Monday, March 19, 2007
Ingrid Jensen Jazz Standard NYC
I'm in New York on business and in an uncharacteristic manner I went out after work to get some dinner and listen to some Jazz. I noticed that Ingrid Jensen was playing at the Jazz Standard which is a new(ish) jazz club in New York. I got a ticket (not really needed on a Monday early show) and went over. Dinner was good, the restaurant upstairs was nice and the menu had lots of barbecue favorites and the bar had an excellent bourbon selection. Later I went downstairs for the show and the club is in a basement, stage at one end bar at the other...proper. I had read interviews with Ingrid but I had never really listened to her music, I was very impressed, great tone, nice lines, and a very good band backing her. She had a replacement saxophone player, who was quite good, though you could tell she hadn't spent a lot of time with this group or with the music. I enjoyed it a lot, and now I've got to download some Ingrid Jensen for my iPod. Oh, and one of my favorite parts of the performance was a Stanley Clarke tune called "Why Wait", especially pianist Orrin Evans' burning (maybe more than) double time solo chorus. I'll be looking for the lead sheet for that tune...and perhaps some Ingrid Jensen lead sheets from her artist share website...
Labels: Jazz, sites "me like"
Friday, February 9, 2007
Jazz
Shortly after Thanksgiving my niece J who is in her 20's asked me to give her a selection of Jazz tracks because she like the music I was playing from my ipod at dinner. I was very excited, a new potential Jazz fan, and it was my responsibility to not screw this up by scaring her off. I was then paralyzed for a couple of weeks by indecision, there are over 3000 tracks on my ipod, and every time I thought of an approach, chronological, thematic, stylistic, it would send me back to the beginning.
Finally I got a list of about 130 tracks down, still way too many, at the end I made it to about 35. It was very difficult because I kept coming across things that were great. In the end I tried to focus on people who would lead to everyone else if you follow who they played with and started listening to them. My particular bias is the piano, and that makes my take on Jazz a little different from folks who come at it from the more traditional trumpet, saxophone angle. I like some progressive modern Jazz, but I thought that as a starting point, I'd stick to things that were more traditional and classic.
J says she really likes them and is listening to them a lot, I hope it inspires her to branch out from here...
Here is the list that I recommended:
Finally I got a list of about 130 tracks down, still way too many, at the end I made it to about 35. It was very difficult because I kept coming across things that were great. In the end I tried to focus on people who would lead to everyone else if you follow who they played with and started listening to them. My particular bias is the piano, and that makes my take on Jazz a little different from folks who come at it from the more traditional trumpet, saxophone angle. I like some progressive modern Jazz, but I thought that as a starting point, I'd stick to things that were more traditional and classic.
J says she really likes them and is listening to them a lot, I hope it inspires her to branch out from here...
Here is the list that I recommended:
| Name | Artist | Album |
| The Surrey With the Fringe On Top | Ahmad Jamal | The Legendary Okeh & Epic Recordings |
| Bags' Groove | Al Haig | Al Haig Today! |
| Tea for Two [Live] | Anita O'Day | The Diva Series |
| Mayreh | Art Blakey Quintet | A Night at Birdland, Vol. 1 |
| Tiger Rag | Art Tatum | Elegie |
| St. Louis Blues | Art Tatum | Piano Grand Master Disc 1 |
| Waltz for Debby [Take 2] | Bill Evans | The Complete Village Vanguard Recordings, 1961 Disc 3 |
| Sweet Rain | Bill Evans, Chick Corea & Stan Getz | Stan Getz: The Best of the Verve Years, Vol.1 |
| Lush Life | Bobby Timmons | This Here Is Bobby Timmons |
| Ornithology | Bud Powell | The Amazing Bud Powell, Vol. 1 [Expanded] |
| Poinciana | Cal Tjader & Eddie Palmieri | El Sonido Nuevo |
| Zingaro/Caminhos Cruzados | Cedar Walton | Live at Maybeck Recital Hall Series, Vol. 25 |
| Brasilia | Chick Corea | Solo Piano, Pt. 1: Originals |
| Fantasia Cubana | Chucho Valdes | Fantasia Cubana: Variations on Classical Themes |
| Parisian Thoroughfare | Clifford Brown and Max Roach | Clifford Brown and Max Roach |
| One O'Clock Jump | Count Basie | Count Basie's Finest Hour |
| It's A Raggy Waltz | Dave Brubeck Quartet | Time Further Out |
| In the Land of Oo-Bla-Dee | Dizzy Gillespie & His Orchestra | Greatest Hits |
| Mack the Knife [Take 1] | Earl Hines | Tour de Force Encore |
| Una Rosa Espanola | Eddie Palmieri | The Sun of Latin Music |
| Misty | Erroll Garner | Erroll Garner's Finest Hour |
| Red Clay | Freddie Hubbard | Red Clay |
| Softly As Morning Sunrise | Hank Jones | For My Father |
| Maiden Voyage | Herbie Hancock | Maiden Voyage |
| Song For My Father | Horace Silver | Song For My Father |
| Original Jelly Roll Blues | Jelly Roll Morton | Greatest Hits |
| My Favorite Things | John Coltrane | One Down, One Up: Live at the Half Note Disc 2 |
| What's Your Story Morning Glory | Mary Lou Williams | My Mama Pinned A Rose On Me |
| Illuminations | McCoy Tyner | Illuminations |
| La Habana Sol | McCoy Tyner | Mccoy Tyner And The Latin All-Stars |
| Blue In Green | Miles Davis | Kind of Blue |
| Georgia on My Mind | Oscar Peterson | Night Train |
| Hymn to Freedom | Oscar Peterson | Night Train |
| Sweet Georgia Brown | Oscar Peterson | Solo: Live |
| Basin Street Blues | Oscar Peterson | Tracks |
Labels: Jazz
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