Music reviews for music released in 1948.
1. Dizzy Gillespie: “Cubana Be” / “Cubana Bop” (10/10)
Honestly surprised this doesn’t get more attention. In addition to very strong Latin feel there’s also the super heavy orchestral influence in the A-side that feels almost proto Third Stream. This is contrasted to an extremely Afro-Cuban feel to the B-side – it takes nearly 2 minutes to become conventional jazz. A real landmark.
2. Billie Holiday: “I Loves you Porgy” (9/10)
Her cover of perhaps the most famous song from Porgy and Bess. A stripped down band this time. Though I don’t know it well enough, this might be the definitive version.
3. Dizzy Gillespie: “Cool Breeze” (8/10)
From the title you might think this is cool jazz but absolutely not. Instead it’s knotty bop (played by a big band) with some scat.
4. Dizzy Gillespie: “Minor Walk” (8/10)
This feels like a true fusion of big band and bop. Fun.
5. Billie Holiday: “My Man (Mon Homme)” (7/10)
Another stripped down track (the flip-side, I believe); I must say I prefer Holiday without the orchestra. Feels much more like vocal jazz than pop.
6. Peter Mennin: Symphony #4 (7/10)
Mennin I don’t know. He is from the more conservative stream of 20th century music, but this symphony (#4) is certainly inventive enough to hold my attention. I don’t know if it qualifies as ‘neo-Romantic’ as it feels a little strained at times, but it’s decent enough. Certainly it is easy to understand why I had never heard of him before but it’s pleasant enough. It’s a choral symphony, FYI.
7. Dizzy Gillespie: “Ool-Ya-Koo” (7/10)
There are a lot of these big band bop-plus-scat and they get old after a few of them. There’s some pomo here, though, that makes it better.
8. Dizzy Gillespie: “Algo Bueno (Woody ‘n You)” (7/10)
Originally written for Woody Herman’s orchestra a few years earlier, this version has a Afro-Cuban feel.