A Little Mo' Jazz

AHMAD JAMAL

noreply@blogger.com (2sweetnsaxy) — Sat, 31 May 2008 02:41:00 +0000

http://www.ahmadjamal.net/
Wikipedia

Image from www.ronniescotts.co.uk

Ahmad Jamal has been around for a while and I'm a little ashamed to admit I'm just learning about him. American jazz pianist, he was one of Miles Davis' favorite pianists. That's all I'm going to write. Check out the links and check out the videos below.

Ahmad Jamal 2005 - Where Are You
Uploaded by Delta_Mike

STANLEY CLARKE

noreply@blogger.com (2sweetnsaxy) — Tue, 27 May 2008 00:48:00 +0000

www.stanleyclarke.com
Wikipedia

Image from www.jazzreview.com

Though Stanley Clarke is not one of my favorites (you know, its all about a personal preference in style), I would be remiss not to mention Stanley Clarke who is another big name, famous for his guitar and bass playing. The man is great! He is the first bassist to headline tours and sellout concerts worldwide. He is also known for his television and movie scores for Pee-Wee's Playhouse, A Man Called Hawk, Boyz In The Hood, What's Love Got To Do With it, Poetic Justic and a several more hits.

TERENCE BLANCHARD

noreply@blogger.com (2sweetnsaxy) — Tue, 27 May 2008 00:29:00 +0000

http://www.terenceblanchard.com/
Wikipedia

Image from http://www.j-notes.com/archives/music_newsinfo/

Terence Blanchard is a jazz trumpeter, bandleader, composer, arranger, and film score writer. He with the Lionel Hampton Orchestra in 1980 and later with Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers. He and his trumpet are in approximately fifty film scores including and not limited to Malcolm X, Love and Basketball, Inside Man, and Trial by Jury.

Terence Blanchard - Montreal
Uploaded by madafonka2

SEVEN SONGS - Tag!

noreply@blogger.com (2sweetnsaxy) — Sun, 25 May 2008 16:28:00 +0000

I was tagged by Iriegal over at Mental Stimulation to do 7 songs. Here are the rules.

The rules:-
List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether they have words, or even if they’re not any good, but they must be songs you’re really enjoying now, shaping your spring. Post these instructions in your blog along with your 7 songs. Then tag 7 other people to see what they’re listening to.

So here goes my 7 songs.

Smokie Norful - God is Able

Boney James - Boneyizm

Teena Marie - Oooh Wee

Kim Waters - Mr. Smooth

The Temptations - Beauty is Only Skin Deep

Okay, so I'm only doing five (smile). Now, who do I tag? Oh, I don't know. Let's do this. If you feel like playing consider yourself tagged! Just copy the instructions, create your own post and

WYNTON MARSALIS

noreply@blogger.com (2sweetnsaxy) — Fri, 23 May 2008 16:15:00 +0000

www.wyntonmarsalis.org
Wikipedia.org

Image from http://current.com

I've been a little neglect in not mentioning on of the bigger names in jazz, Winton Marsalis. The man can blow a horn! His contributions to music are both jazz and classical and he has received nine Grammy awards between the two genres of music. He also received the first Pulitzer Prize for music awarded for a jazz recording,
Blood on the Fields, a three hour oratorio about slavery.

Wynton comes from a family of other jazz musicians that I'll post on later - his father Ellis (pianist), and brothers Branford (saxophonist), Delfeayo (trombonist) and Jason (drummer).

This is a duet with Joshua Redman I thought you might also enjoy:

NICHOLAS PAYTON

noreply@blogger.com (2sweetnsaxy) — Fri, 23 May 2008 15:57:00 +0000

Wikipedia
Verve Music

Image from http://www.nytimes.com

Oooh, baby! You've got to listen to this man blow his horn!

Nicholas is the son of bassist and sousaphonist Walter Payton. I find it pretty impressive that by the age of nine he was playing in a band with his father and in grade school played semi-professionally and played thoughout the U.S. with the All Star Jazz Bank at the age of 12.

I hope you find him as enjoyable as I do.

BRIAN SIMPSON

noreply@blogger.com (2sweetnsaxy) — Sun, 11 May 2008 17:49:00 +0000

http://www.bsimpsonmusic.com/

Image from http://www.smoothvibes.com/

Brian Simpson, pianist, has played for greats like Janet Jackson and Dave Koz. His solo career was launced with the CD All Is Good released in 2006. There is an excellent review on Brian Simpson at http://www.jazzmonthly.com.

Check him out playing It's All Good that was number 1 in the U.S. for a month.

GONTITI

noreply@blogger.com (2sweetnsaxy) — Sun, 11 May 2008 17:16:00 +0000

http://www.gontiti.jp
Wikipedia

I came across this duo while wandering through YouTube and I was instantly impressed. If you like guitar you'll soon see why.

Gontiti is a duo formed by Masahiko "Gonzalez" Mikami and Masahide "Titi" Matsumura, both from Osaka, Japan. Though their music falls more in line with bossa nova, flamenco and classical music I thought it crossed over with jazz so I'm including it and sharing this duo with you.

JANE BUNNETT

noreply@blogger.com (2sweetnsaxy) — Sun, 04 May 2008 00:38:00 +0000

http://www.janebunnett.com
Wikipedia

Image from Star Pulse.

I don't often get to post about too many women in jazz. There aren't many, or at least not many that I know of. While browsing some of my favorite links I've mentioned on my blog I came across the name Jane Bunnett and thought I'd check her out. I'm glad I did! Since she plays both sax and flute I wasn't sure if I should put my post on this blog or my Sax Appeal blog. I decided on this one since I couldn't find a clip of her playing the sax.

Take a look/listen and I hope you enjoy her as much as I did.

RETURN TO FOREVER

noreply@blogger.com (2sweetnsaxy) — Sat, 03 May 2008 23:52:00 +0000

Image from My Music Base

http://www.return2forever.com
www.chicorea.com

I just read on The Blues Blogger that Chick Corea, Al Di Meola, Stanley Clark and Lenny White have reunited as Return To Forever and will embarked on a U.S. and European tour this year. I won't repost all of the information here put encourage you to check out this blog and post regarding this tour with links to all the pertinent information.

If haven't heard of them before don't feel bad, I haven't either. I'm very familiar with Chick Corea and Stanley Clark but though I always listen to jazz I didn't always know or pay attention to who was playing what.

Here's a little sample of Return To Forever and don't forget to check out The Blues Blogger for more information.

VICTOR WOOTEN - NEW CD

noreply@blogger.com (2sweetnsaxy) — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 05:34:00 +0000

My CD recommendation would be Victor Wooten's CD that was released at the beginning of this month, Palmystery. If you know of Victor Wooten you know he's a great bass guitarist. If you don't know, you better ask somebody! Take a listen and when you get to the page the sample on the CD are down at towards the bottom on the page.

THELONIOUS MONK

noreply@blogger.com (2sweetnsaxy) — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 15:09:00 +0000

http://www.monkzone.com/index.htm
Wikipedia

(October 10, 1917 - February 17, 1982)

Whenever you enter the realm of jazz one of the names guaranteed to be seen or heard is pianist and composer Thelonious Monk. From his biography on http://www.monkzon.com"

With the arrival Thelonious Sphere Monk, modern music—let alone modern culture--simply hasn’t been the same. Recognized as one of the most inventive pianists of any musical genre, Monk achieved a startlingly original sound that even his most devoted followers have been unable to successfully imitate. His musical vision was both ahead of its time and deeply rooted in tradition, spanning the entire history of the music from the “stride” masters of James P. Johnson and Willie “the Lion” Smith to the tonal freedom and kinetics of the “avant garde.” And he shares with Edward “Duke” Ellington the distinction of being one of the century’s greatest American composers. At the same time, his commitment to originality in all aspects of life—in fashion, in his creative use of language and economy of words, in his biting humor, even in the way he danced away from the piano—has led fans and detractors alike to call him “eccentric,” “mad” or even “taciturn.” Consequently, Monk has become perhaps the most talked about and least understood artist in the history of jazz.

I love this first clip because it shows what a great pianist he was. Again, I take nothing away from his talent. The man was damn good. Take a listen and

FELA ANIKULAPO KUTI

noreply@blogger.com (2sweetnsaxy) — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 22:36:00 +0000

www.felaproject.net
www.africanmusic.org

(October 15, 1938 - August 2, 1997)

Okay, where have I been and why haven't I heard of Fela Kuti before today?

First let me say that the image above is from http://www.afrobeatmusic.net/html/fela_bio.html on which, in addition to the links above the picture, has an excellent biography on Fela Kuti. This will be a tad longer than my other posts because it will include more than just his involvement in jazz.

Fela Kuti was a singer, composer, keyboard, sax and trumpet player, bandleader and politician - that's quite a list. The following is quoted from www.afrobeat.net:

His bands traditionally included the typical huge line-up consisting of many singers and dancers, numerous saxophonists, trumpeteers, drummers, percussionists, and of course, many guitarists blending African rhythms and jazz horn lines with politicized song lyrics. His music was intricate, rather than calling it Afro-beat you might more arguably consider it Afro-jazz. Entire recordings often consisted of just a few songs and this propensity for jamming set up a roadblock for Fela to attain commercial acceptance in the United States.

Kuti continued his outspoken attacks on the Nigerian government. When the people returned to power in 1979, Kuti began his own political party - MOP (Movement of the People). The military returned to power in 1983 and within the year Kuti was sentenced to five years in prison on a spurious currency smuggling charge. He was released in 1986 after yet another change of government.

Fela Anikulapo Kuti died on Saturday, August 2, 1997, at 4pm (local time) in Lagos, Nigeria. It had been rumoured for some time that Fela had a serious illness he was refusing treatment for, many said he was suffering from prostate cancer. But as it turns out, Fela died from complications due to AIDS. As Fela's brother, Olikoye Ransome Kuti, said at a news conference.

The clip below is an excellent short documentary on Fela Kuli.

PAT METHENY

noreply@blogger.com (2sweetnsaxy) — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 19:08:00 +0000

http://www.patmetheny.com
http://www.myspace.com/patmethenygroup

Image from http://www.celebrityrockstarguitars.com

Pat Metheny though he is a fabulous guitarist and plays beautifully, is not one of my personal favorites but he and his group The Pat Metheny Group are very well known and very well liked in the jazz world so I've got to give him a mention because he may turn out to be one of your favorites or already is. The great thing about jazz is like with other music genres, there is something for everybody.

My apologies to the rest of the Pat Metheny group but I couldn't find a picture to post, probably because the members have varied over the years.

Video from Patrick88881234 on YouTube

MARC ANTOINE

noreply@blogger.com (2sweetnsaxy) — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 18:52:00 +0000

http://www.marcantoine.com/marc.html
http://www.myspace.com/mantoine

Image from http://www.davekozcruise.com

Marc Antoine, guitarist is another smooth jazz guitarist I like. It's smooth jazz with a Latin undertone.

The story is, Marc Antoine suffered an injury to one of his hands and was told he could never play the guitar again. His perseverance proved the doctors wrong. He's played for name such as Celine Dion, Rod Steward and Take 6 and has also composed and performed for soundtracks to movies including and not limited to Get Shorty and Demolition Man.

The first video is a performance. The second video is an interview, the type I like to throw in occasionally because they give you an insight in the musician not just his music.

JAY SOTO

noreply@blogger.com (2sweetnsaxy) — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 18:32:00 +0000

http://www.jaysoto.com
http://www.myspace.com/jsotomusic

Image from http://www.mr88k.net

Jay Soto, jazz guitarist, composer and producer self-produced his first CD which caught the attention of producers Jeff Lorber and Paul Brown which led to his 2nd CD Stay Awhile that was released in 2007. Other producers on the album include and are not limited to Wayman Tisdale and Jonathan Butler.

I did find on video of Jay Soto. Take a look/listen. This one is definitely smooth and definitely smooth jazzy with just a little funk thrown in. I'm fairly sure you'll be clicking on his links to listen to more.

MONK AND COLTRANE RECORDINGS UNEARTHED

noreply@blogger.com (2sweetnsaxy) — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 08:38:00 +0000

Image from http://www.npr.org - Ron Schlitten

I'm relaying this story I got from MKWillis who has a blog at http://neverendingrainbow.blogspot.com. I'm glad he found this story.

Larry Appelbaum, a jazz specialist at the Libary of Congress discovered some recordings of Thelonious Monk and John Coltrane performing at Carnegie Hall in 1957 that were never broadcast. Blue Note Records is supposed to be releasing them.

Read the full story here and don't miss the samples of the recordings on the left.

JOHN LESLIE "WES" MONTGOMERY

noreply@blogger.com (2sweetnsaxy) — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 05:53:00 +0000

WIKIPEDIA
(March 6, 1925 - June 15, 1968)

Image from http://www.svpproductions.com

Wes Montgomery, jazz guitarist, is considered to be one of the jazz's best. I know that he was a favorite of both by brother and father which is why I know of him and still enjoy his music to this day.

Though many musicians are regarded as great, Wes Montgomery is a jazz icon who seems to have had a wide influence on jazz musicians who followed him. He played with Lionel Hampton, Cannonbal Adderly helped him get a recording contract and he turned down an offer to play with Cannonball Adderly to continue playing with his own band.

Take a look/listen to this clip from Ilbutunes on YouTube and maybe you'll understand all the bruhaha over this man who left us far too soon, Wes Montgomery.

Another great clip (I had to do two clips for this one) from Jazzytaka on YouTube.

FERDINAND "JELLY ROLL" MORTON

noreply@blogger.com (2sweetnsaxy) — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 18:11:00 +0000

WIKIPEDIA
(September 20, 1885 - July 10, 1941)

Passing along something I learned today - I'd never heard of Jelly Roll Morton until I ran across a link to him from Syncopate's blog over on Stumbleupon. Thank you Symcopate for the intro.

Jelly Roll Morton, pianist, composer and bandleader, is claimed by some to be the first composer of jazz. How can I not do a post on someone that may very well be the first jazz composer? There is an excellent bio of him on Wikepedia and it's amazing to me that they have so much information him considering he was born over a Century ago. Please click over and read a little of it. You may not have to remember it but if anyone ever mentions the name Jelly Roll Morton, you'll know who they're talking about. And who knows? One day you may find yourself in a conversation about jazz. Name drop this one and show 'um you know a little somethin' too (smile).

LONNIE LISTON SMITH

noreply@blogger.com (2sweetnsaxy) — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 05:00:00 +0000

http://www.lonnielistonsmith.net

Image from http://www.thelivemusicreport.com

Lonnie Liston Smith is another name I've heard in association with jazz for a while. I believe he began recording in the 70's. Some may recognize his hit Expansion if they play the video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and Driver: Parallel Lines.

If you've checked out my blog before you'll no I don't do the biographies, just give you the links so you can read from someone who knows more than I do. I'll just tell you who I think you give a listen to. Take a listen:

This second video is not a peformance of Lonnie Liston Smith but it features "Expansions" which I mentioned above. It's kind of a cool video.

JEFF GOLUB

noreply@blogger.com (2sweetnsaxy) — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 18:05:00 +0000

http://www.jeffgolub.com

Image from http://newman1971.wordpress.com

Jeff Golub - contemporary jazz guitar. I've heard the name Jeff Golub for a little while now but never really checked him out. I've been so busy searching out sax jazz I've been kind of neglect with a lot of other artists. So, thanks to this blogging thing, I finally checked out Jeff Golub. I don't want to get my facts wrong about Jeff Golub so I suggest you click check out his website and read his bio but I gather he did a lot of pop and rock before doing his jazz thing. Definitely work checking out, definitely worth listening too.

Love this clip below submitted to YouTube by BassGear. Very nice, very mellow.

Technorati Profile

BOBBY HUTCHERSON

noreply@blogger.com (2sweetnsaxy) — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 14:15:00 +0000

WIKIPEDIA
http://www.musicweb-international.com/jazz/Hutcherson/index.htm

Image from http://www.jazzpolice.com

This blog has been a learning tool for me. Just as I am sharing jazz with you, I am discovering musicians and a deeper appreciation for my love of jazz as I go along. I love the sound of the vibraphone and always have so it's been a pleasure for me to find more jazz vibraphonists as I work on this blog.

Bobby Hutcherson is a jazz vibraphone player one of the musicians I have just been introduced to. Let's explore him together. Besides the two links above the picture I would also suggest checking out the article written on him at http://www.jazzpolice.com. I'm also giving a shout out to http://thishapeofjazz.blogspot.com which is where I first heard of Bobby Hutcherson. I instantly started my little internet reseach to find out more about this musician and to hear some samples of his music.

Here are a couple of clips that will give you a sample of Bobby Hutcherson:

Bobby Hutcherson / Joey DeFrancesco - Somewhere In The Night
Uploaded by Delta_Mike

HERBIE HANCOCK WINS GRAMMY

noreply@blogger.com (2sweetnsaxy) — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 23:21:00 +0000

At the 50th Grammy Awards, Herbie Hancock wins Album of the Year and Best Contemporary Jazz Album. A jazz album has not won a grammy award 1965 when it was won by Stan Getz & Joao Gilberto. Though Herbie Hancock has 10 Grammy Awards this is the first time he was nominated for Album of The Year. And he won - two times! This means a lot to the jazz world since it seems the world has slipped jazz into their back pocket and we jazz lovers are forgotten about when it comes to being entertained.

The album that won was River: The Joni Letters.

Congratulations Herbie!!

2sweetnsaxy raising her fist, making circle motions and singing Wooh! Wooh! Wooh! Wooh!

LIONEL HAMPTON

noreply@blogger.com (2sweetnsaxy) — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 04:17:00 +0000

Lionel Hampton - Life & Legacy
Wikipedia

(April 20, 1908 - August 31, 2002)

(Image from http://www.jazzprofessional.com)

(Image from http://www.wikipedia.com)

Lionel Hampton, percussionist, band leader and vibraphonist is another jazz legend most known for playing the vibraphone. Funny, all this time I thought it was the xylophone. This is another musician I can't say much about except that I know he's a legend and I've always enjoyed watching him play the vibraphone. This is someone else you'll have to listen in the clips below and check out the bio on him on the link above at Wikipedia. The Life & Legacy link is also a great source of information with more photos and videos.

The clip below is one I found that I actually remember from a Danny Kaye movie with Lionel Hampton and Benny Goodman.

The video below is a sample of Lionel Hampton's diversity, in a "drum-off" between himself and two other drummers Louis Bellson and Don Lamond.

ROY HARGROVE

noreply@blogger.com (2sweetnsaxy) — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 00:26:00 +0000

http://www.vervemusicgroup.com/royhargrove
http://www.myspace.com/RoyHargrove

Image from http://www.tonyspage.com/hampfest_2.htm

There's just something about the sound of a "horn" that will always remind me of jazz. The way Roy Hargrove plays and the sound is just classic jazz. I don't have a lot of info on Roy or any of the other artists I post about. I just know them by name, like what they play and let me ears guide. Me. I'm gently taking you by the ear and turning your ear this way.

The clip below is called "The Joint". Let your ears take a puff of this!

Maaaaaan!!! I can just close my eyes and let this "joint" take me to la-la land. Close your eyes, let your ears take a puff, let the rhythm of these smoky notes meander through the veins of your soul and take you to that little cloud of ecstacy called jazz heaven. Inhale... hold it... hold it... suck up every note 'til it sends the euphoric wave of pleasure into your senses and your scalp tingles. Can you hear it? Can you feel it?