faine books
  • Home
  • About
  • Music Books
    • Serendipity Doo-Dah #1
    • Serendipity Doo-Dah #2
    • Ellington at the White House
    • The Best Gig in Town
  • Short Stories
    • Prisoner Chaser
    • Taxi Driver
  • Blog
  • Contact

Faine Favorites: Top 10 Alto Sax Albums

8/31/2018

5 Comments

 
Alto Saxophone
For your consideration, here are my Top 10 alto saxophonist albums and a few runner-ups. Ranking tends to vary, depending on the day of the week, weather, and mood.


Carlos Ward African Brazilian
1A. Carlos Ward | Don Pullen & the African Brazilian Connection Live Again

The perfect showcase for a much neglected saxophonist with a slightly rough edge, capable of playing inside and outside but always melodically and rhythmically centered, as on the five lengthy numbers here (average length 14 minutes). Includes a ballad and an infectious, impossible-to-ignore “Get up and Dance.” Great band!

Carlos Ward Live at Sweet Basil
1B. Carlos Ward | Abdullah Ibrahim and Carlos Ward, Live at Sweet Basil, Volume 1

Pianist Ibrahim’s album, nonetheless Ward shines on three tracks, two of which are classic—the gorgeously mellifluous “For Coltrane” that someone should put words to and the hand-clapping “Soweto,” where the altoist pulls out the stops, sweeping from the depths of his instrument to the top and back again in a perfectly constructed improvisation.


Art of Pepper Album
2A. Art Pepper | The Art of Pepper

“Begin the Beguine” opens with a staccato Latin vamp, which quickly segues into a soaring, up-tempo reading of the familiar theme. Pepper’s alto flight is elevated, above the clouds, magisterial, turning the Cole Porter pop song into an anthem. The tune closes with a return to the opening vamp with Pepper over-blowing some notes for effect.

Art Pepper Winter Moon
2B. Art Pepper | Winter Moon

Pepper’s urging, pleading, aching alto sound over a lush orchestral cushion on “Our Song” is gut-wrenching. In a Pepper documentary, there is a hotel room scene where he and his wife Laurie are shown rapturously listening to the cut on a portable record player. At the conclusion, Pepper looks up at the camera and mutters, “If you don’t like this, you don’t like music. It doesn’t get any better than this.” I agree.


Cannonball Adderly Quintet San Francisco
3A. Cannonball Adderly | The Cannonball Adderley Quintet in San Francisco featuring Nat Adderley

Cannonball’s swooping, high-flying birdlike (as in Charlie Parker) alto paired with brother Nat’s trumpet put soul jazz on the map with this intense but rocking album. Surprisingly for jazz, it received significant radio and jukebox play.

Pianist Bobby Timmon’s 12-minute jazz waltz “This Here” (pronounced “Dish Heah” by Cannon) set the pace, the pianists full-fingered driving solo is classic, and the leader’s uncompromisingly rowdy excursions on alto are equally memorable. Two other lengthy tracks bear mention: “Randy Weston’s “Hi-Fly” and “Spontaneous Combustion,” the latter offering a crowd-pleasing sax/trumpet chase.


Cannonball Adderley Them Dirty Blues
3B. Cannonball Adderley |Them Dirty Blues: The Cannonball Adderley Quintet featuring Nat Adderley

A spirited outing by the Adderley soul brothers featuring two more soul standards: “Work Song,” written by Nat, and “Dat Dere” by Bobby Timmons. The latter showcases another Timmons-patented two-handed, block-chorded, gospelish solo, reminiscent of his “This Here” masterpiece on In San Francisco.

On “Work Song,” pianist Barry Harris does the keyboard honors, matching Timmons and then some. Interestingly, lyrics were set to both tunes that have contributed to their continued popularity. Oscar Brown Jr. had a minor hit with “Dat Dere.” The surprise on this album is the straight-ahead and swinging “Jeannine,” a wonderfully surging flowing number buoyed by Kansas City style “bop bop boop boop” riffing behind the soloists. On this album, like the former, Cannon pursues his aggressive, take-no-prisoners approach without sacrificing accessibility.


Picture
4. Arthur Blythe | Spirits in the Field: Arthur Blythe Trio with Bob Stewart Cecil Brooks III

After a splashy breakout (In Concert, 1977) LP and several smash Columbia albums, Arthur’s career seemingly nosedived (especially with critics) when Columbia canceled his contract in the early 1980s. Yet his sound remains one of the most recognizable in jazz and one that appeals to both mainstream and avant-garde tastes, as can be heard on the 2000 offering Spirits in the Field.

Blythe’s themes are melodious and memorable, his twining inside and outside solos always songful. As Francis Davis recounts in the liner notes, “No matter how complex his improvisations may be harmonically, they are based on the simplest of devices—rhythmic figures, riffs, fragments of melody—and there is an inevitably to them.”

His sound at times approximates a hip R&B player (as on “One Mint Julep” and “Break Tune #2”), a tender balladeer (“Ah George, We Hardly Knew You,” “Spirits in the Field”), an Eastern muezzin (“Odessa”), or the leader of a ceremonial New Orleans band (“Lenox Avenue Breakdown”). The interaction between Blythe’s alto and Bob Stewart’s tuba is unparalleled—nothing comparable to it in all of jazz.


John Handy Live at Monterey
5. John Handy | John Handy Recorded Live at Monterey Jazz Festival

A standout live performance by altoist John Handy and his unusual group: violin (Mike White), guitar (Jerry Hahn), bass (Don Thompson) and drums (Terry Clark). It’s hard to say why this music is still so fresh and mesmerizing. It was novel, for sure—violin and alto, and guitar—but, hey, this was the mid-’60s—novelty had been in vogue since the late ’50s.

Sounded wonderfully alien to me, peculiar jazz harmonies, some said, yet grounded in familiar jazz rhythms. Hard driving with group cohesiveness at its core, this was a memorable one-of-a-kind performance.


Charlie Parker Dial Years
6. Charlie Parker | Charlie Parker: The Very Best of the Dial Years

Whether it’s the “complete” or “best of” Dial Years doesn’t matter—in either case, this is where it all began for alto players of the past 70 years. The Big Bang, if you will.

It’s all here, the bop anthems (“Yardbird Suite,” “Ornithology,” “Bird of Paradise,” “Scrapple from the Apple,” and “Chasin’ the Bird”), the up-tempo rompers (“Bebop,” “Crazeology,” and “Donna Lee”), and the ballads (“Lover Man,” “Embraceable You,” “My Old Flame,” “Out of Nowhere,” and “Don’t Blame Me”). The latter to me are the most revealing of Parker’s talent, his innate melodic and harmonic sense, and his improvisatory grace.

Back in the day when Charlie Parker and Bebop first hit the scene and well-loved ballads were played, people asked, “Where’s the melody?” The answer then as now is, “In Parker’s head.” The familiar song’s melody and harmonic structure served as the “basis” for his newly created improvisations, for better or worse. You decide. Sit back, relax, and listen to the ease at which Charlie Parker spins his golden threads.


Frank Morgan Believe in Spring
7. Frank Morgan | You Must Believe in Spring

Morgan found his most expressive alto voice late in life: a refined, reflective, thoughtful voice, a mite thin at times, though always emotional. No better way to acquaint yourself with this tuneful improviser than on “Spring,” where he pairs with world-class pianists (Kenny Baron, Tommy Flanagan, Roland Hanna, Barry Harris, and Hank Jones). His duo with Hanna on the pianist’s tune “Enigma” is simply gorgeous.


Paul Desmond Modern Jazz Quartet
8A. Paul Desmond | Paul Desmond and the Modern Jazz Quartet in 1979 at Carnegie Hall

Desmond paired up with the venerable MJQ for a Christmas Eve concert. While the album overall is uneven, Desmond’s solo on the traditional “Greensleeves” is simply glorious, reminding me, at least, as to why the classic Brubeck Quartet was so successful.


Paul Desmond Concierto
8B. Paul Desmond | Concierto

Desmond appears in this all-star lineup to pay homage to one of the most beautiful melodies in all of music: the adagio from “Concierto de Aranjuez” by Joaquin Rodrigo.

The sextet renders the melody with respect before sequential solos by trumpeter Chet Baker, pianist Roland Hanna, and guitarist Hall.

Unexpectedly, Desmond enters with a piercing restatement of the theme. By piercing, I mean a take-your-breath away, cold-wind-off-Lake-Michigan piercing. Desmond’s alto voice—often depicted as the sound of a dry martini—is a chilled margarita in this instance.


Johnny Hodges Duke Ellington Album
9A.  Johnny Hodges | Duke Ellington . . . And His Mother Called Him Bill

As Nelson Riddle was to Frank Sinatra, as Lester Young was to Billy Holiday, Billy Strayhorn was to Johnny Hodges. Stray’s compositions brought out that special, sensuous Hodges sound. Singer Lillian Terry recently put it this way: “Heavens, when he blows those long, languid notes . . . it’s an actual caress.”

As here, on Ellington’s tribute to Strayhorn “Blood Count,” “After All,” and “Day Dream,” the latter a late-at-night, sob-in-your beer favorite. The flip side of the Hodges coin—the bluesy side—Billy knew all too well, as illustrated on “Snibor,” “The Intimacy of the Blues,” and “Acht O’Clock Rock.”


Ellington Far East Suite
9B.  Johnny Hodges | Duke Ellington’s Far East Suite

The two sides of Hodges are again on display. “Isfahan,” according to Cook and Morton “is arguably the most beautiful single item in Ellington’s and Strayhorn’s entire output.” And I agree. Hodge’s stiletto-sharp, crystalline pure sound slows the breath, wells the eyes, and stills the body while Ellington’s orchestra puffs occasional sound pontoons to keep the alto’s melodic line afloat. If perfection needed a definition, it can be found here.

If “Isfahan” brings a tear to your eye, then “Blue Pepper” will bring a smile to your face. The band starts out rocking with a simple repetitive sing-songy melody atop a churning, rock-and-roll drum rhythm by Speedy Jones. This eastern-tinged melody gives way to the flip side of the Hodges coin, in this instance a solo of clipped, start-and-stop notes that suggests rather than delineates. In other words, a near parody of a typical Hodges blues solo. And it works!


Gary Bartz Known Rivers Album
10. Gary Bartz | Gary Bartz NTU Troop I’ve Known Rivers and Other Bodies

Overall, three of the 11 tracks—the funky, toe-tapping ”Don’t Fight the Feeling,” “Dr. Follow’s Dance,” and the melodically pleasing “Peace and Love”—are outstanding, while the Langston Hughes poem “I’ve Known Rivers,” set to music and sung by Bartz, is a classic. This anthemic song features not only the saxophonist’s best singing on the album, but his best alto solo as well. Elementary school teachers could find Bartz’s reading useful in teaching the Hughes poem to students.


Apologies to Ornette Coleman, Jackie McClean, Henry Threadgill, Marian Brown and Phil Woods. You’re in my second Top 10.

What are your top alto sax albums? Please leave a comment below.


5 Comments

Top 10 Jazz Albums: Andrew White

3/31/2016

0 Comments

 
Picture
On the scene for over five decades, multi-instrumentalist Andrew White (saxophone, oboe, guitar) is a composer, arranger, bandleader, transcriber, educator, and noted John Coltrane scholar. He is the publisher of his own music and texts, all of which can be purchased from Andrew White/Andrew’s Music, 4830 S. Dakota Ave. NE, Washington, DC 20017, 202-526-3666.

Here are Andrew’s favorites among the recordings he has produced over the years:

1. 7 New York Bootlegs
​

I’m from Washington, DC. But since 1961, I’ve been going up to the Apple on several occasions and working with my New York bands. Here are two sets from 1983 and 1988 with two of my New York bands on one CD (AMCD-58). Released in September 2015, these seven gems give a testament to my New York antics. If you missed them, you got to hear ’em now. Check it out!

2. Fat Backin’ : Vols. 1–8

Released 2016. This is my demonstration anthology of over 150 of my compositions representing myself as a composer and publisher. These eight CDs cover my compositional prowess from 1961 up until the present day. Programmed highly eclectically, these various selections also function as great background music and as music. Listen, learn, and enjoy.

3. Gigtime 2000: Music Before Its Time: Vols. 1–4

Recorded October 3, 1998. Released May 7, 1999. Vol. 1 (AMCD45): Nouveau Fonk. Vol. 2 (AMCD46): Andrew’s Theme. Vol. 3 (AMCD47): Everybody Loves the Sugar. Vol. 4 (AMCD48): Keep on Dancin,’ Baby.

​These are my first “commercial” CDs on my own Andrew’s Music Record label. All four are hot and long-winded. They include French chansons, classical pieces, sing-a-long fonk, soft shoe, and Coltrane romps. I close out Vol. 4 with my all-time favorite blues anthem: “Red Top,” a full night’s work with the Andrew White Quartet.

4. Weekend at the One Step: Vols. 1–43

Recorded October 12-14, 1979. Released April 15, 1981. Vol. 1 (AMCD-37): Fonk Update. Vol. 2 (AMCD-38): I Love Japan. Vol. 3 (AMCD-39): Have Band Will Travel. Recorded at the One Step Down Jazz Club in Washington, DC. All three records feature the same musicians: Kevin Toney, piano; Steve Novosel, bass; and Keith Kilgo, drums. Gittem!

5. Loft Jazz Series: Vols. 1 & 2, 3, 4 

Vols. 1 & 2: Live in New York at the Ladies’ Fort

Vol. 1 (AM-31) is available in cassette only at this time. Vol. 2 (AM-32) is in LP and cassette. Recorded June 24–25, 1977. From the famous “Loft War” of summer 1977 between Sam Rivers and Rashid Ali’s and Joe Lee Wilson’s Ladies’ Fort Lofts, these two LPs are the only remaining recorded testaments of the “lines of fire on the frontal borders” of Andrew White’s fiery “hottest sax.” Released in February 1978, these two LPs were easily paid for by the mailing-list patrons of the two fiery nights of June 24–25, 1977. Hot stuff, baby! Gittem!

Vol. 3 Bionic Saxophone (AM-33)
Available in cassette only at this time. Recorded on March 10–11, 1978. 
DC Space of Washington, DC, fame and fortune became famous as a loft by many New York avant-garde players who would come to DC and work there. I was the first if not the only artist to record at DC Space. Great live loft music. Check it out!

Vol. 4 Saxophonitis (AM-36)
Available 
in cassette only at this time. Recorded on January 12–13, 1979. Harold’s Rogue and Jar, also of Washington, DC, fame, was a cross between a jazz club and a loft. The way I played (as I still do ) and the way I ran my loft music business made me a New York loft player in DC. And helped round out the multi-year career and sojourn of the Rogue and Jar, which closed its doors shortly after this recording was made. Vibrant, white hot, typical Andrew White post bebop, heavy-hitting jazz standards: “All the Things You Is,” “Autumn Leaf I and II,” “B Flat Blues, my “B Flat Rhythm,” and my “Theme” all go to acknowledge a brief period on the about ten-year history of loft jazz in New York and Washington DC. Hot! ​Gittem!

6. De Here We Is Again! Series: Vols. 1–7 

LPs and/or cassettes. Released over five years, these seven recordings were recorded live between 1974 and 1976. A collection and display of various Andrew White stylistic virtues from gut bucket-funky to extremely, idiosyncratic genius, these seven discs thoroughly demonstrate the Andrew White candor, humor, and creative ingenuity. The seven titles are Spotts, Maxine and Brown (AM-24), Countdown (AM-25), Red Top (AM-26), Trinkle, Tinkle (AM-27), Ebony Glaze (AM-28), Miss Ann (AM-29), and Seven Giant Steps for Coltrane (AM-30). Frankly and outrageously brilliant music.

7. Marathon ’75 Series: Vols. 1–9 

LPs and/or cassettes, AM-15 through 23. These nine discs are taken from a twelve-hour marathon concert I played and recorded from 6 p.m. on November 16, 1975, until 6 a.m. November 17, 1975. Working with two bands and for various sized audiences from full to half empty over a dozen hours, these nine records display the full spectrum of the Andrew White stamina, stigmata, creativity, and genius. We are celebrating their 41st anniversary year. Gittem! And diggem!

8. Live at the Foolery: Vols. 1–6

LPs and/or cassettes, 
AM-8 through 13. Recorded on October 13 and 27, 1974, with two bands, this is the first installment of the Andrew White “Jazz in Series” listings of multi-disc sets. This is the set of discs that kicked off the Andrew White/Andrew’s Music Thing, so to speak, in terms of “what he gonna do next?” Gittem! And hearem!

9. Live at the New Thing: Double-Album Set

LPs and/or cassettes, AM-2 and/or AMC-2. Recorded June 2, 1969, in Washington, DC, at Saint Margaret’s Episcopal Church. This is the second recording made on the Andrew’s Music Record label, one of my most famous live recordings. Feel free to write me for a copy of Bob Rusch’s famous review of this recording (1973). The New Thing also includes one extended cut from the New Jazz Trio in 1965 from Buffalo, New York: “Woodyn’t You” with me on alto saxophone, Buell Neidlinger on bass and the late John Bergamo on drums. John Bergamo passed in 2013.

10. The Coltrane Interviews: Vols. 1 & 2

LPs and/or cassettes, AM-34 and 36. This is a collection of Andrew White radio interviews dating from 1975 to 1978. Andrew talking about John Coltrane and his music. Very interesting. Listen!
0 Comments

Top 10 Jazz Albums: Roy Suter

10/27/2015

5 Comments

 
Picture
Roy Suter is primarily a jazz pianist and composer, although he has performed in many different styles throughout his career.  His diverse playing credits include Mercury Records funk-artists Creation and acid-rock group Sir Lord Baltimore, as well as Pickwick-Delite disco group Zakariah.  Roy has shared the stage with such varied artists as Phyllis Hyman, Bill Frisell, T. M. Stevens, Frank Fontaine, and Claudio Roditi.  A member of ASCAP, he has also recorded music for Brunswick Records and composed music for nationally syndicated television shows.   

Picture
1. Miles Davis | Bitches Brew

This album is probably the seminal album that broke my preconceived stereotypes about improvisation at the time. I can remember lying on the floor along with my best friend Tommy listening to this album and the Dave Brubeck Quartet's Time Out when we were both only 16. There was just so much information to glean from it.


Picture
2. The Dave Brubeck Quartet | Time Out

While most people were immediately drawn to the two mega-hits from this album, “Take Five” and “Blue Rondo a la Turk,” I found myself mesmerized by Brubeck’s “Strange Meadowlark” and “Three to Get Ready.” I think this album was responsible for many young musicians becoming comfortable with odd time signatures. I can remember playing an extended engagement at Chelsea Place in New York City back in the ’80s. The older pianists would comment about the difficulty playing in 5/4. 
​

Picture
3. Miles Davis | Kind of Blue

How can someone listen to this album and not be drawn to it? The musicianship and taste employed are simply phenomenal. This is the album that literally introduced the modal style of jazz improvisation.

Picture
4. Weather Report | Weather Report

​
When I listened to their initial album, I was simply captivated. From the “Milky Way”—created with Wayne Shorter playing his muted saxophone over Zawinul's pedaled piano strings, causing them to vibrate and create those thick ethereal chords—to the distorted bass of Miroslav Vitous to Airto Moreira’s amazing percussion, this album offered an “other-worldly” musical landscape I had never heard.​

Picture
5. Mahavishnu Orchestra | Inner Mounting Flame

​
The musicianship and power, coupled with the amazing interplay of contrapuntal voicings and odd time signatures, simply floored me and my fellow bandmates when this album came out. We went to see this group perform well over a dozen times, including a more than 300-mile trip from Long Island to Buffalo, New York, just to see them perform alongside Frank Zappa’s “super group.” 

Picture
6. Joe Farrell | Moon Germs

This album helped preserve my sanity as I travelled from state to state as a member of my first road group, a typical hotel lobby band that performed throughout the US. I’d play this album on my car’s 8-track or the LP in the hotel room. “Great Gorge” was a springboard of improvisation for Joe, Herbie Hancock, Jack DeJohnette, and a young Stanley Clarke.   

Picture
7. Frank Zappa | Hot Rats

I was 16 when this album debuted, and a friend of mine said I had to come over to his house and hear it. It was one of the first 16-track recorded albums. Between the sonic purity and Zappa’s compositions, orchestration, and use of novel items to produce tones, I immediately became a fan.



Picture
8. Herbie Hancock | Head Hunters

I remember ordering this album from a local music shop while playing an extended gig in Daytona Beach, Florida. When it arrived, the guitarist and I drove back to where we were staying and put it on our portable stereo. At first, disappointed by the repetition, I lifted the needle and placed further down the cut. When it finally landed on Herbie’s electric piano solo, we both turned to each other and smiled. After that, we listened from beginning to end and were totally captivated. That repetition has probably become the most played song of Herbie’s by most every local garage and bar band.
​  ​

Picture
9. Chick Corea & Return to Forever | Light as a Feather

This album and the next one, Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy, are the only two Return to Forever albums I actually like. This one, in particular, had some of my favorite musicians at the time: Joe Farrell, Chick, Airto, and his wife, Flora Purim, as well as Stanley Clarke. Joe’s masterful flute playing and Chick’s aggressive soloing stood out for me.


Picture
10.  Antonio Carlos Jobim | The Composer of "Desafinado," Plays

I was very lucky to be exposed to Tom Jobim at an early age. My aunt worked as personal secretary to Claus Ogerman, and she would bring my family the Jobim LPs, along with Stan Getz and others, that were meant for DJ distribution at the time. I loved and played the many songs on those records only to learn later that there were literally hundreds more that were equally captivating and well known in his native Brazil. I don’t think there’s a musician who wouldn’t acknowledge his contribution to both the American songbook and music at large.   
​

5 Comments

Top 10 Jazz Albums: John McLean

9/30/2015

1 Comment

 
Picture
John McLean is a composer, performer, and publisher member of ASCAP (Tiger Joe Tunes). He is currently compiling the second annual (2015) Table of St. Nicholas, a fundraiser CD to benefit Love INC, a charity in Charlottesville, Virginia. John began playing drums in 1974 and then guitar in 1983. A sample of his creations can be found at joyfulnoisemachine.com.
​

Picture
1. Vince Guaraldi Trio | A Charlie Brown Christmas

My favorite album of all time. Complex structures that sound simple to the ear—both sweet and melancholy. It's genius. Great interpretations of Christmas fare and deep, catchy originals.

Picture
2. Style Council | Cafe Bleu

Philly soul as interpreted by a young Londoner. I was a big fan of his previous mod revival band, the Jam, but was stunned by the elevation in vocals and compositions in this set.

​

Picture
3. Sting | The Dream of the Blue Turtles

Another post-punker backed by solid instrumentalists. Excellent compositions and playing. Still have the cassette all these years later.

Picture
4. Miles Davis | The Best of Miles Davis

"Autumn Leaves" and "Dear Old Stockholm" are phenomenal, but as a whole, these songs capture the tight phrasing I instantly loved about Miles. I played in a band that did a few tunes off Tutu, but even though not in my repertoire, these early recordings resonate best with me.

Picture
5. Jeff Beck | Wired

I sill marvel at this guy's fluidity and sense of melody. Blow by Blow and the work he did with Rod Stewart are also strong, but this album is the one I tried to play along with in my early years.

Picture
6. Joni Mitchell | Court and Spark

Pop/folk songs? Jazzy structure and meandering vocals over secure backing tracks.

Picture
7. Ella Fitzgerald | The Best of the Song Books: The Ballads

Smooth, smooth vocals meld amazingly with orchestra backing.

Picture
8. Doc Severinsen | Merry Christmas from Doc Severinsen

Perennial late Christmas Eve favorites. Sturdy backing band allows Doc to stand out in melody.

Picture
9. Charles Mingus | Mingus Ah Um

Moody personal set. Atmospheric sound track to life.

Picture
10. Buddy Rich | Best of Buddy Rich

Hard to pick a favorite. This selection is actually a multi-disc set. I started drumming at age nine and always thought, "There are two types of drummers: Buddy Rich and everybody else."

1 Comment

Top 10 Jazz Albums: Eric Byrd

7/18/2015

1 Comment

 
Picture
Pianist/vocalist Eric Byrd has been an active member of both jazz and gospel music for more than two decades. The Eric Byrd Trio was a member of the US State Department Jazz Ambassadors and is currently on the Maryland Performing Artist Touring Roster. Appearing on over 30 recordings, the trio recently released 21st Century Swing. 

Picture
1. Miles Davis | Kind of Blue

This was THE record that made me want to be a jazz musician. Ray Charles made me love music, Beethoven made me want to play music, but Kind of Blue made me want to swing. Six of the best cats of all time, all on one record, all playing completely within their personality. The piano chair was my first introduction to a pianist that played with colors, not just notes.  Classic.


Picture
2. John Coltrane | My Favorite Things

Sheets of sound coming at me through my speakers, almost nightly, for about seven months. I owned the LP, the cassette, and the CD so I had it wherever I needed it. I didn’t understand how he and McCoy could get so much out of so few chords, but I was obsessed with finding out.


Picture
3. Ray Charles | The Birth of Soul

The genius at, what some could argue, the height of his jazz/soul power. Some of the hits are here as well as some of the jazz instrumentals, the ballads, the piano playing, the voice. He eventually leaves Atlantic Records to record more great music but it started here, on Atlantic.


Picture
4. Miles Davis | '58 Sessions

Another great swinging offering by Miles with that great combo.  Bill Evans and the rhythm section make this CD with my favorite version of “On Green Dolphin Street.”


Picture
Picture
5. Chick Corea | Akoustic Band and Alive

While my playing doesn't resemble Chick’s at all, his concepts on this record profoundly influenced me. This trio recording had what I have now: two other guys in the group who aren’t really looking for me to lead per se, but each member is independent, bound together by a common goal. They are just playing standards, but in such a way that their arrangements breathe new life into them. Even today I model myself off this concept. 

Fantastic stuff.




Picture
6. Dexter Gordon | Great Encounters

The whole record is worth the live selections—even just the first track, “The Blues Up and Down." This blues is over 14 mins and there are only two solos! Dexter quotes about five or six melodies inside of it, and the first chorus is only two or three notes for a full 12 bars. It is a great example of developing one's improvisation as the song goes on. I still can’t recall the other songs on the disc.


Picture
7. Herbie Hancock | Herbie Hancock Box Set

I’m cheating here because it’s four discs of music not just one program, but between his acoustic and electric work, Herbie Hancock is the best keyboardist alive. He plays in each context authentically as if he only exists in one; he is the most rhythmically free pianist ever. His sense of melody and time is above everyone else’s, and all that feeds into his creative genius.


Picture
8. Sarah Vaughn | Sassy Swings the Trivoli

"Sassy’s Blues," where she scats the entire thing, never repeating herself? Forget about it. All live and in the moment, no overdubs, no editing. In a world where it takes millionaire musicians 16 months to finish a 10-song download in which only three of the songs are any good, Sarah pulls you right into the gig, taking you through a host of emotions and shades. This is fantastic.


Picture
9. The Quintet | Jazz at Massey Hall, Live Edition

I used to listen to the CD holding my breath because I couldn’t believe it was a live recording of both Dizzy and Bird playing together--just for me! Done 60 years ago, this recording still makes me smile today. Maybe because I miss my parents, maybe because I miss the purity of the music that isn’t made with a producer's dream to sell records by teaming a legend up with Lady GaGa. This is just the music, live, in its innocence. Exquisite.


Picture
10. John Coltrane | A Love Supreme

Don’t tell my wife, but every Sunday night for six months, I played the title track and read Trane’s liner notes about seeking God for two, if not three, of my children. As of this writing, I humbly believe my three sons are the most special people on the entire planet. I have to think this CD had a great deal to do with that. Coltrane had already established himself as one of the greatest improvisational seekers on the planet, yet he wanted to go higher by connecting his spirit with THE spirit. I can’t even play this CD too often, because it’s too arresting, too compelling to listen to cavalierly. It all starts and ends for me with this recording.

1 Comment
    Picture
    Picture

    BUY NOW

    Picture

    BUY NOW


    EMAIL SIGNUP
    Receive news of upcoming blogs and events.


    Most Popular

    Music Blogs 2015–2022
    Business Advice from Miles Davis
    Miles and Me at the Modern Jazz Club

    Categories

    All
    Album Review
    Book Review
    Ellington
    Film Review
    Guest Post
    Jazz Albums
    Jazz History
    Jazz Musicians
    Music History
    Nixon
    Top 10 Jazz Albums

    Archives

    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015

    RSS Feed


FAINE BOOKS

Home  About  Books  Stories  Blog  Contact

Copyright © 2022 Edward Faine. All Rights Reserved.
Proudly powered by Weebly

BACK TO TOP

© 2021 FaineBooks

© DivTag Templates Ltd | All Rights Reserved