#us jazz

[wiganjazzzz]

Norah Jones

[the-vinyl-review]

Sun Ra - standards

There is so much you can say about sun ra, he is like marmite to most you either love his work or hate it.

Me personally I actually like it all, he is the one musician sadly where you will never own everything he has made unless you are a millionaire & are willing to send scouts around the world on an endless quest to find everything!

Today I’m focusing on ‘standards’ which was released for the first time on vinyl through record store day. Sun Ra album covers are up there with the very best & this is too at a first look I thought it was going to be textured because the painted artwork gives off that effect & would have been a nice touch. The sleeve however does feel a little cheap.

I have been going through a phase of buying coloured records, so I was pleased with this subtle off white & pink marble ice cream looking record. Seeing as I was hearing it for the very first time I was very surprised with ‘Can this be love’.

The first track was recorded in 1955 & is very upbeat sounding like it could be on Earl Hines ‘blues in thirds’ album. The rest of the album was made mid-60’s, the ever present Tennor John Gilmore excels on these these tracks Bass & Piano are tight throughout because clearly there is less improvisation & clearly a deep rooted classic jazz sound throughout. This is a more standardised Jazz/Sun ra album that can attract jazz lovers on all sides. To me it shows he is capable of more than most & his range is limitless in in the world of jazz.

Sleeve 7/10

Record appearance 7/10

Music 7/10

Sound quality 8/10

[wiganjazzzz]

HERBIE

[wiganjazzzz]

Stacey Kent

[wiganjazzzz]

Now Playing

[wiganjazzzz]

Now Playing

[wiganjazzzz]

NOW PLAYING

Esperanza Spalding - 12 Little Steps

[johnkatsmc5]

Dave Brubeck "Time Out"1959 US Jazz (The 100 Jazz Albums - That Shook The World by Jazz Wise)

full spotify

https://open.spotify.com/album/4jEfuEYJ34e3N8AHccUJ7u

The album was intended as an experiment using musical styles Brubeck discovered abroad while on a United States Department of State sponsored tour of Eurasia, such as when he observed in Turkey a group of street musicians performing a traditional Turkish folk song that was played in 9/8 time, a rare meter for Western music. Columbia president Goddard Lieberson took a chance to underwrite and release Time Out. It received negative reviews by critics upon its release, but despite this, it became one of the best-known and biggest-selling jazz albums, charting highly on the popular albums chart when 50,000 units sold for a jazz album was impressive. It consequently produced a Top 40 hit single in "Take Five", composed by Paul Desmond, and the one track not written by Dave Brubeck. The cover art is just as important as the LP itself featuring specific artwork created by S. Neil Fujita best known for his covers for CBS Records, which introduced abstract art to jazz LP packaging. First published on December 14, 1959....~ Sax. Piano. Double-bass. Drums. That's all that was needed to conjure this timeless jazz classic. No car chases, laser beams or CGI required. Just poised musicianship and an instinctively nuanced skill for the craft. The imprint of Time Out has been deep and long-lasting. More than half a century later it remains an iconic ode to the joys of free expression, an exploration of boundless possibilities, a celebratory musical telegram on the simple pleasures of just being alive and free. Time Out's avant garde freedom is well symbolised by the cover art's boldly coloured modernist theme: loose, large and confident. The most recognised musical piece here is, no doubt, the enormously successful "Take Five" and yet in the album context everything else here is also a fit. Hushed beats, tiptoeing bass and stabby piano giving the expansive saxophone wondrous space to breathe and ignite. The vibrancy of opener "Blue Rondo à la Turk", then the softer, unrushed interludes like "Strange Meadow Lark" splodged with dashes of sax, the album holds the common thread. Then the deep exhalation of "Take Five", redefining 'smooth' by virtue of its magically swaying five-step beat. And that sax riff is catchier than bird 'flu. The perfect way to close down side one. Climbing the scales up and down, the piano and sax create an environment in "Three to Get Ready" for the individual instruments to take turns dancing up and down the stairs. Cheeky bass lines and bright, cheeky piano phrases plunk open the cantering "Kathy's Waltz" as preparation for more sax to then grab the baton and dance around with the piano in the second movement. Similar themes are explored in "Everybody's Jumpin'". The final track, "Pick Up Sticks", builds and builds upon the marching double-bass and ticking cymbals, marching out to a graceful epilogue. I'm not a person with an intricate knowledge of jazz, but I am one who appreciates the finesse and freedom that jazz represents. There may often not seem a lot to the craft of small band jazz instrumentally speaking, although structurally this album, like most well executed jazz of this type, could seem clunky if one were ever to over-analyse it by time signatures and pore over the sheet music. Yet it doesn't sound complex or difficult: the calm and beautifully poised execution simply breathes, no words or excess thinking is needed. Time Out seemed to encapsulate the best of this kind of small club jazz, the best of music in general. It may be that as a species in the 21st century we have lost focus on some of the optimism that The Dave Brubeck Five captured here; perhaps therefore more of us need to listen to this kind of stuff and just chill. For anyone who claims to love music, owning Time Out would seem essential....~ Credits

Alto Saxophone – Paul Desmond Bass – Gene Wright Composed By – Dave Brubeck (tracks: 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7), Paul Desmond (tracks: 3) Drums – Joe Morello Piano – Dave Brubeck Tracklist

Blue Rondo A La Turk Strange Meadow Lark Take Five Three To Get Ready Kathy's Waltz Everybody's Jumpin' Pick Up Sticks

Dave Brubeck "Time Out"1959 US Jazz (The 100 Jazz Albums - That Shook The World by Jazz Wise)

https://johnkatsmc5.blogspot.com/2024/07/dave-brubeck-time-out1959-us-jazz-100.html?view=flipcard

https://johnkatsmc5.tumblr.com/post/757234459570536448/dave-brubeck-time-out1959-us-jazz-the-100-jazz