Skip to main content

Count Basie - Don't Cry Baby

Faith is another strong concept that ties Jazz and Gospel music together. A spiritually guided direction gives sustenance to our hopes and dreams, from a biblical standpoint. The other direction of faith is found in daring to articulate an artistic vision and expressing something that’s both broader in scope and far more personal. 

In Gospel music, faith is essential, while in Jazz music, it’s more of a distant goal. Though aims may differ however, both paths continually influence one another. For example, gospel music would not have evolved apart from the artists who felt the need to hear and express something beyond the ecclesiastical music that preceded them.

In an interview with New York jazz trumpeter, composer, and educator John Raymond, conducted by TGC, The Gospel Coalition, considered this question, How has becoming a Christian shaped your work?... The Lord has used Jazz to make me into someone who trusts him. Jazz is improvised and messy. When performing, I don’t know exactly where my fellow bandmates or I are going. This spontaneity runs right up against my impulse to control. But God has used jazz to teach me to trust his grace, let go of my grasp, and live moment by moment through the Spirit. And this hasn’t just shaped how I play music, it has also shaped how I parent, how I teach, and more.


Count Basie - Don't Cry Baby
  • Composed by: Saul Bernie, James P. Johnson, Stella Unger
  • Released: 1959
  • Genre: Jazz

"Count Basie Orchestra's great 18 member orchestra is still continuing the excellent history started by Basie of stomping and shouting the blues, as well as refining those musical particulars that allow for the deepest and most moving of swing."

See previous Song of the Day

Labels:
Location: United States

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ry Cooder - Available Space

It all started with gospel music. After the American Civil War, in the mid 19th century, people moved north from the plantations to the cities, St Louis, Chicago and Memphis. By the end of the 19th century the syncopated rhythms of ragtime and the improvisational nature of jazz had arrived. Hard times in the great depression of the 1930s drove many swing jazz big bands out of business. Jump blues filled the gap. Patrons of dance halls needed small groups who could match the volume and atmosphere of the departed big bands. Singers would shout and saxophonists would honk. This gave performers names like shouters and honkers. Jump blues was an uptempo jazz tinged style of blues. Usually characterised by a vocalist in front of a large horn driven orchestra or medium sized combo with multiple horns. The style had a driving rhythm, intensely shouted vocal and honking tenor saxophone solos. There was also less reliance on the guitar as a lead instrument. It also had a hard, rhythmic drive and...
Post a Comment
Read more

Lester Young - Ghost of a Chance (Take 1)

Philadelphia was well positioned to play a leading role in popular music. The city had long been one of the nation’s most important musical centers, with strong traditions in both European derived and African American music dating back to the eighteenth century. In the early twentieth century Philadelphia saw a dramatic increase in its Black population as a result of the Great Migration. By the 1940s, Philadelphia’s large and diverse Black population had created thriving scenes in jazz and gospel music. From these traditions a new kind of music emerged in the 1940s, in Philadelphia and across the nation. Usually played in small combos called jump bands, the music featured rollicking dance rhythms coupled with fairly simple blues based harmonies and melodies. The adaptation of this style, known as rhythm and blues or R&B, by white musicians essentially created rock and roll. In Philadelphia in the late 1940s and early 1950s, jump bands played dance halls, nightclubs, and corner bars...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Uncommon Vinyl Sizes & Speeds

The Uncommon Vinyl Sizes & Speeds The standard sizes and speed for vinyl records are 12" and 7" both played at 33 1/3 RPM or 45 RPM. RPM means revolution per minute, the number of times the record rotates a minute. Image by Mink Mingle Unusual Sizes for Vinyl 2 in (5.1 cm) Recorded at 10-20 seconds each side. 3 in (7.6 cm)   Also known as 8ban for 8cm Bandai, these were developed in Japan by record pressing company Toyokasei. Records in this format continue to be manufactured. 3 inch singles are made available exclusively. 4.7 in (12 cm)  Although dubbed a 5 inch record, to be usable in most compact disc players, the record can be no bigger than 120 mm. 5 in (13 cm) Children's records records were manufactured in this size from the early 1900s all the way up to the late 1950s and underground punk bands in the 1990s. 6 in (15 cm) From the late 1940s to the early 1960s. The 78 RPM speed was used for some children's records of this size well into the 1960s...
Post a Comment
Read more