Monthly Archives : November 2016

THE BEST ALBUMS TO GET YOU INTO JAZZ

Where do I start? You say the word jazz and you get so many different reactions. Those reactions are based on whatever contact people have had with jazz or what they think is jazz. Common reactions are “oh I don’t like elevator music”, “that stuff is too damn complicating”, ” I don’t get it”, “I can’t follow that”, “it’s boring” OR “there’s too many notes”.

No matter what your musical taste, there is a jazz for you. I’m sure you have listened and liked some type of jazz in your life but didn’t know it was jazz. Or have stumbled on a music festival and found yourself bopping and grooving to the wonderful sounds not knowing you were totally immersed in a jazz journey.

Those who know me will tell you that I’m a jazz guy. Yes I listen to rock, blues, hip hop, metal, classical and all their sub genres but I’m a jazz dude through and through. There is no denying that. It’s my first love.

I thought at one point I would try to define jazz but that is just a futile task. So I will give you one little quote I found recently –
“Nothing about jazz comes easy. Whether its tracing its origins, writing about it, creating it, or improvising upon the classics, again and again and again. But it is probably this exact, surreal quality that allows it an unusual position in the world of music. A throne of sorts that can never be fought over or sat on by any other genre. It’s the perfectly un-hostile king that rules in peace and can never be overthrown. All this thanks to the sheer inability of anyone who doesn’t truly love it, to mimic it in any form. A rarity in any creative field. – MensXP”

I first started listing to jazz at age 12 when I found my father’s copy of Miles Davis’s Kind of Blue in our family home’s crawl space. Bam. Hooked. And what a love affair it’s been.
Finding jazz by discovering a masterpiece or prominent artist is a rarity and a somewhat exhilarating experience. But most people need help. They need to know where to start. The genre is vast, encompassing textures from not only genres we are accustomed to (blues, rock, classical and R&B) but also ethnic flavors from all over the world.

Here I offer you a first step, a birth into the amazing world of jazz. Because everyone’s musical tates are so different and there are so many sub-genre of jazz I offer the lists in groups. This is not a best of jazz list. It’s a list of albums that give you the essense of jazz and it’s sub-genre. They are fully accessable to the non jazz mind. There is no doubt that you will find something that tickles your fancy. Once that happens watch out. You’ll fine it hard to stop the need and obsession for more (not that you would want to stop). I’ve also given you a few videos to get a sense of some of the artists listed.

Open your mind to the possibilities that is Jazz.

CLASSIC JAZZ
Louis Armstrong — The Complete Hot Five & Hot Seven Recordings, Vol. 1
Wes Montgomery — The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery

BIG BAND
Duke Ellington – Ellington At Newport
Count Basie – The Complete Atomic Basie
Benny Goodman- At Carnegie Hall Complete 1938

BEBOP
Dizzy Gillespie — Groovin’ High
Thelonious Monk — Brilliant Corners
Charlie Parker: Bird: The Savoy Recordings: Master Takes (Compilation, 1944 -’48)
Bud Powell: The Amazing Bud Powell (Compilation, 1949-’51)
Art Blakey Quintet: A Night at Birdland Vol. 1 (1954)

MAINSTREAM
Miles Davis — Kind of Blue
Bill Evans — The Complete Live at the Village Vanguard 1961
The Dave Brubeck Quartet — Time Out
John Coltrane – Blue Train (1958)
Cannonball Adderley – Somethin’ Else (1958)
Oscar Peterson – Night train

SINGERS
Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong Ella and Louis Imagine
Billie Holiday – The Masters and Singles
Nina Simone – Sugar In The Bowl (the very best of Nina Simone)
The Nat King Cole Trio – The Best of the Nat King Cole Trio – The Vocal Classics

FUSION
The Mahavishnu Orchestra — The Inner Mounting Flame
Herbie Hancock – Maiden Voyage (1965)
Return To Forever – Romantic Warrior
Weather Report – Heavy Weather
Chick Corea Elektric Band – Beneath The Mask

WORLD
Richard Bona – Ten Shades of Blue

TODAY
Robert Glasper — Double Booked
Eperanza Spalding – Esperanza (2008)
Michael Brecker – Two blocks from the edge
Winton Marsalis – Standard Time
Pat Metheny – The Way Up
Joshua Redmond – Spirit of the Moment 9Live at the Village Vanguard)
Don Grolnick – The complete Blue note Recordings

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmwsQ_dHrFM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDhyJvKe88o


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubBgr8eUlZQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHs-pNjC4eo

SMOOTH AND SILKY SOUL JAZZ FROM BULGARIA

Valentin Vasilev is a smooth jazz guitarist and a very good one. His knowledge of the genre is substantial. He plays with a passion and feel that is so reminiscent of the more famous well seasoned front-men of the best New York and LA jazz clubs and concert halls. But Valentin is from and plays his music in Bulgaria.

Valentin Vasilev

That’s a long way from New York. 4873 miles to be exact. Yet, this dude plays jazz as if he lives upstairs above the Village Vanguard. Ok, so why Jazz? I asked Val. “This is the style in which I can express my soul, thoughts and passions”, he said. Very simply put but that also really says a lot about why he chose smooth jazz. That sub genre is ripe for expression of moods, passion and all things love and sexy. A few listens of Valentin’s miusic and you’ll be poking your significant other in short time.

Varna, is a city of just over 300000 people on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast. It has a vast history going as far back as 1000 BC and has preserved and protected it’s heritage with impecable detail. No wonder 61% of it’s economy is from trade and tourism. But You would be hard pressed to find a Jazz club or even hear the music anywhere in the city or country for that matter. Valentin says “My music style is not popular in Bulgaria. Therefore, there is no stage for my art. You have much to love and believe in what you’re doing and wait for a chance … but not here unfortunately”.

You’ll here jazz at Val’s house. He grew up listening to jazz first hand. His father is also a guitarist. George Vasilev ( also know as Patschoka) taught Val to play starting at 15 years old. This was not just any ordinary guitar teacher. He’s a well known and respected recording artist in Europe. He is a fantastic player and its easy to see the influence he has had on Valentin.

Valentin’s other influences include West Montgomery, George Benson ,Lee Ritenour and Gary Moore. No surprise there once you’ve heard Valentin play.

What’s next for Valentin? “I’m filled with the ideas and energy and hope to meet the right people with whom to realize all my dreams” says the very humble artist. He definitely deserves a shot at that.

Valetin’s style and sound is one that is easily recognizable because it (among all those other smooth guitarists in the genre) stands out. It has it’s own character. He has a very different picking style than you would see in guitarist these days and that contributes to his sound. But Valentin has soul. He can bring out the deepest feeling in a track. His phrasing technique is among the best I’ve heard. Valentin is truly a diamond in the rough.

You can see and hear more of Valentin Click Here

WHAT THE F… IS GOING ON WITH MUSIC TODAY?

I’m about to get real here so excuse me if I piss you off.  I don’t care.  It’s my opinion.

This question is huge and it has no clear answer. Well not really.
We all listen to music. Each of us have our favorite and our preferred genre, maybe even a few. But if we don’t listen to all that is out there, can we really speak for the whole? Can we really say a certain music is bad?

Well I listen to just about everything. Yes I have my favorites but I love music and what it represents to all people and I’ve listened to a whole lot of it. So I’m gonna step up and say yes I think I can somewhat speak on a broad scope. Don’t like what I have to say, well I’m perfectly fine with that. I welcome your comments at the end.

There are many ways to look at this beast. You can say music is culture. It changes with time .
The 1960s had a different style / culture and they had different music. Music changes each generation 60’s 70’s 80’s 90’s 20′ 21’s.  Anyone can listen and hear the difference.

Of course with most music there is some kind of standard. Each genre has it’s criteria of what makes a song fit. Beyond that, it’s up to the musicians to effectively create and the listener to either like it or not. But in most top end genre’s (rock, blues, jazz, R&B, classical) you can’t fake the music. You either know how to create it, play it and sustain it or you don’t.

Todays Pop Artists

Notice how I didn’t mention Pop music. Well, I don’t really think of it as a genre.

Pop is a mix bag of all the artists who couldn’t find a specific genre and be good at it. A pile of artists who take what little they know of other genres, try to combine and mix them so they sound like something new and hip, Usually created by the younger generation (hence the immaturity level of the music). There. I said it. What a bunch of garbage people are selling and we are buying. The music is pointless, nonsensical and talentless.

People who make this music, will make millions because the youth of today is all ‘wow this is cool’. And then proceed to listen to the same crap over and over again. You’ll hear that song at home, at work, in the store, in the restaurant, blaring from the passing car. Come on? Personally, I welcome today’s availability of so much music and different kinds of it. I can escape all that repetitious crap.

Ok I won’t condemn them all because in all that mess there are a few very talented artists who probably don’t deserve my wrath.  But there are so many artists (strike that) individuals who’s personality is mistaken for talent.  Who don’t give a rats buttocks about the music.  What they want is the fame and money that comes with it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNfdUHyx9N8&feature=share

But there is another side to this music thing. Which has nothing to do with the music at all. It’s all that crap about who said what, who dissed who, who’s wearing what, who’s sleeping with who, who’s video is more revealing or taboo. Seriously, who gives a f–k.  But that stuff believe it or not influences who’s music gets sold.  How about that?  To the point where you could (and we do) have artists out there who have no talent at all but cause enough media fanfare and social murmur that people buy their music or go to their concerts just to see what other crap they can come up with, or mess they can get into.

What about the music? It’s not even at the forefront anymore. It’s way back behind the antics, the dancers, the videos.  You can’t sell a song anymore or get anyone to even consider listening to your music nowadays if you don’t have a compelling video.  Translation… the music doesn’t mean shit if you don’t have a video and a good one.  WTF?

Concerts aren’t about the music anymore.  For example. Go to a pop concert, listen to the headliner sing. First, is he or she really singing? If so, is it any good? Can you see any of the back up musicians? After all they are the ones playing the music, right? Maybe not. Maybe there are no musicians.  Can you even hear the music/singing behind all the other crap going on on the stage and elsewhere.

And music award shows?…don’t even get me started.

Today’s pop music is repetitive and unoriginal.  So much so that you can take a hit from the past, change it slightly, call it a remix and somehow that becomes original material.  It’s become more about personality than talent.  And that personality better be bad.  Cause you know where they say good guys end up….  I find that the Justin Bieber, One Direction, Miley Cirus, Taylor Swift, most of what is coming out of rap (sorry bros) and a lot of the EDM music of today is garbage.

So who’s fault is this?  Is it the music industry trying to make big money off the backs of their clients or is it the result of greedy, immature no talent artists (slash that) individuals?  Or is it our fault for buying into the media crazed, sensationalized, cookie cutter pre-packaged fake product we are constantly subjected to everywhere we go?

Most of the contemporary hits heard on the radio follow the same four-chord progression, or at least variations of this progression.

Short video of the evolution of musical tastes from 1961 through 2011. It suggests constantly changing trends in musical taste, such as an increase in demand for songs with more danceability and loudness, are reasons for why certain music is popular in the present day.

Tell me what you think. Drop me a comment.