mikeweil

His Blue Note debut on Andrew Hill's Black Fire still amazes me. All his personal traits were there from the beginning. Soul and avant-garde all in one. And he was such a nice guy. He once stepped into a club near Frankfurt where I played with a singer because he was in town and wanted to check out the place, as he was going to play there too on his next German tour. Sat down at our table during the break and was so natural without any star behaviour. He had a large following in Germany for many years before his "comeback" with the Verve albums. I'd recommend all the Blue Notes as a leader and with Kenny Dorham, Lee Morgan, Horace Silver and Andrew Hill, the Milestones - he was so versatile during this period - and the Village Vanguard trios - great stuff, especially his versions of Monk tunes: why didn't Verve have him do a Monk tribute?

For anybody digging a good groove, Soul Manifesto is a must! Lonnie Plaxico and Idris Muhammad are a great communicative team, Jones plays a lot of guitar, ...... The Undiscovered few is a little too ambitious for my taste, not as relaxed, with a focus on his arranging skills. Oliver & Thad (dedicated to you guess who) is my favourite on that one cause it swings real hard and has some nice unpredictable writing. Maybe I should give it some more spins to really appreciate it .... But certainly a disk worth checking out.

I had problems accessing other websites around that time, but organissimo worked comparatively well. As I am connected by modem I attributed this to my webserver, or high traffic on weekend, when modem users are served last, but who knows ....

I always wanted to visit Rügen after I had seen a reproduction of this painting when I was a boy. Furtunately it has happened three times since Germany has reunited. I stood there at the place where he might have stood. The cliffs' shapes change every year. That island is one of the most fascinating places I have ever been to .....

Well, I had hoped for Joe Henderson to do a Kenny Dorham tribute album, maybe with Don Sickler playing Kenny's part ..... was disappointed the Verve big band CD didn't feature any Dorham tunes as they had a rehearsal band back in the 1960's. I'd love to see organist Jeff Palmer do an all-Monk CD. With Billy Pierce on tenor.

I suggest you ask Michael Cuscuna or Bob Belden. Cuscuna mentioned this in his Larry Young bio in the Mosaic box set, it must have taken place in July or August, 1969, putting it close to the Bitches Brew sessions; it even may have been part of them, who knows? They should have stepped over these tapes while preparing the Bitches Brew box set.

For you historians out there: Do you know the event which apparently inspired Friedrich to paint this scene? A monograph on this particular painting by Peter Rautmann (C.D. Friedrich: Das Eismeer. Durch Tod zu neuem Leben. Frankfurt am Main 1991. Fischer Taschenbuch 10234, ISBN 3-596-10234-0) relates it more to the unsuccessful Parry expedition of 1819-20, as German contemporaries related it to the painting, but there is no document by Friedrich himself uncovering this. He planned to travel to Iceland, but it never happened; in fact he never saw the polar sea with his own eyes! Polar expeditions were quite a theme in those days, so who knows?

You're right! Representative collections of his most important paintings can be found at Dresden, Hamburg and Berlin galleries.

Thanks for the recommendation! I have ordered a copy .....

Would you mind posting it (or a link) here? Thanks!

Very interesting comparison, given Eicher's preference in cover paintings and photos, the Friedrich connection seems plausible. But the reproduction you have linked is very bad; I happen to have seen the original painting, which is much more impressive. Friedrich's colors are very intricate and hard tp reproduce on a computer screen. Check these for better samples:

I first heard him as a member of the Larry Goldings Trio, 8 Cds so far plus some work they did as sidemen, and I dig every single one of them. He has a lot of Grant Green influence, too. A very nice beautifully rounded tone, swing, the will to try something different. I bet he will one of the main keepers of the jazz guitar flame for the next decades.

Thanks for the input, fellowes, reads like an early example of world music .... What still puzzles me is where Passman and Wasserman come in: Did they just do the same trick as Sonny?

A friend of mine requested the Priester and Maupin and got a reply that the master tapes were in too bad a condition; but they were not completely out of consideration for CD reissue. The high quality of the pressings is a fact nopt to be disputed. What I think annoys me the most is the "spaciousness" of some ECM's, putting the instruments at some distance from the listener. I simply prefer a more direct recording. They sounded good in their own way on my cheap hifi, too; maybe the difference is wether you come from a rock or a jazz or a classical background. I came to jazz very early and never was that much emotionally attuned to rock, that changes listening perspectives considerably. My favourite ECM happen to be, in the long run: Bennie Maupin, The Jewel In The Lotus Stanley Cowell, Illusion Suite Ralph Towner, Trios/Solos John Abercormbie, Timeless these had the longest lasting effect, musically and emotionally, on me. Not your typical ECM list, I'm afraid ..... and two of 'em are still awaiting their CD issue!

As far as I know they never recorded together. Did you just mixup the two old Milestone twofers on Herbie Mann and Charlie Byrd? Joe Puma played guitar on one of Herbie's Riverside sessions. There is some Wallace Mann playing flute on "Byrd In The Wind", but I doubt this is Herbie - can anyone confirm?

My favourite turned out to be June's Got Rhythm - can't understand why this was not on CD - because it swings more. I used to listen to her a lot and bought many albums, but I begin to prefer Chris Connor.

I do not know many others who were so much without prejudice against any type of music. Mann was the first or among the first jazz musicians to record with Brazilian, African, Turkish, Armenian musicians. As another musician told me who didn't particularly like him for his more commercial outings: "He introduced some good people!" He gave Sonny Sharrock a gig and a record date when he almost starved. He was always sincere in what he did, no matter if it was a tribute to Bill Evans or the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Team. I always dug him, and I still do. He really leaves some very big shoes to fill. A real world musician. R.I.P.

Some jazz musicians' records Olatunji was on: Max Roach's "Suite: Freedom Now" (Candid), Randy Weston's "Uhuru: Afrika" (Roulette, included in the Mosaic Select box), Herbie Mann's "The Common Ground" (Atlantic) and others.

Here's the obituary from the New York Times' website, with more in-depth information: Babatunde Olatunji, Nigerian Drummer, Dies at 76 April 9, 2003 By JON PARELES Babatunde Olatunji, the Nigerian drummer, bandleader and teacher who was a tireless ambassador for African music and culture in the United States, died on Sunday in Salinas, Calif. He was 76 and lived at the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, Calif. The cause was complications of advanced diabetes, said his daughter Modupe Olantunji Anuku. Mr. Olatunji's 1959 album, "Drums of Passion," was the first album of African drumming recorded in stereo in an American studio, and it introduced a generation to the power and intricacy of African music. While field recordings of African drumming had been available, "Drums of Passion" reached a mass public with its vivid sound and exotic song titles like "Primitive Fire." Mr. Olatunji was born and reared in Ajido, a fishing and trading village pervaded by Yoruba culture, and he made it his lifework to bring village memories to audiences everywhere. His band of drummers, singers and dancers evoked both the village's music and its masquerades, with outsize figures dancing in elaborate raffia costumes. His credo was: "Rhythm is the soul of life. The whole universe revolves in rhythm. Everything and every human action revolves in rhythm." In 1950 Mr. Olatunji received a scholarship to attend Morehouse College in Atlanta. He was planning to become a diplomat. He studied public administration at New York University, where he formed an African-style ensemble that eventually turned into his full-time occupation. The group performed at concerts and at civil rights rallies led by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. After the group appeared with an orchestra at Radio City Music Hall, Mr. Olatunji was signed to Columbia Records. Mr. Olatunji secured foundation grants to tour schools. Among the students who were impressed by his performances - dressed in African robes and playing hand-hewn goat-hide drums - was Mickey Hart, who would go on to join the Grateful Dead and later recharge Mr. Olatunji's career. "Drums of Passion" made Mr. Olatunji the most visible African musician in the United States. Bob Dylan cited him alongside King and Willie Mays in "I Shall Be Free" in 1963. "Drums of Passion" was hugely influential among musicians, helping to spark a wave of African-jazz fusions in the early 1960's. "Jin-Go-Lo-Ba," from "Drums of Passion," was remade as "Jingo" to become the first single by Santana in 1969. Mr. Olatunji mixed African music and jazz on his albums for Columbia in the 1960's. He was a featured performer at the African Pavilion of the 1964 New York World's Fair. With support from John Coltrane, he established the Olatunji Center for African Culture in Harlem, which offered music and dance lessons to children until 1988. After his Columbia contract ended in 1965, Mr. Olatunji continued to perform, record and teach. Mr. Hart invited him to open for the Grateful Dead's New Year's Eve show in Oakland, Calif., in 1985, introducing his music to a new audience. Mr. Hart also persuaded his label, Rykodisc, to rerelease two independently recorded 1980's albums by Mr. Olatunji: "Drums of Passion: The Beat" (1986), which included guest appearances by the guitarist Carlos Santana, and "Drums of Passion: The Invocation" (1988), featuring Yoruba chants. Mr. Olatunji recorded and toured during the 1990's as a member of Mr. Hart's world-beat supergroup, Planet Drum, and made an instructional videotape, "African Drumming," released in 1996. He moved to Washington and then to Big Sur, where he became an artist in residence at Esalen. Mr. Olatunji also continued to lead his own group, Drums of Passion, which included students and family members: his daughter Modupe and his seven grandchildren. He is also survived by his wife, Amy Bush Olatunji, from whom he is separated; two sons, Omotola Olatunji, of Brooklyn, and Niyi Esubiyi, of Belle Meade, N.J.; another daughter, Folasade Olatunji Olusekun of Boston; and a brother, Dr. Akinsola Akiwowo, of Alexandria, Va. Mr. Olatunji's most recent album, "Love Drum Talk" (Chesky) was released in 1997 and was nominated for a Grammy Award. Columbia reissued an expanded version of the original "Drums of Passion" last year, and Mr. Olatunji completed a new album earlier this year. Source: Drums of Passion

Jazz Times News It's been a few weeks since his passing, but I couldn't find any note about him here on the board. Strange, as he kind of introduced African drumming to the scene in a similar way that Mongo Santamaria did to Cuban drumming - they both recorded the first pure drum/vocals LPs in their respective field in the U.S.A. Columbia Legacy just reissued his classic "Drums of Passion", the Bear Family box set of his complete Columbia sessions is still available (with Clark Terry playing joyful highlife trumpet). One of the masters of the drum and a deep inspiration for many. Remember John Coltrane was about to perform at his cultural center but died only shortly before? R.I.P.

When I searched for a vocal version of "St. Thomas" I came across Mark Murphy's version, calling it "Down St. Thomas Way", credited to Ray Passman and Herb Wasserman. Virtually identical. Any stories on this? Who really wrote it? Or did they all copy it from some Calypso tune - "Fire Down Below", which Randy Weston and Ted Curson recorded, is pretty similar.

"The critics? Who needs 'em? Who - I wonder - reads 'em? Besides us ...." words by Iola Brubeck, sung by Carmen McRae in "Good Reviews", part of Dave Brubeck's "The Real Ambassadors" (these are, of course, the musicians!). To me, this remains the ultimate word on critics. In the long run, they are superfluous. I write CD and book reviews, between 5 and 10 each year, for the newsletter of Germany's association of percussionists, and most of the stuff I'm sent is not my taste, but I always try to hold my resentiments back in favor of the musicians' goals and achievements. Crouch considers race matters to important because they are important to him. I'll never forget that blindfold test with Roy Eldridge after he had assured he could always tell white from black musicians, and he missed about half of them and admitted you simply can't tell by ear. Journalists are in a position that implies constant justification of their own existence. Musicians do not need anything like that; their music is reason for being. Music is there for its own sake, in the first place, and as am expression of one's culture it can bear aspects of a political/social statement: you are what you preach. And so you don't need a spokesman like Crouch. I remember he wrote some insightful liner notes several years ago, I'd have to search them. But I generally disapprove of liners or articles which are basically just lobbying for a certain group or musician. Music journalism should operate beyond simple matters of taste. And Crouch's personal assaults certainly are beyond taste.

If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem .... Now Crouch was a very big part of the problems he described! :rsly:

That's what I thought about the cymbal sound on most ECM records. It certainly is Eicher's aesthetics. He sometimes used reverb on the soloist in a way different from the rest of the ensemble, so his sound isn't natural, it's very artificial. I guess I'd like many ECM's a lot more if they were recorded in a more direct and less spacious manner. But I'm sure it sounds greaton a $ 20.000 system ...