Stanton Moore – Conversations

with Conversations – Jazz/Rock Drummer Stanton Moore returns and reinvents! Drums – Born: July 9, 1972   Checking the birthdays at All About Jazz, yesterday I saw that it was drummer Stanton Moore’s 42nd birthday, and that he had released a new album Conversations this year. I first discovered Stanton’s drumming back in 2010, when he released Groove Alchemy, Anyway I enjoyed that album, additionally, when I looked back at the old post that I wrote I saw that I also heard Stanton’s drums on Anders Osborne’s album American Patchwork! So it didn’t take me long to head on over…

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Which Artist’s Music Should I Explore?? Listen – Then Vote!

So this morning I sat down and made a list of five Jazz artists whose new albums I thought I would like to explore. Rather than listen to each of them fully today, I made the following playlist picking a few tracks from each of the albums. I figured I’d listen to the playlist and see what album stood out the most for me and then listen to that album. So here is the playlist give it a listen in full or one track from each artist and then vote for our favorite….. I already know mine ….all of them…

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Exploring the Music of Joe Zawinul on His Birthday – July 7th

Joe Zawinul (July 7, 1932 – September 11, 2007) – Keyboards – Composer   Last week, when I wrote about the jazz fusion sub-genre, the name Joe Zawinul came up as a major force in the sub-genre. Today I have a reason to write about and listen to Joe’s music,  because on this date in 1932, Joe was born. Joe was born, raised, and classically trained on the piano in Austria. Around 1959 he knew that to grow in the jazz genre, he needed to come to the US, so he applied for a scholarship to Berklee School of Music through…

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Exploring the Music of Mads Tolling

Mads Tolling – violin viola, and composer.Born July 5, 1980   Violinist Mads Tolling was born on this date July 5th in 1980 in Copenhagen,Denmark is violinist. If you think that I didn’t recognize his name on the list of jazz birthdays at All About Jazz this morning, you would be ……correct!! So   Mads Tolling (born July 5, 1980)[1] is a Danish-American violinist, violist, and composer. Tolling won Grammy Awards for “Best classical crossover album” as part of Turtle Island Quartet’s recordings 4+Four (2006)[2] and A Love Supreme – The Legacy of John Coltrane (2008).[2] Tolling also recorded on Stanley Clarke‘s The Toys of Men (2007).[3] He is currently first violinist with the Turtle Island Quartet,[4] soloist with…

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2014 Jazz Organ – from Jared Gold – JG3+3 = a great jazz sextet and album!

Somewhere a while back I became aware of jazz organist Jared Gold. I think I first saw Jared’s name when I was searching for Dave Stryker’s album 8-Track (which I still have not found). Anyway, over the last couple of months, I’ve watched Gold’s latest release JG3+3 climb the JazzWeek Charts and have gone to Spotify to check the album out and come away empty. This week I did the same thing and this time the album was available and it has been in my jazz rotation this week and I have a new jazz organist favorite to add to my…

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Exploring the Music of Ahmad Jamal on his birthday (July 2nd) Happy 84th Birthday, Ahmad!

On this date July 2nd in 1930  jazz, composer, pianist and educator Ahmad Jamal was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Now, while I have seen his name on the JazzWeek charts over the last several months when his latest release Saturday Morning (No 29 on the 2013 Jazz Week Year End Chart)  was on the charts. His name sounded sort of familiar, but I admit I didn’t know much about the man and his music. So when I read at Wikipedia today, that American music critic Stanley Crouch places him second in importance in the development of jazz after 1945 I was…

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Explorations of Jazz Fusion – Jazz Rock and Finding Connections to My Vinyl Collection

So a few days ago in my post about the sub-genres of jazz, I wrote that I still had some sub-genres to add to the mix. One of those sub-genres is Jazz Fusion/Jazz-Rock, which  rose in the late 60s, kinda’ peaked in the 1970s, but managed to extend into the 1980s and 90s and many musician’s music still  fit into sub-genre today!  This is probably the  sub-genre that I have least explored at least as far as jazz bands go. From Wikipedia….. Jazz fusion, fusion, or jazz-rock are variants of a musical fusion genre that developed from mixing funk and…

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From the Archives – A Morning of Jazz – Wes Montgomery and Wynton Kelly – Smokin’ at the Blue Note!

Last night when I was sifting through my vinyl collection I came across the Wes Montgomery album Willow Weep For Me, Finding that album reminded me of this post I had written a while ago. I read the liner notes for the album which has always been a favorite and discovered that in the summer of 1968 Verve Records discovered previously unreleased tracks and the seven that are included on Willow Weep for Me were recorded at the same booking at The Half Note in Greenwich Village! In the notes Richard Lamb writes: The Half Note is one of the…

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Re-Exploring Jimmy Smith – Jimmy Smith’s Greatest Hits! (video)

By the time I became familiar with the music of Jimmy Smith in 1969, Jimmy had already recorded thirty-one (31) albums on the Blue Note label and an addition 25 albums on Verve! So I started with a Greatest Hits Album that covered the Blue Note years. The condition of the album cover may give you an idea of how much the album has been used over the years! Anyway the other day I was sifting through my vinyl albums, saw it, cranked up the turntable and gave it a listen. I picked out the side 4 of the second…

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An Evening Spent Exploring the Sub-Genres of Jazz – from Swing to Hard Bop

As you may have surmised if you have read any of my posts, I am not a jazz guru. I am someone who has been listening to the music of the genre since the late 1960s. Until a few years ago, my listening has been limited to a select few musicians, including Wes Montgomery, Jimmy Smith, Miles Davis and a few others. However, within the last several years, I have listened to more and more jazz and within the last year my list of favorites has exploded!!  As a result, I have developed this website to write about my explorations…

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