All That Jazz ...

[coaltrain]

Been an Al Di Meola fan since my college days.
Nice to finally see an in-depth interview, especially one conducted by Rick Beato, who asks all the right questions.

 

[Jayant_S]

Been an Al Di Meola fan since my college days.
Nice to finally see an in-depth interview, especially one conducted by Rick Beato, who asks all the right questions.

Thanks for sharing - will watch the entire interview tonight. He's a long time favorite of mine too!

 

[himadri]

Those were the days when his solos were electrifying and shred was not born yet. But he was melodic as hell.

 

[MIOM]

My Al Di Meola CD's...



My favorite of those are Elegant Gypsy, and Splendido Hotel

 

[coaltrain]

And some more…
There‘s no such thing as too many Al Di Meola albums
After watching the interview, I’m pretty keen to check out the Beatles album. Norwegian Wood sounded sublime.

 

[MIOM]

In addition to my CD's here's my vinyl collection Al Di Meola...



Also have the CD of "The Rite of Strings" CD with Clarke, Di Meola, and Ponty

 

[himadri]

Rosenwinkle , jazz and Chopin

 

[himadri]

My favorite.

 

[MIOM]

View attachment 67584
My favorite.

Fav on that is Crusin'

 

[himadri]

Fav on that is Crusin'

Yes he had a superb line up then :
Paco de lucia (on one song)
Steve Gaad
Anthony Jackson
Mingo lewis
And the superb Jan Hammer.

 

[himadri]

A new discovery.

 

[aeroash]

A new discovery! Smoothness galore

 

[coaltrain]

I’ve probably posted this before, but worth a reboot.
Below is a print campaign for Nikon sunglasses.
Pretty sure the Art Director on the account is a jazz buff



And the source of inspiration:

 

[Sushant Sharma]

Ruby reminded me of Tina. But the similarity ends at their physical stature and effeminate names. Different instruments and styles and times.

Ruby Braff is an unknown name to me. I like the classic style that perhaps is reminiscent of times before him but also seems a bridge to the style of jazz that followed. Clear and bold tone on his trumpet. @Orko I think poet laureate would approve. I like that there are vibes and guitar on the album. And Boss man Coleman Hawkins appears.
Did I say the album cover is killer! Passingly I read, it was house keeping staff at a hotel room because Mom so gleeful at talents of her full grown son might be a bit cheesy.

 

[coaltrain]

Trumpet, vibes, guitar, the Hawk… sounds pretty good, Sushant.
But what on earth is the NAME OF THE ALBUM?
Or am I missing something here??

 

[Sushant Sharma]

Trumpet, vibes, guitar, the Hawk… sounds pretty good, Sushant.
But what on earth is the NAME OF THE ALBUM?
Or am I missing something here??

Hi Coaltrain. The album is titled, 'Braff'. You can check it out here.

 

[acemachine26]

Absolutely stellar series by BBE (Barely Breaking Even). Their Japanese jazz samplers, each volume containing 3 LPs, are one of the best ways to get into jazz from this part of the world.

What's more, if you happen to fancy a particular track, they're also starting to reissue the obscure albums that these tracks come from.

 

[acemachine26]

@Sushant Sharma and @jls001 I owe you both a big thank you. Posted on a few groups and it's only fair I post my story here.

View attachment 67467

Oh glorious day! My hands are shaking, I can barely contain my excitement as I play this record. Mercifully I haven’t scratched or dropped it on the short trip from inner sleeve to turntable. Please bear with my long story of this album.

In 2004, my job took me on a 3 month project with Yamaha in Hamamatsu, Japan. Back then all my music was on cassettes and a handful of CDs. I didn't have a turntable and had no idea about pressings, Japanese or otherwise. The only Obi I knew was a Jedi Knight. Yes, I returned home after 3 months in Japan without buying a single record.
In the last week of the project, my Japanese colleague invited me to his home for a meal and pulled out a few jazz records to play.
I was spellbound by a brilliant trombonist/composer called Hiroshi Suzuki and made my host play that record several times that evening. Seeing how taken I was by the album, he offered to gift me one of the 2 copies he owned (both immaculate first pressings). In my monumental stupidity, I said "No thank you, Sato-San. I'll go home and buy the cassette or CD in Bangalore. I'm sure I'll find it in Planet M or Music World"...obviously that didn't pan out.
Years later when I bought my first TT and started buying records, I realized what a rare gem I had passed up. OGs were selling at 100 USD or more in 2008 and right now they go for a pot of gold, if you can find one for sale.
A few days ago, Joshua posted a link to one of the songs in this album on another forum and it brought memories flooding back - thanks Joshua! Then Sushant said it has been reissued recently by a Swiss label called "We release Jazz". I dropped everything I was doing and bought the reissue right away.
After an 18 year delay, I finally have Cat by Hiroshi Suzuki in my hands. I don't regret it's not an OG gifted by Sato-San, that wasn't meant to be.
The reissue is no slouch either. A thick no-nonsense polylined paper inner sleeve and astonishing SQ with the half speed mastering.
If you like jazz in any form, you absolutely must listen to and buy this record. In my mind, it's one of those nailed down must own albums. Grab the reissue while it's still affordable - don't make the 18 year long mistake I did!

Great story! It was a long time want of mine too so I per-ordered the reissue as soon as it was announced. Couldn't be happier.

 

[Avinash Pai]

Christian McBride Band live at Tonic. There are 3 CDs. This is the second. Has some mind-blowing jams. The third one too. I love this sort of improvisations and jamming. Sort of segues into jam rock/jazz as well.

 

[Nikhil]

Listening to this via recommendation from @sidvee

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