Your Dream Jazz Ensembles (inspired by RdTv
 

this got me thinking about this really in depth so i thought it deserved it's own thread to explore the possibilities

For those currently living:

David S Ware - Tenor Sax
Cecil Taylor - Piano
William Parker - Bass
Sunny Murray - Drums

interesting thread!

N. Cline - guitar
A. Cline - drums
A. Hill - piano
J. Coltrane - sax

i spent a little too much time on this it, but i am satisfied with the time spent

the problem was i was so concerned with so many possibiles so i split them into my there favorite eras of jazz, i shall get to them as i finish them up

Interstellar Space Tentet (circa 64)
Sun Ra - Piano/Leader
John Coltrane - Tenor Sax/Soprano Sax
Eric Dolphy - Flute/Bass Clarinet
Albert Ayler - Alto Sax
Pharoah Sanders - Clarinet/Tenor Sax
Ornette Coleman - Trumpet/Tenor Sax
Charles Mingus - Bass
Elvin Jones - Drums
Derek Bailey - Guitar
Rahsaan Roland Kirk - Stritch/Manzello/Tenor Sax/Trumpophone/Slideophone

Just joined and i love it! Nice thread, my ensemble would look like this:

John Coltrane - Tenor Sax/Soprano Sax/Leader
Charlie Parker - Alto sax
Eric Dolphy - Flute/Bass Clarinet
Bud Powell - Piano
Charles Mingus - Bass
Art Blakey - Drums
Freddie Hubbard - Trumpet
Charlie Christian - Guitar

a great era of jazz that is often overlooked is the west coast cool scene centered especially in the san francisco area, but this was more an excuse to have dr funk in a list

Joe Cool Tentet (circa 69)
Vince Guaraldi - Piano/Vocals/Leader
Stan Getz - Tenor Sax
Bola Sete - Guitar
Eddie Duran - Guitar
Gerry Mulligan - Baritone Sax
Art Pepper - Alto Sax/Clarinet
Sam Most - Flute
Chet Baker - Trumpet
Charlie Haden - Bass
Billy Higgins - Drums

coltrane-sax
coleman-sax
john gilmore-sax
dolphy-clarinet
mingus-bass\shouts
elvin jones-bass (hes a bassisy right?)
don cherry-cornette
billy higgins-drums
hans bennick-drums
john stevens-drums
derek bailey-guitar
mcoy tyner-piano
three drums should be enough

....

actually elvin jones is a drummer, so you got four drummers vooredoms style

I like this group!

Herbie might be cool in it too, but, yeah, you gotta give it to Bud.
I also dig Freddie as much as Miles really...Django would be good (if Art Tatum was on piano), but Charlie Christian is better for this group, yeah...although maybe Wes Montgomery, Joe Pass, or even George Benson might be nice as a fantasy too.
On drums, Art Blakey is a great choice, but Elvin, Dannie, or Philly Jo might work too.

Excuse me, while I riff on yr list...I've got too many members (12-piece hehe) & two leaders haha...

John Coltrane - Tenor Sax/Soprano Sax/Co-Leader
Charlie Parker - Alto sax
Warne Marsh - Tenor sax
Eric Dolphy - Flute/Bass Clarinet
Bud Powell - Piano
Freddie Hubbard, Miles Davis - Trumpets
Joe Pass, George Benson - Guitars
Charles Mingus - Bass/Co-Leader
Tony Williams - Drums
Dannie Richmond - additional percussion

okay okay


John Coltrane - Tenor Sax/Soprano Sax
Eric Dolphy - Flute, Bass Clarinet
Bud Powell - Piano
Freddie Hubbard - Trumpet
Charles Mingus - Bass
Tony Williams - Drums


Miles Davis - Trumpet
Warne Marsh - Tenor sax
Lennie Tristano - Piano
Ron Carter - Bass
Joe Pass - Guitar
Max Roach - Drums

built-for-speed:
John Coltrane - Soprano Sax
Johnnie Griffin - Tenor Sax
Charles McPherson - Alto Sax
Art Tatum - Piano
Berney Kessel - Guitar
Niels-Henning Orsted Pederson - Bass
Barrett Deems - Drums

free-as-a-little-bird:
Albert Ayler - Alto Sax, Tenor Sax
Peter Brötzmann - Alto Sax, Tenor Sax, Bass Sax
Eric Dolphy - Flute, Bass Clarinet
Cecil Taylor - Piano
Sun Ra - Organ, Synthesizer
Don Cherry- Trumpet
Marc Ribot - Guitar
Nels Cline - Guitar
Thurston Moore - Guitar, Baritone Ukulele
Lee Ranaldo - Guitar, Custom Effects and Keyboards
Kim Gordon - Guitar, Trumpet
Mike Watt - Bass
Charles Mingus - on Kim's bass hehe
Chris Corsano, Han Bennink - Percussion
Andrew Cyrille - Drums

damn, I gotta make a band for Herbie & McCoy!

Guaraldi brought us "Peanuts" music & Getz is an incredibly gifted smoothie. Art Pepper, Chet Baker and Charlie Haden are top-notch too.

my last ensemble is the most free experimental one i could think of from the early nineties period, so i basically combined Naked City, Last Exit, and the Peter Brötzmann Tentet

The Last City Tentet (circa 93)
Peter Brötzmann - Tenor Sax/Bass Sax/Leader
John Zorn - Alto Sax
Ken Vandermark - Clarinet/Bass Clarinet/Tenor Sax
Mats Gustafsson - Baritone Sax/Soprano Sax
Sonny Sharrock - Guitar
Fred Firth - Guitar/Bass/Keyboards
Kim Gordon - Vocals/Guitar/Trumpet
Bill Laswell - Bass
Ikue Mori - Drums/Drum Machine
Eye Yamatsuka - Vocals/Synth/Sampling/Turntables

I added Kim into this cause she does fit into the style i was thinking when i came up with this list (especially back in 93), she introduced jazz to Thurston, her vocal styling would contrast against Eye, and i honestly believe she is the most avant and free guitarist in SY, even more so then Thurston and Lee

don dietrich - sax
jim sauter - sax
derek bailey - gtr
sonny sharrock - gtr
nels cline - gtr
otomo yoshihide - gtr
kaoru abe - sax
charlie haden - bass
mingus - bass
pharoah sanders - sax
eric dolphy - clarinet
sunny murray - drums
chris corsano - drums
han bennink - drums

if i could have another guitarist, i'd have haino, but it's already guitar overkill and he would dominate all frequecies...on second thought...

keiji haino - voice

i'd say that miles davis, herbie hancock, chick korea, and john mcloughlin (on In A Silent Way) is pretty much perfect, but they could have done with a slightly more adventurous percussionist.

John Gilmore - Sax
Dave Holland - Bass
Grachan Moncur III - Trombone
John Mclaughlin - Guitar
Billy Higgins -Drums
Miles Davis -Trumpet

oops, forgot the keys..probably Bill Evans or Herbie. My list is obviously a very 60's modal early fusion thing.

Throw Jimi and Mitch in there with that fusion-thing!

bill evans - piano
elvin jones - drums
mingus - bass
miles - trumpet
trane - sax
jim hall - guitar
eric dolphy - flute/bass clarinet

mmm silky...

This would be insane in the membrane, to use the parlance haha of our times.
I think Sunny is better than Andrew, but in my fantasy band he would also have Han and Chris there also.
oops, I forgot Sonny; Fred Cracklin is gonna raise hell!

Like Bill Evans too...there's so many greats...Jarrett & Mehldau definitely like Evans (Monk too)...

You know, I really like Teddy Wilson.

Bill Evans is godly, listening to 'Quintessance' right now in the office actually, such nice relaxing 4pm music, getting ready to go home for the day.

Heard of but haven't heard any Teddy Wilson before, any recommendations dude?

He's early jazz mostly, although he went for a long time (like many).
He swinged on piano with Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman, and Lester Young.

Teddy Wilson also plays on Billie Holiday's best, so chances are that you've heard him.

I've got this Jazz Piano Workshop Berlin '65 video that has Evans, Byard, Wilson, Earl Hines, John Lewis, Tristano and others. I think there's a part where he and Wilson improvise a duet. A very young NHOP is on bass in the rhythm section. The musicians take turns at the piano and then take turns doing duets together. Wilson is just so great on it. Evans stands out too. Lennie gets the most applause though. (The people there were probably to some extent acknowledging how rare an appearance it was.) He doesn't seem all that into it though (I don't think he liked big crowds like in this big theatre...being blind and having to be led onto the stage and everything as the players alternated); he plays some block chords, as only he does. There is a part after one of his lines when I got the sense he was attempting to take things over by branching somewhere; he probably cursed the rhythm section and everyone else afterwards; and for all of their talent, perhaps still rightly so.

Cool - that lineup sounds killer!

I reckon Evans always manages to elevate whatever group he's with to the next level -IMO I dont think Kind of Blue would be widely considered the best jazz album of all time without his amazing contribution. Ditto for Oliver Nelson's Blues and The Abstract Truth.

thats right, i meant jimmy garrison (right?)

John Coltrane -sax
Miles Davis -trumpet
Bud Powell - piano
Evan Parker - sax
Derek Bailey - guitar
Bill Wells - bass
Tony Oxley - drums
Alice Coltrane - harp/organ

shit, i forgot her

Arthur Doyle - sax
Don Cherry - trumpet
Chris Corsano - drums
Rudolph Grey - guitar
Brian Sullivan - guitar
Trevor Tremaine - drums

sort of strayed off into noise/improv territory a bit... this is like a blend of Death Unit and Blue Humans

The Free Space Jazz Quintet:

Tim Daisy - Drums
Chris Corsano - Drums
Art Blakey - Drums
Marshall Allen - Alto/Tenor Sax
Jaco Pastorius - Bass

HELL YES JACO!!!!!!!

John Coltrane - sax
McCoy Tyner - piano
Charles Mingus - double bass
Dizzy Gillespie - trumpet
Eric Dolphy - flute
Elvin Jones - drums

john coltrane--sax
peter brotzmann--sax
don dietrich--sax
jim sauter--sax
sonny sharrock--guitar
nels cline--guitar
kim gordon--guitar
miles davis--trumpet
ron carter--bass
charlie mingus--bass
han bennink--drums
william hooker--drums

my 12-piece...i can't narrow it down anymore, haha.

yeah, i was thinking about the free-est most destructive jazz combo i could. i would so pay to see this.

"fred cracklin? no way!!"