Any fans of Marchel Ivery?

[Hardbopjazz]

There's not much in the way of session for Marchel Ivery, the only one I have found was Marchel Ivery 3.

Any fans of this tenor player?

[paul secor]

Have Marchel Ivery 3 also - the only Ivery in my collection.

Previous (very short) Marchel Ivery thread:

Jim Sangrey has a fair number of posts about Marchel Ivery, if you want to do a search.

edit: I plan on picking up the recording he did with Joey DeFrancesco. Hope there are recommendations & recollections from others.

Edited December 18, 2010 by paul secor

[jazzbo]

One of the few Texas legends of the tenor that I've seen. When I saw him he had the great drum support of Organissimo member agriffith, and a teen-age prodigy at the keyboards. A night I'll never forget!

Have three of his recordings. Need to play them more.

[kh1958]

The three Leaning House CDs are the ones to get. All are good.

The Timeless recording with David Newman mostly (to my ears) doesn't gel.

There's not really that much of him on record, alas.

I saw him quite a few times over a number of years (starting about 1974), but didn't really take advantage as much as I should have.

A few favorite experiences:

One of my first jazz concerts, with James Clay at the Recovery Room.

Back around 1976 or so, alternating sets with Freddie Hubbard's band.

At the Caravan of Dreams, for the second set Cornell Dupree came out and played guitar with Marchel's band.

At a Theater in Fair Park, a double bill concert with Marchel's band and David Fathead Newman, concluding with the two tenors playing together.

At the Caravan of Dreams, a couple of cameo appearances--sitting in with Art Blakey for the last song of his engagement--and another time, sitting in for a song with McCoy Tyner.

On the SMU campus, after a lackluster Wynton Marsalis small group concert, I'll give credit to Wynton for bringing Marchel up to the stage for the last song and injecting some fire into the otherwise dull evening.

And at the shortlived Jazz Connection, with Joey DeFrancesco.

[Shawn]

Marchel was a beautiful cat. I saw him numerous times at Terrelli's in Lower Greenville, he was never less than killer. One of the first times I saw him I called out "Escapade", he turned to me and laughed and said "So, you're going to make me work?".

My favorite recording is Marchel's Mode, but I like them all. I haven't heard the Fathead date in awhile, but I remember liking it.

[Morganized]

Marchel was a beautiful cat. I saw him numerous times at Terrelli's in Lower Greenville, he was never less than killer. One of the first times I saw him I called out "Escapade", he turned to me and laughed and said "So, you're going to make me work?".

My favorite recording is Marchel's Mode, but I like them all. I haven't heard the Fathead date in awhile, but I remember liking it.

Most of what I know about Marchel personally came from my close friend who we lost a couple of years ago. He was an amateur/professional alto/tenor/flute player in Dallas and introduced me to Marchel during one of his breaks at Terrilli's. Marchel had a standing gig at Terrelli's and we frequented the place often after that. I remember well the band Shawn references. Andrew Griffith is the 1st call drummer in Dallas(IMHO) and he played with Marchel for quite some time.He is a Board member. It will be interesting for him to chime in on this. The keyboardist was a young protege' at the BTW School for Performing Arts and was headed off to Berkelee, I think. I can't remember his name but he was excellent as well. But Marchel was clearly the star. This was really great straight ahead stuff. He loved to play Coltrane tunes, Central Park West, in particular I think. If you asked him about Coltrane he would say.....Man, that comes from another place !! He was was a really nice guy. The young horn players in town would stand in line and wait for an invitation to the stage. Late in the set Marchel would often invite one up for a tune. It was clearly a "teaching moment" for those lucky enough to garner the invite.

Marchel's willingness to help the younger generation probably arose from his own earlier background. As my friend told it, Marchel grew up in South Oak Cliff(Dallas) and would tell others that he attended the Red Garland "school of music" after school. Also attending were Cedar Walton, James Clay and David "fathead" Newman, etc. Red was living there at the time and evidently enjoyed helping the younger guys out. I was also told that Marchel went to New York and had a brief stint with Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers but tired of the road and the life rather quickly, returning to Dallas after that. That may explain him sitting in with Art and Wynton when they were in town as kh1958 relates above. I don't know however...... Marchel seemed to know all of the traveling jazz artist that came to town. You could just as easily, however, find him jamming at the South Dallas Cultural Center or a Shelly Carroll's Monday night jam session. He had a real love of the music and demonstrated great humility, at least to his fans.

Like I said, most of what I know about Marchel personally came second hand. I would love to read the posts from those who knew him best. I always enjoyed listening to Marchel and really miss his playing. The Dallas jazz scene misses his leadership.Dallas jazz lost one its matriarchs when Marchel passed.

I agree with Shawn. My favorite recorded performance is Marchel's Mode.

[Peter Friedman]

I quite like the cd on Timeless of David Newman & Marchel Ivery.

[John L]

Did he ever record as a sideman? I can't recall anything.

[kh1958]

He's on a Paul Guerrero LP on Jazz Mark Records (an Arkansas label), Texas Tenors with James Clay. Recorded in 1985.

[jazztrain]

Yes, I like him. I have the Paul Guerrero LP with James Clay as well as two of the cds on Leaning House.

[John L]

He's on a Paul Guerrero LP on Jazz Mark Records (an Arkansas label), Texas Tenors with James Clay. Recorded in 1985.

Together with James Clay? Thanks. I'll have to look for that one.

[mikeweil]

IIRC the two play together on only two tunes of the LP - I had it but sold it, it didn't fascinate me as much as I expected.

Still looking for a more representative recording of this great tenor player. 

[kh1958]

Link to Dallas Observer obituary, which refers to an unreleased Texas Tenors recording with Shelly Carroll.

http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/unfairpark/2007/10/marchel_ivery_was_scheduled_to.php

[kh1958]

Photolink within the Observer article.

http://forestphotography.smugmug.com/gallery/2400849#126338190_w8Fmy

[kh1958]

A new CD from Shelley Carroll, I Heard That, features Marchel Ivery on 8 of the 11 tracks.

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/shelleycarrol4

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Thanks for that link, Ken. I see there's another Shelley Carroll I didn't know about.

MG

[Head Man]

Yes, thanks for the link Ken. It DOES sound nice.

BTW does anyone know how the search engine works on the CDBABY site? I thought I'd check to see whether the new Ethan Iverson/Lee Konitz album "Costumes are Mandatory" on Highnote was available for download. I tried searching for "Ethan Iverson" and "Costumes are Mandatory" and got what looks like a bunch of random hits. Am I missing something....?....it's been known!

[kh1958]

I don't think I've ever noticed High Note/Savants on cdbaby. I usually order their CDs from jazzdepot.com.

The CDbaby search engine is absolutely terrible.

If you are searching for a specific artist or label, there are always lots and lots of irrelevent hits, and the ones you are actually looking for are buried among the unwanted ones.

On first listen, the Shelley Carroll/Marchel Ivery tracks are all excellent. There are also three tracks with a vocalist who's not really my preferred style, but otherwise, it sounded rather good to me.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Yes, thanks for the link Ken. It DOES sound nice.

BTW does anyone know how the search engine works on the CDBABY site? I thought I'd check to see whether the new Ethan Iverson/Lee Konitz album "Costumes are Mandatory" on Highnote was available for download. I tried searching for "Ethan Iverson" and "Costumes are Mandatory" and got what looks like a bunch of random hits. Am I missing something....?....it's been known!

As far as I know, CD Baby only sells albums on labels owned by musicians.

MG

[mhatta]

I know I'm late to the party, but recently I found Marchel's Mode.  Marchel Ivery's tenor playing is very good, but I found the Cedar Walton - Lyles West - Ed Soph rhythm section to be impeccable.  I think Cedar is much more inspired than his own numerous trio recordings -- maybe his best?