A Curation of Miles Davis

           Born in 1926, Miles Davis was a much respected and often idolized jazz musician whose ever-changing style helped to shape jazz music into what it is today.  Thanks to the advancement of technology and digital media, Davis’s work continues to influence generations even after his death.  The following is a curation of some of Davis’s more prominent works along with several descriptions of their respective unique qualities.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cg4m7nJnBg

            This first piece is a track called “The Blue Room” from Davis’s first album, The Blue Period.  As its name suggests, the song seems, quite plainly, very blue.  This track is slow and soulful in its entirety.  It may strike one as the ‘typical’ jazz song – a trumpet playing a lonely-sounding tune with little to no accompaniment.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hB669XXjnUg

            This link contains Davis’s 1959 album, Kind of Blue in its entirety.  Right away, one notices a difference in the overall tone of this album and the previous “Blue Room”.  The opening track of Kind of Blue seems more upbeat, while still retaining the soulful quality of Davis’s previous work.  It’s a song that one finds themselves both identifying with and tapping their foot to.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJk69zvgBhU

This third link contains a selection from Davis’s 1970 album, Bitches Brew.  Bitches Brew was unique for Davis in that it marked a movement towards more electronic instruments.  Right away, one notices a new style not present in Davis’s earlier work.  This piece seems to have less structure, and an overall more unique sound.  Unlike the slow, soulful tracks of before, Davis seems to now be experimenting with a completely new sound – a difference that would continue to progress and lead to more innovation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZ1k_BrA8CI

            The fourth and final link contains “The Doo-Bop Song” from Davis’s final album, Doo-Bop, released in 1992.  This track, more than any of the previously mentioned works, marks a stark change in Davis’s style.  It is extremely modernized, emulating the hip-hop sound of the early 90s.  Proving his staying power and flexibility, Davis manages to retain his original jazz sound while still widening his fan base to more modern music lovers.

Best of Chick Corea on YouTube.

In honor of the recent concert done by the legendary Chick Corea, I decided to curate some of his best YouTube videos. The concert was held on January 25 at the Alys Stephens Theater.

The first of the videos is Chick playing on “Legends of Jazz”. His performance is spectacular and energizing, as always, but I thought there was a couple of other aspect that made this performance stand out to me. His use of parts of the piano that is not usually used made this piece unique to me. For example, when he muted the string with one hand and played a rhythm with the other hand was quite unique! His fluid transitions from one rhythm and tempo to another is extraordinary. I feel that this is part of what makes him such a good jazz musician. I also feel like there was an element of aesthetic pleasure to watching this performance rather than just listening to it. The way that he moves with the music and truly feels the music throughout is body is quite amusing.

The second of the videos is a bit longer. This excerpt is from the Chick Corea “Akoustic Band Alive” show during his earlier stages of his career. In this video Dave Wekl is the drummer and John Pattitucci is his upright bass player and man, what a vibe they create. This video has you taping your foot from beginning to end. I also love the use of dissonant by Corea. He makes them sound like they are in harmony.

This video definitely shows Corea’s other side. Firstly, he is not playing the regular piano, like in the other two video’s, which shows that he is truly a musician of variety. In the beginning of the song Corea is also showing us a more laid back style which is very different from his usual up-beat pieces. The vocal in this piece is also very unique and adds a lot to the overall feel of this piece. While the first video added an element with the visuals, this video has no visuals yet the music is as entertaining as the first video.

 

In this fourth and final video Corea shows us that he can really ‘jam’ with anyone. Who would have thought about mixing flute and jazz, but Corea makes an occasion of it. It is also amazing how through all of these videos Corea can surround himself with any musician and remain that feel of flow and togetherness. He does not have to stand back for any musician, he truly has an unbelievable talent.

"Chick" Corea

Armando Anthony “Chick” Corea, a Massachusetts born jazz pianist and composer, has worked with popular names such as Sarah Vaughan and Miles Davis.  His musical style has been compared to artists such as Karlheinz Stockhausen because of the electric elements of his music.

Over his long-lived career, Corea has made several transitions within the jazz genre.  His first album, Now He Sings, Now He Sobs, has been classified as classical jazz.  He then entered an avant-garde period and began his work with Miles Davis; under who’s guidance Corea began playing the electric piano.  Much of Corea’s later work is defined by fusion elements of jazz and other genres such as classical and electric.

One of Chick Corea’s most popular recordings is a piece entitled Matrix and is highlighted on The Best of Chick Corea album.  This song was originally release on Corea’s first album and is considered to be a classic jazz piece by many critics.  The pieces utilizes many of the elements of classic jazz including atonal piano melodies, the syncopation of background percussion, and a sense of improvisation that can be heard in the rushing and lagging of notes of the melody in comparison to the remainder of the orchestra.  Within this piece, calming, fixed melodies are quickly interrupted with atonal chords and intrusions of the percussion but then fall back and continue the original melody, causing a very involved listening experience since the listener is almost forced to guess when the next key change or percussion interruption is to take place.  Furthermore, an entire stop to the flow of the melody is provided in the bass solo, performed by Miroslav Vitous, until the original melody resumes again.

Key elements of Corea’s style are seen in Matrix, namely the quick progression of a chord and then a quick change to a different key or even the introduction of another instrument to the forefront of the listening experience.  This style is quite similar to that of Corea’s first main mentor, Miles Davis.

Corea is the fourth-most-nominated artist in the history of the Grammys, being nominated for 59 awards and has won 18 of these.  Corea has also earned five nominations for the upcoming 2013 Grammys.