 |
| Bird and Norman Granz |
Norman Granz, the owner of Verve, signed Bird just a
little too late, just after his contract with the Savoy label expired, where he recorded some of the most blistering and important jazz ever recorded.
At Verve, Norman Granz coupled Bird with studio musicians and string sections (rather
than his regular touring band) for most of his sessions. Plus, the
same "individuality" that manifested itself in blistering solos on the Savoy sides, was
hammering away at his personal life, thanks to Bird's crippling heroin habit. Those two things added up to releases that, though still impressive,
weren't possessed of the same intensity as the aforementioned sessions. That said, and I can't emphasize this enough; the lesser work of a genius eclipses the best work of most others. Freeload this and you'll hear ample
evidence of that.
'The Complete Norman Granz Master Takes' is a 4CD set that It's been meticulously remastered and presented chronologically
by session, this set is an excellent document of a master in his
self-inflicted twilight.
The master takes are:
- Bird's very first Granz recording, made in Carnegie Hall without an audience.
- Bird's own big-band sessions.
- Bird's collaborations with Neal Hefti, Machito, Coleman Hawkins and trumpeters Dizzy Gillespie, Kenny Dorham, Miles Davis, Red Rodney and Benny Harris
- The three different "With Strings" sessions, that sound better than ever when not heard all at once, but in a chronological context.
- Bird's final quartet and quintet recordings.
- The truly awe-inspiring All-Star Norman Granz Jam Session with a frontline consisting of Charlie Parker with Johnny Hodges, Benny Carter, Ben Webster, Flip Phillips and Charlie Shavers.
In addition to his excellent Savoy and
Dial recordings, the Norman Granz Master Takes, should be in every Jazz collection.
For the freeload, tell us what albums that are considered classics, you just don't get or like.
I don't get Radiohead's OK Computer, neither get I people considering it a classic.
ReplyDeleteBat
Generation X, think it's their 'Dark Side of the Moon'.
DeleteThey're right, but not in the way they think.
DeleteOK Computer is great, because it has great songs.
DeleteKid A however is where things really went off the rails. Bought the thing after a glowing five star review in Rolling Stone and the song snippets you could hear on a listening station in the store making it sound intriguing.
Never finished listening all the way through. That album sucks so hard...
My youngest daughter turned me on to ‘OK Computer’ which I don’t dislike, but to me is slightly overrated.
Delete‘Kid A’ in spite of what those dorks at Rolling Stone Magazine think is electronica at its least entertaining, with a few endlessly repeated "atmospheric" samples and synth lines per song, and almost no guitar or vocals. It could almost be (or maybe is) some kind of practical joke. And yet it won a Grammy for "Best Alternative Album," whatever that means…
Pink Floyd's The Wall. Pompous & overblown and played too much on the radio when it came out.
ReplyDeleteLiberace, Mitch Miller, Montovani, Pat Boone.
ReplyDeleteMy parents played them all.
Mitch Miller plays oboe on Charlie Parker With Strings.
DeleteMitch, in real life, was quite the hipster and was a major (as it was called back then), “teahead”, of which, most people (including our parents) had no idea.
DeleteDuring the 1950s and early 1960s, Mitch was head of A&R at Columbia Records, and hung out with Bird, Miles, Monk etc. etc. He made millions from his TV show “Sing Along with Mitch” once it went into syndication.
That said, yep, as performers, Liberace, Mitch Miller, Montovani and Pat Boone, all sucked.
But Mitch was not what he appeared to be.
Liberace, in his private life, was a heterosexual, and liked nothing better than working on his project '56 Hudson, getting his hands calloused and greasy. Then he'd go to the local bar, play pool with the guys, down a few suds, eat a Philly cheesesteak sandwich, and get blown by the waitress in the toilet. All that faggy chandelier shit was an act - a secret he carried with him to his grave.
DeleteIt's also a little known fact, that Jeff Beck was a faggy little leather boy, who frequented "glory holes" in after hours S&M establishments. It gave a whole new meaning to "Grease Monkey"
DeleteLawrence Welk?
DeleteNo thank you.
Delete... which is what I should have said to the Philly cheesesteak sandwich I ate in hillbilly New York State (long story). That was the worst thing I ever had in my face, and it had some competition.
DeleteThat's exactly why, I don't anything that had a mother. It always gives me agita. Then there's the karmic implications...
DeleteMiles Davis-Bitches Brew
ReplyDelete-notBob
steVe mentions The Wall, I'd go further and add Dark Side. Pleasant enough music, but a classic? Mind you, when they were released I was deep in the "free jazz" rabbit hole. How about just about any Bob Marley release. I've grown to appreciate them, but they don't compare to truly classic albums by Toots, Gregory, Spear et al.
ReplyDeleteBombshelter's choice of Bob Marley is on point. Great guy, very important socially, but musically he's the blond of roots [oh very clever - Ed.]. Why stop at Dark Side? Every Floyd album after, as well.
DeleteTommy would have qualified, but I've grown to love it (with a little editing).
Bitches Brew? Oh yeah. Keep the cover, though.
Anything recorded this century.
Sgt. Pepper (come *on*!)
London Calling (ONE great song)
Blood On The Tracks (I know, I know, how could I?)
All Neil Young "classics" post-Harvest. Some good stuff, but ... gee whiz ...
Bob Marley albums are consistent, and a great introduction to Reggae, but ultimately pedestrian.
Delete“Soccer Moms” love Bob Marley, they think it makes them less vanilla.
Its more the group than an album but given their "Gold' album has sold 32 million copies worldwide, ranks 20th in the all time certified album sales list I name "Abba Gold". I just don't get it whatsoever.
ReplyDeleteEverything they produced from that clunky Eurovision Song WInner was just tame forgettable pop music except you can't forget it because there is always some lame radio jock insisting on playing something by them. Then they make that musical and turn it into a film. that sits among the top 200 box office smashes worldwide of all time. Will we ever escape the triffid like tendencies of Abba's music?
Abba was flatpack pop. A soundtrack to washing your car in the driveway on Saturday morning.
DeleteFun fact! Abba spelled backwards is "Satan"
DeleteSerutan spelled backwards is "natures"
DeleteNot even C.C. Bombaugh (author of “Oddities and Curiosities of Words and Literature.”) from 1961, could see a “Semordnilap” in Abba.
DeleteWell played, good Sir.
Astral Weeks
ReplyDeleteSome great choices mentioned here.
DeleteRadiohead's OK Computer, Pink Floyd's The Wall, Miles Davis - Bitches Brew (In a Silent Way was a far greater album) & throw in The Eagle's Hotel California are all albums hailed as classics but I find boring, uninspired and/or pretentious.
I'm also mostly in agreement with Farq with "Anything recorded this century."
Gbrand
“Astral Weeks” along with “Bitches Brew” took some time to get into my little gray cells, but once they did, they were, are and always will be auditory pleasures.
DeleteSometimes we try too hard to like something we think (or told) we “should like”, by concentrating on it too hard, when we should let it play while we’re doing housework, having sex etc. etc... Sometimes just letting music play in the background, and letting it slowly "sink in" is just "the ticket".
The first time I heard Astral Weeks I was blown away, and it's never lost its power for me. First time I heard Bitches Brew, I was, like, eeuuhhh ... and decades of listening under varying conditions haven't changed that. It's cold. Not cool - it's permafrost. Miles under glass. That fantastic cover did all the work, and convinced people there was something worthy of it in the grooves.
DeleteI like Astral Weeks a lot but agree that Dark Side Of The Moon and The Wall are enormously overrated. She's Leaving Home and When I'm 64 are the only duds on Sgt. Pepper.
ReplyDeleteDare I say 'Pet Sounds'. I love all the great singles that the Beach Boys did, but have never been able to relate to them as an albums band.
ReplyDeleteMay God have mercy on my soul.
It's too late. *reaches for trapdoor lever as flames start to lick Nobby's trouser cuffs*
DeleteDie blasphemer!
Delete*trapdoor closes as Nobby's scream sounds distantly*
DeleteDark Side of the Moon, Born to Run
ReplyDeleteAnything by Rush.
ReplyDeleteGeddy Whatshisface sings like he looks - grotesquely Baroque. What a terrible band.
DeleteAh, Rush
DeleteSinger Geddy Whatshisface, vocals sound helium-induced.
Those clowns even set ultra-right-winger icon Ayn Rand’s novel ‘Anthem’ to music.
My absolute favorite is Roxy Music's Viva! Call it kitsch, call it pompous but boy I like it
ReplyDeleteCompletely missing the point of the question, "what albums that are considered classics, you just don't get or like."
DeleteI'm pretty sure Viva was the first Roxy Music I owned on CD. Great album.
ReplyDeleteSee above.
DeleteI understood the question. See my first comment. Was just trying to make Bibre, who didn't understand, feel welcome.
DeleteThanks Babs.
I still don't understand the question.
DeleteEvery Eagles album, they’re all basically a soft-rock schmaltz-a-thon, with citified country balladeering.
ReplyDeleteHOLD MY BEER.
DeleteWANNA TAKE THIS OUTSIDE, PUNK?
Delete*looks at overflowing kitchen trash*
DeleteIt's your turn.
It's a beautiful, evening here in Southampton, let's take a walk down the beach, and smoke a phat one.
DeleteWait until I put on my Louboutin loafers and throw a cashmere sweater casually over my shoulders ... oh, and my pipe ...
DeleteGive me a minute, while I change into a Lilly Pulitzer dress. Is there primo bud in that pipe?
DeleteAfterward, we can go to the Southampton Inn for cocktails and a light supper.
First, I have to get a new string for my Yo-Yo.
DeleteFast goes fast
DeleteSlow goes slow
Any album by Yes, Rush, Moody Blues, or Bruce Springsteen (/ducks).
ReplyDeleteThe Doctor will see you now, MrDave.
DeleteThe first two Yes LPs were pretty good. Clever covers of Everydays, Every Little Thing, Crosby's I See You...
DeleteThe Moody Blues??? Fercrissake?? Dissing them is like clubbing baby seals.
DeleteDays of Future Passed is the most pretentious, not to mention insipid album, I can think of.
Delete“Cold-hearted orb that rules the night
Removes the colours from our sight
Red is grey and yellow, white
But we decide which is right
And which is an illusion”
Oh, give me a friggin’ break!
Then there’s “The Boss”, as much as I love Bruce, he not unlike Tom Waits, also method acted his way through the 70s, and beyond. I’ve always found it "funny" to hear how tough times are from a multimillionaire (possibly billionaire). If If he's the Boss, then I'm a disgruntled employee.
*sob*! You cruel .. heartless BRUTE! Oh, bew hew! BEW HEW HEW!!!!!
DeleteSnap out of it, Shirley.
Delete*snurfle*!
DeleteI struggle with any Nick Cave....better get my act together because my mate has bought the both of us tickets to see him in Glasgow..can always get pissed.
ReplyDeleteMy friend Gemma (a.k.a. Mrs. Was), also struggled with Nick Cave. It was backstage at a Kylie Minogue show. As Gemma, tells it, “A swift kick to where his mother wouldn’t kiss him, took the gleam out of his eye.”
DeleteTrue story, seriously.
Free jazz, I don't get it. Love jazz, but also not particularly fond of vocal jazz. Heavy metal, for me a waste of time. Thanks Babs
ReplyDeleteI agree with so many of the above... I can't even... I mean... Sigh....
ReplyDeleteLink
ReplyDeletehttps://workupload.com/file/jahJFnumQfn
What's this a link to, again?
DeleteLast time I checked, Charlie Parker - 'The Complete Norman Granz Master Takes'
DeleteThanks, Babs!
DeleteAlmost any vocal jazz. All scat singing.
ReplyDeleteFun fact: "scat" singing came from "sing any old shit".
DeleteYes, but at the very least, they let it out, instead of being full of it (not you, Mr. Throckmorton)...
DeleteI thought scatting was for when you forgot the words.
DeleteYou may be onto something, steVe.
DeleteI still enjoyed scat singing. Cab Calloway, Louis Armstrong, Scatman Crothers, and Frank Sinatra, to name a few.
DeleteScat is also a word for animal poop.
DeleteDave killed Jon Hendricks.
DeleteI was going to make a coprophilia joke, but thought better of it, as it stunk.
DeleteThen there's Billy Joel...
ReplyDeleteAnd any Dylan album after Planet Waves!
DeleteARE YOU OUT OF YOUR FREAKING MIND!?!?!? What about ... what ... hey ... there's ...
DeleteYeah. See also - my vote for Blood On The Tracks. He should really have had a fatal motorcycle accident after Planet Waves. That would have saved us all that "return to form" bullshit, and idiots claiming "Tempest" sounded like a greatest hits album.
On the other hand, Billy Joel never had a classic album per se, at least according to the critics. Even something like The Stranger was more of a begrudging "it's okay I guess..."
DeleteA third-rate McCartney imitator, with a Long Island accent.
DeleteDoes anyone really consider Billy Joel "classic"? If so he immediately takes a place near the top (bottom???) of my list.
Delete72 comments. Is this a new record here? Great topic Babs.
ReplyDeleteEvery David Bowie album.
ReplyDeleteC'mon, man.
DeleteLike that you can't even do the "his best since 'Scary Monsters'..." running joke that was well and alive for almost thirty years whenever he made a new album after the depths of the 80s and Tin Machine...
Older readers from a distant Isle may remember that I had a similar lack of empathy with Steely Dan. After undergoing an intensive course of aversion therapy with one of their records I can report that my liking for whichever record it was achieved the giddy heights of "yeah, its sort of OK". Since which time it's never been my goto record of an evening, so I guess that I still don't quite get it.
ReplyDeleteI should also advise thst the smell of singed trousers cuffs is causing concern on my current campsite which has a strict "No Barbecues" rule.
Nobster, you are unwell.
DeleteGaucho sucks.
DeleteGaucho sucks.
DeleteThey don't make classic albums anymore.
ReplyDeleteNot since the last century. Plenty of competence and ability, a dearth of songs, and a total absence of genius springing from youth culture. But any more of this and I'll get a kicking from those who believe there are so many "New Dylans" out there they're just not getting heard. There's not even a single solitary New Harry Chapin. And a New Creedence (e.g.)? There's not even a New Nickelback. But life goes on, at least for a while.
DeleteThere's plenty of great music being made these days. Its just not from the US. "All of you kids, get off my lawn...."
DeleteThis may be true. But classic albums? As in, records that will not only be remembered in fifty years time, but accepted as canonical and treated to expanded editions and so forth and so on? Dumb question, I know, as we'll all be charred ashes swirling in a burning sky over a planet ruled by a merciless insect race by then, but you know what I mean.
DeletePMAC. Sure there is great music out there but the Internet and technology has undermined the structure of the music industry so enormously in an 'anarchical you can't see the wood for the trees, anything goes' sort of way that there is no longer an environment which is conducive to the creation of 'classic albums'.
DeleteEven to the point of where the physical tangible piece of plastic on which the music is stored has become secondary. Music is disposable like never before. All it takes is one press of the and its gone.
As such we are already seeing the end of the 'single' as a cornerstone of the music world and no doubt in time the idea of the album will also break down. Its probably already happening.
The irony is there will be people out there who likely never fully enjoyed the joys of physical singles and albums of music who somehow think that what is happening is 'progress'.
That should say "All it takes is one press of the delete key"
Deletebut the syntax I used seemed to instruct blogger to make it disappear. Ho hum the joys of technology.
@farq - 50 years before anything commonly accepted as classic was released, it was probably not considerred classic.
Deletepmac, I disagree profundly, and that should trouble you. It should cause you sleepless nights and make you question the very basis of your reason to go on living. And I'll tell you why - Sgt. Pepper. This album was possibly the first "greatest album of all time" and it was widely thought so at the time of release. I don't think anyone pre-Pepper thought in terms of classic (ie canonical, everlasting) albums. Pepper ushered in the Pantheon of Rock n' Pop, with annual updates, and maybe a dozen or so albums (the Usual Suspects) made most lists for a long while, and all well before they reached their fiftieth birthday.
DeleteAlmost all Emerson Lake & Palmer albums.
ReplyDeleteAlmost?
DeleteHeyyy! First album still gets dusted off at th' IoF©, though not as frequently as the Nice albums. So, barely ever, but still.
DeleteTo kinda tweak the subject of disliked albums and with comments like no good albums this century, I'd like to say Tedechi Trucks Band - Signs is a fantastic ablum. I've also really enjoyed albums by Fantastic Negrito - Have You Lost Your Mind Yet & White Jesus Black Problem. Manzanera Mackay - AM-PM is very good. Exploding Pig - Jazz Fututra. Los Lobos continues to make great music/albums. I'm sure there are others that I've forgotten to mention. That said, there IS a lot to dislike in current music these days.Thanks Babs
ReplyDeleteI'll add Kamasi Washington to the list.
DeleteI forgot to add Ben Caplan - Old Stock, I really enjoy that one too. Thanks Babs
DeleteThe Tedeschi Trucks Band exemplifies what I'm talking about. Whatever that was.
DeleteCharlie Parker with Strings. I've tried many times and don't see where it works at all. Yuck.
ReplyDeleteFor me, Parker With Strings soars sublimely. Thanks Babs
DeleteThe entire Lou Reed/Velvets canon.
ReplyDelete^hushed golf applause*
DeleteFrankly I find this appalling!
DeleteI still don't get why the entire Led Zep and Eagles catalog are the most popular of all time. I'm obviously so out of it.
ReplyDeleteMove over, gramps! We're the young generation, and we've got something to say!
DeleteI think Sir Paul McCartney in all his guises holds that crown
DeleteI think Sir Paul McCartney in all his guises holds that crown
DeleteProbably cuz the multitude of baby boomers that bought em when they were new keep their "legacy" going. Wanna add Fleetwood Mac?
ReplyDeleteAnd must admit, I bought most of their earlier output in their day...
DeleteBlues records.
ReplyDelete*ducks*
wow, I’ve been away from the internet for four days and return to a deluge of comments. Tommy is the one that comes to mind.
ReplyDeleteMaybe not regarded as classic, but Peter Gabriel So, was a huge album in the UK, with four hit singles, he established the template for the rest of his career with that one, but I sold it not long after purchasing it, and never looked back, I still play his third album occasionally though.