BigH
Geotechnical
- Dec 1, 2002
- 6,012
G'day Colleagues,
As Fattdad and perhaps a few others know, I am writing a month long "blog" on jazz artists that I have run into since my last attempt at this some years back. I am posting here and in a reply the first three days of April. Let me know if you like this - some really good music out there. Sometimes we need as little fun outside of technical!
April 1st, 2021
Family, Friends, Brothers,Classmates and Colleagues. April is upon us and again, April is Jazz Appreciation Month. A few years ago, I celebrated the month, or at least most of the month, with jazz artists that I found interesting – and ones that were sort of out of the mainstream of Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Charles Mingus, Thelonius Monk, Duke Ellington, Stan Getz, Chet Baker, and Roy Haynes among so many other icons in the jazz genre.
I can precisely identify the first time I really consciously heard jazz and what then set me on to enjoy the music. Of course, we all have heard jazz in the movies and tv shows (example, the music for Peter Gunn) but that was really background noise at a young age. In my mid-teens –probably the time era of Sam the Sham and the Pharaos’ “Wooly Booly” and Crispian St. Peters’ “The Pied Piper” – when visiting Willoughby Ohio’s Woolworths at the Willo-Plaza, I saw and bought a cut-out LP by Johnny Griffin entitled “Night Lady” on the Emarcy label. It had songs such as Scrabble and Summertime; I was hooked.
I enjoy many genres of jazz, big bands, bebop, post-bop, avante garde and more. During the course of this Jazz Appreciation Month, I will put forth a number of jazz musicians that I have discovered over the course of the last few years; some I have heard of but never really listened to. Some are brand new to me even though from the early decades of my life.
I aim to present a number of them during the course of the month. Many though will likely be from the 1950s-1960s. I have discovered several Japanese jazz musicians and they will be presented during the month. Some of the artists will be “way out there” and might be hard on the ears until you listen several times or more than several – but they have had an influence on jazz music . . . and me. I hope that you will enjoy.
Miles Davis: 1926-1991. To start, though, I will go with an artist that nearly everyone should know – Miles Davis. My wife Luky’s first concert ever was Miles when he played in Toronto. Her second concert was Beethoven’s 9th Symphony – go figure! This is from the most prolific selling jazz album of all time – “Kind of Blue”. Totally recommend this album if you haven’t heard of it. I also recommend, among Miles’ huge number of recordings, “Bitches Brew”.
Cheers to all! I hope that many will discover new music and artists.
April 2nd, 2021
Ryo Fukui: 1948-2016. Ryo Fukui was as Japanese pianist. I do not have much information on Ryo. He and his wife ran the jazz club “Slowboat” in Sapporo Japan. Ryo only released 5 albums before his departure from the living. He did tour the US where he met Barry Harris an American jazz pianist and became good friends. Harris wrote a special tune for his friend upon his death, Fukai Aijo (深い愛情). Ryo’s wife still runs the Slowboat.
I like his album “Scenery” which was his first. A really neat tune is “Early Summer” which starts at about the 10’50” mark. Some great piano – and a driving rhythm. I hope you enjoy it!
April 3rd, 2021
Freddie Redd: 1928-2021. The other day I read that Freddie Redd had passed at age 92 on St. Patrick’s Day, 2021. I am sad to admit that I had not heard of him and one would think that at 92, he would have been well known. Born and raised in NYC, he started serious study in jazz at age 18. He did a stint in the military from 1946 to 1949. Afterwards he played with a number of groups and composed a score for The Connection (play) and subsequent movie. As many of the jazz musicians had to do (for instance Dexter Gordon) he left for Europe to return in mid-1970s and moved to the West Coast. A link to some information is given in a reply to this post.
He recorded a number of albums under his name – the following is from the album “Straight Ahead”. Enjoy.
As Fattdad and perhaps a few others know, I am writing a month long "blog" on jazz artists that I have run into since my last attempt at this some years back. I am posting here and in a reply the first three days of April. Let me know if you like this - some really good music out there. Sometimes we need as little fun outside of technical!
April 1st, 2021
Family, Friends, Brothers,Classmates and Colleagues. April is upon us and again, April is Jazz Appreciation Month. A few years ago, I celebrated the month, or at least most of the month, with jazz artists that I found interesting – and ones that were sort of out of the mainstream of Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Charles Mingus, Thelonius Monk, Duke Ellington, Stan Getz, Chet Baker, and Roy Haynes among so many other icons in the jazz genre.
I can precisely identify the first time I really consciously heard jazz and what then set me on to enjoy the music. Of course, we all have heard jazz in the movies and tv shows (example, the music for Peter Gunn) but that was really background noise at a young age. In my mid-teens –probably the time era of Sam the Sham and the Pharaos’ “Wooly Booly” and Crispian St. Peters’ “The Pied Piper” – when visiting Willoughby Ohio’s Woolworths at the Willo-Plaza, I saw and bought a cut-out LP by Johnny Griffin entitled “Night Lady” on the Emarcy label. It had songs such as Scrabble and Summertime; I was hooked.
I enjoy many genres of jazz, big bands, bebop, post-bop, avante garde and more. During the course of this Jazz Appreciation Month, I will put forth a number of jazz musicians that I have discovered over the course of the last few years; some I have heard of but never really listened to. Some are brand new to me even though from the early decades of my life.
I aim to present a number of them during the course of the month. Many though will likely be from the 1950s-1960s. I have discovered several Japanese jazz musicians and they will be presented during the month. Some of the artists will be “way out there” and might be hard on the ears until you listen several times or more than several – but they have had an influence on jazz music . . . and me. I hope that you will enjoy.
Miles Davis: 1926-1991. To start, though, I will go with an artist that nearly everyone should know – Miles Davis. My wife Luky’s first concert ever was Miles when he played in Toronto. Her second concert was Beethoven’s 9th Symphony – go figure! This is from the most prolific selling jazz album of all time – “Kind of Blue”. Totally recommend this album if you haven’t heard of it. I also recommend, among Miles’ huge number of recordings, “Bitches Brew”.
Cheers to all! I hope that many will discover new music and artists.
April 2nd, 2021
Ryo Fukui: 1948-2016. Ryo Fukui was as Japanese pianist. I do not have much information on Ryo. He and his wife ran the jazz club “Slowboat” in Sapporo Japan. Ryo only released 5 albums before his departure from the living. He did tour the US where he met Barry Harris an American jazz pianist and became good friends. Harris wrote a special tune for his friend upon his death, Fukai Aijo (深い愛情). Ryo’s wife still runs the Slowboat.
I like his album “Scenery” which was his first. A really neat tune is “Early Summer” which starts at about the 10’50” mark. Some great piano – and a driving rhythm. I hope you enjoy it!
April 3rd, 2021
Freddie Redd: 1928-2021. The other day I read that Freddie Redd had passed at age 92 on St. Patrick’s Day, 2021. I am sad to admit that I had not heard of him and one would think that at 92, he would have been well known. Born and raised in NYC, he started serious study in jazz at age 18. He did a stint in the military from 1946 to 1949. Afterwards he played with a number of groups and composed a score for The Connection (play) and subsequent movie. As many of the jazz musicians had to do (for instance Dexter Gordon) he left for Europe to return in mid-1970s and moved to the West Coast. A link to some information is given in a reply to this post.
He recorded a number of albums under his name – the following is from the album “Straight Ahead”. Enjoy.
