John Lewis, "Evolution" I & II

[Bol]

I have a question some of you may consider silly. But I'm wondering how bad/distracting John Lewis's vocal sounds are on these recordings. I've heard from a couple of sources that this is a worry. I personally find Bud Powell's grunting tolerable and at times even enhancing. But I find Mingus's and Keith Jarrett's vocal sounds so distracting/pretentious/unnecessary that I find myself avoiding their recordings -- despite thinking that each of their music has much merit.

I thought I should get some more reactions before trying to get these John Lewis CDs. Your help is appreciated.

[Big Wheel]

Not distracting at all to me, although I don't listen on headphones where his noises would be more obvious.

IMO you are missing out if you don't pick up at least Evolution I. Absolutely wonderful.

[mikeweil]

Nothing wrong about Lewis' grunts! They are far less obtrusive than Jarrett's or Powell's, imho! I hardly noticed them, they're just a sign of him having a good time - that's a soulful human being playing and swinging, not a zen monk!

[jlhoots]

Not a problem.

You should have both.

Disclaimer: I've never let Powell's or Jarrett's "vocalizations" bother me.

[DrJ]

I must confess to being totally mystified when people make a big deal about great artists' vocalizing. Sorry to sound crabby, but the mention of these Lewis albums triggered my ire a bit - they are really quiet and full of space, so of course you're going to hear a few grunts here and there, but I would not have dreamed in a million years that anyone would ever have singled them out as problematic in this area. At least with Jarrett, you can understand the comment because it's so prominent, but even there, I just have to shake my head and conclude that some people are just looking for things to complain about.

If the vocalizing helps/helped these artists come up with the bliningly brilliant music they do/did, then more power to them - grunt and groan and moan away, dudes! It's really not that hard for anyone involved enough in music to listen carefully to jazz to simply train your ear to listen to the music and tune out the groans and grunts. Just deal with it!