Recommended Album

(Click on the pic to buy it)

Sam Yahel Trio - Truth And Beauty

In what is going to be a more active year than recently for Joshua Redman, the gifted tenor sax player appears in a second new trio jazz release (following his own "Back East") in as many weeks. Now the format is sax, Hammond B3 (Sam Yahel) and drums (the wonderful Brian Blade) but the basic tenet is the same; less is more - more jazz from a paired down setting.

Sam Yahel is composer on most of the tracks ("Truth and Beauty", "Man O’ War", "Bend the Leaves", "Saba", "Child Watching" and "Festinhas") and he continues with the inventiveness that he has shown on his earlier albums "Searchin'", "In the Blink of an Eye" and "Trio", all highly recommended, especially for the playing of Peter Bernstein (guitar). Notably, Brian Blade plays drums on the last two of these earlier albums, pointing to the long relationship and the accumulated understanding between the two musicians.

Joshua Redman replaced Peter Bernstein when the trio went on to produce "Yaya3" in 2002 and this same set-up featured as the core of Joshua Redman's successful album "Momentum", released in 2005. "Truth and Beauty is completed by the Ornette Coleman composition "Check Up", the Gil/Donato song "A Paz" and a take on Paul Simon's "Night Game" which emerges as one of the most successful tracks of the album for its relative simplicity and knowable direction alongside the complexity of the Coleman and Yahel compositons.

Overall this is a winning continuation of a fine development of involving and subtle Hammond B3 based jazz and is highly recommended.



Academic Jazz Pt.2

What Types of Compositions Become Jazz Standards?

The most common categories of origin are:
  • Tin Pan Alley
  • Broadway musicals and Hollywood movies
  • Jazz composers
In the broadest sense of the definition one might also include:
  • Traditional (folk, church, Christmas)
  • Rock and roll
  • International popular and folk music

Album Recommendation + Graphic Design


(Click on the cover to buy it)

 


Tracklist:

1. Comme il Faut 
2. Space Jungle II 
3. Song for Che 
4. Broken Shadows 
5. Tomorrow



2008 reissue of this long unavailable live recording from the Ornette Coleman Quartet. The quartet on this performance features Coleman, Charlie Haden, Dewey Redman and Ed Blackwell. Features five extraordinary tracks including 'Comme Il Faut', 'Broken Shadows' and 'Tomorrow


Thelonious & Theodore: The Inside Story of Monk and Rollins


Sonny Rollins: Sax colossus

Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts on a titan of jazz. See photographer Jamie-James Medina in conversation with Sonny Rollins here




"My love for Sonny goes back a long way. I would have been 15 or 16 when I first played his records, first with Max Roach and Clifford Brown, then his stuff with Miles, and then of course on his own. I first saw him in 1964 in the original Birdland club on 52nd Street, playing with a trio. To sit there and watch Sonny Rollins, my God! In those days he did this fantastic thing: he used to start playing in the dressing room with no band, then walk out and go around the stage, using the room to bounce the sound off. It was amazing. I'd never seen anyone do that.
"He was incredibly hip and looked fabulous, and he still does. We have the same tailor friend who makes our clothes in New York, and Sonny is still a very sharp man. He looks amazing. He's gone perfectly white in his beard and hair; it's like Samuel Beckett when he got old.
"I've been fortunate enough to get to know him a bit. Mick [Jagger] asked me about a tenor player for the Stones' Waiting on a Friend and I suggested Sonny. He did that song then wanted to have a go at another one, a real lairy rock'n'roll thing called Neighbours. He played great on it. It was an overdub, unfortunately, so we never played together. Probably just as well. My goodness, I'd sit there and think, 'bloody hell, what am I going to do here?'I'd feel like an impostor, because that's the highest company you can keep.
"There are people who burn bright and fade quickly, and there are those who burn bright and keep going. You have to admire that. Sonny has never made a bad record – ever; some are simply greater than others. When he stands and plays, there isn't a saxophone player who doesn't look on in awe. He's the last one standing, and he's still playing as well today as he was then. He's still at the peak at what he does. It's great inspiration that there isn't really a time limit, but very few people can do it at that level.
His wife died a few years ago and it hit him very hard. He became much more reclusive, but we ring each other now and then. He's not just a saxophone player, he's something else. He's iconic, a leader without having to explicitly say it. I think you'd follow Sonny into war."

Key recording: Saxophone Colossus (Prestige, 1956)

Academic Jazz Pt.1

What is a Jazz Standard?
The terms "standard" and "jazz standard" are often used when one is referring to popular and jazz music compositions.  A quick search of the internet reveals, however, that the definitions of these terms can vary widely. So what is a standard?  Comparing definitions from a number of dictionaries and music scholars and basing a definition on the points on which they are in agreement, it is reasonable to state:
A "standard" is a composition that is held in continuing esteem and is commonly used in musical repertoires.
And,
A "jazz standard" is a composition that is held in continuing esteem and is commonly used as the basis of jazz arrangements and improvisations.
Sometimes the term "jazz standard" is used to imply a jazz composition that has become a standard. Words and phrases often have multiple valid meanings and this term is no exception. At this site we will use the definition having the more general acceptance, one that allows compositions from any origin.  To better understand our decision, consider the contents of the following sheet music collection titled Jazz Standards:



Series: Paperback Songs
Composer : Various

110 classics, including: All the things You Are • Autumn in New York • Bewitched • Cry Me a River • Don't Get Around Much Anymore • A Fine Romance • I Can't Get Started With You • I've Got You Under My Skin • The Lady Is a Tramp • Manhattan • Misty • My Funny Valentine • Old Devil Moon • Prelude to a Kiss • Route 66 • Smoke Gets in Your Eyes • There's a Small Hotel • When Sunny Gets Blue • You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To • and more.



Clearly the majority of these "jazz standards" were not originally jazz compositions.  When music publishers include the term "jazz standards" in a description or title they almost always are referring to compositions used as the foundation for jazz arrangements or improvisations, regardless of whether or not they were written by a jazz composer.
In general, music authors and theorists also favor the broader definition.  Will Friedwald, in his book Stardust Melodies, comments how Coleman Hawkins did more than anyone else to establish Johnny Green's "Body and Soul" as an all-time jazz standard. In Listening to Class American Popular Songs, Allen Forte, author and Battell Professor of the Theory of Music at Yale University, refers to Jerome Kern's "The Way You Look Tonight" as a jazz standard, a song that was introduced by Fred Astaire in the RKO musical Swing Time.

Cheltenham Festivals -Jazz10



About the Jazz Festival

One of Europe’s leading jazz festivals… famous names, rising stars, club nights, jazz standards, big bands, soloists, funk, blues, fusion, latin, soul, family events, school concerts… save the date, 28 April–3 May 2010.

“Jazz you can dance to; jazz you can expand your mind to; jazz you can party to.”
Jamie Cullum



Jazzlife Books -Special & Collector Editions-

Jazzlife Special Edition


(Click on the pic to buy it)

Hardcover + CD, 696 pages


"Jazzlife is surely the most thorough and imaginative visual record of American jazz at mid-century that we'll ever see." - Newsweek, New York

The sights and sounds of American jazz

In 1960, photographer William Claxton and noted German musicologist Joachim Berendt traveled the United States hot on the trail of jazz music. The result of their collaboration was an amazing collection of photographs and recordings of legendary artists as well as unknown street musicians.

The book Jazzlife, the original fruit of their labors, has become a collector`s item that is highly treasured among jazz and photography fans. In 2003, TASCHEN began reassembling this important collection of material—along with many never-before-seen color images from those trips. They are brought together in this updated volume, which includes a foreword by Claxton tracing his travels with Berendt and his love affair with jazz music in general. Utilizing the benefits of today's digital technology, a restored audio CD from Joachim Berendt's original recordings has been produced and is included in this package. Jazz fans will be delighted to be able to take a jazz-trip through time, both seeing and hearing the music as Claxton and Berendt originally experienced it.

• Featuring photographs of Charlie Parker, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Muddy Waters, Gabor Szabo, Dave Brubeck, Stan Getz, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Miles Davis, Charlie Mingus, Thelonious Monk, John Coltrane, and many more
• Includes bonus CD of digitally remastered recordings of music made during Berendt and Claxton`s journey (originally released in 1960 as two records)

About the photographer:
William Claxton (1927-2008) began his career shooting jazz record cover art. His iconic images of Chet Baker, Charlie Parker, Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, Billie Holiday and many others reflect his preeminence among photographers of jazz music. Claxton worked for many of the biggest publishers including Life, Paris Match, and Vogue magazines. His work has been shown in galleries around the world, and his photographic prints are now sought after by collectors of fine art photography. He passed away on October 11, 2008 in his hometown Los Angeles.

About the author:
Joachim E. Berendt was a founding member of South West German Radio (Südwestfunk) and produced more than 250 records. In 1953, he first published Das Jazzbuch, which became the most successful history book on jazz worldwide. His collection of records, books, and jazz documents form the basis of the Jazzinstitut Darmstadt. Berendt died in an accident in 2000. His contributions to jazz are internationally recognized to this day.



 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------


 Jazzlife Collector's Edition


(Click on the pic to buy it)
Hardcover + Box + 4 signed prints, 696 pages 


The Jazzlife Collector's Edition

  • Limited to 1,000 individually signed and numbered copies
  • Every copy comes with four signed and numbered, 50 x 60 cm (19.6 x 23.6 in.) ultrachrome prints
  • Book and prints packaged in a clothcovered box

In 1960, photographer William Claxton and noted German musicologist Joachim Berendt traveled the United States hot on the trail of jazz music. The result of their collaboration was an amazing collection of photographs and recordings of legendary artists as well as unknown street musicians.

The book Jazzlife, the original fruit of their labors, has become a collector`s item that is highly treasured among jazz and photography fans. In 2003, TASCHEN began reassembling this important collection of material – along with many never-before-seen color images from those trips. They are brought together in this updated volume, which includes a foreword by Claxton tracing his travels with Berendt and his love affair with jazz music in general. Utilizing the benefits of today's digital technology, a restored audio CD from Joachim Berendt's original recordings has been produced and is included in this package. Jazz fans will be delighted to be able to take a jazz-trip through time, both seeing and hearing the music as Claxton and Berendt originally experienced it.


  • Featuring photographs of Charlie Parker, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Muddy Waters, Gabor Szabo, Dave Brubeck, Stan Getz, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Miles Davis, Charlie Mingus, Thelonious Monk, John Coltrane, and many more
  • Includes bonus CD of digitally remastered recordings of music made during Berendt and Claxton`s journey (originally released in 1960 as two records)


About the photographer:
William Claxton (1927-2008) began his career shooting jazz record cover art. His iconic images of Chet Baker, Charlie Parker, Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, Billie Holiday and many others reflect his preeminence among photographers of jazz music. Claxton worked for many of the biggest publishers including Life, Paris Match, and Vogue magazines. His work has been shown in galleries around the world, and his photographic prints are now sought after by collectors of fine art photography. He passed away on October 11, 2008 in his hometown Los Angeles.

About the author:
Joachim E. Berendt was a founding member of South West German Radio (Südwestfunk) and produced more than 250 records. In 1953, he first published Das Jazzbuch, which became the most successful history book on jazz worldwide. His collection of records, books, and jazz documents form the basis of the Jazzinstitut Darmstadt. Berendt died in an accident in 2000. His contributions to jazz are internationally recognized to this day.



William Claxton, Jazzlife: Print 1
Metropole Café on Broadway near Times Square, New York City, 1960  

 

William Claxton, Jazzlife: Print 2
Stan Getz by a stage door on Cosmo Alley, Hollywood, 1956



William Claxton, Jazzlife: Print 3
The George Williams Brass Band, New Orleans, 1960



William Claxton, Jazzlife: Print 4
Ray Charles with a Raylette, New York City, 1960




Jazz Quotes




Recommendation



The Roy Hargrove Quintet

Jazz + Graphic Design

AT WORK



Coctails At Work


 
 Dinner At Work




Play At Work





Holidays At Work



Sleeping At Work





Smoking At Work



Alco At Work


Recommended Album


 (Click on the cover to buy)


Personnel: 

Gonzalo Rubalcaba (piano)
Yosvany Terry (sax)
Mike Rodriguez (trumoet)
Matt Brewer (bass)
Marcus Gilmore (drums)




 Tracklist:

01. Looking In Retrospective
02. This Is It
03. Aspiring To Normalcy
04. Peace
05. Hip Side
06. Infantil (Dedicated to John McLaughlin)
07. Preludio Corto No.2 For Piano (Tu Amor Era Falso)







Excerpts



Jazz + Graphic Design



Recommended Album



(Click on the cover to buy it)


1. Introduction by Duke - Duke Ellington 
2. I Got It Bad (And That Ain't Good) [#][*] - Duke Ellington & His Orchestra 
3. Jeep's Blues - Duke Ellington & His Orchestra 
4. Tulip or Turnip [#][*] - Duke Ellington & His Orchestra, Ray Nance 
5. Riot Prevention - Duke Ellington 
6. Skin Deep - Duke Ellington & His Orchestra 
7. Mood Indigo [#][*] - Duke Ellington & His Orchestra 
8. Tuning up/Studio Concert Begins - Duke Ellington 
9. Introduction by Father Norman O'Connor/Introduction by Duke - Duke Ellington 
10. Festival Junction, Pt. 1 - Duke Ellington & His Orchestra 
11. Announcement by Duke/Introduction by Duke - Duke Ellington 
12. Blues to Be There, Pt. 2 - Duke Ellington & His Orchestra
13. Announcement by Duke/Introduction by Duke - Duke Ellington 
14. Newport Up, Pt. 3 - Duke Ellington & His Orchestra 
15. Announcement by Duke/Introduction by Duke - Duke Ellington 
16. I Got It Bad (And That Ain't Good) [Studio Production] - Duke Ellington & His Orchestra 
17. Jeep's Blues [#][*] - Duke Ellington & His Orchestra 
18. [Six Second Pause Track] - Duke Ellington


Blues To Be There


Billy Taylor Plays Duke

Billy Taylor Plays Duke


Sonny Rollins lovers iPhone app

Yes, you read it right. A Sonny Rollins iPhone application is available. There you can buy music, even tickets, and enjoy some stuff too.

Well, so let's see the video they explain us better and why not, if you have iPhone or Ipod Touch go download it, ITS FREE haha







Sonny Rollins Interview



Very interesting interview made the last year.
Still practicing... this two words let me thinking about.

Jazz + Graphic Design

Jazz Jamboree Posters






Recommended Album


(Click on the cover to buy)

Personnel:

Sonny Rollins (tenor sax)
Sonny Clark (piano)
Paul Chambers, Percy Heath (bass)
Roy Hanes (drums)


Recorded at Reeves Sound Studios, New York, New York on June 11, 12 & 19, 1957. Originally released on Riverside (241).

Tracklist:

1. The Last Time I Saw Paris (2:58)
2. Just In Time (3:59)
3. Toot, Toot, Tootsie (4:25)
4. What Is There To Say (4:56)
5. Dearly Beloved (3:05)
6. Ev’’’ry Time We Say Goodbye (3:23)
7. Cutie (5:54)
8. It Could Happen To You (3:47)
9. Mangoes (5:34)
10. Funky Hotel Blues (6:00) 

Jazz Quotes




Jazz Covers [Taschen]


(Click on the pic to buy it)

 Taschen is quality.
This book have inside the best Jazz Covers, if you like Jazz and love Graphic Design, sure you will enjoy this book.

Jazz + Graphic Design



Guimarães Jazz 2008 Journal
The pages of the journal are 50 x 70 cm
sheets with the poster designs printed in
the inside and folded in four.
_
The goal was to be able to surprise the
reader with a contrast between the
contemporary outside and the traditional
inspired inside.








 



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Series of Posters for the Guimarães Jazz 2009 event at the CCVF.







----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------




 The Jazz 2009 Journal is a newspaper sized
publication for the 2009 Guimarães Jazz event.

This time, our goal was to create a classic revival
object layed with rigurous typography and
interesting details that would, at the same time,
contrast with the energic handmade graphics of
the posters, and still, not look boring.