BFT 69: Listen and Discuss

[Hot Ptah]

I've had that suspicion for quite some time now, actually.

And I'm sure you're enjoying the prospect, Ptah!

Edited to add: Super-wild guess, but here goes - Johnny Pacheco? Mauricio Smith? Paquito D'Rivera? Orlando "Maraca" Valle? Jose Fajardo?

or - real outside chance: Nick Brignola? (Because he doubled on more reeds than most people would imagine possible, and did record at least one album with a flute track or two...)

Or is it some weird one-off with the late Jean-Pierre Rampal?! (although I thought he only worked with people who played acoustic piano when he did crossover gigs...)

Or maybe Mark Weinstein? Mary Fettig?

It is not Pacheco, Smith, D'Rivera, Valle, Fajardo, Brignola, Rampal, Weinstein or Fettig.

[seeline]

Leo Wright?

[Hot Ptah]

Leo Wright?

It is not Leo Wright. I am learning more about jazz arists who recorded on flute, than I ever knew before.

[seeline]

Leo Wright?

It is not Leo Wright. I am learning more about jazz arists who recorded on flute, than I ever knew before.

Well, you can blame some old "jazz flute" threads at AAJ (from 2004, maybe 2005) for that, although the Latin guys are another thing entirely... Pacheco led a charanga before he started singing lead, and he was good. Mauricio Smith recorded with Machito.

Edited November 19, 2009 by seeline

[seeline]

Jane Bunnett? Richard Egües?

(Why do I have the distinct feeling that this is someone really famous who rarely - if ever - recorded on flute?)

[Hot Ptah]

Jane Bunnett? Richard Egües?

(Why do I have the distinct feeling that this is someone really famous who rarely - if ever - recorded on flute?)

Not Bunnett. Not Egues.

[seeline]

Harold McNair? Ronnie Laws? James Spaulding?

Bennie Maupin with Kenny Barron? (I keep going back to Barron... and you already said this wasn't James Moody, I think...)

Edited November 19, 2009 by seeline

[Hot Ptah]

Harold McNair? Ronnie Laws? James Spaulding?

Not McNair, Laws or Spaulding.

Ronnie Laws? Come on, now.

[seeline]

did I throw Ali Ryerson's name on the table yet? Or Anne Drummond's? (Though I doubt it's her.)

Edited November 19, 2009 by seeline

[seeline]

Just because - Jorge Pardo with Chick Corea (although I don't think it's Pardo).

Steve Wilson? Seldon Powell? Jerry Dodgion?

Edited November 19, 2009 by seeline

[Hot Ptah]

None of the names in your last two posts are correct.

[Spontooneous]

After a slight delay because of computer failure, time to finish Disc 2.

12. “Tico Tico” is one of my favorite “corny” songs. And this one really works. The two-minute-plus closing vamp really catches fire. Sounds like James Booker, but I see somebody's already nailed it down.

13. It’s a symbol of the times when people put this much effort into synthesizing a New Orleans-style performance in the studio. Too bad they didn’t have the guts to try it live, because the overall concept of rapper plus brass band seems like a good idea. At least the producer had the sense to let it swing naturally for a few moments starting about 1:53. But then it snaps back into the automated groove. Coulda been so much better.

14. Do as I say and everyone will have a happy holiday! Creeeeepy. Was there a “Christmas in Jonestown” album? “Is this not a Christmas tree? / Isn’t all the candy free? / If you think that you want out, / A sip of punch will ease your doubt.” But seriously. I can’t tell if this is a cynical commercial contrivance (maybe a quick piece of hack work for a celebrity TV special) or a parody of same. Maybe it’s both. I should recognize that guy's voice. Sounds like it could have come out of the Stan Freberg laboratory.

It's been a mind-bender, HP. And it's gonna cost me some money to round up some of these discs. Many thanks.

[Hot Ptah]

After a slight delay because of computer failure, time to finish Disc 2.

12. “Tico Tico” is one of my favorite “corny” songs. And this one really works. The two-minute-plus closing vamp really catches fire. Sounds like James Booker, but I see somebody's already nailed it down.

13. It’s a symbol of the times when people put this much effort into synthesizing a New Orleans-style performance in the studio. Too bad they didn’t have the guts to try it live, because the overall concept of rapper plus brass band seems like a good idea. At least the producer had the sense to let it swing naturally for a few moments starting about 1:53. But then it snaps back into the automated groove. Coulda been so much better.

Based on their website, Coolbone is a working brass band in New Orleans, and plays live all over the city. The rapper is one of the group members. It does not seem like they incorporate rap all that much into their live performances, according to their website.

14. Do as I say and everyone will have a happy holiday! Creeeeepy. Was there a “Christmas in Jonestown” album? “Is this not a Christmas tree? / Isn’t all the candy free? / If you think that you want out, / A sip of punch will ease your doubt.” But seriously. I can’t tell if this is a cynical commercial contrivance (maybe a quick piece of hack work for a celebrity TV special) or a parody of same. Maybe it’s both. I should recognize that guy's voice. Sounds like it could have come out of the Stan Freberg laboratory.

I think you will be interested in the answer to this one. It's not exactly what you think.

It's been a mind-bender, HP. And it's gonna cost me some money to round up some of these discs. Many thanks.

Are you going to guess the bass solo song on Disc 2, Track 11? After the broad clue I left you last time, I would have thought that someone would have jumped in with the answer by now.

Edited November 20, 2009 by Hot Ptah

[Spontooneous]

Are you going to guess the bass solo song on Disc 2, Track 11? After the broad clue I left you last time, I would have thought that someone would have jumped in with the answer by now.

Gotta be Richard Davis. Just gotta be. It's the taste, the tremendous control of the instrument, and the willingness to take more than a few chances. Not to mention the beautiful bow sound.

[Hot Ptah]

Are you going to guess the bass solo song on Disc 2, Track 11? After the broad clue I left you last time, I would have thought that someone would have jumped in with the answer by now.

Gotta be Richard Davis. Just gotta be. It's the taste, the tremendous control of the instrument, and the willingness to take more than a few chances. Not to mention the beautiful bow sound.

That is correct. Richard Davis was 77 years old when he recorded this solo. Now we need the album.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Are you going to guess the bass solo song on Disc 2, Track 11? After the broad clue I left you last time, I would have thought that someone would have jumped in with the answer by now.

Gotta be Richard Davis. Just gotta be. It's the taste, the tremendous control of the instrument, and the willingness to take more than a few chances. Not to mention the beautiful bow sound.

That is correct. Richard Davis was 77 years old when he recorded this solo. Now we need the album.

Must be this one

But Junior Mance's collaboration is a surprise to me.

MG

[Hot Ptah]

That is the Richard Davis album from which Disc 2, Track 11 is taken. It is on the Japanese King label. It consists of mostly duets with Junior Mance. Each musician gets two solos tracks--including the one in this Blindfold Test.

Davis has been on soul jazz albums in his career--his webpage lists them, www.richarddavis.org. They include albums led by Jimmy McGriff, Jack McDuff, Wild Bill Davis, and Junior Mance's Atlantic album, "I Believe To My Soul."

Edited November 21, 2009 by Hot Ptah

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

That is the Richard Davis album from which Disc 2, Track 11 is taken. It is on the Japanese King label. It consists of mostly duets with Junior Mance. Each musician gets two solos tracks--including the one in this Blindfold Test.

Davis has been on soul jazz albums in his career--his webpage lists them, www.richarddavis.org. They include albums led by Jimmy McGriff, Jack McDuff, Wild Bill Davis, and Junior Mance's Atlantic album, "I Believe To My Soul."

So, was it "Summertime"? Or was that just a quote? There's no tracklist on AMG.

Oh yes - a wide variety of music under Davis' belt. Some others:

Ray Bryant - Slow Freight

Shirey Scott - Mystical lady

Grover Washington Jr - Soul box

Lou Donaldson - Rough house blues; Sophisticated Lou

Reuben Wilson - Set us free

David Newman - Bigger & Better; Many facets of

Jimm Smith & Wes Montgomery - Dynamic duo; Further adventures

Eddie Harris - Silver cycles

Jimmy Forrest - Soul Street

And he was in Willis Jackson's band in the fifties, recording, I think, for Atlantic.

But is what you're saying that the track you selected is not representative of the album as a whole?

MG

[JSngry]

Wow, lots of comments really quick. I am behind! Life sneaks up on ya', eh? I'm flyin' blind here, first listen is while typing. No time before nw, sorry.

Anyway, the usual thanks & disclaimers firmly in place, let's see what we have here...

DISC ONE

TRACK ONE - Brass! Not very subtle, but not everything is in life...that melody sounds familiar somehow...yeah, the first bit of it reminds me of "Ferry 'Cross the Mersey", which is of course NOT what this is......is this Pete Rugolo or Johnny Richards? Sounds like a bunch of ex-Kentonites, Milt Bernhardt on trombone? There's one little rip he does that reminds me of a thing he did on "Machito"...Sounds like "functional" music of some sort, like a movie or TV theme. Issues of taste aside, I can't find fault with how it's played. Would that all scored music was played as true to the writer's intent as this appears to have been.

TRACK TWO - oh-HO! I like the idea...I'd like the reality if the tempo were a little faster. I think that's a real drummer, and I think I might like a drum machine better in terms of texture...and I think I might like synths better than the horns, again, strictly in terms of texture. But I do like the idea, like it a lot, it reminds me of Maynard & Don Ellis & Woody in the early 70s confronting the newer rhythms with energy rather than embarrassment. I think that's a good thing to do, as a rule. And this has that whole acid-jazz, drum 'n bass thing informing it, and I like that stuff, so yeah, let's do that. Why not? The [problem I have is with the texture - it sounds more old-fashioned than it needs to because of the instrumentation. Zawinul pretty much shifted the paradigm for textures in "ensemble" writing,even though he was the ensemble himself, contradictory as that is. But having said all that, I bet this would be a gas to hear live. Big bands need to be heard live. But good luck finding one. All told, I like this, like the energy, like the stubbornness of it, hell it might even be a really good college lab band, although I think not, since there is an organ.

TRACK THREE - You got me, I don't really know the stride players individually like I "should", but this is SO damn good. James P? I mean, c'mon, this cat is playing the piano, not just playing some music on a piano. Whoever it is, it's a BAAAAAD motherfucker, and a role model for anybody who wants to have a life where they can say, yeah bitches, I can do something, whaddabout you? Which, if you can get that Willie The Lion talking record, is really what those cats were about. Them Clef Club cats would not stand for no punkass bullshit "playing". Much love for ability, and more love for true pride in it. This is music that does not make excuses, would not even entertain the notion of them. MAXIMUM love, then!

TRACK FOUR - "Somebody Loves Me", great song to blow on, goes a lot of places, all of them sensible, telling a story as they go along, Not too hard to detectiveize this one: http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&a...10:fxfqxqtdldte or http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&a...10:0zfrxqealdde and Eddie South was a beautiful violinist. Django was too.

TRACK FIVE - Sounds familiar, but....not. This pianist uses the pedals more than the one on #3. The result is less crispness, less upside-your-head-ness, which is all good, but I'm just sayin'...time change, attitudes change, this is necessary. I just think it's good to be aware of the whats, whens and whys. It breeds both pride and humility, the great yin & yang of character. This player definitely has character.

TRACK SIX - ALL RIGHT! Who the hell is this? Somebody who gets it, that's who! The difference between this & #2 is ultimately texture. Texture and color. Hell, we didn't have a color TV until I was 11, but now we got 1080p hi-def in the house. B&W analog still speaks, and profoundly, but of then, not of now. The message carries over, but...who the hell would watch - should watch - some of those badass NatGeo hi-def "nature" shows in B&W analog? This ain't Joe Zawinul, but Joe understood, as did Miles, & Ellington, & Gil Evans & not really all that many others that color and texture are as integral a part of music as harmony & melody. Hell, besides the masterpieces, Duke wrote a big bunch of "lesser" things that come off as profound simply because of how he spoke the language of color and texture. That shit matters, and whoever this is grasps that quite nicely,as well as that, oh by the way, rhythm is also a texture!

TRACK SEVEN - Crepuscule With Nellie. Not Monk, although quite respectful. It's a great composition.

TRACK EIGHT - Wow, you know those "jungle" sounds the ensemble played on "Africa", on Africa Brass? Same thing, only...NOT!

TRACK NINE - Kept going back and forth between liking this one ok & kind of being annoyed at it for never really going anywhere distinctive and/or significant. then the alto came in, and...you know, alto is one of those things where it's gotta be really good...same thing with slide guitar...

TRACK TEN - Gotta be some Ra. Beautiful. Ra's music so often had this massive subliminal bottom end that hung there and held everything in place while everything else darted around it. Ra understood vibrations & overtones and all that, that's what that was all about, using the science of sound to make it three-dimensional even though you couldn't see it. John Gilmore! God, could that man play some music!

TRACK ELEVEN - Perfectly fine, but as I sit here right now, I'm just not in the mood for it. My problem, totally.

TRACK TWELVE - Wow....pretty "ragged", but really together in terms of speaking. That's really a "lost world" now, the story being told here..no matter how much you hear, there's no way to get it like it was then, so imaginations and projections take over, and who knows how "right" any of them are, or even if they need to be. What I can hear is the focus of trying to make it all work, of playing all those parts, and...what did you really have to go by back then? Pretty impressive for me, just the notion of doing it, much less actually doing it.

TRACK THIRTEEN - Somebody who loves Lester Bowie (gee, that really narrows it down, doesn't it...). Pianist, YEAH! It's like he's basically a Herbie guy, but he filters it through all these other lenses... Tenor player had a random act of Gilmore coming in right after the piano solo, but that ain't Gilmore, in so many ways... And that ain't Lester. But oh well. I'm kinda feelin' this one, so all is well. That head is kinda Sam Rivers-ish, but that ain't Sam on tenor unless he was recorded by demons. And that piano player is intriguing, to say the least. Let me go way out on a limb & guess Dave Kikoski, because the vibe here is like that which he brought to Monday Michiru's Epsiodes In Color album.

TRACK FOURTEEN - Awwwwwww....that's CUTE! I don't particularly dig cute, but...it's like Sons Of Santos Brother or something. Exept...that keyboard sounds like Ra, which would just be so HYPER weird...and disconcerting. But wait...that rhythm track at the end, that's tape-manipulated. But ultimately, it's cute.

TRACK FIFTEEN - You scared me, I though it was gonna be "Stormy Weather" again! Was Charlie Barnett ever a Bob Wills sideman?

TRACK SIXTEEN - Oh wow, didn't somebody else have a cut from this album a few months ago? I gotta get this. That arrangement, especially that intro, is freakin' iconic. Ernie Wilkins, take a bow! I dig the recording on this too, nice and roomy. Yeah, I gotta get this one.

DISC TWO

TRACK ONE - Interesting...Brazillian, George Russell, 70s LA soundtrack/studiojazz, "the dreared bass direct", it's all here, and it all holds together, against some fairly formidable odds. Kudos to all involved, because there's any # of points where this thing could have gone totally off the tracks, especially considering the length of the track, but it never did.

TRACK TWO - HA! "Flowers For Albert" as ska! WT_EFFIN'_F?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!? Totally unaware of this: http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&a...10:hifqxqyhldje until now! Murray's time is better than often over this groove, hell it BETTER be, ya' know? Ska is not something I've played, but the locked-in-ness of the groove has always been appealing to me. Some day, maybe. I think it's a good thing, in every way, to have a solid intimate experience with dance music(s). I think it makes you a better musician and a better person. Now, can you imagine SONNY ROLLINS playing on this record? WHOA!!!! But David Murray sounds pretty fine, for real.

TRACK THREE - This is either somebody for whom flute is their primary instrument or somebody who has done some shedding. This is not just somebody who doubles, the tone & vibrato are waaay too refined and controlled for that, and that works well to the delivery of the melody, makes it sing, more vocal-like. And it's a nice melody, delicate, perhaps slight, but well-served by the duet format. Too much elaboration in terms of setting would have killed it. Flute-Rhodes duet, can't say that I've knowingly heard that combination before, but I find it attractive, at least here. More kudos, this time for not forcing the music to try to live outside itself. There's a certain Zen to that.

TRACK FOUR - Detective-ated: http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&a...10:wzfoxqljldje Another example of playing the piano as opposed to just playing some music on it. Teddy wislon was a quiet master, but an unmistakable master. His left hand was often good for some fleeting, easily missed harmonic gamesmanship. That right hand could tell you one thing, but the left hand could make it mean something different than you thought it meant. Not everybody can do that. Gentleman Teddy Wilson was also Tough Teddy Wilson!

TRACK FIVE - Fine as this is, all things considered, especially the time needed to say what needs to be said, I think I'll take Teddy, at least right now.

TRACK SIX - See # 3 & make the necessary adjustments for instruments. The obvious guess is Bill Frissell on guitar, but..maybe not? I have a hard time loving either this or the previous clarinetists' tonal concepts. fine players, both, just personal taste. This is an excerpt from a longer piece?

TRACK SEVEN - Dude, see....I started on sax & didn't even try to pick up a clarinet until college. You can't really go about it that way, you need to go at it the other way, start on clarinet and then move over. If you're going to do both, which, frankly, is a notion I both resented and rejected once I got my proficiency juries outta the way. Spend two years busting ass jsut to ge over on an instrument I had no intent of playing, even after Ron Brown (a Dallas guy from the early-mid 70s who got the Mercer Ellington gig before moving on to Stevie Wonder, or vice-versa, it was a long time ago) told me that if I could get my clarinet chops together, the gig w/Mercer was not out of reach because they were hurting for a clarinet player in that band then, nobody played clarinet anymore, at least not anybody who wanted the Mercer gig (which was, truthfully, not a lucrative one then). So although there are many clarinetists who I enjoy, there are many more that just do not interest me, just because it seems to me that they play the instrument first & the music second (if that). Of course, I dislike that on any instrument, but especially on clarinet. Now, this is a fine piece of music, thoughtful, challenging, exceptionally well played, but being the third clarinet track in a row PLUS having accordion, I can't give it a fair hearing, so I must recuse from the case.

TRACK EIGHT - Ronnie Cuber used to do a bunch of Latin dates. Is this one of them? Ronnie Cuber can PLAY! Ok, that last chord is an Eddie Palmieri trademark, & C8uber definitely cut some sessions w/him. Eddie Palmieri's another guy who made his own world. So it's all good on this one, especially since there's no clarinets!

TRACK NINE - That's a Columbia recording, right? Sounds like that studio. Dickie Wells, right? Trumpet, not sure of, Tenor, very fluent, but not Hawk, or else earlier Hawk. Chu Berry? Can't hear the drummer, was noise-reduction used in the remastering,or is there not one? Nice piece.

TRACK TEN - Herbie? Probably not. I like this. It makes sense to me as a language. Plenty of meat, nothing really "simple" about it, not really. A lot of ching-chinga-ching guys would not have a clue how to play this or even where to come in to start playing it, and that's too bad, because there is rhythm galore here, rich rhythm. I would still like to hear a band like this live, not "in concert", but playing a bigass dance gig. It's necessary, because if you get the right peoples in the right places, you could get some really intense shit going on with something like this. More like this, everybody!

TRACK ELEVEN - More like this, too!

TRACK TWELVE - "Tico-Tico". Beyond that, I have no idea. Sounds kinda like Surf-meets-New Orleans..not really working for me, lacking a certain....core?

TRACK THIRTEEN - I hope the city gets rebuilt and comes back strong, loud, and proud, so they can go back to making music that reminds us how vital the spirits there are, instead of music that has to tell us. Or maybe it's too late for that. Shit happens, and evil sometimes wins.

TRACK FOURTEEN - This is why white people should not be left alone in groups. But that "presents nice" chick sounds like she's ready to book on out of there, if you know what I mena.

Ok, man, that was a lot of music to BFT all at once, but it was time well spent. Thanks for putting it all together, and thanks for sharing so much interesting music!

[JSngry]

Sam Most?

It cannot be Tabackin, although he and Toshiko did some duo stuff - IIRC - on his Rites of Pan LP, and she played some kinda dismal keys on a small group album under her own name. (On Inner City, I think.)

Gah!!!!

* Is there some kind of outside chance that it's Charles Lloyd?!

It is not Sam Most or Charles Lloyd.

I notice that you do not deny Tabackin...

[Durium]

Well - I just received the second set of BFT # 69 and of course I played the selection right away while driving to Rotterdam this morning. I love to congratulate HotPtah with this selection, because it's very diverge in jazz styles, but also in time. Great to hear a great Charlie Johnson traditional beside Sun Ra and that kind of stuff. Well - I recognized the older stuff like the great Django Reinhardt track ( BTW: Django should have celebrated his 100th birthday next year - a great moment to remember his music) and, of course James P. Johnson 's stride piano. For me it was an eye opener to learn that James P. was a great composer of suites too, like Yamekraw.

Each time when I start to listen to a BFT I learn how limited my knowledge is in recognizing certain soloists and tune titles. Well - I don't have to feel inferior about that, beause I know that a lot of jazz fans have the same experiences. So, back at home I wrote down what I recognized, like Django, and James P. and tunes like Crepuscule with Nellie and learned that most tracks were already identified. I'm anxious to learn what names are behind the other tracks, so ................. please !!

Thanks for these great diverge selections.

Next BFT # 70 ( December 2009) will be compiled by me - I'm waiting for Big Al to start the sign in as he will do the online downloads, but I guess I could open the sign in for those who want a CDR send out. it's only one CDR and I hope it will surprise and amuse you ................

Keep swinging

Durium

[Hot Ptah]

Sam Most?

It cannot be Tabackin, although he and Toshiko did some duo stuff - IIRC - on his Rites of Pan LP, and she played some kinda dismal keys on a small group album under her own name. (On Inner City, I think.)

Gah!!!!

* Is there some kind of outside chance that it's Charles Lloyd?!

It is not Sam Most or Charles Lloyd.

I notice that you do not deny Tabackin...

DING! DING! DING! DING! DING! You got it! Now what is the song title and album, and who is the pianist?

[JSngry]

Rites Of Pan? Toshiko?

[seeline]

So... you only now admit that it *is* Lew Tabackin? After I kept saying, "sounds like.... but no"?!

Edited to add: I think someone else suggested Tabackin, several pages back...

and if this track actually *is* from his "Rites of Pan" (with Toshiko), I will be sick. Now. (My copy is in storage.)

Edited November 22, 2009 by seeline

[Hot Ptah]

So... you only now admit that it *is* Lew Tabackin? After I kept saying, "sounds like.... but no"?!

Edited to add: I think someone else suggested Tabackin, several pages back...

and if this track actually *is* from his "Rites of Pan" (with Toshiko), I will be sick. Now.

There was no positive, unequivocal guess of Tabackin before.

It is on Rites of Pan, with Toshiko on electric piano. Now which song?

Well - I just received the second set of BFT # 69 and of course I played the selection right away while driving to Rotterdam this morning. I love to congratulate HotPtah with this selection, because it's very diverge in jazz styles, but also in time. Great to hear a great Charlie Johnson traditional beside Sun Ra and that kind of stuff. Well - I recognized the older stuff like the great Django Reinhardt track ( BTW: Django should have celebrated his 100th birthday next year - a great moment to remember his music) and, of course James P. Johnson 's stride piano. For me it was an eye opener to learn that James P. was a great composer of suites too, like Yamekraw.

Each time when I start to listen to a BFT I learn how limited my knowledge is in recognizing certain soloists and tune titles. Well - I don't have to feel inferior about that, beause I know that a lot of jazz fans have the same experiences. So, back at home I wrote down what I recognized, like Django, and James P. and tunes like Crepuscule with Nellie and learned that most tracks were already identified. I'm anxious to learn what names are behind the other tracks, so ................. please !!

Thanks for these great diverge selections.

Next BFT # 70 ( December 2009) will be compiled by me - I'm waiting for Big Al to start the sign in as he will do the online downloads, but I guess I could open the sign in for those who want a CDR send out. it's only one CDR and I hope it will surprise and amuse you ................

Keep swinging

Durium

Thanks for the positive comments, Durium. I will look forward to your BFT!

Rites Of Pan? Toshiko?

Yes. Now which song?