Last Flight Essence

I came across a very, very interesting album today. I am a HUGE Jaco P fan, as most of you who know me will have found out fairly quickly, if you discuss music taste with me. I was on Amazon, just looking through some Jaco albums for a bargain, and I came across one that I'd never heard before. This album, Last Flight Essence, was right at the end of the search, and I'm surprised I haven't heard it before.

You can download it here, I'm not so sure how legal it is, but hey... -> Download

The album consists of 3 quite long tracks, and if you've got a short attention span, I advise against listening to this. It appears to just be a 1-off jam between a few friends around the mid 1980s, who just wanted to lay down a few tracks. Listening through the entire album non-stop today, I found it absolutely breath-taking. You can tell it's Jaco playing fairly quickly, as he lays down some well known funky grooves, from Reza to an extract of Three Views, which Jaco fans will know inside-out. I seriously recommend just having a listen, and getting lost in it. Put the biggest pair of headphones you have on, and just lie-down and listen to this. If it's too heavy, go and buy (or listen to it on Spotify here, but the idiots who put the Jaco tracks have gotten some of them mixed up with the recordings from the Birthday Concert...) 'Word of Mouth' by Jaco, and give it a try.

Right, that's enough brown-nosing of my hero.

'til next time...

Thanks ~ The Jazzbone

Sweeney Todd

I almost forgot to say! I'll be playing in a production of Sweeney Todd, the musical, next month in King David's High School, on Seymour Road in Manchester. It's being directed by Trevor Siemens, a very talented young composer and musician. The musical itself is fantastic, the music is very interesting and quite funny, if not lacking in trombone moments...

Here's a link to the Facebook page with some more details :)

'til next time...

Thanks ~ The Jazzbone

Scream Machine

I do apologise for my lack of updates recently, it's been a tough month! Coming back to college after Christmas has been a bit of an ordeal, and not as easy as I was expecting it to be... We have technical assessments coming up, and my teacher is trying to get me through the material for those as well as keeping up the technique and fundamental stuff. It's pretty intense at the minute.

But anyway.

Back to jazz. I bought an album off of iTunes the other day, purely because I love the guy, and his albums aren't that widely available. Any brass player who has a real love of jam hot brass playing will have hopefully heard of 2 artists; Mnozil Brass and James Morrison. I won't be talking about Mnozil this time, because they aren't jazz in the slightest, but they are as jam hot as you can get. James Morrison however, I could talk about this cat all day. If you're a fan of Black Dyke Brass Band, you will have definitely heard of this guy. Just check this out -> YouTube. That's James performing "Things Just Ain't What They Used To Be", that old Ellington standard. I couldn't tell you the amount of times I've watched that video, and how many times I've watched that DVD... But anyway.

He's released some phenom albums through the years, the only problem being that he's an Australian artist, and his albums aren't released here except online through iTunes, which is a real shame. Here's the album I bought though -> iTunes. And just listen to some of those samples... Jam hot, yes? Thankfully, he does have an album on Spotify, hidden away under the gay James Morrison... but srsly, listen to this ASAP -> Spotify.

It's been a tough month or so for trombone playing, I've had to re-think my practise schedule entirely. But, you'll be glad to hear, I've actually been doing some Aebersold work! All in preparation for Jiggs Whigham's return next month!

I will try to be more active with my posts guys, I promise!

'til next time...

Thanks ~ The Jazzbone

New Year

Happy new year everyone! Hope you all had a classy Christmas, and a sloppy New Year!

It's been bizarre, I've started watching quite a few vlogs on youtube, like RayWilliamJohnston's blog BreakingNYC, which is pretty cool. I've always loved the idea of being able to do that myself, but more music orientated, even with a few tasty musical bites here and there on the ol trombone... ANYWAY, I'll just stick to this for the minute, I like doing this :)

I feel really bad, because Jiggs Whigham is coming back in March, and I haven't done a lot of work for him yet... I've been neglecting my Aebersold book a bit too much. I have been doing a bit of improvising for part of my course though, in class. And I must say, I wasn't too bad at it. We did a solo over the Welsh folk tune "O Waley, Waley", and it was seriously tasty. I will be doing more work on my jazz though. I promise :)

Got a few tasty albums/artists for you guys to listen to that I've come across quite recently!

First off, here's a trio called 'Project', with their album Brooklyn which is pretty tasty. If you're wondering who the flautist is, then here is where you first heard him -> YouTube (EVERYONE must have seen this vid. Or one of his others.) I admit, I do sometimes have a strange taste in instruments sometimes, but jazz flute is seriously badass. The Anchorman is the prime example.

These cats have some seriously tasty original stuff on there, as well as some interesting covers and transcriptions!

Next up is something a bit differant, but SERIOUSLY funky; it's the Quantic Soul Orchestra, with their album Tropidélico. This guys have some seriously tasty stuff on here, a lot of groovy riffs and a lot of aux percussion, which is what I'm all about! Check out their YouTube vids as well, like this one. Or this one. S'all gravy.

The last album I've got here is a pure classic for me. My memory of this group is of my former trombone teacher back in Belfast blaring a few tunes out the window in the car. Seriously, check it out. And have a spare pair of trousers ready. Oh yeah.

'til next time...

Thanks ~ The Jazzbone

Bromberg part 2

You may remember me mentioning before about the acoustic bassist Brian Bromberg; now, I thought he was a genius before, but I may have found an album by him that tops Downright Upright. I was looking through some articles and web sites and I found an album called 'Jaco', which had a front cover with Bromberg's face in the style of Jaco's self-titled album. Bromberg said himself on his website, "I wanted to have a CD cover that from the first time you saw it you instantly knew what this recording was about ... If you remember Jaco's first solo record cover, you would know just by looking at my CD cover that this project is all about Jaco and his music. I knew that most musicians and bass players throughout the world would instantly recognize what I feel is one of the most visual and identifiable record cover's of all time. I wanted the CD cover to take you back to that time in your life when you heard Jaco's record for the first time -- what that meant to you -- what that meant to all of us!", and this is exactly what I've felt after listening to this album.

I've been able to get a hold of this album, and I'm blown away. I've listened to a lot of Jaco tributes, and they've all been pretty awesome, but this is something else. Bromberg's mix of electric and acoustic bass, fused with fresh arrangements of the Jaco classics, makes this album is just something else. Whether the track is in the similar vein to the original, like "Continuum" or "The Chicken", or whether it's a totally differ ant animal altogether, like the fusion-orientated "Three Views of a Secret" or the orchestrated "Portrait of Tracy", all of the music on this album is just breath-taking. And it's because of Jaco. Brian has done a phenomenal job of taking the Pastorius' masterpieces and giving them a lick of paint and giving a fresh approach. You'll hear some really interesting arrangements, all of them original in their own way. One of my favourite tracks, surprisingly, is what I believe is a Bromberg original in the style of Jaco, with some beautiful moments featuring the acoustic guitar and electric bass intertwining some beautiful melodic passages.

All in all, the album is glorious. The luscious accompaniments to the tracks, despite some being synthesized, are fitting and creative. I would definitely recommend sourcing out this album. Unfortunately, it's not on Spotify, or else I would screaming about it at the top of my voice on Twitter, Facebook, and anywhere else I could!

'til next time...

Thanks ~ The Jazzbone

In this crazy time of Christmas number 1s...

I found a fantastic album tonight, and it's a good 'un. It's by Massimo Faraó, and it's a great collection of cartoon tunes played in the jazz idiom; "Cartoons In Jazz". I really love the Batman Theme, but the whole album is very funky. Also check out "Someday My Prince Will Come", one of my favourite standards.

Just one track to check out here; "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me" by U2. I just love this tune so much! I only found out what this song was tonight, I've spent years with this song stuck in my head! And yes, I do realise the Batman theme popping up here...

If you want another amazing Batman song... "Kiss From A Rose". Listened to this tonight after watching this amazing video of Jack Black -> YouTube.

My next choice for tonight's blog was brought about watching one of my favourite videos on YouTube -> Phil Driscoll's God Rest Ye. If you've never heard of this guy, he's an American preacher/singer/trumpet player. In my opinion, he's up there in the jazz trumpet greats. I will admit though, he has got some dodgy videos on YouTube, but yet again, everyone does. I find it so hard to believe that it's a Christian band turning this stuff out, considering the amount of bias out there that Christian musicians aren't as good. Just check it out. Then listen to just how freakin tight this guy is on this track -> Capital J.

That should keep you occupied for the next few minutes anyway :p

But ladies and gents,

'til next time...

Thanks ~ The Jazzbone

Corea, Mackrosoft and some others

I've become a big fan of Chick Corea of the past few months even though I've known about him for years. I discovered him at a gig I was playing in a few years ago with the UYJO. It was a special year for the UYJO, an anniversary I think. There was a band put together of all the former members of the band to make a scratch super band, and I must say, it was amazing. The drum teacher from my old school, Pete Comfort, was on kit, and he was just savage! They played a tune called Spain, and I loved it from start to finish. Just really tight tutti stuff, with awesome solos and just really funky and rhythmical. I went home and immediately typed this into Youtube, and found hundreds of versions of the song.

The thing I love about jazz is with guys like Corea, Hancock, Pastorius, whoever, they've played with anyone and everyone worth knowing. Hancock has, and still is, playing with the remaining legends of jazz. Chick Corea has performed Spain countless times, and every single performance is like gold dust! Acoustic, electric, it all just really grooves! I would regularly listen to Corea on Spotify, and I came across a fantastic album by the group he led 'Return to Forever'. The album in question in their anthology, and I love anthologies. And Best-of discs. Here it is -> Return To Forever – Hymn Of The 7th Galaxy - Remixed/Remastered.

Corea has led some of the tightest bands and ensembles out there, especially his trios, like this album -> Chick Corea – On Green Dolphin Street - Live. If you've ever seen this set-up on youtube, you'll know what I'm talking about! Vinnie Colaiuta on kit and John Pattitucci on bass just rip up for 15-20 minute just on the one track, it's unreal!

Chick has always just been a pure improviser. I remember listening to Radio 3 and hearing an interview with him where he said about a group he played with, a trio I think, where nothing was prepared, they just went on stage and played something, and they all communicated and were able to make something of it. I'm hoping while here in Manchester I'll get to hear him at some point.

Whilst trying to find more versions of Three Views of a Secret, I came across just a funky artist with no relevance to the Pastorius classic whatsoever; The Mackrosoft have some really groovy tracks out. I started at the top of their Spotify list, and went all the way through, just having it as background music! It's described as some sort of fusion between funk, soul, disco, jazz, everything, and it really works. I would check it out, if you just wanna chill out -> The Mackrosoft – April Showers.

Another gem I found a few months back was an album I stumbled across when trying to find a definitive version of Someday My Prince Will Come; I found an absolute gold mine album by Oscar Peterson, the legendary jazz pianist who needs no introduction, and Nelson Riddle, the extremely accomplished arranger and band leader. They collaborate on this album to take some slightly less known standards, and really making something of them. The album is here -> Oscar Peterson – My Foolish Heart. It's a good old-fashioned feel-good jazz album.

Lastly, I thought I'd share one of my favourite tracks of all time; Chuck Mangione – Feels So Good. My brother showed me this track about a year ago, and it still brings a tear to my eye! It's also what's started my obsession with flugelhorns as well... but I'll not go into that.

So, there's a good few things for you to enjoy, keep you occupied over Christmas, as well as A Jazzbone Christmas!

'til next time...

Thanks ~ The Jazzbone