JazzBai: a new project from Bilbao devoted to Jazz

[DeBilbao]

Although I'm not a frequent participant of Computer Audiophile, I would like to share with you my project JazzBai. I've thought that maybe you'll find some good music to enjoy with your audio gear.

 

DeBilbao: The Author

 

DeBilbao has always been my nickname because it talks about my hometown, Bilbao, located in the Basque Country in the north of Spain. It literally means "from Bilbao" and I've been proudly using it for years in many online communities like this one, sharing with people from all around the world many kind of hobbies: from technology to photography, from cinema to music.

 

I can not imagine life without music, and though I like all genres, I've evolved with Jazz into a more intimate relationship with music through the magic of improvisation, this key characteristic of Jazz that gives absolute freedom to the interpreters while keeping the coherence of the whole. It fascinates me.

 

JazzBai: The Project

 

JazzBai is the name of a personal project that I've recently launched with only one goal in mind: sharing with others my thoughts and feelings after listening to those wonderful Jazz music records that I love, giving users a tool to listen to them online using the Spotify miniplayer. For music lovers, Spotify has been just a dream come true and I've been enjoying it since their very beginning.

 

JazzBai arises from the union of two words: Jazz from the music genre and Bai from the word we use to say yes in euskara, an ancient language spoken in the Basque Country. So you can think of JazzBai as a form of affirmation, saying yes to Jazz while giving a hint of my homeland.

 

JazzBai

 

 

Although I love euskara, I speak in spanish and that's the language JazzBai is written in. I have considered translating my reviews into english, but I haven't done it yet and to be honest, I doubt I will in the near future. If I publish this in english is because I think that anyone can enjoy my record selection and listen to them, but it would be a hard work to rewrite everything.

 

JazzBai can be easily translated using Google Translate. Just click on the following URL and you will get a fully functional website. And the translation is quite good.

 

JazzBai translated by Google Translate

 

 

 

I've highlighted the word sharing because I sincerely believe that sharing, for the sole purpose of doing it, is really rewarding. You give a little and you'll get a lot in return. It has always been this way for me, and I feel we're loosing the concept because all of these new social stuff tend to promote a faster consumption of music. It has almost loose its name as now people call music just media. And I hate this.

 

I love writing too, and when I write a review about a record listening session, I like to approach myself to the historical moment of the recording and the personal circumstances of the artists. Jazz is full of stories, some joyful and many other sad, but all have something in common: intensity. Many of them lived dangerously, but almost all of them lived intensely.

 

Jazz won't let you indifferent: you'll love it or you will hate it. It isn't a genre for large audiences, but being so large I'm convinced there's some kind of Jazz for each of us, waiting to be discovered and it takes only some time and a some willing to find it. And if JazzBai helps you discovering it I'll feel great, because once you discover it, it will go to the bottom of your soul and you'll notice that something magic just happened.

 

This day, if you get it, will be the first day of your new life with music.

 

Don't expect from JazzBai any kind of negative opinions. I only publish reviews about the albums that I've liked, so if I write about it, I've really enjoyed it.

 

JazzBai doesn't begin with a blank page and a few posts. I've waited until having something I consider interesting and you'll get more than a hundred selected albums that will show up my music taste for sure. I like saying that my style is like the famous Duke's Ellington In a Mellow Tone, a really mellow, soft and gentle tone. Far away from the free, electronic or avant-garde sounds that can be fascinating to others, but not for me.

 

You can definately call me a classic Jazz fan. I especially like the period that goes from mid-50's to the mid-60's when the Hard Bop flourished, but I also like the early Jazz years or the contemporary Jazz. There's a lot of good stuff cookin' in now and I love discovering it.

 

I've never been a fan of compilations, greatest hits albums or playlists. In my opinion a record is some kind of art that must be listened in the way the artist thought about it, so I always listen to the whole album with the original tracklist order.

 

I've also categorized each review and you will find them as options in the menu bar. So you can easily search for Classical Jazz > Hard Bop reviews, or get some Cool Jazz records with some West-Coast style, or look for sime Contemporary Jazz or Vocal Jazz, either classical or current.

 

As an added bonus, I've also inclued a video section to share some of the many hidden jewels in Youtube, complete concerts, short performances or movie scenes, and also a reading section to share some books that will help us understand better Jazz music and the life of the artists that made it possible.

 

 

 

 

If you want to take a look to my project, go to JazzBai and if you want to follow its evolution, you'll find there direct links to my Twitter channel, the Facebook page or even the RSS feed for your favourite reader.

 

Thank you very much for your reading and greetings from Bilbao,

 

Joserra

[DeBilbao]

My last album review has been dedicated to the marvelous encounter of Gerry Mulligan and Johnny Hodges in 1959.

 

Ultra High Quality music in a very high quality recording, enjoyable by both audiophiles and Jazz music fans.

 

 

Yo can read it while listening to it at Gerry Mulligan & Johnny Hodges: Gerry Mulligan Meets Johnny Hodges (1959, Verve)

 

 

 

 

:)

[jhwalker]

I don't know how I missed this thread the first time you posted but thank you so much for the follow up! This is the kind of jazz I like, too, and I'm really looking forward to exploring your website and listening to some great music

[DeBilbao]

Thank you John.

 

My proposal for today is quite different. Louis Prima's The Wildest! is Jazz but it will show up the influences of Jazz music in more modern music styles like Rock & Roll.

 

This will make you move your feet for sure...

 

Check it at Louis Prima: The Wildest! (1956, Capitol)

 

[Nikhil]

Thank you John.

 

My proposal for today is quite different. Louis Prima's The Wildest! is Jazz but it will show up the influences of Jazz music in more modern music styles like Rock & Roll.

 

This will make you move your feet for sure...

 

Check it at Louis Prima: The Wildest! (1956, Capitol)

 

 

 

Ha ha ha .. Louis Prima!! Thanks for bringing this up.

[DeBilbao]

Today I want to share with you this fabulous live piano session with Barry Harris leading a trio with bassist Sam Jones and drummer Louis Hayes.

 

Read my review and listen @ Barry Harris: Barry Harris at the Jazz Workshop (1960, Riverside)