Are You Hearing This?

streetsurvivor: Happy Birthday Antonio Carlos Jobim

Tue, 06 Mar 2012 17:02:32 -0500

streetsurvivor:

Happy Birthday Antonio Carlos Jobim

simonandgarfunkel: Paul Simon - Paranoia Blues

Fri, 28 Oct 2011 12:18:54 -0400

simonandgarfunkel:

Paul Simon - Paranoia Blues

sa-mo-jung: “Touch of Evil” ~ Jaga Jazzist Hands down, one of...

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 16:09:00 -0400

sa-mo-jung:

“Touch of Evil” ~ Jaga Jazzist

Hands down, one of my favorites.

rocktothebeats: She Came In Through The Bathroom Window - Joe...

Wed, 28 Sep 2011 17:41:00 -0400

rocktothebeats:

She Came In Through The Bathroom Window - Joe Cocker

Photo

Thu, 26 May 2011 18:35:35 -0400

In honor of the impending Rapture this weekend (just in...

Fri, 20 May 2011 00:10:58 -0400

In honor of the impending Rapture this weekend (just in case):

Medeski, Martin and Wood

“End of the World Party”

End of the World Party (Just in Case) 2004

Garage A Trois “Omar” Always Be Happy, But Stay Evil...

Thu, 05 May 2011 14:35:11 -0400

Garage A Trois

“Omar”

Always Be Happy, But Stay Evil (2011)

greatfuckingbird:

sandstep:

Omar - Garage A Trois

The addition of Marco Benevento turned GaT into a melodic powerhouse that defies description. I don’t miss Charlie in the least. Another “don’t miss” show for Jazz Fest, and thank goodness they’re playing more often than they used to.

Click for tour dates.

SKERIK - Tenor Saxophonics & Efx
MIKE DILLON - Vibraphone & Percussion
MARCO BENEVENTO - Keys
STANTON MOORE - Drum Pummeling

Check it out & buy their record! Saw them yesterday at the Music Factory here in New Orleans. Today going to the festival to see Christian Scott, Wilco, Galactic…and maybe even Cyndi Lauper?

jazzpages: ‘Fleurette Africaine’, by Duke Ellington, Charlie...

Wed, 04 May 2011 17:47:00 -0400

jazzpages:

‘Fleurette Africaine’, by Duke Ellington, Charlie Mingus and Max Roach

Today’s track is another tune from one of my musical heroes, Mr Edward Kennedy Ellington (1899-1974), being the fragile, somewhat haunting ballad ‘Fleurette Africaine’.

This fantastic album ‘Money Jungle’ was recorded in one day (!), on September 17th, 1962. In that year, Ellington’s period with Columbia Records was at an end and this allowed him to work with musicians on a multitude of labels, which included great sessions with John Coltrane and Coleman Hawkins.

Each of the three performers are at the top of their game: Ellington’s composing and musicianship is marvelous as usual, Mingus was only a year away from releasing his historic album ‘The Black Saint And The Sinner Lady’ and Roach had just recently released his magnum opus ’We Insist! – Freedom Now Suite’, an artifact both of jazz and the Civil Rights Movement, which was very big at that time.

The fact that they were referencing something African as beautiful, and equating that with black people, was symbolic. The title ‘Fleurette Africaine’ refers to Algeria, that got its independence from France in 1962, and the other African nations who were coming out of the colonial grip. The musicians were very conscious of that, and were using their music to convey a kinship to those people who were struggling for their independence, because people were doing the same thing in the United States at that time.

Duke Ellington - Piano
Charlie Mingus - Bass
Max Roach - Drums

Reid Anderson “Reclusive” The Vastness of...

Tue, 26 Apr 2011 22:46:42 -0400

Reid Anderson

“Reclusive”

The Vastness of Space (2000)

Reid Anderson - Bass

Ben Monder - Guitar

Andrew D’Angelo - Alto Sax

Bill McHenry - Tenor Sax

Marlon Browden - Drums

Marco Benevento “Pink Elephants On Parade” (by...

Mon, 25 Apr 2011 20:26:20 -0400

Marco Benevento “Pink Elephants On Parade” (by marcobenevento)

with Andrew Barr and Reed Mathis

jazzpages: ‘Nefertiti’, by The Miles Davis Quintet Yesterday, I...

Mon, 25 Apr 2011 17:08:00 -0400

jazzpages:

‘Nefertiti’, by The Miles Davis Quintet

Yesterday, I lay in bed, iPod on, eyes closed and goosebumps all over…
OK, maybe this is a piece for the more ‘trained’ ear, but I suggest you put on your headphones or play it loud and give it an eight minute try, if only for the exquisite Tony Williams.

Michelle Mercer writes in her book ‘Footprints’: “…On June 7th, 1967, the band practiced the melody again and again. With the horns in repetition mode, a foundation was laid upon which the rhythm section could improvise. Tony’s (Williams) playing grew more dynamic and insistent with each repetition of the melody.
When they finished the first run-through, it was time to improvise on the theme. But Miles asked: “Hey man, what if we made the tune by just playin’ the melody?” It was so obvious and yet so radical an idea that the band could only laugh in response. No one was doing that in jazz. “That’s it, right?”, Miles said…”

Jack Chambers writes in ‘Milestones’: “…’Nefertiti’ includes no solos in any conventional sense. Instead, Davis and Shorter repeat the mournful theme over and over again throughout the track. Yet both in feeling and in fact, the composition remains rich in spontaneity; improvisation is in a sense constant, not only in the play of the rhythm section but even in the theme statements by the horns, which repeat the same basic scale again and again with different nuances each time. It’s a remarkable conception, demanding free interplay and controlled license, and one that could be carried off successfully only by players who are gifted individualists and devoted collectivists…”

Bob Blumenthal wrote in Rolling Stone some years later:
“His (Shorter’s) compositions were becoming statements in themselves instead of mere frames for solos. All three Shorter tunes on Nefertiti (‘Nefertiti’, ‘Fall’ and ‘Pinocchio’) use melodic repetition to an unprecedented extent and, as interpreted by the great Davis quintet, became hypnotic messengers of something new”.

The folksinger Joni Mitchell had this very striking comparison: “It’s a very unusual piece of music, in that it’s like a silk screen. They start off in unison, and then they get more and more individuated, like a silk screen slightly offset.”

Miles Davis - Trumpet
Wayne Shorter - Tenor Saxophone
Herbie Hancock - Piano
Ron Carter - Bass
Tony Williams - Drums

jivearseslippers: Phronesis - Abraham’s New Gift (Live) Piano...

Sun, 24 Apr 2011 20:34:53 -0400

jivearseslippers:

Phronesis - Abraham’s New Gift (Live)

Piano trio Phronesis, led by Danish double-bassist Jasper Høiby, are winners of Jazz Album of the Year in both Jazzwise and Mojo magazines for their Alive LP.

‘This extraordinary recording is one of the most talked about live piano trio releases in years and created a widespread buzz in the jazz media on its release in August’ - Jazzwise.

“The most exciting and imaginative piano trio since EST” - Jon Newey

“This scorching live set fizzes with a post-EST/Avishai Cohen-style energy replete with sunny Mediterranean Brazilian flourishes and depth-charge basslines.” - Time Out

Myspace

Squirrel Nut Zippers “The Kracken” Perennial...

Sun, 24 Apr 2011 17:03:05 -0400

Squirrel Nut Zippers

“The Kracken”

Perennial Favorites (1998)

Luiz Bonfá “A Brazilian in New York” Solo in Rio...

Sat, 16 Apr 2011 12:09:42 -0400

Luiz Bonfá

“A Brazilian in New York”

Solo in Rio 1959

Midlake “The Jungler” Bamnan and Silvercork...

Thu, 14 Apr 2011 22:11:20 -0400

Midlake

“The Jungler”

Bamnan and Silvercork (2004)

Tim Smith — vocals, piano, keyboard, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, flute

Eric Pulido — electric guitar, acoustic guitar, 12-string acoustic guitar, keyboards, backing vocals

Eric Nichelson — keyboards, piano, acoustic guitar, 12-string acoustic guitar, electric guitar

Paul Alexander — bass, double bass, electric guitar, keyboards, piano, bassoon

McKenzie Smith — drums, percussion

Sonny Rollins “Moritat” Saxophone Colossus...

Wed, 13 Apr 2011 14:59:00 -0400

Sonny Rollins

“Moritat”

Saxophone Colossus (1956)

Sonny Rollins - Tenor Saxophone

Max Roach - Drums

Tommy Flanagan - Piano

Doug Watkins - Bass

milessmiles: Chuck Berry—“Oh Louisiana” San Francisco Dues...

Tue, 12 Apr 2011 14:05:45 -0400

milessmiles:

Chuck Berry—“Oh Louisiana”

San Francisco Dues (Chess 1971).

Love Chuck’s psych-guitar on this one. The critics HATED this album. Sounds pretty damn good to me.

Marco Benevento “Are You the Favorite Person of...

Fri, 08 Apr 2011 23:11:00 -0400

Marco Benevento

“Are You the Favorite Person of Anybody?”

Invisible Baby (2008)

Marco Benevento - Piano, Mellotron

Reed Mathis - Bass

Matt Chamberlain - Drums

Andrew Barr - Drums

Polar Bear “A New Morning Will Come” Peepers (2010) Mark...

Sun, 03 Apr 2011 18:20:00 -0400

Polar Bear

“A New Morning Will Come”

Peepers (2010)

Mark Lockheart – Tenor Saxophone

Pete Wareham – Tenor Saxophone

Tom Herbert – Bass

Leafcutter John – Guitar

Sebastian Rochford – Drums