Sunday Music Muse Day - Jan Garbarek Group, Chet Baker

This Sunday Music Muse Day find us suffering warm weather, in the 90º s, but not as hot as my west coast friend with 100º + heat.  It's a perfect day to crank up the AC, grab a summer drink and listen to some cool jazz.  So, first up is Chet Baker CAREER 1952-1988. Trumpeter Chet Baker is the poster child of cool jazz of the 1950s and 60s. This 2 disc anthology of his career broken in two aspects, his trumpet playing and his singing. The CD set come with 66 page documenting Baker creative and often tragic career due to his battle with drug addition.  But the genius of the music always comes through.

By second choice is Jan Garbarek Group Photo With...("...Blue Sky. White Cloud, Wires, Windows, and a Red Roof ". is the full title, but some one have to good sense to shorten it on the cover.). A reviewer notes, "Each piece breaks a piece from the longer title and rolls it out into a photo in its own right."  Saxophonist Garbarek is a stable of ECM Records, as are the other musicians on the session, either as leaders, or sidemen. Guitarist Bill Conners was one of the main reasons I picked this up as it follows his departure from Chick Corea's Return to Forever in the late 70s to pursue a solo career and more acoustic guitar playing.  This 1978 recording sound fresh and timeless as you would expect from an  ECM recording.

So, stay cool, and enjoy the day.

Sunday Music Muse Day - Jack DeJohnette, Chet Baker Sextet

On this cool, pleasant Sunday Music Muse Day there; nothing to do but take care of routine chores. like grocery shopping at Wegmans, having a light lunch, then settling in with some good afternoon music.  First up is Jack Dejohnette Selected Recording, this ECM release is part of a series of 20 Selected Recordings CDs by artists associatedwith the well known and respected label. All the music on each is selected by the artist from their ECM recordings., as a leader, or sideman.  One CD worth of music is just the tip of the iceberg of the great music Dejohnette, and the other artists,  have recorded for ECM.  Luckily, I already won a lot of it, as he is one of my favorite modern drummers.

Next, is Chet Baker Sextet Chet is Back, a reissue of album recored and released in 1962.  This CD release on  Bluebird - First Edition series includes four tracks by the legendary trumpet player previously unreleased in the U.S.  As the liner notes state: "Chet Baker's tragic story of fame and addiction continues to imbue his recordings with a melancholy mythic quality. These recordings come from one of the  high points of his career, a year spent Italy in 1962."  This include work with Ennio Morricone, legendary film composer.  Well worth a listen.

There  is a touch fall in the air, just enough to compliment the listening of cool jazz with feeling guilty for being indoors.  Enjoy.

Sunday Music Muse Day - Johnny Hodges with Sam Woodyard, Gerry Mulligan Quartet with Chet Baker

This Sunday Music Muse Day finds me enjoying and celebrating a pair of 2-CD sets of  legendary jazz saxophonists.  First up is Johnny Hodges at Sportpalast, Berlin, a 2 CD live set recored in Berlin, Germany in march 1961.  Hodges uses fellow band mates of the Ellington Orchestra, including my father, Sam Woodyard, on drums.  This CD set was produced by famed produce Norman Granz who handled the European tour of this group, while Duke had gone Paris to work on the movie, Paris Blues, with Billy Strayhorn. It sounds like it was a win-win for everybody.  Most of the tunes are associated with the Ellington playlist, as to be expected.  It's always fun for me to find Sam on other jazz outings.  I think of this as collecting a nice music legacy for my kids.

Next is baritone saxophonist Gerry Mulligan Quartet, the original quartet with Chet Baker.  This collection of cuts recorded in the early 1950s is giving me a education in the West Coast Jazz style of the era.  It definitely has a more laid back feel than the East Coast style of artists like Miles Davis, and the Bebop of Dizzy Gillespie.  It's  alway fun to discovery the gems of the past in jazz made before I got into it in the 1970s.

Two sets double CDs, I'm looking forward to enjoying for a long time.  Cheers.

Sunday Music Muse Day - John Nyerges, Gerry Mulligan Quartet

Again, this Sunday Music Muse Day finds us continuing our countdown to Holiday's big events.  Here's some good tunes counter the onslaught of holiday music.  First up is John Nyerges Jazz, Pictures and Poems.  I admit pianist Nyerges is new to me, but his sidemen on this 2007 session included  Rich Thompson (drums), Clay Jenkins (trumpet) and Jeff Campbell (bass) who make up the group Trio East, who I've featured many times before.  It's nice to hear them in solid support of Nyerges's originals.

Next up is an another Gerry Mulligan find, Gerry Mulligan with Chet Baker  Reunion.  This is an interesting collection of mono recorded tracks, and alternate takes, from the 1950s and 60's. You can't go wrong with Mulligan and Baker in any format.

Next week, we plan to get the Christmas tree, so I expect I'll post some holiday music favorites. Still enjoy.

Sunday Music Muse Day - Stan Meets Chet, Chick Corea Vigil, and Jack Bruce Spectrum Road

This week's Sunday Music Muse Day features three interesting CDs, a pleasant surprise, mild disappointment, and an exciting find.

The pleasant surprise was the Verve Records re-issue CD, Stan meets Chet, as in Stan Getz, and Chet Baker.  Both men legendary jazz figures on their respective instruments, Stan Getz on the tenor saxophone, and  Chet Baker on the trumpet.  I couldn't pass up this CD as the liner notes states the LP of their meeting was long out-of-print.  I admit I've been late in getting to know the music  of both more closely.  So this CD will help in making up for that.

My mild disappointment is by Chick Corea, The Vigil, a CD some critic said was his best since the hay day of Return to Forever.  I had seen this CD several times and debated buying it, but after listening to the Return to Forever Anthology, which included the full Romantic Warrior album cuts, this past week.  I relented.  Well, let's just say there are echoes of the best RTF tunes in the CD, but unfortunately the bad excesses of the later RTF albums, like Musicmagic, are present, most annoying is the vocals of Gayle Moran Corea (a nice enough singer) singing Chick horrible lyrics.  I posted them so you can judge for yourself.  Even just as poetry, the lyrics just don't work.  I can console myself with the cover art, at least, Chick in a shiny suit of armor.   I think Chick has "thing" for that image.  Romantic Warrior has a knight in armor on it.

The exciting find is the CD, Spectrum Road, featuring the legendary Rock / Jazz bassist, the late Jack Bruce.  Jack, of course, is best known for being a member of Cream, the premiere Rock power trio, with guitarist Eric Clapton and drummer Ginger Baker (FYI- one of my all time favorite Rock groups).  Those who know of Jack Bruce's jazz connections will know he played with an early version Tony William's Lifetime, with guitarist John McLaughlin, and organist Larry Young. Lifetime was truly a groundbreaking Jazz-Fusion group, playing a very raw and intense brand of music.  Spectrum Road is sort of a tribute to the late Tony Williams.  Eight of the ten tunes are Tony Williams compositions, from the Lifetime albums, and one each from William's "Believe it" and "Joy of Flying". The other players on Spectrum Road are guitarist Vernon Reid, of the Black Rock  group Living Color, on organ is John Medeski, of the "post-Fusion trio" Medeski, Martin and Wood, and finally drummer Cindy Blackman Santana, who I'm not familiar with, but she's on my musical radar now.

All in all, not a good collection.  Even the Chick Corea CD has some moments to enjoy.  With Thanksgiving coming up this week, I'll have more free to give these another listen.  Enjoy your turkey day.

Sunday Music Muse Day

Sunday is my Music Muse Day, a day to listen to old favorites and discovery new ones to inspire the soul. I started the day with the gift CD from Jazz 90.1 radio for renewing my membership. Gerry Mulligan and Chet Baker, Carnegie Hall Concert. Great stuff!

 

 Actually I starting Music Muse Day last night by cruising youtube to find some tunes I had heard on a internet radio station but they didn't show up in itunes.  Sure enough, they were on youtube, full versions, not just short preview.  The main one I wanted to hear was this DJ Krush & Toshinori Kondo  tune "Ha Doh".  The trumpeter sound like Miles Davis.  This tune has haunted me for years.  I'll have to track down the CD.  The second track featured is Five Deez / Fat Jon - Sexual for Elizabeth, again I heard it on internet radio and could not get it of of my head.  Enjoy.