Category: Jazz
Among the jazz musicians birthdays yesterday was Hammond B3 organist and pianist Milt Buckner. Buckner was an influential musician on both instruments. He started out playing piano in Detroit in the 1930s.Stanton Moore – Conversations
with Conversations – Jazz/Rock Drummer Stanton Moore returns and reinvents!
Drums – Born: July 9, 1972
Checking the birthdays at All About Jazz, yesterday I saw that it was drummer Stanton Moore’s 42nd birthday, and that he had released a new album Conversations this year. I first discovered Stanton’s drumming back in 2010, when he released Groove Alchemy, Anyway I enjoyed that album, additionally, when I looked back at the old post that I wrote I saw that I also heard Stanton’s drums on Anders Osborne’s album American Patchwork! So it didn’t take me long to head on over to Spotify to explore the album. Here’s some background for those of you unfamiliar with Stanton’s work….
Which Artist’s Music Should I Explore?? Listen – Then Vote!
So this morning I sat down and made a list of five Jazz artists whose new albums I thought I would like to explore. Rather than listen to each of them fully today, I made the following playlist picking a few tracks from each of the albums. I figured I’d listen to the playlist and see what album stood out the most for me and then listen to that album. So here is the playlist give it a listen in full or one track from each artist and then vote for our favorite….. I already know mine ….all of them – just kidding…..
Exploring the Music of Joe Zawinul on His Birthday – July 7th
Joe Zawinul (July 7, 1932 – September 11, 2007) – Keyboards – Composer
Last week, when I wrote about the jazz fusion sub-genre, the name Joe Zawinul came up as a major force in the sub-genre. Today I have a reason to write about and listen to Joe’s music, because on this date in 1932, Joe was born. Joe was born, raised, and classically trained on the piano in Austria. Around 1959 he knew that to grow in the jazz genre, he needed to come to the US, so he applied for a scholarship to Berklee School of Music through Down Beat Magazine. He won a $200 scholarship , came to America.And like they say the rest is history and that’s what his career was historic. You can read the full story here.
Exploring the Music of Mads Tolling
Mads Tolling – violin viola, and composer.Born July 5, 1980
Violinist Mads Tolling was born on this date July 5th in 1980 in Copenhagen,Denmark is violinist. If you think that I didn’t recognize his name on the list of jazz birthdays at All About Jazz this morning, you would be ……correct!! So
2014 Jazz Organ – from Jared Gold – JG3+3 = a great jazz sextet and album!
Somewhere a while back I became aware of jazz organist Jared Gold. I think I first saw Jared’s name when I was searching for Dave Stryker’s album 8-Track (which I still have not found). Anyway, over the last couple of months, I’ve watched Gold’s latest release JG3+3 climb the JazzWeek Charts and have gone to Spotify to check the album out and come away empty. This week I did the same thing and this time the album was available and it has been in my jazz rotation this week and I have a new jazz organist favorite to add to my ever-growing collection.
Exploring the Music of Ahmad Jamal on his birthday (July 2nd) Happy 84th Birthday, Ahmad!
On this date July 2nd in 1930 jazz, composer, pianist and educator Ahmad Jamal was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Now, while I have seen his name on the JazzWeek charts over the last several months when his latest release Saturday Morning (No 29 on the 2013 Jazz Week Year End Chart) was on the charts. His name sounded sort of familiar, but I admit I didn’t know much about the man and his music. So when I read at Wikipedia today, that American music critic Stanley Crouch places him second in importance in the development of jazz after 1945 I was surprised. As I read on, I read….
Explorations of Jazz Fusion – Jazz Rock and Finding Connections to My Vinyl Collection
So a few days ago in my post about the sub-genres of jazz, I wrote that I still had some sub-genres to add to the mix. One of those sub-genres is Jazz Fusion/Jazz-Rock, which rose in the late 60s, kinda’ peaked in the 1970s, but managed to extend into the 1980s and 90s and many musician’s music still fit into sub-genre today! This is probably the sub-genre that I have least explored at least as far as jazz bands go. From Wikipedia…..
From the Archives – A Morning of Jazz – Wes Montgomery and Wynton Kelly – Smokin’ at the Blue Note!
Last night when I was sifting through my vinyl collection I came across the Wes Montgomery album Willow Weep For Me, Finding that album reminded me of this post I had written a while ago. I read the liner notes for the album which has always been a favorite and discovered that in the summer of 1968 Verve Records discovered previously unreleased tracks and the seven that are included on Willow Weep for Me were recorded at the same booking at The Half Note in Greenwich Village! In the notes Richard Lamb writes:
