Best j*** recordings of all time

If this question was asked last year, I would have said this:



My most played album of 2009.

Now, after the euphoria has worn out, my answer would be this:

quote:

Originally posted by mikeeschman:
Loving "Solo Monk" is a gut reaction for me. Since I was a boy, the sound of good stride piano has sent an electric shock through my body. It's not an intellectual thing, just natural love, pure and simple.

That delicate spirit is conveyed in such a relaxed and spontaneous manner on "Solo Monk" that from the first note, it has me completely in its grip.

I only wish more music grabbed me that way, it's so refreshing.

Take them where you find them :-)

Mike:

This is my favourite Monk solo album:




What are your thoughts on this?

quote:

Originally posted by irwan shah:

quote:

Originally posted by mikeeschman:
Loving "Solo Monk" is a gut reaction for me. Since I was a boy, the sound of good stride piano has sent an electric shock through my body. It's not an intellectual thing, just natural love, pure and simple.

That delicate spirit is conveyed in such a relaxed and spontaneous manner on "Solo Monk" that from the first note, it has me completely in its grip.

I only wish more music grabbed me that way, it's so refreshing.

Take them where you find them :-)

Mike:

This is my favourite Monk solo album:




What are your thoughts on this?

I don't know that one irwan, but am going to order it today :-)

In support of what Fred says above, I would certainly rank this release of a few years ago as absolutely first class in terms of the quality of music making.

What qualities make these among the best jazz recordings of all time? Thank you in advance for your responses :-)

quote:

Originally posted by Naijeru:

Fred, I understand where you're coming from, but thou doth protest too much. Nothing is served by defending jazz with stats and figures.

"Stats and figures"? What do you mean?

[QUOTE]Originally posted by EJS:


Op.111 firmly establishes Beethoven as the inventor of Jazz. Kovacevich lets it rip like few others...

Well, you are way beyond the truth there, but I just don't think that anyone will listen to Beethoven creating 'boogie-woogie'. Such a shame!

quote:

Originally posted by jazzfan:


In support of what Fred says above, I would certainly rank this release of a few years ago as absolutely first class in terms of the quality of music making.

Fantastic album!

First heard it coming out of the car window of a conga player after a gig we played, and I had to have it ... wonderful and fresh Latin-jazz versions of Chick Corea, Wayne Shorter, etc. Love it!

If this is jazz then it is stunning - please click to here to hear a sample of Barbara. She's the one on the Sax - the rest of the guys are Paraphernalia.

I'm sorry that some seem to feel that jazz is dead.

I'm 46, I've have enjoyed jazz for 30 years, though I wouldn't call myself an 'expert'. It hasn't been my main listening matter, but it's always been there.

But in the last two or three years I have noticed that I have found myself listening less to rock and more to jazz. And in this period I've heard some of the most exciting and refreshing jazz, which I would recommend to anyone who may be feeling a little jaded with it.

Particularly, and all of these are EXCELLENT recordings:

Empirical


Portico Quartet, Knee Depp in the North Sea and Isla


Polar Bear

quote:

Originally posted by JWM:

I'm 46, I've have enjoyed jazz for 30 years, though I wouldn't call myself an 'expert'. It hasn't been my main listening matter, but it's always been there.

But in the last two or three years I have noticed that I have found myself listening less to rock and more to jazz. And in this period I've heard some of the most exciting and refreshing jazz, which I would recommend to anyone who may be feeling a little jaded with it.

I'm 46 too and spent most of my teens listening to rock/pop but, after I started listening to jazz in my early 20s, I very rapidly lost interest in the former and now find almost nothing whatsoever in it to interest me.

I think Eric Dolphy's "Out to Lunch" isn't just a great jazz album, it's one of the great recorded statements of the C20th. Musically file next to Stravinsky and Varese.

As far as Monk is concerned I'm with Irwan preferring "Alone in S.F."; to my ears it sounds fresher and more daring than "Solo Monk".

JWM - after absorbing Empirical, go for the real deal with Dolphy's "Out to Lunch" (if you haven't already done so).

quote:

Originally posted by irwan shah:
If this question was asked last year, I would have said this:



My most played album of 2009.

Now, after the euphoria has worn out, my answer would be ...

WHAT?! The euphoria has worn out?! It must be defective ... I'll send you a replacement! (insert emoticon here)

Fred

quote:

Originally posted by jazzfan:

quote:

Originally posted by JWM:

I'm 46, I've have enjoyed jazz for 30 years, though I wouldn't call myself an 'expert'. It hasn't been my main listening matter, but it's always been there.

But in the last two or three years I have noticed that I have found myself listening less to rock and more to jazz. And in this period I've heard some of the most exciting and refreshing jazz, which I would recommend to anyone who may be feeling a little jaded with it.

I'm 46 too and spent most of my teens listening to rock/pop but, after I started listening to jazz in my early 20s, I very rapidly lost interest in the former and now find almost nothing whatsoever in it to interest me.

I'm 56, and grew up listening to rock, pop, jazz, classical, folk, blues, R&B and soul, music from other cultures and from other eras, and I still listen to and love all of it!

Fred

quote:

Originally posted by mikeeschman:

Fred, it really is just a different point of view.

Then please, Mike, have the respect to acknowledge it as such from the get go, instead of starting two topics proclaiming the "death of jazz," insisting that "jazz has lost its way," etc.

Your "point of view" is that jazz past a certain period doesn't float your boat ... fine, I have absolutely no problem with that, as I've said several times. But your extrapolated conclusion that, therefore, it must be jazz that's somehow defective is not "just a different point of view," it's myopic.

I mean, are you entirely sure that it isn't you that has lost your way? Of course, I would never insist that that's the case, but then why do you insist the opposite?

All best,
Fred

quote:

Originally posted by TheCherub:

Indeed a great album, definitely belongs in the list of best jazz albums

quote:

Originally posted by fred simon:

quote:

Originally posted by irwan shah:
If this question was asked last year, I would have said this:



My most played album of 2009.

Now, after the euphoria has worn out, my answer would be ...

WHAT?! The euphoria has worn out?! It must be defective ... I'll send you a replacement! (insert emoticon here)

Fred

Fred:

Now I can make an intellectual assessment of the album. I still love 'Dream House' to bits, but in my humble opinion, Miles has the edge here.

By the way, 'Dream House' still continues to be my most played album of 2010 so far. I have not bothered posting that I do listen to it so often as people may start wondering whether that is the only album that I have in my collection.

Great post, this is making me listen to old records....

Fred,

Some great posts on here. Stating that a musical form is dead is not just a point of view. It's a fallacy that, foe me, is up there with people declaring that they don't like a particular genre when in fact they've barely heard anything from it. It basically speaks to the same impulse that there was a golden era that ended on a date (insert own preference) and that gets used to justify all manner of nonsense.

The one thing I must pick up on though was posted by Barend and it was the assertion that jazz is a more complex form than other musics. This is also a form of snobbery and us equally ignorant of facts. Go listen to some modern pop music Barend. It steals from everywhere; acknowleges few rules and constantly reinvents itself by trampling on its past. Sound familiar? Yup, that's jazz, classical, folk (insert own preference).

Music knows no boundaries. Listeners seek to impose them wherever they can.

Mike

Every album of any type has a half life, that is, after so many listens it goes dead. That number of listens is different for every album and every person.

In general, I have hit that wall with jazz.

Nothing more, nothing less, and completely personal.

That being said, can everyone here honestly say the same thing doesn't happen to them from time to time?

If not, consider yourself lucky. If so, what's the big deal?

I'm not going to feel different if someone doesn't share that experience with me.

quote:

Originally posted by fred simon:

quote:

Originally posted by jazzfan:

quote:

Originally posted by JWM:

I'm 46, I've have enjoyed jazz for 30 years, though I wouldn't call myself an 'expert'. It hasn't been my main listening matter, but it's always been there.

But in the last two or three years I have noticed that I have found myself listening less to rock and more to jazz. And in this period I've heard some of the most exciting and refreshing jazz, which I would recommend to anyone who may be feeling a little jaded with it.

I'm 46 too and spent most of my teens listening to rock/pop but, after I started listening to jazz in my early 20s, I very rapidly lost interest in the former and now find almost nothing whatsoever in it to interest me.

I'm 56, and grew up listening to rock, pop, jazz, classical, folk, blues, R&B and soul, music from other cultures and from other eras, and I still listen to and love all of it!

Fred

Fred, so do I! I would wish to suggest that I don't listen to rock (etc), more the balance of the quantity of the genres has shifted for me at the moment.

quote:

people declaring that they don't like a particular genre when in fact they've barely heard anything from it.

I don't like rap or hip-hop whatever it is ...

Frank Zappa once said: Jazz isn't dead, it just smells funny.

quote:

Originally posted by Mike Hughes:
The one thing I must pick up on though was posted by Barend and it was the assertion that jazz is a more complex form than other musics. This is also a form of snobbery and us equally ignorant of facts. Go listen to some modern pop music Barend.
Mike

My point is that everybody is entitled to his of her own opinion, you cleary missed that or can not deal with that...
On of complexity of jazz, are you a musician? I am. But anyhow, please consider the opinion of someone else.