mikeweil

Links: The Soul Manifesto, Rodney Jones' official website; Wanted to link to the CD on the Highnote webpage, but it's not listed. I'll keep an eye on it.

I find this discussion about Eric Alexander very interesting, believe it or not. I had similar feelings - still have - when I listen to him, couldn't express it that way. I'm not too harsh with "younger" players, experience tells it takes time to develop your personal voice, and we are severe critics because we all know the strong individuals that were there before us, and this makes it even harder. We can't but compare. I think it is both important to simply enjoy what you like or stay critical if you think it's derivative - and that happens only when it doesn't really touch you, reach you. I think we're basically on terms with this. Maybe we should start a thread discussing players under 40 years of age that we think are (still) derivative, and those who stepped beyond? Now that would be interesting. Bev, Jim, what's your opinion?

No, I'm not Miles Davis telling John Coltrane to simply take the horn out of his mouth when he does not know how to stop. No need for apologies - we all get carried away sometimes, I'm not not taking all of this too seriously, except for the basic message that sometimes it takes one or two chorusses, sometimes it takes 56 to get it across, as we all know. Not the slightest bit of boredom or hositlity intended! Keep swingin', all of us! B)

Never had any serious doubts about this!

And this is the cover designed by some T. Tanaka & F. Fujiyama for the first release of this Grant Green session in Japan, highly derivative of Warhol's covers:

I'm afraid my eloquence is not sufficient to give an appropriate and exhausting outline of the pros and cons of elaborate vs. simple speech bla bla bla - I guess you'll have to figure it out yourself ... Seriously, I dig these posts, but I sincerely think some of it could have said in a much simpler fashion without losing any of the depth of the subject. I basically agree with both of you, Jim and Bev.

Here are the ones I found: 16-1: Milt Jackson Quartet & Modern Jazz Quartet - Concorde 16-2: ??? 16-3: Miles Davis All Stars - Bags' Groove & Miles Davis & The Modern Jazz Giants 16-4: J.J. Johnson/Kai Winding/Bennie Green - Trombones & Trombone by Three 16-5: George Wallington Quintet/The New York Scene & ??? 16-6: Curtis Fuller and Hampton Hawes with French Horns & Prestige All Stars - Dakar (both were Teddy Charles produced sessions) In a way, a very early ancestor of the two LPs on one CD format, although some of these were first issues of these sessions, 16-6 was a first issue for sure. The first four were reissues of material previously availbale in various formats. Anybody fill in the gaps?

couw's posting of a rare Prestige 16 2/3 rpm record cover designed by Andy Warhol was the inspiration for this thread: let's compile a gallery of all covers Andy Warhol designed for Blue Note, Prestige, any other labels ... I'm sure it will be nice to look at. I'll start with the cover couw found - thanks for posting this rare bird, I like it, but these horns somehow look (ancient) Greek to me, not like trombones, he must have been suffering a heavy Picasso influence at the time!

It certainly would be a nice pair for the first 2004 Connoisseur batch: McCoy Tyner - Cosmos Andrew Hill - One For One But there is more unreleased Andrew Hill material from around the time of theses sessions, so maybe a different pairing of sessions would be appropriate. What about the unreleased last Shorter Blue Note session with Tyner etc. mentioned on the BNBB or here before? I'd buy any of these without hesitation.

Seems there are only few singers doing it with an organ group, I have an Etta Jones with Larry Young, but who else? This seems to be one worth checking out:

Jim, maybe you have this disc, which incidentally has Rodney Jones in the band as well:

After an intensive listening session with this disc let me say: Do not expect a sequel to Infinite Search! And do not expect a quintet record! Basically it is a trio with Garbarek, Vitous and DeJohnette. Corea and McLaughlin appear on two tracks each, one of these is the only quintet track - with the three brass players added, who otherwise appear on the other McLaughlin track and one of the trios. And there is a duo of Vitous of McLaughlin. I didn't expect the youthful energy of Vitous' debut record, but a little more taking chances than is heard here. Garbarek is the winner here to my ears because he goes the farthest oustide. The trios are the most convincing. The brass leaves a feeling of having either more of them - they seem to have been intregrated in the live recording process - or do away with them - they do not play written parts it seems, but have some room for improvisation as well, and if so, there is not enogh of them. Two things I do not like at all: - DeJohnette's ride cymbal sound - it keeps bugging me because it has not very much color, but that's his taste in cymbals. This is the first time I could really hear the Vernel Fournier influence in his playing. - Corea: I think he is superfluous on this disc. Some phrases are played as if he wants to demonstrate he can far as far out of time as possible, almost like a classical pianist trying to play a romantic rubato passage to prove he is free from earthly connections. He sounds as if he is still looking for his real place in this music. McLaughlin too, but he takes off from his stylistics of the Infinite Search sessions and interacts more with Garbarek. Corea somewhat sounds to me as if he is searching for a place in the music where to strike a chord. There should have been more work together as a quintet to make that really convincing - music of this order does not happen with only a day or two in the studio. I'll keep this disc, but it shows you shouldn't change your mind in the middle of recording - this sounds more like a first step on a promising path, or rather two paths: either the trio of Vitous, Garbarek and DeJohnette, or an interactive group with some orchestral players involved - McLaughlin would fit here better than Corea, I think. I'm very curious about other opinions on this record!

Oh, there's an easy way to prevent this: KEEP IT SIMPLE!!!

Got it today but want to give it some spins before I comment on it. Does the interview or any other source say anything about these three brass players on the CD? Were they overdubbed, "added as an afterthought", as Al Kooper put it with his Super Session horn overdubs?

Well, at least for president of the Organissimo board...

Jim Sangrey for President! Don't forget to register to vote ...

Saw it in a shop a few days ago, had a listen, liked it, bought it. It's a case where - I think - your expectations can get in the way of simply enjoying this disc. I don't think Lenny White is a problem, or anybody else on the album. It's one of the best sounding organ records I have, I play it real loud. and the idea of having a tenor/organ duo is very nice. Not mind-blowing, but good enough for me, perhaps not greasy enough for hard core Bluenoters?

Dan, do you see what you started by including a track with Eric Alexander in your BT? Bet you had no idea!

I agree, Lem Winchester was an important new voice on the instrument and a great loss. I always enjoyed Another Opus, which was the first of his I bought, and plan to check out more.

Is there any difference in sound between this remaster and that of the Atlantic box set Heavyweight Champion?

It is even more of an irony that the (arguably) most important Argo LP originally was not an Argo recording! Live at the Pershing has been on CD, in the Chess Legendary Masters Series, issued in the MCA days of the label, # MCD 09108, issued in 1997. Later the material was partly released, in recording order, on a GRP CD in the Original Chess Masters Jazz Series, # GRP 1 803 2. The remainder was included on the double CD Cross Country Tour: 1958-1961 in the same series, # GRP 1 813 2. I also have a French low price CD with some of the Pershing material including Poinciana. And there was a US anthology of Jamal's Chess material that included New Rhumba from the Chamber Music CD. That makes 4 issues and 4 reasons for Jamal to sue Universal. Jamal was a leader in his own right from the beginning of his career, it makes sense to me he would sign such a contract to make sure he gets his share of the cake. If so, I'm not mad at him for stopping the reissues. I have a feeling some Spanish label will do this material as soon as the European copyright allows them to do so, and I will buy it, legitimate or not in view of the US companies - they are to blame as long as they don't do it themselves!

I'd also recommend this album, which Larry's trio recorded one week after their Prestige debut, if you like Testifyin', this is for you:

When you are a musician, you are probably better - or at least you should be - at analyzing the music, paying attention to detail, and describing it because your terminology is more elaborate. I pay attention to drummers beacuse I am a percussionist and started playing a drumset as well a few years ago, and I've always liked listening to drummers, but saxophonists, as you said, it's a combination of their personal sound, phrasing, licks, the amount of vibrato - but it can mislead you too. I knew I had heard that tone and vibrato uses, but couldn't remember Ralph Moore. Sometimes it seems logical only afterwards. The Watermelon Man track is a good example to be cautious with a research on AMG: the only version of this tune with a tenor and identical track length I saw was King Curtis', I simply overlooked the Red Holloway version. -_- And I'll always remember the fact that sometimes a player uses stylistic ways entirely different from what we usually hear from him: the first track, where most guessed Gene Harris, I guessed Ramsey Lewis, and then it's Jack Wilson, is a point, or the Joe Williams with George Shearing. I think Shearing is not respected as much as he should be, he's a fantastic pianist, has good taste and swings. Herbie Mann on the Legrand track in the first BF was a point for me: he played much more forcefully than I know of him, so I didn't guess it was him. I'll be more careful to pidgeonhole players in the future - BTW that's what some tended to do with Eric Alexander in this BF: c'mon guys, he's still got a long road to walk on, how would you do in the company of an experienced player like Junior Mance .... Yeah, as Tom stated, I'm looking forward to # 2 and I#m collecting tunes for when it's my turn.

Oh geez! I'm not mad at myself that I didn't recognize or conclude Lou Donaldson, I'm not as much a Blue Note addict as most organissimists, and not that familiar with his playing. But I am severely mad at myself for not recognizing Eastern Rebellion! I saw this band live several times, and this edition in particular, and I have all three MusicMasters CDs, listened to them often, and this track sounded so damn familiar, and the vibrato of this tenor player .... my memory is not what it used to be. I insist, it was Joe Williams with a cold .... # 5 - it had to be a Savoy album judging from the sound and Kenny Clarke, this kept bugging me until I had done my detective homework. These Ernie Wilkins Savoys would make a nice Mosaic select ... I'm glad I keep my little finger. The Teddy Edwards is one to check out, definitively, perhaps the most satisfying track on the test, to me at least, after several re-listens. The Jack Wilson was impossible to guess unless one had the album, and Carmell Jones - showing his boop roots - I'll have to get the Mosaic set. He didn't play like that when I heard him over here. Pretty good local musicians! Wish the locals over here would play that geasy! The Red Holloway leaves me a little uneasy, even after knowing who it is. I respect and appreciate him, and Norman Simmons even more, but this is a little to sloppy for me - I'm too much a fan of Mongo's and Herbie's versions. Palo Alto LPs were available here through special import shops - there were some very good ones in Germany during the LP era - and then there was a sellout when they folded. I think the album is nice, but not as great conceptually as Philly Joe's Dameronia outings. How come your CD sounds much better than my LP? I expected you to reveal a CD reissue. Junior Mance - there not enough good albums from him. Thanks for the lesson in greasiness!!!

Not bad John, at least not badder than all the others ... Have a nice time reading on the train ride back home, I hope the ride lasts long enough!