Hushed Jazz Applause Is The Loudest Sound In The World
Our earlier That's Jaaazz posts drew an internet-straining response! My diagnostics consultant Kandi Kreampie tells me that up to four readers participated in the swell debate! Hoo boy! Skimming the crest of this tsunami of enthusiasm today are a couple of albums with nothing in common other than the initials of the musicians and a cherished place in th' FalseMemoryFoam Vault O' Sound©, so quality is assured! Only this time the quality is hi-, as in hi-fi! So say hi! to fine music and high times!
When you want your jaaazz to be smooth on the draw with no harsh aftertaste, when the mood is mellow and the lights are low, you'll reach for these sophisticated selections with confidence! Say yes to no harsh atonality! Say yes to "no free jazz here, buddy! We's paying customers!" When you got a dame draped in your lap, last thing you need is some boho overblowing his reed in a challenging attempt to raise your consciousness! That's why we here at th' Foam like our jaaazz stirred, not shaken!
Gabor Szabo - crazy name, crazy guy! - had fusion out the ass before the term was invented. The album most jazz toe-dippers know is Sorcerer, but Dreams, from '68, gets my vote, for the absence of jazz club applause, the vodka-clear production, the subtle air of hookah smoke, and a finger-snapping version of Donovan's Ferris Wheel. And, boy, is that some swell sleeve! If your squeeze ain't swaying her hips to Galatea's Guitar, then brother, get another broad! Reference point for psychonauts: Kaleidoscope.
George Shearing - boring name, boring guy! - is better known for his bespectacled piano stylings than this one-of-a-kind chamber jazz offering. It got kicked to death by every beret-wearing bluenose who knew True Jazz when he heard it, and he certainly wasn't hearing it on '64's Out Of The Woods. But, candidly, who gives a fuck, right? This is composed and arranged to the last hemi-demi-quaver. No blowing, just an unclassifiable selection of exquisitely lovely tunes. I'm told there's counterpoint a-plenty, but don't let that put you off. Reference point for psychonauts: Zappa's melodic interludes.
I'll up these as soon as I'm out of my parole hearing.
ReplyDeleteBoom-chah ... a-boom-boom-CHAH
ReplyDeleteIronically, at one of my mid 80s parole hearings, I was granted early release, provided I underwent cultural rehabilitation. That led the then Mrs. Mac to take me to The Algonquin Hotel, at which none other than Mr. Shearing was holding court with a bassist as his sole accompaniment. I figured why not make it a trio, and I started banging on the table tops, and smacking a knife (switchblade variety) against several of the many empty bottles now jockeying for space on the table top. Such was the end of my rehab, and my return to the joint.
ReplyDeletepmac's story is a page from all our diaries! Who among us hasn't violated their parole by adding weapons-based accompaniment at an intimate jazz soirée?
DeleteNice Music !
ReplyDeleteMaybe more than four, since my comments weren't published.
ReplyDeleteBill, this one got through. I'm not deleting any comments except obvious spam (there have been maybe a half-dozen of those, which I immediately flag as spam). Comments aren't vetted by me - anything gets through. There's certainly no editorial spiking going on, so I don't understand how comments aren't "getting through". Keep 'em coming!
DeleteAh, Gabor Szabo's "Dreams" reminds me of an old girlfriend who dumped me but kept my lp. Hard feelings aside, "Jazz Raga" is the one for me, old sport -- supposedly Gabor had never played a sitar prior to recording that lp.
ReplyDeleteThat's nuthin'. The sitar was notorious for being easy to play. It was sold in a play-in-a-day package as "easier than the ocarina!"
DeleteLet's not forget the theremin. Another instrument marketed as being for the whole family. That would make one interesting duet album: sitar & theremin.
DeleteWe should patent a fusion of the two - the Theretar ... or the Siremin. I envisage a bulky electric keyboard strung with sitar strings and played in your lap. What could possibly go wrong?
DeleteIn the late 60s, when I were but a mid-teen lad, a chum was introducing me to jazz, mainly via guitarists. Gabor was amongst them but, to my ears he was pushed to one side by Jim Hall, Herb Ellis and Charlie Byrd and he never pushed back.
ReplyDeleteI’ve just given Dreams a listen and I’m still un-enthralled. Strange really as everything about is should appeal but . . .
What it has done however is remind me about a band of similar vintage and intent: the Joe Harriott & John Mayer Double Quintet and their Fusions (’67) and Fusions 2 (’68) albums. I have a ’98 CD reissue combining both LPs and it’s a most enjoyable and adventurous-for-the-time mix of east and west. No guitar but, amongst others, Kenny Wheeler on trumpet and Diwan Motihar on sitar.
I saw them in concert at a hall in Wrexham in the very late sixties and remember nothing about it except that the audience attitude was more classical than jazz – a simple cough raised eyebrows, god knows what the rattle of a crisp packet may have done.
Incidentally, all of your links now tell me that I am “403 Forbidden” which is exciting but unhelpful.
Cheers, Peanuts Molly.
Peanuts Molly is my unwelcome prison name. My real name is Peanuts Molloy.
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