So with Bud Powell, the go-to choices seem to be one of the Amazing Bud Powell volumes, but I feel like Jazz Giant captures something specific and great, and benefits from the slightly lower fidelity. Powell was a very well regarded pianist, he's the Bud from Thelonious Monk's In Walked Bud, but after some incidents of horrible police brutality and other assaults, leading to institutionalization and electo-shock therapy and schizophrenia medications and all sorts of horrible shit, he gathered a reputation for being erratic/inconsistent. Although this was released in 56, the recordings are from 49-50, so the recordings here are before he started taking the schizophrenia medication, but after he had gone through some horrible treatment. Which makes it even more remarkable that he was able to produce such incredibly nimble, joyous tunes.
Like check out this track Cherokee https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uon2Gu6jgf8, the way he settles into the speed of the track off the busy intro is incredible, and then we're just rolling right along, Max Roach on drums getting things exactly as punchy as they need to be. It's thrilling stuff but not heavy in the slightest, and there's a whole bunch of tracks on this level (Tempus Fugit and Sweet Georgia Brown are my other favorites). And the really speedy ones like that are spaced out in between more moderately paced tracks to let you catch your breath. It's a delightful experience and so insanely listenable. I've heard that there's a good amount of people who have serious problems with Bebop as a whole, I've read some, and none of those problems make any sense when I listen to this music.
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1. Thelonious Monk - Underground
2. Nina Simone - Sings The Blues
3. Gato Barbieri - In Search Of The Mystery
4. Pharoah Sanders - Karma
5. Sun Ra - Lanquidity
6. Ben Webster - Soulville
7. Max Roach - It's Time
8. Buddy Rich - Blues Caravan
9. Charles Gayle - Repent
10. Ryo Fukui - Scenery
Not really any order, just tossing some ingredients into the pot. Could toss in another 50 if need be.
Please do.
Also eventually there will be a "best of jazz voting party" so lemme know what order they "should" be in because each will be weighted as stated in the OP as "submit nominations of your top 10 albums - where #10 = 1 point and #1 = 10 points."
If it's all the same to you, that's cool too.
Also I really dig that Soulville record, any more jazz records along that vein you like?
Also, how do you guys find jazz albums pre 1948? Are they mostly compilations or what?
Also I really dig that Soulville record, any more jazz records along that vein you like?
I'll probably keep it in that order, it's all good.
Soulville is a great record. Fun, bombastic, soulful. Despite not being his record, it really gives Oscar Peterson a chance to shine. It's a cool sub-section of jazz, bit more on the swing side of things, but still with some bebop. I'd say these are somewhat similar:
Bobby Timmons - This Here Is Bobby Timmons
Hank Mobley - Soul Station or Hi-Voltage
Gene Ammons - Boss Tenor
Kenny Dorham - Quiet Kenny
Perhaps some Jimmy Smith... Ike Quebec... Duke Ellington... Maybe even that Freddie Hubbard record mentioned previously. And of course Ben Webster & Oscar Peterson's s/t. _________________ Doubles & Conch
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As I said before, just 10 is an impossible task. There are so many more I’m mortified to not have listed and discussed. Just to relieve my guilt, here’s 10 more I really feel blessed to have had in my collection:
Lou Donaldson – Blues Walk
McCoy Tyner – Time for Tyner
Mahavishnu Orchestra – Inner Mounting Flame
Kenny Dorham – Whistle Stop
Thelonious Monk – Brilliant Corners
Herbie Hancock – Maiden Voyage
Horace Silver – Six Pieces of Silver
Oliver Nelson – The Blues and the Abstract Truth
Jaco Pastorius – Jaco Pastorius
Pat Martino – El Hombre
While 10 is the limit for the competition, I'd still love to hear more about these.
Also thank you everyone who has contributed so far. I want to reply to everyone, but sleep is good too and maybe I'll just shut up and let the discussion build. Very excited to hear more from all ya'lls.
Also, how do you guys find jazz albums pre 1948? Are they mostly compilations or what?
I didn't include much stuff before the 50s like Duke Ellington and the like on my list, but generally speaking, compilations are your friend. The Dorsey Brothers don't have any definitive albums, but they have definitive songs that are on nearly every compilation you find. What exactly are interested in from that time period? The big names were;
Basie
Ellington
Armstrong
Holliday
Fitzgerald
Miller
Goodman
Dorsey
Parker
Gillespie
Also just for the sake of adding some history, we can credit Ragtime and early blues for the genesis of Jazz, so if you want a true starting place then you start their. However, keep in mind that "the blues"used to be a more catch all term. For example W.C. Handy, the father of the blues, made the classics "St Louis Blues" and "Memphis Blues" in the 1910's, the pre-jazz era, but these songs are now considered to be jazz standards.
Wow this is really something. Was thinking I'd have my Ayler representation be New York Eye and Ear Control on the ballot, but I might have to go with this. I'm actually not so familiar with the Ayler live recordings that the violinist appears on (FYI everyone, discogs is an especially great resource for jazz and tracking performers https://www.discogs.com/artist/284313-Michel-Sampson) and so I'm not sure how much of my reaction is just from hearing how his presence changes things vs. qualities that stand out in these performances in particular. I guess comparing the tracklist with the complete greenwich village one, there still isn't that much overlap, and that's the release there that I'd heard I need to check out. But yeah whenever you have time to write up any thoughts you have on the album, I'd be curious to read, because this is great.
So, speaking of violin, here is one from last year that I'm currently underrating, but is probably one of the best jazz albums of this decade at least.
Nicole Mitchell primarily plays the flute, but she's also credited with general Electronics, and the composition/arrangement/lyrics. And then you've got all of this in the mix
Bass, Shamisen, Taiko – Tatsu Aoki
Cello, Banjo – Tomeka Reid
Electric Guitar, Oud, Theremin – Alex Wing
Engineer – Caleb Willitz
Percussion – Jovia Armstrong
Shakuhachi – Kojiro Umezaki
Violin – Renée Baker
Vocals – avery r young
So yeah, a pretty distinct mix of instruments here. Baker's violin stands out, she also seems cool in general, her interview on the Now Is podcast is really great. But yeah, you'd think with that kind of mix of instruments it could get to be an unruly mess, but the whole thing is guided by a sci-fi afro-futurist story that keeps things moving to new scenes and keeps it all focused. Though this is not to say the album is some super-constructed/produced narrative-driven thing here, the star of the show is the music, and there is a very compelling raw energy to it (this is a live performance, from 2015), it can feel like shit is on the verge of going off the rails, but only because it is supposed to. Anyone who missed this one last year, I strongly recommend giving this a listen. Not even gonna give you a preview track, you gotta just commit to the whole thing.
Also, I have a dreaded genre classification question
#8. Freddie Hubbard – Red Clay
As a jazz trumpeter, Freddie Hubbard is just a micron behind Lee Morgan in my book. For years, Freddie had been on of the greats of hard bop, alongside Morgan. On this 1970 release, he fuses bluesy hard bop with R&B/soul jazz, and presents it with a jazz rock fusion sensibility for a jazz album that defies categorization yet demands the attention of any fan or student of the genre. And as usual, his playing is technically outstanding, creative, lively, and ultimately compelling. Despite having a bevy of 90+ worthy albums, this may be his best as it brings him to his peak simultaneously as a composer, player and leader. Freddie’s Red Clay, First Light, and Straight Life, is considered on of the greatest three-album runs in history, and Red Clay remains the most innovative, musically and historically significant, and technically perfect one of the bunch.
Truth! Straight Life is also my favourite Benson album.
My jazz knowledge is severely lacking, so feel free to ignore my nominations. I simply haven't listened to much jazz beyond the obvious, most popular stuff, so that's what my list consists of.
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