Do you listen to any "latin jazz" - ie Tito Puente, Tito Rodriguez, Perez Prado, Mongo Santamaria, Celia Cruz, etc.? Maybe it's a new genre for you. That's fun summer stuff. Top Percussion is a great record to have on for a listen.
Cannonball Adderley! with his brother Nat, they recorded several albums together. my favorite is Them Dirty Blues. Miles' "In a silent way" is awesome. you will dig b****es Brew also. Dave brubeck- Take Five Wayne Shorter-Footprints. Manny, try some Jason Moran's Bandwagon for some newer stuff. alot of Houston musicians are really making a scene in the jazz world in New York right now. Moran is one of them
I have "Somethin' Else" as well as "Take Five" and "b****es Brew". I can't get into "b****es Brew" like I did with "In a Silent Way". I will definitely look into Moran, across. Right now, I am listening to a great underrated Coltrane CD in "Coltrane's Sound". BTW - Finn, Wes Montgomery is awesome. I have 2 of his CDs in "Incredible Jazz Guitar" and "Full House".
I just bought Miles Smiles and Nefertiti by Miles but haven't had a chance to digest them yet. However, I did revisit Jack Johnson yesterday and honestly think its the best Miles ever played in any of his electric bands. His trumpet really sounds like a boxer on that album. I also keep meaning to buy Get Up With It because the 30 minute version of Ellington's 'He Loved Him Madly' - that is real "space music." Monk is always a good choice for piano, and I would suggest getting Brilliant Corners. You could also check out Bill Evans stuff - look for his work with bassist Scott LaFaro. I have Explorations but most people suggest Live at the Village Vanguard as the prime example of their work. I recently started listening to a Charles Mingus compilation and really liked it. My favorite stuff came off of Mingus Ah Um. I have the Ornette Coleman box set Beauty is a Rare Thing but I can really only listen to him in small doses. Still, he's pretty brilliant and 'Lonely Woman' is one of the most raw songs of all time. I have what is probably the wildest Coltrane album - Ascension - and have to admit that I can only listen to it about once a year. It's like listening to an orchestra warm up for 40 minutes - there's some cool stuff in there but you have to wade through a lot of other stuff as well.
As far as newer big bands go, the Dave Holland group is the best out there, IMO. Outstanding collection of musicians- Chris Potter on tenor, and a few of the guys from the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra are in the brass section, including another local guy, Andre Hayward. "What Goes Around" made a huge splash in Downbeat, and its accolades were well deserved IMO. Moran is a great player...excellent clinician, too. His dad was (is) a local jazz musician, so he just has great musical sense. He's with Blue Note Records, which should tell you something there. If you haven't checked out Kenny Garrett or Clifford Brown (just a couple names I haven't seen mentioned), you may want to do that as well.
Andre Hayward just won the Thelonious Monk Jazz Trombone Competition. My Favorite album is Sonny Stitt, Sonny Rollins, Dizzy Gillespie - "Sonny Side Up" I absolutely love "The Eternal Triangle" which comes off of that album. Other classics: Sonny Rollins "Saxophone Colossus", "Tenor Madness" John Coltrane "Giant Steps", "Blue Train" "Cannonball and Coltrane" Wayne Shorter "Speak No Evil" Herbie Hancock "Maiden Voyage" Charlie Parker "Now's The Time" Dizzy Gillespie "Groovin' High" Joe Henderson "Lush Life", "Live in Japan" Sonny Stitt "Constellation", "Plays Bird","Sits in with the Oscar Peterson Trio" I also enjoy some of the modern tenor players like Joe Lovano, Joshua Redman, and Eric Alexander.
Eddie -- Joshua Redman is really good! I enjoy his music, too. Manny - that's great!! i remember when you asked about jazz music the first time! Not sure I could make it through the day at work without jazz music in the background! If you're in Houston...Latin jazz night on 90.9 (KTSU) is Saturday night...that's great radio!
Any of y'all into Toots Theilemans? One of the great harmonica players of all time, and a jazz harmonica player at that. Has done alot of work with George Shearing. His work can be heard in the soundtrack to "The Getaway" starring Steve McQueen and Ali MacGraw. He's one of my Dad's favorites, and through my Dad, I have gotten to know and love his music.
Okay, time to take this thread into a different aspect... If you got your choice of musicians, who would you select as your "first team jazz band" and your "second team jazz band". First team Tenor Saxophone - John Coltrane Alto Saxophone - Charlie Parker Trumpet - Miles Davis Piano - Herbie Hancock Bass - Paul Chambers Drums - Art Blakey Organ - Jimmy Smith Guitar - Wes Montgomery Trombone - Curtis Fuller Second team Tenor Saxophone - Sonny Rollins Alto Saxophone - Cannonball Adderley Trumpet - Clifford Brown Piano - Bill Evans Bass - Charles Mingus Drums - Max Roach Organ - Joe Zawinul Guitar - John McLaughlin Trombone - JJ Johnson
Manny & Mrs. JB: get over to your local music store, do not pass go, do not collect $200 and purchase quite possibly my favorite summertime jazz album: Getz/Gilberto #2 - Stan Getz & Joao Gilberto Live at Carnegie Hall. Absolutely beautiful, Astrud Gilberto sits in on about 8 songs, I have a serious infatuation with her vocal chords.
Buck -- I appreciate the suggestion, but Getz/Gilberto #2 has been a treasured part of my collection for years. And you're right, it is THE quintessential summertime bossa/jazz record.
My favorite jazz records in no particular order: Herbie Hancock, Headhunters Herbie Hancock, Sextant Miles Davis - Sketches of Spain, In A Silent Way, On The Corner, Agharta, b****es Brew, Panthallassa, Fillies De Killemanjara (sp?), Kind of Blue, Jack Johnson, John Scofield - A Go Go John Coltrane - A Love Supreme Sun Ra - Futuristic Sounds of Sun Ra Thelonious Monk w/ John Coltrane Charles Mingus - The Black Saint & The Sinner Lady Stanley Jordan - Magic Touch In case you can't tell, I'm a bit of a Miles fan.. My favorite album out of this list would definitely be In A Silent Way.
Buck, That Getz/Gilberto record is on my wish list and I will get it some time in the near future. Does anyone have "The Blues and the Abstract Truth" by Oliver Nelson? From what I have read about that album, it is supposed to be a classic album.
