Cubanology Media Blog

I really enjoyed creating this podcast because it allowed me to splurge into my library of Hard Bop, my favorite Jazz era. Although it began in about 1955, it really evolved in the early 60′s and faded out right in the beginning of the 70′s. It didn’t go away completely but was coupled with a rock sound, it became too experimental after awhile. So in this podcast, I tried my best to cover its essence and tried my best to capture the different moods this music expressed. It is a basic introduction for beginners, a sort of taste.

There is much more to learn and basically, I’m in my learning stages as well. I’m not very new here but I still have more great Hard Bop to listen to and I love it. i urge everyone to get involved in this excellent Jazz form, it is soothing to the mind. That’s when you really get to understand it and if you want to give it the chance. I’ll leave it like this and invite you to listen to this podcast (open it on a separate window” and read and learn more of these gifted artists. Like this you will get to enjoy it more. All I ask is to give it a chance. although it might sound a bit offbeat and offset it is actually mind soothing. Lower it a bit and place it on the background of your mind. If you can do this, then you will understand what it conveys, it’s beautiful and healthy at the same time, enjoy!

Note to all new readers of the Cubanology MediaBlog: All the podcasts are located in the beginning and end of the post. I suggest opening up the podcast by clicking on “Play in new window” so you can scroll through the post itself and visit the links and/or go on with your business and listen in the background. Thank you and enjoy!

Podcast: Play in new window

1. “Adam’s Apple” and 2. “Chief Crazy Horse” From the “Adam’s Apple” CD Album.

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3. “The Bee Hive” From the Lee Morgan “Live at the Lighthouse” CD Album

Recorded live at The Lighthouse, Hermosa Beach, California in 1970.

As Lee himself points out in his on–tape introduction to these three nights of live recording for Blue Note Records, the band had no plans to play anything Lee had already recorded, because, as Morgan mutters, “It just wouldn’t make any sense.” This sprawling three-CD set does, in the end, include a version of “The Sidewinder,” as well as “Speedball,” an uptempo blues from Lee’s album THE GIGOLO, with Jack DeJohnette guesting. But even these tunes are rendered in a more abstract fashion than the way they were originally recorded, and on the balance of the material here you can feel the effects of the decade loud and clear.

Solos lean towards the exploratory and the cathartic, with the result that no tune clocks in under eleven minutes, and bassist Jymie Merritt’s “Absolutions” pushes well past the twenty minute mark. Morgan’s generosity as a leader extends beyond providing room to stretch out: with the exception of “The Sidewinder” and “Speedball,” all of the material for these three nights was composed by either Merritt, saxophonist Bennie Maupin or pianist Harold Mabern.

Personnel: Lee Morgan (trumpet, flugelhorn); Bennie Maupin (flute, bass clarinet, tenor saxophone); Harold Mabern (piano); Jymie Merritt (bass guitar); Jack DeJohnette, Mickey Roker (drums)………Read More

4. “Black Comedy” From the “The Complete Columbia Studio Recordings Of The Miles Davis Quintet January 1965 To June 1968” CD Album

5. “Dolphin Dance” From the “Maiden Voyage” CD Album.

Herbie Hancock Biography:

(born April 12, 1940, Chicago, Ill., U.S.) American keyboard player, songwriter, and bandleader, a prolific recording artist who achieved success as an incisive, harmonically provocative jazz pianist and then went on to gain wide popularity as a leader of electric jazz-rock groups.

At age 11 Hancock played the first movement of a Mozart concerto with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He formed his first band while a high school student. After graduating from Grinnell College in Iowa in 1960, he joined trumpeter Donald Byrd’s group and moved (1961) to New York City. There his clever accompaniments and straightforward soloing with bebop groups led to tours with Miles Davis (1963–68). The Davis quintet’s mid-1960s investigations of rhythmic and harmonic freedom stimulated some of Hancock’s most daring, arrhythmic, harmonically colourful concepts. Meanwhile, he recorded extensively in bebop and modal jazz settings, ranging from funky rhythms to ethereal modal harmonies; as a sideman on Blue Note albums and a leader of combos, he played original themes including “Maiden Voyage,” “Cantaloupe Island,” and “Watermelon Man,” which became a popular hit in Mongo Santamaria’s recording.

In the 1970s, after playing in Davis’s first jazz-rock experiments, Hancock began leading fusion bands and playing electronic keyboards, from electric pianos to synthesizers….Learn More

6. “Isotope” and 7. “El Barrios” From the Joe Henderson “Inner Urge” CD Album.

About the CD Album “Inner Urge”:

This brilliant remastering of saxophonist Joe Henderson’s most emotionally urgent album also raises the possibity that it is the ultimate showcase of his distinguished career. The deference to Coltrane is obvious: pianist McCoy Tyner and drummer Elvin Jones are on board on every selection, although shifting their styles to mesh with Henderson. The deference to Getz is more subtle, coming clear on Henderson’s stingingly lyric ballad feature, “You Know I Care,” and his melodic recasting of Cole Porter’s “Night and Day.”

Weaving a path between Coltrane’s fiery sermonizing and Getz’s singable romanticism, Henderson displays a wholly individual sense of phrasing that alternates molten passionate engagement with cool reflection. The title track is an eleven minute tour de force of musical storytelling, comprising an evocation of Henderson’s scuffling for work and recognition in the Big Apple, the tenor man’s frustrating rite of passage. You hear plenty of hoarse cries, moans, and barbaric yelps, but you can hear episodes of great restraint within a loose blues structure. …Learn More

8. “Mirrors” From the “Breaking Point” CD Album 9. “Contemplation” from the “The Real McCoy” CD Album

10. “Matrix” From the Chick Corea “Now he sings, Now he sobs” CD Album.

Chick Corea Biography:

Born Armando Anthony Corea in Chelsea, Massachusetts on June 12, 1941, he began studying piano at age four. Early on in his development, Horace Silver and Bud Powell were important influences while the music of Beethoven and Mozart inspired his compositional instincts. Chick’s first  major professional gig was with Cab Calloway, which came before early stints in Latin bands led by Mongo Santamaria and Willie Bobo.

Chick’s First Gigs
Getting His Start with Some Big Names

Important sideman work with trumpeter Blue Mitchell, flutist Herbie Mann and saxophonist Stan Getz came before Chick made his recording debut as a leader in 1966 with Tones For Joan’s Bones. During these formative years, Chick also recorded sessions with  Cal Tjader, Donald Byrd and Dizzy Gillespie.

After accompanying singer Sarah Vaughan in 1967, Chick went into the studio in March of 1968 and recorded Now He Sings, Now He Sobs with bassist Miroslav Vitous and drummer Roy Haynes.

That trio album is now considered a jazz classic. This is the disc that cemented Corea’s place in the jazz firmament as a pianist of incomparable skill……..Learn More