Friday, August 28, 2009

Some great jazz

Okay, here's the deal.
Over the course of the current week, I've been trying to listen to loads and loads of jazz (to rediscover the old and find the new, mainly). I'll recommend you some of my finest discoveries shortly, but first I should note this blog will be (even more) inactive starting next week (probably), since my classes are coming back. I don't honestly have that many hours, but I am really unsure how much time the projects will take. In either case, I hope to file at least one post every other week if possible.

Okay, on to some jazz discoveries. I've been recommended quite some albums in the bop style. I still have a little bit of a hard time describing the sound, but it's pretty upbeat, usually with sax on the front. The sax will likely be quite variated, backed by a tight bass and pretty fast drums (though not as fast as, say, Ornette Coleman's works). Anyway, here are some:
Lee Morgan - The Sidewinder
Dexter Gordon - Go
Art Blakey - Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers
Make sure to check these out.
Also, if you want to hear the big band thing, try these:
New Cool Collective - Trippin'
One of my first and favorite jazz albums, which lead me to buy the band's album Bring It On (which features vocals and more variety, generally a much more poppier appoach). I'm also (probably) attending their show in my town soon. Also, check this one out:
Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band - Act Your Age
This was recommended to me at the Music Advice Center last.fm group in response to my query about the intro-song to Cowboy Bebop (for you anime fans, you probably know it, but shame on you if you don't):

Which is, by the way, one of the best intro songs to an anime ever (Texhnolyze and Trigun also have great intro's in the psytrance and stonerish rock respectively).
Enjoy!

By the way, do check out The Needle Drop's youtube channel for hilarious and (imho) well done reviews (though I don't always agree, they're quite fun to watch).

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