Now Spinning: The Jazz Version™ Thread

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this was our small way of paying tribute to the great 'Jonathan and Darlene Edwards.
I love it! The first time I heard "the Edwards" I nearly cried from laughing so hard! :biglaugh:

Harry
 
I had heard of the Edwards, but it wasn't until I visited some friends in California--they put one of the CDs on (this was back in 1998) that I actually experienced it.

If you've heard anything from Zero Tolerance for Silence, you would see why Mike claims the gene pool connection between that and his clarinet d'amore. :laugh: (That is, of course, Mike's sense of humor.) Some out there "get" ZTfS, and can actually listen all the way through, but it does nothing for me. There were two schools of thought--one was that it was the album Pat wanted to make at the time, while others are saying it was something he dropped on Geffen to fulfill the rest of his contract.

Let me say...you've been warned. :laugh:



If you ever need something to clear a party or guests out of the house, guaranteed...this will do it! :D
 
Jonathan & Darlene Edwards??? I have some of that in my collection!!!! I never realized until recently that they were actually Jo Stafford and Paul Weston...

--Mr Bill
 
One of my favorite Pat metheny albums of all time is New Chautauqua from 1979. I love the song Daybreak. Its amazing that He did all the instrumentation on it one of his BEST Early albums IMO.
 
One of my favorite Pat metheny albums of all time is New Chautauqua from 1979. I love the song Daybreak. Its amazing that He did all the instrumentation on it one of his BEST Early albums IMO.

The Jack DeJohnette album I discovered last year was a real surprise. Pat is often content with being a sideman on many of these gigs, yet he puts his imprint on Parallel Realities in a way that appeals to Pat's fans (especially those who like the Group records--there is no mistaking this is a Pat Metheny record) yet there is still a lot of space for Jack and Herbie to stand out and not be steamrolled by Pat's presence. It works really well! On the studio record, Jack and Pat trade off on bass; Dave Holland appears on the live video which is also IMHO a very good, overlooked recording.

There might be only a few of Pat's albums that never really hooked me. But for the most part, I enjoy them, and have even warmed to a few that at first never captured my attention, like The Way Up primarily due to its length and complexity.
 
As I posted in the Bill Evans Trio 65 Jazz AOTW thread, I have recently discovered the Empathy album, which is Shelly Manne and Bill Evans with Monty Budwig. In addition, there is also A Simple Matter of Conviction which swaps Budwig for Eddie Gomez.

In a way, I am enjoying these largely due to Shelly Manne's presence. I've heard Shelly countless times on many, many west coast jazz recordings, but this is the first time I've heard him so up close and immediate in a trio setting. Especially in a trio that is as improvisational as the way Evans operates.

The other drummers Evans has used have certainly been very good accompanists, but there is something about Shelly's drive that propels these to a higher level IMHO. He has a more forward and energetic style, even driving at times, and Evans seems as though he's feeding off of that since his playing here seems to be invigorated. I'm really enjoying these two. It's kind of sad in a way that all of the attention goes to those Riverside albums; not that they are bad in any way, but these Verve albums always seem to be overlooked. Yet Trio 64 was my introduction to the Bill Evans Trio (by way of that very early Polygram CD sampler), not the ubiquitous Village Vanguard/Waltz for Debby records.

Trio 65 on vinyl is due in here tomorrow; I'm hoping it betters the CD version I heard (finally had a chance to give it a more critical listen and I notice the muffled left channel like @Captain Bacardi mentioned in the AOTW discussion). Empathy is still out there as a vinyl reissue on the Speakers Corner label, but Conviction has never seen a modern reissue.
 
A change of pace for an hour or so: Bob Mintzer's One Music, aka my self-proclaimed Lost Yellowjackets Album. Bob appeared as a guest on Greenhouse after alto sax Marc Russo left to eventually join the Doobie Brothers. Shortly after Greenhouse, the group made this album under Bob's name, for dmp Records. Bob had recorded a handful of big band CDs by this time, so it was neat to hear him in a small group format, along with gaining an instant rapport with the remaining Yellowjackets. The tunes lean more towards Mintzer's compositions, and there are quite a few great tunes here. It's too bad this one was sort of overlooked.

dmp Records (dmp = Digital Music Products) itself has an interesting history in that the owner and chief engineer, Tom Jung, pioneered a lot in the realm of digital recording. There is a great interview on Stereophile about Tom Jung's background. So it goes without saying that Mintzer's recording is very well recorded, even if it is only in the CD format. I'd love to hear the original masters of this recording.
 
One of my favorite Pat metheny albums of all time is New Chautauqua from 1979. I love the song Daybreak. Its amazing that He did all the instrumentation on it one of his BEST Early albums IMO.

Ack! That's one of the few Metheny albums that didn't do anything for me. The title track is okay but I've found the rest of the album a major snooze fest.
 
dmp Records (dmp = Digital Music Products) itself has an interesting history in that the owner and chief engineer, Tom Jung, pioneered a lot in the realm of digital recording.

I have a couple of CDs from that label. One is by Flim & the BB's (Big Notes), the other by trombonists Jim Pugh and Dave Taylor (The Pugh-Taylor Project).
 
I've been playing a couple of CDs by Esperanza Spalding, who is an incredible artist. Her first album, Junjo, is a nice straight-ahead effort, and her next effort was Chamber Music Society, which got her a GRAMMY for Best New Artist. A very gifted bass player and singer - and not bad to look at! :wink:

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I have a couple of CDs from that label. One is by Flim & the BB's (Big Notes), the other by trombonists Jim Pugh and Dave Taylor (The Pugh-Taylor Project).
I have four or five of Mintzer's, one of the Flim & the BBs, and two by Manfredo Fest. I also have a 3" CD sampler from them, called "A Touch of dmp" which was probably responsible for a couple of those purchases. :wink:

Good demo material for digital playback.
 
Now don't let the opening/title track fool you. While the Brazilian singer/songwriter Ivan Lins is featured on three tracks, the rest of this album is quite the hybrid of instrumental music, featuring classical/electric guitar, MIDI piano and some surprisingly timeless rhythm arrangements, all mixed together on a phenomenal jazz album.
 
Toeknee. You have awesome taste in jazz i have all the albums you posted except the richard elliot and michael franks ones here ( but i have other albums by the latter and in addition to the others i have a majority of the discographies of Klugh. Spyro gyra. Dave grusin .Grover washington jr and As far as Bob James everything from " Bob james one" to Grand piano canyon and all three collaboration cds with Earl Klugh. And many other similar artists. ( thankfully they are all on CD S)
 
Now don't let the opening/title track fool you. While the Brazilian singer/songwriter Ivan Lins is featured on three tracks, the rest of this album is quite the hybrid of instrumental music, featuring classical/electric guitar, MIDI piano and some surprisingly timeless rhythm arrangements, all mixed together on a phenomenal jazz album.
i Had the original vinyl of this when it was first released in 85 ( i wore it out) and later got the CD Version another song from this Harlequin album that i love is" Early AM Attitude"along with" The
Bird." The whole album in fact is stellar.
 
Ack! That's one of the few Metheny albums that didn't do anything for me. The title track is okay but I've found the rest of the album a major snooze fest.
That's Ok Captain. We all have our preferences and tastes. By the way just want to say Hi to you while im on here.
 
Toeknee. You have awesome taste in jazz i have all the albums you posted except the richard elliot and michael franks ones here ( but i have other albums by the latter and in addition to the others i have a majority of the discographies of Klugh. Spyro gyra. Dave grusin .Grover washington jr and As far as Bob James everything from " Bob james one" to Grand piano canyon and all three collaboration cds with Earl Klugh. And many other similar artists. ( thankfully they are all on CD S)

Thanks, bbrmn. Seems that you have quite a few good selections as well! To tell you the truth, I don't have a lot of Spyro Gyra. Just the "Morning Dance" album, along with "Love (and Other Obsessions)" and a hits compilation... and that's good enough for me. As for Grover Washington, Jr., I have mostly the 80s/"Winelight" era albums (the pinnacle "Winelight", "Come Morning", "The Best Is Yet To Come", "Inside Moves", "Time Out of Mind" and a few others that were hit-or-miss). I never could get into the old Motown recordings much, except for his final Motown album "Skylarkin'". Now THAT was an incredible album!

I also have all three Bob James/Earl Klugh collaborations, but the double length "Cool" CD didn't quite grab me the same way that "One on One" and "Two of A Kind" did. Still a good CD though, if for no other reason that there are twice the number of tracks to choose from! I still have quite a bit of Bob James as well (my favorites being - I mean, come on.... Doesn't everybody have a copy of "Touchdown"?, along with "Lucky Seven", "H", "Foxie", "Grand Piano Canyon", among others), all pretty good in their respective ways.
But if I had to pick, I'd have to say that I prefer Earl Klugh's music as a whole... as I've simply listened to Earl Klugh a lot more. I've pretty much got the lion's share of his stuff from "Magic In Your Eyes" (1978) on up through "Peculiar Situation" (1999). I'm missing the silver covered "Solo Guitar" CD, but I think I can live without that one anyway. Some great talent there, but for some reason it just never grabbed me. Same goes for "Late Night Guitar" and "Nightsongs (More Late Night Guitar)". I'm rarely in the mood to hear those lush orchestral arrangements. My favorite Earl Klugh albums are (in no particular order): "Magic In Your Eyes", "Heart String", "Wishful Thinking", Soda Fountain Shuffle", "Life Stories" and "Sudden Burst of Energy".

If you're into a lot of Dave Grusin, you've probably noticed that he recorded the fusion and jazz stuff on some records, movie scores on others (which, although he's better known for, they're not my favorite as a whole). Listen to "Night Lines" or "Sticks And Stones" (with brother Don Grusin), and you'll hear albums which were decidedly heavy on synthesizer. On the flip side, his movie scores ("Cinemagic", "The Firm", "Fabulous Baker Boys", or the Milagro Beanfield War suite on the "Migration" album), you'll hear a much more orchestral sound.

You've also probably noticed that Grusin worked extensively with guitarist Lee Ritenour since the mid 70s, finally joining for the duet on "Harlequin".
Bob James has also worked with Rit on occasion. Bob featured Rit (along with bassist Nathan East and drummer Harvey Mason) on two tracks ("Restoration" and "Just Listen") which would spawn the birth of the group Fourplay. Rit played on the first three albums from Fourplay before bowing out, and coincidentally those three initial releases were never matched on a subsequent Fourplay album, IMHO.

I'm a major Rit fan, and I have his jazz albums (most notably "Stolen Moments", "Wes Bound", "This Is Love"), his fusion albums ("Feel The Night", "Captain Fingers"), his contemporary synthpop/jazz/R&B flavored albums of the 80s ("Earth Run", which featured the digital guitar synthesizer SynthAxe, as well as on "Portrait"), as well as his Brazilian flavored acoustic albums ("Rio", "Festival", "Color Rit") on up to the turn of the century. And of course, his pop/rock albums featuring vocals by Eric Tagg (ironically, "Rit" and "Rit/2", along with "Banded Together", all feature about a good portion of vocals, though Rit doesn't sing them). I have to admit that I've kinda lost interest in recent years, as his music has become a bit rote in the styling. The last release I truly enjoyed was "Smoke N Mirrors" from 2006. However, he's still a very eclectic musician, though, having tried nearly every genre out there with the possible exception of country. Classical, R&B/funk, pop/rock, Brazilian, straightahead jazz... all varied on electric, acoustic, 12 string and classical guitars and occasional guitar synthesizer.
So if you like a myriad of different styles / arrangements for guitar, check him out. I'd bet he's your man. If I had to pick an all-time favorite guitarist from a perspective of diversity in music, Lee Ritenour would be the one. Oh, and by the way... he also wrote, co-arranged and played electric guitar on "Paradise Cove", from Herb Alpert's BLOW YOUR OWN HORN album.
 
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Thanks, bbrmn. Seems that you have quite a few good selections as well! To tell you the truth, I don't have a lot of Spyro Gyra. Just the "Morning Dance" album, along with "Love (and Other Obsessions)" and a hits compilation... and that's good enough for me. As for Grover Washington, Jr., I have mostly the 80s/"Winelight" era albums (the pinnacle "Winelight", "Come Morning", "The Best Is Yet To Come", "Inside Moves", "Time Out of Mind" and a few others that were hit-or-miss). I never could get into the old Motown recordings much, except for his final Motown album "Skylarkin'". Now THAT was an incredible album!

I also have all three Bob James/Earl Klugh collaborations, but the double length "Cool" CD didn't quite grab me the same way that "One on One" and "Two of A Kind" did. Still a good CD though, if for no other reason that there are twice the number of tracks to choose from! I still have quite a bit of Bob James as well (my favorites being - I mean, come on.... Doesn't everybody have a copy of "Touchdown"?, along with "Lucky Seven", "H", "Foxie", "Grand Piano Canyon", among others), all pretty good in their respective ways.
But if I had to pick, I'd have to say that I prefer Earl Klugh's music as a whole... as I've simply listened to Earl Klugh a lot more. I've pretty much got the lion's share of his stuff from "Magic In Your Eyes" (1978) on up through "Peculiar Situation" (1999). I'm missing the silver covered "Solo Guitar" CD, but I think I can live without that one anyway. Some great talent there, but for some reason it just never grabbed me. Same goes for "Late Night Guitar" and "Nightsongs (More Late Night Guitar)". I'm rarely in the mood to hear those lush orchestral arrangements. My favorite Earl Klugh albums are (in no particular order): "Magic In Your Eyes", "Heart String", "Wishful Thinking", Soda Fountain Shuffle", "Life Stories" and "Sudden Burst of Energy".

If you're into a lot of Dave Grusin, you've probably noticed that he recorded the fusion and jazz stuff on some records, movie scores on others (which, although he's better known for, they're not my favorite as a whole). Listen to "Night Lines" or "Sticks And Stones" (with brother Don Grusin), and you'll hear albums which were decidedly heavy on synthesizer. On the flip side, his movie scores ("Cinemagic", "The Firm", "Fabulous Baker Boys", or the Milagro Beanfield War suite on the "Migration" album), you'll hear a much more orchestral sound.

You've also probably noticed that Grusin worked extensively with guitarist Lee Ritenour since the mid 70s, finally joining for the duet on "Harlequin".
Bob James has also worked with Rit on occasion. Bob featured Rit (along with bassist Nathan East and drummer Harvey Mason) on two tracks ("Restoration" and "Just Listen") which would spawn the birth of the group Fourplay. Rit played on the first three albums from Fourplay before bowing out, and coincidentally those three initial releases were never matched on a subsequent Fourplay album, IMHO.

I'm a major Rit fan, and I have his jazz albums (most notably "Stolen Moments", "Wes Bound", "This Is Love"), his fusion albums ("Feel The Night", "Captain Fingers"), his contemporary synthpop/jazz/R&B flavored albums of the 80s ("Earth Run", which featured the digital guitar synthesizer SynthAxe, as well as on "Portrait"), as well as his Brazilian flavored acoustic albums ("Rio", "Festival", "Color Rit") on up to the turn of the century. And of course, his pop/rock albums featuring vocals by Eric Tagg (ironically, "Rit" and "Rit/2", along with "Banded Together", all feature about a good portion of vocals, though Rit doesn't sing them). I have to admit that I've kinda lost interest in recent years, as his music has become a bit rote in the styling. The last release I truly enjoyed was "Smoke N Mirrors" from 2006. However, he's still a very eclectic musician, though, having tried nearly every genre out there with the possible exception of country. Classical, R&B/funk, pop/rock, Brazilian, straightahead jazz... all varied on electric, acoustic, 12 string and classical guitars and occasional guitar synthesizer.
So if you like a myriad of different styles / arrangements for guitar, check him out. I'd bet he's your man. If I had to pick an all-time favorite guitarist from a perspective of diversity in music, Lee Ritenour would be the one. Oh, and by the way... he also wrote, co-arranged and played electric guitar on "Paradise Cove", from Herb Alpert's BLOW YOUR OWN HORN album.
im happy to mention i have much of Rit's discography starting with Main course up until "wes bound" and several fourplay cds wit rit i also much of Dave Grusin's prime GRP CDs along with many others you mentioned. And i admit Touchdown was the first Bob james album i ever owned. ( i remember hearing most of the album being used as test pattern music back in 1981. And the theme from taxi was the dead giveaway to what it was.) But just a few years later at a musicland store i bought the album for $6.47 plus tax. And i wore it out fortunately it came out on cd and i was able to replace almost all my jazz vinyl on disc. And i Still have them. Its like everyday is christmas( from a musical standpoint.)
 
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