Incredible performance! I first heard James play at a Louis Armstrong jazz fest with American saxophonist Harry Allen. He has to be one of the greatest trumpeters i have heard!
This is why I admire James Morrison, he offers a lot in his music that most trumpet players lack nowadays. Not to mention he can play other instruments too.
Incredible performance by all 4 men. James is the finest trumpet player I’ve ever witnessed. Same for his trombone playing, IMHO. Piano player knocked me out.
The band: James Morrison (tp), Marian Petrescu (p), Uli Langthaler (b), Walter Grassmann (dr) --- Thanks to the friendly people at Schagerl for telling me! :-)
Holy freakin' "Tie me kangaroo down". Thank you James for your amazing musicality and playing a much loved standard straight ahead. Piano player sounds like Glenn Gould with jazz chops to burn
What a wonderful trumpeter, he plays like a saxophonist, the best rendition on Stella by starlight, that keyboardist is too good, infact a wonderful team. Can anyone transcribe this song....
Saw a lot of comments on how killer the piano player is. That guy happens to be Marian Petrescu, and he's not a piano player. He is a legend. Please try and check out more of his work on YT.
Thanks awenindoe! My brain didn't know he was a legend, but my ears told me that for sure!!! The solo speaks for itself, but those comping cords and feel!!! A Masters course in harmony!! Also, if one has ever performed on an electric piano, you will know that it is REALLY HARD to get that kind of dynamic range. I can't even find the right words to describe how awesome that was.
Emmanuel Feiner Marian Petrescu is such a great pianist, both Jazz and Classical. Was honoured to seem him play at Mt. Gambier 2017. Specially as I am such a fan of Oscar Peterson
let me come at this from a different angle. Not only do we need to let the listener always wanting more but if we give all we got at the start, what do they have to look forward to later? All ways build but never overwhelm!!!
It's especially rewarding to get to the bass player's solo, which instead of a plethora of notes--8ths, 16ths, 32nds, and strummed chords (a la E. Gomez)--consists of melodic lines based on the head of a gorgeous tune. Cascades of notes were a Clifford and Oscar trait, but they all carried bits of the melody and, above all, remained with within the contagious groove of a rhythm section that never let up. This performance is more like Miles' "2nd Great Quintet" with a frontliner who's more reflective of early Diz and Clifford than of Miles--which is not to say that he doesn't owe much, harmonically, to the Coltrane-influenced Miles. (This almost makes me wish I hadn't sold my Roland (though I still have several Kurzweils). The problems with all these electric arises when trying to use a little bit of all they offer and keep it balanced. Best to stick to one sound per song--whether it's fake "acoustic" or a Rhodes--stick to it even when your role is to walk the bass. That way the pianist isn't programming and playing at the same time.
If I remember correctly, he has previously said that he started doing it to create a cushion of air so he could play all the different brass and wind instruments without having to change or damage his embouchure
James is a truly great player. Is there anybody around who is better? To my ears he sounds like he plays on a small mouthpiece (I am an experienced trumpet and cornet player). Well done James, you just go on improving.
What a beautiful sound, James is one of the greatest. Who is that piano player. Superb!! And sorry you guys who are intimidated, not just lots of technical "notes" these cats have ears for days.
Marian Petrescu is the pianist and in my humble opinion he's the best jazz pianist out there. One of my favorite videos of his here in RU-vid is My Romance.
not sure which moment you're referring to, but i noticed it when he'd passed (descending) via d & c#, and ended up lower. he just left it there until the next phrase. if you're not using the 3rd valve, the slide is not affecting the sound, & you can leave it there as long as you want. e.g. if you're playing in C major, you can just leave it there all the time!
IMHO, the problem that many people have when analyzing these performances (even as competent musicians) is that simply DON'T KNOW THE TUNE. I would suggest that one listen to a simple version of Stella By Starlight, read the melody and chords on paper. Go to the piano (or your instrument) and actually play it. Then put the paper away and then play the tune exactly as written. Then improvise your own melodies while strictly following the chord progression. Then one will BEGIN to understand the essence of what the musicians are creating. Love it or hate it, but at least that how one begins to 'understand' what they are hearing. BTW, those are almost exactly what my piano teacher (Mark Levine) told me when I auditioned to be one of his students. It kind of hurt my feelings, but now (years later) I understand. So I'm not hating...I'm explaining.
Clearly, you feel that music is for musicians: the rest of us don't matter. In this respect, there is no difference between bebop, atonal or twelve-tone art music, or Indian classical music: they are all art forms that require degree-level expertise (or higher) to even _begin_ to appreciate, rather like James Joyce's Ulysses and Finnegan's Wake, or most post-1960s modern art, come to that. It is a sophisticated form of decadence. I'm no classical scholar, but I wouldn't mind betting that similar trends were in place just before the disintegration of Roman civilisation.
