Jazz lives?

[kazza3]

Does anyone else here still love jazz?
And I mean all genres, not just swing: dixie, bop, cool jazz, free jazz, hard and post bop, latin jazz, soul jazz, jazz rock and other fusion genres too.

As a musician I love playing and improvising to jazz, and it takes up half of my ipod too.
Let's see some support!

[Dingfod]

I'm kind of fond of one of the forebears of Jazz, Ragtime. I play Ragtime on the piano for my own enjoyment. I like the early Jazz music too, Louis Armstrong, Jellyroll Morton, Duke Ellington, Fats Waller, Bennie Goodman, etc. The more modern stuff bores the ever-loving shit out of me, or just plain irritates my aural nerve endings. Sorry.

[Sock Puppet]

I like a lot of the fusiony stuff. Brand X's Unorthodox Behaviour is a freaking masterpiece.

ETA: Here's a live performance of the first track on that album.

YouTube - John Goodsall - Nuclear Burn

The only jazz I dislike is the sterile type that sounds like every note was sprayed with antiseptic and coated in cellophane. I don't know enough about the genre to name names, but my old roommate used to play that crap in our apartment a lot.

[Kael]

I'm more a fan of big band jazz and swing myself, but I like a lot of what I've heard (which isn't much) in other genres.

[Watser?]

I've got a few lps by Miles Davis and Coltrane and Sun Ra and some random stuff but not a lot.

There is a lot of jazz-world fusion around these days though, saw some of it last weekend at the Music Meeting festival here.

[kazza3]

I'm kind of fond of one of the forebears of Jazz, Ragtime. I play Ragtime on the piano for my own enjoyment. I like the early Jazz music too, Louis Armstrong, Jellyroll Morton, Duke Ellington, Fats Waller, Bennie Goodman, etc. The more modern stuff bores the ever-loving shit out of me, or just plain irritates my aural nerve endings. Sorry.

Ragtime is alright, but i wouldn't play it a lot. On the other hand, I love Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, and especially Benny Goodman- seeing as I'm a clarinettist. Sing, Sing, Sing is one of the best jazz songs ever.

I like a lot of the fusiony stuff. Brand X's Unorthodox Behaviour is a freaking masterpiece.

ETA: Here's a live performance of the first track on that album.

You're right, that was awesome. I'll have to look into it. In jazz rock at the moment i mainly listen to the Mahavishnu Orchestra of 70s fame.

The only jazz I dislike is the sterile type that sounds like every note was sprayed with antiseptic and coated in cellophane. I don't know enough about the genre to name names, but my old roommate used to play that crap in our apartment a lot.

Sounds like smooth jazz. It's basically a fusion of jazz and pop done in the most commercially sellable way, and so most jazz musicians (including myself) hate it. Kenny G's probably the best example of the genre.

[kazza3]

My favourite jazz musician is Andy Firth, widely acclaimed as today's greatest jazz clarinettist, and possibly even better than Goodman himself. He also plays sax and flute.
He is just freakin awesome when it comes to improvising and playing fast.
Anyway, this is him playing an original song called This is The Day, which has a bit of a pop feel to it but really shows off his beautiful tone.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRLZ5fZtc8U

And this is from his Goodman and Beyond concert in 2003, playing the Goodman song 'World is waiting for the sunrise'. A bit more traditional, but extremely fast.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qbDcuk9Rcc

Also, visit his website to find out more, etc. http://www.andyfirthmusic.com
And the best thing is, he's an Aussie.

[Demimonde]

How can this thread have gotten this far without anyone mentioning Bird? Charlie Parker is my man! I love jazz. As a writer I get great inspiration from it, as did the spontaneous prose Gods, the Beats. Even the written stuff from the period is so riffable. I adore Cole Porter.

Modern jazz is more difficult. I have heard many of the Marsalis Bros. A talented family to say the least. Another modern jazz person whom I really enjoyed is Ray Lynch. Deep Breakfast is still one of my faves. I dunno if that falls into the cellophane category for some, but I don't care. It makes for a happy day and that is all I care about.

[D. Scarlatti]

Check this guy out:

Brad Mehldau -- The Way You Look Tonight

[kazza3]

Hey, I love Charlie Parker. He's the father of bebop. And I've played many a Bird song.
Wynton Marsalis and co are fantastic players, but I disagree with their principle of keeping everything traditional.
Also, that Brad Mehldau guy's great, but possibly a bit too much on the edge of Third Stream (classical-jazz) for me.

What about Latin jazz? Antonio carlos jobim anyone?

[JamesBannon]

I like all forms of Jazz. Here is one of my favourite drummers in action:

Peter Erskine

[Dingfod]

Originally Posted by kazza3

...Sounds like smooth jazz. It's basically a fusion of jazz and pop done in the most commercially sellable way, and so most jazz musicians (including myself) hate it. Kenny G's probably the best example of the genre.

Needless to say, I don't care much for "smooth jazz".

[livius drusus]

Jobim is jazz? Does that mean bossa nova is jazz? Pardon my ignorance. I don't know from musical genres, but I utterly adore Jobim.

[Dingfod]

Blame it on the Bossa Nova, it is Brazilian jazz.

[ceptimus]

YouTube - Appel Direct (Appel Indirect) - Django...

[Dingfod]

Django Reinhardt is one of my favorites as well.

[D. Scarlatti]

Originally Posted by livius drusus

Jobim is jazz?

Hells yes.

Great Garbarek record:

[livius drusus]

I remember that thread but I didn't realize we were talking about jazz.

[Watser?]

There was a program (maybe there still is) on Dutch radio called: Is dit nog wel jazz? Can this still be considered jazz? I guess that question is pretty common.

[kazza3]

That Peter Erskine's good. !The saxophonist had a curved soprano sax!!

Yes, Jobim is definitely jazz. Latin jazz comes in two forms- Brasilian (such as the samba and bossa nova- gotta love Girl from Ipanema) and Afro-Cuban jazz (such as the cubop pioneered by Dizzy Gillespie).

Anyone checked out Andy Firth yet?

[Caligulette]

Gerry Mulligan, Dave Brubeck, the Four Brothers (or five? I can't remember), and so many more.

As I said somewhere before, smooth jazz? Not groovy.

[JamesBannon]

That Peter Erskine's good.

I love listening to Peter Erskine. Could listen to him all day. He is so smooth, precise & musical. That solo is particularly funky! Don't forget Miroslav Vituous, though!

[Dingfod]

I thought Scots only listened to bagpipe music.

[Zer0th]

A little satire...

YouTube - The Very Best of Jazz Club