Calling all Jazz Cool Cats......

[BillH2121]

I was really just joking... but a search brought up:

Louis Armstrong

Louis Country & Western Armstrong

Avco Embassy

1970

OMG!!! Exhibit #1 regarding the difficulty in balancing artistic relevance and popularity and the inherent tension between the two.... Has anyone heard this LP - maybe its good stuff, but that cover is enough to make you wonder.

[boomac]

How about this?

[pauln]

I love that one! I bought it sealed new last year and love it (it's not Country sounding at all - the drummer does a couple of songs where he just clicks his sticks together to get a Western trail ride kind of sound). Well, there is a rendition of "I'm an 'ol cow hand", but the horn playing on this record is top notch jazz - Rollins is great.

[boomac]

That rendition of Im An Old Cow Hand is one that makes my wife think Im nuts. Hard bop is bad enough but hard bop hillbilly? She says oh my God and leaves the room on the double. Ha! I rather like the LP and damn it sounds good on Arttos system! Once it's cleaned of course[]

<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

BTW, my wife would be happy listening to The Four Tops on a clock radio!

[pauln]

Actually, I know just what you mean. Jazz intros can be misleading. A lot of great jazz will start with a standard or popular tune and use it as the basis from which to go cool and make real jazz. Often they play it sort of straight (the head) for the first verse so you recognise the tune, then make variations, then improvisations, sometimes progressing into musical deconstruction of the tune... lots of fun. Often at the end they will replay the straight head so you know where you've been the last ten minutes, 'cause if they really opened it up you may have forgotten.

I think some jazz players enjoy the challenge (and inside joke) of selecting quirky odd tunes with which to work their magic - it's a little risky for some audiences, but it's creatively inclusive; and when it works it just doesn't matter. Jazz is like Mikey - he'll eat anything!

My record of Way Out West was bought sealed new over the internet from a record site. The record is scary clean.

[boomac]

You remember Mikey too?

The mention of my dirty copy relates to an inside Forum joke. There's a thread somewhere!

[skonopa]

I loved the blue note sampler 4 cd set that Allan recomended but I just don't get this type of random horn blowing;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6WwuxqXPOg

They started and ended ok but in the middle, everyone just did their own thing without any relationship to each other or what anyone else was playing.

No. This is a PERFECT example of four musicians "on the same page, flying." There were very few working groups in the history of jazz who were so tightly bound--they are NOT "doing their own thing without any relationship to each other."

Okay, granted, I am definitly no "Jazz Cool Cat" - very much a proud "metalhead", but after watching that video, I have to agree with Allen here on that. I thought the synergy was awesome with John Coltrane there on the Sax along with the other guys on the piano, bass, and drums. The piano solo was also pretty damn cool as well. I very much actually enjoyed listening to and watching that.

[skonopa]

OK, I looked all over YouTube and tried to find the BEST example of what you guys call "random horn blowing" and came up with this short clip of Marshall Allen on alto with the Sun Ra Arkestra, probably from the mid-1970s. Personally, I LOVE this stuff, but I can really understand why it tends to have (ahem!) limited appeal:

But you know what? This band is probably the closest thing to a "jam band" in that most of the members worked and LIVED toghether for years and years and years and they practiced and rehearsed about 5-6 hours per day, EVERY day for decades. It took YEARS for Marshall Allen to get to this point. And you know what? During this same performance this band would have delivered straight-ahead Fletcher Hendersonesque swing charts with Allen playing sweet, "standard" solos. This was truly an amazing band.

Good Lord! Now, I am all too familier with guitar thrashing, but geez - is that considered "sax thrashing"? []

[pauln]

And how many metal drummers are so hot you can see the stream rising around their head!

[skonopa]

I just read this post below and it made me ask the question....What exactly is there to get about Jazz? I thought it would be better to start a new thread rather then side track Larry's.

I can certainly listen to and enjoy Jazz myself, although it is not my favorite genre. For the most part, though, I find it kinda boring. I guess that is why I listen to the power/prog metal, as I like my music with quite a bit of energy and excitment. I much more prefer the viscerial experience I get listening to some serious head-banging, guitar thrashing and bass a pounding type music (especially going to the local metal club to see some live performances - but man - I make sure I don't forget those earplugs - geez that is LOUD!).

However, I can certainly appreciate the talent and the synergy that goes into some of those Jazz acts, such as that one John Coltrain clip that somebody posted farther up in the thread. Also, there is one Jazz act that I am hoping will play locally again (they were at Jaxx this past summer, but I missed them) - Alex Skolnik Trio. Check out that video on thier multimedia page - pretty cool!

One of the really cool things about Jazz is that I very much find its influence in alot of the progressive metal that I've always enjoyed listening to over these past few years. However, I've heard the same types of critisms/complaints about progressive metal that I seem to hear about the "random horn playing" in Jazz. For example, I've seen Zero Hour, and excellent progressive metal band, a couple times live and have all thier albums (Specs of Pictures Burnt Beyond is a friggan masterpiece!), but I've had friends tell me it was "to disjointed" or "too technical/complex" and the like. Don't know if they "just don't get it" or they simply don't like it. Hey, no sweat off my back. I certainly "get" Jazz, but it is not my favorite. I don't "dis-like" it, but at the same time, I am not running out to find all the albums either (and believe me, my eMusic account gives me access to quite a bit of it if I so desire - maybe worth exploring if I get bored one day - you'd be amazed at just how much Jazz is on there!).

[skonopa]

And how many metal drummers are so hot you can see the stream rising around their head!

I've noticed that in that video. I've also noticed "mist" coming out of the pianist's mouth while he was breathing - must've been an outdoor venue on a fairly cool evening during that performance. And yes, I've seen a few metal drummers with steam rising around thier heads! That dude with House of Lords last week Saturday at Jaxx was friggan incredible on those drums!