joyful jazz

[Milestones]

I think I have defined joy too narrowly. There has been an impressive response to this topic, and amazing variety on the thread--in terms of the breadth of artists and so many types of musical joy.

I will say that fun or humor are a particular branch of joy, and that joy itself comes in many shades. And clearly many of find particular musicians as exemplars of joy--that their essence is joyful. For me, Cannonball would be one. So would Dizzy, so would Satchmo, so would Horace Silver.

But the main purpose of the thread was/is to name individual pieces that are simply bursting with joy.

[A Lark Ascending]

'Yellow Hill' off the first Loose Tubes album. In fact, joy was one of their trademark approaches to jazz, cocking a bit of a snook at earnestness.

I see several South African examples above and the South African influence on British jazz was often joyful. 'Jumping' that opens side 2 of Harry Miller's Isipingo's 'Family Affair' comes to mind.

In older jazz there's loads of Ellington that just has you beaming - 'Jump for Joy' never fails with me. And the Coleman Hawkins European version of 'Crazy Rhythm' too.

[cih]

[erwbol]

Don Pullen George Adams Quartet - Mr. Smoothie (from Breakthrough)

Edited March 2, 2013 by erwbol

[brownie]

[John Litweiler]

If intense, complex creativity reveals the joy of music, then the young (Chicago) Louis Armstrong and pre-1940 Lester Young are among the most joyous in the jazz tradition.

[Chuck Nessa]

If intense, complex creativity reveals the joy of music, then the young (Chicago) Louis Armstrong and pre-1940 Lester Young are among the most joyous in the jazz tradition.

Nice response.

[Face of the Bass]

Some of the stuff from the Brotherhood of Breath has always sounded joyful to me.

[A Lark Ascending]

Talking of Lester Young, I was listening to 'I Want to be Happy' off 'The Jazz Scene' a while back and that sounded pretty joyful. In fact you'd be hard pressed not to make that tune joyful.

And how about Paul Bley's 'Mr. Joy'? The version on 'Turning Point' has been a celebration tune for me since I first heard it on Jazz Record Requests (I think) in the late '70s.

[StarThrower]

King For A Day from Brubeck's The Real Ambassadors

[BillF]

Fats Waller, "Crazy About My Baby"

[A Lark Ascending]

Charlie Christian - Swing to Bop - always puts me in a springy mood.

[BillF]

In complete contrast to the cover, there's loads of joy in the album.