I really started to explore jazz more in 2014. Prior to that time I had a few favorites I listened to regularly. Those artists included mostly Wes Montgomery and Jimmy Smith and occasionally Freddie Hubbard and McCoy TYner. When I set out to expand my jazz listening I would review both the Jazz Charts at both the Roots Music Report and JazzWeek. Additionally, I would review the Jazz Birthday Page at All About Jazz.
So once again I must confess to not wrting many new posts. One of my excuses is I am still trying to fully recover from the ankle sprain that occurred on my May 28th run! In order to facilitate that recovery, for the last several weeks I’ve been going to Physical Theraphy twice a week. Additionally, I’ve been working more at Target.Finally, last week in an attempt to get myself to write more I bought a new laptop.
Only I shopped price and bought an HP Chromebook. And while it works fine for using the Internet, which means it works well for most of my uses. It doesn’t play nicely with my iTunes music library. Now because not all of my music was recorded by iTunes and moved right into iTunes my albums and recording are located in various folders on various storage devices! So what I’ve beem doing is relocating them to devices where I know what I have and where they are located! I actually bought a 256 GB microSD card that I think will hold my whole library.
In the midst of all this my wife did make a trip to the NJ State Archives in Trenton on Wednesday of this week, That means that I get to head further north and visit The Princetion Record Exchange! Now because I’m still dont know how to rip CDs using the Chromebook, I only bought vinyl albums, which is actually what I wanted to buy anyway.
Jazz
So yesterday’s random numbers were 3 and 5. Those numbers led me to one blues album from Robben Ford and the Blue Line and a jazz album from Wes Montgomery. The Robben Ford album is his 1995 release Handful of Blues. The Wes Montgomery album was Movin’ Wes, released in 1964 on the Verve label.
Robben Ford is one of the artists I like when I hear his music but I tend not to search out his music. Part of the reason is I really didnt care for a few of his more recent albums. Therefore, I probably haven’t given his current albums a good listen. Bottom line , I just havent been listening to his music much anymore.
Although, after listening to Handful of Blues I may need to listen to his more recent albums again. Rignt now I am listening to Lost in Paris Blues Band. It sounds pretty good to me.
Anyway let’s get back to Handful of Blues. Listening to the album I thought it sounded more bluesy than some of the albums I remember. Then I read this at All Music from Stephen Thomas Erlewine….
On Handful of Blues, Robben Ford strips his sound back to the basics, recording a set of blues with only a bassist and a drummer. The group runs through a handful of standards, including “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood” and “I Just Want to Make Love to You,” and a number of made-to-order origin
So the bottmline is listening to =&0=&has reminded me how good a guitarist Robben Ford is and I really do need to revisit a lot of his albums!!
Speaking good guitarists,Wes Montgomey is one that I never forget how great he was. I discovered Wes’s music a few years after Movin’ On, which was released in 1964.
I admit that I became a fan when Wes crossed over and recorded his albums on A&M. Those albums were more pop than pure jazz. However, I soon discovered the great jazz recordings. I quickly added several of those album to my music collection.
According to the Movin’ Wes liner notes by 1964, Wes’s pop crossover was in full swing. Two of the songs included on the album “People” and “Matchmaker” were from the popular music of the day. In the notes written in 1997 Zan Stewart writes:
…To be sure =&2=& is not Montgomery’s finest hour. That position will always be reserved for his small group effort’s from =&3=& on Riverside to Smokin’ at the Half Note on Verve. But it is decidedly not a bad album, unworthy of the lambasting Montgomery took in the jazz press for it and the subsequent albums. On the other hand many colleagues from Kenny Burrell to John Schofield think these commercial albums are first rate. And even if Movin’ Wes is regarded as pop music as the guitarist felt it should be, it is certainly grand pop music; if only pop music sounded this good all the time.
How right he is!
So yesterday’s random CD selection process led me to two of my favorite guitarists, Robben Ford and Wes Montgomery. Check Them Out!
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Matthew Halsall is a Manchester,England based composer, trumpeter, producer, and DJ. He is also the founder of a Gondwana Records. All that and he is only 37 years old!
Matthew Halsall but maybe most importantly a beautiful artist and a terrific trumpeter. I remember several years ago, when I first listened to his music, that it was different from most jazz that I’ve heard. And =&0=& confirms that Halsall has created his own rich sound world.
According to his website that sound world is rooted in….
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The first jazz artist that caught my eye when I reviewed the birthday list this morning at All About Jazz was Cindy Blackman. The reason was simple she is a drummer!! I do believe that there are not that many of them around!! What I didn’t know at the time, aside from who the hell she is, was that in the spring of 2010 Cindy sat in with Carlos Santana when the band’s drummer Dennis Chambers had a previous commitment. Cindy and Carlos had first met several years earlier at a festival in Europe. At the time Cindy was touring with Lenny Kravitz. .By July of 2010 Carlos proposed to Cindy and the two were married in December! So who besides Mrs Carlos Santana is this Cindy Blackman. A stop at Wikipedia was in order……
=&0=& (born November 18, 1959), sometimes known as =&1=&,[1] is a virtuoso drummer whose artistry spans the realms of jazz and rock. Blackman is best known for recording and touring with Lenny Kravitz. Full Biography
and at her website I read……..
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So this morning I decided to listen to some jazz, while I was doing some things around the house. The album I chose was For Jimmy, Wes and Oliver from the Christian McBride Big Band. I generally don’t listen to big band albums. However, because this album was obviously dedicated to Jimmy Smith, Wes Montgomery, and Oliver Nelson listening to it was a no brainer. The Dynamic Duo and The Further Adventures of Jimmy And Wes are two of my favorite albums.
Back in the 60s there was a time when all genres appeared together on the pop charts. You might listen to an instrumental by Hugh Masekela and then a tune from The Beatles. Maybe something from Smokey Robinson and the Miracles followed by a song like “Mercy,Mercy, Mercy” from Cannonball Adderley. I loved to hear all kinds of music from the radio. So I often think fondly on those days. They were days for someone with ADHD.
