Favorite Solos

[dangme]

Three for starters:

Bakida Carroll's solo on the first movement of John Carter's "Castles of Ghana".

Tony Williams' solo on "One Finger Snap" from "Empyrean Isles".

Henry Threadgill on "Last of the Hipmen" from David Murray's "Home".

[marcello]

Miles Davis - My Funny Valentine - Jazz at the Plaza , a really extrodinary solo of a song that he recorded and played many times; you should hear this. Also this appears on Bill Evans - Piano Player

[Guy Berger]

Wayne Shorter's solo on "Directions" (Miles Davis, Live at the Fillmore East Disc 2)

Keith Jarrett's solos (both introduction & main) on "Inflight" (Backhand)

[paul secor]

Jodie Christian plays a hip solo on "Nicky's Tune #2" on The Ira Sullivan Quintet: Nicky's Tune (Delmark). I've listened to it several times recently.

[marcello]

I've got another.... George Coleman - Soul Eyes from Live at Yoshi's.

One of the best tenor solos on record; right up there with......

George Adams - Duke Ellington's Sounds of Love from Changes One.... a classic, genre shifting solo.

Edited August 21, 2005 by marcello

[AllenLowe]

Eric Dolphy, Stormy Weather solo with Mingus on Candid - a life-changing event for me-

[Spontooneous]

Clifford Jordan on "Chilly Mac," on Andrew Hill's "Shades." This is funnier than she-it, without resorting to quotes.

And Fats Navarro on ... just about anything.

[connoisseur series500]

Fun thread.

Keep em coming, folks. I'm going to relisten to some of these tunes.

[connoisseur series500]

I've got another.... George Coleman - Soul Eyes from Live at Yoshi's.

One of the best tenor solos on record; right up there with......

Yes, great solo. I love Coleman's work on "My Horns of Plenty" as well.

[marcello]

Gergory Herbert - Greetings and Salutations on Thad & Mel's New Life:

A great, great solo on tenor; I can still here it!

[Guy Berger]

Booker Ervin's on "Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting" (is it just me or did Mingus bring out the best in Ervin)

[Chuck Nessa]

Roscoe Mitchell's solo on the "Nick the Greek's" 45 Whole Lotta Soul. Julian Priester ain't bad either.

[catesta]

Joe Castro on "Sunset Eyes" w/Teddy Edwards.

Fred Atwood's smoking bass solo on "I've Got A Good One For You" from the Warne Marsh date "All Music".

[king ubu]

Eric Dolphy, Stormy Weather solo with Mingus on Candid - a life-changing event for me-

←

Yes! For me, too - opened up my ears for a whole lot of interesting music!

A couple of others:

Coleman Hawkins on "Driva Man" (even though he almost gets lost and Max has to hit the "one" real hard all the time, he is magisterial!) on Roach's "Freedom Now Suite".

Johnny Griffin on the first tune on his "Congregation" Blue Note LP

Eddie Harris on "Funkorama", the opening cut of his "Listen Here!" disc on Enja.

Sonny Rollins - virtually all his solos on "Saxophone Colossus" (another ear-opener for me)

[king ubu]

"Blue Lester" (from the '44 Savoy date) - never fails to almost make my heart stop beating, the sheer beauty, and the melancholy...

[Alexander Hawkins]

One that immediately comes to mind is Wynton Kelly's choruses on 'Stars fell on Alabama' from Cannonball and Coltrane. Small and perfectly formed.

[johnagrandy]

Ok ... so I guess I gotta come up with some stuff that maybe some people haven't heard yet ?

So ... no Messengers "Free For All" ... no Lee "The Gigolo"... no Larry Young "Softly" ... no Miles .... oh man ! ... ouch ... ok, well, here goes:

John Scofield on "Teo" from Joe Henderson's "So Near, So Far".

John Scofield on "So Sue Me" from his "Time On My Hands" ... and the comping counts too ! Wait, and Lovano self-immolates ! What's a humble listener to do ? And then you see Sco live and it can be ten times that good.

Josh Roseman on "Meera" from "Treats for the Nightwalker" (especially near the end of track, plunger, then open).

Anthony Coleman on "Nature Abhors A Vacuum Cleaner" from Marc Ribot "Rootless Cosmopolitans".

Skerik on "Gat Swamba" from Garage A Trois "Emphathizer" ... and apparently nobody knows the soul this guy has got !

Any Pete Cosey with Miles (ok, I snuck some Miles in, but only because Cosey beats McLaughlin, Stern, Sco, WHOMEVER, hands-down as Miles most innovative man on six-strings).

Herbie Hancock on "Mr. Clean" from Freddie Hubbard's "Straight Life" ... this might be some of the baddest m/f s*** ever played on electric piano. And I didn't figure it out for years and years and years. Helps here if you're flying on something.

And, of course, Woody Shaw on the alternate take of "Tapscott's Blues" from "The Moontrane" ... actually everyone on both of these tracks is melting down right through the floor.

... actually, I could add another 20 Woody improvs that go to the front of this list ... heh heh ... but some here are aware of my addiction ... so I won't.

Edited August 23, 2005 by johnagrandy

[Kalo]

Great thread.

One that I love that I've never heard anyone talk about nor seen anyone write about is Django's amazing turn on "I'se a Muggin'."

A bit far afield, (though she did record with Lucky Millender), one of my favorite solos of all time is Sister Rosetta Tharpe's guitar solo on her "Don't Take Everybody To Be Your Friend." It kills me every time. That gospel gal invented rockabilly!

Another one that knocks me out is Ocar Pettiford's bass solo on "Caravan" from Monk's Plays Duke Ellington. He sounds like he's grabbing handfuls of chords -- perfect complement to Monk's style. And on the same album's "I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart," Pettiford's solo is the epitome of melodic poise. He's great all over this joint. With Kenny Clarke is on drums it's one of the greatest trios ever and a very under-rated album, IMHO.

[garthsj]

How about the great solo by Oliver Nelson on "Stolen Moments" on the "Blues and the Abstract Truth" album .... Nelson's solos are so beautifully constructed that I wonder if he worked on them ahead of time.

Of course, I am VERY partial to Buddy DeFranco's incredible bop clarinet tour de force on "The Bright One" with Sonny Clark ... a must for all clarinet fans...

There are also several John Lewis solos that just blow me away, and I never tire of listening to.

Oscar Peterson's version of "Sax No End" is not exactly chopped liver either ... chorus after rolling chorus of amazing piano (not everyone's cup of tea, I know.. but it certainly gets to me!)

Edited August 23, 2005 by garthsj

[Soul Stream]

Dizzy Reece's playing on "Ghost of a Chance" from his Soundin' Off BN recording. Pure soul oozes out of his horn.

[Dr. Rat]

A couple of traditional solos I like a lot:

Don Byas, Harvard Blues (w/ Basie)

Frankie Newton, Blues My Naughty Sweetie Gave to Me

[nathan]

I am tempted to list a bunch of Eric Dolphy solos, since he's probably my favorite soloist, but I will restrain myself and pick 3 off the top of my head:

- his solo on Spiritual, from the original Vanguard 1961 album. No doubt this is somewhat for personal reasons, as it was the first Dolphy solo I heard, and really knocked me out. Still love it.

- his hair-raising solo on Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting, from Mingus at Antibes.

- his incredibly voice-like solo on Mendacity, from Max Roach's Percussion Bittersweet.

A few more favorites that come to mind:

- Coltrane on Autumn Serenade & Alabama. I'm not saying these are the best Coltrane solos (they're far from representative, given their brevity and relative restraint), but what he does in a relatively restrained mode and in an incredibly concentrated time-frame here is remarkable to me.

- Marc Ribot's solo on Tom Waits' Way Down in the Hole. Not jazz, but probably my favorite guitar solo.

- Ike Quebec's solo on Sonny Clark's recording of Deep in a Dream. Classic.

- Brad Mehldau's solo on Song Song...so subtle, yet it feels like it's constantly on the verge of boiling over. Really tense in a gorgeous, low-key way. The way he rides the rhythm section throughout is masterful.

- Monk's take on I Should Care on "Himself"...the whole thing is like a perfect solo to me.

nathan

Edited August 23, 2005 by nathan

[WD45]

How about the great solo by Oliver Nelson on "Stolen Moments" on the "Blues and the Abstract Truth" album .... Nelson's solos are so beautifully constructed that I wonder if he worked on them ahead of time.

I have always loved his solo from "Hoe-Down" on that album.

[king ubu]

How about the great solo by Oliver Nelson on "Stolen Moments" on the "Blues and the Abstract Truth" album .... Nelson's solos are so beautifully constructed that I wonder if he worked on them ahead of time.

I have always loved his solo from "Hoe-Down" on that album.

←

For me it's the one on the title-track, too! What a fantastic and fascinating and so simple-sounding solo that is!

[RDK]

* Keith Jarrett "Koln"

* And say what you will about his singing on the tune, but I really dig Gary Bartz' solo that ends "Peace and Love" from his I've KNown Rivers... album.