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holman / ama

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Jazz music tastes #184

Closed memborsky closed 12 years ago

memborsky commented 12 years ago

Are you exclusive to instrumental type jazz music or are do you like vocal jazz as well?

Could you run down your top 3-5 of your different jazz flavors: smooth, fusion, funk, etc?

holman commented 12 years ago

Mostly instrumental. I don't really jive with genres as much, so I'll just list some:

Since I played trumpet in high school (and occasionally nowadays), I got pretty big into the hardcore high note trumpet bands and players:

Probably missing a bunch, but that's how it goes.

memborsky commented 12 years ago

Do you listen to the likes of current day trumpet players, example being someone like Chris Botti or do you stick with more big band action?

I'm a heavy jazz listener as well and played trumpet through college but haven't picked it up in a few years. I am always on the prowl for new tastes that I've missed in my travels of the jazz trumpeters over the years.

holman commented 12 years ago

Don't listen to him, really (although I feel like he's pretty soft and not someone I'd dig as much). Some of the current bands I dig trumpet-wise tend to be the likes of Gordon Goodwin's Big Band or Wayne Bergeron (Wayne plays in Goodwin's band from time to time, too).

bcarl commented 12 years ago

@holman you have like the exact same jazz preferences as I do. I guess that makes sense since I'm also a trumpet player. :)

holman commented 12 years ago

@bcarl Hah. :) any other suggestions I may have missed? Always looking for good, new music to listen to.

bcarl commented 12 years ago

@holman You got most of the major artists. Some I might add, although they're not necessarily "new," haha:

As far as specific songs go, some of my favorites are:

If you want to venture into vocal jazz, Michael Bublé is quite talented and sings a lot of the classics very well. I saw him in concert and it was mind-blowing.

♫

holman commented 12 years ago

Yup, we're pretty similar then. We played tons of Kubis (our Christmas concert was mostly from Kubis' album, which was filled with songs that were actually legit enough to want to play without blowing your brains out, particularly We Three Kings and the ridiculous parts written for Wayne in shit like O Holy Night, jesus fuck). Marie's Shuffle and Bill Bailey were pretty boss to play on, too.

Bergeron played in our local community youth jazz big band, too... that was rad. Maynard played with my high school band my senior year, although I had to miss it in favor of playing at state soccer on the same night across the state. Saw Maynard twice live before he died though. What a badass. Particularly the songs you mentioned... those three are killer. Add to that Conquistador, Fantasy, La Fiesta, and Pagliacci. What a badass.

The coolest thing about my high school director is that we played real scores (like you did, apparently) rather than that washed-out high school jazz shit they always pimped to directors. We played lots of Buddy (West Side Story Medley is out-fucking-rageous; *Groovin' Hard, Nutville and Backwoods Sideman are killer cuts too). Dude knew how to play his trumpets. We also did a lot of Woody Herman, too: La Fiesta, Freedom Jazz Dance, and Giant Steps. And some Basie. How you finna not play Basie's stuff.

Man I miss that stuff.

Was that you on lead? Pretty great chops you got. Nothing displeased me more than having to hit high notes on the start of a song without a buildup. (Although I never had lead player chops anyway.) Marienthal's a beast, too... I saw him live... somewhere. Probably with Gordon Goodwin.

Maynard and Waynard is pretty rad, too, actually. Reminds me of some of the ridiculous charts Maynard would play on. We played Kenton's 23 Degrees North - 83 Degrees West. I think Maynard's part was fourth trumpet. Talk about a crazy part. Maynard would just pick those ridiculous screamers literally out of thin air.

There's a good post by Cacia about What's New, Maynard Ferguson, and Hot Canary on the old Kenton bands he was in:

Shorty, explained to me that every chance he got while sitting in the Kenton trumpet section he would glance over and steal moments of Maynard’s personal sets, and pivot points, most importantly his best keys. Needless to say, “Maynard Ferguson” and “What’s New” are masterpieces written by Shorty to feature his dear friend.

That's just rad.

Okay I've digressed way too long on this. But it's so amazing.

bcarl commented 12 years ago

Yeah that was me on lead. :) The high schools in my area have a tendency to have really good jazz programs, which is awesome (See http://www.ocregister.com/articles/band-351947-jazz-high.html). I'm in college now and still playing, but it's just not the same because we don't play big band stuff anymore.

The coolest thing about my high school director is that we played real scores (like you did, apparently) rather than that washed-out high school jazz shit they always pimped to directors.

Yeah, we never even saw those crappy arrangements. Original charts all the way!

The most fun was playing in SCSBOA honor groups, where they would pool together kids from all across southern california into a couple jazz bands. Man... those were some great times.

If there's one thing I do miss about high school, it's playing in that jazz band. The charts, the competitions, the Reno Jazz Festival... it was so much fun.

One thing I'd like to find once I get out of college and into the "real world" is if there are any community jazz groups or something. I'll probably look at the local community colleges wherever I end up. I'm hoping that something like that exists... otherwise I may go insane without playing. :P