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All that jazz


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Man, this is getting good to me now that I know how to embed YouTube songs in a post!

And I know I am being self indulgent, but who cares. This is more fun than exchanging insults with Carey, and it’s not like other board members, who obvious prefer to lurk, don’t have equal time to do their thing. Moreover, people should always take advantage of an opportunity to broaden their music tastes. With the that said, let’s get esoteric.

To my surprise I have discovered that a piano genius who burned up the key board back in the late 50s and early 60s has become increasingly unfamiliar to anybody but the most elite of jazz buffs. Check out this dynamic rendition by the late great Errol Garner.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWgf8wn9_Zw

Everybody has heard of Charlie Parker and Miles Davis; they are legends. But in keeping with my aim to expose some of the jazz luminaries of the past, take a listen to a Gerry Mulligan and Chet Baker selection This combo was an exponent of the west coast school of cool jazz. What was innovative about their group, aside from fact that Gerry Mulligan played baritone sax, was that there had no piano player in it.

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Well, bro Carey, it's interesting you list this particular cut from the awesome Miles Davis, Kind of Blue recording. Blue in Green happens to be my favorite cut also. I fell in love with it back in the day when I was over my cousins house. She sent me to the basement to get something. I noticed this record laying on the cold cement floor. I picked it up, took it upstairs and asked my cousin if I could borrow it. She said yes, I took it home and that was that. Been a Miles Davis crackhead ever since. And this particular cut was the one that sent me over the edge......,

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Interesting story Xeon. For me, my brother gave me my first hit. He went off to college where he ran into some dudes from Jersey, they were there on music scholarships, and the rest is history. I wasn't into Miles at that time. In fact, I think James Brown was getting all my attention. But when I heard Miles, I was hooked.

My brother continued to feed my addiction by sending me boot legged copies of other jazz artist. He was overseas where he could get those funny looking red and yellow LP's for 25 cents.

Kind Of Blue continues to be my all time favorite, followed by a couple from Coltrane and West Montgomery. I am also a Eddie Harris fan. But wait, The Crusaders got a lot of my time.

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It's interesting how these things start. I've always been a major Miles music fiend. Love the Prestige (Philly Joe Jones, Red Garland, Coltrane, Paul Chambers, Arthur Taylor, etc, etc......) and Columbia (Wynton Kelly, Bill Evans, Hancock, Sam Rivers, Cannonball, Tony Williams, etc, etc....) classics. I have many stories to tell about me and Miles Davis's music. All good. Still and always will listen to him.....

vian-greco-et-miles-davis-.jpg

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Miles, who would sometimes turn his back to the audience and play to himself, was the epitome of the moody temperamental musician, a persona that that elevated his status to that of a cult figure.

He did mellow a little in his old age, and when he let his hair grow long and started appearing in music videos, enjoying commercial success with his rendition of Cindy Lauper's "Time After Time", jazz purists were outraged and disappointed and called him a sell-out. Why, I don't know because I thought his version of this song in no way compromised his style.

During this time, I also remember Miles remarking in an interview that whenever he played his old albums, he actually found some of his solos boring to listen to...

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Back to Errol Garner, there was another cut on that same YouTube I posted that showcases his amazing piano skills even better than the one I chose, and anyone interested can just click on to it when the series of pictures appears at the bottom of the video. That cut would be: "I get a kick out of you" and on this one you can see how his right and left hands played independently of each other, even at different tempos. Garner had very little formal training and was a naturally-gifted virtuoso. Another distinctive thing about his playing was that, unlike a lot of jazz pianists, he never improvised on the melody of a song, he just embellished it with his flamboyant style. These are just things I think true music lovers should find interesting...

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It's interesting how these things start. I've always been a major Miles music fiend. Love the Prestige (Philly Joe Jones, Red Garland, Coltrane, Paul Chambers, Arthur Taylor, etc, etc......) and Columbia (Wynton Kelly, Bill Evans, Hancock, Sam Rivers, Cannonball, Tony Williams, etc, etc....) classics. I have many stories to tell about me and Miles Davis's music. All good. Still and always will listen to him.....

vian-greco-et-miles-davis-.jpg

"I knew it. You're a baldheaded old fart.

I don't listen to no Miles but "Bitches Brew" and "Live Evil".

Ornette Coleman. Sun Ra. Pharoah Sanders. Marion Brown. Now THAT's what I call MUSIC!!!!"

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Interesting story Xeon. For me, my brother gave me my first hit. He went off to college where he ran into some dudes from Jersey, they were there on music scholarships, and the rest is history. I wasn't into Miles at that time. In fact, I think James Brown was getting all my attention. But when I heard Miles, I was hooked.

My brother continued to feed my addiction by sending me boot legged copies of other jazz artist. He was overseas where he could get those funny looking red and yellow LP's for 25 cents.

Kind Of Blue continues to be my all time favorite, followed by a couple from Coltrane and West Montgomery. I am also a Eddie Harris fan. But wait, The Crusaders got a lot of my time.

"Gawd! Not YOU, too!

Listen to the Notorious B.I.G. and get your mind right.

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  • 2 weeks later...

No accounting for taste. What is music to one person is just a congglomerations of sounds to another. As should be obvious by my choice of songs here, I am a person who is very heavy into melody and lyrics. When it comes to jazz, I dig the counter-punal interaction between instruments, or variations on a theme by soloists.

It's not suprising that it's mostly men who are into free wheeling frenetic performances that improvise and explode ala Ornette Coleman. John Coltrane's version of "My Favorite Things" is a really classic example of this and hearing his saxophone become an extension of himself as he shifts into another realm is a transcendental experience I've learned to appreciate.

Musical talent is a special gift; one I regrettably wasn't blessed with. But music has been the one constant in my life, even as a child. It's always been there for me, and being a good listener is the gift that I was granted.

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