Monday, March 21, 2016

CROWNING OF THE SUPREME COMMANDER OF 'POINCIANA'



Time to crown the ‘Supreme Commander of Poinciana’!

As most of you know the BATTLE held on March 1 here at Far Away Series was a collaboration with Mr. BOTB, Stephen T. McCarthy. We each featured the song ‘Poinciana’ using four different artists. At that time both BATTLES were pretty much blow-outs with Danny Gatton winning at Mr. McCarthy’s BATTLE and Ahmad Jamal winning here. My BATTLE on March 15 was a face-off BATTLE between these two winners.

I was a little disappointed in the outcome of this face-off BATTLE. Considering that the strictly jazz version by Ahmad Jamal was a blow-out over The Keith Jarrett Trio (another strictly jazz version) I thought more of you would hold to you vote from March 1, but that was not to be. I guess in the end when it comes to ‘strictly jazz’ most of you are not fans.

Instead this face-off BATTLE was another blow out in favor for what I consider to be a more rock than jazz version by Mr. Danny Gatton.

Now don’t none of you get me wrong and start putting words into my writing here; I think Danny Gatton is a superb guitar virtuoso and his rendition of “Poinciana’ is excellent. I liked it so much that I voted in favor of Mr. Gatton over Glenn Miller (a favorite of mine) in the March 1 BATTLE and Mr. McCarthy’s site. BUT, I like jazz, and when I say jazz, I mean that ‘strictly jazz’ sound completely undisturbed by a more raucous rock sounding guitar.

So, nobody will be surprised that in the face-off BATTLE I cast my vote for Ahmad Jamal. I could listen to his version all day long. I enjoy Danny Gatton’s version and there are certainly times when I would crank up the stereo and enjoy the heck out of his ‘Poinciana’, but not necessarily all day long.

The final tally was a disappointing blow-out:

                Danny Gatton      15 votes
                Ahmad Jamal        6 votes (including mine)

Most of you are familiar with my philosophy about BATTLE outcomes; the closer the BATTLE the better the BATTLE. Well, by that criteria this wasn’t a very good one, but in MY defense, it was a face-off, and one that I seriously thought would have a better turn out.

Ah, you can’t win ‘em all.

I’ll be back on April First with some tomfoolery another BATTLE for you.
Until that time…Happy Trails!

Here is some more 'great jazz' by Mr. Jamal to tide you (or at least me) over until next time.

 

21 comments:

  1. Sorry the votes didn't go as you'd hoped.

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    1. Well, at the end o the day, all I ask is that people cast an honest vote, and I think they did here.

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  2. Jamal is still the winner in my book. Shouldn't my vote be worth at least 20 regular votes.

    Well, at least it was a good contest.

    Arlee Bird
    A to Z Challenge Co-host
    Tossing It Out

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  3. Sorry it was a blowout, and that we contributed toward that. But you're right, in terms of strictly jazz, neither of us are huge fans. Ripping on a guitar, though...

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    1. You and just about everyone else. Well, like I said above; all I really want to see are honest votes.

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  4. I know the feeling of a BoTB not going as you'd hoped it would. Ah, the pain.

    It would seem we're a fickle lot!

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  5. A bit of a blowout indeed. But at least it wasn't a shut out.

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  6. I don't know how, but somehow I missed this battle. I thought I had gone to every battle. I apologize for missing it.

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    1. No problem. It happens to all of us sometime. I did kind of wonder what happened to you, but I also knew you haven't been feeling well.

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  7. This was a good Battle despite the final score.

    But by no means do I think of what Danny Gatton was playing as Rock or even Rock-influenced. It was Jazz, just stylistically different from Ahmad Jamal's version.

    Jamal was piano-(and drum-)centric, which we often think of when hearing the label "Classic Jazz". Horns and piano, most often. But plenty of Classic Jazz is also guitar-centric. Kenny Burrell, Wes Montgomery, Charlie Christian, just to name a few.

    ~ D-FensDogG
    'Loyal American Underground'

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    1. Thanks for the good Battle comment.

      With respect to the rest; you say potato, I say potato...

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  8. Even though it did not go as planned or as hoped, it sounds as if it was interesting nonetheless :)

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    1. You are so right. It's always interesting to see how people vote on these things.

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  9. Even though the votes didn't go the way you wanted, it was an interesting battle. All a matter of personal preference.

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    1. It is important to keep that in mind; it IS a matter of personal preference. The main thing is to keep having fun.

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  10. I don't care how the voting tunes out as long as I get to hear some good tunes and read comments. So, WINNING!

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    1. Thanks Cherdo, basically I feel the same way, sometimes I just like to whine.

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