You'll Hear It: Full Album Deep Dives with Jazz Musicians - 7 Essential Jazz Piano Albums - #59

Episode Date: March 30, 2018

Today, we dive into 7 of Peter's favorite jazz piano albums of all time. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

I'm Adam Menace and I'm Peter Martin. And you're listening to the You'll Hear It Podcast. Today we're going to give you seven essential jazz piano albums. Only seven. Dude, we can't do this. This is going to be too hard. Not six, not eight, but seven. Oh, you're killing me.

But I have to say, too, we're not actually going to give them to you. We're just going to give you the names of them. You're going to have to go scurry and find them on your own. Peter Martin is personally going to play them for you. And then hand deliver them to your house. That's right. Okay, so this comes from a blog post that I actually just wrote this week. I've had several lists.

this over the years. I used to give students like a list of kind of essential listening. But this one is really, I put a disclaimer at the top, and you can see this if you go to Open Studio Network.com slash blog. A little self-promotion. A little promotion. What up? But this, you know, this disclaimer, so I want to put this disclaimer here. Yeah. Highly subjective, many obvious omissions and in no particular order. I don't know. I think this is the definitive list. No, it is not. Do you not listen to what that man is saying. Listen to me. Although these are seven objectively great jazz albums. There's no doubt. You know what? Somebody might say,

you know what? I hate number four, but I love all the other. So we can't put that, you know, all I'm saying is this is just, this is just two guys' opinions. It's really just one guys. Hopefully you agree. I had nothing to do with this. I'm going to put that disclaimer out there. But I want to just put that out because I don't want anyone saying, how come you left off such and such? Obviously, there's more than

seven great jazz pianists and more than seven great jazz. So some things were left off. So these are just seven essential ones out of many. Okay. Wow. Half the podcast is just disclaiming what we're about to say. That's pretty good. I know, and you'll hear it.

No, are we not done? Okay. Okay, I'm going to start on number one. Art Tatum, Piano Starts Here. Who? Who now? Art Tatum. So, you know, part of the reason I started the list is, it's a great album title.

Piano Starts Here. The list starts here. But this record is very personal to me. This was sort of the first solo piano record as a child that I really connected with. My father had this record. It was played around our house a lot. because my parents listened to it I thought it was horrible

or I just didn't pay any attention to it, whatever but at a certain point the sound just connected with me in a way that was just so powerful and I was like wow I want to do that even while at the same time saying wow I'll never be able to do that I wanted to do that you know

man the first time when I bought this album I think I was 19 or 20 years old I was in a very delicate place in my playing you know what I mean? Not a great one for that not a great one and I just remember listening to it and thinking like damn damn yeah damn but now i listen to it and i say damn

it's an amazing amazing album i mean it's it's him at the height of his powers it's beautiful every every track is beautiful yeah and you know thinking about it now i mean i came at it not understanding how albums were made i'm just kind of hearing it and liking it um but you know what i learned about it later was you know it was recorded it was taken from live recordings in 1950 and 1955 it was not yeah it was not put together as an album, as far as I know, even by Artatum. That's incredible. But it's really well put together.

They're great representations of arrangements and solo piano versions of tunes that he did many times that have been recorded many different ways. And I don't know, I just think it's amazing. No, that Willow Weep for me, man. Oh, yeah, it's incredible. So that's number one. So number two is Keith Jarrett's facing you. Now, this was Keith Jarrett's first album for ECM Records.

It was recorded the day after a gig with Miles Davis. in Oslo, Norway, 1971. This one is an interesting pick because I actually really hadn't I mean, I knew of it, but I hadn't really listened to it until you wrote this blog. Like I kind of missed out on the ECM stuff when I was coming up, you know,

getting into jazz until now much later and I'm like loving, discovering all these things. And this is one I'm almost embarrassed to say. I wasn't really familiar with, but I have listened to it in the last week or so and it is unbelievable. It's so good. His touch, his concept is so like crisp. on this period and fresh and it's really a good listen.

Yeah, and I think, I mean, no, a lot of folks, you know, I haven't heard of this record, and it's part of the reason I wanted to, I mean, it's certainly known, but it seems to have been overshadowed by some of Keith Jarrett's other solo recordings, which are great too on ECM and otherwise, you know, like the Colin concert, which is, you know, it's such, it's like the best-selling solo piano record of all time, and it's amazing record. But to me, I mean, this being in the studio, he did a lot of, you know, live solo piano explorations where it's just total improv, which are great.

But this one, to me, kind of catches that innocence. There's definitely improvising on there. There's composition. But he kind of, he melds them in a way that you don't know when one starts. I mean, the whole thing just feels exploratory. And you can't tell when the melodies are being improvised and when they're not. And I mean, obviously he was very influenced by Miles at this time. I don't know if he would admit that.

Keith, where you at? What's up, bro? But I mean... You think he listens? Yeah. He'll hear it. He'll hear it. But, you know, I think the thing of it being his first, people are always surprised when I tell him that this was his first record on ECM.

Yeah. I mean, Keith Jarrett, nerds, of course, know that. Of course. Yeah, it's a record. No, it's awesome. I love the sound, the recording sound. Yeah, yeah. The piano sounds so cool.

Very resonant. The piano sounds amazing. Very specific micing technique on there. Awesome. So for number three, we have Thelonious Monks Solo Monk. This was on Columbia. I love this record, 1965. you know, it's got some standards.

I'm confessing that I love you. It's got, you know, some great monk tunes as well. It's just a great representation of his solo piano style, which is not necessarily something that he was super known for. But I wanted, you know, in putting a monk, I mean, there's like 20 or 30 great monk albums that just I could easily put on here instead of this one. But this one kind of, it's a little bit offbeat,

but it's some of his best playing. It's recorded great. And it's just a great representation. of his. It just doesn't represent all the great ensemble playing that he could write for him. Yeah. Now, how much fun would it be to be able to play solo piano like that? Yeah. It just seems like he's having a great time.

It is. It's a joyous record. It's a great album cover. It's a really cool thing. It's a great thing. All right, so number four, this is our most modern album of jazz piano essentials, and that's Herbie Hancock's River, the Joni Letters.

Now, this is a record that Herbie made in, what was this, 2007 or eight maybe, somewhere around there. One Grammy for Record of the Year, that's how great this record is. And it's all Joni Mitchell tunes except for two tunes. You have Duke Ellington's Solitude and Wayne Shorters Nefertiti. And we were talking about this here in House about how many great Herbie Hancock recordings are there.

There's countless. And this one really holds up to all of his work in the six all the headhunters work, all the popular work in the 80s. This one, I think, is as good as any of them. It's one of my favorite records of the last 10 years. I think it's 10 years, but yeah, it's incredible from start to finish, too. We were talking in an early episode about choosing material for a recording, and we use this as an example of how to get the flow right on a record.

Right, yeah. I mean, it's a concept record, but it diverges from that specific. concept, and never musically, but in terms of the actual material, it diverges. But to me, the thing that holds the whole thing together is Herbie's piano play. I mean, he's playing so strongly on this record. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, it's just like the force of his musical personality is always there without overdoing or overshadowed. I mean, you've got, you know, Tina Turner and Nora Jones. You think it would just be this sort of hodgepodge of random guests, but, you know, Herbie really just, he pulls everybody into his musical,

world in such a welcoming way. I mean, it's just like he had a party at his house and he invited these, you know, all these different kinds of singers and different tunes and different eras, and he holds it all together while making it a joyous thing for everyone. And I love the way the piano sounds on this record. It's a beautifully recorded record. I think this is an inspired choice by you, man. Oh, well, thank you. Not an obvious one, but a good one. And I wanted to get at least something on here are a couple things that weren't so obvious. I mean, I was thinking of Empry and Isles, Maiden Voids. I mean, those are classic taken off. I mean, those are classic. Herbie early records, but I feel like too often we think of these masters as their best work

was behind them. And we've got to remember, this is not like, you know, he's Karim Abdul-Jabbar, the basketball player where there's an inevitable fade at around age 40. Right. You know, and of course, Karim's basketball mind is still there, but he can't play like he used to. But, I mean, with Herbie, I really believe in hearing him live, especially over the last 10, 15 years, 20 years now, that he's the strongest player ever now because he has the maturity, the

understanding, the depth, and he still, of course, has all the piano stuff there. So I think that we shouldn't overlook the more recent recordings. You know who we should get to put together one of these lists for us? Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, huge jazz fan. Oh, huge fan. Huge guy and huge jazz fan. No, he would be great at curating a best-of list. Absolutely. Where you at, Kareem? Okay, number five. This is Amad Jamal's classic, but not for me. Now this is is Amajamol, I think, you know, a younger version of himself. This is hard to ignore as one of the strongest trio recordings and trios of all time. The concept was ahead of its time.

It was super hip. It was perfectly executed. It always swung. It always felt amazing. It always felt like art. The playing was incredibly strong. Amajamol was virtuoso. He still is.

And this is iconic. I love the sound of the drums on this recording. You know what I mean? And I don't know how big the Pershing was, but you feel like you're in this club. Small lounge. I'm going to go out on a limb and say it was a small lounge. Well, you feel like you're there with them. And I mean, Vernal Fournier and the whole trio is just banging.

Obviously, you know, all the arranging is so tight. Yes. You know, from, but not for me. Moonline in Vermont, the doong, doong, do what is that? Is that what's new? What's new? What's new? Yeah, yeah.

Oh, man. Kills me every time, and then points in a, of course. Yeah, I mean, it's just super thematic arrangements with, you know, really iconic things that we've all copied so many times. A very influential album, very influential period for Amad Jamal to, you know, certainly all the pianists, his peers and then beyond, but Miles Davis, of course, modeling a lot of his arrangements and fully acknowledging stuff he stole from him. You know what this reminds me of?

This album always reminds me a little bit of hip-hop. of like they're sampling these grooves and putting them in different places in the song, you know what I mean? Yeah. It feels like that to me for some reason. Yeah, that's a great one. Okay, so number six, we have Bill Evans Interplay. Bill Evans makes the list.

Yeah, so now with this, you know, again, highly subjective, these are some of my favorite records. Maybe instead of the essential, I should have said, my Peter's favorite. Peter's favorite, yeah. But also, this is another one that's a little bit less obvious. I mean, a lot of people would go with, you know, Live the Vanguard. or even like Tony Bennett and Bill Evans, which I love that record. Undercurrent.

Undercurrent. Explorations. Explorations. Yeah, this is an interesting choice. Yeah, but this one, because Bill Evans obviously was a great trio pianist and solo pianist, but I thought he was a great ensemble pianist too. And so for this recording, and I think it was Riverside or Impulse, whatever it was on, Riverside. Yeah, you know, it's a little bit of an unorthodox lineup, a one that I hadn't seen together.

Percy Heath, Philly Joe Jones, Jim Hall on guitar. and Freddie Hubbard. But, I mean... That's swinging right there. It's swinging. And I mean, it doesn't feel like it's just a throne together. Obviously, many of them had worked together in different situations. But I think Bill Evans, in putting this album together with the material, with his playing, you know,

really took advantage of all the musicians in just a brilliant way. What are some of the tunes on this one? There's Interplay. There's You in the Night of Music. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's one. Yeah, it's basically standards. And then I think it's just the one original.

That's great. I got to check this out. I used to listen to this on repeat in my teens in early 20s. I haven't gone back to it in a while. I'm going to do that this week. Yeah, and it's a lot. And you know, it's definitely not the widest ranging piano record of Bill Evans. Like personally for his piano, like the way that it does is in the trio setting.

But he's hitting a lot of the kind of harder swinging stuff, comping things that are a little bit different. So I think it's a fun one. Cool. Now for number seven, the last one. Oh boy, pulling out the big guns. Pull out the Big Us. We had to go, Oscar Peterson.

Had to go with the slam dunk there. And then, you know, he's got, again, I wanted to avoid something too obvious like Night Train, although, I mean, what a great album, you know. But this is exclusively for my friends, Volume 1. This comes from a series that he did. I love the titles of the title, too, and sort of the concept of how he went and did this. And then I think he revisited it with some of those Tellark records later. Some of my best friends are. Some of my best friends are, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

And I think it's great because Oscar Peterson. was such, like, his music, and from the little bit that I got to meet him and take a picture with him, he seemed like a very friendly guy. But certainly his music is very audience-friendly, musician-friendly. It's just so warm and swinging and bluesy. It just makes sense, exclusively for my friends. That's like anyone who likes music, basically. I love this cover.

Like, he looks so sweaty, and he's really working hard. And he looks swinging on the cover. He really does. He just tell how hard he's swinging. Yeah, I mean, he's sweating, but he's smiling, too. It's a crazy thing. But really for this, you know, there's one moment that happens on this record. Like a lot of the other ones we're talking about, you know, the arc of it is amazing and how they put it together.

The different players and how they work together and the concept of it. To me, there's one moment that happens on here that's just a few seconds long that makes this worthy of being on this list. And that's on Tintendale at three minutes and four seconds. Yeah, we're going to put it right here. Just 10 seconds of this. we're going to put in right now. That's not too bad. That's swinging, man.

That's pretty swinging. That's like, to me, should be, if I can learn how to go in and edit something on Wikipedia, I'm going to go in for Swing, Wikipedia, and it's just going to be an audio file. And it's just going to be those bars. And that transition. And you know what?

I mean, Ray Brown kind of do, doong, doong, doong. You know, I mean, he just, oh, I might be singing another key, so that's bad. But, I mean, just the way that they, that they go into that swing. It's just so strong and swinging and beautiful. Well, I have to say this is a really great list. I've learned some things.

I've been taken on a journey. A little journey. A little seven-part journey. Yeah, we hope you've enjoyed it. You know, send us your list. We want to hear what records you're listening to. There's a good chance we don't, you know, we love jazz, but we are always down to learn about a new swinging record.

That's right. Send us your list. You'll hear it. Thanks for listening to this episode of the You'll Hear It podcast. You can go to you'll hearat.com to get more information, submit a question, or just say hello. You can do that. Absolutely. All right.

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