Joe Cool's Blues

Artist: Wynton Marsalis & Ellis Marsalis
Label: Sony
Category: Music

Average customer rating:

Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1

UPC: 074646688021
EAN: 0074646688021
ASIN: B000002AYO

Release Date: 1995-04-18

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Tracks:

Linus And Lucy - WYNTON MARSALIS SEPTET
Buggy Ride - WYNTON MARSALIS SEPTET
Peppermint Patty - Ellis Marsalis Trio
On Peanuts Playground - WYNTON MARSALIS SEPTET
Oh, Good Grief! - Ellis Marsalis Trio
Wright Brothers Rag - WYNTON MARSALIS SEPTET
Charlie Brown - Ellis Marsalis Trio
Little Red-Haired Girl - WYNTON MARSALIS SEPTET
Pebble Beach - Ellis Marsalis Trio
Snoopy And Woodstock - WYNTON MARSALIS SEPTET
Little Birdie - Ellis Marsalis Trio
Why, Charlie Brown - WYNTON MARSALIS SEPTET
Joe Cool's Blues (Snoopy's Return) - WYNTON MARSALIS SEPTET

Similar Items:

Standard Time, Vol.5: The Midnight Blues
Happy Anniversary, Charlie Brown!
Standard Time, Vol. 4: Marsalis Plays Monk
Marsalis Standard Time, Vol.1
Standard Time, Vol.2: Intimacy Calling

Customer Reviews:

an excellent exploration of excellent jazz classics.......2006-02-27

I have seen a number of negative reviews for this album and let me say first off that the originals were excellent songs to begin with . They were part of what made the orginal charlie brown movies so excellent. next let me say that anyone who does not see the sublime playing in this albulm is blind. I have seen reviews suggesting that that this albulm lacks key elements like "dynamic" and "swing", which is a blatent lie. Without overdoing any one effect wynton and ellis manage to capture very well the feel of swung jazz as well as what is often very subtly beautiful dynamic changes. Also I have seen people saying that it is lacking in creativity, that Ellis is simply ripping off past musicians, which is also a lie. certainly Jazz being an oral culture, imitation is an often and often vital element. without at leastsome imitation jazz would not be. It is true that stylistically often the solos in this albulm can be very similar to other works, but certainly no more so than many other jazz albulms which are not under fire for lacking creativity.

All in all this an interesting and skillful interpretation of excellent jazz standards.

Flat soda in new bottles.......2005-05-01

More retro wallowing from Wynton and Company.

Music does not thrive when it becomes encased behind glass in a museum, but that's what Marsalis is intent on doing, in this and every album since Black Codes. The pity is there is a small amount of jazz being made in the world today, mostly in Europe, that isn't warmed-over recreations, but it's not being heard in the U.S. because of both the Marsalis Mafia and the tepid climate at all the record labels, even the self-proclaimed "indy" ones. There hasn't been one new idea on the major jazz record label (in the U.S. at least) in 25 years. People who think they're so hip to be listening to this music instead of Sting and Cheryl Crow just haven't realized this yet.

Michael Beyer hits it right on the head with his review. This is tired, re-trodden music that wouldn't have been eyebrow-raising in 1960, being presented today as vital and fresh and new. ("Essential recording"? Come on, Amazon!) We have to remember that Vince Guaraldi's original Charlie Brown music wasn't all that trail-blazing back in 1965--Schulz ultimately had conservative tastes--yet it sounds lightyears ahead of this tepid cocktail served up in what sounds like a swanky lounge overlooking the Hudson River.

Just listen to the "Peppermint Patty" on this album and contrast it with Guaraldi's version from the original Charlie Brown Christmas album, titled "Christmas is Coming" there. Guaraldi's is energetic and played with *dynamics* and tone color, not to mention real "swing" and "groove," those holy words Wynton is always bandying about. This performance is Ellis dusting the keys, then engaging in some very cautious choruses where he never shakes Guaraldi's original ideas and says anything himself. The same is true with the other Guaraldi-homage tunes-"Oh Good Grief," "Linus and Lucy," etc. They're playing the notes, but it's very mechanical, studied, like a wax museum portrait. The Wynton tracks are over-written, designed for the leader to show how he can handle multiple voicings ("Look at me! I'm Duke Ellington!") rather than to illustrate the playful essence of the Peanuts folk, or just plain swing. You can get away with Duke's dense voicings when you have Duke's weightier material, but for these light, simple, childlike tunes the effect is smothering, like dressing a Strauss waltz with the orchestration of Mahler's 9th.

Throughout the improvisation is perfunctory and cautious, albeit with enough technical polish to varnish a museum of bronze busts of Wynton's heroes. I'd love to hear Marsalis and his men stop playing cliches just for once. I've never understood how he can be considered a great or even good jazz soloist--name one Marsalis solo where he equals the inventiness of an Eldridge, an Armstrong, or even a *Ziggy Elman.* On so many tracks he's just imitating his heroes ("Joe Cool's Blues/Snoopy's Return" = first prize in the Roy Eldridge sound-alike contest); his arrangements, meanwhile, steal a lot (well, Wynton would say the same thing if the race were reversed) from such unlikely souces as Chet Baker and other "cool" white groups of the 1950s. But I'm sure all the five star raves here have never heard the original material this is ripped from, and I'm further sure that Marsalis knows and is counting on that. If it's new to you, it must be new.

The simple truth is Wynton, and the rest of the Marsalis family, have no identity. (I recently walked in on someone playing "Cain and Abel" from their "Family" album and thought I was listening to Ornette and Cherry.) They spend so much time talking about the past because they have nothing to contribute to the present. They sure can "hustle" the music, though, or their brand of it. And this is the result: warmed over tunes being accepted as "essential" by a generation that's likely ignorant of jazz history. Wynton knows the limitations of the average audience's hearing and knowledge. That's why he wants to preach as much as play, if not more. The antidote: go listen to some real jazz innovators. They're not hard to find--Wynton talks about them all the time.

Lest Anyone Think I'm a Fan.......2005-03-25

Wynton Marsalis will go down as an interesting figure in jazz music. It's fair to say he's changed jazz music in a seismic way. But has he changed the genre for the better? In general, the answer is no -- and certainly not on "Joe Cool's Blues".

Marsalis' original compositions on this album are competent but lack any fire or startling spontaneity. Meanwhile his father Ellis does very little with Vince Guaraldi's original tunes beyond meek homage.

The best thing about this album is the Wynton Marsalis Septet, who swings through their paces confidently. Overall, the album is clean, sterile, and fairly boring. But that's Wynton Marsalis for you.

On the one hand, Marsalis has done much to take jazz away from the Kenny Gs and Earl Klughs of the world and back to the Duke Ellingtons and John Coltranes. For that, he deserves our thanks. It was Marsalis as much as anyone who drew the line in the sand between "smooth jazz" and "jazz". He made it clear that he considered the jazz of the 80s to be a cultural wasteland, at times placing his own brother Branford in the smooth jazz camp.

So Marsalis made jazz less vapid. Good for him. He also made it more sterile. I can't necessarily argue with his decision to take jazz back to the past, but when he politely honors Guaraldi, Coltrane and Ellington, he also stifles the artistic creativity that has always been at the heart of jazz.

Is it me, or does the concept of Jazz at the Lincoln Center (with Marsalis as artistic director) completely fly in the face of improvisation and innovation? Is jazz now destined to go the way of NPR and classical music, where a board of directors is required and mission statements a must? In Marsalis' mind, a jazz concert should be like going to the orchestra, with the audience completely buttoned up and silent.

I guess I wouldn't mind as much if Marsalis weren't so pompous about it all. If Marsalis and his new best buddy Ken Burns are to be believed, Miles Davis ruined jazz, Herbie Hancock's finest hour was "Rockit", Art Pepper never existed, and Roy Hargrove, Joshua Redman and Christian McBride, et al. contributed nothing to last 30 years of jazz. Meanwhile, Marsalis proclaims himself as the finest trumpeter, composer and bandleader in not only jazz music, but in all of American music. So not only is he making outrageous claims, he can seldom back them up.

I've owned "Joe Cool's Blues" for eight years. As with most Marsalis albums, I'm always dazzled but hardly ever moved. Two stars.

For all ages!.......2002-07-21

I took this CD to my classroom, because I felt that the kids needed to hear other styles of music aside from rap and pop. The kids LOVED IT!! I had never seen kids react to music this way. They were tapping their feet, drumming on their desks and trying to hum along. This album became a regular request item. It's wonderful!!

The Best Jazz CD for Kids. Just Plain Excellent Jazz.......2002-04-26

I highly recommend this CD as a parent who appreciates good music for kids. This is real good jazz; real and good. It is the best jazz for kids CD that I have heard.

It is probably not the best for very young children.

For jazz, I also strongly suggest:

-Vince Guaraldi: Charlie Brown Christmas.

I strongly recommend any CD's by Raffi for young children.

Music CD:

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Quiero Ser Tu Amante ~ Shelly Lares

Corridos Tesoros Mus ~ Vicente Fernandez

Leyendas De Amor ~ Grupo Centauro

Joe Cool's Blues ~ Wynton Marsalis & Ellis Marsalis

Tchaikovsky: Cherevichki ~ Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Valerij Popov, Albert

Cat ~ Jimmy Smith

A Puro Fuego ~ Olga Ta%C3%B1%C3%B3n

De Ayer a Hoy ~ Cornelio Reyna

15 Hits Directo Al Corazon ~ Liberaci%C3%B3n

15 de Coleccion ~ Los Mismos