montg

The jfk tribute came off a lot better than I had anticipated. I liked the archival speech introductions that set the theme for each song...'Artists' rightful place' was pretty awesome, imo (both the sentiment of JFK's speech and the music) If sometimes our great artist have been the most critical of our society, it is because their sensitivity and their concern for justice, which must motivate any true artist, makes him aware that our Nation falls short of its highest potential. I see little of more importance to the future of our country and our civilization than full recognition of the place of the artist. Amherst College, Octoboer, 1963

Oliver Lake (Talkin' Stick) Frank Strozier (Remember Me--Steeplechase) Dave Brubeck (Jazz impressions of Japan) Hal Mckusick (Now's the time)

I agree with a lot of this post. The notion of jazz, or art more generally, as progressing seems dubious to me. Change and development are two very different concepts-- So, I'm not looking for 'macro surprises'. The micro surprises are there--and generally the more honest the voice, the more surprising it is. That's why the heavily homogenized set of voices emerging from the jazz education industry is so discouraging to me. Something about jazz education in this country is messed up, I wish I could identify the source. Sadder still are the clumsy attempts by these technicians to try and force a macro change--as if inviting a guest rapper or turntabilist onto your cd session is pointing the way forward. Good grief.

Mark Ruffin is, apparently, the new pd--he made his debut today on xm. Off to a good start, spinning Trane, Burrell, Benny Carter, Tjader etc. Hopefully he'll find some time for music a little off the path too. markruffin

I just picked up the this Conn and --wow!--wonderful music. My search turned up this very interesting thread. fwiw, my impression, prior to reading this thread, was that the bass was pretty well recorded, I tend to prefer the 'trebly' sound from Carter. Anyway, what a great date, Hubbard and Chambers in particular

Some new releases from Delmark..I'm particularly interested in the Keefe Jackson and the Ari Brown--good to see Corey Wilkes is recording as a leader: delmark myspace Delmark New Releases for October and November October 2007 New Releases Nicole Mitchell - Black Unstoppable (Delmark DVD 1575 / DE 575 ) Nicole Mitchell has been celebrated for bringing an exciting new approach to flute improvisation. Co-president of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), Mitchell is the founder of the critically acclaimed Black Earth Ensemble. 1 in Downbeat magazine's critic's poll for "Rising Star Flutist 2006 and 2007," Mitchell has performed with creative luminaries including George Lewis, Anthony Braxton, James Newton and Muhal Richard Abrams. Awarded "Chicagoan of the Year 2006" by the Chicago Tribune, Mitchell does a variety of residencies, workshops and panel discussions in Europe, Canada and the U.S. with a focus on creative music. Nicole Mitchell, flute; David Boykin, saxophone; David Young, trumpet, Jeff Parker, guitar; Tomeka Reid, cello; Josh Abrams, bass; Marcus Evans, drums; Ugochi, vocals. DVD is live at the Velvet Lounge, CD is studio recording of the same new compositions. Ari Brown - Live at The Green Mill (Delmark DVD 1577 / DE 577) In reviews of Ari's first two Delmark albums, Ultimate Frontier (Delmark 486) and Venus (504), writers often used phrases like "overwhelming emotional immediacy" (Down Beat), "rare depth of feeling" (Jazziz) and "raw emotion and ferocity" (JazzTimes). Ari carries on the Chicago tenor sax and the AACM traditions. He melds them into his own voice and no matter how far out he takes the music it still remains accessible and enjoyable. Live at The Green Mill features the same rhythm section Ari's been working with for over ten years: brother Kirk Brown, piano; Yosef Ben Israel, bass; Avreeayl Ra, drums. Also featured on a few tracks are Pharez Whitted, trumpet and Dr. Cuz, percussion. DVD also features commentary/interview track. Brad Goode - Nature Boy (Delmark DE 578) Jazz trumpeter Brad Goode is a former Chicagoan who now resides in Colorado, where he teaches at the University of Colorado at Boulder. He led the house band at The Green Mill for a dozen years and made numerous appearances at The Jazz Showcase with Joe Henderson, Eddie Harris, Lee Konitz, James Moody, Red Rodney, Ira Sullivan and others. Of his previous Delmark CD, Down Beat said "Goode shows more range of expression than ever on Hypnotic..Delmark 567) ***1/2. Nature Boy contains 12 songs including four new Goode compositions. Brad is accompanied by Jeff Jenkins, piano; Johannes Weidenmueller, bass; and Todd Reid, drums. Also available: Shock Of The New (Delmark 440). Jimmy Blythe - Messin' Around Blues (Delmark DE 792) In 1915 Jimmy Blythe moved from his native Kentucky to Chicago. He found a great deal of work as a pianist for Paramount, Vocalion and Gennett. Blythe was prolific and accompanied many jazz and blues artists such as Ma Rainey and Blind Blake on their recordings. He also produced hundreds of piano rolls for use in nickelodeons for the Capitol Music Roll Company of Chicago. He led dozens of recording sessions often with southside musicians like Johnny Dodds. Blythe is considered one of the first Boogie Woogie piano players, but he was a versatile musician who could handle many diverse styles. His song, "Chicago Stomp", is generally considered to be the first recorded example of Boogie Woogie. Jimmy Blythe died suddenly of epidemic meningitis in 1931 just months after these piano rolls were recorded. With help of digital technology these rolls will sound more full and rich than ever before. November 2007 New Releases Little Arthur Duncan - Live at Rosa's Blues Lounge (Delmark DE 793/DVD 1793) Blues vocalist/songwriter/bandleader/harmonica player Little Arthur Duncan is now in his 73rd year and is not slowing down one bit. On this brand new August 2007 recording Arthur's performance is powerful and amazing. He is accompanied by his band The Backscratchers – Illinois Slim and Rick Kreher on guitar; Michael Azzi on bass; and Twist Turner on drums. With special guest vocalist Little Al Thomas. Recorded and videotaped at one of Chicago's friendliest blues clubs, Rosa's Blues Lounge. DVD special features include Little Arthur commentary/interview track. Also available: Singin' With The Sun (Delmark 733). Sabertooth - Live at the Green Mill (Delmark DE 579) Formed in 1990 by saxophonists Pat Mallinger and Cameron Pfiffner, Sabertooth explores a variety of musical genres in the quartet format of two saxophones, drums (Ted Sirota) and organ (Pete Benson). The band's repertoire includes many original compositions; some inspired from various ethnic origins. In addition, the band often performs standards and jazz classics. Sabertooth continues an extended residency at one of Chicago's premier jazz clubs, the famous Green Mill Lounge. The band has been playing to capacity audiences every Saturday evening for ten years. This energy is represented on Live at the Green Mill, recorded June 23, 2007. Keefe Jackson's Project Project - Just Like This (Delmark DE 580) Twelve piece band playing six fresh new compositions with amazing charts written by leader, tenor saxist Keefe Jackson. Project Project is Josh Berman, Jaimie Branch, trumpet; Jeb Bishop, Nick Broste, trombone; Marc Unternahrer, tuba; James Falzone, clarinet; Guillermo Gregorio, alto sax/clarinet; Keefe Jackson, tenor sax/bass clarinet; Jason Stein, bass clarinet; Dave Rempis, alto and baritone sax; Anton Harwich, bass; Frank Rosaly, drums. TheFayetteville, Arkansas native moved to Chicago in 2001 and garnered much critical acclaim with his 2006 release Ready Everyday (Delmark 571). Stylistically could be described as Mingus meets AACM! Mike Walbridge's Chicago Footwarmers featuring Kim Cusack - Crazy Rhythm (Delmark DE 247) Traditional jazz tubaist Mike Walbridge has been active on the Chicago scene for forty five years as leader of The Chicago Footwarmers and a member of the Chicago Salty Dogs. Clarinetist/alto saxist Kim Cusack has been jamming with Mike since their teens! Kim has been active for many years also in the Footwarmers, the Salty Dogs, Jim Dapogny's Chicago Jazz Band and several groups at Andy's, one of Chicago's best jazz clubs. This CD features two mid-60s sessions previously available on the Blackbird label plus a newly recorded 2007 session. The 60s sessions feature Johnny Cooper, piano; Eddie Lynch, banjo; Glen Koch, drums. The 2007 session features Don Stiernberg, banjo/guitar; Bob Cousins, drums. Just Announced: Delmark's next DVD/CD Recording! *Wednesday, Octboer 10, 2007 : Corey Wilkes at Close Up 2, 7pm, 416 S. Clark, Chicago "During the past few years, Corey Wilkes has blossomed into one of the boldest, most versatile young trumpeters in Chicago jazz. Whether inventing strangely innovative sounds with the Art Ensemble of Chicago or fronting a straight- ahead group, he proves that a nimble technique and a sense of adventure can distinguish a musician from his peers" Howard Reich- Chicago Tribune Arts Critic

How does this compare with the two previous delmark releases? Incidientally a great cover photo on this cd,o taken by Mark Sheldon (a member of this board)

For a guy who really dug art, it's ironic that the company named 'Pablo" consistently put out some of the worst-looking album covers in jazz. Some great music though!

How much of the racial 'divisions' were perpetuated by the "they" Nat is referring to--the critics/media. Dave Brubeck on the cover of Time, Ellington denied the pulitzer and so forth. Musicians' ire often seems, to me, to have been directed at the economic unfairness of whatever cultural biases existed in the media and among critics. I mean Shorty Rogers had cameos on network TV in the 50s (Peter Gunn)....was Kenny DOrham ever going to have a shot at that type of exposure? The question about 'racial tensions' that motivated this thread seems misdirected to me--whatever tensions may have existed on the bandstand are secondary to the tensions felt by African Americans against a critical or cultural establishment that characterized and marketed the music in ways that sometimes unfairly elevated caucasian musicians...not that the wcj musicians didn't deserve whatever economic benefits came their way, but it was a zero sum game so somebody was losing.

The Gershwin session swings like crazy, right out of the box. The sacd hybrid sounds great (even on a regular cd player, which is all that I have)..the recording is really immediate and up-front.

Rather than address racial tensions per se (which are generally found everywhere and at anytime, notable exceptions proving the rule), it's more interesting, I think, to see how racial (mis)perceptions influence the development of the music. The primitivist assumptions of early jazz critics (African American artists are untutored noble savages, playing hot jungle music) is an interesting topic, for instance. I wonder to what extent John Hammond (and others') dismissal of 'Dukie's' long form compositions were motivated by an implicit assumption that Dukie should stick to hot rhythm numbers and leave the euro stuff to the classically trained. and so forth.

any comments on this box? Is there much of an upgrade, soundwise, from the early 90s reissues of this material?

Interesing perspectives, I'm intrigued enough to pick up something from Stewart. The term 'retro hard bop' doesn't do much for me, but if I accept this music on its own terms (maybe Larry's 'swinging melodist'), maybe it'll feel genuine to me.

High praise for Grant Stewart from Marc Myers' excellent jazzwax blog jazzwax excerpt: . Stewart's someone I haven't really listened too, I'm curious to know what others think

I'm really enjoying this new CD from Sonny. mostly a run through standards, but with plenty of soul and heart. And excitement, there's nothing routine here. A pretty kickin' take on Mancinci's 'Charade', a beautiful rendition of "'round midnight" on flute, a romp through Sweet Georgia Brown...you get the idea. Players of this generation... Billy Harper, Charles Tolliver, Sonny Fortune and so on never really received the attention they earned because of the cultural/business shift toward kid rock by the end of the 60s. So, it's good to hear them still playing with a lot of heart. Good to hear George Cables on this cd too.

A lot of effort, good grief! But Baby Face is worth it, I love that CD

I enjoy Max Harrison's reviews in the Essential Jazz Records book, published a couple of years ago. No cliches, no agenda (that I can detect, at least)...just intelligent writing about jazz. MH has hipped me to some west coast jazz, an area that I've overlooked in the past. max harrison

This is a really fun album. Joe Henderson plays beautifully on it (dig his solo on the title track). The combo of Joe Henderson and Herbie on the Fender was wonderful during this period---Fat Albert, Power to the People, Red Clay--what a trifecta! I've never understood how this music fits into the cartoon. Was it a soundtrack? The only music I remember from the cartoon was at the end when Fats and the gang would get together to sing a song about the lesson they all learned that day

This sounds like an amazing band, I hope someone records it!

I was listening to 'Time Out' last night. One of the first jazz CDs I owned, so it's hard to hear it with fresh ears sometimes--but it's still enjoyable after many years. I have the Carnegie Hall live date from the Brubeck group, which I don't like as well (Brubeck seems too get stuck in those repetitive figures a little to often for me). I'm wondering if any dates, beyond 'Time Out' stand out as favorites and come recommended. Thanks

The good and bad of Feather is kind of embodied in the 1946 recording between Ellington and Louis Armstrong for RCA. Feather gathered them together as part of the Esquire all stars (the good of LF) but then Feather takes this once in a lifetime meeting of giants in their prime and has them play two of his own songs rather than standards or Ellington compositions (the bad of LF). (OK says to LF, 'get your own thread').

Was there a specific provocation by LF that prompted Muggsy Spanier to write "Feather Brain"? Or was Muggsy just reacting to LF's general 'moldy fig' stuff?

I don't know how innovative he is, but I've really grown to love the quintet work. I don't think there's another series of CDs produced in the last few years that I enjoy more than the three below.

This solution is working for me too. The portability of the ipod is wonderful. At work, in the kitchen, and so forth my collection is there...so I have a lot more listening time. I usually hook the ipod up to my little logitech docking station, and the sound is pretty good. I still enjoy sitting in front of the hi fi at night and really listening, but the ipod has made my collection available virtually anywhere, anytime. Still, threads like this motivate me to do some pruning. It's always hard to decide what to prune, but I guess if i haven't listened to a CD for 2 or 3 years, have no desire to listen to it or even download it on the ipod, and it has no apparent historical or personal value, it's time to bid farewell.