/BLINDFOLD TEST/

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/UiCCG28N

THIS WEEK'S THEME: Jazz Versions of Classical Pieces
COMPILED BY: JTG

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.

www36.zippyshare.com/v/jGaJgQ8Q/file.html

Posting with names or tripcodes is encouraged as it makes discussion much easier.

Other urls found in this thread:

youtube.com/watch?v=uAC2UMbt4d4
youtube.com/watch?v=Vc5elc70AUM
youtube.com/watch?v=Y-Dy4VTTe6Y&list=PLaKnH2UiRB68lDDjdacrlWLSkcjEVCQFY&index=5
open.spotify.com/track/03Q8VqVywdmARGbowk8z16
youtube.com/watch?v=wQ6OMoWXYxE
youtube.com/watch?v=D7b8E2lgLY4
youtube.com/watch?v=WVAK3Qsld2c
youtube.com/watch?v=5yhUkW1NJ_0
youtu.be/_Rh3xsKjQZM
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swinging_Suites_by_Edward_E._and_Edward_G.
www37.zippyshare.com/v/RuMDmzeL/file.html
twitter.com/SFWRedditGifs

1. Nice. This sounds like typical west coast playing, I’d say maybe Stan Getz. I don’t recognize the classical piece its based on though. It sounds like something you’d hear in a movie but not in a bad way. The counterpoint in the middle section is nice. I would have rather heard a sax solo than a bass solo though. 3 stars.

2. Sounds like pretty typical post-bop. For some reason my first thought is McCoy Tyner. I don’t recognize this one as a classical piece either. The piano solo got more interesting as it went and then the sudden shift to rock feel in the middle was interesting. I’m guessing this must be something pretty recent. I can’t tell what all is going on in this part, there are some weird sound effects and then it comes back to the swing feel but with a more abstract feel now. This one was pretty interesting. I have no idea who it could be. 3.5 stars.

3. Here’s one I actually know. It’s Dizzy Gillespie’s version of Reverie by Debussy. I always thought this song worked really great as a jazz arrangement. I guess the only thing is that I wish it featured Dizzy more. 4 stars.

4. I don’t recognize this classical piece but I think I would guess this was based on something classical even if I didn’t know that was the theme of this week. I couldn’t really follow the beginning and it kind of bored me but then once the piano does its solo I think it gets a lot more interesting. The soprano sax solo was kind of boring then too for some reason. I liked the piano but other than that this one just didn’t do much for me. 2.5 stars.

5. This has to be Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli. But it sounds like there are two violins so I wonder who the other one is. It sounds gypsy as fuck. But it works great for this classical piece. I bet it’s Bach or something similar. This one was great 4 stars.

6. This one is very calming. It’s not exciting at all but very pretty. It was nice an just the right length. If it were any longer it would have gotten boring. 3.5 stars.

7. I’m pretty sure I’ve heard this before. My first thought when I heard the tenor sax was that it sounded like Wayne Shorter so I’ll go with that guess. I didn’t know he ever did any jazz versions of classical music though. The second sax solo and the piano solo were my favorites. I liked how the piano kept hitting the lower notes from the melody in between his solo. Pretty nice overall though. 3.5 stars.

8. I didn’t really find anything about this one interesting. It sounded pretty uninspired. Maybe I should listen to it again though because I got a little bit distracted during this one. 2 stars for now though.

9. This has the feel of being based on something classical but it sounds like it’s just going to be a piano trio. I liked it but it did get a little bit long. Especially with the bass solo. The piano playing was pretty good though. 3 stars.

10. This is pretty different. I’d probably even call it nu-jazz. The talking in the middle was kind of weird but other than that I actually enjoyed this one more than I expected. This one could have been longer and developed more though. 3 stars.

1: the composition sounds vaguely familiar, but whatever it's classical roots are they are fairly well hidden. Is this Debussy's Clair de Lune?

Maybe some Stan Getz/Gerry Mulligan thing or something like that? This sweet dual sax embrace is pretty nice. Doesn't really sound like Getz, though, maybe Lee Konitz. I learned this week that Konitz is coming to play at the local jazz club later this year - I wasn't even sure he was still alive, much less playing gigs internationally. Dude's almost 90 years old.

Late night mood.

2: I like the frenetic drum stylings, echoes of Tony Williams. Informed by 60's post-bop but seems to be more way modern than that.

No idea on the classical composition.

Cool moment when the rhythm suddenly changes. Makes this feel very contemporary all of a sudden. The bass solo is pretty cool, but I could do with less wah-wah funk guitar.

It's nice how this is divided into clearly different sections.Makes it feel very rewarding as a whole for me.

3: A more old time swing-approach here. Didn't get too much out of this one - a little too sweet and easy.

4: There's really a classical touch to this - I guess the lead instrument is a saxophone, but at first I wasn't sure whether it could be a french horn or some other smooth brass instrument.

I like the piano solo - it has a nice, little bit mysterious feel to it.

This reminds me a bit of Finnish pianist Aki Rissanen's (who I've had on a few of my blindfolds and some may know from Verneri Pohjola's Quartet) projects with belgian saxophonist Robin Verheyen (they've done duos, trios and quartets together). Here's them playing with Markku Ounaskari on drums.
youtube.com/watch?v=uAC2UMbt4d4

This was interesting - it's the kind of music that demands a little attention, but also feels rewarding. Pretty good clearly classical music influence jazz, I think.

5: Hot! Old time gypsy jazz. It would be hard to not guess Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli - they did at least some interpretations of classical music.

Two violins and the guitarist seems to be taking the back seat a little bit more than I'd expect from Reinhardt.

I'd say it's more likely that this is someone other than the obvious, but I have no better guesses. Feels like pretty "standard" jazz manouche to me.

6: An Erik Satie composition. One of the Gymnopedies, I'm pretty sure.

Yusef Lateef has recorded a rather similar version of Gymnopedie No. 1 - this kind of feels like an inferior version of that one. Hubert Laws has also done one.

This is neither one of those - maybe Herbie Mann?

The Gymnopedies are nice compositions, but it feels like you can only do limited things with them.

7: This is Wayne Shorter's version of Sibelius' Valse Triste from The Soothsayer.

As a Finn I've been exposed to much Sibelius and this is one version that I have to say that if I didn't know what it was, I wouldn't recognize as a Sibelius composition or indeed Valse Triste.

It's a pretty decent track - not one that I think of one of Shorter's best, but still good. Certainly gets more points from turning the source material into something pretty different and having it feel natural.

8: This melody sounds very familiar, but can't quite place it.

While the track as a whole is very different, some of the parts with clarinet(?) reminded me of Don Byron playing Copland's Billy the Kid on Bill Frisell's Have a Little Faith. I could certainly see him being involved in something like this.

A little too much of a funeral march feel for me as a whole, though - even with the more upbeat swinging part.

9: I don't have too much to say about this - the track has great momentum with the drums and bass really keeping it moving until stopping to enjoy the scenery for the bass solo.

This made me think of the Bad Plus that I was listening to earlier today due to their new album being available for streaming now at NPR for some reason, but I don't think they've done classical music apart from The Rite of Spring and this doesn't really sound that much like them anyway.

I think I like the drummer most of all on this one. He is doing some nice things.

10: Well, this is an odd combination of things with the with that trumpet and organ. The organ has very much a prog rock feel to it rather than traditional jazz organ to me.

A very hard track to get a grasp on with no context. I'm curious what the hell this is.

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I'll post some responses in a little bit

>1.
It is definitely west coast guys but not Getz

>2.
I could hear some Tyner in his playing. As you say it's somebody a bit more modern but probably not as recent as what you think.

>3.
Glad somebody knows this one

>5.
Nice catch on this one too

>7.
Another good guess. It is Shorter.

>8.
You should give this one another listen. I figured this would be one that people might guess right.

>10.
Definitely on the nu-jazz side of things.

bumping with Jukka Perko and Iiro Rantala playing some Sibelius in an overly nostalgic, romantic nationalism fashion from their recent duo ACT release Takes Two to Tango with a cheesy tourism commercial type video apparently made for some Moomin-themed Japanese Finnish jazz compilation album

youtube.com/watch?v=Vc5elc70AUM

>1
It's not Getz or Konitz, although Konitz is on the right track. I'm still pretty upset that I missed Konitz coming to town last November, but I was out of town playing a gig I couldn't miss. You should try to see him. Who is he playing with?

>2
This is fairly contemporary but like I said to BlindfoldTest, you'll probably be surprised by how long ago this was actually recorded.

>4.
This does have a European sound, though I think that comes from the composer who is European as the band is mostly very American. Interestingly the guitarist is Scandinavian, but now he's known mostly as a NY guy.

>5
It is indeed Reinhardt and Grappelli. No tricks here... although the second violinist isn't somebody I'm very familiar with.

>6
This is Gymnopedie No 2, and good guess, it is Herbie Mann

>7
I forgot you were Finnish... do you have any favorite Sibelius pieces? Also is Valse Triste one of his more popular pieces in Finland? I'm sure Finlandia is at the top of the list.

>8
>some of the parts with clarinet(?) reminded me of Don Byron playing Copland's Billy the Kid on Bill Frisell's Have a Little Faith. I could certainly see him being involved in something like this.
This is quite a bit older than that

>9
>I think I like the drummer most of all on this one. He is doing some nice things.
Actually the drummer is probably the biggest name now in this group though he's not the leader.

>10
I was wondering if you would have any guesses for this one. I'll give a hint and say that these guys are European.

>Konitz

line-up is Jeff Denson on bass, Kari Ikonen on piano and Ronen Itzik on drums

Denson has apparently played with Konitz a lot in recent years, Ikonen is a local pianist and apparently Ronen Itzik is New York based, but I know nothing about him.

2: I thought 80's at first, but after the mood change, I was thinking more this decade. Interesting.

4: wildly guessing Lage Lund for guitar, then

5: alrighty, Django taking it pretty easy, then :)

7: Valse Triste is certainly up there, although not top tier. Finlandia, Jääkärimarssi, Swan of Tuonela and some of his symphonic stuff that I'm unable to list off the top of my head would be more generally well known.

Sibelius is one of those characters who are locally too revered to really have an objective opinion on, especially after last year's 150th anniversary when he was pretty much everywhere in the classical scene.

Guitarist Kalle Kalima did a pretty interesting take - at least from the Finnish point of view - on Sibelius' Jääkärimarssi (March of the Jaegers) on his country&western trio album High Noon this year:
youtube.com/watch?v=Y-Dy4VTTe6Y&list=PLaKnH2UiRB68lDDjdacrlWLSkcjEVCQFY&index=5
open.spotify.com/track/03Q8VqVywdmARGbowk8z16 (Spotify link for non-Northern Europeans)

Apparently he had to get the Sibelius estate's permission to record it and it wasn't a trivial process.

8: so is this from George Russell - Gil Evans type territory somewhere?

10: if these are Europeans, I'm not surprised if I'm familiar with many involved. That prog rock feel I mentioned is definitely similar to what you hear in the Nordics quite a bit from musicians who grew up on 70's local prog - like it's not that far in spirit and influences from the Swedish Goran Kajfes Subtropic Arkestra for example (who only do versions of popular music), I'd say : youtube.com/watch?v=wQ6OMoWXYxE

Chances that the reveal will embarrass me for not guessing correctly on this one are rather high, I think.

>4: wildly guessing Lage Lund for guitar, then
Yeah it is Lund

>Jääkärimarssi
I wasn't familiar with that one actually. I remember listening to a little bit of High Noon, I'm not sure whether I listened to that track or not. If I did I didn't realize it it was a Sibelius tune.

>8: so is this from George Russell - Gil Evans type territory somewhere?
That's a little closer...

>Chances that the reveal will embarrass me for not guessing correctly on this one are rather high, I think.
I don't think so... I was mostly just curious whether you would have a good idea what this was or not since I just stumbled upon this album by chance a while back

>Lage Lund

the same club that has Konitz playing later also has Lage Lund on their fall program about a month from now. He's playing in Jochen Rueckert's quartet with Walter Smith on sax and Orlando Lefleming on bass. I'll try to check them out live.

>Jääkärimarssi

yeah, it's nowadays particularly politically loaded piece of Sibelius' music.
youtube.com/watch?v=D7b8E2lgLY4

It's best known for traditionally being played as background music at the yearly president's Independence Day Ball when esteemed guests are arriving and other than that has fairly strong nationalistic and militaristic connotations due to the lyrics (see video) and it's something that local xenophobic/racist Trump-like types would think of as great piece of nationalistic art instead of all that modern abstract crap.

So a country&western jazz-version of it has a lot more connotations and cultural messaging to it than you might think from hearing the actual track.

That's pretty interesting. So conservative leaders have adopted it to promote an anti-immigration message?

Right now I'm living in Texas in the U.S. and there's a trend here of people taking historic slogans/songs out of context and twisting them to fit modern political ideals too.

You should definitely see them if you can. Walter Smith has always been kind of hit-or-miss for me but I imagine that group would sound pretty good live.

on a semi-relevant note, ACT label head Siggi Loch really appears to like including a lot of tracks that have very localized cultural significance to them - at least the recent releases featuring Finnish artists have loads of these and at least the French and Swedish ones appear similar to me.

He seems to be a very calculating label boss - Verneri Pohjola said in local media that a major reason for leaving ACT and moving to British Edition Records to do Bullhorn was that ACT required him to do a Louis Armstrong -tribute next instead of his own music as the next release, and Pohjola is by no means an Armstrong disciple. Certainly explains many of the janky tribute-albums that ACT has put out.

Proof of ACT weirdness - I always feel like giving Verneri my condolences on having to play on this when I see him:
youtube.com/watch?v=WVAK3Qsld2c

Oh wow. I had no idea about that. It actually makes me like the label quite a bit less. I can't imagine being told I have to record a tribute album to an artist that someone else chose for me.

I had never really thought about it before, but once I heard the label politics from Verneri, it did make sense in retrospect - ACT does have a history of putting out odd, mediocre-at-best tribute albums and also almost randomly pairings of different ACT artists together with mixed results and this is, I think, a big part why the label is so uneven, but still does put out a lot of great albums regardless when the musicians get control.

I think Rudresh Mahanthappa did especially a grand job in making his "contractual tribute album" very personal sounding and very little Charlie Parker tributish - Iiro Rantala also did a pretty good job with his John Lennon tribute in avoiding the tedium of an uninspired pop-hero tribute album

also, in other shitty ACT stories, I heard from Jukka Perko that when he signed up with ACT, he was asked to appear on Wolfgang Haffner's sessions for Haffner's Kind of Cool album on a two week notice and when he couldn't go to Germany to record on that notice he was just sent the master tapes later to play some parts on some tracks afterwards :O

.
>You should give this one another listen. I figured this would be one that people might gues
I just gave it another listen and I did like it a little better. I guess that's usually the case with jazz. It reminded me of the Gil Evans track from last week but apparently it's not him.

I'm now thinking it's some Duke Ellington or maybe a Count Basie - the thing is that there's really nothing modern about it per se at all. Factor in the classical influence and there's nothing that couldn't be from the 30's so some early third stream crossover seems likely.

I came here sure to recognize most of these but I got only two

6. Satie, one of his gymnopedies or gnossienne

10 - Tannhauser's theme. This rendition got me off the guard; very interesting, but I don't know if I like it

hey there, this is definitely a little off topic but I have no idea where to take this question, seeing as there isn't a jazz general active right now. basically I've been trying to listen to more jazz from a music taste mostly predisposed to punk and lofi, and I was just wondering what the closest approximation to that in the jazz world is? I've listened to pic related and dug it, but I'm looking for stuff thats even a little more out there, more abrasive and faster. I also was also wondering about if any sort of noisey jazz stuff exists? sorry if this is dumb, but I'm just trying to explore the genre a little more. thanks

bump

Maybe a little counterintuitive but I always get a punky vibe from early bebop stuff. It's more than just the recording quality and heroin abuse too - yeah, the music is virtuoso-istic, but there's a proper don't give a fuck attitude in the sound too, especially from Bird.

Maybe terrible advice that no one else gets, but that's my contribution...

Yeah I think sometimes working with those kind of constraints you can get really great and unexpected results. But like you say it's not a good way to get consistent results. Maybe that's what he's going for with the label is to just try a bunch of stuff that nobody else would ever be willing to try and see what works. That's one thing I like about following and researching jazz labels a little bit is how the approach and method for recording really makes a difference.

punk literally wouldn't even exist without free jazz.
listen to pharoah sanders' tauhid and sonny sharrock's blaack woman!!

Ding Ding

I definitely associate this kind of interpretation of classical music with Ellington so I thought everybody would guess this one. I think I included one of his treatments from The Nutcracker into the Christmas playlist I did and it's pretty similar to this.

I'm a little bit surprised somebody recognized Tannhauser. I've heard this theme before but honestly I don't think I would have recognized it in this context on a blind listen. I take it you're a big classical listener if you were expecting to get them all? Most of them aren't too obscure... Any that you recognized but couldn't quite place?

Have you heard Naked City?

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bumping with a track that I meant to put on this week's playlist but I think I just forgot

youtube.com/watch?v=5yhUkW1NJ_0

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bumping for saturday

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Hey jtg or blindfold dude. I finished my tracklist for next weeks theme (foreign jazz). Give me your email again so I can send it

ok i got

2. mahler 2nd symphony

5. this is obviously gypsy jazz. I've heard this before. Being two violins playing the first thing that comes to my mind is a paganini theme, but that's it

8. I think I've heard this tune too but I can't recognize it

9. This seems extremely familiar, maybe 19th century?

also i expected duke's nutcracker to be a part of this compilation. too easy?

thanks for all the help guys, you're the dopest
very cool take, I'll have to dive more into that
thanks! I checked out the record Free Jazz, which was really interesting and I'll have to listen to it again, but it was just slightly too chaotic for me to become a favorite right out the gate. I think once I hear more records and get a context to it I could dig it a lot.
and no, I have not. i'll check it out

>2. mahler 2nd symphony
You keep getting the ones I least expect.

Track 9 is 19th Century.

Yo don't wanna highjack a thread too hard but you guys seem like you'd know where I can find music scores online? I'm an advanced flautist looking for Jazz solos.

are you looking for flautist solos or jazz solos?

Like transcriptions of jazz flute solos? Or solo pieces for flute that are jazzy?

The latter one.

See above.

No idea about that unfortunately

Meant to quote

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[email protected]

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Only got two tracks listened to but I may aswell post. Depending on where the threads at later today, I might post more but don't hold off on posting the reveal if the threads gonna die.
>Track one
This is a really nicely played ballad. The interlocking saxes suit each other really well and they've both got a clear shared direction. There’s a lot in common with the way they play but there’s also a pretty nice contrast between the tone of the bright alto and the more breathy tenor.
They’ve got real good chemistry. It felt like they both knew just the right amount of space to leave so they wouldn’t be treading on each other’s toes and they were pretty dynamic about what sort of roles they were playing. Sometimes it was like they were playing counterpoint and sometimes like they were trading phrases but bar one or two hiccups, they were very in sync
Without knowing the theme, I definitely wouldn’t have guessed this is a classical piece. It just plays here like a well written ballad with swing and blues elements. If I recognised the piece I might think differently but with this sort of interpretation I couldn’t really hear it.
>Track two
The pianists melodic style is very cutesy for how post-bop the rest of the arrangement is. There are some quite diatonic/major sounding runs of notes but they’re backed by mad all those dissonant chords that sound somewhere between Monk and Mulgrew Miller. I was really enjoying it but then there was that bang and it felt like they just transitioned into a completely different track which was a little jarring. I’m not sure if the funk groove with the bleeps was part of the original classical piece but I didn’t really like the suddenness of it.
Then when the piano comes back in, they’re playing free and still not anywhere near the opening theme. It’s a little abstract and while sometimes I like juxtaposition of disparate ideas, I didn’t think it worked well here.

>track three
The slow moving and methodical building of the arrangement/really lovely chord progression kinda suggest a classically leaning mind. I really love the voice leading, there’s a bit around 1:25-ish that gives me goosebumps where the sax is playing that rhythmic ostinato around the progression under the rising and falling horns that get a little bit more dissonant with each note but resolve just as the trombone comes in and the mood of the track lifts. I’d like to hear this piece done traditionally, I’d say it’s beautiful.
The trombone player works his way around some knotty melodic phrases with a lot of poise and grace. For a trombone player. I think I’d still rather have heard a sax or trumpet on lead but he does a good job overall.

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1. Pretty swell playing from the duo and the bass solo was pretty good too. If it weren't for the theme, I would have thought of this as something off a cool jazz record, although the two aren't exclusive, like Jim Hall's concierto.
2. First half of this sounds like a post bop tune with a very active pianist but there's a big change in the direction halfway through the track. I guess this must be something modern, still, the bleeps sound kinda out of place and a bit dated to me. I guess I've been listening to too much EST, I like how they do them but they're very different styles and I shouldn't be comparing. Anyway I'm glad the song didn't stay like that for the whole rest of it.
3. This sounds quite old. It's nice, I really dig the backing band in here and it's probably my favorite thing from here but the trumpet is also very good.
4. I liked this as well, it always carries a pleasant sound and there were some pretty good parts, especially the piano solo and what follows after, when the band seems to be together most.
5. Gypsy jazz. I think I can only name Django from this style off the top of my head, but even then I haven't heard enough to know if it's him. If it is, I will check this out because I enjoy this. I like the big presence the violins have in here, often at the same level as the guitarist if not more.

Still listening, but don't wait for me for the reveal.

Also I guess some of you might already know but since there's some Potter and Holland fans in here, they're releasing a new record and have announced tour dates:

I definitely won't be missing this after missing Potter and Hersch because they sold out before I could get tickets.

>tfw no Ireland

>tfw when 4 italian dates

I'd say just kill me now but Charles Lloyd is coming here in November. It's usually fairly barren here as far as big names go though...

>tfw used to live in Columbus
>tfw used to live in Michigan

Pretty sad that they're only playing three US dates. But then again I think they've already played a fair amount in the US as this group.

6. This is pretty mellow and the flute is a plus, I really like it in jazz. It's also nice that the track was short because there was not much more to it.
7. Pretty good, I just feel like all the band is doing a very good job together and also have some pretty good solos that always keep this interesting. I'll be hearing this one.
8. This is a bit slow and has a sad sound, save for those moments when they start swinging in the style of Duke. I like both of these things but I would have preferred if they just went with one of them. Still good though.
9. Nice. They sound very well together so I suppose it could be a group that has played together for some time. I especially liked the pianist but I feel it's because the rhythm section supports him very well as well.
10. I guess this is another modern group. I don't like the trumpet much for the most part and I could do without the sampling in the middle, but I found it quite nice how it closes. The organ had a distinct sound in comparison to what I'm used to listen.

I'm still typing up the reveal info but I'll probably start posting it within an hour or so.

Bumping with this version of all the things you are by Mingus, which combines it with Rachmaninoff's prelude in C sharp minor: youtu.be/_Rh3xsKjQZM
rip
I find it pretty weird that one day they're in Italy, the next in Finland and two days after back in Italy again.
Also, do you plan to go more than once then?
With Loueke and Harland? I know Potter and Holland have, but I am not very familiar with the other two. It's nice to know they've though.

>Track 1
Warne Marsh- Tchaikovsky’s Opus 42, 3rd Movement
from Jazz of Two Cities (Imperial, 1956)

Tenor Sax- Warne Marsh, Ted Brown
Piano- Ronnie Ball
Bass- Ben Tucker
Drums- Jeff Morton

This tune (sometimes called “The Things I Love”) is an adapted version of the third movement of his “Souvenir d’un lieu cher” for violin and piano which was written in 1878. Warne Marsh recorded the tune in 1956 and it was originally released on an LP called “Jazz of Two Cities” before it was reissued on the famous “Intuition” album grouped with another set that Tristano had recorded with Marsh in 1949.

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>Track 2
Uri Caine- I Went Out This Morning Over the Countryside/Resurrection (Mahler)
from Urlicht/Primal Light (Winter and Winter, 1997)

Piano- Uri Caine
Bass- Michael Formanek
Drums- Joey Baron
Guitar, Electronics- Danny Blume

As First Timer pointed out, this theme comes from Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 “Resurrection,” which was first performed in 1895. Uri Caine is an American pianist who has made something of a focus of reinterpreting classical music with jazz influences from jazz, world, and contemporary music. This track comes from his third album which focuses completely on Mahler’s compositions.

>Track 3
Dizzy Gillespie- My Reverie (Debussy)
from World Statesman (Norgran, 1956)

Trumpet- Dizzy Gillespie, Joe Gordon, Quincy Jones, Ermit V. Perry, Carl Warwick
Trombone- Rod Levitt, Melba Liston, Frank Rehak
Alto Sax- Jimmy Powell, Phil Woods
Tenor Sax- Billy Mitchell, Ernie Wilkins
Bari Sax- Marty Flax
Piano- Walter Davis Jr.
Bass- Nelson Boyd
Drums- Charlie Persip

After Clair de Lune I think this is one of Debussy’s most well-known works, so I’m surprised nobody recognized it. The piece is for solo piano and foreshadows jazz harmony in such a way that makes it very adaptable to a jazz setting. Sure enough, this classic arrangement by Larry Clinton, stays very true to the original piece, basically orchestrating it for jazz big band. I originally had this track on my big band themed playlist, but after I started making this classical themed one but it obviously fit better here.

>Track 4
Seamus Blake- String Quartet in G Minor, Op. 10 (Debussy)
from Bellwether (Criss Cross, 2009)

Soprano Sax- Seamus Blake
Guitar- Lage Lund
Piano- David Kikoski
Bass- Matt Clohesy
Drums- Bill Stewart

Saxophonist Seamus Blake (who I’ve featured quite a lot on previous playlists) originally studied classical violin as a child which gives him a familiarity with the string quartet repertoire. This piece is derived from the third movement of Debussy’s sole string quartet (premiered in 1893) and Blake says they used the melody and harmony of the original piece to create a jazz form with chord changes to improvise over.

>Track 5
Django Reinhardt- Improvisation sur le 1er mouvement du concerto en re mineur de J S Bach
from Swingin’ with Django 1937 (Naxos Jazz, 2003)

Violin- Stephane Grappelli, Eddie South
Guitar- Django Reinhardt

This is an interesting matchup of Reinhardt and Grappelli (two of Europe’s most prominent early jazz players) with the American player Eddie South. Together they interpret the first movement of Bach’s Concerto for 2 Violins, Strings, and Continuo (in D Minor, BWV 1043) with swing and syncopation. The melodic lines and harmony stay very true to Bach’s original composition, however it’s one of the earliest attempts to play Bach with a swing feel.

>Track 6
Herbie Mann and the Bill Evans Trio- Gymnopedie (Satie)
from Nirvana (Atlantic, 1964)

Flute- Herbie Mann
Piano- Bill Evans
Bass- Chuck Israels
Drums- Paul Motian

Satie’s three Gymnopedies are probably his most well-known compositions and have proven to be popular with jazz players. While his first Gymnopedie is probably the most popular, this version is a jazz arrangement of his Gymnopedie No. 2. Bill Evans studied the flute in college, but Nirvana (with flautist Herbie Mann) is one of the few recordings he did with flute, adding Mann to his regular working trio of Chuck Israels and Paul Motian. The Satie piece fits in perfectly with the rest of the album which has a very laid-back atmosphere throughout.

>Track 7
Wayne Shorter- Valse Triste (Sibelius)
from The Soothsayer (Blue Note, recorded 1965, released 1979)

Trumpet- Freddie Hubbard
Alto Sax- James Spaulding
Tenor Sax- Wayne Shorter
Piano- McCoy Tyner
Bass- Ron Carter
Drums- Tony Williams

As Jazzpossu noted, this is a piece by Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. It was originally composed as instrumental music for a play “Kuolema” but Sibelius later revised it and it became popular as a concert piece. Shorter was previously influenced by this piece when composing “Dance Cadaverous” as he states in the liner notes of “Speak No Evil”, but he decided to record an undisguised jazz version of the piece on these sessions that would be recorded later that same year.

>Track 8
Duke Ellington- Solveig’s Song (Grieg)
from Swinging Suites by Edward E. & Edward G. (Columbia, 1960)

Arrangement and Piano- Duke Ellington
For full musician credits see-
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swinging_Suites_by_Edward_E._and_Edward_G.

Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg originally composed his most famous work “Peer Gynt” Suite as incidental music to a Herik Ibsen play and premiered in 1875. On this album Duke Ellington re-imagines the suite for jazz orchestra and also presents a suite of his own original music.

Interestingly, upon the album’s release the Royal Swedish Academy of Music tried to bring legal action against Ellington, saying that Ellington’s interpretations were “offending to the nordic music culture” and citing a “Protection of Classics” clause in the copyright legislation. But the album was withdrawn from Sweden and the case was never pursued in court.

>Track 9
Danny Grissett- Etude in Eb Minor, Op. 10, No. 6 (Chopin)
from Stride (Criss Cross, 2011)

Piano- Danny Grissett
Bass- Vicente Archer
Drums- Marcus Gilmore

Jazz piano interpretations of Chopin are nothing new and it’s obvious that Chopin’s sense of harmony and chromatic lyricism have long been an influence on jazz players. However this minor etude is one of the more obscure jazz interpretations of Chopin that I’ve found.

>Track 10
Eric Schaefer- Tannhäuser (Wagner)
from Who Is Afraid of Richard W. (ACT, 2013)

Trumpet- Tom Arthurs
Keys- Voker Meitz
Bass- John Eckhardt
Drums- Eric Schaefer
Vocals- Chris Dahlgren

Earlier in the thread Jazzpossu commented on the ACT label’s trend of requiring musicians to do tribute albums and how this sometimes yields good results (but often doesn’t.) I don’t know whether German drummer Eric Schaefer was contractually required to record this album of re-interpretations of Richard Wagner’s compositions (celebrating the 200th anniversary of Wagner’s birth), but I think the music works surprisingly well. The idea of Wagner compositions re-worked with heavy influences of dub and prog rock sounds very off-putting but I’ve always liked this album.

bump

Link for next week

www37.zippyshare.com/v/RuMDmzeL/file.html

Theme is "foreign" jazz

thanks!
:)

The link is posted a week before hand? I though it was only posted on friday.. Man i missed out.

I almost always post it in the thread on saturday