Just a note to say that if you enjoy straight-up jazz - Miles Davis, Monk, Rollins, Parker, Gillespie, etc. - you will love Kids: Live at Dizzy’s Coca-Cola by Joe Lovano and Hank Jones. Joe Lovano is one of the - if not THE - best Tenor sax players working today - but he tends to take his music pretty far out, making it less accessible to some listeners. Hank Jones is 88 - one of the Jones brothers (Elvin on drums, Thad on trumpet) and he can carve a clean, melodic jazz line through any song. Lovano has so much respect for Jones that he parks his playing right inside Jones’ pocket, rendering music with perfect balance: superficially beautiful to hear, but charged with emotional moments and subtle exchanges. And it’s just the two of them, hanging out there - no safety nets - communicating their way through some great songs.
The CD sits nicely in between classic recordings from decades ago - and, like them, sounds fresh and new since the communication between the instruments feels spontaneous and, I guess, honest.
Some other recent threads have commented on jazz - some folks feel it has been poorly handled and represented by some of today’s more popular practitioners. Well, this is it folks - real jazz. The Good stuff. Get a glass of wine and a fire going, grab your honey and hit Play.
Oh, c’mon **twicks ** - you’ll love it!
**AskNott ** - cool! my faves are Ben Webster, Sonny Rollins and, well, I guess Cannonball Adderley - you’ll love this.
Right again, mon ami! It’s a very nice album. (I had a couple of B&N giftcards coming out of the holiday season, so went ahead and bought it for full price despite the car bill.)
I esp. like the first song, which has been the top play on my mental jukebox for the last week or so.
Hey, as a slight hijack, my FIL is getting a new MP3 player, and I get to fill it with stuff he would like. He’s already got Elis Regina, Tom Jobim and Joey Henderson. Any suggestions other than Ella Fitzgerald?
Ben Webster: King of the Tenors
Sonny Rollins: Saxophone Colossus
Cannonball Adderley: Something Else
Dexter Gordon: Go
Teddy Edwards: Sunset Eyes
Coltrane: Blue Train or the new live at Carnegie release with Thelonious Monk from the 50’s that was just found and released.
The CD I mention above with Hank Jones and Joe Lovano…
That oughta keep him super-happy for a bit. As for vocalists - there are so many good jazz threads on this forum, so a search on the word “jazz” and go through a few - but Ella is a wonderful place to start - start with her Songbook series.
