Awesome, awesome jazz moments

[chuckyd4]

Thought this might be a fun idea for a thread; not sure we've really done exactly this before. A place to list any random moments in some performance that get you every time, that "pop" when you hear them, that make you smile and yell out something when they happen, that opened up your creativity as a listener. The little turns of phrase that hit the sweet spot.

Something like the opening notes of Johnny Hodges' solo on "Blood Count" from And His Mother Called Him Bill.... The way he erupts out of the full band crescendo and smears those staccato high notes. Like the first few bars of Leo Wright's alto solo on "Prelude" from Dizzy and Lalo Schifrin's Gillespiana. That little two-bar break where the band cuts out and he knifes across an exhilirating interval so you're not even sure he'll land right, but he does, somersaulting into a tip-of-the-toes groove.


I thought of this topic when listening to "Lester Left Town" on the Jazz Messenger's Africaine. At the climax of Wayne Shorter's solo, he suddenly hits this run of triplet arpeggiations, something like a gymnast doing a floor routine all over the rhythmic base. It's unexpected, adds this sudden surprising contrast, and takes an already energetic, swinging performance to the next level of over the top excitement.

The other moment that made me think of it was the opening of Sonny Rollins' solo on "Just One of Those Things" from the first disc of the Max Roach Complete Mercury (can't remember what the original album was). The band starts at this fast clip, uptempo bebop, and then cuts out into this great stop-time section. That's where Rollins' comes in: when most bebop saxophonists at the time would have come flying in headlong with a torrent of sixteenth notes, Rollins just mauls his way across the breaks, with this great see-sawing, jacknife phrasing. This is that moment, bookended as it is with the way he unfurls those sawing long notes back into the uptempo, staccato clip of the original arrangement. So brilliant.


Everyone here must have some. They're the little tiny miracles that made you love this music at some point, or rediscover it on an ordinary day. Post some. Share some love, talk about some music.

[gnhrtg]

Thanks for this thread. I am insanely busy but I hope to post some when I have the time (unlikely anytime soon, sorry). I just wanted to say that three of those (and I know those solos well) would make it into my awesome jazz moments - I am not at all familiar with Gillespiana, heard it once years ago.

[Peterdubya]

How 'about Dinah Washington "I've got You under My Skin" with Clark Terry, Maynard Ferguson, and Clifford Brown trading off... they build to this great peak!

[Enforcer]

I started a thread like this, probably 5 or more years ago. I usually start with this one:

On Larry Young's Unity, the tune Softly As In A Morning Sunrise. Just after Joe Henderson plays the head and they get ready to break into the the tenor solo, there's this pause; sort of a moment of anticipation, when Elvin puts down the brushes between choruses and picks up the sticks. You know some badass groove is going to be laid down and I always feel the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. Everything that happens during that solo, the way the whole band just builds the intensity, is built on the foundation of that transition. It's the simplest thing in the world, but it's sublime.

[clinthopson]

I love the bird and beach sounds at the beginning of the long version of Diz's Samba De Orfeu.

And the bird sounds at the beginning of Mingus' "Jazz Cumbia Fusion."

[Pete C]

When Monk yells "Coltrane, Coltrane," to wake Trane up for his solo.

[Squaredancecalling Steve]

Larry's description is so good I'm going to dig out the track right now and listen!

****

My man Sergey Kuryokhin on "A combination of passion and feelings" (the first track on Some Combinations of Fingers and Passion), for the several seemingly effortless glides from Rachmaninov and Chopin to the planet Mars, all in a measure or two, that never fail to astound me. And the opening of the Kuryokhin/ Keshavan Maslak (aka Kenny Millions) duet of "Those Were The Days" from Friends Afar -- the greatest musical joke ever recorded. And you know it's going to be a great joke from the opening notes! I played this last week at a dance and a woman asked if Maslak's sax was an amplified kazoo.

Coltrane's beautiful and dazzling solo on Miles' "Some Day My Prince Will Come".

Pepper Adams' irresistible opening on Mingus's "Moanin'" from Blues and Roots.

"Along Came Betty" -- Golson's melody is probably my favorite tune in all of jazz, and never fails to stir me. I've been playing this one since Blakey's Moanin' came out, almost 50 years ago.

[Bill Barton]

The point on Von Freeman's incredible version of "Footprints" from Live at the Dakota where he enters with that crazy gargled vocal then mimics it with his tenor. Goosebumps, baby, goosebumps...

[Peterdubya]

Red Garland's block chord solo on "Bye Bye Blackbird" so swingin' so soulful.

[stonemonkts]

The first note of J.J. Johnson's solo on Misterioso, from April 14, 1957 (disc 4, track 11 of the Monk Blue Note box set).

Monk
Rollins
JJ
Paul Chambers
Art Blakey

The entire solo is great, but that first note, as if he was bursting to play, always gives me chills.

[Gary Sisco]

Just about any of Miles's versions of "'Round Midnight" that use the Gil Evans intro. I never tire of that intro.

[Vince Kargatis]

This thread I started in 2002 has a similar intent:
Solos to celebrate

[Gerardo A]

Originally Posted by stonemonkts

The first note of J.J. Johnson's solo on Misterioso, from April 14, 1957 (disc 4, track 11 of the Monk Blue Note box set).

Monk
Rollins
JJ
Paul Chambers
Art Blakey

The entire solo is great, but that first note, as if he was bursting to play, always gives me chills.

I think I remember that note, it's a big guffaw, right? On that same tune, I also love the first smeared note with which Sonny Rollins begins his solo, like saying: "you may be Monk and this may be your tune, but this is me."

[BeBop]

Two come to mind, one general and one specific.

The general: Illinois Jacquet. The man was a master at building a solo from a calm beginning to an explosive climax. Flying Home was good, but he did it over and over.

The specific: Benny Goodman's band playing The Hucklebuck. After an utterly LAME reading of the LAME head, Wardell Gray comes in blowing BEBOP.

[Scott Yanow]

Jazz At The Philharmonic 1949 - A long uptempo blues called "The Closer." Roy Eldridge has a spectacular tradeoff with Buddy Rich and the song ends. Only one trouble: Charlie Parker never had a chance to solo. After a few seconds, Rich starts again and then Bird enters. His second breath, which is endless, cuts everything that had taken place during the previous 15 minutes. He then jams happily over the riffing horns, playing one rhythmic phrase after another until everyone agrees to kill the thing.

[Frisco]

On the Rollins/Hawkins record Sonny Meets Hawk, the song "Lover Man". As Sonny and Coleman trade their lines, Sonny digs way down deep into the lower register of the tenor with an incredible phrase before Hawk responds with a soft, sweet, rephrasing of the melody.

[Gary Sisco]

Jim Hall's playing with Sonny Rollins. What a quartet.

[Lore]

Trane's soaring re-entry on "Ole".

Arthur Jones' breathy, sustained final note on "Brother B".

[Kevin Bresnahan]

I still get shivers when Cannonball enters after the slow intro to "One For Daddy-O" from "Something Else". He just rips into that note and takes off.

I clapped like I was at a show after the first time I heard Wayne Shorter's solo on the title track of Blakey's "Free For All".

The opening alto solo on Norris Turney's "Big Sweet & Blue" blows my mind every time I put it on. I can put it tomorrow and still listen like it's the first time.

[bigtiny]

"They Say That Falling in Love...." - Johnny Hartman and Trane - gets me every time
the opening to Dexter's solo on "Red Top" from "Sophisticated Giant"
Freddie Hubbard's solo on "First Light" from the album "First Light"
Jaco's solo on "Havona" from Heavy Weather
Ornette's playing on the soundtrack to "Naked Lunch"
Bird's "famous alto break" on "Night in Tunisia"
Jan Garbarek's tenor solo on Kenny Wheeler's "Deer Wan"

I could go on and on, but I won't =:-)

bigtiny

[Dennis Gonzalez]

Great thread, Chuck. Wonderful.

[Dennis Gonzalez]

On Visions of the Emerald Beyond, by Mahavishnu Orchestra, the group plays a composition called "Faith", and the very last seconds, everyone, strings, keys, guitar, bass, and violin, come in for an explosive ending that leaves Gayle Moran laughing her ass off at the end of the track, it's just that incredible.

And as the intro fades into the body of the song "A Love Supreme" (from Love Devotion Surrender with Santana/McLaughlin/Larry Young/etc.)...right at that moment, as we wait for the song to begin, time seems to stand still, because they take so long to end the intro and start the rest of the song. They take their time, man, and it's beautiful.

[chuckyd4]

Originally Posted by Kevin Bresnahan

I clapped like I was at a show after the first time I heard Wayne Shorter's solo on the title track of Blakey's "Free For All".

YES!!! Absolutely, that one still gets me every time.

I just remembered another one today. On the first disc of the Grant Green/Sonny Clark sessions on Blue Note (I forget which track, but I think it's "Airegin"?), Green finishes a really excellent chorus, but is supposed to step aside at the end of it. Blakey gets so excited about it that he starts yelling at him to keep going, which is picked up by the mics. That one always cracks me up and puts a smile on my face.

Good call on the classic Bird break on "Night in Tunisia." Something about Dexter Gordon's reading of the theme of "Scrapple from the Apple" on Our Man in Paris always gets to me. Not even the solo necessarily, just the commanding force with which he reads the head... even though he's just playing the composed part, the way he plays it is just so Dexter, and just gets me so excited as the album starts.


Go, go, go!

[Peterdubya]

When Dolphy comes in on "Hoe Down" on Blues and the ABstract truth!!!

[Rob C]

I always loved the moment when Trane comes in for his solo on "Afro Blue" on Live at Birdland. Very dramatic.

Another great entrance: Miles on "Mademoiselle Mabry" after the long Corea/Holland/Williams build-up.

Boy, I haven't listened to Blues and the Abstract Truth in a LONG time. Think I'll give it a spin....

[Milstead]

I love the last chorus of "Dem Red Beans and Rice" from Rahsaan's "Bright Moments" album where they just hang on that V chord for about a 20 bars or so before finally resolving.

[Gerardo A]

Originally Posted by Rob C

I always loved the moment when Trane comes in for his solo on "Afro Blue" on Live at Birdland. Very dramatic.

Yeah, and Elvin had created a huge fire at that point. Coltrane holds those notes for very long, and his volume is intense, it does sound very dramatic (almost like an abstract, intellectual sense of tropicality; the tune was written by Mongo Santamaría, of course). The first 3 or 4 phrases are particularly sublime to me. That was actually the CD that turned me on to jazz years ago.

Now that Dennis chimed in, I'm reminded that one of my favorite jazz moments is in his CD "Hymn for the Perfect Heart of a Pearl", on the first tune (named as the CD), when Tim Green's tenor solo rises to an ecstatic level. Moholo slams 3 or 4 times his snare drum and gets some vibrant howls from Tim Green. I also love the first phrase of Dennis' solo in "Hymn for Louis Moholo", he sounds very Mexican to me, like a mariachi clearly singing a verse.

Another moment that quickly comes to mind: Curtis Fowlkes' opening phrases in Bobby Previte's reggae-tinged "Bobby's Last Mood" from "Counterclockwise".

[Felix]

Coleman Hawkins' solo on "Body And Soul", of course. Every time I hear it, it never fails to give me goosebumps.

There are just too many great recorded moments to mention. I'm thinking of Archie Shepp's solo on "Mama Too Tight", for example: after everyone else played excellent, rocking improvisations, he comes in with all that energy and BANG! hits the listener like a ton of bricks.

A great live moment for me was seeing Joe Maneri, who had played the entire evening sitting down, becoming so entranced by Randy Peterson's drumming that he actually stood up and played a smoking improvisation. One of the best concerts I've seen in my life.

[Squaredancecalling Steve]

Live: the joyous telepathy between Cedar Walton and the lategreat Billy Higgins.

[Bill Barton]

Originally Posted by Peterdubya

When Dolphy comes in on "Hoe Down" on Blues and the ABstract truth!!!

Yes! Another Dolphy entrance that never fails to blow me away is on the George Russell "'Round About Midnight" from Ezz-Thetics.