MetaFilter posts tagged with jazz

Leonard Bernstein's Young People's Concerts

zarq — Thu, 16 May 2013 13:11:38 -0800

Leonard Bernstein's Young People's Concerts: From 1958-1973, composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein (Previously on MeFi) played live, educational concerts with the New York Philharmonic that were televised nationwide on CBS. Tapes of the broadcasts were eventually syndicated to 40 countries, introducing an entire generation of children to a wide range musical concepts, styles and composers. The first concert to air was "What Does Music Mean." Bernstein led a total of fifty-three Young People's Concerts during those fourteen years, and covered a broad range of subjects. The works of the great composers were explored, including tributes to modern masters such as Dmitri Shostakovich, Paul Hindemith, Gustav Holst, Aaron Copland and Charles Ives. Bernstein discussed "Jazz in the Concert Hall," "Folk Music in the Concert Hall," and "The Latin-American Spirit." He explained the intricacies of Music Theory in programs such as "Musical Atoms: A Study of Intervals" and "What is a Mode?" He broached complex aesthetic issues such as "What Does Music Mean?" (his first program) with clarity and without condescension. Bernstein also used the Young People's Concerts to introduce young performers to the musical world. The sixteen year-old pianist André Watts made his debut in the concert of January 15, 1963.
25 of the 53 concerts are available on YouTube 1) What Does Music Mean? Playlist. Parts: 1, 2, 3, 4 2) What is American Music? Parts: 1, 2, 3, 4 3) What is Orchestration? Parts: 1, 2, 3, 4 4) What Makes Music Symphonic? Parts 1, 2, 3, 4 5) What is Classical Music? Parts: 1, 2, 3, 4 6) Humor in Music. Parts: 1, 2, 3, 4 7) What is a Concerto? Parts: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 8) Who is Gustav Mahler? 15) Folk Music in the Concert Hall. Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 16) What is Impressionism? Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 18) Happy Birthday, Igor Stravinsky. Parts 1, 2, 3, 4 21) What is Melody? Parts 1, 2, 3, 4 23) The Latin American Spirit. Parts: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 27) Jazz in the Concert Hall. Parts: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 28) What is Sonata Form? Parts: 1, 2, 3, 4 31) A Tribute to Sibelius. Parts 1, 2, 3, 4 32) Musical Atoms: A Study of Intervals. Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 33) The Sound of an Orchestra. Parts 1, 2, 3, 4 34) A Birthday Tribute to Shostakovich. Playlist. Parts 1, 2, 3, 4 36) What is a Mode? Playlist. Parts 1, 2, 3, 4 40) A Toast to Vienna in 3/4 Time. Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 43) Quiz-Concert: How Musical Are You? Parts: 1, 2, 3, 4 46) Berlioz Takes a Trip. Parts: 1, 2, 3, 4 47) Two Ballet Birds. Parts: 1, 2 3, 4, 5 48) Fidelio: A Celebration of Life. Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Many of the linked videos are in black and white. While the programs are appropriate for children, the language used to describe various music forms is sometimes not politically correct, according to modern sensibilities.

Mop Mop: bastard performances of modern jazz, afro funk, soul music, etc

filthy light thief — Fri, 10 May 2013 06:45:31 -0800

Andrea Benini is a musician, music producer and composer from Cesena, Italy, and is more commonly known as Mop Mop, or at least the head of a changing group of musicians who use that name. In 2005, collective Mop Mop released an album of cool vibes, spare paino lines, tight grooves (5 sample tracks, streaming on Grooveshark). The group has changed over the years, releasing a total of four albums, with the most recent, Isle of Magic, containing 13 tracks of pure voodoo jazz, Caribbean flavors, Afro-funk, exotic rhythms and soul music. Andrea Benini apparently picked the name Mpo Mop from a 1961 Dictionary of Jazz, which described Mop Mop as "...a bastard performance of modern jazz based on riffs looped till monotony..." Benini had been spinning and making music for a while, but Mop Mop formally started with a festival appearance in 2002, and in 2003, Andrea Benini and some collaborators recorded an album. It was finally released two years later as The 11th Pill, and was followed about three years later by a teaser for their next album. Kiss of Kali EP (MySpace stream) featured two remixes and three original tracks, which was expanded to an 11 track album (Bandcamp) by the same name. This album was a mix jazz music with a club flavor as well as incorporate his Italian roots. The label made a behind-the-scenes video, and you can see a clip of that here. The third album, Ritual of the Savage (Bandcamp), was pure hypnotic Jazz, spiritual flavours, exotic Funk and Soul music influenced by Latin and African beats, continuing the evolution of the sound of Mop Mop. That lead up to Isle Of Magic (Bandcamp), which mixes a haze of vibraphone and flutes trill like a lost Martin Denny album with an unusual afro-european melange. If that's not enough, here's more!

Let I Go, feat. Anthony Joseph, live at Club Der Visionäre in Berlin (YouTube, HD)

Mop Mop mixes on Mixcloud, including an hour-long mix of Benini's favorite Bobby Hutcherson tracks

Andrea Benini's Soundcloud page, with a seven hour long compilation of mixsets

11 Mop Mop reworks, free to stream from Bandcamp, and downloadable for whatever price you see fit

“Music exists in nature to make you smarter."

zaelic — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 03:47:10 -0800

Bob Brozman, the undisputed master of the National Resonator Guitar, has passed away at age 59. Ethnomusicologist, virtuoso fingerpicker, musical historian, and anarchist philosopher Bob Brozman fell in love with National’s metal body resonator guitars as a teenager and made them his life’s passion. He began as a teenager mastering Delta blues, jazz and Hawaian slide styles, and then performing with cartoonist Robert Crumb’s Cheap Suit Serenaders. Brozman went on to record with legends like Hawaiian Tau Moe, Indian slide guitarist Debashish Bhattacharya, and Mauritian maloya accordionist René Lacaille. He was fascinated by the music of colonial regions – how colonizers brought music that had a rhythmic emphasis on the first beat (like a march) while the people being colonized preferred emphasizing the off beats and playing in open tunings. His most recent efforts had been to explore the world of Papuan string band music - and he always liked to bring a bag of Bolivian charangos as gifts to see how different cultures adapted them to their music. “Music exists in nature to make you smarter. Commercial music is designed to make people stupid.”

The CLUB HANGOVER Archive, 1954-58

fings — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 08:09:21 -0800

In the 1950s, Club Hangover was the place to go in San Francisco to hear Dixieland and New Orleans jazz. Thanks to tapes from KCBS being preserved and passed on, you can now listen to 25 complete and unedited half-hour broadcasts from Club Hangover, with recordings of Louis Armstrong, Earl "Fatha" Hines, Kid Ory, Muggsy Spanier, Ralph Sutton, and Jack Teagarden, all from 1954-58.

Spirit Voices: Music is the Healing Force

LeLiLo — Sun, 14 Apr 2013 13:10:06 -0800

The Black Classical History Of Spiritual Jazz 1955-2012: a 12-hour music mix [via Aquarium Drunkard]

3 examples of great African-American music, with commentary and analysis

flapjax at midnite — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 06:53:40 -0800

Listening Guide to West End Blues by Louis Armstrong - Listening Guide to Backwater Blues by Bessie Smith - Listening Guide to Salt Peanuts by Dizzy Gillespie and His All Stars

A relentless curiosity and desire to move beyond

flapjax at midnite — Sat, 06 Apr 2013 01:28:30 -0800

The World According to John Coltrane is a one-hour documentary, featuring lots of music footage and interviews with prominent jazz musicians such as Wayne Shorter, Tommy Flanagan and many others. It's an excellent primer on the enormously influential saxophonist's life and music.

What the Third Stream Isn't

timsteil — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 10:49:16 -0800

In 1957 composer, conductor, and sideman Gunther Schuller defined the Third Stream as "a new genre of music located about halfway between jazz and classical music." He also defined what it was not. -- It is not jazz with strings. -- It is not jazz played on 'classical' instruments. -- It is not classical music played by jazz players. -- It is not inserting a bit of Ravel or Schoenberg between be-bop changes nor the reverse. -- It is not jazz in fugal form. -- It is not a fugue played by jazz players. -- It is not designed to do away with jazz or classical music; it is just another options amongst many for today’s creative musicians. Schuller also insisted that, "by definition there is no such thing as 'Third Stream Jazz'" Decide for yourself. The Modern Jazz Quartet - Sketch Duke Ellington - The Tattooed Bride Cal Tjader - West Side Story David Amram - Triple Concerto and Miles Davis's exemplary, Sketches of Spain.

The legendary giant of free jazz

flapjax at midnite — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 08:42:32 -0800

My Name Is Albert Ayler.

Nas' Illmatic, redone by Funky DL as Jazzmatic

filthy light thief — Sat, 30 Mar 2013 14:55:06 -0800

British hip-hop producer/rapper Funky DL has a freebie for you: Jazzmatic, Nas' Illmatic redone as a jazz album from the late 1930s.

Goodnight, Bebo

jbickers — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 21:23:00 -0800

Bebo Valdes has passed away. A giant of Cuban music, he was a "big man whose music revealed a huge heart." He famously worked with Nat King Cole, and also handed down his musical chops to son Chucho, who would become one of the founding members of the band Irakere. There are some videos inside the fold to allow us to celebrate Bebo and his music. Rosa Mustia Lagrimas Negras Tea For Two Musica Contada 2

Try Not To Think Of Christopher Cross

timsteil — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 23:42:17 -0800

While best remembered for his starring role in a horrible movie, once upon a time, the man had some chops. A surprising mix of world-tinged fusion and straight ahead jazz from 1969, I give you:

"The Dudley Moore Trio"

Got a Match? No, but I've got 2 arms, 2 necks, 2 sticks and 88 keys

klausman — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 20:15:40 -0800

Chick Corea Elektric Band's Got a Match? played by one person

Jazz that nobody asked for, an animated short film

filthy light thief — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 20:06:36 -0800

Sometimes you want to be somber, or serious, or just enjoy some peace and quiet. And in some of those instances, you get jazz that nobody asked for. Jazz that just won't die. The jazz in question is Quaker City Jazz, by Jan Savitt (born Jacob Savetnick) and his Top Hatters Orchestra. More information about the story behind the short at the jazz movie.com, including the credit for the title to a genre of Brian Eno's own conception, as noted in On Some Faraway Beach: The Life and Times Of Brian Eno.

Do Not Hit Snooze

Lutoslawski — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 10:42:05 -0800

Inspired by the sound of an alarm clock going off, Hiromi, Anthony Jackson and Simon Phillips perform Hiromi's composition Move.

L'Ecume Des Jours

hopeless romantique — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 16:25:50 -0800

Trailer for Michel Gondry's new film, Mood Indigo, based on the book Foam of the Daze (or Froth on the Daydream, depending on the translation) by Boris Vian.

“There are only two things: love, all sorts of love, with pretty girls, and the music of New Orleans or Duke Ellington. Everything else ought to go, because everything else is ugly.” -Boris Vian

See also: -Vian's music -Vernon Sullivan -Pataphysics

"I'll steal it from this very earth."

dobbs — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 12:39:04 -0800

A timeline of Blue Note jazz album covers.

The Flute was Blowing Smoke Rings

boots — Sat, 16 Feb 2013 08:51:50 -0800

Claude Bolling and Jean-Pierre Rampal: Suite for Flute and Jazz Piano Trio slyt

Donald Byrd December 9, 1932 – February 4, 2013

MartinWisse — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 09:47:59 -0800

"One day, in the early 1960's, Mongo Santamaria called up Herbie Hancock and asked him to sit in as a pianist with Mongo's band, which was then performing at Club Cubano InterAmericano on Prospect Avenue, a popular Latin music spot. Herbie was reluctant to do it because he never played Latin before, but accepted the offer and was doing pretty well by the end of the first set. Then during intermission, Donald Byrd, who was there, asked Herbie to play his original composition "Watermelon Man" for Mongo. When Herbie started doing this, Mongo's band, especially his huge percussion section, started joining in, and before you knew it the whole club was dancing. Mongo was so excited by what happened that he asked if he could record the song. He did, and it became his greatest hit." You may know "Watermelon Man" better from the jazz-funk fusion version Herbie Hancock recorded for his platinum album Headhunters, but it first became a hit in Mongo Santamaria's version, as an Afro-Cuban dance song. But without Donald Byrd as linking pin and mentor to young jazz musicians like Hancock it might never have happened. In the fifties Byrd had gotten his breakthrough as a trumpeter in Art Blakely's Jazz Messengers and featured as sideman to people like Coltrane and Sonny Rollins. He signed as a solo artist to Blue Note at the end of the fifties and in the early sixties, his musical style, like Hancock evolved into hard bop, a more funkier, more dancable version of jazz than the cool jazz and bebop styles that dominated the fifties. From there on he would further move into what would later become the jazz fusion or jazz funk or fusion genre, working with the Mizell brothers as a production team. They would produce not only his seventies solo albums, but also the Blackbyrds group he had formed out of the best of his Howard University students. In the eighties he would form a similar group from his students at the North Carolina Central University. For the most part of the last thirty years however he stuck to teaching, rather than recording, not only at the universities mentioned above, but also at Rutgers University, the Hampton Institute, New York University, Queens College, Oberlin College, Cornell University, and Delaware State University. He passed away earlier this month. Several interviews of Donald Byrd are available on Youtube: A 1976 Capital Radio 95.8 Greg Edwards interview with Donald Byrd when he was touring the UK with the Blackbyrds. A 1982 interview for Radio London. A piece for Rap City with Guru. And of course quite a lot of his music is too.

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to violence."

Artw — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 13:07:08 -0800

Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! - a look at Russ Meyer's finest film. (possibly NSFW)

Try repeating it out loud: VIL-lage VAN-guard, VIL-lage VAN-guard.

.kobayashi. — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 09:21:40 -0800

Village Vanguard. For 70 years, that alliterative name has swung in 4/4 time, marking the center of the known jazz universe to an international circle of musicians and music fans. Since late 2008, NPR Music has been streaming monthly jazz concerts in their Live at the Village Vanguard series. Lots of great music contained herein. If you want a place to start, why not try the performance by the Sound Prints Quintet -- Dave Douglas (t), Joe Lovano (ts), Lawrence Fields (p), Linda Oh (b), Joey Baron (d)?

Joey Baron / Live Beeroth x 2 in 1999 / Two solo performances

safetyfork — Sat, 19 Jan 2013 13:06:53 -0800

The Masada track Beeroth with gusto live at Tonic 1999 and with duende at Warsaw Summer Jazz Days 1999 features Mr. Joey Baron. Perhaps Masada's Beeroth is not your thing but you are curious about how Mr. Baron might sound all on his own? Here is a solo at Mózg and on Roulette TV.

Soundtracks for 2013

Tom-B — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 14:24:33 -0800

High quality ecletic mixtapes by Luanda Baldijão. Lounge, jazz & rare finds.

'Jazz On A Summer's Day' - a film by Bert Stern

y2karl — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 10:48:44 -0800

Keith Richards saw it fourteen times, albeit not for it all, which is what you get here:
Jazz On A Summer's Day Carsonb gave us clips but here is the film entire -- and I did not know Big Maybelle was in it until last night. Which is probably the only performance footage we have of her. ( Ah, but if only she was singing Candy... ) And here are reviews: Film Notes - Jazz on a Summer's Day and one from Open Culture that lauds it despite its conspicuous omissions.

"the arts are just a part of the weapons of life"

Kattullus — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 10:08:19 -0800

The poet Jayne Cortez passed away this past December 28th in New York City (New York Times obituary). She started publishing her poems in the late 1960s and in the 70s began performing her poetry backed by music, first in collaboration with bassist Richard Davis, and then backed by her own band The Firespitters. Some of their tracks have found their way to YouTube: I See Chano Pozo, If the Drum Is a Woman, There It Is, Maintain Control & Economic Love Song I, Everybody Wants to Be Somebody, Takin' the Blues Back Home, Talk to Me (for Don Cherry), I've Been Searching, You Can Be and Endangered Species List Blues. Just two years ago she performed solo with her son by Ornette Coleman, drummer Denardo Coleman: Find Your Own Voice, I'm Gonna Shake and She Got He Got. In 1997 she was featured on University of California television network in the series Artists on the Cutting Edge where she read poems and discussed her work. Finally, here's a brief clip from the 1982 documentary Poetry in Motion, where she was interviewed.