paul secor Posted June 16, 2012 Report Posted June 16, 2012 (edited) Idea taken from recent posts on the Gene Quill thread - with full credit given to flat5. I'm copying my comment from that thread. Hope that others will take things to other places. Could prove to be interesting. Roscoe Mitchell and Cecil Taylor are two musicians whose music opened up in a good way as they got older. I love their early playing, but love their later playing even more. Edited June 16, 2012 by paul secor Quote
colinmce Posted June 16, 2012 Report Posted June 16, 2012 Cecil Taylor may well be the ultimate example of this. John Carter is another. His playing is magnificent on the early sides, but by the 80s he was playing on a whole different level. Henry Threadgill, who has continued to evolve more actively and fully than almost anyone, and for so many years. Steve Lacy goes hand in hand with Cecil. Great, original style beginning in the fifties with momentous breakthroughs in the 70s and 80s and top-game performances into the 90s and beyond. Thad Jones, John Tchicai and Warne Marsh. Getting into jazz this was a hard concept to wrap my mind around as this happens so so rarely in rock music. I missed out on many great buys in my early days in jazz assuming that the artist was "past their prime" Quote
Head Man Posted June 16, 2012 Report Posted June 16, 2012 Someone mentioned him in the earlier thread but here's my vote for Von Freeman. He seems to get better with every new album he makes. Quote
flat5 Posted June 16, 2012 Report Posted June 16, 2012 Stan Getz got better :-) Must be a funnier way to say that. Quote
BeBop Posted June 16, 2012 Report Posted June 16, 2012 Ben Webster was another. A few sub-optimal late life performances aside - and you've got to grant a few - absolutley. Quote
BillF Posted June 16, 2012 Report Posted June 16, 2012 Many people - and I'm one of them - think the late work of Bill Evans was something else. Sadly, he wasn't around long enough for the word "age" to be really applicable. Quote
JETman Posted June 16, 2012 Report Posted June 16, 2012 Stan Getz got better :-) Must be a funnier way to say that. How 'bout "Stan Getz better"? Quote
BillF Posted June 16, 2012 Report Posted June 16, 2012 Stan Getz got better :-) Must be a funnier way to say that. How 'bout "Stan Getz better"? Sounds like one for the Getz Stuff Quintet (apologies to Ronnie). Quote
JETman Posted June 16, 2012 Report Posted June 16, 2012 Stan Getz got better :-) Must be a funnier way to say that. How 'bout "Stan Getz better"? Sounds like one for the Getz Stuff Quintet (apologies to Ronnie). I have a Denon manufactured Savoy Stan Getz cd. On the purple spine it clearly says "Stan Gets". Gotta love the Japanese! Literal assimilation at its finest. Quote
Ted O'Reilly Posted June 16, 2012 Report Posted June 16, 2012 I think Kenny Davern was playing better-than-ever at the end of his life. Quote
fasstrack Posted June 16, 2012 Report Posted June 16, 2012 Bob Mover's alto sound got a lot better. Sounds nice on tenor too Quote
A Lark Ascending Posted June 16, 2012 Report Posted June 16, 2012 Bob Dylan's mouth organ playing. Well... Quote
jeffcrom Posted June 16, 2012 Report Posted June 16, 2012 A kind of minor example, maybe, but based on some recent listening - Jodie Christian. Quote
Larry Kart Posted June 16, 2012 Report Posted June 16, 2012 Not sure about this, but maybe Earl Hines? A whole lot of late Hines sure is fantastic. Quote
JSngry Posted June 16, 2012 Report Posted June 16, 2012 Not sure about this, but maybe Earl Hines? A whole lot of late Hines sure is fantastic. Hines didn't improve his playing, he just grew another hand. Quote
BillF Posted June 16, 2012 Report Posted June 16, 2012 Not sure about this, but maybe Earl Hines? A whole lot of late Hines sure is fantastic. Hines didn't improve his playing, he just grew another hand. A lot of pianists seem to improve - or at least not decline - with age. I suppose it's because declining physical strength doesn't affect their playing ability as it does, say, high note trumpeters like Roy Eldridge or Maynard Ferguson, to give pretty obvious examples. Hines and Bill Evans have already been mentioned - I've been listening to some beautiful contemporary stuff by Harold Mabern, Richard Wyands and Kenny Barron, none of them young men any more. And Basie and Ellington were still there right up to the end, as far as I'm aware. It's not a hard and fast rule though - you only have to think of Bud Powell, but then his problem wasn't physical decline. Quote
Chuck Nessa Posted June 16, 2012 Report Posted June 16, 2012 I think in the initial post Paul was looking beyond "chops". Quote
Ted O'Reilly Posted June 16, 2012 Report Posted June 16, 2012 (edited) I think in the initial post Paul was looking beyond "chops". Yes... I thought he was looking for "distillation", so to speak. Purifying, perhaps, or deepening. (edit for spelling) Edited June 16, 2012 by Ted O'Reilly Quote
JSngry Posted June 16, 2012 Report Posted June 16, 2012 I still say Earl Hines grew a third hand. Nothing else makes sense. Quote
Chuck Nessa Posted June 16, 2012 Report Posted June 16, 2012 True. What an amazing musician - and in a way, he didn't have a clue. Quote
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