Today's JAZZ playlist

Herbie Hancock - Inventions And Dimensions

 

Thanks Steve. I really had a fun time at that record store. And yes, this Bud Powell record is great! He's one of my favorite musicians...

 

Thanks King! I was checking in with everyone's posts, but was unable to post anything myself, being away from a record player. Glad to be back. I was aware of this Powell LP and probably saw it more as a CD over the years. Yeah, it's special.

 

And THAT LP is also amazing. You know, it's funny, but when I first picked up "Time Waits", it was early on in my listening experience. I liked it, but I didn't realize how profound it was until years later. A friend of mine in college had Bud's Verve stuff, things like "Celia", "So Sorry Please", and "Cherokee". I love all that as well, but at the time, I was under the impression that it alone, represented Bud's best recorded playing. There is a florid, youthful quality to what he does on those recordings. His technique is "rounder". He is at the height of his technical command. He's in the springtime of his life and career.

But then as we know, he went through things. Verve put out a couple of double LPs back in the 70's, the first of which, featured the material I was talking about above. But the second one, the way it was reviewed, seemed to be making the statement that the material on the LP was not on a musical par with the earlier stuff. But the thing is, over the years, Bud's technique CHANGED. He got a different sound out of the piano. I first heard it on the second volume of that Verve double LP - or if you like, his later Verve recordings. When I was younger, I thought a lot of that music was great, but that there was decline in his technical prowess. WRONG. Bud was doing things with music that were just so...beyond. It's not written in any book. His technique has a different feel to it. And I love it, really more. The MUSIC he was playing. Those chords he got to. When he played a run, there was a vulnerability to it. Let some young technical player play a run perfectly with technique to spare in music school. Powell's runs, maybe were uneven, they were delicate...you're listening...is he gonna make it...YES. Wow!. MUSIC. They were the runs, people in music school study, if they are smart. The point is, Powell grew profoundly as a musician and player. Everything he did, throughout his career, was on the highest musical level - those earlier recordings are fantastic. But what he got to on "Time Waits" and the "Live in Paris" LP...on the Paris LP, just listen to the ballads, "Body and Soul", and "I Can't Get Started". What a sound he got, what a feel he has...what music he made.

 

You won't be sorry...

 

Yep! Spotify is darn handy. Didn't know they were going to offer lossless streams, but that does not surprise me. I tried all of them. Slacker, Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal and anything else you can think of. What I really liked about Spotify is that you can stream it on one device, and REMOTE CONTROL that stream from ANOHTER device. That's really handy. I dedicated an old iPad to stream, and I could control that stream from my BlackBerry Passport, or my Android Phone.

Pops recommended Slacker years ago for basic music streaming (no selection of albums, just stations and artists and playlists) for $2.99 a month (super cheap). At the time I still used an old BlackBerry 9900 and Slacker was the ONLY streaming app other than TuneIn that still worked on the device. I have to admit, for just kicking back and listening to Jazz or an artist, Slacker is amazing. The playlists and stations are HUMAN curated, not computer selected, so it's excellent Jazz with no commercials. But for that lowball price you can't play select albums or cuts. You can for the full subscription price, but its then $9.99 and for that I'd jump to Spotify since they have WAY more albums in their library than Slacker.

One other tidbit, when the Spotify app still worked on my BlackBerry Playbook Tablet years ago, it was amazing because Spotify saw this Tablet as a computer and not a portable device, so there were NO commercials even with a FREE account. It was terrific. Sometimes it pays to be using older technology.

 

I hear that...... or rather.... I WILL hear that.

 

Both Philly Joe and Sam Jones' playing is intense on this LP...cookin', swingin'. The only time they recorded together. I wish they had recorded more!

 

Jimmy Giuffre - Clarinet

 

Beegie Adair - I Love Being Here With You

 

You have valid concerns over this album cover. Over the years, I have seen the most perplexing of album covers. Mostly not having to do with the music, the artists, or for that matter reality, (see Ohio Players covers).
There is are websites devoted to the weirdness of LP covers. I have been laboring on a theory that the HOTTER the female on the cover, the faster the quality of the music will decline. The more "arty" the cover, (Paintings or landscapes) the more quiet or pastoral the music becomes, (unless it is 1812 Overture, then all bets are off). Finally, the LPs with the picture of the artist (as see above) who looks out of place or no clue as to what's going on...that LP will be a FLOP (or as we used to call them, Instant Frisbees) and relegated to the clearance bins, where the more adventurous of us still are risking hard earned moo-lah to experiment. I have no scientific proof for this theory and it can be proven wrong at any moment. So, please accept it with a grain of salt, a slice of lemon, and shot of tequila.

 

Oh Dang, I've a re-issue of that LP. This is adventurous Jazz listening. It has it's moments. The opening of just Giuffre tapping his foot is such a weird hook. I listened to this about a month ago, fascinating record.

 

Toshiko Akiyoshi - Toshiko's Piano

 

Jimmy Smith - Fourmost

 

Kenny Drew - The Complete Jerome Kern / Rodgers & Hart SongBooks

 

Those associations seem pretty valid in my experience. I've had a particular fascination with the types of photography used by certain labels or artists for some time. For instance, both Windham Hill and ECM used a lot of landscape photography, but some subtle differences in photos reflected the tremendous differences in the music.

On a related note, I clearly recall flipping through albums and guessing how much I'd like what was on them based on the covers. That was especially important at the time as I spent what little money I had on reeds, sheet music, books and albums. I'm fairly certain I'd have put the Starbright album back, especially after seeing the nursery rhyme on the back cover.

Finally a shot of tequila sounds good about now.

 

Hank Mobley / A Caddy For Daddy
1966 Blue Note
2016 Blue Note (reissue; 180 gram)

 

Lionel on Vinyl...

 

Ain't no fad, The Magnificent Thad.