_forumlogo.png.a607ef20a6e0c299ab2aa6443aa1f32e.png)
crisp
-
Posts
1,107 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Donations
0.00 USD
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Events
Blogs
Posts posted by crisp
-
-
Oh, one question: that Jimmy Smith that's partly on the Oliver Nelson Mosaic (Virginia Woolf, right? Or is it Hobo Flats?) - need I get the Original for the remaining tracks or is the better part of it on the Mosaic set?
It's Virginia Woolf, four tracks of which are not on the Mosaic (all of Hobo Flats is on the Mosaic, so you can skip that one). It's been a while since I played it, but I recall John Brown's Body is worth having. I'm happy I bought it.
Wish that instead of Hobo Flats Verve had reissued Monster.
-
Take the A Train is one.
-
Thanks for the info above, Bev.
-
1. Did you grow up in a household with classical music around you?
No. My mother and her parents all liked music, but the contemporary pop of their respective generations, which I also liked.
2. Did you learn an instrument and experience classical music that way?No. I took piano lessons, but too late in childhood for it to be of any benefit. I could never relate the "boring" scales and exercises I played with "music" as I enjoyed it.
3. How does classical music relate to your love of jazz? A secondary interest, a primary interest (with jazz in second place) or part of the seamless web of music?I have no idea! It seems a separate thing to me, and as I understand jazz better, presumably it's a secondary interest, although I listen to it at least as much as jazz these days.
I liked the big tune from Brahms' 1st symphony, and was surprised when I took that out of the library that the whole piece didn't make any sense to me. I had to work at it, listen to it over and over until it began to come together, and gradually the learning became easier.That's exactly how I developed an appreciation of classical. I gravitated to classical off my own back during primary school, alongside pop bands with an orchestrated sound, such as ELO and Sky. From the age of 8 or 9 I would haunt the record department of my local WH Smiths and when I had enough money saved, buy a coveted cassette. Some of my "classical" purchases were, with hindsight, tragic (Hooked on Classics), some forgivable (Richard Clayderman*), some fine if obvious (The Four Seasons, 1812 Overture).
To come back to the above quote, though, the breakthrough was when I bought Prokofiev's Lt Kije Suite because I liked Troika. Also on the cassette was the 1st symphony (the Classical), and I played it repeatedly until I was "into" it (the luxury of having very few albums and endless time). I find that approach still pays off when acclimatising myself to an unfamiliar piece (classical or jazz), but too much music, too little time these days.
* Regarding him, I got into jazz partly because Michael Parkinson said "I don't know how anyone can listen to Richard Clayderman when they could listen to Oscar Peterson"
BTW Bev. Which Anthony Hopkins books do you recommend?
-
Excellent post, fasstrack.
Allen Lowe: Could you elaborate on Van Heusen if you have time?
-
MG, I agree with all your points.
One thing: I would look again at Berlin's lyrics. He is in my view the best lyricist of them all. Nobody wrote with such simplicity, purity and clarity. There are rarely if any false rhymes, backward constructions or illogicalities in Berlin's lyrics. Harold Arlen said "They sound as if God wrote them" or words to that effect because they are so natural.
Also, Frank Loesser wrote both words and music in the second half of his career.
Your honorary GAS songs all fit in my book (or songbook). All from the same period as the "last gasp" songs I listed (not meant to be a definitive list).
-
Re standalone songs vs integrated show songs: I see what you're driving at now. That probably started to change when Rodgers left Hart for Hammerstein. Oscar Hammerstein's way of thinking came to dominate American musicals after the war, ultimately leading to the highly integrated likes of Sondheim. But there continued to be fluffy musicals from Hollywood for a few more years, yielding many standalone songs, and GAS songwriters continued to write film title songs, standalone record hits, lyrics to jazz instrumentals...
Re bias: I am biased, it's true. Maybe I should have said "greatest contribution to world art".
Following on from earlier comments on the last of the standards, I can't think of soft rock ballads as standards no matter how many times they are performed, but maybe that's my prejudice. It probably stems from the lyrics. Billy Joel is actually quite a meticulous lyricist, no matter how much he is criticised (and that's probably one of the reasons WHY he is criticised), but many of the others (Stevie Wonder for example) are very sloppy and unsatisfying. Harry Connick's own songs are awful. In any case, these modern songs seem to belong, not so much to a different era, but a different world; a different mindset. There is certainly more jazz in Lorenz Hart, say, than in Billy Joel. And Bacharach is a massive exception, to be sure (but even he can't tap into it these days).
Witchcraft is a good suggestion for the last standard. I would also suggest I Wanna Be Around, Call Me Irresponsible, The Girl From Ipanema, The Days of Wine and Roses, Hello Dolly... all those mid-Sixties last-gasp song hits before rock 'n' roll became the dominant music of our time.
-
Pricey, but you can't beat John Austin Furniture, at least in the UK.
-
The Great American songbook is a bit like jazz in that it's hard to pin down in words, but you know it when you hear it (or don't).
I think of it as (very broadly speaking) standing for songs that couple a certain level of sophistication (intellectually, emotionally) with a certain level of craftsmanship. Anything rock 'n' roll doesn't count, unless its a pastiche by a GAS songwriter (eg Irving Berlin's The Washington Twist). It roughly falls between the decline of operetta and the ascent of rock. Johnny Mercer is a sort of unifying force, since he collaborated with one of the first important GAS composers, Kern, and one of the last, Mancini.
Some of the last practitioners of the GAS are still with us and working. I would definitely include Jerry Herman, Charles Strouse and Stephen Sondheim in there. Cy Coleman died relatively recently, as did Betty Comden. But the GAS ceased to be a cultural force during the Sixties.
I would definitely include all the songs from West Side Story, My Fair Lady and The Sound of Music, all of which are incredible masterworks, whether they are to your (or my) taste or not. All the other songs you mention qualify.
As for Lloyd Webber, no (he's definitely a post-rock 'n' roll composer). But you do get honorary GAS songs imported from other countries, including Britain with Ray Noble, Noel Coward and Eric Maschwitz/Jack Strachey. Autumn Leaves is a French song, but its Mercer lyric qualifies it as a GAS piece. And loads of GAS songs came out of Brazil during the bossa nova craze. And of course many GAS songs come from jazz. Ellington is one of the genre's greatest contributors.
It's an important subject because outside of jazz and the films of Golden Age Hollywood, the GAS is America's greatest contribution to world culture.
-
Could it be that "cheezy" is being equated to "commercially successful?" There has long been a tendency by some jazz fans to put down anything that the wider public seems to go for. "Commercial" may still be a dirty word in jazz scene lingo.
I recall an interview with Dudley Moore in which he said his admiration of Garner used to raise eyebrows among other jazz musicians. That suggests Garner has always suffered from this kind of attitude.
-
For those of us outside the US who can't take advantage of the Best Buy offer, Concord is offering this set for $49.49, plus an additional 20% off with the code CMG1006.
-
Had NO idea this was the guy who wrote "He Ain't Heavy He's My Brother."
CO-wrote. I don't think anybody's mentioned that here so far. He wrote the music, and Bob Russell the lyrics, as I understand it.
The same Bob Russell who wrote the lyrics to Don't Get Around Much Any More, Do Nothing Till You Hear From Me and You Came a Long Way from St Louis, among many others. Russell was dying of cancer when he wrote He Ain't Heavy. I think it's a lovely lyric, especially the poignant last A section: "It's a long, long road/ From which there is no return/ While we're on the way to there/ Why not share?" Needs the right performer, though.
-
The worst has to be "Yesterday"
Although Lee Morgan did a lovely version on Delightful-Lee, with Johnny Smith's on his eponymous Verve album not far behind.
-
Great work -- thanks, Peter!
-
Amazon.com is listing this Verve title for a November 10 release, here.
As usual with Verve, hard info is hard to find, but the price suggests a boxed set. A review on Amazon.de suggests that it will include the complete Crescendo, LA, live dates from 11-21 May 1961: 139 songs. Don't know where he gets that from, though.
-
Amazon.com is now listing this set here for a US release on November 10 -- at the much higher price of $54.98!
-
marked down Verve Elites; got most of mine from there for around £12 each, sometimes in a 2 for £22 promotion.
I remember that - got a couple of Verve Elites on that deal. They were still cheaper at most places over in the US though.
Ah, but in those days you had to GO to the US. No internet, you see (God, I feel old).
Yeah - and it was a revelation to see how cheap they were. Toronto Sam The Record Man was the place that I first 'filled my boots' (and being resident there were no import restrictions
). Even with that damned Ontario sales tax it was still cheaper.Never having been to the US, for me that moment came when we first went online at work. Suddenly, even 3 for £20 seemed extortionate. I guess the death of the British record shop began right there.
-
marked down Verve Elites; got most of mine from there for around £12 each, sometimes in a 2 for £22 promotion.
I remember that - got a couple of Verve Elites on that deal. They were still cheaper at most places over in the US though.
Ah, but in those days you had to GO to the US. No internet, you see (God, I feel old).
-
Like HMV and Virgin, Tower used to have regular 3 for £20 sales on Blue Note, Verve, etc. The regular sale bins were rotten, though: usually a load of CDs nobody wanted (eg Japanese pressings of albums by obscure contemporary singers) with just £1 taken off. One advantage the Piccadilly store had in the Nineties was it was the only place that marked down Verve Elites; got most of mine from there for around £12 each, sometimes in a 2 for £22 promotion.
When CDs came in they would take the booklet out of the jewel case and reseal both in a strange long plastic container, so they would stand up tall in an LP rack, like the cardboard longboxes CDs were packaged in in the US. Later, CDs were all put out in little transparent plastic bags, as were the LPs.
My best memory of Tower Piccadilly is the sale on everything they ran each New Year's Day. I waited until one 1 January to get the Reprise Sinatra boxed set: normally about £550, I got it for the less unreasonable £350. When I brought it back to work (I'd shot out there at lunchtime), my boss was so inspired by my profligacy he went out and bought himself a new pair of designer glasses.
My worst memory was passing on the RCA complete Ellington for £197 because I had just bought my first flat. That was dumb.
Oh, and very rude/arrogant staff at Tower Piccadilly for some reason (the complete opposite of the charming staff at Virgin and HMV).
-
Play has a track listing for this here. Quite a good price for a three-disc set, although it's £1 cheaper at HMV.
Disc 1
1. Announcement By Norman Granz Live At Carnegie Hall
2. I Only Have Eyes For You Live At Carnegie Hall
3. Fine And Dandy Live At Carnegie Hall
4. Carnegie Blues Live At Carnegie Hall
5. Gai Live At Carnegie Hall
6. Padovani Live At Carnegie Hall
7. Tea For Two Live At Carnegie Hall
Disc 2
1. Title Additional Info
2. Debut
3. They Didn't Believe Me
4. Lover, Come Back To Me
5. Where Or When
6. Three O'Clock In The Morning
7. All The Things You Are
8. Tenderly
9. Oscar's Blues
10. Little White Lies
11. In The Middle Of A Kiss
12. Nameless Eng En Mai 1950 New York
13. Two Sleepy People
14. Jumpin' With Symphony Sid
15. Robbins' Nest Eng 8 Mai 1950 New York
16. Tico Tico
17. Get Happy
18. Smoke Gets In Your Eyes
19. Deep Purple
20. Exactly Like You
21. I'll Remember April Eng 8 Mai 1950 New York
22. Easy To Love
23. Taking A Chance On Love
24. Squatty Roo Eng En Aout 1950 New York
25. After All
Disc 3
1. Title Additional Info
2. Caravan
3. Summer Nocturne
4. Salute To Garner
5. I Get A Kick Out Of You
6. What's New
7. Dark Eyes
8. What Is It?
9. The Way You Look Tonight
10. Minor Blues
11. Slow Down
12. How High The Moon
13. The Nearness Of You
14. There's A Small Hotel
15. Lover
16. Fancy Free (Gypsy In My Soul)
17. On The Alamo
18. Lullaby Of The Leaves
19. Laura 1952 Version
20. September In The Rain
-
Regarding Dig It!, only half the album is on the new box. Two tracks, Crazy Rhythm and CTA, don't feature Coltrane. All of Mating Call and Soul Junction are on the box, however.
Actually, I'm surprised a second Miles box hasn't appeared, because I recently bought all of Concord's Miles RVGs...
-
Anyway, Mosaic didn't have access to Universal's vaults back then, and they've never tackled any Impulse material.
Except for the Oliver Nelson set.
I guess Impulse! tends to be neglected by Mosaic because there are relatively few artists with a large group of albums on that label, and those that there are (Coltrane, Shepp, Tyner), have been covered by individual releases.
However, they could do a five or six-disc Impulse! set of Shirley Scott (who has been neglected by Universal thus far), and I wish they would.
-
Hmmmm, Amazon showed the same track listing as the GRP release.
Amazon made the same mistake with the Verve Originals edition of Stan Getz in Stockholm. Got my hopes up, but I'm happy with the release anyway.
I think it's safest to assume that, in spite of what some retailers say, none of these CDs has any bonus material.
-
I went for UPS International and it was delivered by Parcelforce and not by Royal Mail as I originally thought.
What's odd about that is that Parcelforce would normally handle the delivery at the UK end if you had opted for Airmail. DHL and, before that, Airborne Express always handled the whole delivery process if you went for the courier option, so surely UPS should do the same.
I've only used US Airmail once before on a Mosaic order, by mistake. My boxed set (the Berigan) was delivered by Parcelforce unharmed, but I had to go to a depot quite far from my home to pick it up.
Those stupid plastic things (teeth?) in CD cases that always break
in Miscellaneous Music
Posted
I tend to rank CD cases in the order of (1) Mini LP (2) Digipak and (3) Jewel case, with the latter being the absolute worst.
If I get a Digi with broken teeth, I just return the CD to the package carefully, file it and forget about it -- only to have the disc fly across the room when I take it off the shelf years later. Still prefer them to jewel cases, though.
However, my number one pain is the sticky strips across the tops of American CDs. It's pot luck whether you get one that comes off easily or one that comes off in a million picky little pieces leaving a swath of glue across both sides of the case. At the weekend I opened four new CDs in a row that all had the latter problem. Almost had to lie down afterwards. Why do manufacturers put these things on? What's the point of them?