz" vein is also John Coltrane and Miles Davis.

A piece of trivia you'll appreciate is years ago, when AOL was da shiznit Tommy Shaw used to log onto the weekly Styx live chat and Thelonius Monk was his user name.

[smoemeth.livejournal.com]

The only jazz I know is the out-there avant Downtown Jazz variety of the kind that John Zorn used to put out on the Knitting Factory label ... but if you like a well-played trumpet check out our band's trumpet player, Russ Johnson (www.russjohnsonmusic.com). His record is beautiful, if a bit pointy around the edges.

Also, I really enjoy Todd Sickafoose's Blood Orange (former band member, yes, but I'd recommend it anyway). Again, a bit out-there and pointy, but gorgeous stuff. Todd is an *incredible* bass player, and he surrounds himself with similarly incredible musicians. There's some good winds on his records as well.

[debg.livejournal.com]

Mingus. Miles. You already have 'trane, right?

I rarely rec particular pieces - music is so damned visceral and subjective. But for what it's worth, my own "does not leave the house with anyone but me" CDs are Miles' Sketches of Spain, Kind of Blue and Bitches Brew (in that order - SoS KILLS me), Coltrane's Africa Brass, and Mingus, well, pick one. I don't have to pick one; I have the six-CD "Passions of a Man" set.

Mmmmmm, classic jazz.....

[fakefrenchie.livejournal.com]

Jaco Pasturious"

[hilleviw.livejournal.com]

Okay, I see you've got some knowledge and basis already, and you've been getting some fine recommendations. As has been observed, it's hard to go wrong with Miles.

In your original post you specifically mention sax and trumpet, so starting with strumpet: it's probably too obvious by half, but Louis Armstrong and Dizzy Gillespie do rather leap to mind. To combine great sax with great trumpet you could do a lot worse than "Bird and Diz", a collaboration between Dizzy Gillespie and Charles Parker. Sadly, no great contemporary trumpeter comes to mind. A lot of people seem to like Chris Botti, but I find his work - thin - for lack of a better adjective. Not bad at all, but he doesn't ever do anything that makes me think about a piece of music in a whole new way.

A couple of more contemporary sex players that you might like are Joshua Redman, Kenny Garrett and Rick Margitza. My favourite from Redman is Freedom in the Groove, and the mere fact that there's a grooving track named Cat Battles must surely indicate that it belongs as part of your household. Kenny Garrett is prolific, and there's a lot to choose from; I favor the more intimate ensembles. There's a recording called Triology (which, oddly enough, features a trio) which is one of my favorites. Margitza's a bit lower profile and there's less to choose from - I like everything I've heard about evenly. Maybe Hands of Time stands out just a hair.

If you like Spyro and Metheny, you may also like the Yellowjackets. Their bassist, Jimmy Haslip, is extraordinary.

You didn't ask about vocalists or pianists, but I'll volunteer a couple anyway. A couple of years ago I saw Edsel Gomez at the Saratoga jazz fest, and he absolutely floored me. He was playing with David Sanchez, who I thought was an okay saxman, but Gomez was stunning. Brubeck played two sets later, and he commented about how great Edsel had been, and brought him out to take another bow even though his set had been over for hours, he was just there as a sideman, and the two had never met before. Anyway, Edsel Gomez. He put out a solo album not long ago, and while it's not perfect, it's pretty wonderful.

As for singers, you might enjoy Karrin Allison, who has a very smokey, interesting voice. Roberta Gambarini's been garnering a lot of attention lately - I like her a lot, but don't love her stuff.

And for some of the finest guitar work ever, there's the two recordings by the trio of Al di Meola, John McLaughlin and Paco de Lucia. Friday Night in San Francisco, and Guitar Trio. They'll steal your breath away.

Finally, I can't offer jazz recommendations without pointing you at The Enchantment, last year's collaboration between Chick Corea and Bela Fleck.

Jazz sweet Jazz

[(Anonymous)]

Check out *The Best Blue Note Album in the World . . . Ever* - it's an amazing two disc compilation from several decades of (obviously) Blue Note Records, and is an education and a joy.

If you can find it (out of print for many years, due to contractual conflicts), Mike Mainieri's *Wanderlust* is audio absinthe.

Leonard Pung (not on LJ yet)

P.S. I have enjoyed your Retrievers books greatly!