Just hearing the title of "A Love Supreme" gives me goosebumps. JMHO, but being a fan of things Brazil (Jobim, Lins, Nascimento, Joyce, Edu Lobo, and the list goes on), as well as jazz, I don't consider Getz Gilberto a "jazz album". Like comparing Bill Evans to McCoy Tyner (love both), it has jazz elements, but the roots of Brazilian music are a bit different from blues-drenched jazz. Still, glad to hear all of the albums you mentioned. Some Brazilian and Brazilian tinged albums that I think are criminally under-rated include "Gilbert (Astrud) with Turrentine", "The Best of Two World", "Elis & Tom", "Passarim", and the original "Quarteto Novo" with Hermeto and Airto. Cheers from Japan ... and thanks again for keeping great music alive.
I used to have convos with my great grandad about jazz all the time especially when I started playing the drums. Your knowledge of jazz reminds me a lot of him, thanks for you videos OG! Sending love from Detroit🎺🥁🎶
Hey Kenny…I promise not to comment on all your videos but I wanted to share something about that Getz album you might find interesting. I was raised by a single Mom in the San Fernando Valley down near you. In the late sixties I remember the parties she and her Jazz loving hippie friends would have and she told me when I was older that her and her friends would listen to that and other Bosa Nova because it removed them from the pain and worries of America’s involvement in Vietnam and transported them to far away lands. Makes sense and maybe this was genius targeted marketing by the record label but it worked as that album is so widely popular. I still have my Mom’s vinyl of that record and love it to this day so it will never be overrated to me. I’ll check out that Donald Byrd/Getz album though. Thanks Kenny 👍
Love that I somehow found your channel. I think it was while listening to a Diane Reeves recording of Twelth of Never....your collection is priceless and what great musicians. Thanks for your efforts!!
Sir I usually don’t comment on UA-cam, but after coming across your channel and your way of presenting and of making us engaged in your storyline I must say to keep up the amazing work and thank you for your wonderful and insightful content! I understand your point on this album and I partially agree to it, despite a feeling that its greatness relies exactly on its apparent flatness -although isn’t that the peculiar expression of bossa nova?-. I also believe that moving onto more articulated and niche jazz albums during the years makes (at least that’s my case) this album get flatter and flatter. You made me listen to it after so long and I remembered why it’s so much loved. Greetings from a 28 year old CD collector who grew up listening to the jazz classics.
LOL! You stuck your neck out with that one Kenny! I love it! Point well taken! I think the Coltrane/A Love Supreme and the Miles Davis/Kind of Blue are the most over-rated (and you paid $150 a pop for the UHQR's!). And Jazz the the Pawnshop! I don't get it. I get the audiophile quality of the recording, but the music? zzzzz...... I appreciate the Gilberto/Getz albums much more. I've been listening to those since I was 15. Truth is all those albums, though genius, are all over hyped these days.
PS Billy Cobham's Spectrum or Crosswinds blows me away much more. They were recorded like you are sitting in the middle of his kit! They pin you back in your seat.
It's the Mona Lisa effect. Art historians always go on about how original the Mona Lisa was in it's time, but we are all so familiar with it now, that any originality it once had is lost on us now, not only because of how familiar we are with it, but also because of all of everything that came after, which it influenced, and that they maybe did better, or at least developed. So it is in this case, or Catcher in the Rye. We lack the ability to see it's originality now because of everything that happened since.
Ha, when I went to Paris, I felt sorry for the other paintings hanging in the same room of the Louvre museum as the Mona Lisa. Absolutely nobody looks at any of them, while half the universe is there snapping selfies of themselves with the Mona Lisa! But the other art works must be great to be hanging in the Louvre as well. To each their own, I suppose. 🙂
100% agree, I am a guitarist and former pro musician. Ipanema is more of a slick Brazillion pop tune that sort of doubles as a jazz standard thanks to its unusual and somewhat incredible chord progression that modulates thru a couple close to each other related keys on the bridge that maje it a fun unusual challenge to solo thru for players and make it somewhat unique, but its been over recorded and played a LOT. There are other great Brazilian tunes not played a lot that dont get the attention they deserve. Watched your other vid on most under rated jazz albums and strongly agree with those choices. I have many of those albums and thanks for the mention of my home town guy Larry Coryell. Many under rate his fusion contribution, also from Seatown the late great Quincy Jones was a jazz musician before going pop.
'Getz Gilberto' not really considered a jazz classic. It sold a lot for sure. It also popularised bossa nova from Brazil. 'Jazz Samba' certainly a better album.
I don’t really like vocal jazz but for sure Getz/Gilberto is a classic. I prefer Jazz Samba over it. For me Eric Dolphy’s Out to Lunch is overrated. Some underrated albums: Bill Evans/Jim Hall - Undercurrent, Yusef Lateef - Eastern Sounds, Gerry Mulligan - Night Lights, just to name a few.
Love your channel, Kenny! I worked for many years in retail, records and books. I hate the rating game so much. Customers would sometimes take offense when I refused to name my favorite book of all time. I would offer to talk about 5 or 10 books that I really like but that somehow wouldn’t satisfy some of them. There is so much to enjoy! Also, there is time. Think about how a piece of music or a book hit you at a particular moment and then later or before, not so much. This list mentality is about selling product.
I love watching your takes. we are around the same age and I am also a massive jazz fan. I concur on your evaluations. I think most Stan Getz records are over rated. Bill Evans is a genius in terms of his timing and melodies. No one comes close. McCoy is very different (had the great pleasure to see him in Tokyo). really good vlog
I dig your channel haven't seen all the episodes yet. Been tuning in and out was interested to see if you would ever do an episode on Jazz Rock Fusion. My personal favprite is Jean Luc Ponty
A better choice IMHO would be Kind of Blue, which is a fantastic album but maybe a little too talked about. At least in recent years I don’t hear people talking much about Getz/Gilberto. Then again I’m a little ambivalent about Gilberto’s singing-in that genre I’d rather hear Elis Regina (the GOAT) or Gal Costa. On LeBron I can’t even watch the NBA now. I was watching an All Star Game from the early 70’s recently. Heavily featuring the Knicks-great ball movement from Bill Bradley etc. Now it’s a guy pulling up for a three pointer, or one pass and a drive to the basket-dullsville.
Hm...my pick comes from the post-"Bitches Brew" era: Return to Forever: "Romantic Warrior". Everyone was all over that while, at the same time, the branch of "fusion" that Miles was up to couldn't catch a break. But R2F's style led to the horrors of "fuzak", and you now hear Miles' concepts infiltrating EVERYTHING. Even styles such as "glitch-pop" have roots in Miles' explorations...in the case of glitch styles, "On the Corner" and "Get Up With It". Interestingly, Miles and R2F were both on CBS. It's almost as if they were hedging their bets and thinking that NOBODY could ever get behind the musical upheavals that Miles was cooking up. Guess again, label execs! It reminds me of a night drive with a colleague of mine, the DJ/producer FBK. We were tooling along, ran across some SMOKIN' Dolphy stuff on the radio...and then the station went into "Captain Marvel". We lunged for the radio simultaneously. Kevin said "Sounds more like 'Captain Drivel' to me!" And he's right... it's a good example of the "I'm playing lots of notes, so this is going to be AWESOME!" fallacy. When you look at how music works, playing 200 notes a second is actually stoopid-easy. Mistakes just sound like they're part of the chart. And it's really more of a bluff than an achievement. On the contrary, playing slow and sparsely requires TONS of concentration and skill...and this is part of WHY albums like "Getz/Gilberto", "Kind of Blue" and much of Ahmad Jamal's output still punches above its weight class. Each individual note matters, and how you present those notes is critical. Slow and simple ALWAYS shows off talent, despite what the "note-counters" might think. You're totally alone in the spotlight or in front of a microphone when you figure out that the technique requires crazy amounts of control, but with the note-spewing, you can get away with loads of clams and ticks and no one's the wiser. Back in Nashville where I grew up, we've got this term: "product". You don't want to create "product", because the definition of that goes like... Product: Noun. The result of the use of musical equipment for the sole purpose of making money. That's how I view the "nice" jazz fusion stuff. It's inoffensive while still giving the listener the thrill of being "artsy" by buying it. Meanwhile, I'm gonna slap on "Dark Magus" and let Pete Cosey's guitar...uh...playing? peel the paint off my walls. Better.
@@bmuhamad Yep! But Pete's running his axe through a Minimoog...there's footage from around that time and he's got that WILD bagful of cats shriek setting going on. Totally amazing. It's a sound that's just too early. You run into the same barbed-wire sound around the same time from Sonny Sharrock. But both are incredible precursors of the sort of sound you'd hear out of NYC's "no wave" scene and players such as Arto Lindsay and Sonic Youth. The really fun part there is that "the influence" jumped totally out of jazz and into noise rock...Miles' band around that time was like some sort of musical EF5 tornado. It sucked in EVERYTHING, twisted it all every which way, and left behind an incredibly fertile "clean slate". Not the first time for that, either. One of the pre-"Bitches Brew" live recordings of the band saw them opening for Steve Miller in 1969. The story is that Miles opted to really unleash the group because he didn't like that billing. And there is one point on there where three of the players go into this 2+ minute spiral of glorious racket AT each other...it's like they'd jumped a whole decade-plus into the future! The audience was probably seriously freaking out because that sound sure wasn't "Kind of Blue" or "Sketches of Spain". It's like Miles dragged a live high-tension cable onstage to shoot dangerous levels of electricity at the typical Fillmore East '69 crowd...just incredible. The idea that Miles was playing "anti-jazz" during that 1969-75 period, though...nope, ain't buying that explanation. It was jazz alright...but jazz that simply hadn't happened yet! Sort of like how "Dark Magus" is the greatest cop action movie soundtrack for a cop action movie that simply didn't exist. People were just NOT READY to get shot at lightspeed into the next decade, especially not the critics. Glorious stuff...
@@daccrowell4776 I think, not jazz at all. More likened to a Fusion of sorts. P.S. I read somewhere, that Sun Ra walked up a flight of stairs to chat with Miles. Peace and Wellness.
@@bmuhamad Agreed. It's definitely fusion...it's just way grittier and, I think, way more fun. Has a much better "long tail", to borrow a bit of Brian Eno's terminology. May as well, given that Eno cites "He Loved Him Madly" as a key influence on his own later ambient works. Gassho.
so would spyro gyro and most japanese fusion fall into that catagory? that sorta stuff has been quite influential on video game and anime soundtracks. i love albums like morning dance and super flight! its a totally different vibe than bop and other forms of jazz
I have a ton of jazz albums. Jazz At The Pawn Shop came to me late, simply because of the off-putting mega-hype it received. I mostly focus on jazz recordings made from 1950 to 1965 or thereabouts. When I finally heard Jazz At The Pawn Shop, I was mightily disappointed and still am. For the life of me, I cannot see what all of the hype and praise is about. As a test / demonstration recording, I don't know. My K2 edition of Oscar Peterson's We Get Requests does the job just as well. JATPS sits on my shelf and I never reach for it when I want to hear jazz.
Sold my copy shortly after CDs arrived in my collection (1992?). It is a great demo record and great background sounds, but definitely not great jazz for me. Everything else Kenny discussed is at least a 3.5 to 5 out of five.
Haven’t heard enough jazz albums to be able to make a decision. Still discovering jazz from the 50’s 60’s and 70’s mainly. I remember hearing the drummer from ‘Kind of Blue, Jimmy Cobb, talking about the album, and he said when they finished recording they just felt they’d done a pretty good job and were happy with the end result. They weren’t thinking ‘that’s a masterpiece’.
You are so right in every detail. But I like Jazz Samba (i have the original german Mono Vinyl) more than Getz/Gilberto (I have the XRCD/K2HD from Japan). And what about "Köln Concert" by Keith Jarrett? It had a big hype too, specially in Europe. In USA too?
I have a 45rpm version and a DSD128 version of the Getz/Gilberto, and the recording quality is simply amazing! One of the best recorded jazz albums out there. I like the music, and the vocals are great, but I won’t consider it overrated, maybe too many reissues were published, but this shows that there was a demand for it among the general public. I still love your channel despite disagreeing with you on this one! 😊Peace ✌️
There was just something about Astrud that folks, including me, really liked. She wasn’t supposed to steal the show but she did. Put that album on anytime and it just has a way of casting a spell on you🤔
Although she was not a great vocalist, she was perfect for that album, she fit that situation at that moment in time perfectly 👌 👏 ...just like Freddie Freeman did for the Dodgers in game 1 of the Word Series 😄😁
Very interesting video. I was genuinely surprised initially when you revealed the LP but after hearing your reasoning I’m inclined to agree as much as it pains me to! 😂
ha yeah that would be on my list too ... that and shape of jazz to come...and agree about the Getz... Mingus in general for me has a lot of heart but never quite hits those highest points
"Ah Um" is great as is "The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady", but the one that stands out for me is "Tijuana Moods." Just my opinion, but that album is a masterpiece and gets less credit than it deserves.
Another thought-provoking post! This video made me think of how vague it is to say something is 'great'. It's too vague for basketball players, it's too vague for jazz. Jazz at the Pawnshop is a great recording. Some albums are great in several different ways. Kind of Blue was an amazing group, accessible and popular, and influential in modal jazz. So, thinking about the dimensions of an album is important. I also think there is a tendency, at least in this culture, to over-emphasize being "number 1." Labeling something as 'the greatest' shouldn't necessarily diminish some "really great" records.
Joe Namath is revered not only because the Jets beat the Colts, but also because he guaranteed a victory when the Jets were big underdogs. It was the prediction and the win, as much as the win itself. But I agree, if that victory had never happened, Namath would not have the cachet that he still enjoys.
You can call Getz / Gilberto "overrated" when you listen to the more challenging works of the Gilbertos, Getz, and Jobim -all of whom have more complex work than this. The thing is, those players wouldn't be half as popular without the commercial success of this album as a group. I look at it like the Rosetta Stone: if you only pay attention to the text, it's by the numbers. But in context, it opens up a whole world.
Jazz Samba is great! Fairly inexpensive on vinyl too. One of my favourite latin jazz albums, along with the Joe Henderson Jobim tribute, and Jerry Gonzales and Fort Apache's "Earth Dance".
Hahaha. I appreciate that you can critique an album or albums the correct way that you have recommended in the past for audiophile listens. Yes, hype can, in fact, and most of the time overshadow the actual performance of albums even going beyond jazz. I think people may be a little confused about your audiophile recommendations of such albums verses what you think is actually great? In other words, what you are saying is yes, (Jazz at the Pawnshop) is good for an audiophile for a simple listen to get or put you in a mood just as a simple listen specifically. While John Coltrane album (A Love Supreme) or Miles Davis album (Bitches Brew) is meant to totally impact your listening habits as art performances deserving of the hype and attention they get. The Ahmad Jamal album you held up is a good example of one of those good audiophile listens, while not necessarily great in terms of pushing the limits of how far jazz can go. I totally agree and understand what you are saying.👍
Kind of Blue is so great that critics could flog themselves while standing on their heads praising it and still not come close to overrating it. Kind of Blue is still after all these years the most sublime record I've ever heard. I just discovered your channel and I'm really enjoying it.
It may be that I'm shallow for this, but I think a great musician needs genuine attainable music to appeal to me. I'm not purposefully trying to be critical; the thing is I don't have a wealth of money or time for product I cannot attain. For example, I would never argue that Ornette Coleman wasn't great. I accept that he is a master, but I have not in my lifetime been able to attain/acquire the understanding to appreciate Avant Garde or free jazz. I'm thinking of one of my most favorite alto sax players in the world - I love this man, but I have a couple of albums where the songs - the music wasn't very good. Those albums don't get much attention. I keep them anyway. I can count on one finger the number of albums I've thrown out. Good or bad, I try to keep the stuff I've bought. It's not unusual for me to get a whiff of something I bought in the past, then suddenly, it takes on new life, and I can't put it down for a while. Peace to everyone.
Most piano trios seem like lounge acts to the non jazz listener. It takes a certain sensitivity to marvel in the harmonic nuances of Bill Evans or Ahmad Jamal's sophisticated arrangements for a piano trio. Jazz that became popular in the 50s and 60s weren't challenging to the radio listener and it was at a time when a lot of different kinds of music were on the radio and Ramsey Lewis and BrubecK and Getz/Gilberto added to the overall eclectic nature of radio at a time when there weren't a thousand genres like now.
When I saw the title of the video, the first album that popped into my head was Jazz at the Pawnshop. Although, I wouldn't disagree with your choice either.
Love the channel. Many people confuse popular with over rated. It’s an album that I’ve enjoyed listening to for decades, yet never considered it a great jazz album. You can play it at a party to this day and non jazz loving people will still enjoy it. Great topic.
Agree. Getz/Gilberto is a great album but perhaps a bit overrated. I think the reason what it stands so high is because of the fusion of jazz and bosa nova, which at that time was really revolutionary.
KoB gets my vote every time The hype around that record is deafening! I like it btw but it doesn’t deserve the adoration it receives when there are so many other great albums in jazz that are unsung from much more deserving artists than Miles Davis, who himself is put on an unsteady pedestal.
Agree. Jazz at the Pawnshop is way over rated both musically and technically. So many have described this as the acme of recorded sound. In my opinion it's average. As for the music, I cannot stand that dated cheesy Dixieland genre. A case of the Emperor's Clothes as far as this album is concerned. You're the first person to stand up and tell it like it is.
I agree. Gilberto's records from that era without Getz are way better, and I don't necessarily think Getz necessarily elevates the songs. Plus - hot take - his sax is too loud.
It’s way to take the music out of the context of the time it was made. Nobody in the US had heard anything like music before. Getz Gilberto and Bossa Nova at the time were revolutionary as was Kind of Blue. I was not a big Stan Getz fan at the time ( I am now) as I was much more into the more incendiary music of the day. Kind of Blue was the first time Miles ever sounded like that. He redefined the sound of the trumpet. It’s easy to listen to The Shape of Jazz to Come now, but at the time I didn’t know what those sounds were and I didn’t know if I loved it or hated it. I’m totally with you about Kareem.
Thought maybe you would dis kind of blue when I saw it in the shot. Most overrated jazz "icon" if you ask me. And I mean miles in general, not just that album.
Great description between McCoy Tyner and Bill Evans... I love them both, but no one can touch the keys with the finesse of Bill Evans.. and that little harmonic that Evans adds to Kind of Blue adds so much depth... and who could ever call A Love Supreme hyped? That album creates a religious experience and I am not religious. I feel like I have made a new friend with Kenny... somebody whose point of view I trust.
"Kind Of Blue" is spoken of so highly because it has all the proper ingredients that Jazz music should have: Blues based, improvisations, one of the best and possibly the first major Modal album and it is democratic. Meaning everybody solos. The album is like a conversation with six people talking about something they all consider near and dear. The head is when all six discuss the topic. The solos are each persons opinion on that subject.
Totally disagree on Getz/Gilberto (and I'm a heavy post-bop/modal Jazz guy: Henderson, Shorter, Coltrane, etc.) I picked up a NM original mono pressing of Getz/Gilberto and played it with a mono cartridge on a tube system, and the skies completely opened up. Now, when I want friends to understand the power of vinyl recordings, I put this one on. I think Stan Getz is generally underrated as a player. He appears on a gazililon recordings, so that fact has somehow morphed into an idea that he's not a serious player, but that is a serious mistake. Check out a mono OG pressing of Sweet Rain, and you'll see Getz in top form. Also, just as Kind of Blue is "important" to the history of the development of modal Jazz, Getz/Gilberto is seminal in introducing North America to Brazilian rhythms, thus helping Jazz to grow throughout the 60s and into the 70s and beyond...
I have a mono pressing of the album and it's OK at best to me but not great at all. I used a mono cartridge Audio-Technica AT33MONO cartridge but it's probably not a high end cartridge like yours. I think the best sounding version of the album is the stereo 45rpm reissue by Impex Records with second place going to the Analogue Productions 45rpm stereo version of the album.
Whether they are over-rated or not, every one of the albums you showed belongs in every collectors library. I actually purchased the Craft Getz / Gilberto one-step - the first time I ever spent that kind of money on a record, so I am overly partial to that album.
I get what you mean, Kenny. But I have to disagree with you on this. Getz /Gilberto is sublime. Just hearing Astrud Gilberto's sweet voice I feel absolutely blown away (and there are also many other things to enjoy). Besides, Getz/Gilberto was a key album in terms of bossa nova as a new subgenre in jazz music at that time. So I think it's worthy of all the hype. That being said, I greatly respect your opinion. God bless you brother.
Interesting views. 100% in agreement. I would also consider KoB because if there wouldn’t have been for that time extraordinary marketing effort by the label and for MD in general, the album wouldn’t have made it that far. There are by far better albums out there than KoB but simply lesser known.
Love the album but yes The Girl From Ipanema certainly elevates it's fame beyond what it otherwise would have attained.The two Bill Evans albums you showed get my vote.I love his playing and individually dig the tunes but as a whole its just too introspective for me.Much prefer something like Everybody Digs Bill Evans where it has his romantic introspective tunes but has a couple of more up tempo,meaty numbers to shake it up a little.
I TOTALLY AGREE! Getz/Gilberto was the early beginnings of "Pop"- jazz. This got popular with the ears that weren't into Miles and Coltrane and Bird. They needed something more "comfortable" to relax to, and this was it. My guess is, these same ears went on to immortalize artists like Kenny G.
I would disagree from the perspective that Getz/Gilberto is a genre defining album, and that genre being Bossa Nova. Especially the impact it had on audiences in the U.S. and Europe, quite possibly even Japan. I know you hold the album in high esteem, and it’s no diss on your part, now I’m just trying to figure out what I’d select myself. I mean how about anything and everything that Kenny G ever recorded? Or does that not even count as Jazz in the first place? (Which is also a fair attitude) Norman Brown was huge- I’d be tempted to put his big album there. I had one other that came to my mind of that same era but I’ve drawn a blank all of a sudden.
Interesting point with Getz/Gilberto; albums often become much more memorable because of hit singles. I can think of many albums that I don't think are very strong, but have hit singles that make people laud them more than they deserve. Fortunately, Getz/Gilberto isn't one of those. I quite like Getz and am a pretty big fan of Joao Gilberto; I think their collab album is the best with Getz's name on it and possibly for Joao as well, but I'm not quite as sure. Within the criteria of the argument though, that's a great pick. If I were to pick a different one, I'd maybe go for Money Jungle by Ellington, Mingus & Roach. Its good, but apart from the first track maybe, there's nothing really all that out of this world about it. Duke made a better collab album with Coltrane and everyone involved has better albums and material. I think its often more praised for its lineup than its material and people like the story of how Mingus and Roach didn't get along.
This is always going to be a subjective discussion because people enjoy various styles of jazz. For example I would never say Bitches Brews is overrated, but I don't enjoy listening to that music so it will never be on my "best jazz LP" list. But that's just my view I don't agree with the basketball "overrated" analogy because there is no question the players mentioned are "great" and among the all-time best. No of them are really overrated (BTW- IMO, Kareem is also the greatest player. Too bad young ones didn't get to see him play).
Jazz at the Pawnshop is not overrated; the listener just doesn't like swing/dixieland style. If they did, it would be one of the few albums with an extended workout of cuts like "Limehouse Blues" and "Struttin with some barbecue." What's the most overrated jazz album without vocals? I'd say Charlie Parker with Strings but Bird's stock has went down over the last decade.
I totally love that album, but I agree. I remember getting that on CD the week I got my first CD player. I was not super familiar with the album when I bought it and I immediately thought to myself, "This is not as good as it's made out to be." Still great, but a bit overrated. And it's still one of my favorite albums! But only maybe top 200, not top 50.
Getz/Gilberto started the bossa nova craze, so it is legendary. It also sold quite well, then the Beatles came along. However, I don't listen to it very often. Not my cup of tea.
Charlie Byrd is far and away this man’s favorite jazz guitarist. Btw hope I’m right about this but Coltrane said Getz sound is what all saxophonists want to sound like
I'll admit, I clicked mostly because I was curious about the speakers. I know the Quad ESL 57s, but what are the other ones? They look like Bergnati SM300, if I had to guess.
Thank you very much for click on my video...the speakers are Bertagni SM 300 speakers and the others are actually Dalquist DQ-10 speakers. I also own a set of Bertagni D120 that I have to restore one of these days 😊
Of course many people won't like Bitches Brew and Ornette Coleman's group with Don Cherry. It's too experimental for them. I'm glad I love it, and it's their loss.
Don’t think the term overrated is helpful when discussing Jazz because every listener has their own criteria for what makes something good or bad. Perhaps a better term is something like overexposed, overhyped etc.
You can't put in the same bag Kind of Blue, A Love Supreme and this one. Nobody puts it in a topten list of jazz albums, just because it's not a strictly jazz album. That's high quality music, with some improvisations and sophisticated harmonies, but the most important are the melodic lines, the syncopated rhytmn and, above all, the João Gilberto's guitar touch, that swings radically different from Charlie Byrd on Jazz Samba. And it has simply one of most played song in history. I respect your opinions, but this time you made an unhappy choose.
Agree on Pawnshop album. It sounds great. But it's not for me. I can see it as a great recording, excellent playing, but seems overrated. Nothing virtuosic about it. Love the Evans Vanguard albums. Actually listened to both today with my wife! Overrated? Hmm... naw. Really good and great performances. Kind of Blue? A Love Supreme? Nah, no way. Not overrated. They're both infinitely listenable. Not one note I'd change. And, wow, I agree on the Getz/Gilberto album. Great album. And was a real standout and contemporary example of the Brazil-Jazz genre at the time. People forget how crazy the fad was. Well, not 'fad,' but a genuine cultural craze. My wife owns it. I never pick it up.
Honey, you’ve got great ears. Why don’t you get rid all your speakers and leave the 75s where they are you might wanna add a sub no question but you got the finest speakers out there. You could spend $100,000 on the system and $1 million on system is not gonna be as good as the 75 quadsand I wished I had mine. I just don’t have room for him again if I would, I’d get them most people don’t know how good the 75s are especially for jazz unbelievable you got great ears brother like mine not always listen the same criteria you got bread.
Somehow I knew you weren't going to go after A Love Supreme. I don't think that album is really capable of being overrated. One of those records that earns its instant recognizability. It's what I consider to be "Crucial" Jazz; desert island stuff.
i feel like jazz at the pawnshop is a really great sounding record, and a quite competently performed record, but i wouldn''t classify it as a great performance. i don't think it's overrated though, simply because as far as i know, most people don't rate it at all, only audiophiles tend to know about jazz at the pawnshop... i dunno about kind of blue, like it's one of the best jazz albums ever but dang sometimes it seems like it's talked about more than every other jazz album ever put together, so it MIGHT be overrated.. you didn't mention Sidewinder, another album with a big pop hit, how do you rate it? i think it's the bestselling blue note album of all time, which i'd say is certainly something. just out of curiosity, do you get into japanese fusion much? bands like casiopea, t-square, jiro inagaki & soul media.. i'd be interested to hear any thoughts on japanese fusion, they really took to the genre more than a lot of places, there are TONS of japanese fusion albums, i have a playlist with probably at least 100 here on yt. anyway, 'precciate ya kenny!
I'm not to familiar with Japanese fusion but it's something that I would like to explore. Sidewinder is great, it in my opinion keeps jazz as a foundation but has a beat and vibe that non jazz fans can enjoy. Thank you for watching my video and your comments ✌️
Getz albums from Brazilian “bossa nova” period were either brilliant or merely wonderful. Overrated term better used for a “so so” album that is barely worth listening to that people refer to as great.
Screw the Rating Game. All these people made splendid music. Just listen or don't listen. I believe I'll listen.
Enjoy the music 🎶 😊✌️
Just hearing the title of "A Love Supreme" gives me goosebumps. JMHO, but being a fan of things Brazil (Jobim, Lins, Nascimento, Joyce, Edu Lobo, and the list goes on), as well as jazz, I don't consider Getz Gilberto a "jazz album". Like comparing Bill Evans to McCoy Tyner (love both), it has jazz elements, but the roots of Brazilian music are a bit different from blues-drenched jazz. Still, glad to hear all of the albums you mentioned.
Some Brazilian and Brazilian tinged albums that I think are criminally under-rated include "Gilbert (Astrud) with Turrentine", "The Best of Two World", "Elis & Tom", "Passarim", and the original "Quarteto Novo" with Hermeto and Airto.
Cheers from Japan ... and thanks again for keeping great music alive.
I agree with you on the Astrud Gilberto with Turrentine album 👌 👍 ...thank you very much for watching my video from Japan ✌️
I used to have convos with my great grandad about jazz all the time especially when I started playing the drums. Your knowledge of jazz reminds me a lot of him, thanks for you videos OG!
Sending love from Detroit🎺🥁🎶
Hey Kenny…I promise not to comment on all your videos but I wanted to share something about that Getz album you might find interesting. I was raised by a single Mom in the San Fernando Valley down near you. In the late sixties I remember the parties she and her Jazz loving hippie friends would have and she told me when I was older that her and her friends would listen to that and other Bosa Nova because it removed them from the pain and worries of America’s involvement in Vietnam and transported them to far away lands. Makes sense and maybe this was genius targeted marketing by the record label but it worked as that album is so widely popular. I still have my Mom’s vinyl of that record and love it to this day so it will never be overrated to me. I’ll check out that Donald Byrd/Getz album though. Thanks Kenny 👍
Thank you very much for sharing that awsome memory from decades past, it much appreciated ✌️
Bill Evans truly had a beautiful heart that comes through in his playing. Ravel and Debussy were huge influences on him. ❤
Love that I somehow found your channel. I think it was while listening to a Diane Reeves recording of Twelth of Never....your collection is priceless and what great musicians. Thanks for your efforts!!
Thank you very much for your comments, I appreciate that 😊 🙏
Sir I usually don’t comment on UA-cam, but after coming across your channel and your way of presenting and of making us engaged in your storyline I must say to keep up the amazing work and thank you for your wonderful and insightful content! I understand your point on this album and I partially agree to it, despite a feeling that its greatness relies exactly on its apparent flatness -although isn’t that the peculiar expression of bossa nova?-. I also believe that moving onto more articulated and niche jazz albums during the years makes (at least that’s my case) this album get flatter and flatter. You made me listen to it after so long and I remembered why it’s so much loved. Greetings from a 28 year old CD collector who grew up listening to the jazz classics.
I appreciate your comments, thank you very much 😊✌️
Kenny's the best!
LOL! You stuck your neck out with that one Kenny! I love it! Point well taken! I think the Coltrane/A Love Supreme and the Miles Davis/Kind of Blue are the most over-rated (and you paid $150 a pop for the UHQR's!). And Jazz the the Pawnshop! I don't get it. I get the audiophile quality of the recording, but the music? zzzzz...... I appreciate the Gilberto/Getz albums much more. I've been listening to those since I was 15. Truth is all those albums, though genius, are all over hyped these days.
PS Billy Cobham's Spectrum or Crosswinds blows me away much more. They were recorded like you are sitting in the middle of his kit! They pin you back in your seat.
Morning Kenny. I dig the Getz/Gilberto record, but totally get what you're saying.
It's the Mona Lisa effect.
Art historians always go on about how original the Mona Lisa was in it's time, but we are all so familiar with it now, that any originality it once had is lost on us now, not only because of how familiar we are with it, but also because of all of everything that came after, which it influenced, and that they maybe did better, or at least developed.
So it is in this case, or Catcher in the Rye. We lack the ability to see it's originality now because of everything that happened since.
You can probably add Sgt Pepper to that list.
Ha, when I went to Paris, I felt sorry for the other paintings hanging in the same room of the Louvre museum as the Mona Lisa. Absolutely nobody looks at any of them, while half the universe is there snapping selfies of themselves with the Mona Lisa! But the other art works must be great to be hanging in the Louvre as well. To each their own, I suppose. 🙂
Great insight on these albums. Thank you. ✌🏻
100% agree, I am a guitarist and former pro musician. Ipanema is more of a slick Brazillion pop tune that sort of doubles as a jazz standard thanks to its unusual and somewhat incredible chord progression that modulates thru a couple close to each other related keys on the bridge that maje it a fun unusual challenge to solo thru for players and make it somewhat unique, but its been over recorded and played a LOT.
There are other great Brazilian tunes not played a lot that dont get the attention they deserve. Watched your other vid on most under rated jazz albums and strongly agree with those choices. I have many of those albums and thanks for the mention of my home town guy Larry Coryell. Many under rate his fusion contribution, also from Seatown the late great Quincy Jones was a jazz musician before going pop.
Kind of Blue never gets old for me.
Kind of Blue is too melodic, not enough raw rhythm there for top jazz
'Getz Gilberto' not really considered a jazz classic. It sold a lot for sure. It also popularised bossa nova from Brazil. 'Jazz Samba' certainly a better album.
I never liked the song Girl from Ipanema, and this is supposed to be the highlight of...
Good morning Kenny!! And many thanks as always ✌️🤘
Good morning and thank you very much for watching my video 😊 ✌️
@@kennysaudiophilerecordreviews I wouldn't miss your video Kenny🤘
Good video. I've been trying to find Herbie Mann's "Stone Flute," circa 1970, on vinyl. Nowhere to be found.
I don’t really like vocal jazz but for sure Getz/Gilberto is a classic. I prefer Jazz Samba over it. For me Eric Dolphy’s Out to Lunch is overrated. Some underrated albums: Bill Evans/Jim Hall - Undercurrent, Yusef Lateef - Eastern Sounds, Gerry Mulligan - Night Lights, just to name a few.
I agree with you on the Yusef Lateef "Eastern Sounds" album 👌👍 ...but I really like the Eric Dolphy "Out to Lunch album".
Love Out to Lunch and Live at the Five Spot, but in general, I am not a big Dolphy as a leader fan.
Love your channel, Kenny! I worked for many years in retail, records and books. I hate the rating game so much. Customers would sometimes take offense when I refused to name my favorite book of all time. I would offer to talk about 5 or 10 books that I really like but that somehow wouldn’t satisfy some of them. There is so much to enjoy! Also, there is time. Think about how a piece of music or a book hit you at a particular moment and then later or before, not so much. This list mentality is about selling product.
I love watching your takes. we are around the same age and I am also a massive jazz fan. I concur on your evaluations. I think most Stan Getz records are over rated. Bill Evans is a genius in terms of his timing and melodies. No one comes close. McCoy is very different (had the great pleasure to see him in Tokyo). really good vlog
Only in these times can you find a good channel like this
Hi Kenny, Have a great weekend with lots of health and joy. Zenon (from Brasil)
You too Zenon, I hope that you have a great weekend and lots of fun in Brazil 😊✌️
I dig your channel haven't seen all the episodes yet. Been tuning in and out was interested to see if you would ever do an episode on Jazz Rock Fusion. My personal favprite is Jean Luc Ponty
Thank you very much for the video suggestion. Jean-Luc Ponty is great 👍 👌 👏
A better choice IMHO would be Kind of Blue, which is a fantastic album but maybe a little too talked about. At least in recent years I don’t hear people talking much about Getz/Gilberto. Then again I’m a little ambivalent about Gilberto’s singing-in that genre I’d rather hear Elis Regina (the GOAT) or Gal Costa.
On LeBron I can’t even watch the NBA now. I was watching an All Star Game from the early 70’s recently. Heavily featuring the Knicks-great ball movement from Bill Bradley etc. Now it’s a guy pulling up for a three pointer, or one pass and a drive to the basket-dullsville.
I can only watch the NBA when the playoffs are about to begin. Ditto for MLB.
Hm...my pick comes from the post-"Bitches Brew" era: Return to Forever: "Romantic Warrior". Everyone was all over that while, at the same time, the branch of "fusion" that Miles was up to couldn't catch a break. But R2F's style led to the horrors of "fuzak", and you now hear Miles' concepts infiltrating EVERYTHING. Even styles such as "glitch-pop" have roots in Miles' explorations...in the case of glitch styles, "On the Corner" and "Get Up With It".
Interestingly, Miles and R2F were both on CBS. It's almost as if they were hedging their bets and thinking that NOBODY could ever get behind the musical upheavals that Miles was cooking up. Guess again, label execs!
It reminds me of a night drive with a colleague of mine, the DJ/producer FBK. We were tooling along, ran across some SMOKIN' Dolphy stuff on the radio...and then the station went into "Captain Marvel".
We lunged for the radio simultaneously. Kevin said "Sounds more like 'Captain Drivel' to me!" And he's right... it's a good example of the "I'm playing lots of notes, so this is going to be AWESOME!" fallacy.
When you look at how music works, playing 200 notes a second is actually stoopid-easy. Mistakes just sound like they're part of the chart. And it's really more of a bluff than an achievement.
On the contrary, playing slow and sparsely requires TONS of concentration and skill...and this is part of WHY albums like "Getz/Gilberto", "Kind of Blue" and much of Ahmad Jamal's output still punches above its weight class. Each individual note matters, and how you present those notes is critical. Slow and simple ALWAYS shows off talent, despite what the "note-counters" might think. You're totally alone in the spotlight or in front of a microphone when you figure out that the technique requires crazy amounts of control, but with the note-spewing, you can get away with loads of clams and ticks and no one's the wiser.
Back in Nashville where I grew up, we've got this term: "product". You don't want to create "product", because the definition of that goes like...
Product: Noun. The result of the use of musical equipment for the sole purpose of making money.
That's how I view the "nice" jazz fusion stuff. It's inoffensive while still giving the listener the thrill of being "artsy" by buying it. Meanwhile, I'm gonna slap on "Dark Magus" and let Pete Cosey's guitar...uh...playing? peel the paint off my walls. Better.
Pete Cosey, Dominque Gaumont, & Reggie Lucas...
@@bmuhamad Yep! But Pete's running his axe through a Minimoog...there's footage from around that time and he's got that WILD bagful of cats shriek setting going on. Totally amazing. It's a sound that's just too early. You run into the same barbed-wire sound around the same time from Sonny Sharrock. But both are incredible precursors of the sort of sound you'd hear out of NYC's "no wave" scene and players such as Arto Lindsay and Sonic Youth. The really fun part there is that "the influence" jumped totally out of jazz and into noise rock...Miles' band around that time was like some sort of musical EF5 tornado. It sucked in EVERYTHING, twisted it all every which way, and left behind an incredibly fertile "clean slate".
Not the first time for that, either. One of the pre-"Bitches Brew" live recordings of the band saw them opening for Steve Miller in 1969. The story is that Miles opted to really unleash the group because he didn't like that billing. And there is one point on there where three of the players go into this 2+ minute spiral of glorious racket AT each other...it's like they'd jumped a whole decade-plus into the future! The audience was probably seriously freaking out because that sound sure wasn't "Kind of Blue" or "Sketches of Spain". It's like Miles dragged a live high-tension cable onstage to shoot dangerous levels of electricity at the typical Fillmore East '69 crowd...just incredible.
The idea that Miles was playing "anti-jazz" during that 1969-75 period, though...nope, ain't buying that explanation. It was jazz alright...but jazz that simply hadn't happened yet! Sort of like how "Dark Magus" is the greatest cop action movie soundtrack for a cop action movie that simply didn't exist. People were just NOT READY to get shot at lightspeed into the next decade, especially not the critics. Glorious stuff...
@@daccrowell4776 I think, not jazz at all. More likened to a Fusion of sorts. P.S. I read somewhere, that Sun Ra walked up a flight of stairs to chat with Miles. Peace and Wellness.
@@bmuhamad Agreed. It's definitely fusion...it's just way grittier and, I think, way more fun. Has a much better "long tail", to borrow a bit of Brian Eno's terminology. May as well, given that Eno cites "He Loved Him Madly" as a key influence on his own later ambient works. Gassho.
so would spyro gyro and most japanese fusion fall into that catagory? that sorta stuff has been quite influential on video game and anime soundtracks. i love albums like morning dance and super flight! its a totally different vibe than bop and other forms of jazz
I have a ton of jazz albums. Jazz At The Pawn Shop came to me late, simply because of the off-putting mega-hype it received. I mostly focus on jazz recordings made from 1950 to 1965 or thereabouts. When I finally heard Jazz At The Pawn Shop, I was mightily disappointed and still am. For the life of me, I cannot see what all of the hype and praise is about. As a test / demonstration recording, I don't know. My K2 edition of Oscar Peterson's We Get Requests does the job just as well. JATPS sits on my shelf and I never reach for it when I want to hear jazz.
Sold my copy shortly after CDs arrived in my collection (1992?). It is a great demo record and great background sounds, but definitely not great jazz for me. Everything else Kenny discussed is at least a 3.5 to 5 out of five.
My two versions of the album sounds fantastic and I think the jazz performance is very good
Haven’t heard enough jazz albums to be able to make a decision. Still discovering jazz from the 50’s 60’s and 70’s mainly. I remember hearing the drummer from ‘Kind of Blue, Jimmy Cobb, talking about the album, and he said when they finished recording they just felt they’d done a pretty good job and were happy with the end result. They weren’t thinking ‘that’s a masterpiece’.
You are so right in every detail. But I like Jazz Samba (i have the original german Mono Vinyl) more than Getz/Gilberto (I have the XRCD/K2HD from Japan). And what about "Köln Concert" by Keith Jarrett? It had a big hype too, specially in Europe. In USA too?
Kohn Concert is one of the best jazz albums ever made in my opinion.
Those 2 particular albums that you have on display.....NOT OVERRATED ❤!
I have a 45rpm version and a DSD128 version of the Getz/Gilberto, and the recording quality is simply amazing! One of the best recorded jazz albums out there. I like the music, and the vocals are great, but I won’t consider it overrated, maybe too many reissues were published, but this shows that there was a demand for it among the general public. I still love your channel despite disagreeing with you on this one! 😊Peace ✌️
There was just something about Astrud that folks, including me, really liked. She wasn’t supposed to steal the show but she did. Put that album on anytime and it just has a way of casting a spell on you🤔
Although she was not a great vocalist, she was perfect for that album, she fit that situation at that moment in time perfectly 👌 👏 ...just like Freddie Freeman did for the Dodgers in game 1 of the Word Series 😄😁
@@kennysaudiophilerecordreviews Freddie Freeman, the Astrud Gilberto of baseball 🤣
Very interesting video. I was genuinely surprised initially when you revealed the LP but after hearing your reasoning I’m inclined to agree as much as it pains me to! 😂
Kenny! Have you ever heard Vince and Bola? Fantastic combo of spanish guitar and piano
Yes I have...I have at least one of their albums...great musicians 👏 🎶
What’s “overrated “ in music ? You either feel it or you don’t.
What do people think of Mingus' "Ah Um"?
I think it's great 👍
One of my favourite album ever.
ha yeah that would be on my list too ... that and shape of jazz to come...and agree about the Getz... Mingus in general for me has a lot of heart but never quite hits those highest points
"Ah Um" is great as is "The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady", but the one that stands out for me is "Tijuana Moods." Just my opinion, but that album is a masterpiece and gets less credit than it deserves.
Another thought-provoking post! This video made me think of how vague it is to say something is 'great'. It's too vague for basketball players, it's too vague for jazz. Jazz at the Pawnshop is a great recording. Some albums are great in several different ways. Kind of Blue was an amazing group, accessible and popular, and influential in modal jazz. So, thinking about the dimensions of an album is important. I also think there is a tendency, at least in this culture, to over-emphasize being "number 1." Labeling something as 'the greatest' shouldn't necessarily diminish some "really great" records.
Joe Namath is revered not only because the Jets beat the Colts, but also because he guaranteed a victory when the Jets were big underdogs. It was the prediction and the win, as much as the win itself. But I agree, if that victory had never happened, Namath would not have the cachet that he still enjoys.
Well said, thank you for mentioning that.
I hope that you knees are doing better 🙏
None of the albums you mentioned are overrated except JATP. Pedestrian playing but great sound. I have it but never play it.
I think that the playing on the albumvery good, especially their version of " Take Five"
@@kennysaudiophilerecordreviews that’s ok by me. If you enjoy it that is all that matters.
You can call Getz / Gilberto "overrated" when you listen to the more challenging works of the Gilbertos, Getz, and Jobim -all of whom have more complex work than this. The thing is, those players wouldn't be half as popular without the commercial success of this album as a group. I look at it like the Rosetta Stone: if you only pay attention to the text, it's by the numbers. But in context, it opens up a whole world.
yanno there was a book published of just random numbers, and its always been quite expensive
Definitely agree with your assessment. I'll take Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim over Getz/ Gilberto as a jazz/ pop vocal album.
Jazz Samba is great! Fairly inexpensive on vinyl too. One of my favourite latin jazz albums, along with the Joe Henderson Jobim tribute, and Jerry Gonzales and Fort Apache's "Earth Dance".
Hahaha. I appreciate that you can critique an album or albums the correct way that you have recommended in the past for audiophile listens. Yes, hype can, in fact, and most of the time overshadow the actual performance of albums even going beyond jazz. I think people may be a little confused about your audiophile recommendations of such albums verses what you think is actually great? In other words, what you are saying is yes, (Jazz at the Pawnshop) is good for an audiophile for a simple listen to get or put you in a mood just as a simple listen specifically. While John Coltrane album (A Love Supreme) or Miles Davis album (Bitches Brew) is meant to totally impact your listening habits as art performances deserving of the hype and attention they get. The Ahmad Jamal album you held up is a good example of one of those good audiophile listens, while not necessarily great in terms of pushing the limits of how far jazz can go. I totally agree and understand what you are saying.👍
Kind of Blue is so great that critics could flog themselves while standing on their heads praising it and still not come close to overrating it. Kind of Blue is still after all these years the most sublime record I've ever heard. I just discovered your channel and I'm really enjoying it.
Thank you very much for your comments about "Kind of Blue" and thank you for watching my video ✌️
It may be that I'm shallow for this, but I think a great musician needs genuine attainable music to appeal to me. I'm not purposefully trying to be critical; the thing is I don't have a wealth of money or time for product I cannot attain. For example, I would never argue that Ornette Coleman wasn't great. I accept that he is a master, but I have not in my lifetime been able to attain/acquire the understanding to appreciate Avant Garde or free jazz.
I'm thinking of one of my most favorite alto sax players in the world - I love this man, but I have a couple of albums where the songs - the music wasn't very good. Those albums don't get much attention. I keep them anyway. I can count on one finger the number of albums I've thrown out. Good or bad, I try to keep the stuff I've bought. It's not unusual for me to get a whiff of something I bought in the past, then suddenly, it takes on new life, and I can't put it down for a while. Peace to everyone.
As a genre, in general, I dislike free jazz, but I have found some absolute nuggets which I love. I never buy any free jazz without hearing first.
Most piano trios seem like lounge acts to the non jazz listener. It takes a certain sensitivity to marvel in the harmonic nuances of Bill Evans or Ahmad Jamal's sophisticated
arrangements for a piano trio. Jazz that became popular in the 50s and 60s weren't challenging to the radio listener and it was at a time when a lot of different kinds of music were on the radio and Ramsey Lewis and BrubecK and Getz/Gilberto added to the overall eclectic nature of radio at a time when there weren't a thousand genres like now.
When I saw the title of the video, the first album that popped into my head was Jazz at the Pawnshop. Although, I wouldn't disagree with your choice either.
Love the channel. Many people confuse popular with over rated. It’s an album that I’ve enjoyed listening to for decades, yet never considered it a great jazz album. You can play it at a party to this day and non jazz loving people will still enjoy it.
Great topic.
I think Kind of Blue is incredible but I feel as Miles has better work still like the stuff around the late 60’s to early 70’s is also incredible too
Agree. Getz/Gilberto is a great album but perhaps a bit overrated. I think the reason what it stands so high is because of the fusion of jazz and bosa nova, which at that time was really revolutionary.
What makes you think Getz/Gilberto is a “jazz album”?
Is it because there is ONE jazz musician in it?
KoB gets my vote every time
The hype around that record is deafening!
I like it btw but it doesn’t deserve the adoration it receives when there are so many other great albums in jazz that are unsung from much more deserving artists than Miles Davis, who himself is put on an unsteady pedestal.
Agree. Jazz at the Pawnshop is way over rated both musically and technically. So many have described this as the acme of recorded sound. In my opinion it's average. As for the music, I cannot stand that dated cheesy Dixieland genre. A case of the Emperor's Clothes as far as this album is concerned. You're the first person to stand up and tell it like it is.
Getz/Gilberto is absolutely amazing, you wroooooooong! :)
It's a great album but a bit overrated at the same time...I appreciate your opinion 😊✌️
I agree. Gilberto's records from that era without Getz are way better, and I don't necessarily think Getz necessarily elevates the songs. Plus - hot take - his sax is too loud.
It’s way to take the music out of the context of the time it was made. Nobody in the US had heard anything like music before. Getz Gilberto and Bossa Nova at the time were revolutionary as was Kind of Blue. I was not a big Stan Getz fan at the time ( I am now) as I was much more into the more incendiary music of the day. Kind of Blue was the first time Miles ever sounded like that. He redefined the sound of the trumpet. It’s easy to listen to The Shape of Jazz to Come now, but at the time I didn’t know what those sounds were and I didn’t know if I loved it or hated it. I’m totally with you about Kareem.
Thought maybe you would dis kind of blue when I saw it in the shot. Most overrated jazz "icon" if you ask me. And I mean miles in general, not just that album.
Kind of Blue, Waltz for Debbie, Getz/Gilberto, and Take Five are all great albums, 10 out of 10, but I never need to hear any of them ever again.
no kidding? Hard to wrap my head around that. Love to know what you do give repeat listens to.
Great description between McCoy Tyner and Bill Evans... I love them both, but no one can touch the keys with the finesse of Bill Evans.. and that little harmonic that Evans adds to Kind of Blue adds so much depth... and who could ever call A Love Supreme hyped? That album creates a religious experience and I am not religious. I feel like I have made a new friend with Kenny... somebody whose point of view I trust.
You must mean spiritual experience!
Sorry, best basketball player I ever saw was Wilt.
I have no problem with Wilt as the best choice 👌
I completely disagree with Giltz / Gilberto. It's actually an amazing album and the whole stories behind the scenes are crazy
I think you’re missing the point of what he said in the video. No one is disputing that it’s an amazing album.
"Kind Of Blue" is spoken of so highly because it has all the proper ingredients that Jazz music should have: Blues based, improvisations, one of the best and possibly the first major Modal album and it is democratic. Meaning everybody solos. The album is like a conversation with six people talking about something they all consider near and dear. The head is when all six discuss the topic. The solos are each persons opinion on that subject.
This. Plus the album is, like, perfect for dinner parties!
Congrats on your channel growing. By the way I agree with you on your greatest basketball player of all time (Kareem).
Totally disagree on Getz/Gilberto (and I'm a heavy post-bop/modal Jazz guy: Henderson, Shorter, Coltrane, etc.) I picked up a NM original mono pressing of Getz/Gilberto and played it with a mono cartridge on a tube system, and the skies completely opened up. Now, when I want friends to understand the power of vinyl recordings, I put this one on. I think Stan Getz is generally underrated as a player. He appears on a gazililon recordings, so that fact has somehow morphed into an idea that he's not a serious player, but that is a serious mistake. Check out a mono OG pressing of Sweet Rain, and you'll see Getz in top form. Also, just as Kind of Blue is "important" to the history of the development of modal Jazz, Getz/Gilberto is seminal in introducing North America to Brazilian rhythms, thus helping Jazz to grow throughout the 60s and into the 70s and beyond...
I have a mono pressing of the album and it's OK at best to me but not great at all. I used a mono cartridge Audio-Technica AT33MONO cartridge but it's probably not a high end cartridge like yours. I think the best sounding version of the album is the stereo 45rpm reissue by Impex Records with second place going to the Analogue Productions 45rpm stereo version of the album.
BTW, I do think that Jazz at The Pawnshop is *completely* overrated (and overhyped, and overpriced). Just IMHO!
Also I should add that the greatest Stan Getz album in my opinion is his "Focus" album.
Personal opinion. Gotta RESPECT that!!!!
😊😁
Whether they are over-rated or not, every one of the albums you showed belongs in every collectors library. I actually purchased the Craft Getz / Gilberto one-step - the first time I ever spent that kind of money on a record, so I am overly partial to that album.
I get what you mean, Kenny. But I have to disagree with you on this. Getz /Gilberto is sublime. Just hearing Astrud Gilberto's sweet voice I feel absolutely blown away (and there are also many other things to enjoy). Besides, Getz/Gilberto was a key album in terms of bossa nova as a new subgenre in jazz music at that time. So I think it's worthy of all the hype. That being said, I greatly respect your opinion. God bless you brother.
Thank you very much for posting your opinion and perspective, I respect and appreciate that 😊✌️
God bless to you as well 🙏
I’m with you with that lp. Have the one step. Solely for sound qualities.
Interesting views. 100% in agreement. I would also consider KoB because if there wouldn’t have been for that time extraordinary marketing effort by the label and for MD in general, the album wouldn’t have made it that far. There are by far better albums out there than KoB but simply lesser known.
Although I think Kind of Blue is fantastic, you make some interesting points and I appreciate your opinion ✌️
Love the album but yes The Girl From Ipanema certainly elevates it's fame beyond what it otherwise would have attained.The two Bill Evans albums you showed get my vote.I love his playing and individually dig the tunes but as a whole its just too introspective for me.Much prefer something like Everybody Digs Bill Evans where it has his romantic introspective tunes but has a couple of more up tempo,meaty numbers to shake it up a little.
I TOTALLY AGREE! Getz/Gilberto was the early beginnings of "Pop"- jazz. This got popular with the ears that weren't into Miles and Coltrane and Bird. They needed something more "comfortable" to relax to, and this was it. My guess is, these same ears went on to immortalize artists like Kenny G.
What makes this album amazing is that it brought American jazz to Brazilian bossa nova 🤔
I would disagree from the perspective that Getz/Gilberto is a genre defining album, and that genre being Bossa Nova. Especially the impact it had on audiences in the U.S. and Europe, quite possibly even Japan.
I know you hold the album in high esteem, and it’s no diss on your part, now I’m just trying to figure out what I’d select myself.
I mean how about anything and everything that Kenny G ever recorded? Or does that not even count as Jazz in the first place? (Which is also a fair attitude)
Norman Brown was huge- I’d be tempted to put his big album there.
I had one other that came to my mind of that same era but I’ve drawn a blank all of a sudden.
Great points and I appreciate your opinion for sure. I don't consider Kenny G. Jazz though.
Getz/gilberto was recorded at 30 inches per second instead of 15ips
IMHO parallels with sports, athletes and music don’t really make sense.
A Love Supreme
Interesting point with Getz/Gilberto; albums often become much more memorable because of hit singles. I can think of many albums that I don't think are very strong, but have hit singles that make people laud them more than they deserve. Fortunately, Getz/Gilberto isn't one of those. I quite like Getz and am a pretty big fan of Joao Gilberto; I think their collab album is the best with Getz's name on it and possibly for Joao as well, but I'm not quite as sure. Within the criteria of the argument though, that's a great pick.
If I were to pick a different one, I'd maybe go for Money Jungle by Ellington, Mingus & Roach. Its good, but apart from the first track maybe, there's nothing really all that out of this world about it. Duke made a better collab album with Coltrane and everyone involved has better albums and material. I think its often more praised for its lineup than its material and people like the story of how Mingus and Roach didn't get along.
This is always going to be a subjective discussion because people enjoy various styles of jazz. For example I would never say Bitches Brews is overrated, but I don't enjoy listening to that music so it will never be on my "best jazz LP" list. But that's just my view
I don't agree with the basketball "overrated" analogy because there is no question the players mentioned are "great" and among the all-time best. No of them are really overrated (BTW- IMO, Kareem is also the greatest player. Too bad young ones didn't get to see him play).
I put Birches Brew in the jazz fusion category. I appreciate your comments and opinions especially about Kareem Abdul Jabbar 😊
Jazz at the Pawnshop is not overrated; the listener just doesn't like swing/dixieland style. If they did, it would be one of the few albums with an extended workout of cuts like "Limehouse Blues" and "Struttin with some barbecue."
What's the most overrated jazz album without vocals? I'd say Charlie Parker with Strings but Bird's stock has went down over the last decade.
I totally love that album, but I agree. I remember getting that on CD the week I got my first CD player. I was not super familiar with the album when I bought it and I immediately thought to myself, "This is not as good as it's made out to be." Still great, but a bit overrated. And it's still one of my favorite albums! But only maybe top 200, not top 50.
And Girl from Ipanema is still most recorded song on record
Interesting perspective, Kenny. Very enjoyable. For me, Bitches Brew is highly overrated. Haven't listened to it in years.
Getz/Gilberto started the bossa nova craze, so it is legendary. It also sold quite well, then the Beatles came along. However, I don't listen to it very often. Not my cup of tea.
Bags & Trane is lackluster to me.
Charlie Byrd is far and away this man’s favorite jazz guitarist. Btw hope I’m right about this but Coltrane said Getz sound is what all saxophonists want to sound like
Comparing to movies, books works better for me. I award one most over rated movie each year.
Love that album, still marvel at the players performances (not "effort").
I'll admit, I clicked mostly because I was curious about the speakers. I know the Quad ESL 57s, but what are the other ones? They look like Bergnati SM300, if I had to guess.
Thank you very much for click on my video...the speakers are Bertagni SM 300 speakers and the others are actually Dalquist DQ-10 speakers. I also own a set of Bertagni D120 that I have to restore one of these days 😊
Of course many people won't like Bitches Brew and Ornette Coleman's group with Don Cherry. It's too experimental for them. I'm glad I love it, and it's their loss.
Don’t think the term overrated is helpful when discussing Jazz because every listener has their own criteria for what makes something good or bad. Perhaps a better term is something like overexposed, overhyped etc.
Cannot think of a single one, as I think all jazz records are underrated
I can appreciate and respect that point of view 👍
Great point. Jazz doesn’t rate at all with 98% of the population.
You can't put in the same bag Kind of Blue, A Love Supreme and this one. Nobody puts it in a topten list of jazz albums, just because it's not a strictly jazz album. That's high quality music, with some improvisations and sophisticated harmonies, but the most important are the melodic lines, the syncopated rhytmn and, above all, the João Gilberto's guitar touch, that swings radically different from Charlie Byrd on Jazz Samba. And it has simply one of most played song in history. I respect your opinions, but this time you made an unhappy choose.
Agree on Pawnshop album. It sounds great. But it's not for me. I can see it as a great recording, excellent playing, but seems overrated. Nothing virtuosic about it. Love the Evans Vanguard albums. Actually listened to both today with my wife! Overrated? Hmm... naw. Really good and great performances. Kind of Blue? A Love Supreme? Nah, no way. Not overrated. They're both infinitely listenable. Not one note I'd change. And, wow, I agree on the Getz/Gilberto album. Great album. And was a real standout and contemporary example of the Brazil-Jazz genre at the time. People forget how crazy the fad was. Well, not 'fad,' but a genuine cultural craze. My wife owns it. I never pick it up.
Thank you very much for watching my complete video and taking the time to post your thoughts, I appreciate it 😊 ✌️
"Samba Encore!" is better than both Stan Getz albums
Honey, you’ve got great ears. Why don’t you get rid all your speakers and leave the 75s where they are you might wanna add a sub no question but you got the finest speakers out there. You could spend $100,000 on the system and $1 million on system is not gonna be as good as the 75 quadsand I wished I had mine. I just don’t have room for him again if I would, I’d get them most people don’t know how good the 75s are especially for jazz unbelievable you got great ears brother like mine not always listen the same criteria you got bread.
I’ll second Bitches Brew as most overrated. As for Getz/Gilberto, took it for a spin two nights ago. Very enjoyable!
Somehow I knew you weren't going to go after A Love Supreme. I don't think that album is really capable of being overrated. One of those records that earns its instant recognizability. It's what I consider to be "Crucial" Jazz; desert island stuff.
i feel like jazz at the pawnshop is a really great sounding record, and a quite competently performed record, but i wouldn''t classify it as a great performance. i don't think it's overrated though, simply because as far as i know, most people don't rate it at all, only audiophiles tend to know about jazz at the pawnshop... i dunno about kind of blue, like it's one of the best jazz albums ever but dang sometimes it seems like it's talked about more than every other jazz album ever put together, so it MIGHT be overrated.. you didn't mention Sidewinder, another album with a big pop hit, how do you rate it? i think it's the bestselling blue note album of all time, which i'd say is certainly something. just out of curiosity, do you get into japanese fusion much? bands like casiopea, t-square, jiro inagaki & soul media.. i'd be interested to hear any thoughts on japanese fusion, they really took to the genre more than a lot of places, there are TONS of japanese fusion albums, i have a playlist with probably at least 100 here on yt. anyway, 'precciate ya kenny!
I'm not to familiar with Japanese fusion but it's something that I would like to explore. Sidewinder is great, it in my opinion keeps jazz as a foundation but has a beat and vibe that non jazz fans can enjoy. Thank you for watching my video and your comments ✌️
have you ever listened to the fismans
No, I've never heard of them
@@kennysaudiophilerecordreviews They are a japanese band from the 80’s. I highly recommend “long season” very good. Also I meant Fishmans*
Thank you very much for the recommendation ✌️
Getz albums from Brazilian “bossa nova” period were either brilliant or merely wonderful. Overrated term better used for a “so so” album that is barely worth listening to that people refer to as great.
Well, I gotta agree with his choice. And I respect the musicianship on 'Jazz At The Pawnshop' but it's not. record I can listen to much.
All these albums you showed are in my collection, I agree with you!