Soul-jazz: the REAL grown folks' music.
pickwick33
8,946 Posts
Yeah, I know I was the one who once admitted, right here on Soul Strut, that I was only a "sometimey" jazz fan (HELLO THERE, FATBACK!)[/b], but I do stick my head in the door every now and then to hear what's going on. Believe me, this was one of the times!!!I just saw Red Holloway and Plas Johnson play at a small blues club on Chicago's south side (where steppin' is a reality), and damn if this wasn't one of the finest shows of any genre I've seen all year. Mostly African-American audience (I was probably the only black dude there under fifty!) in a lounge situation, all dressed up in their finest, with a smattering of white collector-types. Not the usual antiseptic vibe you get at jazz shows. AND THEY KILLED IT. One of those unique experiences where it was possible to feel sophisticated and funky all at once. When they introed "Lester Leaps In," one older brother confided that the first time he heard that tune, he was standing on 47th St. getting high. He then concluded that there were only three things in this world that mattered: Lester Young, Billie Holiday and reefer!!Earlier that same day, I picked up the two Jimmy McGriff/Junior Parker albums. And one of them was recorded in a small black-oriented show lounge like the one I just saw Red 'n' Plas at. Good stuff. I kept waiting for a stepper's dance party to bust out - the music was definitely in that soulish/bluesy jazz vein. They say juke-joint blues is disappearing, but juke-joint JAZZ is damn near gone. Great to see it turn up again.
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So is this a Soul-Jazz Rekkids thread?
Gene Ammons - The Boss Is Back
Soul-jazz rekkids, s-j concerts (getting few and far between), s-j APPRECIATION - all of it, brother!!!
My fave Ammons is The Black Cat!. The title track has a driving sax riff that just won't shut up. And you won't want it to!!!
Lonely Avenue - Ramsey Lewis Trio
Prayer Meetin - Jimmy Smith
Happiness - Lionel Hampton
African Mailman - Nina Simone
[/sarcasm]
but seriously I have had recent, perspective-altering live music experiences, listening to master, elder-statesmen instrumentalists; the music they played was far from the cutting edge, but the playing of guys like these has an incalculable quantity of experience in it, which makes the listener feel privy to such a long, rich history that s/he did not necessarily experienced first-hand.
I also think that this is a reason why the eventual (soon) extinction of these elder-statesmen is going to be so hard on jazz (and other music) as a living art form. Sure, guys will be playing standards, whether they be "Autumn Leaves" or "Sister Sadie," forever, but there will be a grave absence of players who came up playing the music in its heyday, running the chittlin circuit etc, which imparts an authenticity and wisdom that will simply no longer be possible for younger players to convey. This is one reason why I feel so compelled to cherish the living master musicians while we still can.
But especially with the soul-jazz cats.
Ya see, even though people like Jimmy McGriff sold a lot of records back in the day, they were usually taken for granted by the powers-that-were, just 'cause they weren't adventurous like Miles or institutions like Basie. So there's always some kind of something around to honor the jazz legends, but the soul-jazz people like Red and Plas don't get enough shine. Even though there was a resurgence of interest in the '90s, this grits-and-greens sound still seems kind of unappreciated. Remember, I saw the show at a south-side stepper's hall, for people roughly the same age as Red and Plas. I know good and well that the more established (and white-populated) jazz venues up on the north side wouldn't fuck with these guys.
Is there a graemlin for me sleeping on this for years?
Where are we talking about here? Sounds kind of like The New Apartment Lounge, but not quite. Blow up the secret spot!
Seriously, I am intrigued by the way that race factors into booking and live performance. If there were a rap venue on the southside (is there one? I never heard while I was in the Shy), would Lyrics Born play there? Would Zion I? Would the Coup? And if they did, who would go? White hipsters are hard pressed to cross south of Monroe street.
Is Von Freeman still playing at the New Apartment?
JRoot
Richard Groove Holmes- A bowl of soul and early lonnie listen smith are some good ones too.
Gimme a shout if you ever go back down there. Sounds like a good time.
"Groove is a sub-set of Soul-Jazz, one that is injected with the blues and concentrates on the rhythm. It is a funky, joyous music, where everything in the performance is there to establish and maintain the groove. There's a steady beat to the music, whether it's uptempo funk or slow blues. Usually, Groove is performed by small combos that feature guitar, organ, bass and drums. Horns, especially saxophones, can be featured, but sometimes the presence of too many horns moves the music too close to hard-bop, which tends to be cerebral. Groove is emotional and physical, hitting your soul. In many ways, it's almost spiritual, since everyone is working collectively for the greater good, and, at its best, it locks into rhythms that are nearly hypnotic. Groove always has funky rhythms, bluesy vamps and, usually, gospel overtones to the playing. There are solos, but they are worked into the overall feeling, the overall groove of the music and, in the end, that's what counts with Groove."
The New East of the Ryan, over on 79th St., just a few blocks east of Cottage Grove. In the '90s this was the premier soul-blues venue, where acts like Bobby Rush, Latimore and Bobby Bland would play, but lately they've just been doing steppers' shows...this was probably one of the first live shows they've done in some time.
Even though the north side venues book African-American acts too, the point is they seldom book the more "bluesy" jazz cats, with the occasional exception like Lou Donaldson, or newer acts like Chicago's own Deep Blue Organ Trio (who aren't half bad, BTW).
The only out-and-out rap venue I can think of is the white-owned B-Side, which was open for a few months in the winter of '94-95. It was on the North Side, and its' very location (953 W. Belmont, now a tanning salon) was previously a long string of rock and folk clubs dating back to the sixties. Apart from that, all the rap shows I can think of (apart from the obvious hitmakers) were usually at some rock club. Maybe a few dance-music venues as well, I don't know - that ain't really my scene, but I've still seen it happen.
Yep, he's still there.
Yeah, I got that one AND this live LP on Capitol. Matter of fact, I'd seen Good Things... around for years, but never got around to buying it until somebody (was it you, Toast?) mentioned it on Soul Strut, in that long-running "The Part Of The Song That Just Kills You" thread. Anyway, even though one of the Beatles covers ("Oh, Darling") doesn't really do it for me, the rest of the album is quite good!
And yes, the part on "Good Things Don't Happen Every Day" where the female background singers start chanting kills me too.
The two Baby Face Willette albums on Argo are really good.
I've never heard his Blue Note CD, but I imagine that's a good one as well.
What It Is! by Boogaloo Joe Jones is another good one, although just about all his albums (that I've heard) are worth investigating.
Is Ahmad Jamal a Soul Jazz artist?
but he was brought up and i felt forced to mention him again.
my apologies
His Face To Face album on Blue Note is superb.
I'm thinking of that Universal Sounds comp that came out circa-2000. That kinda stuff.
Soul jazz?
I've never heard one of his albums all the way through, but I do have a couple of singles by trombonist Harold Betters on Gateway. "Do Anything You Wanna" is a good one, as is "Railroad" and "Dirty Red." "Railroad" is a jazzed-up version of "I've Been Working On The Railroad" and isn't as corny as you'd think.
John Patton had several good ones on Blue Note, including Along Came John and Accent On The Blues. My fave is probably Understanding, where there's this weird avant-garde sax thrown in the mix and it actually works!
When I use the term, I definitely mean Jimmy Smith, Billy Larkin & the Delegates, Jimmy McGriff, Shirley Scott, Brother Jack McDuff, Lou Donaldson, Cannonball Adderley, Eddie Harris, etc.. I'd even include Horace Silver or Ramsey Lewis (although I'd bet one or two of you might disagree). But free-jazz like the Art Ensemble of Chicago got nothing to do with it; that's not how I define it.
Not familiar with this Universal Sounds compilation you mention.
Even MORE soul-jazz than BlueNote which covered more bases of "jazz" - Prestige took the formula develeped in lat 50s / early 60s Blue Note of the down-home sound and funky blues - and ran with it for years. All the boss players played on both labels. It's the epitome of soul-jazz.
Caribbean hotness:
Zap-Pow - Sweet Lovin Love
Ken Charles & the Stereo Tones - Hurt
Joey Lewis - Godfather Theme
Other favorites are Johnny Griffin, Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis (esp. love the late-50s "Cookbook" stuff), Shirley Scott (esp. the Oliver Nelson-arranged sets like "For Members Only"), and Jimmy Smith natch.
I consider a lot of the late-60s, early-70s CTI stuff like