Jazz Anyone ?

[Hawk]

Yeah yeah, I know , it's "Rock"page.

Anything Jazz Thread.

Just curious how many Rockpagers are into Jazz ? Any kind of Jazz.

Are there any local venues that have a Jazz night ? I know there are a bunch of "Jazzers" in State College.

Anyone actively playing Jazz ? Anyone who would like to be playing Jazz ?

Any Jazz you enjoy listening to ?

[Bic & Que]

NO

[HurricaneBob]

NO

Expected from the likes... but nice try Bic or Que or whichever.

I love people with open minds, thats why Jazz is special.
Take the name Jazz, its the coolest name for a genre.
To play it, you must excel and open your mind and know the spectrum your in. To listen, you must have a certain knowledge of human theory.
Its a special breed and i find it the most challenging genre out there.

Can i play it? No, not really...in my own way but have learned some licks from listening to Cobham with MO, Ed Shaughnessey with the tonite show band and Weckl when Hawk, Ed Rob and I went to see him live. Buddy Rich, nuff said! Louie Bellson, first drummer to use 2 bass drums.
One of my favorite albums to be humbled by is Danny Gattons Redneck Jazz Explosion with Buddy Emmons on Steel guitar live in 77'. Jazz with a country flavor. Pat Magraw, our local legend actually had lessons from Danny. I heard Dom Peruso has been jazzing and id love to catch that some night.

Jazz cats are the most bad ass players on the planet..if you dont understand then bang your head off a brick wall for an hour. Its a better effect.

[lonewolf]

Yep, that's where I got started with my mentor, Ed McGuire. God bless and God rest his soul. Dittos Bobby.

[Hawk]

Yep, that's where I got started with my mentor, Ed McGuire. God bless and God rest his soul. Dittos Bobby.

Ed was a genius. We were lucky to have him here in Altoona. He was a mentor for many guitarists from this area, Robby John among them.

Cobham with Mahavishnu (spelling) Orchestra was brilliant. I think that may have been the first "Fusion" album ever. I have a DVD of Eric Clapton's Guitar Festival. John McLaughlin playing with Dennis Chambers is on one of the cuts. It just blows me away.

I think my first intro to Jazz was the great album "Time Out" by Dave Brubeck. Nearly everything was in odd time signatures. Joe Morello on drums. I still hear segments from the album on TV commercials occasionally.

I can't say I know a lot about jazz, but I enjoy Herbie Hancock, Miles Davis. Chick Corea. And the great Count Bassie. And too many others to name.

I'd like to get out and see some local jazz. Many high schools have a jazz band and they are really good.

Bobby.......good post !

[SpellboundByMetal]

I like some Jazz.

[f.sciarrillo]

Jazz Rocks ! I love smooth Jazz .. there is a station down in Pittsburgh, call letters WJJJ; I listen to it every time the wife and I go down to visit her family...

[Baceman Spiff]

I cant really name any speciffic artist. But I like the sound of most Jazz. Sabbath started out playing a jazz/blues fusion, untill their sound evolved. I like The Flame Sky with their blend of "Doom Jazz" as well.
<--cool jazz guy

[Punkinhead]

I'm not the bigges Jazz fan in the world but, I do like it. You can NEVER deny the musicianship of a lot of good jazz musicians.

Wes Montgomery, Pat Martino, Pat Methany, some of McLaughlin's jazz stuff are my favorite guitarists.

I also enjoy Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, and Louis Armstrong.

[skydog]

I love Mahvishnu Orchestra,freakin john maclaughlin is a monster also weather report,john Colltrane and my utmost favorite King Curtis

Jazz is great!!! you have to be in the mood sometimes though...

[floodcitybrass]

Just curious how many Rockpagers are into Jazz ? Any kind of Jazz.

Being a horn player, I have played listenedand played my share of jazz. I also play in a 6 piece band that does mostly swing: http://www.swingcityband.com. It's more swing/dance music than jazz. The reason I say this is we don't take 196 bar solos on each instrument glancing from a fakebook. Its more orchestrated and meant for dancing swing, latin, waltzes, etc. But this is the closest I get to jazz any more.
I used to play jazz guitar a bit but not so much anymore. I memorized a bunch of Parker heads and I can play a pretty mean Satin Doll.

[getclosertothemusic]

NO

Expected from the likes... but nice try Bic or Que or whichever.

I love people with open minds, thats why Jazz is special.
Take the name Jazz, its the coolest name for a genre.
To play it, you must excel and open your mind and know the spectrum your in. To listen, you must have a certain knowledge of human theory.
Its a special breed and i find it the most challenging genre out there.

Can i play it? No, not really...in my own way but have learned some licks from listening to Cobham with MO, Ed Shaughnessey with the tonite show band and Weckl when Hawk, Ed Rob and I went to see him live. Buddy Rich, nuff said! Louie Bellson, first drummer to use 2 bass drums.
One of my favorite albums to be humbled by is Danny Gattons Redneck Jazz Explosion with Buddy Emmons on Steel guitar live in 77'. Jazz with a country flavor. Pat Magraw, our local legend actually had lessons from Danny. I heard Dom Peruso has been jazzing and id love to catch that some night.

Jazz cats are the most bad ass players on the planet..if you dont understand then bang your head off a brick wall for an hour. Its a better effect.

Thank you Bobby...
There is nothing like putting your own feel in a jazz grove with some other talented musicians.
The dynamics of jazz are super, everyone should at least try some different types of jazz...
I'm sure you will suprise yourself..
Jazz, Jazz Fusion, etc.
Turn the lights down low, grab a cold one put some good jazz on low to medium volume in your favorite chair.
Some candles burning...
Thats a way to chill...
Spyro Gyra

[moxham123]

I have always been into many genres of jazz and fusion. I always appreciated artists such as Mahavishnu Orchestra, Return To Forever, Stanley Clarke, Jean Luc Ponty, Jeff Berlin, Brian Auger's Oblivion Express, and too many more to mention who melded jazz with rock. I have been to the Toronto Jazz Festival a couple times and it is great with many outstanding musicians playing all styles of jazz. The last time I saw Jean Luc Ponty in concert, he took his style of jazz/rock fusion violin and added an outstanding bassist and drummer from Africa who brought very unique rhythmic patterns to the overall sound.

[Charltor]

Alex Skolnick of Testament has a side project.
http://www.myspace.com/alexskolnicktrio
NuJazz/ Rock Fusion sounds pretty cool, they even have a cover of Rush's Tom Sawyer thats pretty good. Great guitar player!

[Diavolo]

Hawk, great questions.

I had an itch to put together a jazz group for the past several years. I just wanted to learn more about jazz and improve that aspect of my drumming. I was lucky enough to do some fill-in jobs for Andrew Jackson's group from State College. I had a great time and later found some players to put together my own group in January 2006, The Duke Morrison Quartet. We've played regularly since then. I've learned a lot from my bandmates and I really enjoy the improvisation element in playing jazz.

I owned a lot of jazz recordings before I started the band but I listenened in a much different way when it came time to play the stuff rather than merely appreciating it. Tony Williams, Elvin Jones, Steve Smith, Art Blakey, Max Roach. Buddy Rich, Joey Baron and several other drummers are totally phenomenal and are almost instantly recognizable when you hear them play. Much of modern music really lacks this recognizable personality in the music. I really dig the bebop or hard bop stuff although fusion is pretty powerful also.

Don't get me wrong, jazz can sometimes be a little hard to listen to. A lot of it is not about perfect execution but in taking risks and going for something new. Some of it is really inspiring stuff.

Despite my love for jazz, I still love metal. The speed and power of guys like Chris Adler, Jason Bittner, Derek Roddy, Jon Theodore and others is really phenomenal and is just as important and inspirational to me as the drummers I mentioned above. (BTW who plays drums on the new All That Remains CD? - he's ridiculous). In other words, it's all good.

And yes, I'm still looking to put a metal band together. I love the idea of playing jazz and Latin standards on Friday and metal on Saturday. Two toally different mindsets but BOTH require good musicianship.

[bassist_25]

Tony Scaltz was going to recruit me for a fusion project at one time, but unfortunatley, it didn't pan out.

I think that Dave Brubeck's Time Out is my favorite jazz album, though it did cheese off a lot of the jazz snobs at the time of its release. It's truly a masterpiece in melding varying time signatures with melodies. I'm also a fan of Wynton Marsalis's work, though I don't agree with all of his musical philosophies.

I think that cool/West Coast is my favorite genre of jazz, though I do enjoy most forms.

[Joe4srv]

I've been into jazz since I was little... no help from my parents on that one though. My dad was a motown guy and my mom liked anything cheesy. The first vinyl I ever bought was Dave Brubeck's Take Five - Blue Ronda a la Turke and the song Take Five are just amazing in their complexities. I'm a rock guy, not really into metal or punk, but can appreciate some artists. I love how rock's roots came from the blues and jazz just blew it all away musically (or did jazz from first??). Very cool album I bought recently by an 80s hip-hop band - Guru. Guru released a few albums of hip hop called Jazzamatazz that featured jazz band music behind some really cool rhymes. And before people start yelling that hip hop just steals samples of rock/jazz songs, all jazz on that album was recorded live for that album specifically. Also, there is a difference between hip hop and rap. I don't really care for rap, but hip hop just did it in a cool way with meaningful rhymes (generally speaking). Like I said, my tastes are very eclectic and unlike a few others I've seen on rockpage, I'm not against trying to play or listen to any type of music. Very cool that jazz made it on rockpage.

[Hawk]

Dom, good to see you on RP. I can't wait to see you play again....metal or jazz ! Any dates comin' up ?

Another great DVD is Diana Krall "Live in Paris". Jeff Hamilton's drumming is perfection . Every drummer should study it. Every single note is perfectly placed. Very tasteful and he never over plays. Some other great musicians on that disc as well.

I love seeing these names come up on Rockpage. Do you know how many people never heard of Mahavishnu Orchestra ? Yet I see it mentioned a few times here.

Spyro Gyro (Ed mentioned) is a favorite of my brother-in-law.

I'll have to get out to see "Swing City" too !

[bassist_25]

I really enjoy Diana Krall's work. I remember first seeing her on an episode of BET on Jazz back when I was like 14 years old. That's before she became big...or at least as big as one can be in the jazz idiom. She works with Christian McBride, who is by far my favorite double-bassist. He can lay down a walking bass line that has all kinds of great harmonic and rythmnic variations to it. I'm not a purist about very much, especially in music, but I do prefer the sound of a double-bass in older styles of jazz (i.e., bop, cool, free, dixieland). I actually prefer the sound of electric in swing because I think that it cuts better in a larger band. Fusion and smooth obviously rely heavily on electric.

I actually met Andrew Jackson last week down at Bar Bleu (mmm, fishbowls) when I went and saw Trace Baker's new band, Bluesmoon. He's a very cool cat, one of those guys that you instantly like upon first meeting. I want to go check out his fusion project when I get a Saturday off.

I still remember the first time I heard Mahavishnu Orchestra. It was unlike anything I've ever heard. It was so dissonant at first. Even now, it's not something that I can passively listen to. I have to really take an active role in the process.

[RobTheDrummer]

Good Times!

[Hawk]

I believe Diana Krall is married to Elvis Costello.

[Hawk]

Some one mentioned Motown. The guys that did all the instrumental background for Motown were called "The Funk Brothers". They were all Detroit Jazz Musicians hired by Berry Gority (Berry Gority, right?) to do the Motown tracks.

They played on more hit records than The Beatles and Elvis combined !

[trilogy]

weather report /miles davies .....sweet......i used to frequent many jazz clubs in cambridge england when i lived there certainly a different crowd than the norm.............funny really cambridge is rich in culture university town i met many a american student with long gotees trying to be hip and trendy.......well there parents could afford it at 25 thousand dollars a term
is that the place where clinton partook of the weed well let's all get a british education ..............my education never got me a blow job but my accent has lol.

[VENTGtr]

Dig a lot fo Jazz. ACTUALLY, I guess I kind of differentiate between
"standards" and jazz as an instrumental form. I like both but see them
as sort of different styles. Oddly...I sort of see Luis Armstrong as
bridging that gap...so I dont' know what that means.

Dig Pat Metheny, Earl Klugh, Miles Davis, ahev heard some Eric Dolphy that
was pretty cool, Hiroshima may be considered more Jazz Fusion but I used
to listen to a couple of their albums a lot, Wayne Shorter.

Obviously, I'm not a huge devotee since these are all fairly well known. I'd
probably do well to dig up some odder stuff.

As for the more "singer" standard style, Steve Tyrell, to me, has the best
versions of standards. Great voice, I like his arrangements, and it's great
listening to around the house, when you're having dinner, etc. Not to
mention that these are songs that have stood for at least 5 decades as
some of the best songs ever written. This alone gives them a deserved
listen.

Some recommendeds for me are:

John Coltrane "Giant Steps"
Miles Davis "Kind Of Blue"
Earl Klugh "Solo Guitar"
Pat Metheny Group "Letter From Home" & "Still Life Talking"
Steve Tyrell "Standard Time" & "A New Standard"
Luis Armstrong - Anything with "A Wonderful World". One of my favourite
vocal performances ever.

Just a few thoughts.

Later,
DaveP.

[Hannibal]

My first introduction to jazz was as a Penn State freshman [I'm old]. Homecoming Weekend, 1965, the Dave Brubeck Quartet live at Rec Hall. Fell in love with the musical form. Later that year saw the Ramsey Lewis Trio there [the were just in State College last fall] and Peter Nero. As a sound engineer, it has been my GREAT pleasure to work with Joe Negri and the late Walt Harper from Pittsburgh. We provided production for Skywalk when they were at Schwab Auditorium at Penn State a long time ago, too. If you love jazz, the Penn State Center for the Performing Arts has a couple of jazz concerts every year. Yes, there is a jazz following in State College. Also, I caught a jazz concert at Hollidaysburg Sr. High a few weeks ago with a group from somewhere in Virginia. All were present and former military band players. Phenomenal night. The H-burg HS jazz band played with the guys as well. It's out there. But you have to go looking for it.