You'll Hear It: Full Album Deep Dives with Jazz Musicians - 7 Jazz musicians With Beautiful Sound/Touch - #122

Episode Date: May 31, 2018

In this episode, Peter and Adam list musicians whose sound they love. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

I'm Peter Martin. And I'm Adam Manus. You're listening to the You'll Hear It podcast. Daily Jazz Advice coming at you. Today we're going to talk about or give you seven jazz musicians with beautiful sound slash touch. Now wait, are we going to talk about it or are we going to give them seven jazz music? Well, I'm always saying we're going to give them. I know, I'm going to give them.

It sounds like I'm going to hand deliver it either an album or a human or something. Let's just talk about it. Okay, let's talk about it. Our favorite jazz musicians with beautiful sound and touch, You mind if I kick this one off? Please. All right, I'm going to go with, this is a little bit of a maverick pick for sure, but Keith Jarrett. Can we call him the great Keith Jarrett at this point?

I think we can. Yeah, definitely. If he was here, it would be more mystery Jared. That's right. It would be appropriate. No, I mean, every pianist knows as soon as you hear this guy that he is a master of the piano. Only pianists know that? Well, any music.

I mean, if you're a human being that breathes oxygen on this planet and has working ears, you can probably tell that Keith Jarrett is a master of the instrument. He makes the piano sing, unlike almost anybody else. And, you know, I've personally heard him live and heard him play a chord, and you just melts. You know, he brings out notes in the middle of the chord somehow that are just the right notes, and he does that all the time. Yes. It's amazing. It's amazing.

Yeah, I mean, I think that his sound and touch are so great that, the first time I saw him live, he actually kind of pissed me off right before the performance. So I was a little bit salty. I was a little salty dog before the gig. And it was like, man, he's not going to be as great as his recordings. Now I'm going to really see. Because I was backstage at the Istanbul Jazz Festival in Turkey, beautiful outdoor, ancient theater in summer. And I was backstage.

And I actually stayed an extra day in Istanbul just to see him. We had played the day before. Maybe I've stayed two days. and also got to explore Istanbul, which is pretty cool. But I'm there backstage, and I actually knew, you know, the guy who was the director of the festival at the time, and everybody was really excited. And right before Keith Jarrett arrived, they kind of came backstage and said, you know, Mr. Jared doesn't want anybody backstage. And I was like, yeah, that's right.

All you extra people get out of here, musicians only. And the guy's like, including the musicians. In fact, mostly the musicians. He said specifically Peter Martin. Exactly. So I was like, what? And so the director of festival was like, oh, I'm really sorry. Here's the ticket. You can go out. So I kind of went out to my seat with the commoners like, ugh. Yeah, yeah. And then, you know, Keith Jarrett sat down and, you know, it was with Jack Dijan, Gary Peacock, of course, and just played some of the most beautiful, masterful piano. So I couldn't even really be that pissed off. All right. So number two, I want to jump to another instrument because this will be fun. Can we rotate around? Absolutely. Okay, good. I want to go with Tony Williams at the drums.

It's a good call. Yeah. So, I mean, Tony is, I mean, was such a master drummer and such a beautiful human being, he, but was really known, I think, for his symbol sound, but also in his touch. And that's what we think about with drummers. But really all the drums and the high hat and everything, I mean, I think any of the great drummers that are known for sound and touch, it's always about everything. It's never like they have a great touch on the symbols and they suck on the bass drum.

It's not like that. Yeah, even if you think it's. just the symbol sound. It's not. It's everything else. I think we think of that because, you know, like thinking of how like he would dance on the symbol and stuff, but it's all part of the same instrument. And I mean, and, you know, the range that he had, I got the pleasure hearing him live a couple times. And it was like, you know, the range from just the softest, most tender thing to just huge, bombastic things, really, you know, master the possibilities of the individual instruments and then the entire thing. Yeah, you know, I think everybody on this list today

that I'm looking down and scanning what we have ahead, you know, know, they're all like Tony in that this is all about chops, an amazing technique. And it's not about chops how you think of chops of playing fast and burning and loud and high and fast and all that stuff. But this is a deeper level of chops of dynamics and feel and touch at every level of dynamics all over your instrument. The whole technical spectrum. And that's going to bring us to number three, and that's Ray Brown. And I don't think there's a more beautiful bass sound in the history of jazz. I mean, to me, that is how a bass should sound.

Yes. And that's probably unfair to every other basis. Well, no, but it's, no, I think it's accurate. And I think that you hear, I mean, I'm thinking of some younger bass players that can, that, well, I mean, most bass players, if not all of them, are influenced by Ray Brown in usually somewhat overt ways. But I'm thinking like Christian McBride and Rodney Whitaker, Bob Hurst, like, where you really hear them channel, especially on certain types of tunes, not only raise, you know, interesting lines

and bass lines and approaches, but really that sound. I mean, he had such an influence because of the range of sound and how his touch was that, you know, maybe it's not as much associated with the bass, there being that much range there. But he really showed, show where it was. Yeah, and I think, you know, part of this, too, with Ray and with all of these players, it's the sound and the technique they're getting sound, but it's also their choices, as they're playing. You know, part of,

a big part of his sound were the shape of his baselines. Yeah. And how he crafted that. And that's a, you know, you can kind of always hear a Ray Brown influence baseline

that have those certain movements, you know. Yeah, yeah. So. Great. Number four, at the trumpet, Winton,

Marcellus. Who? Well, Winton Marcellus, some people say. I'm unfamiliar. I've actually asked when, I was like,

is it Marcellus? He's like, yeah, bro, it's both. That's what he told me. I was like, what can it be both? He's like,

Either one is cool because I'm laid back. No. Winton, I think, you know, is somebody that's really been admired from a very young age, apparently for his incredible sound. On an instrument that does have, I mean, how your sound is is such a big part of your playing. We talk about the bass. Of course, it's great if you have a Ray Brown sound. But even if you just have an okay sound, if you got a great pulse and you play the right lines,

you're going to do well. With the trumpet, if you have just an average sound, it's not really fun to listen. to, you know. So Winton kind of stands out among, you know, a very small group of trumpet players. I would even say there's some great trumpet players that don't have his level. I mean, he may have like, am I allowed to go hyperbole? Hyperbole alert. We need like a, it should be some kind of button. No, I mean, he may have like just the purest, most beautiful trumpet sound of the modern era for sure. I mean, of all the greats of Louis Armstrong and Clifford and Freddie. I wasn't going to go all the way back and compare it. I was just saying, I'm not, I'm not comparing it to anybody.

But, you know, Nicholas Payton, like, when you think of great sounds on the trumpet, I mean, it's hard to argue that he doesn't have... It's beautiful. It's so gorgeous. Yeah, and I mean, look, that's what we're saying. We're not saying seven jazz musicians with the greatest sound touch, or the most individual even, but just beautiful, you know? I mean, I think Wynton's sound is very individual, too. You can tell it's him, which is great. But, I mean, he's just got a very warm sound.

And then, you know, to your point about the bass, too, like he also is the no choice is his technique, his finger technique and stuff. It all works together to have some great things happen. Yeah. Well, for number five, I'm going to go with someone who has, certainly has his own distinct sound. And that's tenor saxophone as Stan Gets. This is a player that you know within two seconds. Apparently he was a player as well. A bit of a play, yeah.

But, you know, everybody knows that big, warm, breathy sound. Yeah. The Stan gets, the famous Basanova recordings. and then also, you know, swinging tenor saxophones as well. And there's no getting around that that's one of the more beautiful sounds in jazz. Yes. When I think now that we're getting to some horn players, this is fun. Well, yeah, you know, with bass too, but like we started with piano and drums, you know,

the intonation thing is not as big of an issue. Although it does have something to do with certainly drums and how Tony tuned his drums, but like with trumpet and saxophone intonation is such a big part. And, I mean, Stan gets a great intonation, I think, as I recall. I mean, I think so. Yeah, yeah, for sure. And, you know, Winton is interesting because Winton plays, like, most great trumpet player, sharp. But his sound is so good, and it works so well with his style that it kind of works.

It's, you know, when I used to play with him more, it was always, like, a little bit startling at first because the piano, we can't change the tuning on it. And, like, he's just always a little bit above it. But it's so, like, his intonation, his relative intonation is so good and it sounds is so good. It just works for some reason. Yeah, but don't you think that sometimes those troubles, clef instruments that are meant to be on top of everything. Yeah. Like violins.

Sounded. Yeah. Just a hair sharp. Well, they all think so for sure. Sure. Definitely. And then when they get into a section, it's just like the mob mentality takes over. 449.

Yeah. Exactly. So we've got one, two, three, four. That's five. Good. We got two more. Yeah, yeah. Let's go to guitar.

Sure. And, I mean, a lot of great choices here. But I'm thinking Pat Mathini just saw him play recently and was reminded how, you know, what just a beautiful. touch that he has. I think for Mathini, maybe it's and maybe this is a little bit of a guitar thing, but like the phrasing, you know,

has a big part. You know, we probably should have talked about that with Key Jarrett too. You know, piano and guitar a little bit. Is guitar a percussion instrument? Because piano really is a percussion instrument. I think guitar is in the string family. It's a string family. Yeah, but it's got a little bit of percussive

thing. Oh, for sure. The way it's used. A similar thing to the piano in that to really bring out the great sign. It's not like the trumpet where you can play one note and kind of shape it and make it your sound, it really becomes about the phrasing and stuff. And Pat Mathini is such a master of just beautiful phrasing that brings out his beautiful sound in touch. So expressive and such a unique sound too. I mean, let's not forget that when he sort of developed this sound, that wasn't any other sound

like it. No, there weren't 3,000 like, you know, guys with long, crazy hair trying to imitate him. No, we take that for granted. That's how influential I think he's been is that there are a million copies. And I think Pat has always been. in a, I call him Pat. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, your friend Pat. Yeah. He's, you know, he's a really good example of bringing in technology,

although by today's standards, he's not, he's a very, like, unplugged kind of player. Totally. But like, you know, you know, kind of a lot of amp, sound, and some effects and stuff to be, to really enhance the sound and become a part of his sound, not getting the way of it like a lot of players do, but certainly more technology than any of these other people, but in an effective way, I would say. Well, I'm going to round out our list with a vocalist, and that is the great Ella Fitzgerald. I think one of the most beautiful sounds, probably in music, is Ella Fitzgerald's voice.

She just doesn't have a weak part of her voice. You can't tell where her break is. There's no dipping in tone or texture or color anywhere in her range. She's got a huge range. And down low is gorgeous, up high. gorgeous, everywhere in between is gorgeous, and she makes amazing choices. And yeah, I can't imagine a more beautiful sound than that. Yeah, and I think when we talk about sound and touch, like touch for piano is very obvious because you're touching the keys for trumpet, you know, the ambassure, for bass, the touch of the the finger, you know, the plucking of the strings.

And I would say for vocals, like especially with Ella, the touch part is still sort of there like how she would start notes, like the approach and like just that ability kind of whisper in at times and just hit it when she needed to. I mean, really, you know, treating her own instrument as an instrument because that's what it is, the vocal instrument. And then, you know, she's a great musician and great understanding of music too. So it's like you have that same thing. Like for everybody, you've got that combination of a great instrument and great music behind it. Yeah, I'm glad you mentioned that whisper in it. I mean, she almost had a, you know, classical technique of when you think, of a great violinist, they're more, you know, the shape of their of their tone is towards the back.

It's not on the attack, right? It's like they have this beautiful swell. Right. And she definitely had that and we still had the great attack of a great jazz musician. Right. Well, that's what they called her the great Elefinger. So this is interesting. I just realized we had a former, this was unintended, I think, a former husband and wife on the list. Stan Gets and Witton Marcellus were once married. I don't know if you knew that. That is a really interesting fun fact. No, Ray Brown and Elef Fitzgerald were married for a period and had a child. Ray Brown Jr. Oh.

There you go. Most swinging child ever, maybe? A lot riding on his shoulders. Yeah, that's right. So, yeah, so that's it for the list. We hope you enjoyed it. And, you know, we're doing a big six-star push. Did you know about this, Adam?

I had not heard about this. You mentioned this before? Yeah, we're going for six stars. We're actually trying to damage the Apple podcast servers. Love you, Apple. Big shout out. What's up? But, you know, we're just, we're looking for a little bit of love because we're, I mean, I don't want to put it. We don't get enough love around here during the week. This has nothing to do with our family life. We just, you know, we're in here, we're working. We're making the podcast. You want to lay down, man?

No, no, it's all good. We're looking for some love on our reviews. Nothing wrong with that. That's right. That's right. Yeah. Please leave us a rating and review. Six stars, if it's possible. It's not, by the way. But five works, aren't you? You can also go to you'll hear at dot com if you want to get in touch with us, just say hi, give us a lesson suggestion. We're happy to answer as many questions as we can on you'll hear at dot com. Also, we're still running our... What I mean still? It's just only been two days. It's only been a lifetime.

It's probably going to go on for a while, too. Our popular discount for the all-access from Open Studio, that's every single course. You know, we have a ton of piano courses from our man Peter Martin over here. We have Jeff Kieser. Keys. We have Christian McBride on the... bass. We have Sean Jones on the trumpet, Greg Hutchinson. Sean Jones's new course, by the way. Have you seen it? Volume 2. It's awesome.

I worked a lot on it. Oh, that's right. Yeah. You produced that course. I did. Oh, sorry. No, it's really good. And I don't really like that nerd trumpet stuff sometimes. But this course is, no, I mean, he's getting into like interesting musical stuff. Yeah, that's true. But there is that one episode. I'm going to say trumpeters should avoid that one about the Arbin book. Oh, non-trumpeters. Don't you go on here. Sorry. Yeah, trumpeters, you need to get on that. Yeah, for real. Yeah, if you just avoid that. Check everything outside. Well, but anyway, so you can get the annual All Access Pass. You can save 10% if you put in. You'll hear at 10 in the offer code field at checkout. And yeah, you'll hear it.