Musician Showcase

CHARLIE PARKER (1920 - 1955)
born in Kansas City, Kansas

Known as Bird, Yardbird, or simply the best saxophonist of his time, Charlie Parker established a lasting legacy in just 34 short years.



 
BUD POWELL (1924 - 1966)
Hands-down my most favoritist pianist

He plays a lot of really fast bebop-type runs and solos,
but he also has really beautiful solo compositions unlike most other musicians.

Born in the Harlem renaissance, it’s understandable why followed Chopin’s suit with his use of 6th and diminished chords.


Some of my favorites of his:
In this one ^ you can watch him mumbling as he’s playing… perhaps I’ll make a thread about it



 
I'm not much of a huge nerd about jazz, but it's a genre I enjoy listening to from time to time. My two favorite jazz musicians are Dave Brubeck and Chet Baker.

 
Les McCann (1935-2023) and Eddie Harris (1934-1996)

Album: Swiss Movement - Live at Montreux Jazz Festival

An absolute banger start to finish. If you weren't sure about Jazz before, this album can change the hearts and minds of even the most staunch vietcong soldier. Worth seeking out in physical form to FEEL the rhythm and horns reverberate through your bones.



 
toast said:
Les McCann (1935-2023) and Eddie Harris (1934-1996)

Album: Swiss Movement - Live at Montreux Jazz Festival

An absolute banger start to finish. If you weren't sure about Jazz before, this album can change the hearts and minds of even the most staunch vietcong soldier. Worth seeking out in physical form to FEEL the rhythm and horns reverberate through your bones.



Click to expand...
These guys are amazing... I don't know that I've ever heard of either of them.

It's cool to think that they were both born in the 30's, so they would've been able to grow up hearing big band, and the early stages of bop, and what they're playing is harmonically so nice to the ears, but they have so many kind of like "latin" or "soul/gospel" aspects to them which adds a heaviness which I haven't found is very easy to capture and create something that still sounds like jazz.

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I love that video of Les McCann live in LA and you can really see what he's doing with his hands. He's using both his hands as one (as barry harris often harped on), so you don't end up hearing this "scattered"-sounding, baseline with the left hand, melody with the right hand, but he's playing the instrument as it's constructed, absolutely amazing.

I've been listening to almost exclusively country-rock, rock and blues for the past few months but this has reminded me just how refreshing I find some good jazz to be.
 
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