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Post by stormmonkey on Feb 18, 2009 13:52:17 GMT
One of my favourite sax players of all time is Paul Desmond. I have never heard anyone play sax as beautifully. I'm looking forward to buying his biography as soon as I can afford it - quite pricey though; www.amazon.com/gp/product/0961726679A few Paul Desmond youtube clips; Take FiveTheme from Black Orpheus
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Post by tullistray on Feb 18, 2009 23:54:23 GMT
Since jazz has been my first music since about 73 I suppose I should respond to this thread, and having been through what I would guess to be all the major players my choice would be the same as it was in 73 and all the years between, and likely the choice of at least a quarter of any fans polled, John Coltrane. Even lived near a church in San Fran on Divisadero who's patron saint was Trane, although his ex wife Alice, who passed about 1 year ago, tried more than once to put a stop to it. It's crazy I tell ya. Paul Desmond? Fine player. Guys who plied similar turf include Johnny Hodges (Ellington's lead sax for at least 30 years and possibly more than 40, not sure if he was there for the full ride or not), Gene Ammons when he was playin a ballad was similar, and Stan Getz had a tone kind of like Desmond, I think its called white. Just kidding. I remember that version of Greensleeves and bought the record about 30 years ago. It was supposed to have been the last concert by the Modern Jazz Quartet, as it happens it wasn't. They were in fact the longest standing musical organization to still employ the original members, 40 years I think 52-92. Technically they actually had a different drummer the first year, a great player Kenny Clarke, replaced by the equally great Connie Kay. I could do an honorabe mention but it would extend to at least 20 guys, so its Trane or nobody, the singular talent of incomparable influence extending to frequent outright mimicry, and even that is often really good music, see some of Trane's onetime understudy Pharoah Sanders output for instance. Here's a nice You Tube from 65 with his great quartet, a young McCoy Tyner on piano, very much still with us and active, Elvin Jones drums, passed a couple years ago, and Jimmy Garrison, passed in the 70's. Trane died in 67. This, one of his most well known ballads although there are many, was an ode to his first wife Naima. www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6WwuxqXPOg OOOH, and I must say dig this, off Ralph Gleason, ,the truly great music writer's SF area tv show from the early and mid sixties, Jazz casual, Trane's Afro Blue. www.youtube.com/watch?v=olOYynQ-_Hw
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Post by tullistray on Feb 19, 2009 0:40:24 GMT
The great Long Tall Dexter, Dexter Gordon who I was able to enjoy live so many times. Tempted to include something in a ballad format which he excelled at which all the great players do, but nobody burned harder than Dex, so burnage it is. Unfortunately this does not include his verbal intro, a skill he excelled at much as Anderson does but in a much different way, Dex was about 6 foot 6 of handsome, understated elegance, a genuine prince of cool. He was to the Strip in LA in the forties what Garcia was to Haight street 20 years later. Highly recommend his movie, "Round Midnight" done near the end of his life, late eighties. I knew when I heard this movie was being done that if they just let Dex be Dex they would have a winner, and they did, Dex was nominated for an Academy Award, he looked pretty damn sleek in that tux at the awards I must say, although by those last couple years time had caught up on him. The movie also includes most of the then still living jazz guys, they did a fine job too, particularly the great vibes player Bobby Hutcherson. The movie is partly an ode to the end of life of another American jazz expatriate tenor sax monster, Prez, aka Lester Young. So love Dexter's little signature, at the end of pieces, he would always hold up his tenor like it was a deity worthy of separate applause. www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhSpXCe8i6A
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Post by tullistray on Feb 19, 2009 0:59:32 GMT
And finally, being on that Dexter Gordon You Tube page, saw this version of As Time Goes By from the movie I was jabbering about in the previous installment. Now Dex was 30 years past maybe the peak of his powers by this point, near death in fact. Long gone were his famous tenor battles with Wardell Grey or his great blue note records like Our Man In Paris or Go! but he was still making damn fine music his last ten or fifteen years and I dare say he earned the right to take another stab at As Time Goes By, seeing how he lived it, amognst the facets of his great personality, he was damn sure a lover. Now I will leave you nice folks alone, for now. Dig his Lester Young porkpie hat. Btw if you recognize any of his famous friends, Billy Higgins on drums, John McLaughlin on gtr, Herbie Hancock on pno, possibly the great European bassist, Niels Henning Orsted Pederson, not sure. Also includes maybe my favorite line from the movie, when Dex says this establishment has never been known for its high conviviality. A little bit of the Dex classic the Blues up and Down in the last few minutes. Kinda weird to see McLaughlin playing in this context, though Higgins and Hancock would be very comfortable. Dex still had that HUGE sound right to the end. www.youtube.com/watch?v=uF_FJVTLXgw
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Post by steelmonkey on Feb 20, 2009 2:56:07 GMT
I think Trane is a category unto himself....from the same rare place that spawned Miles Davis.
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Post by fatman on Feb 20, 2009 5:17:19 GMT
Lap Of Luxury – 11 Under Wraps#1 – 12 European Legacy – 14 Later, That Same Evening – 11 Saboteur – 10 Radio Free Moscow – 10 Astronomy – 13 Tundra – 9 Nobody's Car – 11 Heat – 9 Under Wraps #2 – 11 Paparazzi – 10 Apogee – 10 Automotive Engineering – 0 General Crossing – 9
Come, let me show you my observatory. It's umbrella-domed and pin-pricked in lights.
Jeff
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Post by maddogfagin on Feb 20, 2009 17:10:24 GMT
Not forgetting Raphael Ravenscroft who played the sax on Baker Street. Don't know anything about him but he sure plays well. Another is Mel Collins who's played with just about everybody of note. Incidentaly, this appeared in the UK press during the week concerning the whereabouts of Gerry Rafferty. Gerry Rafferty, the singer who wrote the 1978 hit Baker Street, who was rumoured to have gone missing, is alive and well and writing music in his Tuscany home.
The Paisley-born singer, who formed folk group the Humblebums with comedian Billy Connolly before going on to front Stealers Wheel and writing Stuck in the Middle With You, hit the headlines in August when he trashed his room at the Westbury hotel, where he had been staying for four days. He then checked himself out of London's St Thomas's hospital where he was receiving treatment for liver failure.
Earlier this week there were reports that his friends were concerned about his safety as he had been missing for six months.
His office said in a statement today: "Contrary to what some sections of the media are suggesting, Gerry is extremely well and has been living in Tuscany for the past six months. In his house there, which is situated just north of Florence, he continues to compose and record new songs and music. He would like to send a personal thank you to all of his fans who have expressed their concern for his wellbeing and he hopes to release a new album of his most recent work in the summer of this year."
Rafferty had been battling alcoholism for years and concerns were raised when he walked out of hospital leaving clothes and belongings behind. Speculation mounted on music websites that he had been kidnapped. One fan wrote: "Don't worry. He's fine. I served him in a restaurant just off Piccadilly Circus tonight, then helped him to his hotel. Thought he looked familiar, so I went back and asked the porter his name."
It is estimated that Rafferty makes a reasonable income each year from royalties from his most famous track, Baker Street, which came from his 1978 solo album, City to City. Stuck in the Middle With You made Rafferty and co-writer Joe Egan a fortune when it was used on the soundtrack to Quentin Tarantino's 1992 film Reservoir Dogs.
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Post by nonrabbit on Feb 20, 2009 23:12:50 GMT
picking up on the Stealers Wheel thing - I think Joe Egan was a bit underrated as a singer! Good voice! He left the muso business and went into publishing. Must have been a happy morning in the Egan house when the first royalty cheque landed on the mat RESULT ;D
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mix
Journeyman
Posts: 136
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Post by mix on Apr 28, 2009 14:36:48 GMT
king Curtis en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_CurtisProbably best known for that track "Yakety Yak, don't talk back." Great session player. I love his work on Buddy Holly's "Reminiscing". He died in 1971 after being stabbed while trying to enter his apartment.
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