Saturday, January 22, 2011

At peace with the Quintet

I love weekend early mornings when I'm the only one up (apart from black cat LORELEI, who keeps trying to climb on me) and I can listen to JAZZ.
Even RORY the dog has gone back to sleep after being let out twice and eating.

Peace...

I've listened the past two days to one of those combos that often gets mentioned when discussing "the greatest jazz groups."

The first MILES DAVIS QUINTET was a truly remarkable collection of musicians, with MILES DAVIS (trumpet) joined by JOHN COLTRANE (tenor saxophone), RED GARLAND (piano), PAUL CHAMBERS (bass) and PHILLY JOE JONES (drums).

Part of Davis' genius was the ability to scout true talent and surround himself with the best. He succeeds with this group. Davis and 'Trane seem particularly in tune with each other's playing, and the rhythm section really swings throughout.

We only have three albums containing the Quintet -- "COOKIN'," "RELAXIN'" and "'ROUND ABOUT MIDNIGHT" -- and I want to get more.

Songs such as "My Funny Valentine," "If I Were a Bell," "Oleo" and "Bye Bye Blackbird" -- just to name a few -- are uniformly superb and provide the perfect complement to a quiet morning of jazz.

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