Jazz Music Videos of Interest III, Three, 3

Jazz Music Appreciation

Videos of Interest III, Three, 3!

1.  Cool Jazz and West Coast jazz were similar developments in jazz. While the West Coast jazz musicians sought to imitate Bebop more directly, Cool Jazz Music often featured darker timbres, more arrangements, less frantic tempos, and greater use of space than did Bebop.  There is more than a little similarity between Cool Jazz musicians imitating Charlie Parker and Bebop and the Chicago School imitating Louis Armstrong and his contemporaries.  Many Cool players seem to imply some formal structure in their solos, and their efforts are sometimes described as telling a story. Frankie Trumbauer, of the Chicago School, was among the earliest cool style players. It was Trumbauer who inspired the “President” (Prez.) of Saxophone players-Lester Young.

Frankie Trumbauer and his band play “Riverboat Shuffle”, featuring cool style trumpeter Bix Beiderbecke.

2.  Remember Lester Young’s version of “She’s Funny That Way”, that was used by Kurt Elling to inspire one of his vocalise?  (Remember Kurt Elling’s two favorites?  Lester Young and Paul Desmond.)  Here’s Lester with the Oscar Peterson Trio playing the classic from the American Song Book-“On the Sunny Side of the Street”

3.   Bix, Lester and Frankie are not from the Cool period, 1949-  , but they certainly served to inspire the sound of the era.  Important Cool/West Coast players include genius trumpeter Miles Davis, pianist Dave Brubeck, alto saxophonist Paul Desmond, bari sax player Gerry Mulligan and valve trombonist Bob Brookmeyer.  Dave Brubeck scored the number one single in jazz history with “Take Five”, which was written by Paul Desmond and Dave’s wife, Iola Brubeck.  This hit featured a drum solo by Joe Morello which was ACCOMPANIED by the other musicians, and a fantastic solo by Desmond on alto.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsHc2IGmk60

4.  Brubeck’s masterpiece may well be his composition “Blue Rondo a la Turk”, where he regroups nine beats from 12 12 12 123 to 123 123 123 and switches to the blues in the middle.  Brubeck’s piano solo features block chords, or solo with up to all ten fingers at once!  This is reminiscent of John Pizarelli’s chordal guitar solo on “I Got Rhythm” with his brother Martin, as well as the shout choruses of Duke Ellington, Glen Miller and Benny Goodman.  Dave and Iola Brubeck introduced jazz to colleges by writing to activities directors at numerous universities and encouraging them to hire the DBQ. For many, this was the first time jazz was allowed on campus, and paved the way for others to follow. It also helped to reinvigorate the popularity of jazz.

Dave Brubeck Quartet’s “Blue Rondo a la Turk”.

5.  Bob Brookmeyer and Gerry Mulligan team up COOL JAZZ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q61iMnoKkTs

6.  Hard Boppers (1952-    ), led by Art Blakey and Horace Silver, tried to broaden the appeal of Bebop by incorporating elements of Blues, Gospel, Swing and Latin Jazz with amazing soloists like Clifford Brown, Freddie Hubbard, Lee Morgan and Tom Harrell on Trumpet, Curtis Fuller and J J Johnson on Trombone and Wayne Shorter and Bob Berg on Saxophone. They attracted the attention of many jazz and fans.  

Art Blakey’s “Moanin”.

7.  Horace Silver’s group live!

8.  Local South Florida legends Julian “Cannonball” Adderly and Nat Adderly were amongst the greatest!  Check them out with legendary singer Nancy Wilson:

9.  Brazilian Jazz (1959-     ), is inspired by the both Bossa Nova beat invented by Joao Giberto and the traditional Samba grooves of the Yoruba tribe of the Baia region of Brazil.  The compositions of guitarist Antonio Carlos Jobim are considered a national treasure in his native Brazil, and are every bit as beautiful and well constructed as those from the American Song Book.  Jobim’s classic was brought to life by Astrud Gilberto and cool-style tenor-sax man Stan Getz, a major innovator and popularizer of the Bossa Nova & Brazilian Jazz.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVdaFQhS86E

10.  Rio de Janeiro ids the musical capital of Brazil, and the home of Jobim.  

Ivan Lins and Oscar Castro Nieves sing the praises here of Rio de Janeiro here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjnUwdmqkRE

11.  Hermeto Pasquale takes Brazilian jazz in new directions each time he records.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wv9DzwyQacY

12.  The Black eyed Peas have repopularized  Sergo Mendes “Mas Que Nada”

Brazil 66

The original

13.  Motown also began in 1959-       ), and featured young Detroit singers who were polished in finishing school and trained to aspire to nobility.  Founder Barry Gordy recruited Detroit’s finest jazz and blues musicians to form the most successful pop band of all time-“The Funk Brothers” (Motown’s Backing Band).  Throw in a formula based on Henry Ford’s automotive assembly line and, well-welcome to “Hitsville USA”!

14.  More Motown

“Papa was a Rolling Stone” by The Temptations

The Four Tops, “Bernadette”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5XLDIvwqUQ

The Supremes, “Baby Love”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAWSiWtUK2s

Marvin Gaye with bassist James Jamerson

15.  A different view of black American music making, Funk, was posited by James Brown in 1967-     , with his groundbreaking recording, Cold Sweat”. With a new beat (ONE two three four). and as few chord as one, Funk made up for reduced emphasis on harmony and even melody with incredible rhythmic complexity; every funk instrument became a drum!

13.  If  James Brown represented the Soulful Southerner in Funk, Sly and the Family Stone represented the psychedelic San Franciscans.  Check out Sly’s bassist, Larry Graham, who invented “slap bass”.

BBC’s “One Nation Under Funk”:

16.  Fusion represented rock and roll instruments and beats with jazz harmonies and an increased emphasis on improvisation.  Fort Lauderdale Bassist Jaco Pastorius was part of  the Fusion band Weather Report, after a Latin Jazz intro they play “Teen Town”.

and their hit, “Bridland”

Jaco played “The Chicken”, with his own band. This melded many influences present in Miami from the Caribbean to musicians from New York and seemed to assemble a palette of sounds that would influence the great big band leader of the 80’s, Bob Mintzer.

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