Jazz & Blues > C Jazz & Blues > Jazz Instrument

Trane's greatest gift. Unsurpassed.

Advantages: In a word.....Genius
Disadvantages: Might just stop you from getting anything done

...the opening bars of "A Love Supreme" on a TV show I quickly grabbed a pen and paper and wrote down the name of the track and the artist. So began my love affair with this man's work, and, if there is a pinnacle to his extraordinary career, this is it. First conceived in late summer of 1964, this is John's gift to God based on his earlier struggles and final release from various addictions. He wrote the whole suite mainly without his instrument in ...
...the music directly into his soul, whilst his wife Alice tended to the children downstairs. He spent several days on the music and as Alice later recalled when he would appear after working "It was like Moses coming down from the mountain, it was so beautiful. He walked down and there was that joy, that peace in his face". The album does indeed have a very spiritual theme running through it and you can feel all the conflicts and beauty of a life in ...

graememt 13.09.2006 · Read full review
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Review of Love Supreme, A - John Coltrane

Coltrane is the man.

Advantages: Some of the all time best jazz saxophone ever.
Disadvantages: Some ommissions.

The Very Best of John Coltrane Some folks in commenting on a previous review wanted me to review some 'hard jazz'; well here goes. This was just one of the 'best of' or 'greatest hits' type albums, of several that have been issues since the great mans death at the tender age of 41. It seems that the saxophone 'greats' die young and tragically; Charlie Parker, Albert Ayler. Although primarily a tenor player, he also played an awful lot of soprano ...
...garde, for whilst he was very clear about the melody, often starting with it and coming back to it, he strayed, often a very long way from the melody and did things that jazz had not seen before. I am not proficient or understanding enough to explain this fully, and do not want to 'copy' what someone else has written, so I will just say this. If you read what he played (in music) or heard the notes in isolation, slowly, it does not make sense, yet ...

paulhanton 29.06.2008 · Read full review
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Review of Very Best Of John Coltrane, The - John Coltrane

A Great Archive Let Down By Sequencing

Advantages: Fidelity is great, songwriting, guitar playing and vocals superb, thorough research
Disadvantages: Sequencing - the track order is frustrating

...music fans a like. The Complete Robert Johnson comes across like a standards song book, the contents of which has given birth to numerous cover versions from acclaimed and esteemed bluesmen and rockers from across the globe spanning six decades. There is however, one glaring disappointment with this set and that is with the sequencing. This is the most comprehensive collection of Johnson's material and as such there are alternate takes included. ...
...by side with their original counterparts which makes the whole very hard to listen to as each track is repeated, albeit a variant of the original. It still baffles me as to why the alternates were not on a separate disc from the originals. Even for me, a hardened fan of the genre, it makes for difficult listening if you using an old fashioned CD player. This is a wonderful and comprehensive archive but unfortunately does not work as a listening experience ...

Nixu1980 03.11.2009 · Read full review
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Review of Complete Recordings, The (All 41 Recordings) - Robert Johnson

An Older and Wiser Sequel

Advantages: Great voice, band
Disadvantages: None

...stronger with every listen. Feels Like Home with The Handsome Band and special guests. I am a big fan of Norah Jones. Her first album, Come Away with Me was an absolute classic. The album was certified diamond by the RIAA on February 15, 2005 having sold over 10 million copies in its first three years of release. It won five awards at the Grammy Awards of 2003, including "Record of the Year", "Album of the Year", and "Song of the Year" for "Don't ...
...to an article I read, Feels Like Home is the second album by jazz songwriter Norah Jones, released in 2004. It sold a million copies in the first week of its U.S. release, the first album to do so since Britney Spears' Oops!... I Did It Again (2000) and it was the second best-selling album of 2004, with about 4 million copies sold. It sold 1,920,000 copies on its first week worldwide. Probably the most popular song from the album is track number ...

Spottydog11 29.09.2009 · Read full review
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Review of Feels Like Home - Norah Jones

Blues from Brum

Advantages: Awesome talent, Blues solos
Disadvantages: Joanne Taylor Shaw sounds better???? It's really that good that's my only gripe

...I would never hear....a British white girl playing blues guitar so deep and passionately it made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end!!! Not only was I in total shock but it took me a good few minutes to ask her how long she had been playing like that ? "A few years" she replied "how old are you now" I asked "sixteen she said. I woke up a few seconds later on the floor. **White Sugar** Now 23 years old Joanne Shaw Taylor released her debut ...
...To Be? Time Has Come White Sugar Kiss The Ground Goodbye Heavy Heart Watch 'em Burn Blackest Day Joanne get's things started with "Going Home" which opens with a gut wrenching "Sea Sick Steve" like blues riff. the bass comes kicking in and then the drums crash in before you get the real guitar brilliance, For someone of 23 her vocal is all the more remarkable, her raspy smoky vocal belies her age and has all the power and grace of someone nearly ...

jcneil 15.09.2009 · Read full review
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Review of White Sugar - Joanne Shaw Taylor