This is one of the albums I would want if stranded on a desert island. Can't put above KOB just like I cant put KOB above my favorite Trane album "Crescent", or a great Chopin or Rachmaninoff recording. All are masterpieces and shouldn't be compared, just appreciated and cherished for the musical geniuses that created timeless music.
Loved this episode. A bucket load of great advice to digest here. Really gets across the mindset of what good practice is whilst leaving it open and flexible. So interesting to hear Peter and Adam's different perspectives and Adam's shock at some of Peter's bombshells 🙂
KoB is the perfect intro to Jazz that never gets old. It is the moment when Jazz fully retreated from almost two decades of edgy, impress with speed and complexity, challenging the listener at every moment, instead going with a pure expression of beautiful emotion and groove. It is so easy to love that Jazz snobs have to hate it or they wouldn't be aloof. Without smug condescension a snob is not a snob.
It's been proved by Science that P.C. is the best bass player of all time. Just kidding, everyone has their own favourite but P.C. is mine. Some of the best Ron Carter is on Bobby Timmons's CD In Person.
Another bit of the lore (or backstory perhaps) is the fact that Argo records was the jazz spinoff of Chess Records, an Jamal's importance in Argo's catalog is kind of like Coltrane's importance in Impulse's catalog. Argo had some other successes (Etta James' "At Last" is one notable Argo release), but if you scan their catalog today, Jamal's records stand out in quantity and quality. Sonny Stitt, Kenny Burrell, Quincy Jones, Lou Donaldson, Ramsey Lewis, and Barry Harris all recorded for Argo, but none of them did their best work there like Jamal.
This episode inspired me to immediately sit down at a piano and spend a half hour slowly playing diminished scales in contrary motion, which necessitated developing a novel personal understanding of the scales - as the first four notes of two different ii chords a tritone apart - undoubtedly making me a slightly better player from this moment on.
Peter mentioned being shortlisted for one of the Henderson Verve dates, and that another young pianist got the nod instead. Looking over the albums, there's only one that features a pianist who isn't a legend (Herbie, Chick, Flanagan) or at least mid-to-late career, well-known artist (Eliane Elias, Ronnie Matthews), and that's the "Lush Life" CD that kicked off Henderson's Verve run. So it sounds like Peter can hold a legit grudge against Mr. Stephen Scott! (Unless it was for that one track on "Big Band" with Helio Alves, but seems unlikely.)
While the "RVG Edition" CDs may be a defacto standard, I'd urge anyone into classic-era Blue Note albums to seek out other CD editions and compare them to the RVGs through a good set of headphones. Rudy not only was monkeying with the sound in the 1960s when he originally mixed and mastered the records, but he also brought all his same sonic preferences (namely reduced dynamic range, boosted bass frequencies, narrow stereo field) to the CD remastering he did in the 1990s and 2000s. Some folks love the sound, some don't (I'm not a fan, most of the time). I would not score a classic Blue Note for sound quality on an RVG edition CD unless that was literally the only edition I could find. The rule isn't 100%...maybe 1 in 10 of the RVG CDs is actually as good or better than the other CD editions that have been released, and have wider dynamic range and less sonic tweaking. But generally speaking, imho, they aren't an improvement over the Ron McMaster masterings from the 1980s and early 1990s. The same is true for the JVC XRCD "audiophile" CDs of Blue Note, Riverside, and Prestige albums. You can't assume they are a sonic improvement, despite all the technical mumbo jumbo printed on the package.
Seems like the family of interchanging modes is the same as the family of dominants. Am I wrong? I think every example you played modulated by minor third up or down or to the trirone key…
Completely agree about alt takes. No. Just sequence the album with the chosen takes. Alt take albums are their own genre. My intro to CP was On Dial Complete Sessions. Now THAT’S legit.
One fine day too many years ago, I wandered into a used record shop and bought two albums: Rick Wakeman’s Journey to the Center of The Earth and Songs in the Key of Life. By the time I was done with Songs In The Key of Life, I had played it so much, I swear I could see through it. I listened to Rick Wakeman once. Maybe twice.
Some of my 2023 favorites: Emma Rawicz - Chroma Harold López-Nussa - Timba a la Americana Lakecia Benjamin - Phoenix Monika Roscher Bigband - Witchy Activities And The Maple Death Zoe Rahman - Colour of Sound The Zoe Rahman album in particular is just a real ride. I can't even put a finger on what it is. It just hits a lot of great moments.
Weather Report should never be mentioned in the same breath as the Headhunters, even if each band stemmed from different Miles' alumni. I think the same of Mahavishnu Orchestra.
Perhaps do an Ellington or Basie record next? I mean, "Basie, Miller, Satchmo, and the king of all, Sir Duke. And with a voice like Ella's ringing out, there's no way the band can lose." And if you want something that's lesser-known, but very deserving, try _Play_ by the Dan White Sextet (now Huntertones).
"One Man's Dream!" Nobody plays it, and you guys lead with it. "Never Say Yes" needs to be played more, too. I think if you're a jazz musician, someone you know has introduced you to this album. For me, 2nd year of college. Incidentally, Karrin Allyson did lyrics to "Never Say Yes" and "One Man's Dream" on her album _Footprints_ . As for Spotify, who cares? They always mess up the ordering intent.
One of my favorites! "Saturn" is my favorite tune. Putting it to any sort of rating system, though, is like putting ketchup on a steak. Just focus on the actual rhythms, chords, timbres, lyrics, etc. and forget the ratings. Ratings don't educate about what actually makes the album great. Bring in some different instrumentalists and ask them for their thoughts. So much you could be doing with this, but this video just glosses over the surface.
Please stop grading tunes and just play the things you like and respect. With the knowledge and love you guys have of, and for the music, the discussions will be priceless and timeless.
What I read was that the mastering of side 2 was screwed up. In my day when you flipped the album to Side 2 you would have to retune your guitar. (Don't know what pianists did.) To the romance, I know of a lot of kids named Miles. Ask the parents and they just smile...
How Time Passes - Don Ellis (1960) Eric Dolphy - Outward Bound (1960) Gunther Schuller - The Birth of the Third Stream (Music of Brass 1957) & Abstraction (Written for Ornette Coleman 1960) Ornette Coleman - This is Our Music (1960) Cecil Taylor - Looking Ahead (1959) Jimmy Giuffre - Tangents in Jazz (1956) The Avant -Garde - John Coltrane & Don Cherry (1960) Paul Bley Quintet - Live at the Hillcrest Club (1958) All of the above recordings were pushing jazz ahead in ways not heard before. I would venture to say that parts, and in some ways, almost all of the music was more forward looking and adventerous than Kind of Blue. Kind of Blue had jazz superstars, and some of the greatest musicians of the day. Many of those musicians were reviewed more often, for good and bad, and so had more name recognition than many of those musicians I mentioned. Some of the musicians I mentioned would go on to get much more recognition and others not so much. There is a song by the rock band Burning Water called, Only the Prettiest Things (make it to the history books) The song tells a story that only the most high profile, loudest, outrageous, embraced by the press, figures, have a lasting spot in history. I have to agree. All of that said, I don't mention this to denegrate Kind of Blue or the musicians on it, only to point out that sometimes we have to dig deeper to get the full story, and not always focus on the shiniest objects.
First time I heard it was after listening to interpretations of So What and blue in green by amateur musicians Listening to So What in KOB was an unforgettable moment- To me that is the definition of jazz . It was soooo cool and interesting. A trip. All times I listen to it it still moves me, even having listened to it uncountable times My weird comment it- as much as I love Freddie Freeloader, I would change it for Autumn leaves (from Something else) if I was producing the albumns
