Best Jazz

Mingus’ Haitian Fight Song. Always loved this one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIf3a9FUJj4&feature=related

A treat for you now…
Lady Day, The Man I Love

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMtvFnvHf30&feature=related

Meditations on Integration
Mingus lets Dolpy loose on this one.
One of my faves. Melodic, yet dissonant where it needs to be. F***ing amazing!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOd4TlP7MP8

Part 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jX2lObohiBI&feature=related

Wookie, I like these a lot. Mingus.

Yeah. Mingus was a force of nature. That’s used very often, but it’s very true in this case. If you have a chance, read his autobiography “Beneath the Underdog.” It’s a tad, or more, exaggerated in places, but quite insightful. Too bad he didn’t write it like he composed, but that may not have been his decision.
He always composed on piano, and, for me, the album “Mingus Plays Piano” is probably a better autobiography than the book. He’s played the piano on a few albums, but this is the only one where he solos, I think.
First track:
Myself, When I’m Real

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHY2AMNnrFQ

Enjoy.

Always been a Mingus fan, great stuff Wookie!

Also this chap’s a long favourite of mine:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4DTR0I7xhA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVBpb1kTees

Dave Brubeck - Take Five

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faJE92phKzI

FORRO IN THE DARK - Forrowest

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stiCVMtET6A

Fourplay - Blues Force

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkhlCOHqm-s

You get points from me for daring to name “He who must not be named” although he has been mentioned on here many times before. :thumbsup:

In all genres, musicians with catchy melodies get put on the rack even though the composition are far from simple. Erik Satie (can’t see a movie or hear a hotel lobby pianist without Gymnopédies), Antonio Carlos Jobim (can’t ride an elevator or go to a shopping center without (The Girl from Ipanema), etc.

Hey, I’m more of a Bebop guy but I like Chet Baker and Stan Getz too.

There is an interesting documentary series from PBS by Ken Burns (2001) entitled Jazz. It covers 1917-2001 in ten episodes. Well worth the watch.

I’ve always wanted to see that.

The Burns documentary on jazz is well worth a watch. Couple things, one it’s a PBS thing (a Ken Burns PBS thing at that), so the history is accurate…and a little bland. Overall the documentary is to jazz as merlot is to wine, I think. Second, it’s actually the history of American jazz through the Cuban revolution in nine episodes (that is, the effects of the American experience in WWI, plus the effects of WWI on European art as reflected in the US on existing American music, through 1959), with a tenth episode tacked on the end. A lot of interesting things have happened in jazz since the US-Cuba diplomatic split in 1963 (including the Civil Rights Act in the US), all of which are mashed up rather badly in the tenth and final episode.

Still, the topics of (1) jazz in New Orleans and (2) how that music was imported to New York City, and (3) then evolved in Harlem jazz clubs, are well done, I thought. There is a lot of great video footage and little known still photos, and the overall look and sound of the documentary are first rate. :thumbsup:

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

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vs1LfI9HxRc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqvCEtlgLT0

Some people say that Charlie Parker’s tone wasn’t one of his strong points. Those people are wrong.
listen.grooveshark.com/s/Cherokee/KVnju?src=5

Granted, I don’t think this tune has made it to the Real Book yet. And if it does, it probably won’t be in this arrangement. But if we’re talking “best jazz”, then surely there’s a place for best thrash metal fusion crossover with a fingerpicking middle section?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CgKzkriPQk

RIP Joe Morello, dead at 82…watch this clip for some really tasty stick work, and some even tastier pedal work.

Too bad you missed him last year. I caught him at the Live House in Shimending. Hands down, best concert I’ve been to in Taiwan. Got to shake hands and take a pic with the man himself after picking up that album.

Wookie, another one that surely brings back fond memories.

In My Room, Larry Goldings (just released, nothing on youtube yet). A piano cover of Brian Wilson’s original from Surfer Girl, stone beautiful.

Edit, here’s one (sorry about the clanking damn silverware). I don’t think this is his piano, either.