RIBS TPTD: “Jazz 101” – An Introduction To Jazz, Lesson #2…

April 26, 2009 by tgrundy · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Jazz 101, RIBS, Spotlight, jazz, podcasts/mixes 

Jazz 101

And… we’re back. Welcome to Lesson #2 in our “Jazz 101” – An Introduction to Jazz series.

A quick recap for those of you who missed the beginning…

It all started with a cry for help from one of our blogger family, Vivrant Thang, in a post entitled, "All That Jazz: In Celebration of Jazz Appreciation Month".

That led to the question:

What artists and what songs WOULD a person choose to initially introduce someone to jazz???

and the title:

“Jazz 101”

Lots of good conversation on Twitter:

"Jazz 101" conversation via Twitter Search

and finally the playlist/mix:

“RIBS TPTD: “Jazz 101” – An Introduction To Jazz, Lesson #1”

all wrapped up by a great follow-up post by Vivrant Thang:

Jazz 101: Become A True Aficionado

Well, I did promise to create a Lesson #2 playlist.mix and here it is. AAMOF, now that I think of it two jazz “lessons” probably won’t be enough to adequately cover this subject. I think the “Jazz 101” mixes will become a regular feature here on RIBS, maybe one every 4-6 weeks or so.

Now on to today’s lesson…

One of the instruments I forgot to mention in my prior post on this subject was the Hammond B-3 organ. Some of my favorite jazz recordings feature this wonderful sounding instrument. So, in order to make up for the previous oversight, Lesson #2 starts off with two long cuts (’I Love You More Today Than Yesterday’ [8:22] and ‘The Sermon’ [20:15]) by a couple of excellent "Hammond-istas", Charles Earland and Jimmy Smith. BTW, have to give a heartfelt "shout-out" to my co-worker TP for suggesting the Jimmy Smith cut. He said that this was the song that served as his introduction to jazz. All I can say is, wow, he had a great teacher! {smile}

Staying with the keyboards, pianist and composer Horace Silver takes over with what is probably one of his best known compositions, ‘Song For My Father’. Then we bring the first third of the class to a close with one of the defining recordings of the soul jazz genre: ‘The Sidewinder’ by trumpeter Lee Morgan.

10 minute recess…

Time to change up the pace a bit with a couple of vocal jazz performances. First up trumpeter, jazz pioneer (and legend IMHO) Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong teaming up with the "First Lady of Song" Ella Fitzgerald on ‘Cheek To Cheek’; followed up by "Lady Day" (do I *have* to tell you her name? Billie Holiday) and ‘Good Morning Heartache’, which ranks number 316 on the list of jazz standards.

Time for the big finish…

Most of what we’ve covered so far far has been rooted in the 60s (or earlier), let’s fast forward to some of the jazz sounds from the 70s. Originally known as "The Jazz Crusaders", Joe Sample, Stix Hooper, Wilton Felder and Wayne Henderson shortened the name to just "The Crusaders" in 1971 and moved from the hard-bop jazz style of their early years and adopted a jazz-funk style, which really ushered in the genre which came to be known as "jazz fusion". You may remember them from their monster 1979 hit ‘Street Life’ (with Randy Crawford on vocals) which signaled the height of their commercial success. They give us a nice cut from their great 1971 Crusaders 1 album called ‘That’s How I Feel’.

Keyboardist, arranger and composer Bob James is another notable jazzman who played a major role in developing the mainstream, commercial appeal of fusion jazz. Probably best known for ‘Angela’, the instrumental theme from the sitcom Taxi, he is also well-known for the fusion classics ‘Nautilus’ and ‘Westchester Lady’ as well as his work arranging and producing many of the acts for jazz recording label CTI Records (Creed Taylor Incorporated). His contribution to our lesson plan is ‘Swingset’ from the album Joy Ride.

Finishing up, we next turn to Ms. Shirley Horn. While her original ambition was to be a classical musician, the racism that was so prevalent during the times that she was coming along lead her instead to become a master pianist and vocalist in the world of jazz. She gives us a sultry, jazzy version of ‘Fever’, a song with an interesting history in and of itself. Originally a rhythm and blues hit for Little Willie John in 1956, it crossed over and became a pop standard after being transformed (with additional lyrics) by Peggy Lee peaking at #8 on the US pop charts in 1958.

Last, certainly not least, is another keyboard master, Ramsey Lewis. He takes us on home with a live version of his hugely popular 1965 hit, ‘The In Crowd’. An interesting note about this song: even though it is often thought of as being a Ramsey Lewis song, it was written by Billy Page and originally performed by Dobie Gray on his album Dobie Gray Sings for ‘In’ Crowders That Go Go.

Time for class as we present to you…

"Jazz 101 - An Introduction to Jazz, Lesson #2"

RIBS TPTD: Jazz 101 - An Introduction To Jazz 2

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Right-click here to download .MP3 file (111Mb, 1:19:01)

Download playlist .PDF file here (right-click)

Playlist: (song - artist - album [time])

  1. I Love You More Today Than Yesterday – Charles Earland - Live [8:22]
  2. The Sermon – Jimmy Smith - The Sermon [20:15]
  3. Song For My Father – Horace Silver – Song For My Father [7:18]
  4. The Sidewinder – Lee Morgan – The Sidewinder [10:25]
  5. Cheek To Cheek – Louis Armstrong & Ella Fitzgerald – Cheek To Cheek [5:54]
  6. Good Morning Heartache – Billie Holiday – Billie Holiday’s Greatest Hits [3:05]
  7. That’s How I Feel – The Crusaders – Crusaders 1 [8:23]
  8. Swingset – Bob James – Joy Ride [5:58]
  9. Fever – Shirley Horne – Jazz ‘Round Midnight [4:45]
  10. The ‘In’ Crowd – Ramsey Lewis – Ramsey Lewis Trio-Greatest Hits [5:51]

Have you missed any of the RIBS mixes we’ve posted? If you have there is now an easy way to catch up on what we’ve been up to. Just go check out the new RIBS Archives Page to see a very easy to read listing of every post (and music mix) we’ve uploaded to the site.

Enjoy!

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RIBS: April Is ‘Sax Appeal’ Month!

April 2, 2009 by tgrundy · 2 Comments
Filed under: Sax Appeal, Spotlight, Triple Play Thurs-Day 

Hey! I’ve designated April as ‘Sax Appeal’ month here on Rhythms In Black Satin.

What that means is that for the next 5 Thursdays the mixes here will be featuring many of our great saxophone players from the past on up to the present day. You’ll be hearing familiar folks like Grover Washington, Jr., David Sanborn, Stanley Turrentine and Jr. Walker as well as some of the masters who pioneered the use of the instrument in Jazz, Swing, R&B and Rock ‘n Roll like Charlie “Bird” Parker, John Coltrane, Sonny Stitt, Illinois Jacquet and many more. The first playlist will feature a collection of uptempo (and a few mellow) grooves from a variety of players and as we move on into the month I’ll select a few trios and focus on them in the traditional Triple Play Thurs-Day format.

So… make sure you check in all month long cause, it’s ‘Sax Appeal’ Month on RIBS! I mean, everybody could use some “great sax” once in a while, right? {smile}

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