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Tag: Jazz

Exploring Birthdays on October 14th leads to Jazz Guitarist Garrison Fewell and Blues Artist Chris Thomas King!

Garrison Fewell2

Over the last several years that I have written this  blog, I have used the lists of birthdays that I have found at several sites as a source to find new music. What I do is read down the lists, find names of musicians that I don’t know then go to Spotify listen and if I like the music I go and read more about the artist,  then I write about them. Here is a post I wrote last year on October 14th, when I discovered Garrison Fewell, and Chris Thomas King…….

This morning I was thinking about how reviewing the birthdays everyday has given me another avenue for discovering new artists Over the last week, I have discovered Terry Gibbs, Harry “Sweets” Edison, Dave Robinson and Mark Whitfield to name a few, which to me is pretty cool! With that being said, it seems that a review of today;’s birthday’s has yielded possibly two more artist and if additional listening confirms what I heard this morning that possible will turn into a definite!! read more

Exploring the Jazz Piano of Jaki Byard – One Two Five…..

So yesterday I had some office work to do, typing the soil logs for the test pits that were excavated on Thursday. Since I need to One Two Fivestay focused while I complete the logs, the soundtrack for the morning became jazz. There are two jazz albums on the iPhone that I’ve been listening to over the last few weeks, so they became the soundtrack! The first was an album titled One, Two Five from Jaki Byard and the second Why? from former rock drummer Ginger Baker.

The current release from Jaki Byard is titled The Late Show at it’s currently No 36 on the JazzWeek Chart. (August 25, 2014)  Since I never have heard of Jaki Byard I first went to Spotify to have a listen. Typically, after listening I then go and read about the artist. The Late Show was not at Spotify the latest album that was there was an album titled One Two Five (2014).That album went on the iPhone and what I found was some really fine and interesting solo piano. This morning I went to Wikipedia and then several other sites and this is what I found out about Jaki Byard…… (once again I prove that I have a LOT to learn about jazz) Jaki Byard in his brief biography at Amazon is described as  ” Art Tatum, Earl Hines, Bud Powell, Ran Blake, Cecil Taylor and Bill Evans, all in one”. From Wikipedia….. read more

That PI Day in Music 3.14.34 – “The Queen of the Organ” – Shirley Scott was born!!

So the other morning, after I woke up from the crash that was a result of having had virtually no sleep the night before, as we waited for the birth of grandson,Oliver, I was looking at the jazz birthdays. Now if you remember, the night before I had posted about saxophonist Jeff Hackworth, and how his sax sounds like Stanley Turrentine and how like Stanley, Jeff often plays in an organ trio setting and how I thought that was neat because Stanley had played so often with Jimmy Smith. Well what the un-jazz educated Edward didn’t know was that in the 1960s Stanley Turrentine was married to and recorded a series of albums with jazz-organist Shirley Scott! (They divorced in 1969) From AllMusic: read more

This Day in Music – January 30, 1930 – Wes’ baby brother – Buddy Montgomery was born!

Buddy MontgomeryOn this day in 1930, Charles “Buddy” Montgomery, the youngest of the Montgomery Brothers was born in Indianapolis, Indiana. Buddy was nine years younger than Monk, the oldest of the three musical brothers and seven years younger than Wes, the most famous of th brothers. Buddy played both piano and vibes, but is primarily known for playing vibes. His career started in 1948 and in 1949 he played with Big Joe Turner followed by a stint with Slide Hampton. In 1957, after serving several  years in the Army, he joined older brother Monk, Richie Crabtree (piano) and Benny Barth (drums) in the Mastersounds over the next several years they produced ten recordings. read more

This Day in Music January 23, 1943 – Happy Birthday – Gary Burton!!

Gary BurtonOn this date in 1943, the great vibraphonist and one of my favorites Gary Burton was born in Anderson, Indiana. Whenever I have “One of those days” it’s usually the vibes of Burton that bring me back to a happier and more relaxed place. Some background and information on Burton from Wikipedia:

Beginning music at six years old, Burton for the most part taught himself to play marimba and vibraphone.[2] He also began studying piano at age sixteen as he finished high school in Princeton, Indiana (56–60). Burton has cited jazz pianist Bill Evans as a main inspiration for his approach toward the vibraphone. read more

A Morning with Hammond Heroes leads the Safari to “Bag of Jewels” from Lou Donaldson!

So this morning started with a cold walk to my office. I left the car at the office yesterday and walked home during the snowstorm!  While that may have been a good idea yesterday, it didn’t seem that good this morning, when I faced a ten minute walk to work with single digit wind chill temperatures. But like I always say when I struggle through a run  “At least the music was good!” The music came from an album released back in November titled Hammond Heroes. The album somehow got accidentally downloaded on to the iPhone a while ago and I didn’t delete it because of the title! Well am I glad I didn’t, because it’s got some great tracks on it. It’s has tracks on it from guys like Jimmy and Dr Lonnie Smith, Larry Young, and Jimmy McGriff where they are the top dog and then it has tracks where the organist is a member of the band or trio, pairing with folks like Pat Metheny. John Scofield, Lou Donaldson and Pat Martino. I was constantly looking at the tracks as great ones kept coming on, to see who was playing this time. Well, one of the tracks I liked right away was “Bag of Jewels” from Lou Donaldson. Donaldson is one of those oh, too many jazz artists whose name I know but not their music. the other track that caught my attention was “Oleo” from Pat Martino. Pat was another artist like Lou, and after listening to him play a few weeks ago on that tribute to Wes, I tracked down his music and listened to his album El Hombre and he is that!! read more

The Safari Goes “into the morning” with Jim Alfredson’s Dirty Fingers: A Tribute to Big John Patton

So yesterday when I was reviewing this weeks JazzWeek Chart the band at number 23 caught my eye. The band was Jim Alfredson’s Dirty Fingers and their album is A Tribute to Big John Patton. Jim Alfredson, name is familiar, I know  now – Organissimo!! Love their music!! I listened to their latest album Dedicated back in April of this year. Great stuff!!

Anyway, I gave A Tribute to Big John Patton a listen this afternoon and loved it, a really good album with as always some fine organ from Jim Alfredson.  And like always listening to the album has led me to more music and that would be the music OF Big  John Patton. I’m listening now to Got A Good Thing Going featuring Big John and Grant Green… Boy I love the music site like MOG and Spotify…. and I think I have another new jazz organist’s music to explore!!! read more

Today in Music – Dec 16, 1933 – Johnny “Hammond Smith was born!

When I started writing these birthday pieces my jazz world was limited. Since then I have added a lot more artists to my music library, today’s artist will be another. Born on this date in 1933 was Johnny “Hammond” Smith. From Wikipedia:

John Robert Smith (December 16, 1933 – June 4, 1997), also known as Johnny “Hammond” Smith, was an American soul jazz and hard bop organist. Born in Louisville, Kentucky, he was a renowned player of the Hammond B-3 organ so earning “Hammond” as a nickname,[1] which also avoided his being confused with jazz guitarist Johnny Smith. Full Biography read more

The Safari finds NYC Jazz from Brian Lynch Unsung Heroes Vol. 1 and Vol. 2!

The other day I was reviewing the Weekly Jazz Chart   and there at No 19 just below Dr Lonnie Smith was an Brian Lynch and his latest album Unsung Heroes Vol. 2. The tagline on the album is “a tribute to underappreciated trumpet masters” sounds like my kind of album! I went to Spotify found the album sat back and listened to some damn good trumpet playing. So now I needed to find out some more about Brian Lynch a trumpeter that I have not come across yet! From Wikipedia…

Brian Lynch (September 12, 1956, Urbana, Illinois) is a Grammy Award-winning New York-based jazz trumpeter,he has  toured and recorded as a member of the Phil Woods Quintet and Eddie Palmieri’s Afro-Caribbean Jazz group, as well as leading his own groups and appearing with various other bands including the “Latin Side Of Miles” project he co-leads with trombonist Conrad Herwig. read more

This Day in Music – December 11, 1938 – McCoy Tyner’s Birthday!!

Today McCoy Tyner celebrates his 75th birthday, Happy Birthday, McCoy. From his biography at Facebook,

It is not an overstatement to say that modern jazz has been shaped by the music of McCoy Tyner. His blues-based piano style, replete with sophisticated chords and an explosively percussive left hand has transcended conventional styles to become one of the most identifiable sounds in improvised music. His harmonic contributions and dramatic rhythmic devices form the vocabulary of a majority of jazz pianists.  read more