Essential Jazz

What a great thread this is. There's some really good jazz fiends here, huh? what ever happened to the author of the thread? Perhaps, vacation time? Or are they running around picking up all these CDs.

Hopefully, MushyPeas is heading out to the big local festival this weekend.

If she sees Jian Ghomeshi, I hope she errrr never mind

'Course I meant Terry Lyne, Ms. Letty. Fingers faster than brain. Also, that post was meant to be addressed to Panzade, not Ragman. Sheesh! Talk about senior moments.

We're all just kids here, Andy, but we seem to have all the essentials.



I'll keep looking for other female artists other than vocalists, I guess.

thanks eoe...what I was searching for

Don't know Regina Carter, but I would love to hear her play jazz violin. That would be a first for me.

Found two more jazz piano players. Mary Lou Williams who not only played piano, but arranged and led a jazz trio.

Another that I found is Toshiko Akiyoshi, one of jazz's greatest living composers and arrangers.

My friend from the late 60's Don 'Sugarcane' Harris.

Speaking of jazz violinists, has anyone mentioned Stepan Grapelli yet?

Anybody here like Squirrel Nut Zippers? I only have one of their cd's but I like it!

Yes, I did ...on page 3, 6th or 7th down (as well as guitarist Django Reinhardt):

http://www.able2know.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=98431&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=20

You kidding me?

He was great with his pal Dewey in Don & Dewey(I'm Leaving It All Up To You)

Awesome later on with Frank Zappa...i think on the Hot Rats album

Yeah...real tight band that cashed in on the swing craze in the late 90's

speaking of jazz violin...I got to see Joe Venuti in Miami in 1976

What a cranky old man...lol

My brother had some Sugarcane Harris. Don't think it was with Zappa but, it could have been. It was around the same time.

There are a few female musicians in the group Hiroshima, aren't there? At least one?

Someone mention Carmen? Her recording "The Great American Songbook" has got to be, if not the best, female jazz album ever. In my car, I've been going through my Bill Evans/Miles Davis collection, Diana Krall's new CD and Stan Kenton. "City of Glass" is rather spacey for driving on the toll road. Damn, it's too bad it's mono.

there's a dearth of famous female musicians, at least relative to the singers, although technically, Nina Simone is a pianist as well as singer, not to mention Diana Krall or even Blossom Dearie, but i'm sure we're looking for those best known as players, not singers. one obscure musician probably no one has heard of is Vi Redd, a pretty fair saxophonist i believe.

if i can go back to the original thread, one musician unfairly neglected here is the brilliant Bud Powell. he was as instrumental--pardon the pun--in establishing bebop in particular & modern jazz in general, as Dizzie Gillespie & Charlie Parker, and if he hadn't been subjected to shock therapy, he might have produced an even greater body of work. another tragic case was the brilliant--hate to repeat the adjective, but it's apt--trumpeter Clifford Brown, killed so young in a traffic accident.

there have been a few allusions to fusion in this thread, so i'll start out by acknowledging without apology that it produced some excellent music, as well as a lot of forgettable music, but that's true of most musical genres i would think. Miles Davis started it, as he started lots of things, and his <In a Silent Way> is still one of the best examples of fusion i think. I'd also highly recommend <Mysterious Traveller> by the premier fusion ensemble <Weather Report>. while Mysterious Traveller lacks the pyrotechnics of fretless electric bassist Jaco Pastorius, it has an outstanding collection of tracks, especially Josef Zawinul's one man acoustic tour-de-force <Jungle Book>

sorry the post is lengthy, but it's a topic dear to my heart.

As far as Charlie Parker, it was unfortunate that it was believed that shock therepy was a beneficial treatment for alcoholism and drug addiction. Of course, this is now know to exacerbate the problem. Even though it's one of my favorite films and still one of Eastwood's best, "Bird" is difficult to watch in the last half-hour. The Ken Burn's Jazz CD collection is a good start for anyone who is starting to find Charlie Parker.

didn't know Parker received it as well. in his case, it couldn't have been much worse for his health than his heroin habit. on the other hand, Powell, according to the account i read, was beaten by a policeman when he was an innocent bystander in a riot situation, and that's what created the mental problems that led to several hospitalizations & shock therapy. his latter recordings understandably lack some of the fire of his earliest performances. and to top all that, his brother Richie Powell died in the same accident that took Clifford Brown's life, but Bud still had enough of a sense of humor to compose pieces with titles like <Hallucinations> and <Un Poco Loco>

Thanks, M.D. for the reminder of Clifford Brown. What a trumpet man. I don't think that I saw Bird, Mr. Wizard.

Now I recall who did the version of Heather on the Hill that I love. It was Herb Geller, one helluva fine sax man.

Panz, Joe Venuti? Wow! what a story Bud's friend ,Crutch, had to tell about that cranky old man.

Lot of storm activity here. Texas sent it our way.