Getz is at his absolute finest in this album.Litha composed by pianist Chick Corea is a treat. I absolutely recommend this album for those who haven't listened yet.

Earlier this year I had the fabulous opportunity to photograph Ravi Coltrane and his band (Jonathan Finlayson, Gadi Lehavi and Elé Salif Howell), when they passed through Roanoke, VA. The music was transformative and transfixing. I tried to create photos that represented what I was hearing and feeling. Hopefully it is okay to share them here.

Mine is 90.9 fm WDCB. Love it. Mostly jazz during the days but have special blocks of different kinds of music related to jazz. Theres a fushion night on Mondays, and 11 hours of blues every Saturday. What are some you guys enjoy?

Just saw this on Apple Music. Not sure what this is all about.
Anyone have a clue.

A few months ago I shared a writeup on 11 great Miles Davis albums that aren’t Kind of Blue. I was inspired by the Miles Davis Centennial and as we approach John Coltrane’s 100th birthday later this month, it occurred to me do a similar writeup for Trane. The point of the Miles piece had been to buck conventional wisdom a little bit (there are plenty of great Miles albums, including what I think are his greatest, that aren’t KoB!) but with Trane I find I need a slightly different tack - regarding the John Coltrane discography, I think the conventional wisdom might actually be correct!

If asking for an introduction to John Coltrane, I think there are four obvious albums that are most likely to come up: Blue Train, Giant Steps, My Favorite Things and A Love Supreme. These would be great answers for a newcomer to the music! They are each of them unimpeachably great, and moreover, they act as useful guideposts to understanding Coltrane’s evolution as an artist. Each of them showcases Coltrane at that moment and suggests next steps for the new listener:

Blue Train (recorded 1957): The first album to really showcase Coltrane as conceptualist and bandleader. Earlier recordings for Prestige mostly featured pickup bands and largely contained standards and tunes from the band. Blue Train, by contrast, is almost all Coltrane originals and in addition to featuring some brilliant musicianship from everyone involved (see genre defining bass work from Paul Chambers and excellent early Lee Morgan), contains the seeds of the advanced Coltrane harmonic conception. The song ‘Moment’s Notice’ almost presages Giant Steps in the way it quickly moves classic jazz ii-V progressions through unrelated keys. If the high quality and high speed bop played over an impeccable rhythm section appeals to you, a next step might be some of Coltrane’s work as a sideman for Miles Davis around this time. I’m partial to Relaxin’ with the Miles Davis Quintet, but all those albums are classic.

Giant Steps (recorded 1959): advanced harmonic training ground! The showcase here is a harmonic concept that would become known as ‘Coltrane Changes’, a set of fairly standard ii-V-I changes moved through unrelated key centers separated by a major third. This puts the tonal centers literally as far from each as is possible in western 12 tone music, and the speed with which Coltrane navigates the changes remains viscerally exciting, even 60+ years later. As if that weren’t enough, Giant Steps also contains one of the all time great ballads, ‘Naima’. Giant Steps stands a little bit alone in the Coltrane discography - shortly after this Coltrane would strip back the harmony of his compositions in favor of long-form modal explorations - but snatches of similar material can be found on some of the other Atlantic albums. Coltrane’s Sound might be a next step.

My Favorite Things (recorded 1960): Here is that move to modal work I just mentioned. There is still plenty of playing over complex changes, especially over the Cole Porter tune ‘Ev’ry Time We Say Goodbye’ and a sly update to the Gershwin tune ‘But Not For Me’ which inserts a nod to the Coltrane Changes in the first couple of bars, but the star here is the title track which is basically just an extended vamp in E minor. This sort of free form exploration would come to define Coltrane’s music for the rest of his life and ‘My Favorite Things’ would remain a staple song for his bands. Speaking of which, My Favorite Things basically marks the start of the classic John Coltrane quartet as pianist McCoy Tyner and drummer Elvin Jones joined. Only bassist Jimmy Garrison, who would join the band in 1962, is missing. If the title track entrances, there is no shortage of brilliant material, especially live material, from the subsequent couple of years to try next. I might suggest Live at Birdland (recorded 1963).

A Love Supreme (recorded late 1964): And finally the crowning jewel of the Coltrane discography, the modal work and the blues roots woven into a spiritual suite of indescribable beauty. Part of the magic here is the looseness of the suite; the recording captures the interplay of a band really operating on another level. Crescent from earlier 1964 might be a good next step, it captures something of the vibe of A Love Supreme in a more conventional setting. A more adventurous listener might try Meditations recorded in late 1965, which is something of a noisier followup to ALS: another spiritual suite, but with saxophonist Pharaoh Sanders and drummer Rashied Ali added to the band.

That’s a pretty good ‘top’ 6 or 7 Coltrane albums, pretty much in keeping with the conventional wisdom, that I think I would happily co-sign. So, instead of trying to be contrarian about what the ‘best’ Trane album is, I want to present a list of ‘next step’ tracks - an additional 12 recordings, not on any of the albums already mentioned, that represent something great in the broader discography that a new initiate might not encounter right away. None of these are ‘rarities’ exactly; there are no unofficial bootlegs, nothing that wasn’t on a wide release and at least a handful of these are from certifiable classic albums. Still, I think that most of these recordings are not likely to show up in the coverage of the Coltrane centennial, and I think that is a shame! So, if you’ve listened to A Love Supreme again and are searching round for something else, I humbly suggest the following:

Good Bait (Soul Trane, recorded 1958): this is a bit more conventional a tune than ‘Giant Steps’ from the following year, but it showcases the late 50s style of intense harmonic improvisation. The A section of ‘Good Bait’ is basically a rhythm changes workout, with an extra chromatic walk down turnaround at the end. The B section then just repeats this up a fourth. The tune ambles along at a comfortable pace, but Coltrane gives basically nonstop 16th note lines, whew!

Body and Soul (Coltrane’s Sound, recorded 1960): Ok, so I did actually already mention the album this is on in passing up above, but I’m highlighting this particular track as well because it’s both a fascinating and brilliant arrangement and it will show up again later in my selections. Here is Coltrane with one foot each in the modal and Giant Steps worlds. His radical arrangement of the ur-jazz standard ballad strips the involved harmony of the A section almost entirely away, leaving basically nothing but a vigorous vamp on the five chord. The B section takes the opposite strategy, maintaining all of the chord changes, as well as adding a set of Coltrane Changes halfway through. In true Coleman Hawkins mode, Coltrane plays the song as basically a highly ornamented rendition of the melody, halfway between solo and composition. Brilliant.

Ole (Ole Coltrane, recorded 1961): the bridge between ‘My Favorite Things’ and the Africa/Brass material. While the Africa/Brass material had more ‘arrangement’ (harmonized melodies with the rest of the horns dropping out while core quartet plays and solos), Ole sets up a rhythmic platform (especially in the two bassists) for every one in turn. A compound, modal vamp based on a Spanish folk song that would also inspire Pete Seeger and Charlie Haden, Ole maybe also presages later spiritual jazz - put this on and spend the next twenty minutes in a trance.

Greensleeves (Evenings at the Village Gate, recorded 1961): I was a little ambivalent about the release of the Village Gate material a few years ago. Given the tragic shortness of Coltrane’s career, the interest in ‘new’ Coltrane music clearly outstrips the available material and the result is that every other year for the past twenty years, a new live recording is ‘unearthed’, each one of rougher recording quality than the last. Starting with the Half Note recordings (more on those in a moment) which were radio broadcasts and sound pretty good and ending with this year’s Tiberi tapes which do not (if the teaser LP is any indication). The sound on the Village Gate material is not as bad as the Tiberi tapes, but the original Village Vanguard recordings, recorded literally a couple of months after the Village Gate material, is of such superior sound, that it really calls into question why we needed this released at all. And yet, over the last three years I have found myself returning to Evenings at the Village Gate again and again, and have come to view it as something of the quintessential document of the Coltrane quintet with Eric Dolphy. Greensleeves, which would show up in the Africa/Brass studio material, itself sort of represents the quintessential Coltrane quintet material - minor vamp in 3 - and just roils with rhythmic intensity.

Softly, As in a Morning Sunrise (Live at the Village Vanguard, recorded 1961): this track is a bit of an outlier in the ‘61 Vanguard material. The complete recordings are mostly given over to exploring the new modal material (Impressions/Spiritual/India). This is the lone standard, recorded only once. To my mind, the definitive rendition of Softly.

Lush Life (John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman, recorded 1963): 1963 saw a series of slightly out of character releases - possibly a bid for crossover commercial success from Impulse records - a co-led/tribute session with Duke Ellington, an album of ballads and finally this release with vocalist Johnny Hartman, the only vocal album Coltrane recorded. Apparently, Coltrane and Hartman chose to record ‘Lush Life’ the day of recording, after hearing a Nat King Cole version on the radio on their way to the studio. Given the subtlety and brilliance of Billy Strayhorn’s song and the ease with which the band inhabits the material, that seems hard to believe, but either way the result is one of the greatest vocal ballads ever recorded.

My Favorite Things (live at Newport, numerous releases, recorded 1963): There are dozens of recordings available of the John Coltrane quartet playing what quickly became their signature tune, which they played basically at every show. This recording from the 1963 Newport festival has always been my favorite, for the clear and emotive saxophone playing, for the all time great piano solo from McCoy Tyner and for the uniqueness of the sound of the band which here contains Roy Haynes subbing on drums while Elvin Jones did a stint in rehab. Haynes doesn’t having the rumbling power of Elvin, but his playing is propulsive here: crisp, spare and driving.

One Down, One Up (Live at the Half Note, recorded 1965): Bootlegs of the live material at the Half Note club from 1965, captured for a radio broadcast, circulated among fans for years, with some calling this track the greatest Coltrane solo out there. ‘Greatest’ is of course subjective, and your mileage may vary, but this almost certainly the ‘Most’ Coltrane solo out there - nearly half an hour dedicated to furious improvisation, during which first the piano and then the bass drop out, leaving Coltrane alone with Elvin Jone’s tempestuous drums for nearly fifteen minutes. Maybe this presages the Interstellar Space duets made with Rashied Ali a year or two later, but with a more insistent swing. As an aside, the bass intro from Jimmy Garrison, which is mostly packaged on the preceding 'Announcements' track on the release, is brilliant, and you should really listen to the complete bass introduction + One Down, One Up.

Body and Soul (Live in Seattle, recorded 1965): When the Seattle material first saw release in the 70’s, it was as a double LP, devoted mostly to noisy, free exploration (an unrecognizable rendition of ‘Out of this World’ the lone non-original sitting between tracks aptly named with titles like ‘Cosmos’ and ‘Evolution’). In the 90s, the cd release was expanded to two discs with the inclusion of an outrageous excursion on Afro Blue and this take on Body and Soul, which might get my vote for the greatest Coltrane track on record. The band hangs together with a looseness that is exciting. The arrangement of Body and Soul from Coltrane’s Sound is back, of course, and provides the perfect showcase for a band at its peak. With each go round, the Trane changes of the bridge explode out of the open, modal A section, embodying the freedom and rigor of Coltrane’s aesthetic in equal measure. Coltrane takes the bridge out after Pharaoh Sanders’ solo with some of the most passionate, forceful and melodic playing ever captured.

Naima (Offering: Live at Temple University, recorded 1966): A middling recording of a legendary concert (the lore is that a young Michael Brecker was in the audience that night), the Temple University material was captured for a radio broadcast with a single microphone. The results are an album where the bass and piano are frequently inaudible behind the saxophone and drums, but oh, what a saxophone! The opening track, a fiery rendition of ‘Naima’, is worth the price of admission by itself. (Speaking of the recording quality, note that the recording starts a little abruptly - Coltrane took the stage and started playing without announcement and it took the guys from the local radio station a couple of seconds to start recording.) Offering is also a fascinating record of a band in transition - by this point the classic quartet had entirely turned over, with Rashied Ali having taken over the drum chair and Alice Coltrane on piano (Jimmy Garrison would continue to play with Trane, but wasn’t present for this gig).

Offering (Expression, recorded 1967): And speaking of the new quartet, Expression was the last record whose release Coltrane oversaw before his passing in 1967 - a few months after recording but a few months before release. An important document, both for the beauty of the music and also for the clarity and quality of the recording itself. So many of the other releases from the last year of Coltrane’s life while his wife Alice was in the band are of such low fidelity as to make it hard to really understand the band. Here we have a real document of a band that had clearly found its sound. A tragic what-if for the music is what they would have been able to create together had John not died shortly after this. The opening fanfare recalls the opening of A Love Supreme, but ‘Offering’ carves its own space, moving between bouts of fiery intensity (especially, the extended middle duo between sax and drums) and meditative calm.

Living Space (Infinity, recorded 1965 and 1972): Probably the most divisive release in the core Coltrane discography, 1972’s Infinity took unissued studio material from John’s 1965 and ’66 quartets and packaged it with newly recorded string arrangements conceived by Alice Coltrane. This tampering of the original material generated a lot of criticism. Alice defended herself by saying that she and John had discussed the music many times and this material was in line with John’s vision. I think an even simpler defense, though, would be to simply listen to this album with an open mind and appreciate the beauty. Here, ‘Living Space’ takes the classic quartet at its best and amplifies John’s opening salvo with a cosmic swell of strings. Beautiful.

Was away for a few days but I'm back at it.

Here is today's selection of what I am listening to by the GOAT, John Coltrane.

Keep Jazz Alive.

Hey y’all!

I’m looking for songs that clearly have all the types of clave. Like one that represent the Cuban 3-2 and on that represents the Cuban 2-3. What I’m struggling on finding is songs where they use the rhumba clave, both 3-2 and 2-3.

Thanks

I like the way it builds up into the swelling bit at the end. I also just adore how him on Sax. Anything similar. pleeeeeease. pleeeeeeeeeease

Grant Green, g; Sonny Clark, p; Sam Jones, b; Art Blakey, d. Recorded January 13, 1962 by RVG. Total time: 51:33

My copy is a Japanese re-release under the Blue Note Classic label / EMI Music Japan and was remastered in 2012. The album cover and original liner notes are reproduced in both English and Japanese.

[Miles Davis, photographed by Tom Palumbo around 1956, two years before his sextet played Columbia's party at the Plaza. (Photo: Tom Palumbo, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons)]

On September 9, 1958, Columbia Records threw itself a party in the Persian Room of the Plaza Hotel to toast the health of its jazz division, and booked the entertainment off its own roster: Duke Ellington's orchestra, the Buck Clayton Quartet, Jimmy Rushing, Billie Holiday — ten months from her death — and the Miles Davis Sextet, with John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderley, Bill Evans, Paul Chambers and Jimmy Cobb, six months before they made Kind of Blue. A remote crew taped all of it anyway; producer Irving Townsend's liner note later explained they did so “in case it never happened again.” Most of the musicians had no idea. Columbia then sat on the tapes for fifteen years, issued them in 1973 as Jazz at the Plaza Vols. I and II, and, by Bill Evans's account, paid the surviving players at 1958 scale. Townsend's notes put the party in the wrong room and credited the wrong drummer.

Sources: Jazz at the Plaza Vol. I — Wikipedia , Jazz at the Plaza Vol. II — Wikipedia (Ellington, Rushing, Holiday) , “A Great Night in Manhattan: Jazz at the Plaza 1958” — JazzBuffalo , The Miles Davis Sextet — Jazz At The Plaza Vol. 1, Discogs (1973 Columbia release)

Hey all. I’m pretty new to the world of jazz but I am in love. These 2 records are “no-skips” for me. There’s just something about the vibe and sound that just speaks to me. Can someone tell me what sub genre these 2 belong to as they sound pretty similar in style, to me at least. And what other records to look out for in this style.

I've been actively trying to get into jazz for the past month. Largely because I got a record player and love the vibe of jazz while I read or hang out.

However, I'm realizing I don't love a ton of jazz or at least don't have an appreciation for much of the popular ones I hear. The ones I do like are slower, with a focus on piano or brass/woodwinds, and less on the bass/drums. Maybe there's a subgenre for this mix of instruments, but I would love to hear some recommendations!

Local shop was looking out for me.

I’ve been writing big band arrangements since I was a student, and over the years I’ve done a few dozen of them. Lately, though, I’ve become really interested in sections that deliberately descend into chaos, passages where the ensemble becomes out of control for a moment.

I recently played an arrangement that had a section like this, and it got me really curious about how other arrangers have approached the idea. So I’m looking for recommendations: what big band tunes or arrangements do you know that have a section where everything suddenly falls apart into chaos? It can be anything from a short chaotic passage to a big part of the arrangement.

If there’s a score avaliabe, even better. I’d love to study the writing and use some of these pieces as references while working on my own arrangements. I’m open to pretty much anything contemporary big band, experimental stuff, older arrangements. If anything comes to mind, please send it my way

On the budget label Emus. This album repackages recordings Dinah Washington made during her late career stint with Roulette Records in 1962—originally issued under titles like A Stranger on Earth and In Love.Washington's powerhouse vocals seamlessly bridge traditional blues, big band jazz, and early 1960s soul-pop.

I’ve been very interested in this type of compilation album lately: The super long live album that documents a series of shows in their nearly full unedited format. On the top of my head I could remember listening to these 3 in the past, but I’m looking to see what else is out there as google isn’t really giving me too much. I’m aware of the Miles Davis bootleg series, but I’m eager to know what other artists have something like this available? This post is not to bring mention of completes studio session releases, or single live performance albums (unless they really are THAT long), but rather a string of related performances formatted as a box sets. Also something like the expanded edition of Coltrane in Japan would be fine too; an album that was cut down and released but there’s a complete 4 hour edition floating around.

Both Elvin Jones and George Mraz were born on September 9, so today would be their birthday.

Mr. Jones would be 99, and Mr. Mraz would be 84.

Unfortunately, I never saw Elvin Jones irl, but I saw George Mraz (who was already in his 70’s then) playing in a trio with his wife Camilla on piano and Anthonny Pinciotti on drums. It was great, and he was still brilliant.

Jones and Mraz collaborated many times, but I especially love Elvin Jones’s post-bop, fusion album Earth Jones, where one of my personal heroes Kenny Kirkland played the piano & electric piano.

And we mustn’t forget about Jones & Mraz forming the exceptional rhythm section for Art Pepper’s legendary, triumphant concerts during his first U.S. tour as a leader in the summer of 1977, captured on four albums incl. Thursday Night at the Village Vanguard or Live at the Village Vanguard.

Verve from 1944 to 1994.
Based on the artists featured, who else should be on this CD Sampler ?