Welcome to the weekly Sup Forums jazz Blindfold Test thread. Every Friday and Saturday.
If you're new, the point of these threads is to have fun and encourage critical listening, discussion, and general enjoyment of jazz. All critical music listeners are welcome. The more participation we have, the more fun and successful these threads will be. In the interest of keeping the thread alive and bumped, any general jazz discussion is welcomed here as well.
For more information about how the threads work and listening suggestions, please refer to the pastebin: pastebin.com/5cjEr3A6
THIS WEEK'S THEME: ??? COMPILED BY: BlindfoldTest
NEXT WEEK: ??? COMPILED BY: ???
If you missed last week's thread, DON'T WORRY. It's not too late. Here are the links for the mystery tracklist. Download the tracks, record your thoughts/guesses/evaluations for each one, and then come back and post them in the thread. Remember, people will be posting guesses and thoughts in this thread so don't read the thread until you have listened to the music and collected your thoughts in order to avoid spoilers. Track info for this week's tracks will be posted on Saturday, so if you see the thread is close to dying before then, give it a bump.
Been waiting for this thread to show up, will listen asap
Nathan Hernandez
Hello thread, on my second listen of this weeks tracks writing as I go along
1: All tracks were trumpet driven with such a wide range of music that I really can't think of a tighter theme.
So, wistful trumpet playing always brings Chet Baker to mind. This is a familiar sounding standard, but can't think of the name. There's a certain confidence to the trumpet playing, this song kind of makes me feel like it could be more frail and sensitive. Piano has shades of Bill Evans to me.
I think this had good potential to be a great ballad, but feels like too upbeat somehow, slow it down a bit and this could be a great ballad.
2: Powerful contemporary latin/cuban jazz. Good rhythm, makes you move around. A little too heavy on latin tropes for me, it's not a style I listen to a whole lot.
Sax player reminds me of Miguel Zenon a bit.
The rhythm section and pianist really make this feel like a tight latin unit. Very good for this style, I think.
3: There's a certain familiarity to this tune for some reason. It has a similar feel to Sonny Rollins' Alfie's Theme. Swings nicely.
Ends up being a somewhat forgettable track, though. The overall style feels so familiar somehow that I'd expect something more distinctive. The trumpet player has a pretty nice tone, though. When he comes back to play after the bass solo even though he plays pretty simple lines there's something very nice about them.
Anthony Rivera
4: This has that kind of a nostalgic feel when you're trying to evoke a film noir - a detective in a trenchcoat in 40's LA kind of thing, although the reverby sounds make this feel reasonably modern.
I like the subtle use of electronics - very stylish and not distracting. Parts of this feel like some 80's pop ballad.
Maybe Erik Truffaz could do something like this?
This had aspects that could have made it really cheesy, but I think it worked out pretty well.
5: WIth this one I was first thinking "sounds kind of like Miles, but doesn't sound that much like a Miles recording", but then when it went on it pretty quickly became unmistakably Miles-like.
On Green Dolphin Street is the tune. Appears to be the second great quintet - very recognizable playing from Tony Williams on drums. Miles' solo is pretty straightforward, Shorter's sax solo has a cool ambivalence to it.
A pretty representative live track from one of the greatest groups in the history of jazz. What can I say.
6: Going way back to the '30s or so. Is that eerie thing in the beginning a vibraphone? Lionel Hampton?
I'll have to guess Louis Armstrong for this one. One of those tracks that's basically impossible for me to separate from the historical time period.
Anthony Fisher
7: The tune is Monk's Evidence for sure.
I know Steve Lacy has an album by that name with Don Cherry on trumpet. I'll be surprised if this isn't the title track. Certainly all the pieces fit.
I like this quite a bit - it has a nice open sound and a mix of more traditional swinging playing that's easy on the ear with enough experimental stuff to keep it interesting. This is just great.
Maybe my favorite track of the week.
8: Well this certainly is a jazz version of Michael Jackson's Thriller. I believe Italian trumpeter Enrico Rava has made one and I don't think there are too many around.
This is a little bit on the corny side with the tuba tootin' away. There are some great jazz versions of Michael Jackson's music but this isn't one of them - it just doesn't seem to work out too well. The trumpet soloing was probably my favorite part.
Chase Wright
9: This one I recognize for sure. It's South African refugee Hugh Masekela's U Dwi from the Grrr album from the mid 60's. I made a retrospective playlist of his career a few years ago when he was coming to play at a local festival and this was one of the first tracks on it.
I like the joyous African music influence on many of his early recordings and I really like this track.
10: This is pretty cool - kind of a modern take on New Orleans'y music. Could be Preservation Hall Jazz Band or something like that.
I have a feeling I know this tune, but maybe it's just a very generic type of composition.
I enjoyed it for what it was.
Jack Parker
>Track 1 My first thought is that this sounds like Kenny Dorham. There’s a tune on his record “Quiet Kenny” that reminds me of this. I don’t remember who plays piano on that one and I’m not sure who this pianist is. I like the chordal stuff he’s doing but it sounds like he’s dragging quite a bit in some spots. Actually I wouldn’t be surprised if it was McCoy Tyner on something from the early 60’s. It sounds a bit like him at times. Well this was a good ballad. I think it could have been better if they had added some more harmonic interest in there somehow. If this was a standard I didn’t recognize it.
>Track 2 This sounds like a Ray Barretto record I was listening to a few weeks ago. One of the more modern ones where they do really cool arrangements with jazz players who sound really tight. I’m betting this is Brian Lynch on trumpet. He’s doing Woody Shaw-esque licks but changed to fit the Latin rhythms. He’s the main player I associate with this kind of playing. Ooh I wonder who this alto player is. He’s got a distinct style with the way he adds in all those little turns and glisses… but it doesn’t sound like anybody I know. The piano player sounds a lot like Eddie Palmieri but there are players who imitate him pretty well in this style too so I don’t know. I’d guess it’s him though with how much he’s hitting those low fifths between the quartal voicings that he’s doing. I know Brian Lynch and Eddie Palmieri have recorded together on several things so I’m guessing this is probably one of those. Nice tight groove on the percussion solo, then I like the way they layer in the background horns. I might have guessed that this was one of Conrad Herwig’s “Latin Side Of…” projects but no trombone solo. I love this kind of thing and this was well done. I’ll stick with my guess of Brian Lynch/Eddie Palmieri.
Jacob Wood
>Track 3 Haha this is Everybody Wants to Be a Cat from the Disney movie the Aristocats. I’ve heard this before on a compilation of jazz versions of tunes from Disney movies (it’s actually pretty good) and this is Roy Hargrove. He does what he’s great at here which is leaving a lot of space and playing real tasty. That said, I think a change of direction for the other soloists might have been nice. They’re pretty much doing the same thing which isn’t that interesting. The piano player did a couple nice things toward the end though. Overall I would have liked to hear a more creative arrangement, but if there’s somebody who could get away with playing it like this it’s Roy Hargrove. There are a lot cooler arrangements on that compilation that I’ve heard.
Seems like a trumpet theme so far.
>Track 4 And the trumpet theme continues… sounds like somebody doing a Miles imitation. This wasn’t bad but it got a bit heavy on the repetition. I don’t think it’s something I’d listen to a lot but it was really beautiful in its simplicity. It’s something I’d listen to while driving, or definitely something that wouldn’t be out of place in a film score. I could see Jeremy Pelt doing something like this I guess. There were some unexpected turns in the ending too. It definitely sounds like film music… maybe that could be part of this theme?
Juan Parker
>Track 5 Miles Davis Quintet, Green Dolphin Street. Is this the one where they slow wayyyy down during one of the solos and then speed it back up? I guess I’ll see. To me Miles’ solo wasn’t that interesting on its own but the way the rhythm section reacts to it is awesome. Especially Tony Williams, and Herbie’s voicings are great. Shorter’s doing some more interesting things, but then he loses steam partway through the solo. Luckily he ends it pretty quickly after that. Herbie’s solo is fantastic. He’s so rhythmically clear that its easy for the rhythm section to play with him and then he can add some harmonic ambiguity in there. At times he sounds like McCoy Tyner here but unlike McCoy he’s always playing very melodically, whereas McCoy will sometimes just play cascading pentatonic patterns. A nice live recording of the group but not quite at their best.
>Track 6 Something very old. It sounds like the kind of early blues they used to do. The guitarist sounds pretty stiff, and the swing feels weird. Is it Louis Armstrong? I’ve listened to a lot of his stuff but never heard this. Could be Buddy Bolden maybe? Everybody was imitating Armstrong then. Kind of an interesting little tune.
Josiah Clark
>Track 7 Evidence. That’s got to be Billy Higgins on drums. He’s got a very distinctive way of playing accents on the snare. It’s almost obtrusive at times. Don Cherry comes to mind on a track like this and the playing sounds quite a bit like him too. I was thinking this might be the record he did with Coltrane but definitely not now that I hear the soprano. I’m not sure who this is but his sound is interesting. His phrases are unpredictable in a fun way that works on this Monk tune. I guess I should probably know what this record is but I don’t…But I’m guessing Don Cherry and Billy Higgins for sure.
>Track 8 This is Enrico Rava’s version of Thriller. Honestly I don’t really get this version. I like some of Enrico Rava’s stuff but this is pretty much just a faithful arrangement of the original with a somewhat random sounding trumpet solo overtop. Do something cool with the arrangement man. The percussion and trombone solos were pretty much the only interesting part of this. It’s cool when the trombone solo descends into chaos. I played a big band arrangement of this one time and it was pretty bad too.
Bentley Lee
>Track 9 This is maybe another arrangement of a pop/rock song? Judging by the very simple I / IV / V progression going on. The feel their putting on it is kind of strange too- it’s got kind of an Afro-Carribean vibe to it almost like a Bachata or something but it feels like not all the players are getting that. The first part of the piano solo was pretty cool the way he was just playing like 3 different bluesy voicings but keeping it interesting via rhythm. Reminds me of Horace Parlan. But I don’t know why he changed it for just the last few seconds of his solo. Kind of a weird piece, I don’t get it. Maybe I need to know what the tune is?
>Track 10 It sounds like there’s tuba in there. This is interesting because it seems like they’re taking the New Orleans style but doing it with a modern rhythmic feel. I guess maybe this could be another pop song but done with a nod to the Dixieland style… This is probably not something I would choose to listen to a lot of but I guess it’s an interesting experiment.
Wyatt Powell
>2 Sax player reminds me of Miguel Zenon a bit. There were a few things he did that sounded a little bit like Zenon but I'd be very surprised if it was him.
>6 Lionel Hampton? Seems to early to be Lionel. Red Norvo maybe...
>7 I know Steve Lacy has an album by that name with Don Cherry on trumpet That would make sense. I didn't know about this album.
>9 It's South African refugee Hugh Masekela's U Dwi from the Grrr album from the mid 60's. I didn't know about this either. I've heard of Masekela but I don't know if I've ever heard anything he's done. Now that you mention the South African thing I do hear a certain resemblance to the Johnny Dyani track that I put on last week's. I thought there was kind of a weird Carribean feel to this though.
Cameron Hall
Good guesses on both of these.
Nolan Torres
You're on the right track for track 1 but none of those guesses are right.
You have some right guesses on other tracks though.
Dylan Parker
Do you have a theme ready that we could do for next week?
Gabriel Morales
yeah, I can do something
I have a Connecting Links one that I just want to change a couple of tracks to, one with two of each tune and I was planning a European-led ECM releases one today, so I'll send you something over the weekend
Tyler Peterson
Sounds good.
Cameron Thomas
What themes do you have ready to go again? Unless somebody else has one ready we'll probably do one of yours the week after next.
Henry Turner
Am I on the right track with the theme? Is it something like pop/movie themes? Or I guess maybe not because of the Hugh Masekela thing. Just trumpet players?
Jaxon Wright
The ones I have ready right now are:
Big Band Piano Trios play Ellington Jazz Versions of Classical Pieces Joe Henderson Tunes Live at the Village Vanguard
I'd probably prefer to do the Big Band theme next since I've had that one ready to go for a while
Grayson Moore
Yeah, you're more on the right track with the trumpet connection.
Brayden Scott
bump
What are you guys listening to this week? I've been enjoying this one from last week's /blindfold/. I think JTG picked the best track to put on last week's playlist but the rest of the album is still pretty good.
Zachary Wright
I recently bought Ted Gioia's The Jazz Standards: A Guide to the Repertoire to get some more insight into standards and have been listening to this massive 1700+ track playlist of recommended performances from the book on shuffle: open.spotify.com/user/jhiggy58/playlist/1xvz50JtGUQdYuJLBMKA13
Justin Perry
Oh cool. I will have to listen to this some because I'm terrible at remembering the names of standards.
Jaxon Phillips
I've been checking out some Horace Parlan albums that I'd previously skipped. This one is especially good and I've listened to it three times this week. Booker Ervin might be the weakest link here but he has some pretty good moments too.
Isaac Wood
bump
Robert Foster
Can I submit one? Its a really REALLY good one.
Lucas Gonzalez
Bumping for /Saturday/
Mason Kelly
A theme? What is it?
Hudson Roberts
>piano trios play Ellington Why just piano trios?
Julian Reyes
>1 Boring and very trite. Nothing interesting or exciting here at all.
>2 This one is at least fun to listen to for the percussions. At least once. I don't think I'd ever seek out more to listen because the rest of it seemed pretty bland.
>3 Even more boring and trite than track 1. Sounds like tourist jazz.
>4 Getting worse. This now sounds like straight up soundtrack jazz from a 90's movie.
>5 This was better but still it stayed pretty conventional and they all seemed to get bored with what they were playing. I certainly got bored listening.
I will probably listen to the rest in a little bit but so far this week is not off to a good start.
Oliver Rivera
>6 Sounds like very early jazz and I actually like it better than most other jazz from this time that I've heard. But it's still not something I would ever choose to listen to.
>7 I like that this one is unpredictable but I just wish they would have gone farther
>8 This sounded like a free jazz trumpet player playing over a karaoke version of Thriller. So not really that good.
>9 Very happy and simple. It doesn't make me feel anything.
>10 I've never heard anything else like this so that's a plus but I wouldn't mind if I never heard anything else like this for the rest of my life so that's a minus.
Aaron Clark
So not your favorite week I take it?
Nathaniel Hughes
bump
William White
>Track 1 This trumpet sounds really familiar but I'm drawing a blank thinking who it could be. Maybe Kenny Dorham? Some really lovely melodies in here anyway. On second listen the piano solo is great too, excellent mix of techniques without sacrificing the feel.
>Track 2 This is sweet too. The head sounds like it could be a Wayne Shorter tune, but there's too much attack in the sax for it to be him I think. Whilst we're on the topic of risky guesses at trumpet players, I'm getting Lee Morgan for some reason, though it could equally be Freddie or anyone really... The little tag between the sax and piano was awesome.
Now we're in the latin drumming passage I'm starting to think maybe this is more modern than I initially thought.
>Track 3 Very Ahmad Jamal in that piano intro. Is this Everybody Wants to Be a Cat? One of my favourite Disney tunes. I wonder if that's the theme - though I don't think I recognised the first two... I like the sax solo's wailing and the pianist's jaunty accompaniment to it. Piano solo comes back to the Jamal sound, though with more outside playing.
>Track 4 I don't listen to much modern jazz so I've not heard anything like this before. I could go for more of this though if I was in a certain mood.
Andrew Fisher
>Track 5 So I accidentally scrolled down on the thread before I listened to this one and saw that Jazzpossu identified it as a Miles track. I'm pretty sure I'd have got that without help though. Judging on the way the meter is being butchered I'd say this is the second quintet in full swing. Shorter is sounding more adventurous than he often does on studio dates, and although I haven't listened to the full range of this group I'd say this sounds freer with rhythm and time than I'm used to from them.
>Track 6 Well this is spooky sounding. Certainly sounds like Louis playing to me, but nothing like any of the Hot Fives stuff I've heard. I lost interest as it went on, the arrangement never really takes off despite the fiarly strong start.
>Track 7 I liked the weird timing in the intro, but the trumpet solo is failing to interest me. I think it's the utterly languid drums & bass that ruin it, rather than the soloists - they both sound like they at least have the potential to do better... I turned this off before the end...
Jordan Bell
>Track 8 Thriller. The arrangement on this one is pretty tight, but I think it was a bad choice to get the tuba(?) to play that irritiatingly repetitive bassline, it takes over the mix and draws attention away from some of the more interesting stuff going on. Whole thing is mixed a bit flat to be honest - shame, as I do like it...
>Track 9 I really liked the trumpet solo in this, but the pianist was even more annoying in this one than the tuba in the last one. He keeps hammering one chord that really cuts through the rest. The only part which wasn't like that was his solo, which was decent I guess...
>Track 10 This one I like. I imagine it takes a lot of skill to write something this unconventionally stripped down that still swings like this does. Sounds really evocative of all the things that go along with New Orleans jazz, in a really playful way. Can imagine a drunk stumbling home on a hot morning to this one.
>overall Well, not a damn clue what the theme is. Obviously trumpet related but I presume there's more to it than that, like last time.
Aaron Diaz
bump
Mason Evans
Well it started out just as versions of Ellington tunes but I think the first 6 I wanted to include were piano trios so I just decided to make the whole theme piano trios only.
Juan Scott
So after re-listening I'm guessing track 1 is Lee Morgan? I'm not really that familiar with his ballad playing.
Michael Campbell
bumping with a better track from that Disney jazz CD
