Duke Ellington
I love the old and some of the modern big band jazz. The master is the Duke. He wrote such great tunes for his soloists: Johnny Hodges, Ben Webster, and many more. His band ran from the late 20s all the way to when he died in the 70s and his son carried it on for a while longer.
I have lots of Duke Ellington on CD and some vinyl. Two of my favorites are And His Mother Called Him Bill (a tribute to Billy Stayhorn) and The Far East Suite. Both are from the 60s and represent some of his more modern recordings. The album he did with Coltrane is also one of my favorites. And the one with Armstrong. The one with Coltrane is small band combo and the one with Louis is with a little larger group.
He has a touch of classical in his music, good arrangements etc. Anyways, if you do not have some than download one of the above and sit back and listen to American Classical Music.
Also, NAXOS has a new recording called Black, Brown, and Beige recorded by the Buffalo Philharmonic. It consists of nothing but Duke Ellington tunes recorded by an orchestra. I am sure the Buffalo orch. is not a major one but the disc received good reviews and high ratings. I am going to download a copy. It is only $5.99 on AMAZON and I have sampled it. Sounds great.
That is, remember It Don't Mean A Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing!
One more comment,
Other great big bands: Count Basie, Lew Tabackin and Toshiko Akiyoshi Big Band, and the Thad Jones and Mel Lewis Big Band. One old, one from the 60s-70s, and one more modern with a Eastern touch to much on the music. All great stuff.
Uncle Joe!!
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
Rod Stewart
I was calling him the Barry Manilow of today's music or of my generation.
Well, he finally released a new CD that is a throw back to the early days when he was making Maggie May(Every Picture Tells A Story) and Gasoline Alley. Two great albums from the 70s that helped define him. He did record some good albums with the Faces that were a little more hard rocking. In the 80s he tried disco and some of it sucked (like most music from that time). In the 90s, I guess he took a break because he never went into alternative. Than we had that awful streak of him dong standards in the style of Barry Manilow!! Singing really old tunes from the 40s and 50s with orchestra.
Well, I am glad to see him come back into the fold and I will have to check his new CD out. I always liked his voice and the way it fit his music. He had good musicians around him and usually chose some great tunes from other songwriters plus wrote some good ones himself. Hope he is back to stay.
Uncle Joe!!
I was calling him the Barry Manilow of today's music or of my generation.
Well, he finally released a new CD that is a throw back to the early days when he was making Maggie May(Every Picture Tells A Story) and Gasoline Alley. Two great albums from the 70s that helped define him. He did record some good albums with the Faces that were a little more hard rocking. In the 80s he tried disco and some of it sucked (like most music from that time). In the 90s, I guess he took a break because he never went into alternative. Than we had that awful streak of him dong standards in the style of Barry Manilow!! Singing really old tunes from the 40s and 50s with orchestra.
Well, I am glad to see him come back into the fold and I will have to check his new CD out. I always liked his voice and the way it fit his music. He had good musicians around him and usually chose some great tunes from other songwriters plus wrote some good ones himself. Hope he is back to stay.
Uncle Joe!!
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