SNJ07-25-09: A Night of Jazz Flutists

I first fell in love with the flute as a jazz instrument when I heard Herbie Mann back in the mid 1970’s. The flute has such a melodic well-rounded sound that it immediately captured my interest.

Tonight I’ll be sharing some great jazz done by some phenomenal flutists. Hope you enjoy. These guys have strong talent and wonderful backup musicians. There’s not a piece here that I don’t thoroughly love.

Rahsaan Roland Kirk

• My Girl from Blacknuss — A jazz musician’s take on a hit pop tune.
• Ain’t No Sunshine from Blacknuss — Another great jazz take on a pop hit.
• Fingers in the Wind from The Inflated Tear — Nice piece. Kind of reminds me of music played during montage in a travelogue.

Moe Koffman

• Autum Leaves from Devil’s Brew — Upbeat version of a great jazz classic.
• Angel Eyes from Devil’s Brew — One of my favorite “Private Eye” type songs.
• Killer Joe from Devil’s Brew — Another “Private Eye” piece. I so love these.
• Have You Met Mr. Ed from Devil’s Brew — The only Mr. Ed I know is the horse… and no, I haven’t met him.
• Devil’s Brew from Devil’s Brew — This one could qualify for still another inclusion into my “Private Eye” collection.

Hubert Laws

• Pavane from The Masters of Jazz Fusion — Almost has a classical music or latin feel to it. Nice piece.
• Wildfire from Family — An up beat piece of jazz fusion.
• What A Night from Family — Nice mellow piece. Good for background music at a romantic dinner.
• Caras Falsas (False Faces) from Bella Cinderella — Let’s close out with a little latin flavor.

Hope you enjoyed these talented flutists and as usual if you have any requests or suggestions, let me know via comment or contact form.

Picture by flicker user Steve Snodgrass under Creative Commons License. Use of this picture does not constitute an endorsement by Steve Snodgrass of the ideas in this post.

SNJ07-18-09: A Night with Oscar Peterson

Oscar Peterson has long been one of my favorite pianists along with Bill Evans. His style was unique and pulled every nuance he could out of traditional jazz. His music entertains and lifts the spirit. You can tell just from listening that he loved jazz passionately. Nothing makes an artist more powerful than pure passion for his art, and Oscar had it, hands down.

Find out all about him at All About Jazz.

I hope you enjoy this wonderfully talented artist as much as I do. Let me know what you think.

Bossa Beguine from Blues Etude — Starting out with a bit of the exotic. Wanna dance?

Meditation from Jazz Bossa Nova — Keeping with the exotic for just a bit more.

The Honeydripper from Night Train — Speeding it up just a little bit and keeping with the dance types this one is good for a little jitterbug.

My Romance from Exclusively for My Friends: The Lost Tapes — After all isn’t a great romance upbeat and uplifting? Oscar knows how to make you feel good.

Con_Alma from Oscar Peterson’s Finest Hour — And this one definitely belongs there.

Triste from The Girls from Ipanema — A latin jazz classic played by the master.

Wave from Motions & Emotions — Mellowing things out a bit. Great classic piece.

Dreamsville from Motions & Emotions — Another nice mellow piece. My dad used to play this piece on the piano all the time when I was growing up. Love this one.

In a Mellow Tone from Ocsar Peterson Plays the Duke Ellington Songbook — Here’s a well known piece from the Big Band Great.

Gee, Baby, Ain’t I Good To You from The More I See You — This is a fun piece makin’ me wish somebody would be good to me.

How High the Moon from Dimensions — A classic played by the best.

Teach Me Tonight from 75th Birthday Celebration — First heard this song performed by Al Jarreau. Really like this rendition. Hope you enjoy too.

As always if you have any suggestions or requests either leave a comment, or contact me through my contact page. Until next week, keep the jazz fires burning.

Picture by flicker user exquisitur under Creative Commons License. Use of this picture does not constitute an endorsement by exquisitur of the ideas in this post.

SNJ071109: A Night of a Single Song

The last time I did this, a lot of people seemed to like it. They found it interesting hearing the different arrangements of the same song. So I thought I’d do it again. This time the focus will be on a classic, Born to Be Blue by Mel Tormè and Robert Wells.

This is one of those songs that evokes strong emotions, stirs a bit of melancholy, yet brings a smile to the face when you hear the lyrics. It’s also another song I could easily include in my “Private Eye” collection.

Click on the linked title below to see the lyrics.

As usual, let me know what you think. If you like this, I’ll keep doing it from time to time. Suggestions for songs are always welcome. Suggestions for future Saturday Night Jazz posts are also always welcome. Just drop me an email (use the Contact Dave link above) or leave a comment. All suggestions are seriously considered.

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SNJ07-04-09: A Night with Mel Tormè

If you remember a show called Night Court, you’ll probably remember that the judge (Harry T. Stone, played by Harry Anderson) had an rather interesting obsession with Mel Tormè. Though I’m not quite as bad as Judge Stone, but I’ve always been a fan.

I remember the first time I saw Mr. Torme. It was on television. After school, my mother would allow me to spend one hour relaxing before I had to do homework or practice my trombone. I’d spend a couple of hours practicing and doing homework, have dinner and then I could go outside and play with my friends until time to go to bed. During that one hour relaxation time I would watch the Mike Douglas Show. Mel was a guest co-host one week, and I totally became a fan as a result of watching him and Mike Douglas sing duets together on that Monday through Friday.

His tenor voice has a unique feel and the jazz standards he sang evoked a full range of emotions. I hope you enjoy his music as much as I do. For great bio information you can read about Mel Tormè at the All About Jazz site.

Live Alone And Like It from “Mel Tormè At the Movies“.

Lullaby of Birdland from “Classic Jazz: Jazz Legends“.

Take the A Train from “Great American Songwriters – Duke Ellington“.

Round Midnight from “Classic Jazz Disc 1“

Blue Moon from “Music to Watch Girls By“

Down for Double from “Swingers Too Soundtrack“

Blue and Sentimental from “Late Night Jazz“

Fascinating Rhythm from “Lulu’s Back in Town“

New York State of Mind (with a Tokyo twist) from “Too Darn Hot (Disc 2)“

I Should Care from “A Night Out with Verve – Disc 4“

Too Darn Hot from “Too Darn Hot“

Here’s That Rainy Day from “Cafe Jazz for a Sunday Morning“

Picture by flicker user Alan Light under Creative Commons License. Use of this picture does not constitute an endorsement by Alan Light of the ideas in this post.

SNJ06-27-09: A Night of Jazz Waltzes

One of my Twitter friends (Bruce Carlson – Thanks, Bruce.) wrote to me the other day and suggested that we do a set of jazz waltzes. Until that time I didn’t even know that there was a genre of jazz waltzes. I’d heard much of the music listed tonight, I just didn’t know that they were referred to as jazz waltzes. Ya learn something new every day.

Anyway, I liked the idea and did a little research and came up with this list. There’s some great talent here and some wonderful music. I hope you enjoy these pieces. I know I did as I was reviewing them. Have fun and as always, I’m open to suggestions and requests. Just drop me a line or leave a comment.

Alice In Wonderland by Dave Brubeck from “Greatest Hits“

Baubles, Bangles, and Beads by Wes Montgomery from “The Best of Wes“

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SNJ06-20-09: A Night of Guitars

I’ve always liked the guitar. Assuming you can play one decently, if you pick one up and start strumming, pretty soon you’ll draw a crowd. There is something magical about the instrument that stops people in their tracks and fills their spirit. Even when the tune is melancholy there is still an enchantment that comes with playing this powerful instrument.

Tonight our focus is on guitarists who love jazz and there are plenty. From ballads to funk, the guitar has been around in the jazz world for decades. Its value to that world is inestimable. I hope you enjoy these artists and their music as much as I do.

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SNJ06-13-09 A Study in Vibraphonage

Yesterday I was introduced to Accujazz Radio a web site that focuses solely on playing jazz. I started to listen to their “Good Vibes” channel, which focused on vibraphone jazz. It was really fun. If you haven’t been there yet, do yourself a favor and check them out. It’s a really nice site with lots of jazz listening pleasure.

Anyway, as I listened, I thought that it would be cool to focus on the vibes for this episode of SNJ. I’ve always been fascinated by this instrument. It can produce anything from the haunting, to the exotic, from blues to swing and make you a fan of all of them. I love watching people play the vibes. They always make it look so easy. When the mallets fly, you can be transported to Latin America or the heart of Lonelyville. Tonight I’ve hunted down some of the best of the best for your listening enjoyment. Hope you enjoy.

As always if you have any requests, leave me a comment or drop me a line by using my new contact page (click the button on the menu right underneath the header). Now let’s get to the music.

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SNJ06-06-09 Jazz Trombonists

As I told you before, when I was a kid I wanted to play trumpet, but the music teacher convinced my mom and dad that it would be better if I played Trombone. So Trombone it was, and actually it wasn’t a bad instrument. I liked it, even though it wasn’t the trumpet.

The trombone produces a nice mellow sound and there are some great jazz trombonists, though it’s not a popular contemporary instrument. It is, however, one that is worth listening to, especially when it comes to jazz. Hope you enjoy tonight’s collection of great trombonists.

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SNJ05-30-09 Detective Jazz

When I was a kid I grew up watching some of the great TV detectives. Shows like Richard Diamond, Private Eye, Mannix, 77 Sunset Strip, The Naked City, Dragnet, Highway Patrol, Hawaii Five-O, Ripcord and Sea Hunt. My love for the TV detective has never died.

In the 70’s it was Starsky and Hutch, Vegas’s Dan Tanna, Barnaby Jones, Cannon, and Magnum P.I. In the 80’s it was Spencer for Hire, and Miami Vice. In the 90’s TV kind of took a break from the detective theme, but there were some great movies like 8mm and Twilight (no not that idiotic vampire drivel, I’m talking about the one with Paul Newman. If you haven’t seen it, do so. It’s a good flick.)

Anyway, along with great detectives, came great detective music. Much of it pretty decent jazz. Some of this stuff comes from those great TV shows, others from the movies, but this is the kind of jazz that gets me in the writing mood and stuff I listen to when I read my favorite P.I. novels. Hope you enjoy it, and don’t let the bad guys getcha.

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SNJ05-16-09: Random Goodies I

Playing around on last.fm this week and found some great jazz. Last.fm allows you to listen to full tracks of a variety of music. You can set up your own library of music and leave comments about songs you listen to. It has artist bio’s, photos, videos, news and events. All around it’s a complete system you can use to explore and discover great new music, or listen to songs you already love.

So I thought it’d be fun to share some of the wonderful jazz I experienced this week. Some, like Katie Melua, might not fit the traditional definitions of jazz, while others can’t be anything but. I hope you enjoy. I’d love to hear from you and hear what you think about Saturday Night Jazz, and as always if you have requests or suggestions — I’m all ears.

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