Announcement...and JAZZ
OK, here's the deal. I really hate it when blogs post things in WMA format. I'm on a Mac and there's no good WMA solution for me. So I've always posted things in MP3 format here. But that's a pain in the ass, because I rip all my tunes in AAC. AAC is basically the newest version of MP3. It's far superior. Despite what some will say, it's not Apple's proprietary format. They didn't develop it. Dolby and some other sound labs did. Apple just saw it and said, "hey - that's a great format - let's use it!" In truth, it's called MP4, but I've gotten in the habit of referring to it in Apple's terms.
It's not my fault, nor Apple's that Microsoft chose to attempt to force WMA on the world (which IS their own proprietary format). What I'm getting at here is, I'm tired of re-ripping songs to MP3, so expect to see some songs in AAC from now on. It really shouldn't be a big deal, as iTunes reads AAC/MP4 just fine on Mac or Windows. And if you're not using iTunes, I can't help you. Maybe a brick to the head would or a professional...a professional brick-thrower. iTunes is the best, most solid jukebox software available - period. And it's free.
Anyway, rant over. Just wanted to give our readers...(what? the second reader left in disgust over the Cult Mix? Damn!) ...OK, our reader a heads-up.
I listen to a lot of Jazz lately. Frankly, I'm pretty sick of most modern music and getting there with rock forms from the 50s and 60s (the 70s never even come into question). The result is - more Jazz (and Bossa, world music, film music, etc.). I'll get over it soon, I'm sure, but until then...
Someone suggested I might post some of that here - and that's a grand idea. Grand, I say! So here you go - jazz...with the requisite snooty, faux-it-all commentary!
I couldn't choose what to post, so I'm-a doing both. First up is Bud Powell.
When I listen to or think of Bud Powell, I always think of Thelonious Monk. They were contemporaries - the two major driving forces behind Bop piano - though I think Monk emerged first (feel free to do what I refuse to do and look this shit up).
Anyway, Monk is the be-all and end-all of Jazz piano. He just is. Accept it. Hell, for that matter, to me he's the greatest jazz musician ever. Probably the greatest MUSICIAN ever. Deal with my worship. If Einstein played music, it would sound like Monk: recognizable genius that no one else will ever truly "get."
Bud Powell is a step below. Now, that's a step down from "God," so that still says something. Bud Powell is Monk without the spacey, over-developed frontal lobe. But what he isn't in brains and unique delivery, he makes up for in force. Sheer force. Bud Powell is the most ass-kicking piano player you will ever hear. Before there was rock or metal or any form of anger-releasing music, Bud Powell was beating the shit out of his piano.
Which is not to say he wasn't melodic, inventive or technically amazing. He was all those things. But lots of guys were. He just had a certain drive and passion to his playing that really sets him apart. This is a guy who could never be happy just comping behind soloists. He OWNED the tunes. I suppose that's why he played solo or in trios frequently. Again - I urge you to look this shit up. I'm speaking off the top of my head, and Jazz History class was 15 years ago.
But anyway - there will never be another Monk. Bud Powell, however, is basically the mold for Bop pianists. You can hear him in practically anyone who ever touched a key after him. A true giant, a true piano-eer (get it?). Plus, one of the greatest Hard Bop tunes ever was named after him, "In Walked Bud."
Next up is something I know nothing about. I have always avoided Art Blakey. I think it's because I was reared in a more traditional bop/big band setting and Blakey adventured into Modern Miles-y territory. I admit I was wrong to ignore his work.
Even more, I was wrong to have never really listened to Lee Morgan, Blakey's trumpeter on this track. I spend a lot of time bitching about jazz trumpeters. As a jazz trumpeter (OK, a ONE-TIME jazz trumpeter), I think most of them suck, save for early Diz and Clifford Brown. Most trumpet players heard Miles and realized it was a lot easier to copy him, and they packed up their cojones for good. (But that's another rant for another time.)
This track, "It's a Long Way Down," is off "Indestructible," a Blue Note release from 1964. Like I said, Morgan's work is excellent and powerful, but Wayne Shorter (another guy I have given short-shrift) is tremendous, as is the rhythm section of Cedar Walton (a criminally neglected Blue Note stalwart) and Reggie Workman - who is probably an average bass player, but will always be one of my favorites on account of his last name.
This tune is a great little nutshell of everything I like about Hard Bop - a great head arrangement; a tempo that allows the soloists to shine; nice piano voicings; changes and solos that just hinted at the "Modernism" that would soon come along and ruin jazz. (In my humble and correct opinion, of course.) And let me say it one more time - Cedar Walton was a great pianist.
Jazzers, feel free to pick apart this philistine post now... (if you can take your hands off your Galousies and espresso for a moment, that is, and pull your beret up off your eyes.)
P.S. Memo to myself - pick up some Zoot Sims soon.
It's not my fault, nor Apple's that Microsoft chose to attempt to force WMA on the world (which IS their own proprietary format). What I'm getting at here is, I'm tired of re-ripping songs to MP3, so expect to see some songs in AAC from now on. It really shouldn't be a big deal, as iTunes reads AAC/MP4 just fine on Mac or Windows. And if you're not using iTunes, I can't help you. Maybe a brick to the head would or a professional...a professional brick-thrower. iTunes is the best, most solid jukebox software available - period. And it's free.
Anyway, rant over. Just wanted to give our readers...(what? the second reader left in disgust over the Cult Mix? Damn!) ...OK, our reader a heads-up.
I listen to a lot of Jazz lately. Frankly, I'm pretty sick of most modern music and getting there with rock forms from the 50s and 60s (the 70s never even come into question). The result is - more Jazz (and Bossa, world music, film music, etc.). I'll get over it soon, I'm sure, but until then...
Someone suggested I might post some of that here - and that's a grand idea. Grand, I say! So here you go - jazz...with the requisite snooty, faux-it-all commentary!
I couldn't choose what to post, so I'm-a doing both. First up is Bud Powell.
When I listen to or think of Bud Powell, I always think of Thelonious Monk. They were contemporaries - the two major driving forces behind Bop piano - though I think Monk emerged first (feel free to do what I refuse to do and look this shit up).
Anyway, Monk is the be-all and end-all of Jazz piano. He just is. Accept it. Hell, for that matter, to me he's the greatest jazz musician ever. Probably the greatest MUSICIAN ever. Deal with my worship. If Einstein played music, it would sound like Monk: recognizable genius that no one else will ever truly "get."
Bud Powell is a step below. Now, that's a step down from "God," so that still says something. Bud Powell is Monk without the spacey, over-developed frontal lobe. But what he isn't in brains and unique delivery, he makes up for in force. Sheer force. Bud Powell is the most ass-kicking piano player you will ever hear. Before there was rock or metal or any form of anger-releasing music, Bud Powell was beating the shit out of his piano.
Which is not to say he wasn't melodic, inventive or technically amazing. He was all those things. But lots of guys were. He just had a certain drive and passion to his playing that really sets him apart. This is a guy who could never be happy just comping behind soloists. He OWNED the tunes. I suppose that's why he played solo or in trios frequently. Again - I urge you to look this shit up. I'm speaking off the top of my head, and Jazz History class was 15 years ago.
But anyway - there will never be another Monk. Bud Powell, however, is basically the mold for Bop pianists. You can hear him in practically anyone who ever touched a key after him. A true giant, a true piano-eer (get it?). Plus, one of the greatest Hard Bop tunes ever was named after him, "In Walked Bud."
Next up is something I know nothing about. I have always avoided Art Blakey. I think it's because I was reared in a more traditional bop/big band setting and Blakey adventured into Modern Miles-y territory. I admit I was wrong to ignore his work.
Even more, I was wrong to have never really listened to Lee Morgan, Blakey's trumpeter on this track. I spend a lot of time bitching about jazz trumpeters. As a jazz trumpeter (OK, a ONE-TIME jazz trumpeter), I think most of them suck, save for early Diz and Clifford Brown. Most trumpet players heard Miles and realized it was a lot easier to copy him, and they packed up their cojones for good. (But that's another rant for another time.)
This track, "It's a Long Way Down," is off "Indestructible," a Blue Note release from 1964. Like I said, Morgan's work is excellent and powerful, but Wayne Shorter (another guy I have given short-shrift) is tremendous, as is the rhythm section of Cedar Walton (a criminally neglected Blue Note stalwart) and Reggie Workman - who is probably an average bass player, but will always be one of my favorites on account of his last name.
This tune is a great little nutshell of everything I like about Hard Bop - a great head arrangement; a tempo that allows the soloists to shine; nice piano voicings; changes and solos that just hinted at the "Modernism" that would soon come along and ruin jazz. (In my humble and correct opinion, of course.) And let me say it one more time - Cedar Walton was a great pianist.
Jazzers, feel free to pick apart this philistine post now... (if you can take your hands off your Galousies and espresso for a moment, that is, and pull your beret up off your eyes.)
P.S. Memo to myself - pick up some Zoot Sims soon.
posted by Billy K at 7:41 PM
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