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Best track you heard all week


jazzbo

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Bird, Red Rodney, Kenny Drew, Curly Russell, Art Blakey: "Anthropology" - WJZ broadcast from Birdland in 1950 from Charlie Parker: More Unissued Vol. 2

It's only been a few days since I posted on this thread, but I'm pretty sure that nothing else I'll hear this week will top this one. Bird is on fire, Blakey sounds like he's ready to blow up the place, Red Rodney comes across with some of his best early playing that I've heard, a young Kenny Drew more than holds his own, and Curly Russell is the beat holding it all together.

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Well, despite having bought a Teddy Wilson with Billie Holiday this week, what really grabbed mee this morning was "Sudan" from Idris Muhammad's "House of the rising sun" (Kudu), which I've had for aeons. Fabulous groove! Great solos from Fred Wesley, Tom Harrell, Sir Roland Hanna and Idris. In particular, Tom Harrell really got through this time. I think I should perhaps look into him a bit.

MG

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Stan Kenton - "Willow Weep for Me" from Standards In Silhouette. Marvelously inventive writing by Bill Mathieu impeccably interpreted by the band. Not sure what, if anything, Kenton had to do with this ending up as it did, but if credit is due, then credit is given. And if it turns out that Mathieu was given free reign to rehearse & conduct his charts, then he gets the credit (and Kenton would get credit for knowing when to do the right thing and get out of the way).

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Stan Kenton - "Willow Weep for Me" from Standards In Silhouette. Marvelously inventive writing by Bill Mathieu impeccably interpreted by the band. Not sure what, if anything, Kenton had to do with this ending up as it did, but if credit is due, then credit is given. And if it turns out that Mathieu was given free reign to rehearse & conduct his charts, then he gets the credit (and Kenton would get credit for knowing when to do the right thing and get out of the way).

I'll spin that one tonight, I'm stuck at work this afternoon.

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Please do, and pay attention to how Mathieu's arrangements integrate the soloists into the chart. It's very seldom a head-solo-outchorus thing like so much big-band writing is. This guy weaves them in and out of the arrangements, almost as commentary rather than as statement, if that makes any sense. A very linear, organic, non-rigid course of development, it seems to me.

You know how I feel about Kenton in general, but this one is....different somehow. At least to my ears.

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Please do, and pay attention to how Mathieu's arrangements integrate the soloists into the chart. It's very seldom a head-solo-outchorus thing like so much big-band writing is. This guy weaves them in and out of the arrangements, almost as commentary rather than as statement, if that makes any sense. A very linear, organic, non-rigid course of development, it seems to me.

You know how I feel about Kenton in general, but this one is....different somehow. At least to my ears.

I really like that little repeated motif that drifts in and out throughout the arrangement, it's almost got a Gershwin mood to it. I don't think I've ever heard that song played with that particular mood before, it's got an ominous quality about it. You are also correct about the arrangement of the soloists, they don't stand out as "hey, I'm soloing now", but fit in to create a cohesive whole.

It's an interesting album, think it will take several spins to really sink in.

Edited by Shawn
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Two tracks:

1) "Minawa" by Hugh Masekela (from Home is Where the Music Is). It's a beautiful composition anyway, but I was listening to it while driving to my folks house to help my dad get my mom from the car to the bed after having eyelid surgery. What would normally be a five-second walk for my mom became an hour's journey guiding my pain-killer-stuffed semi-conscious (and fiercely independent) mother to her bed for much-needed rest and recuperation. (I'm happy to report she's fine now and is seeing much better than before the surgery). The tune just sounded very longing and fit perfectly with the anxious mood of the drive.

2) "On the Corner / New York Girl / Thinkin' One Thing and Doin' Another / Vote for Miles" Listened to this while driving to church this morning. I happened to get behind a vehicle which had a license plate, on which the word SLY was part of the license-plate number. How cool is that? :)

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