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Various jazz sound clips

If you think that jazz is museum music, check out contemporary piano player / composer Danilo Perez, from Boston by way of Panama. His CD Motherland is simply profound.

Here are samples from Motherland. Unlike many pages of this sort, the clips are reasonably long and start from the beginning of the track.

As an added bonus, bass player (and vocalist) extraordinaire Richard Bona guests on track 4, though it's just starting to heat up when the clip ends.

When I get a cd with 2 or 3 great tracks I'm happy as a clam. This one is amazing start to finish. My faves are 2, 3, 4, 6, 7 and especially 9.

One of the things I like about Perez is he combines folkloric with modern in a special sort of way.

p.s. He's touring with Wayne Shorter, and appearing in San Francisco tomorrow (April 10).
 
varwoche said:
p.s. He's touring with Wayne Shorter, and appearing in San Francisco tomorrow (April 10).
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Looks like I'll get my chance in Sept, when they appear w/St Louis Symphony. Not sure what the setup will be, but should be interesting.
 
Jazz was not created in a museum, but the current bunch of bland, safe jazz coming out of academia is certainly museum material...dead, stuffed, and belonging in a glass case.

Or as that 19 hour monstrosity from Ken Burns shows, perhaps a church, with Louis Armstrong as the deity, and Wynton Marsalis as the Pope.

Labels like 'Jazz' can cover a myriad of sins, as well as some great music, and a whole truckload of uninspired worshippers.
 
Well yeah, if you were referring to "smooth jazz," that's hardly jazz....
 
Have you read 'Bebop and Nothingness' by Francis Davis?

Once something passes into the mainstream , it is bound to have the sharp edges worn smooth for mass consumption.

The heavyweights who created jazz wouldn't stand a chance in today's corporate jazz industry.
 
I really liked the original, though I'm not sure what it does to the point at hand, but Jazz can always be updated. I would suggest Mocean Worker or DJ Dara - Smoke. Long live Miles Davis and Duke Ellington!
 
Rubalcaba

Another brilliant contemporary piano player is Gonzalo Rubalcaba. He's sort of like one part Chucho Valdez and one part Bill Evans. As a product of the Cuban conservatory system (now living in the US), he's classically trained.

To get a feel for his range... Track 3 (my fave on this cd) is a hard-edged, wildly syncopated bepob thing. Track 1 is the opposite.

scroll down for clips
(sorry about the clip quality -- hard to find good ones)

At the risk of overdoing the superlatives, the drummer is the great Ignacio Berroa. He is unreal.
Diz: The only Latin drummer in the world, in the history of American music that intimately knows both worlds; his native Afro-Cuban music as well as Jazz
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If you never had a Keroac moment, catch them live. It is way intense.
 
Re: Rubalcaba

Long live Bebop. :) Excellent, you have any more recommendations? I've brought two CDs online after hearing samples through Paltalk sessions with fellow sceptics.
 
An unexpected treat landed in my email inbox yesterday: A link to an entire concert (streaming video + sound) by perhaps the greatest musical genius who every walked the planet, the inimitable Hermeto Pascoal.

link

This is Hermeto plus the Toulouse Conservatory big band performing in France. I'm not a big band fan, and much prefer his small combo. That said, this is unlike any big band music you will ever hear.

Be forewarned, this is complex, unusual music. If it's not to your taste, at least fast forward to the 33:00 mark and hear Hermeto rip up a melodica, and to the 45:30 mark where he rips up an accordion.

No shortage of humour as well.
 
varwoche said:
Another brilliant contemporary piano player is Gonzalo Rubalcaba.
...
At the risk of overdoing the superlatives, the drummer is the great Ignacio Berroa. He is unreal.

If you never had a Keroac moment, catch them live. It is way intense.
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Since the time of this post I got Rubalcaba's most recent cd Paseo. It's goddamn unbelievable. I wish I could find decent clips of my 2 fave tracks. Oh well.

Here's an NPR interview with clips (but not #5 or #8).
npr interview
 
varwoche said:
This is Hermeto Pascoal plus the Toulouse Conservatory big band performing in France. I'm not a big band fan, and much prefer his small combo. That said, this is unlike any big band music you will ever hear.
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Better yet, here's audio from a recent London performance of Hermeto's small band.
BBC Radio 3

The sound quality is lacking but that doesn't matter because this is borderline paranormal. This band is WAY locked in.

(This music probably wouldn't fit into most people's definitions of jazz including mine though there are jazz elements.)
 
Kiless said:
Long live Bebop. :) Excellent, you have any more recommendations? I've brought two CDs online after hearing samples through Paltalk sessions with fellow sceptics.
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If you like Monk (or Coltrane, for that matter) I can definitely recommend the new At Carnegie Hall album.

Edited to add link.
 
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I saw the amazing Yosvany Terry and his amazing band the other night and all I can say is holy sweet jesus.

If you choose the flash option, his web site auto-plays an excellent, long sample.

And there are some nice clips from his latest CD at amazon here.
 
Just saw this thread for the first time. Thanks for the links, varwoche. Nice stuff.

I saw Gonzalo for the first time a few months ago, and I'm sorry to say it was a huge disappointment. Basic problem: he was too hip for the room (and the room was pretty damn hip). He seemed to be going for pure cerebral complexity, with no regard for connecting with the audience in any way. So a lot of the audience left in mid-performance. Frankly I would have too, except I was supposed to meet him afterwards to talk about the transcription book of his music that I did.
 
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