List: Jazz Nicknames

This week A Blog Supreme lists 12 great jazz nicknames. Here are 12 more, sans commentary:

1. Roy "Little Jazz" Eldridge
2. Oran "Hot Lips" Page
3. Jeff "Tain" Watts
4. Billie "Lady Day" Holliday
5. Johnny "Rabbit" Hodges
6. Arthur "Zutty" Singleton
7. Willie "The Lion" Smith
8. Johnny "Little Giant" Griffin
9. Harry "Sweets" Edison
10. Albert "Tootie" Heath
11. Jay "Hootie" McShann
12. Sonny "Newk" Rollins

List: Favorite Tracks From the Miles Davis Quintet, 1965-1968

All tracks available from the Columbia box set, which is a necessity for all jazz fans (especially considering it can be had for $33 at the Amazon mp3 store).

• E.S.P., from E.S.P. Has any other band made a better opening statement? Perhaps, but I doubt it. At the end of the tune, Miles needs to drain his spit valve. To this day, whenever I hear the end of this track, my suppressed trumpet-player mind tells me to drain my spit valve, though I haven't picked up my horn in years.

More after the jump...

List: Jazz and the Single Man

Floating around social networks this week was an essay by Jason Moran listing five essential jazz albums (recorded by living musicians - so you could actually see them live) every man should own. Why should he own these albums? To impress women,* of course. Here is Moran's list. I think it's a good start, but it veers into jazz boyfriend territory (Ornette? Free Jazz? I don't know many people of either sex who can handle Ornette, bless their simple hearts and minds). So in the interest of choice, here's my list of 5 jazz albums every single man should own.


Robert Glasper, Double Booked. Moran and I agree on this one. Glasper's deftly amalgamated jazz, with flourishes of hip hop, fusion, funk, and postbop, can hook anyone who claims ignorance on modern jazz. I've been touting this album to my friends for the past two years, and it connects with just about everyone. Plus, Glasper tours with Maxwell, a spoonful of sugar to hide preconceived notions about jazz if ever there was one.

Greg Osby, Jason Moran, et al, New Directions. Sadly out of print, but there are copies to be had on Amazon. Not a bad choice to play for someone who is at least a little familiar with jazz, since they would likely recognize a few of the reworked classics from the Blue Note era on this disc. I highly recommend the Moran-Stefon Harris duet on Sam Rivers' Beatrice.

Sonny Rollins, Saxophone Colossus. Moran picks a great Wayne Shorter album, but I was always more of a Sonny guy myself, and if a lady can't dig Newk, then she is most definitely not worth your time.

Paul Motian, Joe Lovano and Bill Frisell, Time And Time Again. For quiet moments, you can't beat the master of subtle intensity. Frisell's atmospheric guitarisms set the mood for Lovano's gruff tenderness. This trio to me embodies a particular strain of masculinity that is equal parts vulnerable and assertive.And no other group better demonstrates the sublime intensity of free improvisation, despite playing such pretty music.

Medeski Scofield Martin & Wood, Out Louder. Sometimes you have to dance. This should do the trick.

*Would a list of jazz albums for women to impress men look a lot different? What about jazz for gay men or lesbians? Obviously the answer is yes, but I'm pleading ignorance here.

Some Great Books From the Aughts

Greetings from Miami, the perfect place to get away from a blizzard. We are living in a golden age of jazz studies, as musicologists, historians, journalists, and American Studies professors are all producing great works on jazz. Below are some of my favorite books on jazz from the past decade, all of which I highly recommend. This list is just a starting-off point, as I still have a ton of reading to catch up on (such is always the case with me I'm afraid).

• Robin Kelley: Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original. I just finished this one last night, and it is awesome. I'll post a review of it sometime next week.
• Gabriel Solis: Monk's Music: Thelonious Monk and Jazz History in the Making (reviewed here). A perfect companion to the Kelley biography, Solis reveals how the music of Thelonious Monk could be utilized by such disparate figures as Wynton Marsalis and The Art Ensemble of Chicago to make competing statements about the nature of jazz.
• Ben Ratliff: Coltrane: The Story of a Sound. Combining biography and musical analysis, Ratliff tells us how Coltrane developed into the monolithic figure he has become and why his sound remains relevant 40 years after his death.
• John Szwed: So What: The Life of Miles Davis. The Interlude, in which Szwed unpacks the cultural significance of Miles circa 1960, is among the best essays I have ever read.
  
• Richard Cook: Blue Note Records: The Biography. This book is crucial to understanding the hard bop craze that shook up jazz during the late 1950s and continued paying dividends into the 1960s.
  
• Eric Porter: What Is This Thing Called Jazz?: African American Musicians as Artists, Critics, and Activists. An intellectual history of jazz, Porter tackles a number of subjects, including Ellington, Mingus, Braxton, and Marsalis, as thinkers as well as musicians, showing how what the writings of these and other musicians deepen our understanding of their music.
• Scott Saul: Freedom Is, Freedom Ain't: Jazz and the Making of the Sixties. Like Porter, Saul treats jazz musicians as intellectuals and artists, helping us understand the cultural and political stances which undergirded their music during the turbulent 1960s.
  
• John Gennari: Blowin' Hot and Cool: Jazz and Its Critics. Gennari has written a history of jazz criticism which I think is essential to decoding the writings of such luminaries as Leonard Feather, Nat Hentoff, and Martin Williams. You need to read this book.
  
• Penny Von Eschen: Satchmo Blows Up the World: Jazz Ambassadors Play the Cold War. A masterful warts-and-all history of the US State Department's deployment of jazz musicians across the globe as cultural ambassadors.
  

Honorable Mentions (because I haven't read these yet but I'm sure they are good)

• Gary Giddins and Scott DeVeaux: Jazz
• Ingrid Monson: Freedom Sounds: Civil Rights Call Out to Jazz and Africa
  
• George Lewis: A Power Stronger Than Itself: The AACM and American Experimental Music
  

What did I miss? Let me know in the comments...

List: Best of the Aughts

As we approach the end of the decade, requisite best-of lists are popping up, so I thought I would add my two cents. As I mention in my annual year-end roundups, my status as an amateur critic and holder of a day job means I cannot review more than a tiny fraction of the new music that gets released in a given year. With that in mind, the list below is necessarily incomplete, so I will supplement it with other best-of lists from professional critics as well as crowd-sourced lists. Feel free to list your favorites in the comments.

Some Good Albums from the 2000s (in alphabetical order by artist)

• The Bad Plus: These Are The Vistas
  
• Ornette Coleman: Sound Grammar
  
• Steve Coleman: Resistance Is Futile
  
• Jack DeJohnette with Bill Frisell: The Elephant Sleeps But Still Remembers
  
• Dave Douglas: Strange Liberation
  
• Robert Glasper: Double Booked
• Happy Apple: Youth Oriented
  
• Andrew Hill: Dusk
  
• Dave Holland: Prime Directive
  
• Vijay Iyer Trio: Historicity
• Charles Lloyd: Rabo De Nube
  
• Medeski Martin & Wood: Tonic
  
• Brad Mehldau: House on Hill
  
• Motian/Lovano/Frisell: I Have The Room Above Her
  
• Jason Moran: Modernistic
  
• Scolohofo: Oh!
  
• Wayne Shorter: Footprints Live!
  
• Trio Beyond: Saudades
  

And here are some other end-of-the-decade lists by people who listen to far more music than I do (updated as I find them).

• A Blog Supreme
  
• All About Jazz Bulletin Board
• Jazz Chronicles (James Hale)
• Peter Hum
  
• Fred Kaplan
• Lament for a Straight Life (Jim Macnie)
• Music and More (Tim Niland)
  
• NPR's All Songs Considered (not just jazz)
• Times Online
  
• 91.5 WUML, Lowell
  

Image via Circulations

A Minor Corrective to the Jazz In Crisis Meme

Jazz fans are passionate to a fault, and us jazz bloggers even more so. In the wake of Terry Teachout's Wall Street Journal piece on the decline of the jazz audience, a whole host of bloggers have picked the piece apart, started a campaign to promote live jazz, and offered suggested albums to recommend to non-jazz listeners, among other responses. While the responses were thoughtful, they also (inadvertently) reveal a sense of defensive panic, as if we bloggers need to prove the vitality of jazz in the 21st century.

But I wish to offer a slightly more optimistic take on the situation. Instead of talking about the audience, I'll follow Patrick Jarenwattananon's lead and instead focus on the music. What is lost in the uproar over the audience is the fact that we are currently living in a golden age of piano trios. Not only are there a bunch of exciting groups putting out fantastic music, but the pantheon of these trios all have such an individual sound that even jazz neophytes can tell them apart. Below are just a few of the trios that are making the present moment such a satisfying one for jazz listeners.

Brad Mehldau Trio: Mehldau has loomed large over the jazz scene for over a decade, and his trio with bassist Larry Grenadier and drummer Jeff Ballard have put out a number of great albums over the last decade. I consider them the standard bearer of this group.

The Bad Plus: Though we may be tempted to dub them enfants terribles for their deconstructive covers of pop and rock tunes, The Bad Plus are more of a postmodern edition of the traditional jazz piano trio.

Vijay Iyer Trio: I'll let the rest of the jazz blogosphere do the talking here. I'll be giving their newest album, Historicity, a full review soon, but suffice it to say that it might be the best album of 2009. Iyer, bassist Stephan Crump, and drummer Marcus Gilmore have a fantastic musical rapport.

Keith Jarrett Standards Trio: The reigning master of repertory, along with bassist Gary Peacock and drummer Jack DeJohnette, will consistently knock your socks off with their discursive explorations of standards.

Robert Glasper Trio: Glasper gets a bit more pub for his Experiment band, but the acoustic trio is also a pretty good show.

Jason Moran's Bandwagon: Moran packs the entire history of jazz piano in his playing, but keeps it fresh and exciting. Bassist Tauras Mateen and drummer Nasheet Waits match him blow for blow in energy.

Medeski Martin & Wood: Probably the most sui generis of this list, which is saying something. John Medeski usually sticks to electric instruments, but he is underrated on the acoustic piano.

Did I forget someone? Let me know in the comments...


Image via EyeShotJazz.

My Jazz Now

A Blog Supreme is running a series called Jazz Now, in which the ABS team and friends recommend five albums each from the past ten years to nascent jazz listeners. For a complete explanation of the project, go here. Patrick Jarenwattananon kicked things off with his five today, and asked for audience participation as well. So below are the five albums I would recommend to somebody looking to get into current jazz, in order of date released.


1. Dave Holland Quintet: Prime Directive (2000). Holland is the Art Blakey of the modern postbop scene, assembling an array of talented younger players to augment his bands, which have become a kind of graduate school in jazz performance.

2. Jason Moran: Modernistic (2002). Moran's reimagining of the James P. Johnson classic "You've Got to Be Modernistic" is worth the price of the disc alone. Moran has an uncanny ability of packing the entire history of jazz piano into his style while keeping it fresh and surprising the listener at every turn.

3. Happy Apple: Youth Oriented (2003). As I wrote in this space last year, Happy Apple expands the boundaries of jazz, incorporating rock and avant-garde influences while allowing plenty of room for individual and group improvisation. Their work is often exhilarating, and very rewarding to those who can stomach a little chaos.

4. The Bad Plus: Prog (2007). The Bad Plus appear to be a popular group for these lists. These Are The Vistas is my favorite album of theirs, but that one has been chosen by a few people already, so I will go with Prog instead, which features some choice covers and great originals.

5. Robert Glasper: Double Booked (2009). I'll be posting a review of this album later in the week, but suffice it to say that I've already recommended this album to a few friends who don't really listen to much jazz.

Honorable Mentions
The Bad Plus: These Are The Vistas
Paul Motian: Time and Time Again
Darcy James Argue's Secret Society: Infernal Machines
Medeski Martin & Wood: Tonic
Chris Potter: Follow the Red Line
Wayne Shorter: Footprints Live


You can read the entire Jazz Now series at A Blog Supreme (image via NPR).

List: Under-the-Radar Live Albums

If you want to really experience jazz, you must see it live. With that in mind, record labels have been churning out live albums at a steady pace for as long as the technology existed to make high-quality recordings of live performances. Below are some of my favorite live albums that you might not have listened to yet.

One quick qualification: I'm going for underrated and lesser-known live albums on this list. Everyone knows about the Coltrane Village Vanguard recordings and Miles at the Plugged Nickel, so why repeat what's already been written? Here is the list, in chronological order...

1. Art Blakey: A Night at Birdland, Volumes 1 and 2 (1954). Come for the early incarnation of the Jazz Messengers, stay for the Clifford Brown. Brownie tore it up on this night in 1954, and his solos on Confirmation, Once in a While, and A Night In Tunisia are among the best he ever put on record. Not the most obscure choice to lead off the list, but it was also one of the first albums I ever bought, so I threw it in.
2. Count Basis: Count Basie at Newport (1957). To quote Ethan Iverson, "My advice is merely: listen to it. You want to know what jazz is? This is fucking jazz." Lester Young and Jo Jones sit in for an extended guest appearance; Illinois Jacquet, Roy Eldridge, and Jimmy Rushing also make guest appearances.
   
3. Miles Davis: At Newport 1958. Miles has many great live albums in his catalog, so it's no surprise this one isn't mentioned more often. However, there aren't many live offerings of Miles with Cannonball and Coltrane, so this one is essential, methinks. Throw in Bill Evans, Paul Chambers, and Jimmy Cobb, and you've got a great set. Mr. P.C.'s bass solo on Straight, No Chaser is sublime. Plus, the album cover features Miles in his sartorial splendor.
4. Cannonball Adderley: Cannonball Adderley Quintet in San Francisco (1959). Quintessential hard bop from some of the masters. Cannon & Co.'s take on Spontaneous Combustion is some of the best 12 minutes on record.
   
5. Eric Dolphy: Eric Dolphy at the Five Spot, Vol. 1 (1961). Dolphy with Booker Little, Mal Waldron, Richard Davis, and Ed Blackwell, need I say more? More than any other album on this list, I revisit this recording again and again, and each time I am amazed at the unfulfilled potential of Dolphy and Little. Who knows what heights they may have scaled had they not died too young? Volume 2 is also available.
6. Elvin Jones: Live at the Lighthouse, Volumes 1 and 2 (1972). Perhaps if someone had given a copy of these albums to Ken Burns, he would not have alleged that jazz "went away for awhile" during the 1970s.
7. Old and New Dreams: Playing (1980). I was made aware of this one by Destination Out, and I am better off now that I know it exists. Brilliant free jazz from Dewey Redman, Don Cherry, Charlie Haden, and Ed Blackwell.
8. Keith Jarrett Standards Trio: Keith Jarrett at the Blue Note (1994). Jarrett's trio with Gary Peacock and Jack DeJohnette have a ton of live recordings out there, but this one is my favorite, taken from a three-night stand at New York's Blue Note in 1994. Bonus quote from Amazon reviewer Stephen A. Smith: "Keith Jarrett's trio is the McDonald's of jazz. Its greatest sales asset is consistency."
9. Pat Metheny: Tokyo Day Trip - Live EP (2008). I've gushed about this one enough already.
   

These are just some of my favorites, feel free to tell me what I missed in the comments.

Extra Credit: See also the recommended recordings on last year's list of top working ensembles.


All images via jazz.com except Live at the Lighthouse via inconstantsol.blogspot.com.

Ornette's Children

The fiftieth anniversary of the recording of Ornette Coleman's The Shape of Jazz to Come has come and gone, and while other sites have offered their own tributes, I thought I would share an iTunes playlist I call "Ornette's Children." Some of the selections on the playlist are Coleman tunes reimagined by his artistic heirs, some are originals composed and performed by some of his disciples and former sidemen, and others are merely tunes that could not have happened without Ornette. I like to throw it on the iPod and shuffle it, so the tracks are in no particular order. This is certainly not an exhaustive list, just tracks from my own library that I particularly like.

• Air: Do Tell, from 80 Below '82
  
• Anthony Braxton: Peace, from Solo (NYC) 2002
  
• The Bad Plus: Street Woman, from Give
  
• Eric Dolphy: Iron Man, from The Illinois Concert
  
• Greg Osby: Mob Job, from Channel Three
  
• Greg Osby and Joe Lovano: Broad Way Blues, from Friendly Fire
  
• Joe Lovano: Ettenro, from Sounds of Joy
  
• John Zorn: Zig Zag, from Spy Vs. Spy
  
• Old and New Dreams: Broken Dreams, from Playing
  
• Pat Metheny: Rejoicing, from Rejoicing
  
• Pat Metheny, 80/81, from 80/81
  
• Pat Metheny and Ornette Coleman: Trigonometry, from Song X
  
• Pat Metheny: Law Years, from Question & Answer
  
• Paul Motian: Mumbo Jumbo, from Sound of Love
  
• Roscoe Mitchell: Ericka, from Nonaah
  
• Scolohofo: Brandyn, from oh!
  

What would you add to the list? Leave your suggestions in the comments.