Comments on: John Coltrane: An Appreciation

By: T_Steel

T_Steel — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 19:49:06 +0000

As a self-proclaimed “synthesizer wiz” (well that's what folks who know me say), I agree with your point about people not knowing how to play them. You don't play the synths like you play a regular piano. The synth tones are a world onto themselves. That's why the majority of the music that I performed was in the house, club, and electronica genres. I didn't get much love from jazz bands because I had such a synth slant (even though my background is jazz piano).

I'm a big bebop fan myself. Dizzy Gillespie, Bud Powell, Charlie Mingus, Fats Navarro, Monk, etc… Listening to Bud Powell right now.

By: shaun

shaun — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 19:06:16 +0000

T:

My "problem" with fusion is that as a body of work, it hasn't had the legs that other jazz genres have.

Weather Report and Mahavishnu Orchestra and some stuff by David Sancious, Stanley Clarke and Larry Coryell sound as fresh and exciting today as they did back in the day, but I can't say that about many other fusion bands and artists who experimented with fusion.

I blame my antipathy in part on the explosion of the synthesizer. Damned few people knew how to play them and it showed.

By: T_Steel

T_Steel — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 18:41:26 +0000

Yeah I know “fusion jazz” causes the jazz heads to want to jump off a cliff. LOL!

By: Ricorun

Ricorun — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 16:31:18 +0000

Similar to T, it was Davis's “Bitches Brew” that really turned me on to jazz. My dad was a fan of big bands, and I liked them too. I hadn't heard anything like Bitches Brew before. Miles Davis opened up many musical doors for me. As I got into his older stuff (especially “Blue”, which I consider one of the best collections of music ever assembled) I got into be-bop, and Coltrain, Bird, Dexter Gordon, Thelonius Monk, and Brubeck. And fusion wasn't all bad. I liked Weather Report okay. And John McLaughlin. And dabblers like Tony Williams and Stanley Clarke.

By: Rudi

Rudi — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 15:36:04 +0000

LOL
T_Steel, sorry to hear your love of fusion jazz. IMHO it's mechanical/technical flavor is like light beer to a full bodied beer. I'm n "old fart" and grew bored with the likes of Return to Foreever and that ilk. Now the ECM label is how I enjoyed Chick Corea, over Al DiMeolas endless runs.
http://www.indiejazz.com/page.aspx?page=genre_d...
http://www.ecmrecords.com/Startseite/startseite...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keith_Jarrett

By: DLS

DLS — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 14:07:51 +0000

Much better, Shaun.

On a similar note — listening to Grover Washington, Jr., has been something I've enjoyed, particularly when driving through New York City (“A Secret Place” starts as I turn around the ramp off the Verazzano Narrows bridge heading north and east toward the Brooklyn Bridge).

By: T_Steel

T_Steel — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 13:44:18 +0000

I've listened to John Coltrane's “My Favorite Things” many, many, many times. I never tire of it. Coltrane's interpretation of “My Favorite Things” just gets this tough dude all emotional. McCoy Tyner's piano work just bounces along the Coltrane's soloing like a great point guard in basketball handling the “rock”. I can talk about “My Favorite Things” for hours.

Although it was Miles Davis' “Bitches Brew” that got me into playing the piano/keyboard (I feel in love with fusion jazz), it was Coltrane's “My Favorite Things” that made me FULLY appreciate this wonderful sound that America created.