Rabz’ Radio Show Spring 2023 – Jazz


Many people would describe this as the perfect music when one would like to kick back and relaxatrate (or Relaxin’).

They would not be incorrect.

Jazz, by its very nature, is unpredictable, with the emphasis on the concept of “improvisation”.

Jazz is “a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime”, according to that impeccable source, Wikipedia.

Since its popular peak in the 1920s and 1930s Jazz has carved out its own unique niche. There are many variations, but a personal favourite would be “Bebop”.

The Mods were gifted their name due to their love of “Modern Jazz”, i.e. Modernists.

The most legendary Jazz artists are known for their use of three instruments in particular, the Saxophone, Trombone and Trumpet.

That said, my three favourite Jazz artists are:

Charlie Parker

Louis Armstrong

Miles Davis

However, Miles, was “The Man”.  

From his legendary last album, Doo-Bop

Enjoy and consume some Martinis while relaxin’ in your pad with an aesthetically pleasing woman, Cats.

You know you want to. 

,

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

47 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
P
P
September 2, 2023 7:15 pm
Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
September 2, 2023 7:27 pm

Jazz is so far from anything I know that I can’t much contribute.

Ok a tiny bit. I’ll get in with this remarkable track before anyone else does. 😀

Rhapsody in Blue (1945)

I saw somewhere that Gershwin originally intended to play it at pace, like a twenties music hall track. Then for some reason they played it really really slowly for a lark. The rest was history!

Bazinga
Bazinga
September 2, 2023 7:32 pm
Mark from Melbourne
Mark from Melbourne
September 2, 2023 7:45 pm

Joe Zawinul’s tribute to an Austrian grandfather, His Last Journey.

Roger
Roger
September 2, 2023 7:46 pm

Bitches Brew

Better than any Pink Floyd you may have heard …

A regular on my turntable for nigh on 40 years.

From there I worked back to his more traditional jazz albums and also John Coltrane.

Boxcar
Boxcar
September 2, 2023 7:57 pm

I fell in love with jazz in the beer garden at the Dicko in Canberra in 1969, and the memory still endures.
Then it was all night in Bourbon St for the American Bi-Centenary in 4 July 1976. Once in a lifetime.
But, Bruce, right with you on “Rhapsody in Blue” Could listen forever.

miltonf
miltonf
September 2, 2023 8:00 pm
Roger
Roger
September 2, 2023 8:01 pm

Have you heard Doo-Bop?

His last album?

No.

Might be a bridge too far for me but I’ll give it a try if it’s on Spotify.

Over and out for the night.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
September 2, 2023 8:09 pm

Nah I’m defeated. I just can’t do jazz. I tried Eric Clapton, I tried John Williams, Taj Mahal, John Lee Hooker, Mark Knopfler and Ian Ritchie. Nope blues, instrumental, rock, but not jazz. Sadly jazz is a totally different language for me.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
September 2, 2023 8:20 pm

Ok not quite defeated (just hanging on by fingernails)…Ian Ritchie who did the awesome Lonely Planet theme does have a jazz album. So here’s the first track.

Greene Street (2013)

Nice sax!

thefrolickingmole
thefrolickingmole
September 2, 2023 8:20 pm

Similar, I just can appreciate jazz, have stepped in it before though.

Christine
Christine
September 2, 2023 8:21 pm

“After You’ve Gone”
Sort of superb
I’m going to hang on to that

Thank you

thefrolickingmole
thefrolickingmole
September 2, 2023 8:21 pm

Can’t…
I know it’s by talented people, etc, but leaves me cold most of the time.

Nelson_Kidd-Players
September 2, 2023 8:44 pm

Was lead clarinet on this one at Blacky Tech, including a short solo. No idea how it sounded on the floor between year-end school awards being handed out…

Swingin’ Safari

Alamak!
September 2, 2023 8:48 pm

Miles does jazz plus classical based on flamenco.

A real byatshes brew of music by the master of the trumpet

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
September 2, 2023 8:56 pm

Oh dear. I talked about Gershwin slowing down the original Rhapsody in Blue. Browsing I found this…

Bill Bailey – Belgian Jazz (2021)

The Dr Who theme as you’ve never it heard before. Superb.

(Warning: this might be too comedic for this thread.)

Nelson_Kidd-Players
September 2, 2023 9:06 pm

Dad’s been gone for a few years now but his record collection still sits in the K-Tel record rack (in caramel) with a few of Mum’s favourites, although they tend to classical.

This is among the collection, and I recognise the album cover as part of the YT screen. Joe Loss plays Glenn Miller.

Pennsylvania 6-5000

Nelson_Kidd-Players
September 2, 2023 9:17 pm

Artie Shaw is another name in my Dad’s collection. I didn’t fine one I recognised, but this might have you moving around the room rhythmically!

Softly, as in a morning sunrise – Artie Shaw

GreyRanga
GreyRanga
September 2, 2023 9:24 pm

I play Kind of Blue album once a week. Dave Brubeck more often.

Nelson_Kidd-Players
September 2, 2023 9:27 pm

I totally don’t play like this:

Benny Goodman

WolfmanOz
September 2, 2023 9:27 pm

I have to admit I’m not a big fan of jazz . . . but my favourite jazz album, influenced by my father’s love of Errol Garner, is his album Concert By The Sea which is simply amazing.

Nelson_Kidd-Players
September 2, 2023 10:59 pm

One more from my parents’ collection to finish off. Not strictly jazz, but when it’s time to slow it down a bit…

Mrs. Mills’ Music for anytime (whole album)

And no, she didn’t live in Koo Wee Rup, despite what my Dad answered to my question regarding a particular name on a farm gate.

P
P
September 2, 2023 11:05 pm
Alamak!
September 2, 2023 11:42 pm

And for anyone not quite into Jazz, try these two versions of “favourite things”

Julie Andrews
John Coltrane

For myself, I was never a Jazz nerd despite friends being mad keen on all the classics but found the Jazz singers, especially the ladies, impossible to resist

Billie Holiday
Ella Fitzgerald sings Cole Porter

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
September 3, 2023 12:24 am

Dave Brubeck with Take Five played around with 5/4 time, a fantastic drum interlude and a sax which was like salted chocolate. Brubeck holding it all together. I was young and amazed. And on the same LP, Blue Rondo a la Turk. Beautiful, urgent, and now so very redolent.

Full of memories for me at seventeen, being an artist’s muse half-naked, drawn in swift charcoal outlines, in the twilight, as the harbour shrugged and lights glistened across from the bridge. That dark bridge with its receding moon, as it became, later, whenever Blue Rondo played. He’s dead now.

Crossie
Crossie
September 3, 2023 12:37 am

Does George Benson qualify?


Give Me The Night

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
September 3, 2023 12:42 am

And then there’s the essential weepie for a lost love. We’ve all been there.

Billie Holliday, from Lady in Satin. “I get along without you very well”.

Crossie
Crossie
September 3, 2023 12:46 am

What about some Boz Scaggs?

Lowdown

Crossie
Crossie
September 3, 2023 12:49 am

I love this one from Dave Brubeck.

Unsquare Dance

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
September 3, 2023 12:59 am

Conclude on some Glen Miller and bit of swing. To keep us In the Mood

If it wasn’t bedtime I’d put in some Dixieland trad jazz too. Blues and soul.
Someone else maybe will come in and do the best of that.

I like some jazz, but I can’t take too much of it.
Never been able to stand Ella Fitzgerald for instance. All that booby–beep stuff.

Alamak!
September 3, 2023 12:59 am

Nice one by Boz Scaggs, Crossie.

Ella singing one of Cole Porters best – Night & Day

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
September 3, 2023 1:00 am

Sorry Alamak, my feelings about Ella cross over yours.

But Cole Porter’s good no matter who sings his stuff.

Back when America was great, in music and in its heart of song.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
September 3, 2023 1:04 am

That rendition of Night and Day isn’t too bad. OK after a few drinks I suppose.

Hairy and I sing that to each other some evenings with a hug and a dance.
As silly old married couples can do.

Alamak!
September 3, 2023 1:15 am

Elizabeth> I’m not a great fan of scat singing either. Cole Porter songs can’t be beat – no matter who sings them …

Nice to hear the songs work as intended 😉

Bruce
Bruce
September 3, 2023 8:03 am

Jazz is not just derived from Louisiana plantation Blues.

The other big bit of the story is the instrumental and “stylistic” influence of Klezmer, an entire genre that originated in the Jewish enclaves of eastern Europe..

Hence the wailing clarinet solos, classical-style modulations and the “pick-up” and improvisational style. Note also the associated influence of “Gypsy” styles which drove French Jazz, the “digitally challenged” Django Rheinhardt being the most obvious.

In a further extension, check out the music scene on New Caledonia”Gypsy Jazz” meets Polynesian rhythms and harmonies and then there are those who wind in some avant garde influences.

And, in a grim twist:

Vale Jimmy Buffett, the clown prince of ‘Beach-Bum” music. The only time I caught one of hid gigs was in Brisbane in 1987. The QPAC Concert Hall was full to capacity for one show. A slick and joyous night out as he worked his way over to Fremantle for the “return-bout” of the Americas Cup. No BS, no fancy light show, no politics, just a big barn full of people having fun, on and off the stage.

Bruce
Bruce
September 3, 2023 8:08 am

Jazz is not just derived from Louisiana plantation Blues.

The other big bit of the story is the instrumental and “stylistic” influence of Klezmer, an entire genre that originated in the Jewish enclaves of eastern Europe..

Hence the wailing clarinet solos, classical-style modulations and the “pick-up” and improvisational style. Note also the associated influence of “Gypsy” styles which drove French Jazz, the “digitally challenged” Django Rheinhardt being the most obvious.

In a further extension, check out the music scene on New Caledonia”Gypsy Jazz” meets Polynesian rhythms and harmonies and then there are those who wind in some avant garde influences.

And, in a grim twist:

Vale Jimmy Buffett, the clown prince of ‘Beach-Bum” and nautical songs. The only time I caught one of hid gigs was in Brisbane in 1987. The QPAC Concert Hall was full to capacity for one show. A slick and joyous night out as he worked his way over to Fremantle for the “return-bout” of the Americas Cup. No BS, no fancy light show, no politics, just a big barn full of people having fun, on and off the stage.

P
P
September 3, 2023 11:08 am

My easy2C Calendar on Sunday September 3 shows:
Father’s Day
Australian National Flag Day

It was a Liberal state govt that allowed the Aboriginal flag to fly on our Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Bruce
Bruce
September 3, 2023 10:19 pm

I haven early George Benson album entitled, IIRC, “The shape of things to come”, recorded in the 1960s, when he wa just a pup. Not at all like his later, “successful” stuff..

Either way, no slouch on the guitar!

johanna
johanna
September 4, 2023 12:18 pm

Yes indeed, Bruce, the origins of jazz are much more complicated than just Louisiana blues.

Gypsy music, Hungarian folk, and numerous other strands are relevant.

Anyway, not seeing a lot of love for Australian artists here. A fave of mine is Vince Jones.

Body and Soul.

And a wonderful rendition of the classic

Nature Boy.

If you want just one Australian jazz album, I highly recommend Vince’s On the Brink of It. I’ve had it for a long time, never get tired of it, it transcends fashion.

BTW, from people I know in the jazz world, as is typical, Vince is personally a bit of a trainwreck. But, he’s a great artist.

  1. Iranian general, top Hezbollah official both missing Maria Bervanakis An Iranian general who promised to “see the dead bodies of…

  2. Zactly Tom. It was the same when they put Rudd up knowing that Gillard would never be elected. It is…

  3. You’re welcome, Bourne. A group of people worth supporting. Alas, security for an open event like that couldn’t be guaranteed…

  4.  I sat and listened whilst Pretty Boy Minns spoke his shallow empty words. I despise him, like I despise the…

47
0
Oh, you think that, do you? Care to put it on record?x
()
x