[JPL] RE: No words are needed from jazz icon Wayne Shorter

[Jon Burr]

Thad Jones!

Bobby Timmons
Hank Mobley
Joe Henderson
Lee Morgan

The Messengers was a writers' workshop... so many greats (and future leaders) came through there - and Basie's band, too, was a writer's breeding ground, as were some of the other big bands - Woody, Buddy, Kenton - whose leaders played the guys' charts. Stan Getz hired writers, too...

>From the perspective of "who gets played the most," that seems to shift over the generations. When I was coming up, the first tune you learned was "Satin Doll..." By the time I got to college, it was "Dolphin Dance,"  "Watermelon Man," "Maiden Voyage.." from Herbie Hancock - along with Naima and Giant Steps from Trane. - but, that was Champaign, Illinois in the 70's.

Cedar's tunes are getting played a lot these days, it seems, at least from what I'm hearing.

There's a piece by Samuel Barber - "Excursions" - written in 1948, I think it was - that seems to predict the next 30 years of harmonic evolution in jazz... as did Art Tatum. Was McCoy Tyner listening to Ravel when the Quartet was re-inventing music? That would be an interesting topic for somebody's dissertation - find out who the writers themselves say were influential to them!

Although it is tempting to ascribe some kind of linearity to the evolution of composition, the real model might be more like a series of sponges soaking up the zeitgeist of their period, from all directions...


>True Jae....
>
>David mentioned Jelly Roll Morton and now I'll mention Toshiko Akiyoshi!
>Talk about complex charts!!  Both Akiyoshi and Mingus come out of
Ellington.

>It's a fun topic to ponder...


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(Jon Burr)
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