Discuss anything jazz-related here.

just throwing out a recommendation. Jelly Roll Morton's Library of Congress collection is outstanding. it seems a lot of people pass over it at first, but it should be one of the first 5-10 things anyone hears imo.

Google celebrated Dizzie Gillespie's birthday today with him on the front; very cool, google, very cool.

Anyone heard of the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra? Such a hot band, Thad was a great writer.
"A Child is Born"
"Don't Get Sassy"
"Central Park North"

I'm pretty sure you can see the remnants of this band monday nights at the famous Village Vanguard.

I'll repost this here: Anyone who could hook me up with an mp3 copy of Duke Ellington's Never No Lament compilation would get a whole lot of e-loving from me.

If you want it, I have this, http://www.amazon.com/Blanton-Webster-Band-Duke-Ellington/dp/B000003EO4/, which is very similar.

I've spent the past few hours listening to Duke Ellington's colossal complete RCA/Victor recordings on shuffle. This guy is an absolute genius. So many perfectly intertwined layers to his music. Out of the maybe 150 songs I've heard (about 450 total on the comp) in this and a prior listen, I've found three that I don't want to hear again. That's insane when you consider that this is everything he recorded for this label across over 45 years.

Unbelievable. I am in love.

That's okay, I've run into a copy of NNL.

Currently obsessed with Billie Holiday's stuff for Columbia. Wowzers.

Louis Armstrong's Hot Fives and Sevens. Finally found a good download link for it. Most of my Jazz collection is post-1950 Jazz, so it's good to have some oldies.

The last 3 posts perfectly sum up my favorite pre-1945 jazz: Satch's Hot Fives & Sevens, Billie's Columbia recordings, and Duke's early period, especially the 1940-42 recordings, which are what make up Never No Lament. Billie is my favorite pre-1950 vocalist from any genre, and especially from mid-1936 to mid-1938, she not only consistently sang well, but also had great musicians playing on almost every recording. I generally find her '39 & '40 recordings disappointing in comparison, but her '41 & '42 recordings contain some of her most powerful singing.

Duke's complete RCA recordings are a great cross section of his career. In addition to including the early '40s music, they also include late '20s and early '30s recordings, plus the music from 2 of his best albums, Far East Suite and And His Mother Called Him Bill, both from the '60s. Each of these 3 periods is different from the other 2, and each very much worth hearing.

Pnoom, if you're looking for more Duke to supplement the RCA recordings, I'd recommend some of his Columbia recordings from the '30s. He recorded at least part of the time with Columbia throughout the decade, and almost exclusively with them from early '34 through '39, and the 2nd half of the '30s was a great period for him. He made both big band and small group recordings in those years, both of which are worth hearing. For the former, the 4 disc The Best of Duke Ellington (1932-1939), on Sony BGM, covers the ground well, and for the latter, I'd start with The Duke's Men: Small Groups Volume 1.

"What a Little Moonlight Can Do" has to be one of the best recordings ever. Not only do we have one of Billie's greatest performances, but also Benny Goodman tearing it up on clarinet and of course the great Teddy Wilson on piano.

Speaking of which, does anybody know of a resource can I see who plays what on these Columbia tracks. I assume if I bought the set this would be included in the liner notes, but is there an online resource that keeps track of the credits as well? Who is playing on the earlier recording of "These Foolish Things" (which is perfect)?

Dreww, this site tells the date, location and players for every (or at least every significant) Billie recording:

http://www.billieholidaysongs.com/all_songs.htm

The players on the earliest "These Foolish Things", in addition to Teddy Wilson, include Johnny Hodges and Harry Carney, both of whom were members of Ellington's orchestra.

Currently writing a 25 page paper on bebop, so im really into jazz at the moment, it seems. Not just bebop, but also the beginnings. Fuck the ODJB, though

Thank you muchly.

Why does everyone seem to hate them? I never understood that. I'll take it that it has something to do with racism?