Thursday, December 16, 2010

Reel Book

Earlier tonight I was playing some bass and I thought I'd turn to the Reel Book to do some sight reading. These two tunes fall back to back. Eddie Harris's tune, Freedom Jazz Dance here is covered by The Miles Davis Quintet (2nd grouping, Tony Williams on drums is just nasty). The second tune was written by Don Redman and Andy Razaf, here covered by Kenny Burrell.



Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Weather Report

I started listening to these guys in 7th grade. Does not hurt to have a drummer as a father. Joe Zawinul (keyboards) was one of the grandfathers of electronic music, incorporating samples into his compositions with his armory of synths (see his solo record, Dialects). Shorter (sax) is still to this day one of the most talented jazz players and composers to have lived. Erskine (drums) is tremendous, and Jaco (fretless bass) well, Jaco is still my biggest musical influence.

Enjoy