Although a piece of music may be indisputably praiseworthy, it is possible that you'd rather not have to hear it too often - a syndrome that led Mark Twain to say Richard Wagner's music is not as bad as it sounds.
Imagine that King Kong has destroyed your city. You must take to the bunker. No telling how long you'll be down there. You do not want to be stuck with exasperating music. The following is a baker's dozen choice of jazz and rock recordings - some of them may be hard to find - that are guaranteed to wear well. In fact, they will sound better and better. They used to be called desert island records.
Lucky Thompson, "Lucky Strikes" (Prestige): To be able to continue being heard day after day, music must be of superior intellect, cliché-free and listener-friendly, like "Lucky Strikes," an overlooked jewel. At his best, the smoothly adventurous saxophonist Thompson was as good as anybody. (Hank Jones, piano; Richard Davis, bass; Connie Kay, drums.)
Steely Dan, "Gaucho" (MCA): Like the Bilbao Guggenheim, this is a rare modern product that is anything but ugly, cheap or ostentatious. With its ironic lilt, poetic lyrics, loose swing and appropriate technology, "Gaucho" is a high point of the music of our times.
Duke Ellington and John Coltrane, "Take the Coltrane" (Impulse): The inspiration flows back and forth as the rhythm sections of Ellington (Aaron Bell and Sam Woodyard) and Coltrane (Jimmy Garrison and Elvin Jones) alternate. It adds up to one good illustration of the infinite variety of a groove.
"Gotta Serve Somebody, the Gospel Songs of Bob Dylan," (Columbia): When interpreted by gospel singers such as Sounds of Blackness, Mavis Staples and Shirley Caesar, the born-again songs of Bob Dylan are taken to another level. The best African-American covers of Dylan songs since Jimi Hendrix.
Zoot Sims, "For Lady Day" (Pablo): Songs associated with Billie Holiday interpreted by the white Lester Young par excellence, with the eccentric Jimmy Rowles on piano, George (the Bad Czech) Mraz on bass and Jackie Williams on drums. When Sims was asked how he could play so well when he was drunk, he replied: "I practice when I'm drunk."
Marvin Gaye, "What's Going On" (Motown): The angelic melodies with pleading faux-naïve ("save the babies") lyrics, combined with exquisite bass lines by James Jamerson and a solid Detroit groove by the Motown house band.
Gil Evans (Featuring Cannonball Adderley), "New Bottle Old Wine" (Pacific Jazz): "King Porter Stomp," "Struttin' With Some Barbeque," "St. Louis Blues" and other traditional songs are streamlined and reinforced in this recording without disturbing the foundations. Evans's playful dissonance and ambitious pecking schemes are well rehearsed for once. You can't go wrong with Art Blakey on drums, and Adderley is majestic.
Marianne Faithfull, "Broken English" (Island): Paradise on the wings of despair.
Sonny Rollins, "The Bridge" (BMG): Marking the end of a premature retirement punctuated by frequent night practicing on an East River bridge, the "Saxophone Colossus" came back with a roar. That's thanks in large part to the collaboration of the thinking man's guitar player, Jim Hall.
The Rolling Stones, "Sticky Fingers" (Virgin): Gets the blood flowing, the mind racing and the fingers popping. You can eat it as well as listen to it. Both familiar and rejuvenating, it is perfect music, for instance, for writing articles.
"Relaxin' With the Miles Davis Quintet" (Prestige): The tension generated by Paul Chambers's bass walking right on top of the time in tandem with Philly Joe Jones's fourth-beat rimshot laid back on it makes this one of Davis's triumphs as a casting director, with Coltrane on saxophone and Red Garland on piano.
Leonard Cohen, "The Future" (Columbia): A downer is required from time to time to keep track of what "up" is like. Cohen takes you to where he wants to go, he tucks you in - it's his trip.
"Thelonious Monk Plays Duke Ellington" (Riverside): Childlike versions of sophisticated songs that marry consonance with dissonance and the humorous with the profound. (Oscar Pettiford, bass, and Kenny Clarke, drums.)
This article is the first in a two-part series.
By Mike Zwerin Bloomberg News - iht.com
Technorati Tags: Jazz, Music, SmoothJazz
Imagine that King Kong has destroyed your city. You must take to the bunker. No telling how long you'll be down there. You do not want to be stuck with exasperating music. The following is a baker's dozen choice of jazz and rock recordings - some of them may be hard to find - that are guaranteed to wear well. In fact, they will sound better and better. They used to be called desert island records.
Lucky Thompson, "Lucky Strikes" (Prestige): To be able to continue being heard day after day, music must be of superior intellect, cliché-free and listener-friendly, like "Lucky Strikes," an overlooked jewel. At his best, the smoothly adventurous saxophonist Thompson was as good as anybody. (Hank Jones, piano; Richard Davis, bass; Connie Kay, drums.)
Steely Dan, "Gaucho" (MCA): Like the Bilbao Guggenheim, this is a rare modern product that is anything but ugly, cheap or ostentatious. With its ironic lilt, poetic lyrics, loose swing and appropriate technology, "Gaucho" is a high point of the music of our times.
Duke Ellington and John Coltrane, "Take the Coltrane" (Impulse): The inspiration flows back and forth as the rhythm sections of Ellington (Aaron Bell and Sam Woodyard) and Coltrane (Jimmy Garrison and Elvin Jones) alternate. It adds up to one good illustration of the infinite variety of a groove.
"Gotta Serve Somebody, the Gospel Songs of Bob Dylan," (Columbia): When interpreted by gospel singers such as Sounds of Blackness, Mavis Staples and Shirley Caesar, the born-again songs of Bob Dylan are taken to another level. The best African-American covers of Dylan songs since Jimi Hendrix.
Zoot Sims, "For Lady Day" (Pablo): Songs associated with Billie Holiday interpreted by the white Lester Young par excellence, with the eccentric Jimmy Rowles on piano, George (the Bad Czech) Mraz on bass and Jackie Williams on drums. When Sims was asked how he could play so well when he was drunk, he replied: "I practice when I'm drunk."
Marvin Gaye, "What's Going On" (Motown): The angelic melodies with pleading faux-naïve ("save the babies") lyrics, combined with exquisite bass lines by James Jamerson and a solid Detroit groove by the Motown house band.
Gil Evans (Featuring Cannonball Adderley), "New Bottle Old Wine" (Pacific Jazz): "King Porter Stomp," "Struttin' With Some Barbeque," "St. Louis Blues" and other traditional songs are streamlined and reinforced in this recording without disturbing the foundations. Evans's playful dissonance and ambitious pecking schemes are well rehearsed for once. You can't go wrong with Art Blakey on drums, and Adderley is majestic.
Marianne Faithfull, "Broken English" (Island): Paradise on the wings of despair.
Sonny Rollins, "The Bridge" (BMG): Marking the end of a premature retirement punctuated by frequent night practicing on an East River bridge, the "Saxophone Colossus" came back with a roar. That's thanks in large part to the collaboration of the thinking man's guitar player, Jim Hall.
The Rolling Stones, "Sticky Fingers" (Virgin): Gets the blood flowing, the mind racing and the fingers popping. You can eat it as well as listen to it. Both familiar and rejuvenating, it is perfect music, for instance, for writing articles.
"Relaxin' With the Miles Davis Quintet" (Prestige): The tension generated by Paul Chambers's bass walking right on top of the time in tandem with Philly Joe Jones's fourth-beat rimshot laid back on it makes this one of Davis's triumphs as a casting director, with Coltrane on saxophone and Red Garland on piano.
Leonard Cohen, "The Future" (Columbia): A downer is required from time to time to keep track of what "up" is like. Cohen takes you to where he wants to go, he tucks you in - it's his trip.
"Thelonious Monk Plays Duke Ellington" (Riverside): Childlike versions of sophisticated songs that marry consonance with dissonance and the humorous with the profound. (Oscar Pettiford, bass, and Kenny Clarke, drums.)
This article is the first in a two-part series.
By Mike Zwerin Bloomberg News - iht.com
Technorati Tags: Jazz, Music, SmoothJazz
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