Charlie Parker - I’m In The Mood For Love
@summittomar took me to see Ornithology: The Music of Charlie “Bird” Parker at the Chicago Jazz Ensemble this past Friday and let’s just say it was amazing! I learned so much about the history behind the Charlie Parker With Strings album and it is truly a must have in your music library.
Ornette Coleman—“Angel Voice”
Something Else!!!! The Music of Ornette Coleman (Contemporary 1958).
My spirit is lifted & my mood is brightened. #justpressplay
Miles Davis - Flamenco Sketches
Happy birthday to Kind of Blue & @fitelson!!!
‘Empty Pockets’, by Herbie Hancock
Because I’m going to see Hancock with his ‘Tribute To Miles’ gig coming Sunday (accompanied by Wayne Shorter and Marcus Miller, to name a few), I’m going to get in the mood with today’s song ‘Empty Pockets’, from Herbie’s first solo album ‘Takin’ Off’, recorded in 1962. ‘Watermelon Man’ (from the same album) provided Mongo Santamaría with a hit single, but more importantly for Hancock, ‘Takin’ Off’ caught the attention of Miles Davis, who was at that time assembling a new band. He stayed with Miles’s ‘second great quintet’ the next 5 years.
Flanked by superb personnel that includes trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, saxophonist Dexter Gordon, and drummer Billy Higgins, Hancock offers excellent compositions that balance between adventurousness and the rigors of classic hard bop.
Herbie Hancock - Piano
Dexter Gordon - Tenor Saxophone
Freddie Hubbard - Trumpet
Butch Warren - Bass
Billy Higgins - Drums
Herbie Hancock, Dexter Gordon and Freddie Hubbard all on the same track, sheeeeeeeeit.
Miles Davis - So What
As one of the greatest bands ever, Miles Davis’ sextet included John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderley, Paul Chambers, Jimmy Cobb and Bill Evans. The band members harmoniously played together on the jazz classic, Kind of Blue (1959). The opening track to the album gives the listener a solid understanding of the genius work this band created.
Coleman Hawkins—“Say It Isn’t So”
Coleman Hawkins: A Retrospective (RCA 1995).
It’s been a rainy, windy and all around gloomy day here in Chicago today. This song is the perfect remedy.
Lee Morgan - Hocus Pocus
I love Lee Morgan in any case, but I must also admit that while I have soft spots for “chutney soca” and “blackened death metal,” “hard bop” is probably my favorite genre designation ever.
The perfect song for this morning.
Lester Young - Tea For Two
I forecast an awesome day after having started the morning with this song.
‘Be-Bop’, by The Sonny Clark Trio
Like Fats Navarro and Charlie Parker before him, Conrad Yeatis Clark’s life was short (yes, again, drug and alcohol abuse) but it burned with musical intensity. Influenced deeply by Bud Powell, Clark nonetheless developed a hard-swinging style that was full of nuance and detail. Regarded as the quintessential hard-bop pianist, Clark never got his due before he passed away in 1963 at the age of 31, despite the fact that he never played a bad recording date either as a sideman or as a leader.
Although commercial success always eluded him, he was in demand as a sideman and played dozens of Blue Note sessions. Luckily, Clark’s contribution is well documented by Alfred Lion (the co-founder of Blue Note) and he has achieved far more critical, musical, and popular acclaim than he ever did in life.
‘Be-Bop’, a jazz standard written by Dizzy Gillespie, is a 10 minute tour-de-force that is worth the price of the 1957 ‘Sonny Clark Trio’ alone. Clark is teamed with the outstanding rhythm section of drummer Philly Joe Jones and bassist Paul Chambers, being an extremely solid trio.
Also, please take notice of the beautiful artwork by Reid Miles.Sonny Clark - Piano
Paul Chambers - Bass
Philly Joe Jones - Drums
There are good ways to start the week and there are great ways to start week. This song certainly represents the latter. Enjoy.
John Coltrane - Equinox
March equinox was yesterday. Spring is in the air and the birds are back singing joyously; perfection. As is this song.
‘Crisis’, by Freddie Hubbard
It’s hard to begin to sum up all the key records in jazz Frederick Dewayne Hubbard (1938-2008) appeared on, but here’s a try.
Partnered with Wayne Shorter and Curtis Fuller, he featured on seven of Art Blakey’s classic early sixties Blue Note albums, he played with George Coleman on Herbie Hancock’s highly influential album ‘Maiden Voyage’, then played on Oliver Nelson’s ‘Blues And The Abstract Truth’. He played a central role on Wayne Shorter’s ‘Speak No Evil’ and was at the centre of John Coltrane’s albums ‘Olé Coltrane’, ‘The Africa/Brass Sessions’ and ‘Ascension’. He was a key player on Eric Dolphy’s radical ‘Out To Lunch’ and appeared on Ornette Coleman’s groundbreaking ‘Free Jazz’.The list could go on and on.
I wrote a post earlier on about one of my favorite albums of all time, ‘Olé Coltrane’, and I guess that those sessions in May 1961 were very inspiring, because he used the same rhythm section on this album, ‘Ready For Freddie’, recorded on August 21st that year. Freddie says in the liner notes: “So far as I can put it into words…the way in which I’m most interested in going is Coltrane-like. I mean different ways of playing the changes so that you get a wider play of colors and of the emotions that those colors reveal.”
Freddie Hubbard related today’s track ‘Crisis’ to the growing threat of a nuclear war, which came to a climax in the Cuban Missiles Crisis just over a year later (between October 14th and 28th, 1962). Many feared that the world was on the brink of a nuclear conflict and Hubbard’s musical response expressed the wish that such catastrophes could be averted, by hope and reconciliation.
Freddie Hubbard - Trumpet
Wayne Shorter - Tenor Saxophone
Bernard McKinney - Euphonium (Tenor Tuba)
Art Davis - Bass
McCoy Tyner - Piano
Elvin Jones - Drums
Undeniably masterful.
Miles Davis - Oleo (Written by Sonny Rollins)
This jazz classic first appeared on Bags’ Groove (1954). Oleo features Miles Davis (trumpet), Sonny Rollins (tenor sax), Horace Silver (piano), Percy Heath (bass) and Kenny Clarke (drums).
No better way to begin a morning.
Lester Young - Just You, Just Me
Music in balance.
I am Nima Elyassi-Rad. This is my personal blog where I post a song, everyday. From time to time I post and/or reblog other things I find interesting. All opinions are my own.
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