Chick Corea, Michael Brecker, Eddie Gomez & Steve Gadd: Monday YouTube Fix

With a lineup that includes these four guys, there's not really much left to say.  All four of these players could headline on any given night and yet they appeared as a quartet at the Blue Note on April 22, 2003 at the Blue Note in New York City. Chick Corea is one of the greatest creative forces in all of art over the last half century.  The scope of his impact can not be articulated.

Michael Brecker played with everyone from Frank Zappa and Steely Dan to Chet Baker and Charles Mingus.  He appeared on over 700 albums before his death in 2007.

When a bass player has both appeared with the Kronos Quartet and been a member of the Bill Evans Trio on their resume, as Eddie Gomez has, you know they've left quite an imprint on the music business.

Steve Gadd is my favorite drummer of all-time.  The specifically melodic quality he plays with is unique to my ears.  Don't get me wrong, there are tons of drummers I admire, but for me, Gadd stands alone.

Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3zJftxoSnk

Monday YouTube Fix: Freddie Hubbard

This clip of 'Straight Life' live is from the 1975 DownBeat Awards and features an incredible lineup: Freddie Hubbard, trumpet; Chick Corea, keys; Stanley Clarke, bass; Lenny White, drums; Airto, percussion. Too bad you don't find too much music like this on television anymore.

Enjoy!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwY9hup3eIw]

Jamey Aebersold 'Historically Significant Recordings' Playlist on Spotify

I saw someone mention all of the resources available on the Midwest Clinic website today on Twitter.  This inspired me to go perusing through the handouts from the last several years and one that caught my eye was from Jamey Aebersold's 2008 session 'Anyone Can Improvise'.  Page 8 of his PDF is an exhaustive list of what he deems historically significant recordings.  The key to speaking any musical language is of course fully immersing yourself in it so I was curious to see how many were new to me. His list is filled with all of the usual suspects: Miles Davis, Clifford Brown, Wayne Shorter, Horace Silver, Wes Montgomery, Art Blakey, Chick Corea, Buddy Rich, Joe Henderson, Bill Evans.  The list goes on and on and on.

I own a number but some of the names were brand new to me.  I immediately opened up Spotify to see what I could find.  I was able to find 92 of the 103 albums on Jamey's list were available on Spotify.  Some of them were not completely available but I'd say 90% were the entire album!  It is 776 tracks and the length is listed as 3 days! I made a playlist for my own reference and figured it was a valuable tool for all players and teachers so I thought I'd post it here.

Jamey Aebersold's 'Historically Significant Recordings' Playlist on Spotify

'Anyone Can Improvise' Handout from Jamey Aebersold's 2008 Midwest Clinic by that name. (PDF)*

Enjoy!

*A full list of the albums is on page 8 of Jamey's handout.

For your reference, here is the list of albums from Jamey's list which are not currently available on Spotify:

John Coltrane - Mainstream 1958 Frank Rosolino - Free For All Stan Getz - For Musicians Only Lester Young - The President Play's with The Oscar Peterson Quartet Red Garland - Groovy Miles Davis - Steamin' Lee Konitz - Subconcious-Lee Milt Jackson - Bags Meets Wes Woody Herman - Keeper of the Flame Miles Davis - Miles Smiles Miles Davis - Nefertiti Johnny Griffin - Tough Tenor Favorites