I’ve been taking jazz guitar lessons from this really great local musician, Chris Cortez. The best part of the lessons is when we listen to great jazz music and he points out some amazing thing that the performers are doing. But, even without the commentary, I savor his recommendation of great jazz artists and albums.
Pat Martino is one of those great artists, and Chris recommended that I listen to an album called ‘Joyous Lake’ which is not available on iTunes, but is available from Amazon as a re-released album called First Light. Another great recommendation was Chick Corea and Bobby McFerrin’s album ‘Play,’ which is available from iTunes. You have to buy the whole album to be able to get ‘Autumn Leaves’ which is worth it. When you listen to ‘Autumn Leaves’ closely and are amazed at out ‘rehearsed’ it seems to be remind yourself that it probably wasn’t rehearsed because that song is one of those standards that jazz musicians are expected to be able to play from memory. Last, but not least, check out Bill Frisell’s version of Chain of Fools, available from iTunes.
By the way, I highly recommend Chris’s own albums, especially his last album ‘Hold it Right There’ which you can find on Amazon. And if you are in the New Orleans area this Friday you can check him out at the Smoke ‘n Blues BBQ in Slidell (30 minutes outside of New Orleans), which is located here. The music starts at 10:00 pm but the drinking and eating start as soon as the sun goes down.
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