• 1,676 replies
    Dead Admin
    Default Avatar
    Joined:

    One more Saturday night at Winterland! Yes, we're back to home base for DAVE'S PICKS VOLUME 42, the complete show from Winterland, San Francisco, 2/23/74. The one that featured the earliest amalgamation of what would soon become the Wall of Sound, the one that is so "loud, clear, and defined," it's been ripe for release for quite some time and we're glad it's finally getting its due.

    First set or second, there are no wrong answers here. From the unique show opener of Chuck Berry's "Around And Around" and an incredible "Here Comes Sunshine" that would then disappear for 18 years, to a medley of WAKE OF THE FLOOD tracks - "Row Jimmy," "Weather Report Suite," and "Stella Blue" - cementing their status in the canon and an unstoppable hour through the classic 1973-1974 Dead that is “He’s Gone”>“Truckin’”>“Drums”>“The Other One”>“Eyes Of The World,” it's all exceptionally hot.

    Limited to 25,000 numbered copies, DAVE’S PICKS VOLUME 42: WINTERLAND, SAN FRANCISCO, 2/23/74 was recorded by Kidd Candelario and has been mastered to HDCD specs by Jeffrey Norman at Mockingbird Mastering. Grab a copy while you can.

Comments

sort by
Recent
Reset
  • Charlie3
    Joined:
    Herbie, Jerry & Merle

    Herbie Hancock is about the only one of the artists on your list that I have already, Oro. I have Maiden Voyage, Empyrean Isles, Head Hunters, Sextant, Thrust, and Man Child. I find all to be enjoyable.

    1973-1974 Jerry and Merle is a sweet spot, lots of soul and jazz influences showing up in their stuff from that time, those Keystone Encores box set shows in particular are phenomenal. And an absolute highlight of the Merle and Jerry Collaborations would be Merle Saunders and Friends CD Fire Up +, that disc is on fire from start to finish, incorporating tunes that are straight soul like Lonely Avenue and Expressway to Your Heart, other stuff that is more jazzy like Save Mother Earth and Man Child, and some funky stuff like My Problems Got Problems and the phenomenal Welcome to the Basement. Merle Saunders, Jerry Garcia, Tom Fogerty, John Kahn and Bill Vitt tear it up. An album well worth tracking down if you don't have it already, just peak Jerry and Merle. CD was Released in 1992 and is includes most of the songs from the 1970s albums Fire Up and Heavy Turbulence, I think.

    Another gem is Hooteroll?, a jazz fusion masterpiece from Jerry Garcia and Howard Wales. That is a great album, great to listen to from start to finish, cohesive and gorgeous music.

    I think it was something in the air, 'cause there were just a lot of musical styles and genres being mixed together or teased apart into something new during that period from the late '60s to the mid-'70s. Funk flowing out of soul, jazz fusion explorations by a bunch of artists, the emergence of electronica with stuff like I Feel Love, lots of cool stuff all happening in a relatively short fertile time. Musical forms are constantly shifting, blending, and distilling new stuff through time, but that late '60s to mid '70s period seems like a particularly fertile time, especially for the mixing of jazz, soul, funk, blues, and rock and roll into new forms combining elements of each and taking them in new directions.

  • wissinomingdeadhead
    Default Avatar
    Joined:
    Box Set '22

    Still going with Boston Garden '91.

  • Oroborous
    Joined:
    FTK, Soul Jazz

    VGUY, that should be awesome. I read about it in Bass Player magazine. Interviews with both Les Claypool and Geddy Lee. They asked Geddy what he thought of Les trying to do this and Geddy teasingly said he was nuts!
    Hopefully they’ll be a big brown beaver sighting?

    CHARLIE: interesting how you heard of SJ. Even more so how many of us come to certain music, fascinating really.
    I heard if it after reading an article by Michael Chabon in Rolling Stone about his at the time new book Telegraph Ave (which I liked), but in this article he gets into this Soul Jazz that I’d never heard of, and I’ve been into lots of Jazz fir quite some time. It’s hard to pinpoint and like many styles or genres it casts a wide range: from syrupy string laden Mizel brothers productions all the way to more standard Jazz played by more recognizable names. The sweet spot to me is very much like what Merl and Jerry do on say 9/1/74, or the recent GarciaLive Vol 18, or on Fire Up and Heavy Turbulence etc. I like the oft used description of “Jazz with a backbeat”.
    I have maybe 2-3 dozen albums but would say these are good ones to start with:
    Donald Byrd: Black Bird
    Charles Earland: Black Talk and Leaving this Planet with Freddie Hubbard and Joe Henderson
    Idris Muhammad: Power of Soul (title track is awesome Hendrix cover), and a (2 for 1) of Black Rhythm Revolution, and Peace & Rhythm.
    Deodato: Prelude
    Grover Washington Jr.: I like Inner City Blues and Mister Magic the best. Earth Tones off Magic is nice groovy mellow almost new age like? One of my favorites of his. I think Magic is a good first choice. Soul Box is pretty good too. I’d say ya might not like all the tracks on all the albums depending how your pleasure tends, but if you made an 80 minute best of from the three you’d have a super cd. If that helps? But I’d advise anyone interested to check out stuff online first.
    There’s a good series of compilations out called the Legends of Acid Jazz that has some good treatments of many of the main cats, like genre guitar go to’ Melvin Sparks, and Leon Spencer, George Benson dabbles around the Soul Jazz edges. Jimmy Smith Back at the Chicken Shack is old school, and Dr Lonnie Smith is another of many keyboard/organists. One of the cool things is how like jazz, so many of the main dudes play on each other’s albums.
    Many more but those are good starts.
    The cool thing is it’s easy to Segway into things like MMW: End of the World Party and Uninvisble, and even on to the Beastie Boys, yes those Beasties Boys: The In Sound From Way Out and The Mix Up. I think of Curtis/Superfly as another cousin to all this. Herbie Hancock Head Hunters fits too.
    To me SJ is like another kind of jazz fusion. Not the scorching Miles or Return To Forever etc, which is more rock like to my ears, but like a funky soul stew of jazz, soul and rock. Perhaps like some Motown cats played jazz?
    As I say, sometimes hard to pin point, and certainly not for everyone, but to me it’s like the Garcia/licorice story.
    Not everyone will like it, but those who do will love it!

  • Vguy72
    Joined:
    A Farewell To Kings....

    ....yea. Primus will be playing it. Contemplating taking some fungus along 🤔.

  • Charlie3
    Joined:
    Soul Jazz, Acid Jazz

    My exposure to soul jazz or acid jazz is limited and mainly consists of listening to Fusion FM hosted by Roy Ayers in Grand Theft Auto IV in Liberty City, not sure if that's exactly on point. Nice stuff, a mellow, jazzy, psychedelic vibe to some of it as I recall. Mister Magic by Grover Washington Jr is on my list of future acquisitions, maybe some Roy Ayers as well, who knows once I get started in that direction, just haven't picked it up yet. Hopefully Mister Magic is before the transition to Kenny G. that you describe, Oro. Grand Theft Auto in its various iterations actually turned me on to a bunch of great stuff on the various radio stations. Cool to just drive around listening to the radio, sparking the occasional police chase or just looking for hidden stuff. Don't knock it if you haven't tried it. Not a bad option as far as an option for a time vacuum. You know you're hitting the GTA a little hard when you start to notice all the unique stunt jumps when you're driving around in the real world. (GTA fiends may get it, the rest of you will just have to play the game excessively, then take a drive in the real world.)

  • Oroborous
    Joined:
    DMCVT

    Mary says the tech team is looking in to why you can’t post.

    Thanks Mary!

  • billy the kiddd
    Joined:
    Next box set/ Sugar Pie DeSanto & Etta James

    Saw Sugar Pie DeSanto and Etta James both play at the S.F. Blues Festival, also saw Etta James play with the Dead in 1982. Next box is gonna be something from 90,91, 92, possibly Winterland March 1977. I hope its something from 1969/1970 with acoustic material included.

  • Oroborous
    Joined:
    That’s why they play the game

    To quote the great Chris Berman!
    What a game! Now that was sports worth watching.
    The outcome does not surprise me. The Bolts are like a bad case of the clap that just won’t go away, and I mean that as a complement!

    AJS: well said as usual. I agree. Pretty much sums it all up.
    MIKE: LOL. and yeah, Kadri’s “enthusiasm” can sometimes be a little nerve racking.
    PF: love the cup jokes etc, and the energizer bunny, hell last night I felt like I was doing speed!
    Dark-Star: good to see ya xxoo. Sounds like your the drunk yelling from the arm chair. I’m just showing solidarity for my fellow Americans, and VGUY, STOLZTY, PANCHO, PT BARNUM etc.
    VGUY/PRIMUS: will they be doing Farewell to Kings? Either way should be cool! Have Fun!

    CHARLIE: cool stuff, thanks for the good read! Brought up so many awesome aural memories. You guys ever check out Soul or Acid Jazz (prefer Soul as Acid is not really appropriate). Charles Earland, Donald Byrd, Idris Muhammad, Melvin Sparks, Deodato, Jimmy Smith, Dr Lonnie Smith, Grover Washington Jr. (before he went all Kenny G) and so many more. Fits right next to Curtis the Superfly Pusherman etc, GOOD SHEET MON!
    Lots of crossover between Soul, Motown Jazz etc. I always felt much of what Merl and Jerry were up to fit in this category. And Disco is perhaps cousins to all this? I like to make my own sorta best of CDs, and I made a killer 2 disc version for a friends young daughter who loved disco. But we like it too, it can be fun stuff, hell folks used to dis The Bee Gees but if you really check out their music it’s pretty solid (and those boys burned like chimneys. My cousin worked on their studio and said no burned like the BeeGees) and I Feel Love, that was my opening track! And what a great stoner song. Put that on a big stereo set up with good stereo imaging, get prepped ; ) , and sit in the sweet spot and check it out. It sounds amazing and that cool auto pan stuff is right outta Healy and Mickeys bag of tricks.

    Ah yes, Music, sweet, sweet music, the antidote to what ails ya and the ills of the world.
    As Mr Ones would say, Music is the best! Crazy how much great music there is…

    CONEKID: almost forgot ya. I can understand your ongoing feud. Took us awhile to get over the Wings lol.
    And as a life long Buffalo fan for good or for Ill, it’s still hard to like the Dolphins (sorry vguy) Dallas, and I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to root for the Patsies, even without Brady and Gronk!
    I’m just curious, is because of the overall war that was that great rivalry or perhaps just the Lemieux issues?
    I’m trying to remember, I’ll have to look for that show you mentioned.

  • simonrob
    Joined:
    Ah, soul

    Hahaha. See what I did there. 🤭

  • Charlie3
    Joined:
    I Feel Love

    You are correct, DaveRock, Donna Summer's I Feel Love is great, if I'm in the mood for some Donna it's either that track or Love to Love You Baby more often than not.

    Sugar Pie DeSanto is awesome, one of my favorites. Soulful Dress is a great tune and she has a lot more just as good, or in a couple cases even better. I picked up a couple of CD's by her and Go Go Power, the complete Chess Singles is a smoker from start to finish, the better of the two that I picked up. Soulful Dress, Do I Make Myself Clear, In The Basement (with Etta James) and Mama Didn't Raise No Fools stand out in my memory at the moment as highlights of that collection. Do I Make Myself Clear is absolutely on fire.

    And, yeah, the Stax boxes, the first three were an early acquisition for me in my soul collection, but there is also a fourth Stax Box - Rarities and the Best of the Rest - that covers some soul rarities, some gospel, and some of the other stuff released on Stax and related labels that ranges outside the soul category. That fourth one is not quite as consistently good as the first three, but it does have a few things that got in my head and my completist nature left me no choice but to pick it up.

    For something from this century that sounds like it could have been released in the 1970's, check out Charles Bradley, particularly the track Ain't It a Sin. If you can watch him do Ain't It a Sin online on the you post it video site and not want to pick up some of his stuff I would be surprised. Started checking Charles out when I saw an article about his soulful cover of Black Sabbath's Changes, good stuff, cool version of the song.

    And Curtis Mayfield, started checking him out when a friend suggested the Superfly soundtrack, and all it took was the song Pusherman to get me seeking out more Curtis, not to mention my dawning realization that the HBO show the Wire had a bunch of Curtis playing at various points and I dug it. Give Pusherman a listen and see if you can sit still. There's a good box set - Curtis, Keep On Keeping On, Curtis Mayfield Studio Albums 1970-974, a good way to get all his albums at once for a great price. The HBO show the Sopranos also had a bunch of soul tunes scattered throughout, I'm still looking to track down a copy of the song Sally Go 'Round the Roses by the Jaynettes. Or rather, I just picked up a copy this morning, further support for the hypothesis that I have an online shopping problem and a near pathological need to expand my CD collection.

    I'll try and shut up now, but once I start down the soul rabbit-hole I can't stop.

user picture
Default Avatar

Member for

3 years 7 months

One more Saturday night at Winterland! Yes, we're back to home base for DAVE'S PICKS VOLUME 42, the complete show from Winterland, San Francisco, 2/23/74. The one that featured the earliest amalgamation of what would soon become the Wall of Sound, the one that is so "loud, clear, and defined," it's been ripe for release for quite some time and we're glad it's finally getting its due.

First set or second, there are no wrong answers here. From the unique show opener of Chuck Berry's "Around And Around" and an incredible "Here Comes Sunshine" that would then disappear for 18 years, to a medley of WAKE OF THE FLOOD tracks - "Row Jimmy," "Weather Report Suite," and "Stella Blue" - cementing their status in the canon and an unstoppable hour through the classic 1973-1974 Dead that is “He’s Gone”>“Truckin’”>“Drums”>“The Other One”>“Eyes Of The World,” it's all exceptionally hot.

Limited to 25,000 numbered copies, DAVE’S PICKS VOLUME 42: WINTERLAND, SAN FRANCISCO, 2/23/74 was recorded by Kidd Candelario and has been mastered to HDCD specs by Jeffrey Norman at Mockingbird Mastering. Grab a copy while you can.

user picture

Member for

4 years 4 months

In reply to by nappyrags

Permalink

Gimme their studio stuff
And that live DVD set from way back when
The side-long Dazed and Confused stuff does get a bit tedious
I read Bonham's drumming described as "subtle as a freight train" (not that there's anything wrong with that...)
LZ is cool, no matter what, though.

user picture

Member for

9 years 2 months

In reply to by proudfoot

Permalink

Hockey season is over.
Get back to work and make those seaside chats for DaP43 and the 2022 Box that is overdue to be announced.

user picture

Member for

12 years 2 months

In reply to by icecrmcnkd

Permalink

Congrats Oro. Well deserved. I'm get melancholy when the Cup is hoisted, bringing an end to two great months of hockey.

Zep. As a teenager growing up on nothing but AM radio, I was hooked hearing the first few notes of Good Times Bad Times. Still love that song. Kashmir would be next on my list. I grew weary of Stairway to Heaven. That and Free Bird are two of the most overhyped songs of all time IMHO.

I'll take Low Spark, Nantucket Sleighride and Green Grass and High Tides over those any day.

user picture

Member for

17 years 6 months

In reply to by Angry Jack Straw

Permalink

Boom boom cha, boom boom cha…

Remember the old ABC Wide World of Sports intro: “the thrill of victory, the agony of defeat”
Well for once we got the former, yes folks, for today we are winners, got NO chance of losing THIS time! : )
Yep, been 21 years since one of my teams won, feels kinda nice!
More importantly, what a great series regardless of outcome!
And to the rest, thanks for your patience, please return to your regularly scheduled merry go round broke down tuning session!

user picture

Member for

13 years 5 months

In reply to by icecrmcnkd

Permalink

Agree, hockey season is over.. let's get moving on that next box set. Put down your fly rod, brew some very strong coffee and don't get distracted by eagles, egrets, sea lions, hawks, wandering Sasquatch, Russian subs off trolling the coasts of Vancouver, log rolling competitions, alien invasions or remote controls.

Get to work. I heard the shows and sound in the upcoming box are real and they are spectacular.

Again, strong coffee/box set. strong coffee/box set. strong coffee/box set. Focus Dave, focus.

----------------------------------
Edit: Of course we know Dave doesn't read this.. which should only serve to encourage us to poke fun in his general direction (so long as it's tasteful, of course, and makes us feel better regarding release withdrawal)

Edit2: thinking this through, too much strong coffee might get a day job centric box set. Perhaps I am overthinking this. Strong coffee/box set. Dave, knock knock..

Did someone say 1968?

user picture

Member for

10 years 3 months
Permalink

RT vol.4 no.5 rolling and as usual with this era I am intrigued by the Travis Bean's tone. For the guitarists out there, what would draw one to this guitar besides the tone/sound? I think I heard it has an aluminum neck. What would the designer be searching for with that choice? Lighter weight? Does it stay in tune better? I know Jerry was always concerned (and Bob usually somewhat miffed) with his tuning. To me it sounds jazzy if that's a thing.
Cheers

user picture

Member for

4 years 4 months

In reply to by JimInMD

Permalink

A box of '88 first sets only.

That's a nightmare and a half...

1968 YES
1968 YES
1968 YES

a big ol' bunch of 68 Dave
Or 69

This just in...SCROTUS just announced that GD box sets and Davez releases promote happiness and high times, which are detrimental to the fabric of US society. "Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" were auto-correct typos, cited Clarence Thomas. "Jefferson actually wrote, "Toe the line, bitches, and suck DT's diq for your freedom."

But a 1969 box...yeah. I love when you talk psychedelia.

The aluminum neck is for better sustain.
Supposedly JG started using them because not being custom made, they were easier to fix on the road.
The custom Erwin’s had to be sent back for repairs, which was a hassle, especially if something happened on the road.
My buddy had a TB bass. I played the thing for a while and while overall it was a decent instrument, it was ridiculously heavy, not balanced very well, and a pain if it got too cold. It was a long scale, so maybe the guitars balanced better?

user picture

Member for

3 years 1 month
Permalink

These 2 shows would make for a great one off release, or part of a bigger 1969 box set. I think the box set is going to be from 90, 91, 92 all three, or one of the 3 years. I hope its going to be a 1969/1970 collection, with 9/20 /70 included.

Having just put in an order for the Lyceum L.P.s box, the idea of a box of 1988 first sets quite appeals to me.

Thinking of Led Zep live-long guitar solos were a bit of a cliche by 1973. Black Sabbath at that time used to be going like the clappers for about 40 minutes, then one by one they would start skulking off stage, leaving Tony Iommi on his own playing his guitar. He diddled along for ages, then he would sidle off and Bill Ward would take over with a drum solo. You could feel the energy level dropping as all this went on. They had to start building up the momentum again from scratch when they eventually reconvened.

user picture

Member for

7 years 4 months
Permalink

Do we know for CERTAIN that the Lyceum vinyl box isn't the ACTUAL 2022 box set??
Not trying to be a downer, but I just never want to assume something.

Now back to 1968, venue of your choice. I had a cool partial '68 show from over 20 years ago. It actually began with an encore from The Ark('69), and then had a handful of songs from Jan. '68. Maybe the 9th, maybe Oregon??

Anybody know this??

user picture

Member for

10 years 9 months

In reply to by Mr. Ones

Permalink

And swing it, in a nice way of course! Where is Bolo and his impenetrable "clues"??

What is the fate of the newly discovered June '68 tape at OSF? Wouldn't Dave like to create a little excitement in Dead World by releasing it or allowing OSF to release it? Like, this summer?

And, no, the E72 vinyl box is NOT the year's "boxed set." I am unanimous on that point.

Saw some talk about jazz a few pages back...over the past 6 months, maybe more, I've been putting on jazz in the background on many days, as I work from home. Mostly just ask Alexa to play it via Amazon music, which runs through the Sonos....and the entire homestead.
I try to listen intently when I can, and I really love the off-kilter beats and dissonance that it sometimes embraces. I listen to a lot of piano jazz; if anyone has any recommendations, please do share. I also like the funky stuff and again love being surprised. I've delved into Beegie Adair, Dr. Lonnie Smith, McCoy Tyner, Herbie Hancock, and also revisiting MMW here and there in crossovers. The freestyle, freewheeling nature of the music is cool and its always been a bit of an interesting enigma for me way back since I was a kid.

Be Well People
Sixtus

user picture

Member for

10 years 1 month

In reply to by Sixtus_

Permalink

I really dug Led Zeppelin growing up in High School; I recall for my HS Graduation, I got the LZ CD Box Set that was pretty new - it had like every song ever, it seemed. I really dove into it. I found I gravitated most to those more acoustic-y kind of songs, but then as time moved on I did begin to appreciate some of the stuff with a harder edge. There are some all-time great songs from anywhere, in their repertoire. I often forget how many of these are legit, as I deftly perform a quick brain dump:

Your Time Is Gonna Come
Traveling Riverside Blues
Hey Hey What Can I do
Going to California
White Summer/Black Mountain Side
Bron-Yr-Aur
Kashmir
Immigrant Song
Ten Years Gone
That’s The Way
When the Levee Breaks
Ramble On
Over the Hills and Far Away
Tangerine
D’yer Mak’er
Gallows Pole
Battle of Evermore*

* the very first time I ever smoked pot, this was the first thing I 'heard' while in "the state".
I remember walking into the room; it was complete silence....but then the fade-in of the mandolin began and from that moment to present day I have been HOOKED on music in "the state".
It absolutely opened my eyes like nothing ever before that moment in time. Just the sound of music itself; the separation of instruments, catching me completely unaware and off guard; the richness of the instruments playing together but separately; the reverb, the vocals, all of it tied itself into a new form of literal amazement. That Door - it opened - on this day; in that moment.
I'll never forget it.

Sixtus

user picture

Member for

17 years 6 months

In reply to by Sixtus_

Permalink

Sixtus, I just got turned onto Bill Evans this past winter and I can’t get enough. So I bought a bunch lol.
Now he can be pretty mellow depending on what kind of jazz you like.
I used to dig mostly hard bop and fusion stuff, but find I like more mellow stuff now, what I call Heroin jazz.
Pull a couple tubes, sit back and it melts all the stress away!

I too could use some help from the real Jazznics out there: THATSMIKE, I think Nitcat and some others regularly post on good jazz. I’m looking for more stuff like Bill Evans, AND, I’m really into vibraphones. I have one with Lionel Hampton and Stan Getz which I love, but really want more. Problem is there is way more of it than you’d think. I figured there be just a few must have/ go tos but seems there’s a lot to choose from.

So I’m looking for more mellow stuff. The soundtrack from the film Around Midnight is a great example of what I’m looking for! Good movie and awesome soundtrack if you’ve never heard it!
Oh, I’m not looking for jazz with vocals! Have some but not into the vocals much.

So mellow, piano,, and some top shelf vibraphone music por favor!
Thanks!

user picture

Member for

17 years 6 months

In reply to by Sixtus_

Permalink

Oh yeah, are you familiar with Pat Metheny at all?
He has some great mellow stuff too, especially with Lyle Mays on piano!

EDIT: oh yeah, anyone else ever think Stan Getz plays a lot of lines like Jerry?
His runs and phrasing sound like Jerry to me?

user picture
Default Avatar

Member for

16 years 10 months

In reply to by Oroborous

Permalink

Try Blues and Ballads by Brad Mehldau Trio. One of my favs! So good...Oscar Peterson Night Train is always fun too!

user picture

Member for

10 years 3 months

In reply to by Oroborous

Permalink

Oro-"Idle Moments" by Grant Green is good jazz album featuring a guy called Bobby Hutcherson on vibes. I haven't played it for a few years, to be honest, but it was one I rated highly when I was listening to more jazz a while back

Which puts me in my mind of other jazz guitarists I like. Wes Montgomery, who I don't think I have ever seen referred to on here, is the one I have listened most to. Beautiful mellow tone-he played with the meat of his thumb apparently-and it sounds like it. Two really good ones are "The Incredible Jazz Guitar of..." from 1960 and the live "Full House" from 1962. No vibes on 'em though.

user picture

Member for

10 years 1 month

In reply to by Oroborous

Permalink

if you are looking for a good vibraphonist, look no further than Milt Jackson.

I took a History of Jazz class one year at UVM (it turned out to be one of THE MOST DIFFICULT CLASSES I ever took....ever...we had to literally memorize content of like 10 cassettes, and the Prof would play like a 30 second snippet of one of the 100+ songs and we'd have to name the song, and every person playing every instrument on the final...it was bad...but I learned.....STUFF!)
...anyway....one of said learnings was: Milt Jackson. I also really enjoyed that sound. That monstrous class also turned me on to Thelonious Monk, and away I went with my 'pie-aner Jazz' inphatuation.

Thanks to you and to those so far who have chimed in.
It's been noted before, but this here web-locale is a stewpot of killer knowledge and input.

Sixtus

Brief story: My friends and I were 16, maybe 17, and we hear that Oscar is playing Charlie Browns Steakhouse in NYC, so we go. (Common that jazz greats would play the lounge while the dining room was elsewhere.) So the maitre de stops us at the door; he's seating patrons one at a time. But others come in and he seats them first. We're waiting, wondering what the deal is. Okay, we were long hairs in very casual clothes... Oscar Peterson walks in and we stand back in awe. He says to the maitre de, "What are these young people doing standing here?" The maitre de stammers something unconvincing (maybe we didn't grease him?). Mr. Peterson says, "Seat them at my table, at once!" So we get a small bar table right by his bench, closer than anyone in the joint. And we say thanks, he says thanks for coming to see me, and we hang for his one-hour set. We spot several well-known jazzers in the bar, like Frank Wess, flutist. We were in hog heaven and Oscar was on our side. Never forgot that night. One of jazz's greatest pianists, check him out. I've got another tale about the Village Vanguard and the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis band ya gotta hear sometime.....

user picture

Member for

10 years 1 month
Permalink

Some good recommendations so far here. I’ll add Keith Jarrett - solo or with his trio - to the mix. Since his days with Charles Lloyd, through Miles, and on his own, he is a prime player. At least try his solo “Koln Concert” album to get a feel for his work. His “Blue Note” box set (with his trio - Gary Peacock and the great jazz drummer Jack DeJohnette) is another favourite. He has an extensive library, and to me, one of the best on the piano.
Also, a trio I really like is the Christian McBride Trio, with a really great pianist named Christian Sands (he also has solo albums that are great). See an album called “Out Here”, or the Trio “Live At The Village Vanguard”.
Also - Chick Corea. Go back to “Now He Sings, Now He Sobs” (1968). It all gets better from there.

Oro - If you like vibes, Christian McBride (above) also has a band called Inside Straight (he also has a big band, too!), that recorded a live album “Insight Straight at the Village Gate” the same period he recorded his “Trio” album there. His Inside Straight band has a vibes player I was not familiar with, Warren Wolf, and I’m not really much of a vibe fan, but this guy dominates on this album, and it is an excellent release (McBride is an excellent musician, and pretty well anything he has released is first rate, including the work he did with Chick Corea). You like vibes? Check this release out. Gary Burton is another renowned vibraphonist, and he has worked and recorded with dozens of artists.

user picture

Member for

11 years 10 months

In reply to by icecrmcnkd

Permalink

Yes i missed it...the one I really really really am mad at myself for is missing the '70 Derek & The Dominos show at the Civic...my pals and I had tix for both shows that day...at an afternoon BBQ show day I met an exquisite "older" woman who was a theatre arts major...I told my buddies to go ahead and leave without me...of course about an hour later I realized the lady in question had left with friends and didn't even bother to find me and say goodbye...boo hoo

Yeah...

No D&theD because yer D dominated your domain?

Prooooobably worth it

Bowie at SM Civic...was that recorded/filmed? I will go answer that question myself

2 minutes later...

Oh. It was recorded and released. David mofo Bowie...he cool

user picture

Member for

9 years 3 months
Permalink

Thelonious Monk. Lots of cool stuff. If somebody mentioned Thelonious already, I missed it. I started with Monk's Dream and dug it.

Nice to see the shoutout about Stan Getz, he is a favorite of mine. When my first son was born I tried to avoid too much discordant music when he was a baby and spent a bunch of time listening to Jazz Samba Encore, dig that album from start to finish, like it even more than the original Jazz Samba album. I tried to avoid the too much discordant music with my other two kids as well when they were babies, with some consistency for the second son, but by the time my daughter arrived a few years later, the consistency dropped off a bit. Stan has lots of great stuff, and a really great, distinctive sound and style. And that version of the Girl From Ipanema by Stan, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Joao Gilberto and Astrid Gilberto from Getz / Gilberto is just sublime. Never thought about comparisons to Jerry before, but maybe next time I listen.

user picture

Member for

17 years 6 months
Permalink

Check out John Zorn - In Search of the Miraculous. Mello, piano, vibraphone. Little out of left field. A modern take on piano jazz.

If you like that give a listen to O'o by the Dreamers, another Zorn project - a bit less mellow than ISOTM but really grooving.

user picture

Member for

11 years 10 months

In reply to by proudfoot

Permalink

yes the Ziggy Stardust show was recorded, broadcast on FM and filmed

user picture

Member for

11 years 11 months

In reply to by nappyrags

Permalink

Check your messages!

user picture

Member for

17 years 4 months
Permalink

Check out Ahmad Jamal and don’t forget about Dave Brubeck.

user picture

Member for

11 years 10 months

In reply to by daverock

Permalink

A personal fave of mine is the Complete Lionel Hampton & Oscar Peterson Sessions '53 - '54 from Verve Records...it features Ray Brown on Bass, Buddy Rich Drums, Buddy DeFranco Clarinet & Herb Ellis Guitar...great smooth swinging stuff...

user picture

Member for

17 years 6 months
Permalink

Liberace. 🎹 😧

user picture

Member for

3 years 1 month
Permalink

Otis Spann.

user picture

Member for

10 years 3 months

In reply to by simonrob

Permalink

"I'm playing all the right notes - but not necessarily in the right order."

user picture

Member for

7 years 4 months
Permalink

Y’all are seriously having a jazz piano conversation and NOT mentioning Art Tatum??
Really?? C’mon man!!

Playoffs?? Playoffs??

Add Henry Butler to the list. Henry fled the Ninth Ward, his home and piano destroyed, after Katrina and landed in...
Denver! I caught him many times the year he lived here and even got him a few gigs. Really cool guy. He told me anyone could do what he does -- if they practice four hours each day for 15 years. That's what he said.

user picture

Member for

15 years 3 months
Permalink

I'll go with the old school: Albert Ammons, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Willie "the Lion" Smith, Fats Waller.

Amazing piano solo on David Bowie's "Alladdin Sane". Decades ago, a mate of mine wrote to Mike Garson, asking for a transcription of the solo. Incredibly he got a reply. Not a transcription, though. If I remember rightly, Garson said he couldn't transcribe it if he tried. Hats off to him for replying though.

Practising 4 hours a day for 15 years on any instrument is cheating. As the man said, we could all be good if we did that.

user picture

Member for

3 years 1 month
Permalink

Professor Longhair

user picture

Member for

12 years 1 month
Permalink

Only gone for 4 days I come back to 17 pages of "stuff"! (ok, once I stripped away hockey it was only a half page :-) )

Too much to cover or comment on,,,,, but I try a little.

That Mike - Chuck Lloyd, thanks for the heads up. Chuckie will be on back burner for now. 600 bucks for the 24 albums and a box set yet to come?!?! My wife's wallet does have limits!

Springsteen,,,, ok I'm from Jersey, past that, Bruce appeared in my life at the right time I guess. His songs always speak to me of hope and the struggles of the working stiff.

Disco - I was big on the disco ball. Back in the late seventies with Frankie Crocker on WBLS,,,, stereo in black. I believe you'd find a lot of recording technics came out of the that disco vein.

Couple of unmentioned disco headphone songs,,,, Peter Brown - Do You Want to Get Funky with Me. CJ & Co - The Devil's Gun, or Santa Esmeralda - Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood. GREAT, GREAT album of day and GREAT GREAT headphone album,,,, Dr Buzzard's Original Savannah Band!!!!

Zappa,,, I keep buying his "stuff", I like a chunk, a chunk can be tedious. Sometimes GREAT ability does not translate to enjoyable. If you're a musician maybe you can be awed by technical, but if you're an idiot like me you can't tell he just played an augmented Major G in a diminished F. Also the twice I caught Frank he seemed to think he was doing you a favor by playing and you should be thankful he did!

Jazz piano,,,, you read the list people posted and you like, oh yeah, him. I like when some said don't forget tatum and liberace. On the Oscar front, my buddy is a huge fan. Caught him whenever he played. He had an album called something like "for my friends". He had this one cut where he was playing song "a". Right hand carried the melody and left belting out rhythm. All of sudden left hand started playing a different song , "B". So now he's playing two songs at the same time. Notes from song "A" start walking down to the bass end, while song "B" starts walking to high end. The two hands cross each other while jamming out and poof, back to one song "A". I was wowed to say the least! :-)

Charlie 3 - Ipanema (great tune). I used to go to this restaurant/coffee house/bar. They would have bands, small venue 20-30 people listening to this group. They started playing Ipanema and out of this crowd comes this woman steps up to the mike and starts sing the lyrics in Portuguese and she sounds exactly like the origial! Song ended and she went back and sat down. Blew the room away and I think the band!

Mr Ones,,,, I pretty sure I have the motown hippo stuff

Finally an incredible flash-back moment. Sorting thru the latest treasure trove of music I've recently received I stumbled across Miriam Makeba,,, name meant nothing to me. Wiki said she was the voice of Africa (or something like that). Sorted and filed all. I always listened to pieces of what I add to my collection so I have some idea of what's what. So it looked like a cut "pata pata" was her big hit. I put it on and my head exploded. I knew the song, but had not thought about it since it came out. I mean I had not THOUGHT at all about it, which is odd for me since I have almost every tune I know running thought my head at all time. Even the childhood ones I learned in 1st grade!! I don't think a month goes by when I don't find myself singing the Erie Canal! Trust me I've never navigated on it, but sing about once a month. :-) Commerical jingles always run though me,,,,, remember this one,,,, My beer is Reingold the dry beer, think of Reingold whenever you buy beer. It's refreshing, not sweet, it's the extra dry drink. Would try extra dry Reingold beer?

Like Monk,,, it's a blessing,,,,,,,, and a curse! (mostly for the people that have to listen to me sing them :-) )

Sorry for the ramble, but you did leave me 17 pages to comment on! (but no hockey comments thankfully)

user picture

Member for

10 years 3 months
Permalink

We have the same blessing/curse of remembering esoteric things like jingles. Every cigarette, beer, cereal, appliance, and car ad had a jingle. Now they just steal a song we all liked and now can't stand as they've ruined it for us. Really, "Everybody Damp Rid"? Or "All Right Now" for a drug I don't need? One of the favorite games my wife and I play is to jam together songs and jingles that have nothing to do with each other. You start with Red Red Robin and end up at the Woody Woodpecker theme then Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend or the Dick Van Dyke show. Likely because we can't remember the whole thing anyway. I think the advertisers in the 60's had evil intentions for our little spongy brains. I'm the youngest of three and the back seat of the car was where I might subject my sisters to hours long renditions of This Old Man. "Mom, make him stop!" Unfortunately an earworm can really screw up my day even now. So the cure is to just have music on all the time. Music is the best.
Cheers

user picture

Member for

3 years 1 month
Permalink

Can't talk piano players without mentioning Keith Godchaux, at one time one of the greatest piano players 9n Earth.

user picture

Member for

12 years 1 month
Permalink

Don't forget Jeff Chimenti,,, who I think is better than Keith.

Some mentioned Bill Evans piano player.

I just got in my vinyl copy of Miles Davis Live - What it Is - Montreal 7/7/83. Reading the back cover and there is Bill Evans, only he's playing saxes and flutes. So I looked it up,,, it said this.....

This double LP release features one of Miles Davis' final great bands: John Scofield on guitar, Bill “The Other Bill Evans” Evans on saxophones, flute and electric piano, Darryl Jones on bass, Al Foster on drums, and percussionist Mino Cinelu.

So there are two Bills. I think one must have a goatee and be from the evil universe!

user picture

Member for

12 years 1 month

In reply to by 1stshow70878

Permalink

I have an LP of Winston cigarette ads that were played on the radio. My father got this from somewhere, I was maybe 16. Still have.

user picture

Member for

10 years 1 month
Permalink

First off, welcome back Dennis! I totally understand on the Charles Lloyd set. I did pick
up the first “trio” CD (the one with Frisell), but haven’t had a chance to play it yet. Expectations are high. I don’t think the vinyl box set is limited issue (I don’t think), so no rush to get it yet. I didn’t realize until yesterday that Lloyd & Frisell played the Ottawa Jazz Festival this past weekend, which is only a 4 hour car hike from here, and would have been a great weekend trip for the wife and I. Like the Toronto Maple Leafs - next time(sorry for the hockey talk Dennis). PS - I have some albums by the “other” Bill Evans, the sax player (he has played with Hornsby) - he is a decent player. Tell me your impressions of the Miles album when you can.

Sixtus/Oro - I was thinking another way to approach this “Which Artists” to listen to for piano jazz, since the lists everyone provided were really great, but perhaps overwhelming, is to approach it more organically, ie - the kneebone is connected to the shinbone etc. Start with a jazz artist you perhaps know, and see what side players he or she plays with. Who contributes to their sound? Or labels. Blue Note, a great jazz label for generations is a great one to start with. A great many recordings in the 50s & 60s on that label were produced by Rudy Van Gelder. Like all Producers, he had “go to” musicians he would call into the studio to back an artist. Tony Williams, drummer, is making a solo album, Van Gelder may call on a young Herbie Hancock, or Wayne Shorter, Joe Henderson etc. Next, Shorter is making an album, who backs him up? How about all the truly remarkable musicians Miles Davis worked with? Four of them became star keyboard players in their own right: Jarrett, Corea, Hancock, and Zawinul (who had a budding career with Cannonball Adderley).
I always found in music in general, and jazz in particular, the kneebone is connected to the shinbone; you like “this”, you’ll definitely like “that”.

user picture

Member for

17 years 6 months

In reply to by That Mike

Permalink

Wow, what an awesome outpouring of good vibes and great tunes!
We’ve hit some major references for Motown to Soul, to Soul Jazz to Jazz.
My pea brain is gonna explode lol.

But wouldn’t cha know, I really need to get some work done before “I take a short break” , so Murphy’s Law: so much to digest and discuss here but I don’t have time. But I will go through asap and reply to all the kind folks who made such great suggestions. Thanks to all, I don’t care what anyone says you guys are awright!

Good to see Dennis, thought maybe he traded some of his collection for Stanley cup tix and was still on the road somewhere ; ) Please apologize to the wife for us as I’m sure the following pages will equal her CC getting hot thanks to us lol.

HF: great story! Keep ‘em coming!

MIKE: yeah lol, I am I a little overwhelmed, but in a good way!
Not to sound ungrateful but I knew OF many of these folks, but was hoping perhaps folks could suggest the best or their favorite albums from some of these artists? Narrow down the focus for me. I recognize some of the fine suggestions from research I’ve done, like “the top 50 greatest must have albums” etc, but it’s always nice getting first hand reports from good folks in the know!

It’ll probably take me a couple days to have proper time, but I’ll go through and make a list and poke around, and come back with some more specific questions.
But “I gotta get down, to the miiiiiinnnnneeeee” hup, hup, nothing too it but to do it!
Thanks all, great stuff lately!

Hoping Mr Jimmies absence is due to just being busy doing more productive and enjoyable things and not hung up on too much “adult” BS! We miss you, your silence is deafening.

My very first album, which I had forgotten about till this discussion on piano players, was "The World of Winifred Atwell", which my parents bought for me when I was about 10. Who she was, I know not. I think my parents had a 78 with her on which I liked. Solo rag time from what I can remember. I have just had a shufty in the attic to see if it's hidden away up there - but no luck so far. "James Last Goes Pop" - yes - but so far - no Winnie.

am so far behind responding to content, blocked by some kind of captcha issue, will try to add something worthwhile after reviewing almost three weeks of posts, distill as much as possible...

First unfinished business, HF, my most sincere condolences on your recent loss. That is about where i fell off the bus.

Love all the recent input on various music, where to start, many great players already noted.

Am a big fan of Bobby Hutcherson on vibes.

Very fortunate to see/hear in person: Keith Jarrett, Chick Corea, McCoy Tyner, Brad Mehldau, Otis Spahn. Will add a few slightly under the radar others soon. Piano is among the most difficult instruments to reproduce in full glory, even the best recordings, so its worth it to make the effort to hear a virtuoso play a great instrument. If you enjoy barrel house, check out Champion Jack Dupree.

Zappa is an acquired taste for some, quirky, brilliant. Back in the day, typically found the MoI too goofy, but Hots Rats hooked me into checking everything else out since. I particularly enjoy the first cut on his 1988 Guitar release, a great blues/rock riff oddly titled, "Sexual Harassment in the Workplace". It just burns so hot.

Have a part time summer job, where I recently came to know a Jamaican guy who is up just for the summer to earn money for family. We are discussing Reggae music, some of the less well known artists. Yet another influence for our favorite band. Made me dig out stuff not heard forever, brother worked for a Reggae music company, ample stuff here. There's a jam guy known as the Mad Professor, music only, no lyrics. Burning Spear is on a farewell tour and will be playing in Boston at the HoB August 5th. For a vague attempt at relating any content to sports, the HoB is located just the other side of the Green Monster, that's right, next to Fenway.

cheers

user picture

Member for

11 years 8 months

In reply to by dmcvt

Permalink

others that might not have already been noted:

Kenny Barron, Paul Bley, Bill Charlap, Red Garland, Errol Garner, Fred Hersch, Steve Kuhn, Mulgrew Miller, Marcus Roberts

product sku
081227881603
Product Magento URL
https://store.dead.net/dave-s-picks-vol-42.html