The Most Influential Jazz Songs

Here are some of the most influential jazz songs throughout the history according to me:

1. Kind of Blue
By: Miles Davis
Recorded in 1959 (New York)
Style: hard bop, post-bop, cool jazz

2. West End Blues
By: “the new hot 5″
Armstrong – trumpet n scat
Fred Robinson – trombone
Jimmy Strong – clarinet
Earl Hines – piano
Mancy Cara – banjo
Zutty Singleton
Recorded in June 1928 (Chicago)
Style: Early New Orleans

3. Maple Leaf Rag
By: Scott Joplin
Recorded in 1916 (New York City)
Style: Ragtime

4. Singin the Blues
By: Frankie Trumbauer and his Orchestra
Bix Beiderbecke – cornet
Bill Rank – trombone
Jimmy Dorsy – clarinet, alto
Frankie Tumbauer – C melody sax
Paul Mertz – piano
Eddie Lang – guitar
Chauncy Morehouse – drums
Recorded in 1927 (New York City)
Style: Chicago School

5. Take Five
By: Dave Brubeck Quartet
Rec: 1959 (New York)
Style: Cool jazz

6. Ornithology
By:
Miles Davis – trumpet
Charlie Parker – alto
Lucky Thompson – ten
Dodo Marmarosa – piano
Arvin Garrison – guitar
Vic Mcmillan – bass
Roy Porter – drums
Recorded in 1946 (Hollywood)
Style: Bebop

7. Take the A Train
By: Duke Ellington & Orchestra
Wallace Jones, Ray Nance – Trps, Rex Stewart – cl
Joe Nanton, Lawrence Brown – trbs, Juan Tizol – valve tbone
Barney Bigard – cl,ten
Johnny Hodges – cl, sop, alt
Harry Carney – cl, alto, bari,
Otto Hardwicke – alto, bari
Ben Webster – tenor
Duke Ellington – pno, Jimmy Blanton – bss
Sonny Greer – drums
Arr – Billy Strayhorn
Recorded in1941 (Hollywood)
Style: Big Band era

8. Split Kick
By: Art Blakey and The Jazz Messenger
Clifford Brown – tpt
Lou Donaldson – alto
Horace Silver – piano
Curley Russel – bass
Art Blakey – dms
Recorded in Feb 1954 (Live at ‘Birdland’ N.Y.C)
Style: Post-bop

9. Buggle Call Rag
By: Benny Goodman orchestra
Harry James, Ziggy Elman, Chris Griffin – trp
Red Ballad, Murry McEarchen – trb
Benny Goodman – cl
Hymie Shetzer, George Keonig – alto
Arthur Rollini, Vido Musso – ten
Jess Stacy – piano, Allen Reuss – guitar
Harry Goodman – Bass, Gene Krupa – drms
Recorded in 1937 (Hollywood)
Style: Big Band era

10. In Walked Bud
By: Thelonius Monk – piano
John Coltrane – ten
Ahmed Abdul-Malik – bass
Roy Haynes – dms
Recorded in 1957 at ‘Five Spot’ New York
Style: Post-Bop

References: Jazz History Class – Western Australia Academy of Performing Arts

Big Apple Jazz Tour

If you are planning to go to NY for the Liberty, Empire State Building, SoHo, or the Central Park, it’s a very normal of you. But if you are a first timer in NY, make sure that jazz is also on your top agenda.

The best part on your ten or twenty hours flight to NY, is when you are very sure that you have “New York New York” from Sinatra on your iPod. Landing in JFK, listening to that song, will create an amazing atmosphere, even if you have to talk to the crazy security staffs at the airport.

Driving from the airport to meet Central Park at the Manhattan will be perfect with the “Autumn in New York” from Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong. This song written by Vernon Duke will take you to fall in love with the city and the park.

From the uptown, don’t forget to take a subway to Bronx.
The downtown is the core of the jazz in NY city. Most of the population is the Afro-American and Latin people. The place that is a must visit is the Bronx. Artistic expression, parks, and historical districts can be found there. Jazz comes and influence the characteristics of music in the Bronx. And the music itself is very open to the new influences and so the music becomes very rich, lots of energy, and very diverse. From hard bop until Latin music, it’s all here in Bronx. And don’t forget to listen to “Bronx Blues” from Mel Torme.

Your tour won’t end there. The National Jazz Museum is in Harlem. It is located at 126th St. Duke Ellington, Benny Carter, Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker, Charles Mingus, Count Basie, John Coltrane, Billie Holiday – all of their unique sounds reverberated throughout these fabled streets. Back to The Jazz Museum in Harlem it is dedicated to fostering this spirit -the music as a living/ breathing entity that looks as far into the future as it does into the past. There are many events being held there, from concert to a formal discussion which invites all the jazz over to join for free.

To complete your tour, better take a subway throught 66th St. Lincoln Center Station. You should take a short walk to Lincoln Center Building which is the center of the art performances. Lincoln Center is the world’s leading performing arts center. Located on 16.3 acres in New York City, the Lincoln Center complex is comprised of 12 Resident Organizations and Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Inc is one of those 12. The 11 other organizations are The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, The Film Society of Lincoln Center, Jazz at Lincoln Center, The Juilliard School, Lincoln Center Theater, The Metropolitan Opera, New York City Ballet, New York City Opera, New York Philharmonic, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, and the School of American Ballet.

Visiting Juilliard School is also a must if you love playing music instruments and plan to have a music degree. Located at the same complex of Lincoln Center, Juilliard School is always full of its students from all around the world. If you are lucky enough, you can catch a recital concert from students of Juilliard on weekend. It’s going to be amazing to see the students jammin with the teacher such as Donald Harisson Jr. for example.

If you still have some bucks in your pocket, make sure that you reserve a table at Blue Note. It is located at the 6th St. Since its inception in 1981, Blue Note has become one of the premier jazz clubs in the world and a cultural institution in Greenwich Village. Owner and founder Danny Bensusan had a vision to create a jazz club in Greenwich Village that would treat deserving artists with respect, while allowing patrons to see the world’s finest jazz musicians in a close and comfortable setting. Artists who had stopped playing in jazz clubs decades before/ such as Sarah Vaughn, Lionel Hampton, Dizzy Gillespie, Oscar Peterson, Ray Brown, and Tito Puente, soon called Blue Note as their home.

If you prefer a more classic jazz setting club, you should choose Village Vanguard. The club has been established since 1935. It is located at the 7th Avenue, and it’s better for you to check the schedule before you come and see the live performances there.

Tired of jazz clubs? Try jazz in the subway. You can meet many street musicians will surprise you both at the station or even in the moving subway train!

Watch this!

Enjoy your jazzy trip in NY!

Jazzebelle

NB: Manhattan from Stacey Kent and Boy from NYC by The Manhattan Transfer are also recommended to be sync to your iPod

Introduction to Jazz: Ken Burns

Why should jazz be introduced?

I hate the title actually. It shows that Jazz is something that incomprehensible and full of theories and history. It is true that jazz is a very historical thing, but if you prefer watching documentary rather than reading loads of books, i suggest this short video of Ken Burns’ jazz documentary to you. Many musicians and jazz experts suggest this video too.

Please enjoy it..

Jazzebelle?

Jazzebelle.

Jazz and Belle.

I will not try to define jazz, coz it’s going to be too frustrating. But to define belle, i found an interesting one at the etymology dictionary.

Belle “beautiful woman well-dressed; reigning beauty,” 1622, from Fr., from O.Fr. bele, from L. bella, fem. of bellus “beautiful, fair.”

From the definition above, belle means woman that is beautiful outside, rich of beauty inside, good taste, nice packaging – obviously shows the feminine figure.

So, what if we put the definition into the word jazz?

Jazz “beautiful woman well-dressed; reigning beauty,” 1622, from Fr., from O.Fr. bele, from L. bella, fem. of bellus “beautiful, fair.”

Jazz is beautiful outside, rich of beauty inside, good taste, nice packaging, and let’s put the word fair. Jazz has a little part of femininity. Jazz means expression, feeling, laughter, emotion, past, honesty, thoughts.

Hear it all in jazz.

Read it all here.

Enjoy the blog,

jazzebelle