Share your favourite Jazz

[Baron Kurtz]

I wasn't quite sure where to start this thread, but i think i've found the most appropriate place. Favourite music isn't really an accoutrement A couple of other threads have recently diverted into jazz discussion, and i know the folks populating the lounge must like jazz ...

Anyway, here's the deal - Share your favourite jazz tunes, bands etc. from the 30s-50s And if you can find online audio/video clips, all the better.

I'll start with my favourite band. The quintette du hot club de France - wearing some fantastic tuxedos.

Django Reinhardt, Stephane Grapelli and their classic band. The movie below is from a website by some guys that restore old movies. Enjoy ...

http://www.lobsterfilms.com/retour_de_flamme.66.htm

 

[Bebop]

Most of my favorite jazz is from the bebop era with Art Pepper being one of my jazz heros. Dexter Gordon and alot of those west coast jazz guys really get to me also. Stephand Grapelli was a great influence on my clarinet playing. Even though I am a jazz clarinetist by night, I never really liked the Benny Goodman-Artie Shaw type big bands. I like the raw, sometimes drug induced, improvisations of individual jazz men and women . Which reminds me of how much I also loved the sound of Ella Fitzgerald, Anita O'day and Sarah Vaughn.

 

[nightandthecity]

Fantastic clip Baron?¢‚Ǩ¬¶J?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢Attendrai if I?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢m not mistaken. Shame they stop as soon as Stephane starts up, yet another video to add to the list.

I am also a great fan of The Hot Club and of string jazz in general. Have you heard Hatchette?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s Swingtette? This was a band Stephane played with in London during the war?¢‚Ǩ¬¶some of their stuff really jumps, I have a few of their 78s and Naxos do a reissue CD.

I play hot fiddle myself among other things, and other faves would have to include Joe Venuti, Stuff Smith, and also the great Western Swing fiddlers like Cliff Bruner, JR Chatwell, and Jesse Ashlock ?¢‚Ǩ‚Äú because it was classed as Country Music few jazz fans even know about these outfits which played some of the hottest string jazz of the era.

When it comes to horns I?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢m a sax man all the way. Hawk, Prez, Hodges, Evans, all those guys kill me every time. And the R & B honkers like Wild Bill Moore. His few records with Big Joe Turner are absolute classics of the genre.

As for swing bands?¢‚Ǩ¬¶Duke Ellington all the way and back. And Fletcher Henderson.

 

[Cousin Hepcat]

Quintette of the Hot Club of France - Thansk for posting the video Baron! Gotta setup the new PC to see that, looking forward. Only ever heard one side by them, and it Was HOT, been meaning to check them out more. (Especially after seeing the movie Swing Kids)

Bebop, Dexter Gordan is JUST The Man!! (And a Conn 10-M tenor manufactured during the early 50s, with gold plated metal mouthpiece & Rico 2.5 reeds, is just The Sound ) All the way from the 40s, its amazing to think how much he must have influenced other beboppers but not really got all the deserving credit, since he was one of the first bop tenors, but didn't really seem to get "famous" till the 60s Blue Notes, then of course the big 1978 homecoming, and the 1986 movie (which is how I found him). Guess it didn't help that he was "out of the picture" all through the 50s except 2 lone (and Excellent!) LPs trying to break free from substance addiction... ( :beer: right Baron?)

Oh man, but theres Always gotta be room for swing! The Bebopper must never be too cool for swing

Nightandthecity, Hot Fiddle, Great! There are far too few musicians with Good Taste in what they play, always glad to meet one sir! - do you also like the "western swing" bands that bridged jazz & country? Always avoided country names, but got this one 78 by Bill someone who was supposed to be the "grandaddy" of western swing and its really cool in a countryfied way! "Fat Boy Rag". GREAT choices in tenor players... and those early 50s "Honkers and Bar Walkers" RULE! If you don't have the CD by the same title, by the way, you MUST check it out, look for sound clips on amazon or something...

Oh yeah, Duke... what can you say. According to Brian Rust, 460 sides recorded from his start in 1924 up through WWII... through some good folks on the net, obtained tapes of them all, and pretty much Every Single One of them a surreal compositional and harmonic masterpiece! even the different arrangements he frequently did of the same songs during the late 20s and the depression era all had personalities entirely their own - amazing what you can do by changing voicings, tempos, and harmonizations. Wish I had those digitized so could post some from those oddball rare 20s labels, he recorded for all of them simultaneously under different pseudonyms...

Man how can so many people with such good taste fit in One lounge :cool2:

 

[Wild Root]

So HOT!

Man, that clip is a killer diller! I wish that it too was longer!

Such great music came from Django and the boys! Love their style and sound!

I'll have to think of some of my favorite Jazz bands and I'll get back to you all on that.

Ok, back! Slim and Slam man! They're oh rootie, oh vootie, oh reetie!

Love Coleman Hawkins from 1933-1949.

=WR=

 

[nightandthecity]

Vout vout!! (o-wildrootie!)

I have a video somewhere of Slim and Slam playing a smokey club in LA. Back in the 80s a friend of mine was seriously smitten by it ?¢‚Ǩ‚Äú shortly after what does he do but run into Slim himself late at night on Crewe station! (for a US equivalent circa 1985 imagine running into Stephane Grapelli waiting for a Greyhound in some run down industrial backwater in the midwest).

They retired to the station bar and jammed. Why wasn?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t I there???!!!

Cousin, there was a Western swing bandleader called Bill Boyd but I think your 78 must be of Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys ?¢‚Ǩ‚Äú Wills was always called the father of WS and he recorded Fat Boy Rag back in 1946 or 47.

Wills formed the Texas Playboys in about 1934 and fronted the band till his death in 1963. They were an outstandingly hot outfit but (very like Shaw and Goodman) with success came a lot of pressure to be more ?¢‚Ǩ?ìcommercial?¢‚Ǩ? and reign in the pure jazz a bit and by the 50s a lot of their stuff is just a bit too smooth for my taste, though always technically excellent. The 30s and 40s stuff is the best, especially the first sessions from 1935 to 37.

I don?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t know if you can get Proper Records in the US, try this link
http://www.propermusic.com they specialize in top quality, well chosen, well researched, and ridiculously cheap jazz and country box sets. Their ?¢‚Ǩ?ìPlayboys Doughboys and Cowboys?¢‚Ǩ? is a very good intro to WS (don?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t be fooled by the first two tracks which are really Old Time string band music). They also do an excellent Bob Wills box set, worth the price just for the first disc of the early sessions

I think the WS bands are seriously important in jazz history ?¢‚Ǩ‚Äú they were the first to record with electric guitars for example, long before Charlie Christian (who was himself a southwesterner and will certainly have heard WS bands). I have a strong hunch they may hold clues about the actual origins of jazz too, but if I start sounding off about this I?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢ll be here all day?¢‚Ǩ¬¶.

?¢‚Ǩ¬¶.so back to THE DUKE! I grew up with the sounds of dad?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s Duke Ellington records floating up through the floorboards as I drifted off to sleep ?¢‚Ǩ‚Äú his favourite was Stevedore Stomp. To me the Duke will always reign supreme, and one of the great tenor moments has to be Paul Gonzales 27 chorus solo from the Duke?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s 1956 Newport concert. First time I heard it I was so stunned I couldn?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t get up from my armchair for about 5 minutes. Gobsmacked as we say over here.

 

[scotrace]

Red Nichols 30's stuff. "Sweet Georgia Brown" is so up-tempo you wonder how the heck they did it.
Woody Herman "Caldonia." OK, anything Woody Herman. The IRS be damned. I saw him perform just before he passed away, when he should have been relaxing on a California beach someplace enjoying a very well-deserved retirement. He was still HOT.
Any of the Hot Fives & Sevens. But "Mahogany Hall Stomp" or certainly "West End Blues" are senders.

 

[Cousin Hepcat]

Ok, back! Slim and Slam man! They're oh rootie, oh vootie, oh reetie!

Mac Vootie! Scootie! Yall are just Too Much!

Hey, while talking about Slim & Slam, we can't forget Louis Jordan! Here's a favorite of mine to play in the juke for friends even who don't listen to jazz or swing, hope yall like it too:

MP3: "Pettin and Pokin", 1.2 meg: http://www.eternalgoods.com/14310.mp3

Root, Hawk 1933-49 is the best! Favorite: "Angel Face".. man, makes a grown man Cry! wish I had more webspace... I'll be sending you that CDrom anyway, so instead, using a "web slot" for this somewhat of a rarity, a really pretty Hawk number from around 1945: (12-inch pressing, but neither side over 3 mins - why ask why...)

MP3: "Song in my Soul", 1.2 meg: http://www.eternalgoods.com/14166.mp3

Then of course there's the Ellington & Dorsey collaboration if you didn't catch it the first time, Great stuff...
http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?t=4826

Maan, there's so many great ones... wish I could post them ALL!...

Well, off to visit my folks for a week, see yall on the flip side, looking forward to seeing all the stuff you post when I get back (this is too much fun, I could do this all day!)

- Cousin Hepcat

 

[nightandthecity]

Cousin, we must never, ever, forget the great Louis Jordan! I couldn't pick a favourite LJ track, he only recorded killers...oh go on then, maybe Caldonia or Choo Choo...or Ain't that Just like a Woman, if only for the stunning rhythm section work and the Marie Antoinette verse.

Favourite Ducal masterpieces? All those classic thirties numbers like Mood Indigo, Creole Love Call, East St. Louis Toodle-oo, Caravan, the Mooche...and COTTON CLUB STOMP!!!

Which sets me thinkin: though I have a vast record collection I reckon ultimately it is often the best known pieces that remain the best..that's why they're the best known. Numbers like Count Basie One O'Clock Jump and Jumpin at the Woodside (oh boy, I am getting EXCITED now!!) Best version of One O' Clock, of the many he recorded? I heard an extract on the radio of a live performance in which the Lester Young/Herschel Evans sax duel seems to go on for about ten minutes and just gets wilder and wilder! Been trying to find it on disc ever since.

I'd better shut up and do some work for a change...but before I go, lets also remember the great Fletcher Henderson. When it came to really rockin' the joint that band could cut absolutely everyone!

 

[nightandthecity]

check this out...great website!!
http://www.redhotjazz.com/songs/ellington/cotton/part1.ram

 

[nightandthecity]

just spent 3 hours on this website, http://www.redhotjazz.com
full of fantastic music clips, found this favourite by Don Redman, loved it since dad gave me his 78 about 15 years ago
http://www.redhotjazz.com/Songs/redman/shakintheafrican.ram

better do some work now....

 

[Quigley Brown]

Here's a catchy tune featured in an early 1940s soundie by Reg Kehoe and his Marimba Queens. Keep your eye on that bass player...I think he was trippin' on something.

http://www.archive.org/stream/SoundieF/SoundieF_256kb.mp4

 

[Rigby Reardon]

I consider this more blues than jazz, and it may seem like a rather mainstream choice these days, but Billie Holiday has always done it for me. Luckily my wife likes her too, so we've put on Billie for Valentine's day.

I grew up w/ my Dad's Benny Goodman albums, so when I rebelled, I think I turned off on that period completely for a while. Then I heard Billie as a 20-year-old. Now THAT is a voice. Almost 20 years later, I'm still in love.

 

[Wild Root]

That link works but, I can only get the audio and not the footage. What I'm I doing wrong?

=WR=

 

[Quigley Brown]

That link works but, I can only get the audio and not the footage. What I'm I doing wrong?

=WR=

Do you have Quicktime? I don't what else to suggest, but I needed Quicktime to view it. Let me know.

 

[nightandthecity]

Quigley, I'm getting even less than Root. Quicktime comes up and then proceeds to "load" indefinitely... I left it running in the background for ten minutes one try and it never got any further. Possibly the prob lies with my security settings/firewall

 

[Baron Kurtz]

Gents. Wow, that red hot jazz site is great - and it works on my computer

And now to post my favourite bopper. The late, great, bud powell. Not everyone's cup of tea, but certainly one of my regular listens.

Sweat pouring and constant singing along. A man existing in utter euphoria - until he stopped playing, then he was in hell :beer: .

and some sound clips. All very short, unfortunately ...



http://www.budpowelljazz.com/music/mp3_samples.html

 

[feltfan]

Duke, Slim, Louis...

What more could ya want?
I have a lot of their 78s (though it's
hard to find Louis Jordan and the Tympani 5
78s that aren't worn out!). But I recommend
some fine CD remasters, too:

Duke Ellington:
- The Blanton/Webster Years
- Early Ellington: Brunswick Recordings '26 - '31

Louis Jordan and the Tympani 5:
- the 5 CD set on JSP (should be only around $25 and
excellent sound). I love every track of all 5 CDs. Makes
me smile every time I hear it.

Don't know of good Slim Gailliard transfers. I like his later
bebop stuff with Dodo and Bird. I have some of his
"Atomic" records, including "Atomic Cocktail".

But let's not forget Louis Armstrong and his Hot Fives and Hot Sevens?
Again, the transfers on JSP are excellent (if you don't have all
the 78s, and who does?). And the set "Portrait of the Artist as a
Young Man" is outstanding as well.

So many more... but if I were to name one more from this
period, it'd be... maybe the Decca Count Basie recordings
(out of print but findable transferred on GRP) or maybe
Raymond Scott Quintet (except he didn't believe he was
playing jazz) or maybe God himself, Art Tatum or his fine follower,
Fats Waller (who, when asked if he was influenced by Tatum
said something to the effect of 'what a wonderful place to be from').
But that's more than one. And Cab Calloway would make more than two.

 

[jake431]

My all-time favorite is John Coltrane - not "golden era" but I think he's a genius. Jazz saxophone hasn't absorbed him yet, and he's been dead since 1967. Other than him, I really like Thelonious Monk. Players wise, I've always dug Cannonball Adderly, Eric Dolphy, Elvin Jones, Clifford Brown, McCoy Tyner...and a whole host of other folks, sidemen, what have you. Big band era, I really LOVE Count Basie - to me his band swung harder than anything.

-Jake

 

[shamus]

Art Blakey needs a listen to now and again...