What Jazz are you listening to now?

[AnotherSpin]

John Dikeman - saxophone
Marta Warelis - piano
Aaron Lumley - bass
Sun-Mi Hong - drums

[SimonNZ]

Wynton Marsalis - Thick in the South (Soul Gestures In Southern Blue, Vol. 1)

[KevinP]

Speaking of Ellington: I picked up a stray 2cd set from the big History label chronology, this one covering mid June 1930 to the start of January 1931. Most of it has Duke et al backing some really square crooners crooning some really square songs.

And it's not the first time I've wondered what the dynamic was in that arrangement. How happy sad or indifferent everybody was with that kind of work. But also I wonder at how this aspect of Duke discography is passed by without comment in the handful of books of now read on him. You'd think, as you might with most compilations, that Duke only ever worked with a handful of simpatico singers following his vision.

It's also what I wonder when I hear unconditional praise of the Blanton-Webster set: you've got to take away at least a half a point for the (thankfully fewer) square vocalists.

Yeah, he worked with such unique individualists on their instruments that it's surprising he didn't seek vocalists with the same qualities. One LP with Mahalia Jackson is the best we ever got.

Due credit: when he had an instrumentalist who could also sing, they were quite good. Thinking Ray Nance here.

And he did get a bit adventurous with wordless vocals on occasion.

Your claim about the Blanton-Webster set is valid, but I find the Fargo set suffers more.

[SimonNZ]

Yeah, he worked with such unique individualists on their instruments that it's surprising he didn't seek vocalists with the same qualities. One LP with Mahalia Jackson is the best we ever got.

Due credit: when he had an instrumentalist who could also sing, they were quite good. Thinking Ray Nance here.

And he did get a bit adventurous with wordless vocals on occasion.

Your claim about the Blanton-Webster set is valid, but I find the Fargo set suffers more.

He certainly had a handful of fine regular vocalists like Ivie Anderson or Al Hibbler who complemented the orchestra, and made some fine albums with star vocalists like Rosemary Clooney.

But I was thinking more of the sessions that don't get anthologised and are largely found only on complete chronologies of a certain period where the vocalists and material seemingly fit ill with Ellington.

I'm wondering if this was at the labels insistence and Duke more or less hated it, or if Duke was okay with it because the potential to give the label some standard fare pop hit would let the label be more sympathetic to their more adventurous sessions. And there's a surprisingly large amount of it.

Its a facet I haven't seen covered in any of the Ellington books I've read and I'd like to learn how Duke saw it. Maybe it would turn out that he liked these sugary crooning sessions just fine and saw not a huge difference in backing Ivie Anderson singing his own compositions.

[SimonNZ]

Wynton Marsalis - Uptown Ruler (Soul Gestures In Southern Blue, Vol. 2)

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

The Count Basie Orchestra. Live At Birdland.

[Henk]

New release. Very good imo.

[San Antone]

New release. Very good imo.

Very interesting! 

I had thought, "how odd, he used the same title as the Keith Jarrett album."  Well, this recording appears to be a homage to the classic ECM Keith Jarrett record from 1974, in which the Marsalis quartet performs the same songs in the same order as the earlier Jarrett record. 

As far as I know Branford Marsalis has only done this one other time, with Coltrane's A Love Supreme. This would place the Keith Jarrett record in rarified company.

Nice.

[Henk]

Very interesting! 

I had thought, "how odd, he used the same title as the Keith Jarrett album."  Well, this recording appears to be a homage to the classic ECM Keith Jarrett record from 1974, in which the Marsalis quartet performs the same songs in the same order as the earlier Jarrett record. 

As far as I know Branford Marsalis has only done this one other time, with Coltrane's A Love Supreme. This would place the Keith Jarrett record in rarified company.

Nice.

Thanks for commenting. Interesting, didn't know.

[Henk]

Very interesting! 

I had thought, "how odd, he used the same title as the Keith Jarrett album."  Well, this recording appears to be a homage to the classic ECM Keith Jarrett record from 1974, in which the Marsalis quartet performs the same songs in the same order as the earlier Jarrett record. 

As far as I know Branford Marsalis has only done this one other time, with Coltrane's A Love Supreme. This would place the Keith Jarrett record in rarified company.

Nice.

What do you think about it? Is it just for fun or is there some deeper thought behind it? Or maybe honouring the albums/artists?
Is this just a Branford Marsalis thing?

[San Antone]

What do you think about it? Is it just for fun or is there some deeper thought behind it? Or maybe honouring the albums/artists?
Is this just a Branford Marsalis thing?

I think it is very much welcome, and refurbishes a great record to a new luster. 

in 1974 When Belonging came out it was a major event in the jazz community. ECM was just getting off the ground, and Jarrett's European Quartet marked a new direction for Jarrett.  While the later releases with that band were good, Belonging was a unique achievement, IMO.

However, I've never enjoyed Jan Garbarek's tone on the sax, which for me marred the music, which I felt was uniformly excellent.

This release, with Branford Marsalis's deep roots in jazz and assembling a top flight quartet, beings back a record which I had always thought had been a somewhat missed opportunity. 

[Henk]

I think it is very much welcome, and refurbishes a great record to a new luster. 

in 1974 When Belonging came out it was a major event in the jazz community. ECM was just getting off the ground, and Jarrett's European Quartet marked a new direction for Jarrett.  While the later releases with that band were good, Belonging was a unique achievement, IMO.

However, I've never enjoyed Jan Garbarek's tone on the sax, which for me marred the music, which I felt was uniformly excellent.

This release, with Branford Marsalis's deep roots in jazz and assembling a top flight quartet, beings back a record which I had always thought had been a somewhat missed opportunity. 

That's very interesting indeed. 😀
But not unprovocative.
I think it's for the better. It could be welcomed by Jarrett and Garbarek too. But it is somewhat messing with someone else's music.
You are right imo. It refurbishes. There's long enough time between the old album and the new one, so that's an argument in support of it. Although we still don't know from Jarrett and Garbarek. It brings in descredit the original album. But the fans like you (and me) are happy, is that the final measure?

[San Antone]

But it is somewhat messing with someone else's music.

No - this is what jazz is all about.  There is no "messing" with the music.

[Henk]

No - this is what jazz is all about.  There is no "messing" with the music.

Ok, I think I agree. Then we might see this more. Btw, I edited (added some lines to) my previous post still a bit, but not very relevant anymore. Anyway, it's good for the fans and listeners, it's good for jazz.

[Henk]

No - this is what jazz is all about.  There is no "messing" with the music.

I remember Davis complaining about Wynton M who did something similar in the past. Davis said something like: 'Didn't we do it well at first?' So if Davis is saying this there's more weight to the thing and it becomes a dispute that the Marsalis brothers appear to win.

[San Antone]

I remember Davis complaining about Wynton M who did something similar in the past. Davis said something like: 'Didn't we do it well at first?' So if Davis is saying this there's more weight to the thing.

First, I take quotes from Miles Davis with a grain of salt. Second, Davis was talking generally about the style of jazz that his quintet from 1965-1968 worked in, which on a superficial level Wynton Marsalis appeared to be continuing in the 1980s.

Jazz is often about re-interpreting standards. And Wynton Marsalis has made a career out of revisiting previous eras of jazz, demonstrating that there is a timeless quality about the best of jazz from any era - and it is not always about the "next new thing."

[Henk]

First, I take quotes from Miles Davis with a grain of salt. Second, Davis was talking generally about the style of jazz that his quintet from 1965-1968 worked in, which on a superficial level Wynton Marsalis appeared to be continuing in the 1980s.

Jazz is often about re-interpreting standards. And Wynton Marsalis has made a career out of revisiting previous eras of jazz, demonstrating that there is a timeless quality about the best of jazz from any era - and it is not always about the "next new thing."

Highly interesting.

[AnotherSpin]

What do you think about it? Is it just for fun or is there some deeper thought behind it? Or maybe honouring the albums/artists?
Is this just a Branford Marsalis thing?

I can't recall right away, but I think I've come across some albums by other musicians who have done full covers of famous jazz albums. So far, the only one that comes to mind is Otomo Yoshihide's New Jazz Orchestra with their recording of Eric Dolphy's Out To Lunch.

[AnotherSpin]

I think it is very much welcome, and refurbishes a great record to a new luster. 

in 1974 When Belonging came out it was a major event in the jazz community. ECM was just getting off the ground, and Jarrett's European Quartet marked a new direction for Jarrett.  While the later releases with that band were good, Belonging was a unique achievement, IMO.

However, I've never enjoyed Jan Garbarek's tone on the sax, which for me marred the music, which I felt was uniformly excellent.

This release, with Branford Marsalis's deep roots in jazz and assembling a top flight quartet, beings back a record which I had always thought had been a somewhat missed opportunity. 

I also always had a problem with Garbarek's sound. However, I think that on vinyl it sounded less piercing, softer. My first Jarrett LP in the mid-70s was Arbour Zena with Garbarek, Haden, and a string orchestra. That is, one musician from each quartet. And my second Jarrett LP then was My Song, and here there were no questions about any of the musicians. A fantastic album that I have always loved unconditionally and have considered superior to Belonging, which I first listened to a couple of years later.

[SimonNZ]

But it is somewhat messing with someone else's music.

I listened to that today. I thought it didn't mess with the music at all - and I mean that as a criticism. I don't really see the point of an over respectful cover that seeks to replicate what was already done. I want in an album like this for the original to be merely a jumping off point for their own preoccupations and visions.