{"id":10993,"date":"2022-07-29T09:04:35","date_gmt":"2022-07-29T08:04:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/?p=10993"},"modified":"2022-07-29T09:14:33","modified_gmt":"2022-07-29T08:14:33","slug":"the-fifty-best-of-jazz-before-the-fifty-best-of-jazz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/2022\/07\/29\/the-fifty-best-of-jazz-before-the-fifty-best-of-jazz\/","title":{"rendered":"THE FIFTY BEST OF JAZZ before the fifty best of jazz"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

THE<\/em><\/strong> FIFTY BEFORE THE FIFTY<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Norman Warwick heard recommendations from the Jazz Times<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It must have seemed great news to Jazz Times managment,to learn how their responded to that first list of the the fifty best albums of  the last fifty years. However a success like that has to be followed up if you don\u00b4t want to be just another one-list- wonder. So the guys at Jazz Times thought about it for a while, decided a second list, this time of the top 50 jazz albums from the 50 years before<\/em> the magazine was first published, 1920 through 1969, a period often considered to be the Golden Age (or several Golden Ages, depending on how you look at it) of Jazz.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Such a list, however, presents a problem that the original JT<\/em> 50 did not. Because the long-playing vinyl record wasn\u2019t introduced to the global marketplace until 1948, a large chunk of the era jazz Times was surveying\u2014including all of the \u201920s and \u201930s\u2014didn\u2019t have albums, at least not albums as we know them today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And so they decided (yes, they freely admit it) to play a little fast and loose with the definition of what constitutes an album in the early going of our \u201cPre-JT<\/em> 50.\u201d Most of our critics\u2019 picks for the pre-album era are groups of songs that were recorded and released within the same timeframe but only compiled in a single package many years later; on some of them, the music goes beyond the confines of a given decade, but the selections from the decade for which we chose them were so strong that we felt that couldn\u2019t be helped. In a few cases, we\u2019ve picked only one track, either because it\u2019s singularly significant in itself or because we believed that including a whole compilation by the same artist\u2014Paul Whiteman, for example\u2014would dilute that track\u2019s impact. Once we reach the \u201950s, it\u2019s albums all the way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As with the original JT<\/em> 50, we stuck to a few basic ground rules. The most important:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1) Ten albums (or, if you will, \u201calbums\u201d) for each decade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2) No more than one album per decade by any single \u201cheadline\u201d artist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3) No ranking. Chronology, based on the release date of the original recordings, is the only determinant for our final order.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019re rolling out our list online just as we did the last one: beginning Monday, July 18, with the first 10 (the 1920s) and continuing on, a decade per day, through Friday, July 22 (the 1960s).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In closing, we\u2019ll say the same thing we said in 2020: You can (and probably will) disagree with much of what we\u2019ve picked and what we haven\u2019t, but you certainly can\u2019t go wrong listening to any of the recordings listed here, which contain some of the best music ever made on this planet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And now \u2026 let the arguments begin! \u2013Mac Randall<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, it seemed that Michael J, West was the first Jazz Times writer to have his top ten published.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His choices were<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

James P. Johnson: \u201cCarolina Shout\u201d (OKeh, 1921) <\/strong>The Dead Sea Scroll of jazz piano. (Literally a scroll; a generation of pianists learned the song from its player-piano roll.) Johnson\u2019s performance of his self-composed rag codified the Harlem \u201cstride\u201d flavor of syncopation, ornamentation, and improvisation. It inspired Duke Ellington, Bud Powell, and Jaki Byard; in the likes of Jason Moran and Christian Sands, its spirit lives on today. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Fats Waller: Messin\u2019 Around with the Blues (The Complete Recorded Works, Vol. 1) <\/em>(JSP, 2007) [recorded between 1922 and 1926]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

James P. Johnson\u2019s apprentice, Waller was the man who developed his mentor\u2019s ideas, brought them to a worldwide audience, and\u2014crucially\u2014wrote them down. His virtuosity and melodic genius are on ample display in these recordings. Even more prominent, though, is his showmanship: wild, cascading flourishes, musical witticisms, and a rollicking swing whose every note telegraphs fun. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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King Oliver: Oh Play That Thing! Original 1923 Recordings <\/em>(Naxos, 2003)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes, King Oliver\u2019s recordings introduced Louis Armstrong to the world. That alone would win them a spot on this list. But consider as well the vast number of devices\u2014breaks, stop-time choruses, a bevy of cornet mutes for Oliver\u2014that were startling at the time (but quickly became part of the jazz vocabulary). Jazz was already a craze when Oliver appeared in Chicago, but even its most ardent fans didn\u2019t know it went this deep. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Bennie Moten\u2019s Kansas City Orchestra: The Chronological Classics, 1923-1927 <\/em>(Chronological Classics, 1996)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

While jazz mania was centered on Chicago and New Orleans, a rhythmic insurgency was brewing in Kansas City. Pianist Moten\u2019s band incorporated the Stomp beat from his hometown\u2019s rough-and-rowdy nightlife and doubled down on the blues, making these some of the most vital, danceable, and forward-thinking recordings of the era. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Fletcher Henderson: A Study in Frustration<\/em> (Poll Winners [originally Columbia], 1961) [recorded between 1923 and 1928]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The shape and sound of big-band jazz is largely Fletcher Henderson\u2019s doing. A Study in Frustration<\/em> (so named because he never got the fame and fortune he deserved) captures the bands and arrangements that would define an era, along with breakthrough recordings by Coleman Hawkins, Benny Carter, and a brash young New Orleanian trumpeter they called \u201cSatchelmouth.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Louis Armstrong: The Complete Hot Five and Hot Seven Recordings <\/em>(Sony Legacy, 2003) [recorded between 1925 and 1928]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The most important recordings in jazz history\u2014among other things, they\u2019re the records that put the soloist at the music\u2019s center\u2014are still vital and joyous today. In their time, they were \u2026 well, \u201crevolutionary\u201d is an understatement. Sides like \u201cHeebie Jeebies,\u201d \u201cMuggles,\u201d and \u201cWest End Blues\u201d blazed trails that every jazz musician since has had to follow. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Ferdinand Morton claimed to have singlehandedly invented jazz, he was only exaggerating a bit. Although his Red Hot Peppers didn\u2019t record until 1926, Morton was jazz\u2019s first important composer. Tunes like \u201cBlack Bottom Stomp,\u201d \u201cGrandpa\u2019s Spells,\u201d and \u201cWild Man Blues\u201d remain in the repertoire. As for the band\u2019s playing \u2026 suffice to say that 100 years later, when we talk about \u201cNew Orleans jazz,\u201d this is the sound we mean. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first two tracks on 1926-1929<\/em> show Waters chasing the blues-shouter paradigm of Bessie Smith and Ma Rainey. From there, though, she softens her approach. Her signature hits \u201cI\u2019m Coming Virginia\u201d and \u201cThat\u2019s My Home\u201d show a gentler, slinkier vocal and a Tin Pan Alley polish that then and now distinguishes the jazz singers from the blues shouters. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

White Chicagoans (mostly) developed an antsier, jumpier, less ensemble-driven style of jazz, and banjoist Eddie Condon was its nucleus. His earliest recordings not only exemplify the best of Chicago style (\u201cThere\u2019ll Be Some Changes Made,\u201d with Condon on vocal, is a de facto theme song) but also feature nearly all of its essential players, from saxophonist Bud Freeman to cornetist Jimmy McPartland to clarinetist Frank Teschmacher. There\u2019s even a teenage Gene Krupa on drums. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Today, the idea of Whiteman as \u201cthe King of Jazz\u201d (as he was billed) is laughable, but in the 1920s his was the most popular band in the country. And at times he came close to the real deal, most especially on \u201cFrom Monday On.\u201d Get past the barbershop opening, and you reach a flawless scat passage; a solo from the legendary Bix Beiderbecke; and a truly swinging and inventive lead vocal from 25-year-old Bing Crosby. It ain\u2019t Pops, but it\u2019s got some real magic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As he went on to a smooth crooner and all round tv entertainert, iut is easy to forget what Bing Crosby brought to the jazz scene.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact “Now You Has Jazz” is a song written by Cole Porter<\/a> for the 1956 film High Society<\/a><\/em> in which it was introduced by Bing Crosby<\/a> and Louis Armstrong<\/a>. The song describes what instruments are needed to create jazz<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So you see Bing may have been definitive crooner of the 1930s, but he had started his career a decade earlier as a jazz singer and he always retained his love for New Orleans jazz, Louis Armstrong, and superior standards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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On air sign background<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Thinking back to jazz, where this article all began: It must be very flattering and rewarding for any radio broadcaster to be thanked on social media by an artist he has played on his show. So at the top of the Steve Bewick facebook postings today is one such vote of thanks.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A great surprise for me today to be included in this broadcast by <\/em><\/strong>Steve Bewick<\/em><\/strong><\/a> with a track from our recording Coltrane\u2019s Colours with great musicians and great friends <\/em><\/strong>Tito Mangialajo Rantzer<\/em><\/strong><\/a> and <\/em><\/strong>Massimo Pintori<\/em><\/strong><\/a>. Lovely memories! Thanks Steve!<\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u00b4d like to hear the programme being referred to, Mr Bewick offers the following guidance.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hot Biscuits offers this week a live set from the <\/em><\/strong>Tom Thorp<\/em><\/strong><\/a> Quartet with <\/em><\/strong>Patrick Hurley<\/em><\/strong><\/a>, keys, <\/em><\/strong>Grant Russell<\/em><\/strong><\/a> Bass, and <\/em><\/strong>Luke Flowers<\/em><\/strong><\/a> drums. The broadcast also includes music from <\/em><\/strong>Simone Manunza<\/em><\/strong><\/a>, <\/em><\/strong>Adam Fairhall<\/em><\/strong><\/a>, <\/em><\/strong>Maur\u00edcio Soulz<\/em><\/strong><\/a>, <\/em><\/strong>Matt Carmichael<\/em><\/strong><\/a> and <\/em><\/strong>Daniel Karlsson<\/em><\/strong><\/a>. If this sounds interesting tell your friends and catch Steve Bewick at<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/em><\/strong>www.mixcloud.com\/stevebewick\/<\/em><\/strong><\/a> <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

24\/07 !!!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Thinking of Mr. Bewick, we should also mention that has Hot Biscuits programme is currently the sixth most globally accessed (mix cloud) jazz broadcast. <\/em><\/strong>Thar means that any artist playewd on his show can be sure of fidning an audience and creat or maintain a high profile<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An\u00a0 artist he has played regularly on his programme. Beverley Beirne and who has also featured on these pages on more than one occasion is Beverley Bierne. She has just begun a residency of at least six concert until the end of 2022 at The Ticket Office in Ilkley.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last night she gave her first gig of her season and was joined by the fantastic <\/em>Jason C Scott<\/em><\/a> on piano and the equally fabulous <\/em>Emlyn Vaughan<\/em><\/a> on double bass. All the tables were booked. so  it was standing room only.  I\u2019m told that Beverley, and the cocktails, too,  were worth standing up for.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The breadth of Beverley\u2019s skills and repertoire can be seen by the listings on the blackboard shown here. I\u2019d be very interested to hear her selection of songs from contemporary writers, but I am also sure that jazz can offer plenty of tasty tricks and treats for the Halloween event, and of course for the Christmas Jazz Party in December.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beverley\u00b4s new-ish album Dream Dance is admired by respectged online critic The Jazz Mann, Winner of the Parliamentary Jazz Award for Best Media, 2019<\/a>. He calls it \u00e1n album of  Assured vocals and intelligent, imaginative arrangements. An album that will continue to enhance Beirne\u2019s reputation nationally and she is now emerging as far more than just a good \u2018regional\u2019 jazz singer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beverley Beirne is a Yorkshire based jazz vocalist who has released two previous albums under her own name, \u00a02012\u2019s standards based \u201cSeasons of Love\u201d and 2018\u2019s \u201cJazz Just Wants To Have Fun\u201d.\u00a0 The latter is a collection featuring jazz arrangements of 70s and 80s pop songs and was particularly well received.\u00a0In addition to her work as a performer she also runs the annual Ilkley Jazz Festival, alongside her husband Mark Beirne-Smith.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For her latest release Beirne has returned to the standards repertoire with the album taking its title from one of the tracks, Cole Porter\u2019s song \u201cDream Dancing\u201d, written in 1941. A loose theme of dreams and dancing informs the rest of the programme, which includes two songs written by the late saxophonist, composer and songwriter Duncan Lamont (1931 \u2013 2019). The songs were recorded when Lamont was still alive and he actually got to play on them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given Steve Bewick\u00b4s high ratings for his Hot Biscuits programme and our high number of Sidetracks and Detours readers around the world, and that Steve and I each fairly often mention the opther\u00b4s work, there is every chance that the shaded part of any Venn diagram of our readership and Steve\u00b4s listenership would include a high number of Beverley Beirne fans. With The Jazz Mann covering her so positively on his site, and this residency to hone her live talents, Beverley Beirne couyld become a big name on the international jazz scene. If there are any promoters here on Lanzarote reading this I\u00b4m sure she would find an audience here !<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The prime source for this article was published in a recent edition of Jazz Times. Check out the magazine excellent, thought-provoki.ng work. We have also extrapolated from <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/em><\/strong>Published since 1970, JazzTimes (left) \u2014\u201cAmerica\u2019s Jazz Magazine\u201d\u2014provides comprehensive and in-depth coverage of the jazz scene.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In our occasional re-postings Sidetracks And Detours are confident that we are not only sharing with our readers excellent articles written by experts but that we are also pointing to informed and informative sites readers will re-visit time and again. Of course, we feel sure our readers will also return to our daily not-for-profit blog knowing that we seek to provide core original material whilst sometimes spotlighting the best pieces from elsewhere, as we engage with new genres and practitioners along all the sidetracks & detours we take.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/em><\/strong>This article was collated by Norman Warwick, a weekly columnist with Lanzarote Information and owner and editor of this daily blog at Sidetracks And Detours.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Norman has also been a long serving broadcaster, co-presenting the weekly all across the arts programme on Crescent Community Radio for many years with Steve Bewick, and his own show on Sherwood Community Radio. He has been a regular guest on BBC Radio Manchester, BBC Radio Lancashire, BBC Radio Merseyside and BBC Radio Four.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a published author and poet Norman<\/em><\/strong> was a founder member of Lendanear Music, with Colin Lever and Just Poets with Pam McKee, Touchstones Creative Writing Group (for which he was creative writing facilitator for a number of years) with Val Chadwick and all across the arts with Robin Parker.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

From Monday to Friday,<\/em><\/strong> you will find a daily post here at Sidetracks And Detours and, should you be looking for good reading, over the weekend you can visit our massive but easy to navigate archives of over 500 articles.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The purpose of this daily not-for-profit blog is to deliver news, previews, interviews and reviews from all across the arts to die-hard fans and non- traditional audiences around the world. We are therefore always delighted to receive your own articles here at Sidetracks And Detours. So if you have a favourite artist, event, or venue that you would like to tell us more about just drop a Word document attachment to me at <\/em><\/strong>normanwarwick55@gmail.com<\/em><\/strong><\/a> with a couple of appropriate photographs in a zip folder if you wish. Being a not-for-profit organisation we unfortunately cannot pay you but we will always fully attribute any pieces we publish. You therefore might also. like to include a brief autobiography and photograph of yourself<\/em><\/strong> in your submission.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We look forward to hearing from you.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sidetracks And Detours is seeking to join the synergy of organisations that support the arts of whatever genre. We are therefore grateful to all those share information to reach as wide and diverse an audience as possible.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

correspondents                                Michael Higgins<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                                                            Steve Bewick<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                                                            Gary Heywood Everett<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                                                            Steve Cooke<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                                                            Susana Fondon<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                                                            Graham Marshall<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                                                            Peter Pearson<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                                                            Catherine Smith<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                                                            Aj The Dj Hendry<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hot Biscuits Jazz Radio                      www.fc-radio.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

AllMusic  <\/strong><\/a>                                          <\/strong>https:\/\/www.allmusic.com<\/p>\n\n\n\n

feedspot                                              https:\/\/www.feedspot.com\/?_src=folder<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jazz In Reading                                  https:\/\/www.jazzinreading.com<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jazziz                                                 https:\/\/www.jazziz.com
<\/a>Ribble Valley Jazz & Blues                https:\/\/rvjazzandblues.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rob Adams                                         Music That\u00b4s Going Places<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lanzarote Information                        https:\/\/lanzaroteinformation.co.uk<\/p>\n\n\n\n

all across the arts                                 www.allacrossthearts.co.uk<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rochdale Music Society                     rochdalemusicsociety.org<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lendanear                                           www.lendanearmusic<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Agenda Cultura Lanzarote<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Larry Yaskiel \u2013 writer<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Lanzarote Art Gallery                  https:\/\/lanzaroteartgallery.com<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Goodreads                                        https:\/\/www.goodreads<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

groundup music                                  HOME | GroundUP Music<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maverick                                             https:\/\/maverick-country.com<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joni Mitchell newsletter<\/p>\n\n\n\n

passenger newsletter<\/p>\n\n\n\n

paste mail ins<\/p>\n\n\n\n

sheku kanneh mason newsletter songfacts                                           en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/SongFacts<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Dead Sea Scroll of jazz piano. (Literally a scroll; a generation of pianists learned the song from its player-piano roll.) Johnson\u2019s performance of his self-composed rag codified the Harlem \u201cstride\u201d flavor of syncopation, ornamentation, and improvisation. It inspired Duke Ellington, Bud Powell, and Jaki Byard; in the likes of Jason Moran and Christian Sands, its spirit lives on today<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11011,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,45],"tags":[129],"class_list":["post-10993","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aata","category-music","tag-past-present-future-jazz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10993","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10993"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10993\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11014,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10993\/revisions\/11014"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11011"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}