Miles Davis
Billie Holiday
Lester Young
Charlie Parker
Bill Evans
John Coltrane
Frank Sinatra
Ella Fitzgerald
Clifford Brown
Johnny Hodges
Dinah Washington
Milt Jackson
Sarah Vaughn
What is this a list of? (What is it's guiding principle?) Who else belongs on this list? Is the order I've put the names here the correct one?
It must be the 13 most-often played artists on your iPod. :-)
ResponderEliminarSomething that these artists have in common apart from the fact that I like them...
ResponderEliminarOkay, I have a real guess: there must be some standard that all of them did.
ResponderEliminarAll were masters of phrasing and subtle rhythmic displacement. Masters of time!
ResponderEliminarIf so, Armstrong and Monk belong on the list.
That's close, but other masters of time do not belong to the list: Elvin Jones, say.
ResponderEliminarStan Getz and Ben Webster belong on the list, but not, maybe, Bud Powell. Sonny Rollins may or may not be on the list, depending on one's judgment.
Ahhh, lyric melody, or lyric improvisation. Or, balladeers?
ResponderEliminarI'd put Rollins on such a list. Armstrong too, for sure. And Mingus.
20 questions!
Yes. They are the best interpreter of ballads, slow songs with a lots of melancholy feeling. They can play or sing the melody of the song --without even improvising-- per se to great emotional effect. I wouldn't rate Rollins as high on that list, though if it were a list of something else I certainly would. Rollins never really sounds sad to me. It's always buoyant enthusiasm even on a ballad.
ResponderEliminarArmstrong's "You Go To My Head" is sadder than Billie Holiday's. The man had range.
ResponderEliminarMingus on "Stormy Weather" or "Mood Indigo." Indelibly gorgeous, lushly melancholic.
I feel you on the Rollins call. His "Poor Butterfly" is wistful, but maybe not quite melancholy.
Ellington. His comping with Trane on "In a Sentimental Mood" is incomparable. Or his duet with Mingus on "Fleurette Africaine."
Monk for sure. His solo dates, especially the Riverside solos -- mmmmmmm!
Oh, yeah, Fleurette Africaine. That "Money Jungle" CD is just brilliant. And Max Roach on "A Little Max"!
ResponderEliminarI am coming back to this post just to mention three younger players who are also brilliant balladeers: David Murray, Brad Mehldau, and most of all Marc Ribot. Several times I have seen Ribot play solo versions of standards (on both electric and acoustic guitar) that were as painfully beautiful as any music I have ever heard. Unfortunately, he has recorded very little in that mode.
ResponderEliminarMary Lou Williams
ResponderEliminarBilly Strayhorn