Lawrence wrote:I started craving for something more. Then I listened to Charlie Parker and I suddenly understood what all the fanfare was about: not in musical terms, but from a listener's standpoint. In a loose manner of speaking, it finally made sense to me. I then re-examined all the jazz giants from the 50s and 60s--Coltrane, Rollins, Davis, Dex--and fell in love with it: especially Sonny Rollins.
YES YES YES. Sonny Rollins rules. "Paul's Pal" by him is currently on repeat a lot in my player. I've got some ace tunes of his with a big band that are
almost danceable. DJed
Grand Street (from
Sonny Rollins and the Big Brass) at a very informal dances and it went down well, though people did say, "Ooh that's challenging to dance to."
I had the same experience as you. The first jazz cd I ever bought was Sonny Rollins'
Saxophone Colossus. At the time I thought, "Nice melodies but why all the scales and squealing in between." Coming back to it with a few years of intensive swing education it all makes beautiful sense and is a stunning record. Rollins' modal improvisation and Max Roach's drum solos in
St Thomas are worth the price of the disc on their own.
And Charlie Mingus is amazing (as someone already said earlier). Have you heard his
A-Train? 254 bpm with riffing and soloing all beautifully layered.
I find Dizzy Gillespie amazing too. It's probably the influence of the UK band Gillespiana that I raved about in another post
, but I find the energy level of that band is 4 or 5 times higher than any of the swing bands over here, so it makes me want to dance even if it is bloody fast and the rhythm section are "dropping bombs".
My girlfriend introduced me to Miles Davis'
Love For Sale with Adderly, Coltrane & Evans and the moment Canonball starts his alto solo is one of the best things I've ever heard.
Tom
We can do a "sharing" session during one of the days or on the Monday after. 
