Jazz

Selaws said:
I have a question for you guys, one which I genuinely don't know the answer to. If I was to ask you to name the best leader of a big band its likely that you would name Duke Ellington first, and maybe Dizzy Gillespie second, maybe Count Basie would be a pick? But my question is how come Woody Herman wouldn't be classed as a contender now? Unlike those 3 which continue to have reissue series, I rarely hear of new reissues of Hermans music. He certainly doesn't get mentioned the same amount.

I just finished reading his fantastic biography by Steve Voce, and Woody and his 'Herd' literally dominated every type of jazz they played, from Dixieland to Bop. His approach was always to have strong soloists and build the 'Herd' around them. Past members or guests included Stan Getz, Zoot Sims, Cal Tjader, Shelly Manne, Dizzy Gillespie (who even wrote 3 arrangements for Woody), Nat Adderly (the younger brother of Julian "Cannonball" Adderley), Charlie Parker, Nat King Cole (Woody made $77,000 profit off just 14 performances with Nat King Cole in 1949).

In 1949 Woody was declared the winner of Down Beat's Readers Poll for best band and it wasn't even close, with Woody gaining 1,042 votes, followed by Duke Ellington with 301 votes.

He was unfortunately forced to work at the end of his life to pay off $1.6 million owed to the Inland Revenue after his previous manager gambled away the money given to him to pay the bill originally before passing away (and therefore passing the blame onto Woody). But to show how much he was loved, when the government went to seize his home the likes of Frank Sinatra, Peggy Lee, and Clint Eastwood paid the expenses and his monthly rent.

So before I ramble on anymore, my question is - how come Woody Herman is overlooked nowadays when compared with the likes of Ellington, Gillespie, Basie, etc?
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It's an interesting question. The first thing I thought of before finishing reading your first paragraph was: What about Glenn Miller? You didn't put probably the most successful big band leader of all time in as a possible choice for who someone might name when asked. And with good reason! Because probably no one would. Certainly, Glenn isn't as overlooked as someone like Woody Herman, but I think maybe they are overlooked for similar reasons?
 
The Complete Sessions | Shop the Miles Davis Official Store Looks like the Complete Miles Davis series in the metal boxes are being rereleased, these are really well done with huge books with interviews and session info, photo's etc, a few have been OOS for a while especially the On The Corner one which has been expensive on the s/h market for a while, might be a good opportunity to pick some up if you are interested .
 
Ok Jazz-ers? Jazz-bos? Jazz-heads? I need your help! Still in the lockdown situation here and have exhausted my list of jazz documentaries/films and could really do with some more to burn through. So far I have watched & re-watched:

Chasing Trane
I Called Him Morgan
Miles Ahead
The Blue Note Story
1959, The Year That Changed Jazzind of Bill Evans
Bird

I currently have 'A Portrait of Mal Waldron', and 'Jazzlegende Wayne Shorter' lined up to watch as well. I tend to have them on whilst doing some of the more tedious bits of my work.....so plenty of time to watch them! If anyone has any recommendations it would be much appreciated!
 
Selaws said:
Ok Jazz-ers? Jazz-bos? Jazz-heads? I need your help! Still in the lockdown situation here and have exhausted my list of jazz documentaries/films and could really do with some more to burn through. So far I have watched & re-watched:

Chasing Trane
I Called Him Morgan
Miles Ahead
The Blue Note Story
1959, The Year That Changed Jazzind of Bill Evans
Bird

I currently have 'A Portrait of Mal Waldron', and 'Jazzlegende Wayne Shorter' lined up to watch as well. I tend to have them on whilst doing some of the more tedious bits of my work.....so plenty of time to watch them! If anyone has any recommendations it would be much appreciated!
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Round Midnight is a good fictional jazz movie.
A Great Day in Harlem is really fun. It's about the shooting of the famous photo on the stoop of a brownstone and how the photographer caught the snap. Lot's of the anecdotes are great.
The Ken Burns Jazz series is good but focuses heavily on the formative years
And there's a good Monk documentary, I think Clint Eastwood may have been involved in the making of it.

Not sure where to find any of these anymore. I used to have them on DVD but got shut a long time ago unfortunately. May be available still to buy or stream somewhere though.
 
There’s a Monk doco on YouTube, can’t remember the name at the moment, There’s a Miles Davis one called A Different Kind Of Blue about the Isle Of Wright Festival that’s great, the Jaco Pastorious film from 2015,
 
Mr Moore said:
Round Midnight is a good fictional jazz movie.
A Great Day in Harlem is really fun. It's about the shooting of the famous photo on the stoop of a brownstone and how the photographer caught the snap. Lot's of the anecdotes are great.
The Ken Burns Jazz series is good but focuses heavily on the formative years
And there's a good Monk documentary, I think Clint Eastwood may have been involved in the making of it.

Not sure where to find any of these anymore. I used to have them on DVD but got shut a long time ago unfortunately. May be available still to buy or stream somewhere though.
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kafunis said:
There’s a Monk doco on YouTube, can’t remember the name at the moment, There’s a Miles Davis one called A Different Kind Of Blue about the Isle Of Wright Festival that’s great, the Jaco Pastorious film from 2015,
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Thanks guys, this is great! I will hunt these down for sure!
 
kafunis said:
The Complete Sessions | Shop the Miles Davis Official Store Looks like the Complete Miles Davis series in the metal boxes are being rereleased, these are really well done with huge books with interviews and session info, photo's etc, a few have been OOS for a while especially the On The Corner one which has been expensive on the s/h market for a while, might be a good opportunity to pick some up if you are interested .
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If only I had a CD player :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO:
 
Captainfog said:
I don't trust their curation tbh. Good chance i'll be really expensive and have a couple of dud albums. Shame because it'll be a really lovely package.
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Very curious to see what’s in it. I’m hoping it’s the same price as the Zam Rock box set although they might jack the price up because the BN box was the only really successful anthology so far. He has quite a few albums that haven’t been re-released recently. Hoping for an Empyrean Islands press. Wondering how much will focus on fusion...
 
Mr Moore said:
Round Midnight is a good fictional jazz movie.
A Great Day in Harlem is really fun. It's about the shooting of the famous photo on the stoop of a brownstone and how the photographer caught the snap. Lot's of the anecdotes are great.
The Ken Burns Jazz series is good but focuses heavily on the formative years
And there's a good Monk documentary, I think Clint Eastwood may have been involved in the making of it.

Not sure where to find any of these anymore. I used to have them on DVD but got shut a long time ago unfortunately. May be available still to buy or stream somewhere though.
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Great Day in Harlem is awesome!

I would also 2nd the Ken Burns Jazz series. (Amazon Prime in US)

@Selaws - I would also recommend (some already mentioned):

Bird (staring Forest Whitaker/directed by Clint Eastwood)
Miles Davis - Birth of the Cool (Netflix in the US)
Chasing Trane (Netflix in US)
What Happened, Miss Simone? (Netflix in US)
Sonny Rollins - Saxophone Colossus (Amazon Prime)
The Case Of The Three Sided Dream - Rahsaan Roland Kirk story (Amazon Prime)
Gil Scott-Heron - Black Wax (Amazon Prime)
Imagine the Sound - free jazz doc (Amazon Prime)
Bill Evans Time Remembered (Amazon Prime)
Sun Ra - A Joyful Noise (Amazon Prime)
Thelonious Monk: Straight No Chaser (Amazon)
Art Pepper: Notes from a Jazz Survivor (Amazon)
Live at the Village Vanguard: Freddie Hubbard Quartet (Amazon Prime)
Charles Mingus: Triumph of the Underdog (Amazon)

There's even a drama series set in New York titled, "Giant Steps" on Amazon Prime

A plethora of options!
 
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stpaulbrowns said:
Great Day in Harlem is awesome!

I would also 2nd the Ken Burns Jazz series. (Amazon Prime in US)

@Selaws - I would also recommend (some already mentioned):
Bird (staring Forest Whitaker/directed by Clint Eastwood)
Miles Davis - Birth of the Cool (Netflix in the US)
Chasing Trane (Netflix in US)
What Happened, Miss Simone? (Netflix in US)
Sonny Rollins - Saxophone Colossus (Amazon Prime)
The Case Of The Three Sided Dream - Rahsaan Roland Kirk story (Amazon Prime)
Gil Scott-Heron - Black Wax (Amazon Prime)
Imagine the Sound - free jazz doc (Amazon Prime)
Bill Evans Time Remembered (Amazon Prime)
Sun Ra - A Joyful Noise (Amazon Prime)
Thelonious Monk: Straight No Chaser (Amazon)
Art Pepper: Notes from a Jazz Survivor (Amazon)
Live at the Village Vanguard: Freddie Hubbard Quartet (Amazon Prime)
Charles Mingus: Triumph of the Underdog (Amazon)

There's even a drama series set in New York titled, "Giant Steps" on Amazon Prime

A plethora of options!
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I must check Amazon Prime in France. These documentaries sound promising. Not jazz but there are a few nice documentaries about Sam Cooke, Victor Jara or Robert Johnson, all in the Remastered serie. @Selaws you might want to watch these too.
 
Coincidently, a friend just texted me a link to a Netflix docu called Satan & Adam about a Harlem blues busker that sounds great.

www.netflix.com

Satan & Adam | Netflix

An aging blues guitarist and a grad student form an unlikely duo while busking on the street corners of 1980s Harlem.
www.netflix.com www.netflix.com
 
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