Vibes..

[andreimatorin]

I love the sound of the vibes, yet i am totally clueless when it comes to naming any good vibe musicians... I would really like to get some records, are there any records/artists you guys think are really good?

thx

[hoochmonkey9]

My favourite vibe album is "The Savoy Sessions" , The Red Norvo Trio w/ Tal Farlow and Charles Mingus. A Stunning set.

[GA Russell]

Milt Jackson invented the modern jazz vibraphone technique by slowing down the vibrato. I will leave it to others to recommend their favorite Milt Jackson album.

Since you are new to this, I would recommend two albums that are good jazz, but will also appeal to those who are not jazz fans:

Hanry Mancini: Music From Peter Gunn
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00000JC79/qid=1035216347/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_1/102-3043999-7320950

George Shearing: The Shearing Spell
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00004TFDO/ref=m_art_li_35//102-3043999-7320950?v=glance

Good luck!

[stanley]

some good stuff has been mentioned below. I also like Terry Gibbs w/his dream bands or w/buddy deFranco.

[clifton]

Here's some vibes recommendations. Milt Jackson was the greatest of them all, so try "Plenty Plenty Soul", "The Prophet", or his work with the Modern Jazz Quartet on "Blues At Carnegie Hall" or "Fontessa". For Lionel Hampton, try to get his RCA Victor small group sessions or his work as a sideman with Benny Goodman. For Gary Burton, I recommend "For Red, Hamp, Bags and Cal". For Bobby Hutcherson, if you can find "Happenings", get that one. For Steve Nelson, get the Dave Holland CD's where Nelson plays, including the big band one. I also like Stefon Harris and Joe Locke, although Harris' music is sometimes dry and abstract. Hope this has been helpful.

[hoochmonkey9]

Bobby Hutcherson is also great on Eric Dolphy's "Out to Lunch." That's just a great album, period.

[Joel]

Barbara Dennerlein

[Pharaohrock]

For Steve Nelson, who is only a hair behind Bobby Hutch in my opinion, check out Mulgrew Miller's "Hand in Hand" or J-Mac's "Rhythm of the Earth." Simply fantastic melodic soloing on vibes.

[Spyro1]

Awesome vibesman....Dave Samuels(Spyro Gyra,Caribbean Jazz Project). The man knows his stuff,smooth,mellow,technical,off the wall,jazzy,funky you name it.


Peace:D

Spyro1:cool:

[Jazz Lover]

A good new jazz guitarist is Rick McLemore out of Richmond, VA. He has a CD out called "Just Let Me Play". I purchased it online at CDbaby.com.

[DWBass]

My old neighbor Jay Hoggard is a pretty good vibes player as is Dave Samuels and Dirk Richter who had a cd out several years ago. Jay has been on the scene 20+ years and has many cd's out.

[ppjazz]

I tend to agree about Dave Samuels. He has followed in the tradition of the great Cal Tjader and his work with the Caribbean Jazz Project is noteworthy.

I've also enjoyed his early work with baritone sax icon, Gerry Mulligan, in the 1970's. The recently re-issued CTI digital remaster of a 1975 Carnegie Hall appearance by Mulligan and trumpeter Chet Baker is very good. It is titled "Gerry Mulligan/Chet Baker Carnegie Hall Concert" (duh!) and includes Samuels on vibraphone, Bob James on piano, John Scofield on guitar, Ron Carter on bass, Harvey Mason on drums and Ed Byrne on trombone. These guys were pretty young at this time but give very credible performances behind Mulligan and Baker.

Samuels, Scofield, Grover Washington, Jr., Ryan Kisor and Dave Grusin also teamed with Mulligan years later in 1995 on "Dragonfly" for the Telarc Jazz label.

The Caribbean Jazz Project releases of the past two years are very good. "Paraiso" (Concord Picante, 2001) and "The Gathering" (Concord Picante, 2002) feature the vibesman with guitarist Steve Khan ("Paraiso") and flautist Dave Valentin on both of these releases. Khan is not on the most recent.

[Tanager]

While we're on the subject of vibes players worth exploring, I'd say that Gary Burton's work bears listening - his ?first? sessions with Hank Garland are legendary mainly for Garland's sake, but they're worth listening to for the vibes work as well.

[Noj]

Roy Ayers plays very good soul/funk vibes. I suggest giving Mystic Voyage a listen.

[James]

Consider also Dave Pike, who lives/plays in the L.A. area. His session "Bophead" is quite nice (with Anthony Wilson, Richard Simon, Milcho Leviev, & Tootie Heath among others) and I've heard his latin set titled "Peligroso" is fine as well.

[Noj]

I have a very cool version of "Sunny" by Dave Pike.

[PDEE]

"What no mention of Lionel Hampton" yelled the OF

From Andre..."s coments elswhere, perhaps Hamps older stuff might be a bit dated for him, but try the Hamton, Tatum, Rich trio available on OJC.

As for Milt just about any MJQ but Blues on Bach might be a good start.

[Dan Gould]

I second all Milt Jackson recommendations, but on a sidenote, I just picked up a rare and rather odd LP called "Swinging On The Vibories" Basically, someone invented a set of vibes that were played like a piano and Leonard Feather though so much of them that he convinced a set of West Coast musicians to record with it. Gerry Wiggins, Red Mitchell (had no idea he played piano as well as bass) Sonny Clark and Kenny Drew take their turns on the instrument, the latter two switch off between piano and vibories. Haven't listened closely enough yet but what I heard while I was cleaning out the pops and clicks was pretty good.

Here's an image:

http://ebay2.ipixmedia.com/abc/M28/_EBAY_00ee91b515a83bc3de30722e3354d7fe/i-1.JPG

[vibes]

Great vibes albums:

Bobby Hutcherson (as a sideman or leader):

Jackie McLean - One Step Beyond, Destination Out, Action
Prince Lasha/Sonny Simmons - Firebirds
Barney Kessel - Feeling Free
Grant Green - Street of Dreams, Idle Moments
John Patton - Let 'em Roll
Eric Dolphy - Out to Lunch
Archie Shepp - New Thing at Newport
Any Hutcherson album is good, but especially Oblique, Happenings, Components, Dialogue and Live at Montreux

Cal Tjader:

Soul Sauce
Soul Burst
Shades of Jade/Breeze from the East

Lionel Hampton:

The Complete Quartets/Quintets on Verve (with Oscar Peterson)

Gary Burton:

Crystal Silence (with Chick Corea)
A Genuine Tong Funeral

Milt Jackson:

Milt Jackson/Wes Montogomery - Bags Meets Wes
Milt Jackson/John Coltrane - Bags and Trane
Milt Jackson - Wizard of the Vibes
Milt Jackson - In a New Setting

Other cool albums with vibes:

Grant Green - Alive
Greg Osby - Inner Circle
Eddie Costa - Guys and Dolls Like Vibes
Frank Sinatra and Red Norvo - Live in Australia
Wadada Leo Smith - Procession of the Great Ancestry
The Gary McFarland Orchestra with Bill Evans

[Noj]

I'll go ahead and trust the recommendations for vibes from the poster with the name vibes.;)

[PDEE]

One I forgot that Andrei.... might like is the encounter of Lionel Hampton with violinist Svend Asmussen. A quartet date from 78 with Nils HOP and Ed Thigpen.

It's basically Hamps date.. all the tunes are associated with him.. Flying Home, Midnight Sun etc

It was released by Sonet under the Title As Time Goes By,, don't believe it ever made it to CD...

If you are really interested PM me and I'll send you a copy of my old LP

[OUT2LUNCH]

I've been listening to a lot of Tubby Hayes lately. A very versitile performer he is excellent on the vibes. Nobody has mentioned Walt Dickerson. I really like his Prestige discs, "This Is Walt Dickerson" and "A Sense of Direction"

[victor]

i have to cast two votes.......one for milt jackson.....especially his work with the modern jazz quartet.....
my other vote goes to lionel hampton.....either small group or big band

[vibes]

Originally posted by OUT2LUNCH
Nobody has mentioned Walt Dickerson. I really like his Prestige discs, "This Is Walt Dickerson" and "A Sense of Direction"

Can't believe I forgot Walt Dickerson! He is great! My favorites by Walt are "Relativity" and "Impressions of 'A Patch of Blue.'"

[mikeb]

Johnny Lytle and Freddie McCoy. Two of the great soul-jazz vibists.

Lem Winchester. Would've loved to have heard him as he progressed, but a game of Russian Roulette ended his life just when he was starting to climb to the top, IMHO.

Gary McFarland's work was interesting, though I don't think he was quite on the level of those mentioned above. Quite an arranger, though!

Emil Richards is another that hasn't had a chance to record as much. But I dig what I've heard.

[David H]

I have been totally amazed by the new release of Stefon Harris The Grand Unification Theory. Listening to it made me think of Bobby Hutcherson's Components or Patterns. The mix of low brass, reeds and percussion add an extra dimension to the work. I hope Stefon continues the interesting work.

I'd add Walt Dickerson to the list, especially the recording Serendipity which features Jamaladeen Tacuma on bass.

The ECM recordings of Gary Burton are wonderful, Passengers, which features Pat Metheny, Eberhard Weber and Steve Swallow is brilliant. Not forgetting the Chick Corea and Gary Burton partnership - Crystal Silence to Native Sense. I saw them both in concert promoting Native Sense at the Royal Festival Hall (London) they held the audience spell bound with their music.

Milt Jackson & John Coltrane - Bags & 'Trane, a great session. Shame they did not record together again. Though any session with Milt either with the MJQ or solo is worth hearing.

Bobby Hutcherson - incomparable. Components, Patterns, Happenings, Oblique, Medina, San Francisco - all totally wonderful.

[Dr. J.]

Originally posted by andreimatorin
I love the sound of the vibes, yet i am totally clueless when it comes to naming any good vibe musicians... I would really like to get some records, are there any records/artists you guys think are really good? thx

Scrolling through 2 pages of answers, I'm surprised nobody mentioned contemporary artists like Stefon Harris or Joe Locke. Especially glaring, imho, is the omission of Gary Burton (whose duo CD with Makato Ozone, Virtuosi, is absolutely brilliant).

And.. another vote for Steve Nelson. :)

[David H]

Dr J,

You just reminded me - the combination of Joe Locke's vibes and Eddie Henderson's trumpet on Phantoms, Dark Shadows and more recently Oasis - a wonderful combination great interaction between the two players.

David

[liamw]

Somebody mentioned early on the "Peter Gunn" soundtrack. There's nice work by Victor Feldman on the Shelley Manne & His Men play Peter Gunn CD, too, recently reissued. Like Stefon Harris & Bobby Hutcherson, Feldman also plays the marimba very effectively.

[kenny weir]

Yay to the Johnny Lytle tip. Simple, swinging, soulful. Check out the cd match up of The Loop and New And Groovy. Fantastic, with Wynton Kelly and heaps of organ, too.

On gary Burton, I love the duet album Native Sense with Chick Corea.

[D.D.]

One more voice for Walt Dickerson - IMHO, the most innovative vibist in jazz history, along with Hutcherson. I paprticularly like his duo dates with bassist Richard Davis on SteepleChase - mostly freely improvised stuff, but amazingly melodic, deep and clever.

Also, I would like to mention Khan Jamal. I would recommend his trio date (with mighty Johnny Dyani on bass, and (very much deserving better recognition) Pierre Dorge on guitar) on SteepleChase (I forgot how the CD is called).
You can also hear some great Jamal on Jemeel Moondoc's stunning 'Revolt of the Negro Lawn Jockeys' on Eremite (very recommended for the fans of '60s advanced Blue Note sessions).

Finally, not exactly vibes, but marimba - Gust William Tsilis - truly original voice. You can hear him on Arthur Blythe's beautiful Focus (on Savant records).

[Rocket #9]

My favorite instrument. I'll try not to duplicate any of the recommendations which have already been made.

Joe Locke is one of my favorites. A super player, and one of the few players I know who has actually done a good job putting modern pop/rock songs in a jazz context. My favorite albums are probably "Slander" and "Saturn's Child" (w/Frank Kimbrough). Really, though, you can't go wrong with Joe until the recent "Storytelling" projects, which some people don't like. The earlier Steeplechase albums are all good, "Mutual Admiration Society" (w/David Hazeltine) is very good, and the Mancini album is o.k., if not quite up to Joe's highest standard.

Gary McFarland is one of my great and guilty pleasures. "The 'In' Sound" is great fun, an absolute time capsule for 1965. Gary whistles, hums, "sings". "Point of Departure" is also great, but in the straight-ahead vein with a great sextet. Verve's two-fer with "How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying" is very well-done, and you get a good Brookmeyer date (with arrangements by McFarland), too. Do not get "Does the Sun Really Shine on the Moon?"; very little jazz content, lots of MOR arrangements of pop tunes, and some of the worst, most jocose liner notes I've ever seen.

Roy Ayers has been mentioned, but no one recommended his album with Jack Wilson, "Something Personal". A great album, and Ayers really smokes. Get it if you see it, 'cause it's out of print

I'm very fond of Bill Ware, too. He's one of the reasons I'm a big fan of The Jazz Passengers.

Red Norvo has been mentioned, but I'll add that anyone interested in him should start with the HEP disc "Dance of the Octopus", which features his great early sessions (on xylophone). I'm also a big fan of his stuff with Mildred Bailey.

Terry Gibbs had been mentioned, too, but I'll add a good word for his collaborations with Buddy DeFranco. Nothing earth-shattering, but all swinging good fun, very enjoyable stuff played at a very high level.

I'm not dissing Hutcherson, Hamp, or Milt Jackson by leaving them out; it's hard to go wrong with any of them (although I wish someone would give the Hamp Deccas the deluxe reissue treatment), but there seem to be plenty of recommendations above.

Ed

[mgraham333]

Probably the wrong thread to post this in ;) but I am not too crazy about the vibes. For some reason they always seem to remind me of child's toy xylophone.

They do make a nice addition to Grant Green's Idle Moments and Kicker by Bobby Hutcherson (which I would consider a sister album to Idle Moments as it shares the same personnel).

But dates using vibes in lieu of piano, I can't say I've found any that I like....and it's probably for a lack of looking.

I do intend to check out some of the recommendations made in this thread.

Based on my likes above would anyone care to make a more targeted recommendation?

[maren]

"Bags & 'Trane" was one of those "first jazz albums I ever listened to" -- courtesy of a college roommate in 1975.

Bill Ware is an amazing player -- not sure he's been recorded to best effect yet.

What about Bryan Carrott?

[king ubu]

some of my favorites:
-Dickerson, A Patch of Blue
-Ayers on Jack Wilson's Something Special
-Milt Jackson/Cannonball, Things Are Getting Better
-Milt Jackson, Plenty, Plenty Soul (Sermonette! Lucky Thompson!)
-Eddie Costa (anything he did on vibes, as for instance Guys And Dolls Like Vibes)
-Chet Baker's Peace (with David Friedman, one of the best of Baker's later recordings, IMHO)

(no need to mention the BG-quartets with Hamp or Hutcherson, which i do love, of course, but yes: need to mention Hutch's recordings with a) Andrew Hill, and b) with Kenny Barron. Great stuff!)

ubu

[LeMo]

I find very sad than from all recommendations post to this tread none even mention the name of the man who makes me like the vibes, the very great (and also one the most underrated musician of all time) WALT DICKERSON.
From all the vibes players, including those who were part of the "New Thing", he is the only one to have made most of his recording carrier on solo, duets or trio setting ans with no horn player of any kind what's ever.
Most of his records for SteepleChase are worth listening to except, maybe the sequel "To My Queen Revisited" (but the original "To My Queen", from 1962 and currently on OJC is a masterpiece). Avoid, also, his duet with Sun Ra who doesn't work at all.
Walt Dickerson is the most intense vibes player I ever heard and like one of the columnist Of Penguin Guide write, he is "a deep thinker on the instrument, with a style that step aside the prettiness of the instrument".

Try him: he will blow your mind away.
And, you know what? He also swings. But do much more things, than that, believe me.

My personnal selection:
- To My Son (with one of Sun Ra drummers: Jimmy Johnson and the bass of Andy McKee) (SteepleChase SCCD 31130, my favorite!)
- Peace (With Lisle Atkinson & Andrew Cyrille) (SteepleChase SCCD 31042)
- Dialogue (the reunion of two albums - Tenderness & Divine Gemini - in one double CD, worth to have) (SteepleChase SCCD 31345 2)

He is still alive but don't have recorded from more than twenty years now.
The sound, like always on SteepleChase, is of the best quality.
And, if he doesn't blown your mind, be sure than he will blow your tweeter away.

(I learn, with the time to like also a bit Milt Jackson, Bobby Hutcherson, Gary Burton, Karl Berger and the very interesting Khan Jamal - also on SteepleChase - look for "Dark Warrior" -, but nothing to compare, for me, with the great Walt).

[LeMo]

Well, the time I write this message and the name of Dickerson has appared on this forum, mentionning an album than I doesn't know. This is great!!!!

[LeMo]

Better yet, it's a whole bunch of Dickersonian who has suddenly appears!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!