Jazz music is often famous for featuring amazing improvisations and that is absolutely fair: Jazz did re-vitalize the art of improvisation which almost disappeared with the end of the Baroque period. Good Jazz, however, is not only, or even primarily, about improvisation, but it is about melody. For one thing, the melody is often the point of departure for improvisations but, even more importantly, a good, solid and lyrical melody
One of my favorite jazz compositions ever, Blue in Green, by my favorite jazz composer, Bill Evans (Miles Davis played it on the album “Kind of Blue”, but he did not compose Blue in Green, Evans did). I consider Evans to be the greatest pianist of the 20th century (along with Alexander Scriabin). I am studying this piece right now, and I just felt like sharing it with you :-)
Since we are nearing the end of the year, I wanted to share with you the music of a very talented jazz group from Philadelphia, PA: Nation of Five. This is good music, filled with joy and creative vitality. Enjoy! The Saker
Gilad Atzmon moving tribute for America’s greatest heroes “On an especially cold Jerusalem night I heard Bird playing “April in Paris” on a radio program. I was knocked down. It was by far more organic, poetic, sentimental and yet wilder than anything I had ever heard before. Bird was a fierce libidinal extravaganza of wit and energy. The morning after, I decided to skip school, I rushed to the one
