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What are some good Rhodes Jazz recordings other than Herbie?


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Chick Corea's "Spain" and "La Fiesta" are some good ones, although not exactly what you said you were looking for, then there is the Return to Forever (with Al Dimeola, Stanley Clarke, and Lenny White), really out there stuff for its day.

 

Ray Charles played a mean Rhodes, check out some of his old stuff.

 

As does Bob James.

 

that's about how far my brain can be racked on older Rhodes players other than Herbie.

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You won't find much Rhodes in bop and swing settings for obvious reasons...it didn't even exist until the late sixties! There are recordings of Duke Ellington playing a Wurlitzer back in the 50s, not sure if they are currently available (I have them on an OOP Mosaic boxset).

 

There's an old Columbia LP called "The Bill Evans Album" where Bill plays Rhodes on about half the tunes.

 

Joe Zawinul with Cannonball Adderly, "Mercy Mercy Mercy", "Country Preacher", etc. though that's more "soul jazz" than bebop.

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Not pure jazz, more soul, but great Rhodes playing.

 

B000002MTM.01._AA_SCMZZZZZZZ_.jpg

Did You Feel That? (1994)

Joe Sample

 

http://www.fenderrhodes.com/v2/records/150/Joe+Sample+Did+You+Feel+That%3F.html

 

Name: farmer

Rating: 5 / 5

Comments: this album is a must have for fender funk lovers. a fantastic line-up: Joe Sample (rhodes), Steve Gadd (drums) and a funky horn section.

Also useful developping your own skills and timing

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"You won't find much Rhodes in bop and swing settings for obvious reasons...it didn't even exist until the late sixties!"

 

I know that. But I was hoping there are some modern (still alive, playing in 2012) straight ahead jazz groups who just happen to use a rhodes and might have recorded a CD of standards or something.

 

thanks

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"You won't find much Rhodes in bop and swing settings for obvious reasons...it didn't even exist until the late sixties!"


I know that. But I was hoping there are some modern (still alive, playing in 2012) straight ahead jazz groups who just happen to use a rhodes and might have recorded a CD of standards or something.


thanks

 

 

Very doubtful one exists. The only advantage of using a Rhodes back in the day was portability and lack of tuning issues. These days you can get pretty darn good sampled acoustic piano sounds with the same advantages.

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I was going to suggest some Ramsey Lewis, but he's a bit more on the funk side. Good Rhodes playing on "Sun Goddess" and Earth, Wind & Fire is the backup band.

 

I'm a big fan of Dan Siegel's playing, and he does a lot of Rhodes work.

 

You may also want to look into some 1960s Brazilian jazz Bossa Nova stuff, like Gilberto, Wanderley, Jobim.

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Chick's still the Man. Light as a Feather is my all-time favorite slab of jazz on vinyl, but its more latin.

 

Vince Guaraldi had some great Rhodes jazz.

 

Another favorite of mine is Michael Franks' The Art of Tea album. Contemporary (For 1976) vocal-pop-jazz. But Joe Sample is absolutely amazing throughout. He plays Rhodes exclusively on the whole album with the exception of the last song on which he plays acoustic piano. Amazing tone and amazing playing that serves the songs perfectly.

 

Then there's all the late 70's yacht rock stuff that has the stereo suitcase Rhodes bathed in Phase 90.

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Very doubtful one exists. The only advantage of using a Rhodes back in the day was portability and lack of tuning issues. These days you can get pretty darn good sampled acoustic piano sounds with the same advantages.

 

 

Well, Chick for one has a Motif on stage for piano sounds AND a grand piano sometimes - yet he still brings his Rhodes along anyway. It's its own instrument, not a piano substitute.

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Agreed, on old material you're going to find more latin material. But check out Clare Fischer. "Morning", though a lovely latin tune, displays some double tempo lines with distinct bebop traits. I am hopefully going to purchase a Vintage Vibe Piano this year or the next (as soon I can get my hands on one and verify that it certainly is made for me anyway), which is basically a new Rhodes. I don't have many bebop tunes in my repetoire, but there's one that's pretty much in tjat ballpark, and once I have a Rhodes recording of it, I'll let you know.

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+INFINITY for Chic Corea, he's hands down my fav Rhodes player...my fav example of jazz Rhodes playing would be :

 

[video=youtube;b3yAq20qSm4]

 

Also, can't find the original on youtube, but his Rhodes playing on Return to Forever's "Captain Senor Mouse" is just as {censored}ing mindblowing in my opinion...

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Oh {censored}!!! How could I forget Jan Hammer's Rhodes playing on the first 3 Mahavishnu Orchestra albums?!?!?!?!? He also used synths and acoustic piano, but he definitely played some FANTASTIC Rhodes as well.. That's definitely up there with CC's Rhodes playing for me....

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You might want to check out Walter Bishop Jr. and Hampton Hawes like the other guy said. Bishop is a bop pianist who is strongly infuenced by Bud Powell and played with Charlie Parker from '49 and later. In the early '70s he recorded several albums on the Rhodes but still plays bebop style.

 

Hampton Hawes too. He always played with his own bebop style and recorded a few albums in the '70s on Rhodes.

 

Of course there is always someone like Les McCann who played soul jazz on Rhodes too. Not exactly bop but still good.

 

Hancock and Corea aren't really bop pianists, they're like the next generation after bop.

 

 

A great resource for finding Rhodes recordings is the Never Enough Rhodes blog. There are all kinds of Rhodes albums discussed, jazz, latin, soul etc. Over there I found out about lots of albums where my favorite pianists played Rhodes but had never heard about since a lot of the dated 70's Rhodes albums haven't been rereleased on CD and the jazz community tries to block the 70's from their memories. The Never Enough Rhodes blog is a great place to dig and discover like a great used record store flipping through album covers.

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Well, Chick for one has a Motif on stage for piano sounds AND a grand piano sometimes - yet he still brings his Rhodes along anyway. It's its own instrument, not a piano substitute.

 

 

I knew someone would respond this way. Of course the Rhodes is a viable voice of it's own. However, as soon as you apply that voice, the music becomes something other than traditional jazz. Chick uses it in a fusion setting. I don't think there are any contemporary traditional players who use that voice to perform swing and standards, which is what the OP seems to be looking for. The music virtually becomes fusion by definition as soon as you switch to a Rhodes voice.

 

It is possible that Hampton Hawes and others who employed the Rhodes in the early '70's were not just concerned with portability and tuning, but were also trying to sound modern. However, anyone performing standards today with a Rhodes voice would be perceived differently.

 

But if that's what the OP wants to do, go for it, I don't mean to discourage anyone. If you can make it sound good, people should dig it. It might be just what the world is waiting for, for all I know. I, for one, would rather listen to jazz standards on EP all day than most contemporary popular music.

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I knew someone would respond this way. Of course the Rhodes is a viable voice of it's own. However, as soon as you apply that voice, the music becomes something other than traditional jazz. Chick uses it in a fusion setting. I don't think there are any contemporary traditional players who use that voice to perform swing and standards, which is what the OP seems to be looking for. The music virtually becomes fusion by definition as soon as you switch to a Rhodes voice.


It is possible that Hampton Hawes and others who employed the Rhodes in the early '70's were not just concerned with portability and tuning, but were also trying to sound modern. However, anyone performing standards today with a Rhodes voice would be perceived differently.


But if that's what the OP wants to do, go for it, I don't mean to discourage anyone. If you can make it sound good, people should dig it. It might be just what the world is waiting for, for all I know. I, for one, would rather listen to jazz standards on EP all day than most contemporary popular music.

 

 

You can't limit a genre to instruments...

 

You can play standards on guitars, and with wind instruments... so saying a piano is OK but a Rhodes isn't, doesn't sound right to me. But to each their own... what you are saying seems to be more rooted in your personal taste than anything else.

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