Miles Dewey Davis III
Pops Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong
Charlie "Yardbird" Parker
John Coltrane
Miss Ella Fitzgerald
King Oliver
Billie Holliday
Wynton Marsalis
Glenn Miller
Sir Duke Ellington

Need I say more?

Yeah, Benn, you need to say Thelonius Sphere Monk and Charles Mingus as well...

Didja catch the Ken Burns documentary BTW? I don't think he realized what a daunting task it would be when he initially got involved. I've got some significant complaints but am still glad he attempted it and enjoyed every installment.

Also Stan Kenton.

Clifford Brown
Sonny Rollins
Coleman Hawkins
Lester Young
Count Basie
Buck Clayton
Roy Eldridge

Although I still love all my bob/hard-bop CDs and albums, I've really gravitated towards swing-era jazz in the past few years.

I never got into Stan Kenton until I studied composition with Bill Russo, one-time trombonist and arranger for Kenton. Really good stuff!

Miko, I've seen parts of Ken Burns' Jazz, and have all but one segment recorded (I screwed it up. ) From what I've seen, it's pretty good. I do agree with the complaint that Burns seemed to have relied a little too much on Wynton Marsalis, however. Don't get me wrong. I like Wynton. I think he's a great musician. But I think his view of what constitutes jazz is much too narrow. I think Wynton tends to be too much a purist where jazz is concerned. He doesn't seem to allow for too much change or growth in the genre.

One thing that was the result watching a couple of segments here recently, it not only revived my interest in jazz (I've recently have gotten Miles Davis' Miles in Antibes and am in the process of acquiring Miles In Tokyo as well as The Complete Bitches Brew box set.), it also introduced to me to Cassadra Wilson. Actually, I should say it re-introduced me to her. A few years back back she was a guest on David Sanborn's After New Year's Party. On one episode of Ken Burns' Jazz they showed her performing "The Death Letter", an old Son House tune. I was completely blown away by it. I now own a copy of the CD New Moon Daughter because of that. Excellent!

Speaking of David Sanborn, I forgot to mention him in my earlier list. I also forgot Bob James, Maynard Ferguson (ever hear his version of the original STAR TREK theme?) and god (or whatever's out there) help me, I forgot Mr. Dizzy Gillespie. How could I have forgotten Diz?

Quelle coincidence...I have a video tape from the 80's of a David Sanborn TV show called Night Music(?). It was a mostly live show with current acts (at the time), but they also showed some vintage clips. One such clip was of Son House himself doing a remarkably intense version of that same song. I went out and got the disc almost immediately. Never heard Cassandra Wilson's version, though, but I'll keep an eye out.

My main complaint with the Burns series is that he seemed to want to avoid at all costs any sort of discussion about the mechanics of the music and how it has evolved; and as such missed out on an opportunity to convey the genuine passion that Jazz fans have toward the music and the connection they feel toward their favorite artists. I'm not suggesting that he should have made a documentary "for geeks only", but something more than lip service should have been given. He only deals with "modal" improvisation for 30 seconds or so, and it was explained (vaguely) by a critic not a musician! Doing a segment on Charle Haden sort on made up for it...

Actually, I'd like to get a Son House disc. My collection currently does not have one. Any recommendations?

I remember Night Music. I'm not sure I watched it too many times, though. My first exposure to Sanborn was, of course, through David Letterman's show when it was on NBC.

Your complaint about the lack of any details on modal jazz may be because of Wynton Marsalis' bias. From what I understand, he doesn't feel modal is a legitimate form of jazz. But I'm not sure how much Ken Burns relied on Marsalis, but Wynton most certainly was a primary source. As far as I'm concerned, if it was good enough for Miles Davis, it's good enough for me.

I'm looking for a few very upbeat jazz pieces. Any recommendations?

Benn,
Go for the double-disc "Father of the Delta Blues: The Complete 1965 Sessions."

If you would really rather go for a single one, you could go for "Father of the Delta Blues", but it's just culled from the two-disc set and you may one day regret no getting the whole package for a few dollars more.

cf:
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=2FATHER|OF|THE|DELTA|B
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=A9dyvad7ku8w5&uid=FTRALBUMS

Merat, could you be a little more specific: old, new, big band, small combo, etc?

John Coltrane Giant Steps
Clark Terry Serenade to a Bus Seat
Johnny Griffin The Little Giant
and Thelonious Monk's Trio recordings all come to mind immediately. I'm sure Benn will fill you in on Miles Davis' bop era recordings.

Benn, the Son House stuff goes in and out of print but from what I've seen the best-of's are generally worth it. Just make sure you get a good mix of spirituals (John the Revelator) in with the blues tracks (Death Letter). And, yeah, Marsalis' fingerprints are all over that thing...

"Alexander's Ragtime Band" by either Louis Armstrong or Ella Fitzgerald.

"Stompin' At the Savoy" and definitely, "Sing, Sing, Sing" by Benny Goodman

"In the Mood" and "Little Brown Jug" by Glenn Miller

"A Tisket, A Tasket" and "How High the Moon" by Ella Fitzgerald

"Tipitina" and "Ball the Wall" by Professor Longhair (I'll have to double-check those.)

"The Entertainer" written by Scott Joplin (I don't think an actual performance by him exists.)

I'll have to run through the rest of my collection to see what else I can find.

oops, it seems I am a slower typist than goog, didn't intend to step on your toes...

If you're talking to me, Miko, it's okay.

Thanks for the advice on Son House Goog, Miko. I'll look into it.

Well...We're all posting at the same time and it looked like I overrode goog's reccomendation when that wasn't my intention, so it was meant for goog.

Wasn't sure.

"Kenton '76" by Stan Kenton,
"Stan Kenton Plays Chicago" by Stan Kenton.

My toes are fine. No problem. :-)

Depends on exactly what you are looking for, Merat. Do you mean upbeat fast or upbeat uplifting. Almost anything with Blues in the title may not be as "uplifting" as you want. If you want a small combo with "uplifting" and "mellow enough to seduce women by" I'd reccomend "Settin' the Pace" by the Red Garland Trio plus John Coltrane. (If anyone is interested it is tracks that didn't get on "Settin' the Pace" and is before Coltrane was Coletrane, but after the Miles Davis quintet years.)

If your new to jazz I'd stay away from Bebop or hard bop. You'll either love it and disdain everything else or hate it and assume all jazz is like that.

If you want "happy" jazz and do not care about seducing women I'd recommend anything with Paul Desmond on sax. (Be warned, however, that anything Brubeck Quartet you must contend with Brubeck. It's harder, but get him without Brubeck -- maybe with Jim Hall or Gerry Mulligan.)

If you mean upbeat, fast, that's a tough one. Even the fastest artist will have a couple "slower" songs. Bebop was fast. Charly Parker (Bird) (Is it Charlie? I always refer to him as "Bird" and am unsure of the spelling.) and Dizzy Gillespie (same problem with Gillespie)were "faster" players with Dizzy in his later years getting bigger bands. One thing to be wary of if looking at a later Dizzy alblum (oh, 1960 or so) is his tendancy to try and bring in listeners with renditions of "popular" tunes. If the alblum has more than one song you recognize from a non-jazz source (I include Broadway in that) you might want to give the alblum a pass.

I was listening to Alchemy by Dire Straights after listening to Birth of the Cool (They were origonally released as singles and this is one of many "compilations"). Has anyone else had this thought?

A Rock band in a live alblum must ry to stay faithful to the studio version. A Jazz band doing a studio version tries to "capture" a live performance.

Mike, probably Big Band era.

Good point. Definitely Glenn Miller for some upbeat stuff.

Some further suggestions:

"But Not For Me" - Billie Holliday
"A Fine Romance" - Billie Holliday
"Cheek to Cheek" - Billie Holliday
"Take the 'A' Train" - Duke Ellington
"I Can't Give You Anything But Love" - Duke Ellington
"Caravan" - Duke Ellington
"It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)" - Duke Ellington

I'll check my Glenn Miller, Ella Fitzgerald & Benny Goodman discs for more.

Any of Bille's early recordings (the first four or five volumes of Columbia's Quinessential series) would applicable. Avoid the Commodores, though (not that they're bad, but they're definately not upbeat).

goog, are you a Chicagoan? Bill Russo teaches at Columbia College in Chicago--I worked with him there on the 20th anniversary restaging of his show "A Civil War" back in 1988.

[he likely wouldn't remember me though--I was rhythm guitarist in the onstage 'pit' band]

Yup, Chicagoan. Studied at Columbia with Bill. Would have liked to have seen that show.

"Playing 'Bop' is like scrabble with all the vowels missing." Duke Ellington (Look 8/1954)

This isn't new news, but it's since my last post on the topic. William Russo passed away on January 11, 2003. I think of him often.

Since there seems to be a problem with the 'Music died' board (it won't finish loading), this goes here.

Von Freeman has passed away at the age of 88. Less known that he could have been (and more known as Chico's dad, at least until recently), he was still a world class saxophonist of the Chicago school.

His Young and Foolish LP is in my top five jazz albums.

I searched for a youtube clip. To my amazement, I found a performance that I attended 24 years ago: the '88 Chicago Jazz Fest. I don't see myself in the audience (was sitting further back than the cameras were aiming at), but it sure is nice to relive this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzuYo6OxkaY