Jazz - For all the jazz lovers

I don't find anything to disagree with here.

[Tenor giant Ben Webster checks out a violin built entirely of matches at the Ringve Museum of Music in Trondheim, Norway]

[A photo of Miles davis in colour: playing his trumpet into a microphone]

By Phil Freeman

[Dizzy Gillespie blows his bent trumpet with its bell submerged in water]

I have barely listened to any jazz albums that came out in the 21st century (I'd expect that a good number of you guys also haven't). So, those that have any degree of experience in said topic:

What albums do you consider to be modern classics of jazz?

Fairly new to jazz, looking for some recommendations.

What are modern tunes that might become jazz standards? E.g., songs that are being played in your local jazz scene, at your school, etc.

Not necessarilly universally acknowledged as standards, I'm just curious what modern tunes are fun to play in a jazz setting. Stuff like Strasbourg / St. Denis, videogame and movie soundtracks, etc.

A duo playing absolutely wicked music.

Personnel:

• Composed By – J. Lewis, R. Burton
• Drums – John Lewis
• Engineer – Ronald Blau
• Graphics – Ted Plair
• Photography By [John and Ron] – Dwight Carter
• Photography By [Nebula] – Culver Pictures
• Piano – Ron Burton
• Producer – The Cosmic Twins

Me and my buddy are trying to put a set-list together with the theme mentioned in the title.

"Unassuming places" is intentionally a little vague, but the idea is that feeling of "damn, I did not expect a song from this [insert piece of media] to be that good," or when you sit down and really listen to something you are surprised at well-composed it is, or songs that sound simple and reach a wide audience, but are actually a lot more complicated under the hood.

Some examples of the sounds we're going for are:

• Disney tunes like Someday My Prince Will Come and Bear Necessities
• Children's songs/show themes such as Castaways by the Backyardigans, or the iCarly, Arthur, and Flintstones theme songs
• Songs from Nintendo games (really the epitome/inspiration of this list) like KK Jazz and KK Bossa, the Eterna Forest and Littleroot themes, Hateno Village theme, or the Underworld theme from Super Mario Bros.

You might also be able to call this list "songs geared towards children but are actually good" but I feel like that has more of a nursery rhyme-ish connotation and I'm hoping to branch out of that.

We're a guitar duo with a jazz background, so songs that could potentially fit that mold are preferred, but I don't want that to hinder anyone from giving suggestions! I'd love to see what anyone can come up with.

Coltrane died of liver cancer at the age of 40 on July 17, 1967 (i.e. 56 years ago from today).

Feel free to discuss anything about Coltrane and the works he has been featured in. There are many that want to dive into his extant—and some lesser known—works, so, let's recommend and share our favorites.

In my opinion, Eddie Henderson's realization is amazing, heavily influenced by miles davis's works; with immaculate percussion & funky playing throughout the album. Especially great if you like jazz fusion/funk. Excellent the whole way through. Certainly, one of the best works of jazz fusion, in my opinion.

Personnel:

• Eddie Henderson - trumpet, flugelhorn, cornet
• Bennie Maupin - bass clarinet, flute, alto flute, tenor saxophone
• Herbie Hancock - electric piano
• Patrick Gleeson - synthesizer, organ
• Buster Williams - bass, electric bass
• Billy Hart - drums, percussion
• Lenny White - drums

Sometimes its nice to let someone else take the wheel and have a jazz station(with a real human) playing while I work.

I'm currently in Chicago so I have a slight bias towards our public jazz station WDCB. Special shoutout to my two favorite programs they host Notes From the Jazz Underground and Jammin' Jazz

What are some of your local (or not) favorites?

In my early teens I stumbled upon Charlie Parker, stuff like Salt Peanuts made a big impact.

The past decade or so I've been enjoying Pharaoh Sanders, John Gilmour & others......only just stating to really appreciate the genius of John.

The past few years Albert Ayler has made me smile even more than Charlie, John (Coltrane or Gilmour), or Pharaoh did with this & this sorta stuff.

I'm a big fan of John Coltrane but the noises Albert makes on his horn seem to often be a wonderful step beyond John.

Who are your sax heroes and which tracks do you love and return to?

Heard this track on free-form radio WFMU and thought I’d share. (It was on the not at all strictly jazz show Do or DIY with People Like Us on June 7, 2023 https://www.wfmu.org/playlists/shows/128324).

Direct link but you can find it on most streaming services.

I've been a fan of Gary Burton (vibraphone) for years, but this is the first album where I discovered Makoto Ozone (piano).

I love the piano / vibraphone combination. There are very few other pairs of instruments that are so equally matched in playing together and accompanying the other while one solos. Piano/Guitar is the only other combination that works just as well in my opinion. But with piano/vibraphone, and these two in particular, the accompaniment style is so percussive that all of the up-tempo pieces just have a fantastic groove and sense of rhythm even with no bass of drums.

I just wanted to share this score from Eddie Harris.

When I hear it I feel in space, or at least, if I ever go to space I would like to hear this song. It feels simple and yet full of emotion.

A work of genius. I have been listening to this all week.