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Most melodic jazz soloist?


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Hi, I am looking for some recommendations of jazz records to listen to, to get more acquainted with the genre. I like traditional jazz the most, some Satchmo (All Stars, Hot 5s & 7s), some Django, etc. Listening to a couple Grant Green records at the moment too.

 

I would like to know who you think is the jazz soloist (on guitar or any other instrument, and from any era) that plays the most melodic solos. Not so much super-fast playing, but solos that are a memorable melody on their own right. That you can sing in the shower, say.

 

Any recommendations? Miles? Bix? Hawk? What albums?

 

(What I have listened to from Coltrane and Parker I don't think would pass the "sing in the shower" test by the way :) )

 

Thanks!

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Bix Beiderbecke, "I'm coming Virginia" To me, this song IS the jazz age--very evocative. The Wolverines weren't much, but when Bix cuts in with his solo you can tell the difference between Jazz and Inspiration.

 

Chet Baker's better work in the fifties with Gerry Mulligan.

 

Paul Desmond--One of three saxophonists with the chops to dare to play alto after Parker.

 

Sonny Rollins. "Blue Seven" Nine notes taken to a 13 minute jazz masterpiece with perfect logic, diction and lyricism. Aruguably the greatest jazz recording ever.

 

Modern Jazz Quartet.

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To compare Coltrane and Parker in terms of melodic playing isn't fair. Parker's playing is sometimtes fast as hell but he stays very musical and melodic. Coltrane didn't. Sometimtes he played beautiful music but other times he just made {censored}loads of noise.

 

The melodic master IMO is Lester Young. Roy Eldridge is no idiot either. These guys had some serious chops but seldom showed it and played strictly for the tune. Sometimes all you'll hear Lester Young do is play a part of the melody as it's written (with maybe some minor embellishment) but doing it so beautifully that you can't think of anything better he could have done.

 

A melodic master who knew how to work around her own limtations was Billie Holiday. With a very narrow vocal range she manages to get so much music out of her instrument it's nothing short of a miracle. She will also change the melodies in subtle and yet fundamental ways.

 

Sometimes "melodic player" seems to mean someone who can't play that much, someone whose chops aren't as impressive but who has a great tone, or at least a unique one. Sometimes I think this is true for Miles Davis.

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i dont think these are definite answers....

but...

 

sax - Joe Henderson or Sonny Rollins

 

trumpet - Miles

 

piano - wynton kelly

 

guitar - Grant Green or Jim Hall :idk:

 

..............

 

heh actually now that ive written those out...

 

i take it back. i cant choose a "most melodic" jazz soloist...

 

if you aint playin melodies, you aint playin jazz!

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Sometimes "melodic player" seems to mean someone who can't play that much, someone whose chops aren't as impressive but who has a great tone, or at least a unique one. Sometimes I think this is true for Miles Davis.

 

 

i think itd be hard to argue that Miles didnt have "impressive chops" considering his output in the 60's

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Hi, I am looking for some recommendations of jazz records to listen to, to get more acquainted with the genre. I like traditional jazz the most, some Satchmo (All Stars, Hot 5s & 7s), some Django, etc. Listening to a couple Grant Green records at the moment too.


I would like to know who you think is the jazz soloist (on guitar or any other instrument, and from any era) that plays the most melodic solos. Not so much super-fast playing, but solos that are a memorable melody on their own right. That you can sing in the shower, say.


Any recommendations? Miles? Bix? Hawk? What albums?


(What I have listened to from Coltrane and Parker I don't think would pass the "sing in the shower" test by the way
:)
)


Thanks!

 

You already named the two that I'd name for your question. Louis Armstrong and Django.

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Lee Morgan...hands down my favorite soloist on any instrument (he plays trumpet)...He recorded a lot with Art Blakey,but was a sideman on many a Blue Note release, as well as leading a lot of sessions.

 

Check out Blakey's Jazz Messengers "The Big Beat", Jimmy Smith's "The Sermon", as well as Morgan's "Search For The New Land", "Tomcat", "Infinity", and, well the list goes on. A very fine example of funky hard bop playing.

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Lee Morgan...hands down my favorite soloist on any instrument (he plays trumpet)...He recorded a lot with Art Blakey,but was a sideman on many a Blue Note release, as well as leading a lot of sessions.


Check out Blakey's Jazz Messengers "The Big Beat", Jimmy Smith's "The Sermon", as well as Morgan's "Search For The New Land", "Tomcat", "Infinity", and, well the list goes on. A very fine example of funky hard bop playing.

 

 

I really like Lee Morgan.

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i think itd be hard to argue that Miles didnt have "impressive chops" considering his output in the 60's

 

 

Miles was genius, a musical innovator and had the best bands ever. That said he wasn't much of a composer and as a trumpet player he wasn't technically anywhere near people like Dizzy Gillespie or Clifford Brown.

 

One can of course argue about this forever. That's not so interesting perhaps. I like Miles. There's something mean about him that I find really entertaining in the same way I sometimes find violent films entertaining. He's dangerous.

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For start I would recommend something lite like:

GEORGE BENSON

His double LP "Weekend in LA" was the first I decided to buy when I started with jazz. Of course next I moved to so many others :)

 

But Benson is really fine to listen, very relaxing, little bit of pop, and still he's a master of jazz guitar.

Check this video with one of his greatest hits:

http://www.guitar-tube.com/breezin-george-benson.html

 

Thanks.

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To suggest a guitarist rather than a sax player, I find ry cooder gets some serious latin melody going on, and the really impressive thing is how damn easy he makes it sound, totally smooth.

However, for most melodic soloist, i would argue for Oscar Peterson

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My vote for an amazing melodic jazz soloist would be Oscar Peterson. I consider him the best jazz pianist to have ever walked the earth. I'll miss him. Joe Pass, who played with the Oscar Peterson trio often, is a dandy soloist on the guitar. I think he would get my vote on the guitar.

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What albums?

 

 

For connoisseurs, the elegant stuff you play when your mothers in law comes to visit...

 

#0 Bobby Hutcherson, album "Conception: The Gift of Love"

 

Personnel

George Cables (p); Jon Faddis (tp); Urbie Green (tenor trb); Hubert Laws (fl); Lenny Hambro (as); Bill Summers (perc); Kenneth Nash (perc); Eddie Marshall (d); Robert Alexander (tenor trb); John Gale (tenor trb); Earl Gardner (tp); Bobby Hutcherson (vib); James Leary (b); Anthony Tooley (tp); Daniel Trimboli (ts); Frank Wess (ts); Joseph B. Wilder (tp); Danny Moore (tp); Romeo Pinque (bs, bass clar)

 

 

#1 Dexter Gordon, album "Ballads"

#2 Coleman Hawkins, album "Desafinado - Bossa Nova & Jazz Samba"

#3 Ike Quebec, album "Soul Samba"

#4 Wayne Shorter, album "Native Dancer"

#5 Cannonball Adderley with the Bossa Rio Sextet of Brazil (1962)

#6 Bobby Hutcherson, album "San Francisco" feat. Harold Land sax

#7 Wes Montgomery, album "Tequila"

#8 Bobby Hutcherson, album "Linger Lane" (1974)

#9 Buster Williams, album "Pinnacle"

 

#10 any Ella F. album

#11 any Clark Terry album

#12 any Hank Mobley album

 

#13 Bobby Hutcherson, "Montara" (1975)

#14 Bobby Hutcherson, "Dance of the Sun" (1977)

#15 Herbie Hancock, "Maiden Voyage"

 

.

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