PLAYLIST. Blue Note Records is the most famous jazz label in the world, known for the adventurous spirt of its owners, the magical sound of the recording engineer Rudy Van Gelder, and the beautiful, hip, cutting edge look of their Reid Miles artwork. A little while ago, I put together a playlist of some of my favorite records on Blue Note in the opening few years of the 1960s. Even before the Beatles hit, jazz was a bit of a niche music-- the older generation of listeners who were familiar with the forms and chord changes of the old pop and broadway standards had moved on to vocalists, what we'd today consider the schmaltziest of the Easy Listening section. At the same time, being a professional musician in some of America's black communities was still considered a noble, working-man's profession. Kids grew up wanting to be saxophone players, and to be badass jazz players. A lot of these folks were Blue Note listeners, and they knew they were entering a private little world when they put their records on their turntables. They wanted music that was on the cutting edge, but still retained an aggressive, earthy feel. That's exactly what they got. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2hQnp8mCpYLgBX3h9upTzi?si=FwIhvIzzRhyfv8VSry53vg
Vocalese is the art of singing a song constructed of lyrics set to the pitches of a previously-improvised instrumental solo in jazz. That such a thing as vocalese exists is, itself, a marvel of human creativity. When executed well–by its originators and master practitioners in the early, hep days of its development in the mid 1950s–it captures several very different facets of genius. https://davereaboi.com/moodys-mood-for-love-1952-how-to-listen-to-vocalese/
In 1978, Art Pepper was beginning a fruitful relationship with the Galaxy label, and they very smartly paired him with some of the best players of that or any era. Art Pepper Today is probably the most cohesive record he ever made. The backing band was spectacular: Stanley Cowell (piano), Cecil McBee (bass) and Roy Haynes (drums). Either just before or after the recordings with Pepper, the trio recorded a classic album of their own, released as Equipoise. https://davereaboi.com/art-pepper-stanley-cowell-on-galaxy-1978/
Nana Caymmi’s self-titled album from 1975 features Milton Nascimento’s falsetto vocals on the opening track and is a gorgeous slice of 70s Brazilian pop music or MBP (Música popular brasileira). Very carefully crafted and exquisitely produced, this album is one of the hidden gems and cult classics of the era. Track 3 is one of the keepers, but really the whole record is fantastic. https://open.spotify.com/album/5WvlgyVCh2ftTYblfYuxoG?si=YFakYn5dQTmFVwRoR42fsQ
