Woody Shaw DB Blindfold Test

[JSngry]

[connoisseur series500]

Woody nailed them and was close on the one he missed. Thanks for posting this!

[AndrewHill]

Yeah, keep'em coming, this is cool stuff!

I agree, Woody nailed it except for the Art Farmer, which I further agree could be easily missed because Art did some records that do have a 'plusher sound'. An example, maybe, is Listen to Art Farmer and the Orchestra on Mercury (VEE) where the arrangements make Farmer sound much cooler. Even on Mulligan's Night Lights too perhaps.

[Noj]

What unbelievably sharp ears Woody had. He identified practically every musician!

Thanks for posting all these DB articles, JSngry.

[CJ Shearn]

yeah, Woody was amazing. The way he nailed that was amazing for the most part

[connoisseur series500]

hah! a record player... also, Chet Baker >>>> Art Farmer, tho' i can understand why Woody wouldn't think so... & Art is often terrific but very rarely AS terrific as Chet's best. that is THE FACT

signed,

edc

also-- NOJ, identifying each musician isn't that hard or impressive THEN bc

1) there were less musicians

2) each record had much greater value

i could tell you the full bands of nearly every jazz album i owned prior to 1991 or so, it's just how we did shit then, & even in the interregnum between vinyl & the all-everything all-the-time digital ubiquity of today. why? real listenas do real things.

Still, it shows that Woody was quite academic in his approach to his peers and predecessors. Compare his response to Grant Green's! Quite a difference, which I think is reflected in their different approaches to their own music. But I'm also hearing what you're saying.

[Larry Kart]

hah! a record player... also, Chet Baker >>>> Art Farmer, tho' i can understand why Woody wouldn't think so... & Art is often terrific but very rarely AS terrific as Chet's best. that is THE FACT

signed,

edc

also-- NOJ, identifying each musician isn't that hard or impressive THEN bc

1) there were less musicians

2) each record had much greater value

i could tell you the full bands of nearly every jazz album i owned prior to 1991 or so, it's just how we did shit then, & even in the interregnum between vinyl & the all-everything all-the-time digital ubiquity of today. why? real listenas do real things.

About 1) it's not that there were fewer musicians then as that so many of them were so distinctive. I mean, off the top of my head, who could mistake Bill Hardman for anyone else? While, again off the top of my head, I like and respect the work of Alex Sipiagin, Scott Wendholt, Jeremy Pelt, Greg Gisbert, etc. but am not sure I could tell one from the other automatically.