Bluetrain

Female jazz vocalists are on the very top now, I guess that...

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 11:42:11 +0200

Female jazz vocalists are on the very top now, I guess that mainly because of Norah Jones’ popularity. One could argue if what Norah Jones does is actually jazz or not, but if her popularity affects other singers’, then it’s fine with me.

For me the best living jazz singer is Cassandra Wilson. I love her for her deep voice, her expression and especially her fantastic arrangements. She just knows how to make a jazz masterpiece from a simple song (she covers famous pop/rock songs as well, like U2’s “Love is blindness” or Sting’s “Fragile”). Here, especially for Bluetrain readers, Cassandra Wilson’s version of Neil Young’s “Harvest Moon” (“New Moon Daughter”, 1995).

Jarrett's Solo concerts -- Bluetrain asks, readers answer

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 11:08:12 +0200

Today, while I was listening to Jarrett’s Vienna Concert for the n-th time, I asked myself,...

Think I’m gonna start a series of posts about famous jazz...

Sun, 01 Jun 2008 17:58:08 +0200

Think I’m gonna start a series of posts about famous jazz tunes. There’s so many great jazz standards with a so-called background, and there’s so many great performances, that I just can’t stop myself from writing about at least some of them.

Since we have an examination session in Poland now and I should obviously be studying, I’m listening to a lot of music instead. Last night I launched my media player and typed “bebop” into the search bar. A few records popped up, and I’ve chosen two of them to listen.

Bebop is a jazz style, we all know that. But I’m not sure if everyone knows, that there’s also a standard by Dizzy Gillespie that is titled “Bebop”. The name of the style (which was, by the way, developed by Gillespie and Bird) is derived from that very theme, and here’s what Dizzy once said about its origin:

In the Onyx Club, we played a lot of original tunes that didn’t have titles. We just wrote an introduction and a first chorus. I’d say, ‘De-da-pa-da-n-de-bop’… and we’d go into it. People when they’d wanna ask for one of those numbers and didn’t know the name, would ask for bebop and the press picked it up and started calling it bebop.

“Bebop” became one of the most known Gillespie’s tunes then, and was later played by numerous artists. It has a very fast and complicated line, which is usually performed by all musicians unisono in the beginning and then improvised by each one. “Bebop” was originally written for a big band (and indeed it does make the biggest impression when played by many musicians), but was also performed by quartets and trios.

Among all the performances I know, I’ve chosen one which I wanted to share with you. It’s played by Bags and ‘Trane, and was recorded somewhere around 1960. The quality of the record is quite poor, but the quality of music is by far the most impressive. Ladies and gentlemen, Connie Kay on drums, Paul Chambers on bass, Hank Jones on piano, Milt Jackson on vibraharp and John Coltrane on a tenor sax — “Bebop”.

Allright, so here’s something for all you free jazz...

Fri, 30 May 2008 09:33:00 +0200

Allright, so here’s something for all you free jazz lovers. A piece by one of my favorite so-called avant-garde artists, Ellery Eskelin, from his album “Ramifications”. What’s funny and interesting about it, is that there’s no doublebass or a bass guitar on that record. Instead we got Joe Daley on tuba. Now I’m not sure if you’ve heard a jazz band with tuba before, but I haven’t, and though it sounds a bit odd, Eskelin, Parkins and Black prove (not for the first time) that their attitude towards contemporary/free jazz is really fresh and that no matter whom they play with, they sound really good. Please enjoy the first composition from this album, called “Penalty Phase”.

"Let’s play the music and not its background!"

Thu, 29 May 2008 14:07:54 +0200

“Let’s play the music and not its background!” - Ornette Coleman

Did you people know, that Chick Corea once made an album called...

Thu, 29 May 2008 12:01:29 +0200

Did you people know, that Chick Corea once made an album called “Children’s Songs”? Well he did, and I remember myself listening to those records a long time ago, while I was a kid. I heard three pieces from that album on the radio, and couldn’t get them anywhere in Poland. Luckily for me and all other Corea fans, ECM re-released the album last year, so that everyone can enjoy these marvellous miniatures.

The composition presented here is, however, the last piece on the album, also being the only one not performed by Corea solo, but together with violin and a cello, and it’s called “Addendum”.

reload

Wed, 14 May 2008 13:51:00 +0200

Hey, I’m not sure if anyone reads this, but if someone does, I apologize for some strange...

Since I’m sitting and learning about artificial...

Wed, 07 May 2008 22:28:00 +0200

Since I’m sitting and learning about artificial intelligence search algorithms and stuff, I’ve run across some old polish yass album by Miłość and Lester Bowie. The track’s called “Fukan Zazen-gi”, and works pretty well if player appropriately loud. Please enjoy.

The Year 1905

Thu, 06 Mar 2008 09:10:00 +0100

I know that “Bluetrain” is devoted to jazz music, but, as Duke once said, there is no...

Bill Laswell’s “Material” live from Tokyo (via...

Thu, 28 Feb 2008 08:37:44 +0100

Bill Laswell’s “Material” live from Tokyo (via Youtube)

"More and more as time has gone on, I realize that playing is really more about listening than it is..."

Tue, 26 Feb 2008 14:45:42 +0100

“More and more as time has gone on, I realize that playing is really more about listening than...

Masada obsession

Thu, 21 Feb 2008 12:11:00 +0100

I just can’t understand it. Whenever I heard about Jewish music, I was never interested....

Bach

Thu, 21 Feb 2008 10:03:58 +0100

There’s nothing like a good Bach for goodnight. As we used to call him in music school:...

Masada String Trio - Sippur (via ) I never thought that someone...

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 10:20:18 +0100

Masada String Trio - Sippur (via )

I never thought that someone could conduct a string trio. Never expected one to do it the way John Zorn did either…

"Music is your own experience, your own thoughts, your wisdom. If you don’t live it, it..."

Mon, 18 Feb 2008 19:35:30 +0100

“Music is your own experience, your own thoughts, your wisdom. If you don’t live it, it...

Sketches of Spain

Mon, 18 Feb 2008 19:08:29 +0100

I’m really amazed by Sketches of Spain these days. I’d compare Aranjuez Concerto to ...

Punk and Freud

Mon, 18 Feb 2008 16:11:00 +0100

I don’t know if Pink Freud is commonly known outside of Poland, but they’ve recently...

"There’s two kinds of music: good and bad. I like both."

Sun, 17 Feb 2008 19:07:27 +0100

“There’s two kinds of music: good and bad. I like both.” - atrributed to Duke...

good day all

Fri, 15 Feb 2008 12:46:38 +0100

Hello, this site, the Bluetrain, is yet another music weblog about jazz. It’s maintained by...