Though I enjoy all genres of music, jazz is what I always come home to and enjoy the most. I have a blog dedicated to sax players Sax Appeal. This blog is for all the of the other jazz musicians I enjoy listening to that can not be left out of being mentioned.
Milt Jackson was nicknames "Bags" because he carried his collapsable vibraphone in a bag on his back. He was also know to stay up late (hence, bags under the eyes - smile). He was probably most known being in the Modern Jazz Quartet though for a short time prior to that the band had been called the Milt Jackson Quartet. They performed together for some 20 years, broke up and then got back together several years later.
Roy Ayers is a jazz musician who also does a cross-over into funk and hip hop. I just know that no matter what style it is, the minute he starts playing that vibraphone it sounds like jazz to me. The man does plays a mean vibraphone, or vibes, which is like a xylophone. The difference between the two is that a vibraphone's bars are aluminum and a xylophone's keys are wood.
I've knowing Roy Ayers from way back when and by I mean musically, not personally. I bought his album You Send Me. Looking back now I know that what I liked was the smooth jazz sound of the vibraphone that it added to the music.
Because he crosses over into both I have to give you a sample of both. The vist video is more R&B and one of the old songs I know, Can't You See Me.
The clip below is a must see. It's a "vibe battle" between Roy Ayers and a member of his band, Dwight Gassoway (don't know if I spelled his name correctly). These guys can play and it's worth the few minutes to watch and listen. And I'll leave you with this link which is to a purely jazz song. This video is just a picture with music playing but it's very nice.
I'm an advocate for buying what you listen to. Show an artist you like them by buying their music. Here's how I see it. You like an actor. A movie comes out and you go see the movie or you rent it, buy it or all of the above. They know they are a success by ticket sales. How does a musician or singer know they're a success? By record sales. Sure, maybe by the sold out concerts, but how often do we get to see them in concert compared to how often we see movies? If you can spend $18.00 to go see a movie (ticket, popcorn & drink), I think you can pay $15-18 for a cd.... can't you? And now you can pay for and download just one or two of your favorite songs. A couple of bucks for music that lasts a lifetime.
