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king ubu

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Posts posted by king ubu

  1. 54 minutes ago, jazzbo said:

    I honestly think the estate may have thrown a wrench in the works somehow.

    The same estate that gets glorified in the liner notes to the new "Rubberband" disc ... actually I'd be curious to hear how those tapes sounded before the workover (which included, so the notes say, even note-for-note/tone-for-tone re-enactments on some tracks), that is beyond the couple of tracks that were included on the French Warner box ... but much more I'd have been interested in half a dozen or more further volumes of the MD bootleg series.

  2. Storyville seems to have failed to provide a line-up ... they list one on the website, and I guess there's no question marks generally:

    Cootie Williams, Harold “Money” Johnson, Eddie Preston, Mercer Ellington, John Coles (tp),
    Chuck Connors, Malcolm Taylor, Booty Wood (tb), 
    Russell Procope (as, cl),
    Harold “Geezil” Minerve (as, f, pi),
    Norris Turney (as, ts, cl, f),
    Harold Ashby (ts, cl),
    Paul Gonsalves (ts),
    Harry Carney (bars, cl, bcl),
    Duke Ellington (p), 
    Joe Benjamin (b),
    Rufus Jones (dr),
    Lena Junoff, Nell Brookshire, Tony Watkins (vcl)

    https://www.storyvillerecords.com/products/uppsala-1971

    That is, generally ... but regarding the singers, there is. Reviews mention Nell Brookshire and Tony Watkins doing a rollicking or embarassing (depending on point of view) version of "One More Time (for the People)" a.k.a. "One More Once", but one of the Swedish reviews published via ellington.se fails to list both Lena Junoff and Nell Brookshire, instead providing Bobbi Gordon, while the other again mentions Brookshire/Watkins:

    ellington-uppsala-1971-oj.jpg

    duke-i-uppsala-197-dn.jpg

    review and links found here:

    https://ellington.se/2019/08/11/duke-ellington-in-uppsala-1971/

     

    Not that it matters all that much, but why can't Storyville list the personnel in their booklet?

  3. On ‎25‎.‎08‎.‎2019 at 6:43 PM, EKE BBB said:

    Mal Collins’ discography of Sidney Bechet  (2011) also lists Walter Page on both sessions.

    Thanks - I guess it's quite easy to tell by comparing their playing styles anyway (and then it's Page indeed, Foster is one of the final BN Bechet sessions and does his old school two beat and slap bass thing, which is very different from Page's style), but I was wondering where that inaccuracy might come from.

  4. On ‎25‎.‎08‎.‎2019 at 10:29 AM, Clunky said:

    I saw Ambrose with a David Binney group around eight years ago. I thought he was sensational. What I’ve heard of his own music over the years seems overproduced and lacks the fire I heard then. 

    I guess that's why I think the live double album by his working quartet is the one you really ought to hear ;)

    I loved that band in Zurich, and despite a different bassist and drummer in Antwerp, they were still supertight and yet loose in a way that nothing really seemed predictable ...

    --

    Also apologies for not having read Evans' name above ... I'll keep following what these guys and gals will do, I guess, but I have my reservations (which somehow seem to apply to plenty of the "white" jazz that's going on, no matter what skin colour and roots some of these folks actually have ... and I know "white" is not a sound label, but I guess it delivers the point), but with Akinmusire, there's none of that so far, at least in live context.

  5. Question about the two early 1949 sessions: the Mosaic box (1985) gives Pops Foster on bass for the January 21, 1949 (but Walter Page for the next one from March 23, 1949), while the 1998 CD "Runnin' Wild" says it's actually Walter Page on bass for both (which is a somewhat surprising choice, but then honestly I have no clue what Page did after the Basie OT band fell apart, and in those days almost everything was possible anyway, or else the money was right ... not saying to play with Bechet was an occasion where the money had to fit, but that Red Allen dixieland album on Verve makes me cringe, to name just one example).

    Here's the "accepted" line-up for the sessions (per jazzdisco.org, matching the 1998 CD):

    "Wild Bill" Davison, cornet; Sidney Bechet, soprano sax; Art Hodes, piano; Walter Page, bass; Fred Moore, drums.

    Anyone has any insight why/when the "change" took place?

     

     

  6. Just back from Middelheim Jazz Festival, where Akinmusire was artist in residence this year ... I've heard him in person already last winter with his fantastic quiartet (the one on the Blue Note double album from the Village Vanguard). I very much like his approach, both tonally as well as rhythmically ... and the band was truly together in a way that I've not heard all that often yet, all four able to jump in at any time and take any turn right away--a very challenginng approach it seemed, yet also one that allowed plenty of looseness on all sides. Sam Harris (his EP "Harmony", bandcamp/dl only, comes recommded, too!) is a great new voice on piano/keys, too.

    At (in) Middelheim (a part of the city of Antwerp which is worth a visit, independently of the festival), the first appearance by Akinmusire was with "Origami Harvest". I was a bit doubtful how well this would work in a live setting, but it gelled right away. This was the first set after a fun opening by Idris Ackamoor & The Pyramids and an amazingly powerful set by David Murray's quartet with Saul Williams. A supercharged set indeed--I heard them for the third time and they smoked this time around, never heard Murray in such a mood ... he was in front row checking out Ackamoor's final ten or fifteen minutes, and I guess he went back with the will to show them boys how to really do it, and so he did, his band right with him. This seemed like a nearly impossible act to follow, but the Akinmusire band (with rapper Kokayi [Carl Walker], Sam Harris on piano/keys, Kendrick Scott on drums, the Mivos Quartet - which is right now playing with Saul Williams at Lucerne Festival, alas I'm not attending that) was on from the first beat. The two middle sets from the opening night would remain two of the four or five best sets of the festival (Pharoah Sanders did the closing set ... it was much better than I feared, but still ...)

    On the second day, Akinmusire was probably rehearsing for the first of his sets on closing night, but on day three he was back. That night was adressing a different crowd, standing room only, the incredibly boring Nubiya Garcia (her band being the only one at the entire festival whose names weren't mentioned, a case of dumb disrespect, but I guess this is pop music ... sax tba, p tba, b tba, d tba - not quite sure it was really her playing, maye she sent in a sub ;)) ... anyway, we were there for the second set, which was Akinmusire's "Mae Mae", a project attempting to incorporate samples of the recordings made of the singing of Mattie Mae Thomas. The line-up this time was Akinmusire, again Kendrick Scott on drums, singer Dean Bowman, Joe Sanders-b, plus Gerald Clayton-p and Marvin Sewell-g (both part of the Charles Lloyd band that provided another highlight the night before). The set took a while to get going and proved a bit difficult. The interplay (or rather togetherplay) by Clayton/Sewell wasn't as amazing as the night before, but by the time the set came towards its end, I was quite stunned overall. Bowman was quite charismatic, the rhythm section pretty great, only those samples weren't really working at all ... triggered by Kendrick Scott, they weren't even matching in tempo, and with the rather thick orchestration of the band, and then Bowman singing at the same time, it kinda stopped making sense, yet that was definitely not the intention. Anyway, an okay set still, not a great one.

    On closing night, Akinmusire had two gigs. We skipped the first set that night and arrived in time for his first appearance, with a quintet of students of the Antwerp conservatory. This was a more or less ECM-ish set, with Akinmusire blending in and never attempting to outshine the other guys, who were pretty competent and actually better than I was hoping, but it was all a bit too nice, too melancholy, too subdued for my likings. Two sets (and standing ovations for an awfully nice Toots Thielemans tribute headed by Kenny Werner and Grégoire Maret and featuring a messy guest appearance by local hero Philip Catherine) later, Akinmurise played a quartet set with Harris, Sanders and Scott over on the small stage, and that final set kind of saved closing night. Again they were focussed, to the point, alert, the music and the rhythms taking twists (Scott seems to have his hip stuff down, breaks and all, his beats sometimes skipping a milli-second or being delayed for a blink of an eyes etc.). Akinmusire well, yeah, he shined, but he doesn't do that in a flashy in-your-face way most of the time, he keeps his tone alive, adding shades and colours (and those dissonances mentioned above), his lines flexible and his beat pulsing. And I think he does bring qualities to his music that those mentioned by Steve above mostly lack, a punch, a puckish style, also loads of fun that don't make his stuff leightweight at all ... I love Santos Silva's clarity, I admire Finlayson, enjoy Knuffke and Berman, sometimes like Wooley, but am pretty bored by Branch ... either way, none of them have the force that Akinmusire has (and I guess all of them, most of the time, are too serious about their stuff and not leeting lose quite enough, which may actually be my main issue with Wooley, and partly with Peter Evans, too, who hasn't been mentioned for whatever reason, but this thread is about Akinmusire anyway and that constant derailing is getting extremely tiresome), at least that's how I hear it.

    --

    PS: Where's that noughties recording of Rufus Harley on trumpet? Or what was that all about anyway? Please answer in the fitting thread, which is not this ;) 

  7. Going through the list:

    • CD1: Tubbs (1961)
    • CD2: Equation In Rhythm / Palladium Jazz Date (A side: Southern Routes Pts. 1 & 2, B side: Tubby Hayes’ Palladium Jazz Date tracks) + Sally/I believe In You (single) (1961 & 1962)
    • CD3: Tubbs In N.Y. (1961)*
    • CD4: Return Visit! (1962)
    • CD5: Late Spot At Scott's (1962)*
    • CD6: Down In The Village (1962)
    • CD7: Tubbs' Tours (1964) + previously unreleased bonus material
    • CD8: 100% Proof (1967) + previously unreleased bonus material
    • CD9: Mexican Green (1967) + previously unreleased bonus material
    • CD10 & 11: Grits, Beans And Greens (Complete sessions) (1969)
    • CD12: The Orchestra (1970)

    CDs 5 & 6 were out on ReDial or whatever that then BMG/RCA outlet was called ... CDs 1-4 (only part of CD 2?) and 7-9 were available in the Impressed Re:Pressed series. I have those ...

    Not sure about CD 2 ... I see "Palladium Jazz Date" was a shared LP with Cleo Laine - definitely don't have that. My understanding is that the Costanzo album is only represented in the new box with the tracks Tubbs actually plays on, and then it adds a single ...

    And I still don't have CD 3 - I wonder if the bonus tracks from the old Columbia will be included (they're not "previously unreleased", so the absence of that comment says nothing).

    CD 12 was not part of the Impressed Re:Pressed series I understand? Or was it and I missed it?

    Without the separate release of CDs 10/11 (still on its way), that doesn't make the box all that enticing (1.5 albums, a single, some bonus material on discs 7-9).

    Hmmm.

  8. Luckily, I had the chance to catch both Leimgruber and Koch in various settings over the years, both of them in very intimate settings, too (including small rooms without stages, just instruments set up in a corner and any number between 10 and 30 people sitting around). They're certainly two of the most extraordinary improvising musicians Switzerland has produced (and in my book at least Leimgruber certainly ranks with the best in general). Re Corsano and McPhee, just got my shipment from Oto(roku) today, including the new McPhee/Corsano/Coxhill/Parker (and the Gayle/Edwards/Sanders), but I have to confess I totally don't get Corsano - saw him live at the festival in Mulhouse and I just found him boring, non-swinging in a bad/rock manner, tough and virtuosic, but lacking any kind of feeling I like, way too controlled somehow.

  9. 6 minutes ago, Steve Reynolds said:

    Did you write any comments in English?

    great pictures😏

    Don't think I did ... but that was a nice trip to Willisau, hearing both Hans Koch and then Urs Leimgruber (and Barre Phillips, never heard him before or since and don't expect to hear him again, he's a rather rare sight over here it seems).

  10. Still trying to make my order work ... a few minutes after sending it, my bank phoned me, thinking of fraud (why would I order a book in the US? well, some people still buy books, suckers!) ... then the credit card didn't go through, and now it seems my second attempt to order failed as well ... maybe I'll just have to go through evil A, but for books I usually don't (for music it seems sometimes we don't have much of a choice, alas).

  11. On ‎06‎.‎07‎.‎2019 at 0:22 AM, Ted O'Reilly said:

    Sure, mostly we'll be taking Getz/Gilberto off the shelf, but also look for Elis and Tom, Gilberto with the wonderful Elis Regina.  Especially  Águas de Março....

     

    That would be Tom Jobim, right?

    My go-to album of Gilberto's so far has been this:

    41ljVG2TwKL.jpg

    It's from the early seventies and holds about 50 minutes of wonderfully subdued Music.

  12. On ‎05‎.‎06‎.‎2019 at 5:06 PM, Rooster_Ties said:

    Interesting.  I would have figured that live material would have come out (legit) before 2001! -- well before 2001, actually.

    It did ... the CD with the live material is the 1998 one, not the 2001 ;) -- guess I'll stick with my combo (same as post #1)

    I used to have the Cicala LP, quite horrible ... but it was my first chance to hear the live half of the music, which definitely should be heard.

    Anyone has a link to that article by Mike Zwerin? I remember reading it but recently tried to find it again, ending up empty though.

    One thing I wonder though, will they get this right, this time around?

    The first two tunes from the nonet ("The Theme" and "Move") are about a half-tone flat on Capitol CDP 94550 and Definitive.

    from here: http://plosin.com/milesahead/Sessions.aspx?s=480904

  13. I'm with @JSngry all down the line here ... love "Amandla", love "Star Time", quite enjoy "Decoy", love "Tutu" beyond Side 1 (never owned it on LP though, too young for that), never got why I should be interested in "You're Under Arrest" ... and yeah, "Aura", too. Also I remain pretty fond of "We Want Miles", which (same goes for "Amandla") was one of the recordings that were important to me when discovering jazz (heck: music) in my early teens.

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