BFT #24 - Discussion (Disc 2)

[king ubu]

More fun here...

There is no smart theme to my two discs, but in one sense, the provenience of much of Disc 2 is different than of Disc 1, in other regards, though, it is similar or identical...

For me, personally, there are links between the discs, yet there is a general difference, too. No need to guess on themes, though. I just think it's easier to have two threads instead of one huge thread.

Let's par-tay!

[Clunky]

Some really lovely stuff on this disc,

last night I wildly went through my EKE discs to discover the identity of Track 5, it's Jimmy Hamilton on clarinet with Ellington but I'm damned if I can remember the name. I have a studio version of said track but can't remember which album it comes from.

[Jim R]

First impressions...

--

3. “On the sunny side of the street”. Sounds like EE again, with Hodges. I don’t know who the vocalist is... pretty decent Satch impression, though.

4. Is this “T’ain’t whatcha do”?

5. EKE... BBB?

6. “Basin Street Blues”, but I don’t know who.

7. “Mood indigo”. No idea who.

8. Ooooh, beautiful. I should know the title... it’s one of Strayhorn’s, yes? I could easily go my CD’s and find out, but I’m going to admit that this is one of those familiar themes that I can’t name. Anyway, this is a very nice treatment. Wonderfully played, and nicely recorded... must be relatively modern.

9. Interesting minor blues... don’t think I’ve heard this one before. Very interesting arrangement for trio. I like the “logical” approach this pianist takes when soloing. I don’t have any ideas on this one yet, but I will be paying attention to see who this is.

10. “Fly me to the moon”. Sounds to me like Joey DeFranceso... ...I think. I don’t recognize this guitarist.

11. “Whisper Not” makes another appearance....and that’s a good thing, as far as I’m concerned. There are brief (lower register) passages in the tenor solo where this player sounds very familiar to me, but I can’t quite put my finger on who this is. Whoever it is, I’m largely impressed, overall.

12. “Body and Soul”. Nice rendition, without the traditional anchor of a chordal instrument in the mix. Very much a reverent treatment, despite the modern approach. I don’t recognize the tenor, but I like the sound and note choices. It’s not one of those “hey look at me” kind of things. As I say, reverent. No flash necessary, because it’s thoughtful and fresh, while relying on the classic structure of a great song. I don’t know my bass players very well, but this person sure gets a nice big, resonant sound, and my comments about the tenor’s note choices would also apply here. Tasty. And the drummer (who almost goes unnoticed unless I move closer to my speakers) may be the tastiest player here. Very well done.

13. I don’t recognize the voice...

14. Is that “Jada”? Yes, there comes the vocal. Fats Waller? I dunno, just a guess. Fun stuff.

[king ubu]

3. “On the sunny side of the street”. Sounds like EE again, with Hodges. I don’t know who the vocalist is... pretty decent Satch impression, though.

not at all, not at all

[king ubu]

More comments following... some interesting comments, Jim! I *love* that "Body and Soul" and I love both "Whisper Not" and that tenor man, but I urge you to give a listen to the ivory tickler, too (hint! hint!).

For #14... well, no, I can't tell that now... you'll have to wait, just look at it as a bonus track that was not intended to be there (I miscalculated some timings, had to omit two tracks, but it gave me space for that one).

ubu

[Clunky]

I must listen again , I may be getting muddled but

Track 1- Chris Barber ??- trad revivalists of some sort certainly but very nicely played

......I thought track 8 was "Jack the bear" played by piano trio in the style of John Lewis( certainly it has much of his approach).

Track 12 ,Body and Soul ? Dexter

Certainly it must be LTD's voice prior to the last track

[fent99]

1. I know this only because Ubu had sent it to me previously. Not my thing but well enough played. Thought I’d not heard him before but he was in duo with accordion on BBC radio 3 and played some lovely music...

2. 19-shit, Love it! Grrreat voice

3. Sunny Side of the Street though no idea of the players or singer

4.

5.

6.

7. Much more like it. Great trumpet and bass and a lovely bluesy feel. I’d guess AEC ish, though I’m pretty unfamiliar

8. Fine and loose

9. First thing I feel I should know but can’t quite place

10. Similar here Fly me to the Moon on hammond but not sure of this and would be embarrassed to guess in such Organissimo company. Very nice!

11. Excellent and I should know this

12. Even better and again I should know this

13.

14.

[Clunky]

......I thought track 8 was "Jack the bear" played by piano trio in the style of John Lewis( certainly it has much of his approach).

er...it's KoKo not Jack the Bear...ooops

[king ubu]

......I thought track 8 was "Jack the bear" played by piano trio in the style of John Lewis( certainly it has much of his approach).

er...it's KoKo not Jack the Bear...ooops

!

[MartyJazz]

Lots of stuff here that's NMCOT, I'm afraid.

But I did like a few versions of the standards, especially:

Track 11: "Whisper Not", however this time it's obvious that we have the composer on tenor, Benny Golson. Sounds very, very good.

Edited March 9, 2005 by MartyJazz

[Jim R]

Track 11: "Whisper Not", however this time it's obvious that we have the composer on tenor, Benny Golson.

Well... there's a DUH for ya (for ME, that is). It's strange now that I think about it. When I played this, I was thinking in terms of a younger player, perhaps emulating Benny to some degree, based on the fact this is a relatively modern version. I didn't stop to think that what I was hearing was Benny himself, with his post-comeback sound. I have to admit, I have kind of neglected his later work, ever since hearing some of those (early 90's?) Jazztet reunions, which didn't do a lot for me. I wanted to keep the older Golson sound in my head, I guess.

[king ubu]

That Golson thing is one of my dearest treasures... I think his sound here is fantastic, so are his and the pianists solos!

[king ubu]

Now that "add reply" button got ugly right now... I guess b3-er is pulling some tricks with the board software...

On the Golson track: not only the tune, but the pianist, too, makes another appearance on my discs. As this is one of the easiest to identify, I guess you got to check that piano player out, now

[randyhersom]

2-1 Modern day trad. The march rhythms at the beginning make me think the group may have Brass Band in their name - Empire maybe?

2-2 Johnny Hodges voice clip?

2-3 Johnny Hodges, I'm guessing as leader.

2-4 Duke Ellington

2-5 Slow lyrical clarinet over big band. Not much clue. I'll say Artie Shaw just because it doesn't really remind me of Benny Goodman, and it seems to be among giants

2-6 Louis Armstong

2-7 Roswell Rudd and Steve Lacy?

2-8 Wayne Shorter

2-9 Ahmad Jamal

2-10 Larry Goldings

2-11 Is this some of the mellowest Archie Shepp known to man? Dexter Gordon and Johnny Griffin were other possibilities I considered

2-12 I'll try Dexter Gordon here.

2-13 Perhaps the voice of Clark Terry

2-14 Sidney Bechet?

[MartyJazz]

OK, I gave this disc a 2nd listen and I've come up with some tune IDs and perhaps some decent guesses as to personnal

1) I can't listen to this for long

2) funny, but too short to know who's talking, at least for me

3) "Sunny Side" done in a Hodges vein, but that gorgeous sound doesn't come through for me on this, so I suspect it's someone else. Can't ID the vocalist, but certainly not Louis

4) Tune is very familiar but can't place it. Trumpet is in the Cat Anderson pyrotechnic vein. Now I think I've got the tune pegged - the old Jimmy Lunceford piece (at least I think he's the composer, maybe not), "For Dancers Only".

5) Sounds like later Duke, Jimmy Hamilton on clarinet. Don't know the piece.

6) Could this be Duke's band at some kind of party because otherwise I don't think "Basin St. Blues" is normally his thing. Vocalist reminds me of Ray Nance.

7) "Mood Indigo" by ????

8) This is "The Star Crossed Lovers" from Duke's SUCH SWEET THUNDER suite but no idea who the tenor or pianist are.

9) More Duke, having trouble placing the composition; in my head, the theme goes much faster than this tempo.

10) "Fly Me to the Moon" - what instrument is that? Whatever, NMCOT.

11) I already ID'd the tenor. Piano very good, but no clue.

12) I thought I had every version of "B&S" on tenor but not this one. Don't know who.

13) I'm gonna guess that the voice is that of Thad Jones, having seen him so often back in the early '70s Monday night at the Vanguard.

14) "Jada" - too old timey for my tastes

Edited March 10, 2005 by MartyJazz

[indigo]

elvin! elvin! elvin!

i'd follow that voice anywhere! imagine if he'd hosted a late-night jazz show .....

so far i've chilled out with this disc -- just listening. no notes, no mental stretching. a fair amount of duke here-- at least some of it from eastbourne, i think -- money johnson singing 'basin street blues"?

'whisper not' by the man himself. nice!

gotta go back and listen to that 'body and soul' again (along with everything else). sounds very familiar but i can't place it.

[king ubu]

elvin! elvin! elvin!

i'd follow that voice anywhere! imagine if he'd hosted a late-night jazz show .....

My own humble tribute to the great man... his voice is there, clearly to be heard and now properly identified! (Sorry to say it's not Thad, but hey, that was pretty close already!)

His playing is hidden somewhere, too...

[king ubu]

so far i've chilled out with this disc -- just listening. no notes, no mental stretching. a fair amount of duke here-- at least some of it from eastbourne, i think -- money johnson singing 'basin street blues"?

...

gotta go back and listen to that 'body and soul' again (along with everything else). sounds very familiar but i can't place it.

The amount of Duke... well, in respect of him actually performing, it's not as big as obviously expected by a few who've posted already (and there was no money for an additional singer that night, sorry to say )

Then on "Body & Soul"... more ubu going

[tooter]

1. No ideas. Can’t even think of the name of the tune.

2. -

3. Sunny Side of the Street – don’t know.

4. Heard the tune before but …. No guesses.

5. Very atmospheric – don’t like this too much. Clarinet sounds weak.

6. Basin Street – no clues.

7. Mood Indigo – blank for any guesses.

8. Blood Count. Like this one. The players? - nobody comes to mind.

9. Blues – can’t guess anything but I liked the track.

10. Fly Me to the Moon – nobody sounds at all familiar. Getting stuck in a rut here.

11. Whisper Not again – tenor sounds a bit like the composer but don’t think it is. Best track for me.

12. Body and Soul – no names still but I like this one too.

13. –

14. Ja-Da – the end already and no names at all I can put forward.

Lots of variety and points of interest but too difficult to guess anyone for the likes of me. At least I can now read comments to get some ideas.

[tooter]

So it was Golson on 11! I'm listening again now - yes, there's a Golson trade mark - now I know it's him I can hear them. The pianist - Kenny Drew? Could the bassist be NHOP?

[king ubu]

tooter - Golson yes, but not Drew and not NHOP - this is not a Scandinavian recording

You finally nailed "Blood Count"!

Marty - that tune's "Blood Count", but give your "Star-Crossed Lovers"-idea another guess as applied to #5... not too far off there... (HINT HINT HINT). And don't wait for EKE BBB to step in with his guesses, he should id all of them tunes! (Otherwise we'll officially re-name him as "b3-er" because he loves greazy organ so much )

[MartyJazz]

Marty - that tune's "Blood Count", but give your "Star-Crossed Lovers"-idea another guess as applied to #5... not too far off there... (HINT HINT HINT). And don't wait for EKE BBB to step in with his guesses, he should id all of them tunes! (Otherwise we'll officially re-name him as "b3-er" because he loves greazy organ so much )

Jeez, confusing "Star-Crossed Lovers" with "Blood Count", I'm mortified. It should be getting easier with the passing years, shouldn't it? In any event, your "hint-hint-hint" tells us all that #5 is probably a theme from Duke's SUCH SWEET THUNDER (so did I at least get the Jimmy Hamilton part right?) but I think I'll wait for your answers rather than take the easy way out and play the recording. (Not so easy, by the way, I would have to dig out from the vinyl collection, slap the old side into the VPI machine, etc.). So go to it, EKE BBB, if you can.

Edited March 13, 2005 by MartyJazz

[Д.Д.]

1. Bennink? A musician of amazing energy - sometimes to the detriment of the music (but not here). Love that bass drum work. Good stuff - well played, humorous and ironic (but not of mockery type). Should investigete the Dutch scene more.

2.

3. Gorgeous alto sound - Johnny Hodges? Piano is doing some interesting (if not entirely fitting, IMO) comping behind the solo. Ellington orchestra? The singing is quite charming. Shit, he is also doing some Armstrong impersonations - I hate this. But this imprersonation is not too bad, actually. Sure, people are clapping to this. I assume this is not a full-time siger, but one of the musicins allowed to have fun - in this case it's very decent.

4. Hmm.. is this what's called a "dance band" (pardon my ignorance of early jazz)? Alto's OK. Shit, the trupmpet is really overdoing it - not much love for this sort of (technically admirable) acrobatics here. Not too interested in this one, although like that they are playing quiter in the end - some subtlety here is welcome.

5. Well-written. Nothing much to add here. Would be interested to know the composer.

6. What the fuck, more vocal aping?! The same guy as on track 2? I think this vocal thing is pathetic here. The band is great, of course. Beautiful clarinet! Duke's band again? A great band and a palpable feeling of joy. Good stuff, except for singng.

7. You know my love for farting sounds, Flurin , so for trombone intro. Actually, the whole trombone solo is excellent - gutsy, sinister and very expressive. Tells a fascinating story. Mangelsdorff? Funny how trombone sounds like Leon Thomas' yodelling near the end of the solo. Probably the solo is a tad too long, but still a very very good one. Bass solo is a bit awkward and waters down the suspence the trombone has created. Soprano (?) is doing some interesting things - a shame there is no soprano solo.

8. Again a nice saxophone sound. Bloodcount - great theme. A stylistical reference to the master on track 1 of the first disc of this BFT. Tenor solo's OK. Pino solo is OK. Drums are playing some intersesting things behind the piano - got bored to be a metronome, I assume.

Overall the solos are good but just too safe for my taste.

Second tenor solo has more happening, but stil I don't feel something particulalry original is being said here. ... a few Rollins/Henderson cliches here and there.

Got bored by the end. Too long of a track overall.

9. The theme I like. The bassist and drummersound similar in style to the ones on previous track. Bassist could be NHOP - very confident, and this fluid shallow sound. But there are many bassists playing this way. Piano - impressive hands coordination (or is it tow pianists? - or overdubbing?). Overall, can't say I'm enjoying it too much, due to quite rudimentary improvisation - but it is surely well-writen. Oh, this is live - so probably it is not overdubbed, after all.

10. Heh-heh, this is something .:.impossible might enjoy. And I like it as well. Sweet guitar solo - love these fast effects (don't kow how they are called). Beautiful full guitar sound - wish the guitar solo were longer. Drummer is becoming more insistent behind the organ solo, and it is appropriate - the solo is suposed to be "hot", I guess. Good build up of the organ solo. All these fast runs surely are impressive. I assume it's Jimmy Smith - don't know his ouevre too well, but these 1000 notes per second (when much less would have probably been enough) thing is how I remeber his playing. These big chords in the end are just too bombastic, IMO. Not too excited about this one.

11. You like "Whisper Not", Flurin.

All those tenors in this BFT sound the same to me (even if some of them will turn out to be altos ). All have beautiful sounds.

Sounds like later-parioud Shepp, but the sound is more focused. Good, but again the same objections as with the track 8 - too safe and unadvernturous. And again a set of standard cliches - Rollins, Coltrane... Can't say the guy is telling a sotry here (by "story" I mena something like wht trombonist on track 7 is doing) - here we have these quite disjointed and not very imaginative short phrases. Yeah, solid paino.

It's just too un-advernturous for me to enjoy, I' afraid. By adventurous I mean not "free", "out" or whatevr - but a certain element of surprise, and it is justtotally lacking here, IMO. Well, drummer is starting doing something more interesting here...

No, no, no.

12. Hmm.. it's more of the same to me - beautiful tenor sound, good standard... Just even less improvisation here (more like variations on a theme). Don't hear my development.

Bassist is good, though - and I should know him.

13. This is how I imagine Elvin Jones' voice.

14. This is great. I like everythign here. More creative than half of the tracks on this BFT.

Thanks Flurin!

[John B]

I didn't do well at identifying artists or tunes but, just like with the first disc, I had a lot of fun listening!

1. Very military band sound at the beginning, goes into a 1920’s brass band revival thing later. Very well recorded, tight band. No clue who they are.

2. No clue, but funny.

3. Very nice version of Sunny Side of the Street. I’m not normally a fan of vocals with my jazz but I’m enjoying this guy.

4. No clue at all. Not really my cup of tea, but nice enough. Nothing more to say on this one.

5. Nice tune, a little short to really latch onto. I’m not sure what I think of this one. SINOW, for now.

6. The vocals are similar to track 3, but they are losing me here. Not my cup of tea.

7. I like this track a lot. I’m not sure who it is….I’m going to guess Lacy with Rudd. Perhaps a live recording from the 1960’s? I’m looking forward to seeing who this is.

8. Again, a very nice tune that is played too safe for my ears. Very soft, almost sounding restrained. I like the sounds each instrument gets and I like the tune, but I wish that, especially at almost 12 minutes in length, the players had cut loose a bit more.

9. I’m not sure who this is…nice sounds from all involved. The pianist keeps surprising me with his/her choices. I’m interested in seeing who this is.

10. Organ, sounds a bit more like Jimmy Smith as the tune goes on, but I don’t believe it is him. Perhaps someone who was heavily influenced by Jimmy, Joey Defrancesco, perhaps?

11. See my comments on #8. Too long, not enough happening for my ears. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a nice enough tune, but, after a while, I start to wonder if there wasn’t more they could say here.

12. Again, this one goes on for too long, but I like it a bit more than the last one. Perhaps a bit too sparse to require the full 12 minutes. Same final thoughts as track 11.

13. Elvin, no?

14. Nice way to end the disc! No clue who this is, but I really enjoy this track.

Two great discs, Flurin! I really enjoyed listening to these.

[king ubu]

Hey fellas, you ain't got no feghing clue on #8, #11 and #12! These are masters at work, dig?