Cary Kilner
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Cary Kilner's Picks: Volume 32
Larry Lofquist – All’s Going Well for Now This is a tune of mine played by my very old friend from Michigan. He originally named it for me and added lyrics. Another friend sent it to me, and when I first played it back, I thought it was me playing. Larry was studying the tune and played it almost exactly as I do. It perfectly represents my concept for the tune so I hope you like it. He is playing it on his recently-tuned Bosendorfer piano in Vienna where he lives, and his miking is very good. In addition, this month I shall include some artists new to me that I have discovered so far this year while listening to MC Choice from Xfinity. Always staying in mellow grooves for you as we wend our way to vaccination and eventual live music again. Plus it IS spring! Alan Broadbent trio – Clifford Notes This is a wonderful example of modern bebop, hence the reference to Clifford Brown (Week #8), who was a pioneer in moving beyond original bebop. He had a very lyrical and musical trumpet sound, and Alan’s touch at the piano mirrors this. https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=95HI29J0dvU&list=RDAMVM95HI29J0dvU George Benson – Affirmation live This tune was on George's breakout album after he left Miles. Although nice, it was kind of a sterile studio recording and his playing was unimpressive, IMHO. But now I understand why Miles pulled in this unknown guy for Bitches Brew and one other album, I believe. Listen to how Benson pulls little subtle lines out of the air in this live recording. And it is much more aggressive than on the original He really makes the guitar talk, and I think he is using a little bit of phaser to modify his sound. The bass player and drummer kill! I don't know how they got the orchestration into this live recording. They must have an additional clavinet player. The piano player constructs a perfect solo. Notice how he picks up a fragment of George's last line to begin his solo and then uses that little Latin segment on the bridge. I played this tune nightly for months with the Sweet Justice house band at the Holiday Inn in Peabody in 1978-9 With John Robinson ("JR") always kicking the band hard on drums. It was a set opener for our guitarist bandleader. I had all five of my keyboards by that time and I loved playing clave on this tune (as well as on the Stevie tunes). None dare call it nostalgia https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=UnYLf5liusU&list=RDAMVMUnYLf5liusU Steven Feike BB – Inner Urge Hot damn these folks are KICKIN'! That rhythm section just puts it in their pocket and it stays there! Dig the alto and baritone sax players. That is some great arranging! How did these guys get so tight without going on the road? There are some hot young players, and my man, John Fedchock in the trombone section whom you heard in Weeks 20 & 31. Inner Urge was one of my early Blue Note albums. It has McCoy Tyner, Elvin Jones and Ron Carter, Coltrane’s rhythm section without Jimmy Garrison on bass! I Never really liked this tune until now. It needed all that interesting orchestration to make more musical sense of the unorthodox chord changes. https://www.stevenfeifkemusic.com/ggjo Chester Thompson trio – Elation Absolutely gorgeous! Bright, perky, playful, and another very pleasant player in the groove of Alan (above), Cedar Walton, and Bill Charlap. https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=9WHuKl09L1s&list=OLAK5uy_l8vvffhlsS8DdzhIPdfqWlc76wlHGkt9s Bill Charlap and Rene Rosnes – Chorinho This is a beautiful piano duet. I shall let it speak for itself – absolutely gorgeous! https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=u9-o_mU0vVU&list=RDAMVMu9-o_mU0vVU Rene Rosnes – Rosie She sure is a pretty player so let’s hear more of her. I don’t know much about her at all but shall now do so. Beautiful bell tones in her solo over an ever-changing pallet of chords. And great vibes by Steve Nelson and great tenor with Chris Potter. Oh, there are SO many good players today! https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=76Bb8H9k1M8&list=RDAMVM76Bb8H9k1M8 Weather Report – Barbary Coast 1976 This is probably the most illustrative of the early days of the great Weather Report band with Jaco. The energy is huge, the pulse is huge, but the best part is to be able to see their faces close up as that collective energy pours out of them non-stop! Jaco is simply unstoppable. I just really enjoy the groove and the energy from Jaco's insistent and always changing basslines. I don’t know where this site came from but you can ignore all the other stuff below it on this site. https://www.facebook.com/175729674423/videos/172569493843497 Al Foster – Ooh, What You Do to Me Here is a great modern quintet with Jeremy Pelt, sweet trumpet player we heard Week 26 and who plays a great solo here. I don’t know the other players. Al Foster has been an in-demand small group drummer for years. The groove they play is very aggressive in-your-face but yet very listenable. https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=LIgYcHbhvRw&list=RDAMVMLIgYcHbhvRw Grant Stewart – Minor Mishap This quartet reminds of the sound of The Jazz Messengers on Blue Note records. Just a nice clear minor key groove. https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=gnYjf5n6xlY&list=RDAMVMgnYjf5n6xlY Roy Hargrove – September in the Rain A nice relaxed performance by this quintet of an old session warhorse. Dig their classic tag at the end. Unfortunately we lost this fine trumpet player at 49 years old last year. He was mentored by Wynton Marsalis when he was in high school. https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=NN4P8-bkyZ4&list=RDAMVMNN4P8-bkyZ4 Larry Carlton – Kid Gloves He is a very clean smooth jazz guitarist whom we heard with Four Play in the past. This is one of the nicest groove tunes on an old solo album. Notice how tight the arrangement and performance are – the mark of great smooth jazz as I have been extolling all along on Quarantine Jazz. https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=lvFB5Z-AsRs&list=RDAMVMlvFB5Z-AsRs Eric Alexander with strings – Some Other Time Another fine young tenor player on a classic Leonard Bernstein tune playing pretty with a nice piano accompaniment. Real strings beats the hell out of synthesized strings, IMHO. https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=VUNEaH5dJsg&list=RDAMVMVUNEaH5dJsg Brian Bromberg – The Chicken Time for some funk to wake you up. Play this loud to really appreciate Brian’s sound on acoustic bass. He’s the only player on this formidable instrument to make funk work, and work it does! Check out his short aggressive solo! Impeccable sound and intonation like we hear from Miroslav, Christian McBride, Eddie Gomez and others of this ilk. https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=fFrZVHV4Msc&list=RDAMVMfFrZVHV4Msc Ray Blue – Amsterdam After Dark Here is a nice Latin groove with a sextet comprised of guitar, trombone and tenor playing the main line over the piano trio. Very clean. https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=HfbaUI9Lj1A&list=RDAMVMHfbaUI9Lj1A |
