WYNTON and WILLIE

[giannim]

I realise my post seems to be having a go at Wynton, but it is not meant to really.Just that particular narrow view that he can have towards 'jazz'. I own many of his recordings and have found him very inspiring as a trumpet player. I think you are right on the money Mark, much of what Keith said is just rubbish( I have NEVER heard a high school trumpet player sound like wynton even compared to Wynton when he was 18). And what was the point of it really? Wynton has really put out a large body of work, and there is alot in there. I recently listened to his 45 minute "Citi Movement" and really enjoyed it (live at the Vanguard). About 15-20 years ago , he came to Aus with his septet . At the end of a very demanding gig he played one of the most beautiful versions of Stardust I have ever heard. Just him and piano, he played off the mike and his beautiful sound filled the concert hall. He played all over the trumpet and played so many melodic ideas,only playing the last 4 bars of the melody at the very end. It really was astounding to me at the time.It is narrow minded of us to dismiss him so casually just beacuse we do not like everything he does.

[captain]

The gap between what he preaches and what he actually plays is growing wider too. The congo square piece features alot of african and afro-carribean vamps, a far cry from some sort of uber-conservative bop-style that some people still insist on lumping him with.

In fact it was an abundance of vamps that totally put me off his last quintet record (came out last march I think) and I realised that my listening tastes (I like swing) were not being satiated. So in fact his last album was not Jazzy enough for my tastes. He's obviously trying to absorb all this latin stuff through his rhythm section but comes out a bit stodgy.