Vibes Archives -

Jason Marsalis – Vibes the Marsalis Way!!

By ekkarn March 4, 2016 March 4, 2016 Uncategorized

Jason Marsalis :Vibraphone Born: March 4, 1977

So a while back I came across the album In a World of Mallets by Jason Marsalis. I listened to the album because the lead instrument was a vibraphone and not because of the name Marsalis. In fact I didn’t even make the connection until today, when I was reading about Jason, who is celebrating his thirty-ninth (39) birthday today. I read that Jason was in fact the youngest of the famous Marsalis family ,led by father Ellis and includes brothers Wynton, Bradford and Delfeayo!. I felt a little better about not knowing who he was after I read at All About Jazz that…..

(Jason) Marsalis is the mostly “unknown” part of one of jazz music’s first families, but is spot-on with his artistry on In A World Of Mallets.

About Jason Marsalis

Jason Marsalis has been throughout his career has primarily been a drummer and percussionist.He started his musical career playing with the Marcus Roberts Trio in 1995. In 1998 he became a founding member of the highly successful Los Hombres Calientes. Jason was with the band which features Latin jazz rhythms flavored with Brazilian and Afro-Cuban soul for the first two albums and then left in 2000 before the band received its first Grammy nomination to focus more on the work of the Marcus Roberts Trio. This was around the time that Marsalis began playing vibes. During this period he was recorded playing the vibes with clarinetist Tim Laughlin and drummer Shannon Powell. In addition he began leading his own band, playing vibes

Marsalis stayed busy over the next few years. He spent part of the time in Japan. He spent another helping his hometown of New Orléans. As he aided the city’s recovery from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.You can read his complete biography here

About In a World of Mallets

In a World of Mallets was released in March of 2013. The album rose to number 1 on the CMJ Radio Charts. The album also won an Offbeat Magazine award, a New Orleans music magazine, for best Contemporary Jazz Album. On the album Marsalis plays marimba, glockenspiel, tubular bells, vibraphone, xylophone. Supporting Jason on the album are: Will Goble: bass; David Potter: drums; Austin Johnson: piano. Matt Collar at AllMusic writes…

…. Marsalis leads them through a handful of his own original compositions (and some by his band mates) that reveal his own bent toward mixing urbane classical themes, bluesy swing, and contrapuntal post-bop sections. In that sense, tracks like the epic “Blues Can Be Abstract, Too,” and the jaunty “Blues for the 29%ers,” bring to mind work of his brother’s Wynton and Branford. This is especially true when the band moves back and forth, doubling up the time between phrases in a kind of fractured, slightly outré post-Thelonious Monk swing style. Which isn’t to say this is avant-garde music.

However, there is kind of a cerebral, yet playful classical aesthetic at work on In a World of Mallets. This is perhaps best displayed on the opening and ending cuts, “Discipline Discovers a World of Mallets,” and “Discipline Gets Lost in a World of Mallets,” in which Marsalis layers his vibes and bells and various percussion instruments to create a kind of chamber jazz sound Full Review

Final Thoughts

Well, that explains, why I didn’t really like this album that much the first time I heard it! At first, I thought the album was a little more avant garde than what I usually listen to. However, I did listen to the album more closely today and found I liked several of the tracks. Although, I thought that at times the music was a little too carnival sounding for my taste. But I will reserve final judgment though until I’ve listened to the album a few more times. So that I don’t say I don’t like it. Then need to eat my words, like I’ve done many times before!!!

So Happy Birthday, Jason Marsalis!! Let’s listen to Jason and the Vibes Quartet perform “Ballet Class” from In a World of Mallets!

Milt Jackson:Great Vibes for a New Year!

By ekkarn January 1, 2015 January 1, 2015 Uncategorized

Milton “Bags” Jackson (January 1, 1923 – October 9, 1999)

For the longest time my favorite vibraphonist was Gary Burton and while he still may be my favorite, coming in a close second is Milt Jackson, who would have celebrated his 92nd birthday today! From Wikipedia:

Milton “Bags” Jackson (January 1, 1923 – October 9, 1999) was an American jazz vibraphonist, usually thought of as a bebop player, although he performed in several jazz idioms. He is especially remembered for his cool swinging solos as a member of the Modern Jazz Quartet and his penchant for collaborating with several hard bop and post-bop players.

A very expressive player, Jackson differentiated himself from other vibraphonists in his attention to variations on harmonics and rhythm. He was particularly fond of the twelve-bar blues at slow tempos. He preferred to set the vibraphone’s oscillator to a low 3.3 revolutions per second (as opposed to Lionel Hampton’s speed of 10 revolutions per second) for a more subtle vibrato. On occasion, Jackson would also sing and play piano professionally.Complete Biography

Milt Jackson, like most jazz musicians started playing music early, in his case it was guitar at 7! By age 11, he switched to piano, a few years later he moved on to vibes. His professional career started when Dizzy Gillespie aksed him to join his sextet and later when Gillespie formed his big band Jackson was asked to join the band. As a result of the time he spent with Gillespie, Jackson became an in demand musician. In 1948-1949, he worked with Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, Howard McGhee, and the Woody Herman Orchestra.

After 1949, Jackson recorded with a quartet comprised of John Lewis, Percy Heath, and Kenny Clarke (1952), which soon became a regular group called the Modern Jazz Quartet (MJQ). From the formation of MJQ through 1974 Jackson recorded both as a leader recording with the likes of: Miles Davis and/or Thelonious Monk, Coleman Hawkins, John Coltrane, and Ray Charles, and MJQ Milt Jackson left the MJQ in 1974 and recorded solely as a leader for seven years before returning to the Quartet in 1981

I have several Milt Jackson albums in my music library now and I hope to keep the number rising, because there’s a lot of them out there! In honor of Milt’s birthday I’m listening now to Bags Meets Wes recorded in 1961, and produced by Orrin Keepnews. On the album, Jackson and Montgomery are joined with pianist Wynton Kelly, bassist Sam Jones, and drummer Philly Joe Jones.

From AllMusic:

Although Jackson and Montgomery prove what lyrical ballad players they could be on the standard “Stairway to the Stars,” ballads aren’t a high priority on this album. Instead, the improvisers put more of their energy into the blues — and the 12-bar format serves them well on “Sam Sack,” “Blue Roz,” and “S.K.J.” Equally strong are hard-swinging versions of Montgomery’s “Jingles” and Benny Golson’s “Stablemates.” Read More

Maybe later today, I’ll give Bags & Trane, a listen.That album teams Milt Jackson with John Coltrane. For me, it doesn’t get much better than these two albums!!

So here’s some morning music from Milt Jackson, Art Farmer and Benny Colson as they perform “Bags Grove” with a special guest Toots Thielemans, probably one of the greatest harmonica players of all time! I confess I know little about Toots, most of the harp players know play the blues – so I think there will be some Toots Thielemans being played tomorrow. So take some time and listen to the music on this video because it’s awesome! What a way to start a new year!! Happy Birthday, Milt Jackson…..

Buddy Montgomery Wes’ baby brother -born January 30, 1930

By ekkarn January 30, 2014 January 30, 2014 Uncategorized

Buddy Montgomery – Primary Instrument – Vibraphone

On January 30. 1930, Charles “Buddy” Montgomery, the youngest of the Montgomery Brothers was born in Indianapolis, Indiana. Buddy was nine years younger than Monk, the oldest of the three musical brothers and seven years younger than Wes, the most famous of th brothers. Buddy played both piano and vibes, but is primarily known for playing vibes. His career started in 1948 and in 1949 he played with Big Joe Turner followed by a stint with Slide Hampton. In 1957, after serving several years in the Army, he joined older brother Monk, Richie Crabtree (piano) and Benny Barth (drums) in the Mastersounds over the next several years they produced ten recordings.

After they disbanded, He and Monk joined brother Wes and recorded as the Montgomery Brothers.. Their album Groove Yard is in my collection. While I’ve listened to Wes’ music since the late 60, I didn’t discover this album until several years ago, it was my first introduction to Buddy’s piano the first time I heard hin on vibes was on the album The Montgomery Brothers and 5 Others!

Buddy Montgomery started recording as a leader in the late 50’s, spent a short period with Miles Davis in 1960. He was touring with Wes in 1968, when Wes passed away. In 1969 he moved to Milwaukee and taught jazz in the area.In the early 80s he moved to Oakland. During the 90s he released more solo albums in addition to playing with the Riverside Reunion Band, Charlie Rouse, David Fathead Newman and Bobby Hutcherson

Buddy passed away on May 14, 2009, the last of the brothers to pass away. Monk had died in 1982 after losing a battle with cancer and Wes of a heart attack in 1968.

Here’s a great video about Buddy Montgomery featuring his wife, followed by some music from Buddy! Happy Birthday, Buddy! Hope you and your brothers have a great day wherever you are!!