Alphabetic Jazz
 

Stole this idea from William the Bloody's still warm corpse after hitting him over the head with a hammer.

So basically we just go from A-Z posting jazz (or blues) songs that start with the appropriate letter. So I post Charles Mingus's "Anus Licking Good" then the next person posts Ella Fitzgerald's "Bitches Ain't Shit" and so on. The only restriction is no double posting unless the thread dies and it's up to one of us to revive it. Posting your thoughts on the previous track is highly encouraged, but not required.

So to kick things off, one of my favourite jazz (and overall) tracks for A.



John Coltrane - Ascension

ICP Orchestra - Baltimore Oriole

Thelonious Monk - Carolina Moon

Django Reinhardt - Djangology

John McLaughlin - Extrapolation

Charles Mingus - Fables Of Faubus

I'd play but the hit on the head has caused amnesia, I should drag out my jazz collection from the mp3 cellar one day though.

Ronald Shannon Jackson - Gossip (Barbecue Dog, 1983)



This should totally be a game in plug by the way. Songs in alphabetical order.

Nice way to have a random trawl through the archives of jazz! If we´re up to "H", it´s time for some Hard Times from David Fathead Newman:-

I can't participate cuz I'm a failure, but I'll be keeping an eye on this bad boy. Thanks for being a thief.

I Bobby Hutcherson - Idle While

Nice track, bulbasaur!

^ Haha ! Was this your idea, along with WilliamTheBloody´s ? I guess it´s like the guy who invented the wheel - you can´t be the sole owner of a good idea for long.

"J" means Jambo Caribe, a Dizzy Gillespie album released in 1964. Here he is, playing the title track:-

Here is a J-azz tune which starts with the letter K.

Albert Ayler Quartet - Mothers

Albert Ayler - New Generation

Albert Ayler - Omega

It's on.

Albert Ayler - Prophecy

Q Archie Shepp / Waheeda Massey - Quiet Dawn

Roland Kirk - Rip, Rig and Panic

Sun Ra - Space is the Place

It´s about time that someone bumped this alphabet along by saying that T stands for Take Five by Dave Brubeck. The original is so well known that I hope no-one minds if I post a cover version in which it is played in 4/4 time. Is that wacky, or what?

^ Nice cover version which, given the time sig change, they could have titled "Take Four". :)

Alice Coltrane - Universal Consciousness

Thank you, ribbons. :laughing: - yes, the song should really be retitled.
TBH, I found the Alice Coltrane track rather difficult to listen to - any chance of you going back to Albert Ayler for the remaining letters of the alphabet ?

^ For you :)

Albert Ayler and Don Cherry - Vibrations

Herbie Hancock - Watermelon Man

:laughing: Thanks! I´m a big fan of Don Cherry - and also of HH´s Headhunters album. "X" is going to be tricky, though ....

Sorry about that, Lisnaholic -- will try to come up with more Ayler tracks as we go through our jazz alphabet -- but now that we're at "X", I'm at a loss! In fact, the only "X" song I can think of at moment is...

Ray Charles and Milt Jackson - X-Ray Blues



Nice vibes by Milt, but slightly uninspiring for my tastes. From Ray and Milt's classic Soul Meeting album on which Ray occasionally plays a distinctively-voiced, bluesy alto sax (not on this track, though).

Yusef Lateef Quartet - Yesterdays

^ That was beautiful.

Albert Ayler - Zion Hill

Milford Graves's drumming is incredible on this album.

^It sure is, one of my favourites. I find the track with the guitar a bit underwhelming though.

Peter Brotzmann, Masahiko Satoh, and Takeo Moriyama - Autumn Drizzle

^ Thanks Frownland, I was wondering if we´d go round the alphabet again...
^ Haha. You did well to find anything beginning with X, ribbons. As you say, it´s not breathtaking, but I thought it livened up a bit in the middle.

This clip is also on the mild side, but shows how they swing it in Russia:-

Clifford Brown - Cherokee



A question on the rules: what if the name of the tune starts with an article? For example, if I wanted to post Alan Ferber's The Compass, does that count for C or for T?

^ Welcome to MB, Mr. Cucumber - or is that Ms ?
I don´t suppose anyone is too worried about the rules; people would just go along with your decision I suspect. In fact, of your two clips, I prefered The Compass.

Sir Quality Cucumber, esq.

Thanks, I prefer to put up new stuff as opposed to standards. Gives me an opportunity to be snobby. Plus, "The Compass" is such an evocative title. It would be a shame to let such a tune go by the wayside because of a technicality.

Roland Kirk - Django


http://youtu.be/deTpUUoLBiA

East of the Sun, West of the Moon seems to be something of a jazz standard, with versions by Oscar Peterson, Billie Holiday, Scott Hamilton among others. Here´s a more recent version:-

Pat Metheney Group - The First Circle

Takes about a minute for them to start playing this version of Goodbye Pork Pie Hat, but who would dare hurry a line up that included Mingus, Mulligan and Don Pullen?

Herbie Hancock - Head Hunters