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#15 is Marlena Shaw singing "You've Changed" on Jimmy Smith's "Sum Serious Blues" album. I like this a lot.

Marlena is one of the few vocalists who can be genuinely humorous, and in a way in which I can stand to listen to the humorous parts many times. To me, sometimes humor on record can be unlistenable after one or two times hearing it, but not with Marlena.

All I can say about the comments so far is that this is one tough crowd. I find this BFT consistently very enjoyable from start to finish. I am working on some more guesses.

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#15 is Marlena Shaw singing "You've Changed" on Jimmy Smith's "Sum Serious Blues" album. I like this a lot.

Marlena is one of the few vocalists who can be genuinely humorous, and in a way in which I can stand to listen to the humorous parts many times. To me, sometimes humor on record can be unlistenable after one or two times hearing it, but not with Marlena.

All I can say about the comments so far is that this is one tough crowd. I find this BFT consistently very enjoyable from start to finish. I am working on some more guesses.

Struth! Another one you've got HP!!! (Don't tell Jim! :D)

I agree about humour in music. So much seems heavily deliberate. I've had this album since '94 and haven't got tired of it yet.

MG

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Track 12 - Now THIS is singing...wow. This is fantastic...the singer has incredible control and a great, emotional delivery. In fact everything is just about perfect here. Excellent flute playing and superb support from the rhythm section. The bass player is taking a page from the Ron Carter playbook.

No he's not :D

It's Ron himself.

Glad you enjoyed so much of that.

MG

Haha! I wondered that but was afraid to make a more definitive guess, Should have just gone for it. :)

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A couple of quick comments.

I don't get around much but you have presented the most unusual takes on St. Louis Blues and Stardust I've heard. Enjoyed them both.

For my taste, track 13 is one of the better things I've heard on a BFT. Good piano and way beyond good clarinet. For some reason, maybe the tune, it made me think of Louis Armstrong's W.C. Handy album. Hopefully someone has or will soon ID this track. I don't want to wait till the end of the month to find out who this is.

Ok, one more comment. The into to track 15 is one of the funniest things I've heard all week.

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A couple of quick comments.

I don't get around much but you have presented the most unusual takes on St. Louis Blues and Stardust I've heard. Enjoyed them both.

They killed me when I heard them first.

For my taste, track 13 is one of the better things I've heard on a BFT. Good piano and way beyond good clarinet. For some reason, maybe the tune, it made me think of Louis Armstrong's W.C. Handy album. Hopefully someone has or will soon ID this track. I don't want to wait till the end of the month to find out who this is.

The tune was in Armstrong's WC Handy album. I hope someone gets it, but I somehow think maybe not.

Ok, one more comment. The into to track 15 is one of the funniest things I've heard all week.

Yeah!

Three of those have been identified, so...

MG

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I don't understand the comments that track #7 is an adaptation of "Now's The Time". Both are 12-bar blues in terms of their chord structure, but so are about 37 million (just a guess ;)) other songs. I don't hear anything here- not even a riff- that sounds like it came from NTT. The saxes basically just open with a simple vamp, and the trumpet plays the only thing close to a melodic "head". It's also very simple and familiar, but I'm not sure it has a direct link back to an actual song title.

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I don't understand the comments that track #7 is an adaptation of "Now's The Time". Both are 12-bar blues in terms of their chord structure, but so are about 37 million (just a guess ;)) other songs. I don't hear anything here- not even a riff- that sounds like it came from NTT. The saxes basically just open with a simple vamp, and the trumpet plays the only thing close to a melodic "head". It's also very simple and familiar, but I'm not sure it has a direct link back to an actual song title.

Well, sounded like 'Now's the time' to me, too.

It's certain that when different people listen to the same music, they hear different things about it.

MG

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Wow indeed! I see this from time to time but never had any inclination to pick it up until now!


4. A minor blues with a hip little structural twist. I couldn't place the tune, although it sounded familiar, but I know this guitar player when I hear him. What a great solo. It's brief, but he made the most of it, as he always does. He may be my all-time favorite guitar player, and I consider him to be one of the most under-rated and under-appreciated players of all time. So, once I knew who the guitarist was, it didn't take me long to realize that I own this track, which is this: http://www.radioswissjazz.ch/cgi-bin/pip/html.cgi?lang=en&m=songinfo&v=fs&sid=2253fbbd7255e3c9177b2483c5435d884301

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I was thinking of a bonus disc BFT from many years ago, and remembered thinking this sounded exactly like "The Hucklebuck," but that my guess was wrong and the correct answer was "Now's the Time." I was too tired to look it up the other night, but now that I'm wide awake, I went on a hunt to see if I was just imagining things. Turns out, my memory wasn't as faulty as I thought, and someone else heard the same thing I did. It was the bonus disc to RDK's BFT #11, and he lined up three consecutive tracks as follows:

3. “Now’s the Time” Charlie Parker
4. “D-Natural Blues” Lucky Millinder
5. “The Hucklebuck” Roy Milton

RDK then had this to say:
"More famously, pretty much the same tune as “D-Natural Blues” and “Now’s the Time.” wink.gifA famous court case at the time ruled that both “D-Natural Blues” and “Hucklebuck” could exist with separate titles, composer credits, and publishers. A lot of people say that “Hucklebuck” ripped off Bird, but “Hucklebuck” was derived from “D-Natural Blues,” which was written and first recorded way back in 1928. Go figure… "

How it's possible I can remember something like this from years ago, yet on a daily basis can't remember where I put my car keys (this is even more embarrassing when the keys are in my hand), I'll never know!

I don't understand the comments that track #7 is an adaptation of "Now's The Time". Both are 12-bar blues in terms of their chord structure, but so are about 37 million (just a guess ;)) other songs. I don't hear anything here- not even a riff- that sounds like it came from NTT. The saxes basically just open with a simple vamp, and the trumpet plays the only thing close to a melodic "head". It's also very simple and familiar, but I'm not sure it has a direct link back to an actual song title.

Well, sounded like 'Now's the time' to me, too.

It's certain that when different people listen to the same music, they hear different things about it.

MG

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Regarding #7... yeah, whenever the subject of a tune resembling NTT arises, "The Hucklebuck" is always the first thing that comes to my mind (I guess I'm less familiar with the Millinder tune, although I know I've heard it- if only on Ray's bft). Anyway, I re-listened to The Hucklebuck too (even though I know it well), and... I don't hear any melodic resemblance there, either. :) As I said, the common blues structure is characteristic of all of these, and the rhythm and tempo are similar, but I still wouldn't draw a direct link between track 7 and these tunes other than the obvious factors I just listed, which are common to many tunes. Suggesting an "adaptation" of NTT just seems off base, imo.

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Finally able to come up for air, at least for a few minutes...forgive me if I get kind of maybe more stream of semi-consciousness than usual tonight...the facts and disclaimers facts and disclaimers firmly in place, here we go!

TRACK ONE - Gotta be Charlie Shavers.on "Stardust". Charlie Shavers was one of the first jazz musicians I knowingly head, on the Lionel Hampton Just Jazz Star Dust 10" LP (all thanks be to the late Buzz Messner for bringing his records to school for his band students peruse more or less at will). I later learned of Shavers' bad taste and show-offiness, but not until it became too late for that to just not matter to me, nope, sorry, yeah, but no. Charlie Shavers was one badass trumpet player, period. He was A BOSS.

TRACK TWO - Red Fever-Clay? Not Freddie, but somebody who loved him, for sure (and how not to, void replaced by..what? Nothing? Yep). Tenor player, cool. No space in him or the trumpet, but it's not first-gen anyway, so..let it be what it will be and appreciate it for that (at least tonight...). Everybody sounds familiar, almost UK-ish in a way, and I do like the drummer, although he's no different from the other people here, really, but he does put me in mind of Billy Cobham for some reason. Two bassists? Or just extra strings and/or fingers at first? Stanley Clarke? This is one of those things where if I play Serious Life (or your DEATH) Listener, then I get all persnickety, but I find myself doing that less and less these days, and...WTF? TROMBONE? Well cool, let's do THAT, then! Hey, it's got spunk. Unlike Lou Grant, I rather like spunk.

TRACK THREE - No idea, but where does the cowbell go once the organ comes in? And every time I start to think I'm going to hear a transition from the vernacular to cliche, I'm pleasantly denied. Oh, the timbalero probably had the cowbell, so that's where it goes. Nothing really "fresh" here, but damn groove. Groove FTW, at least here.Now tell me thsi - who is the bass player. THAT'S the MVP!

TRACK FOUR - If I don't have this record, I should.My bad if I don't.

TRACK FIVE - This is some kind of DJ-ness, right? No way you get that feel just like that with real players in real time, especially the way the reverb just DIES as soon as it begins to start. Not unless everybody was making the same mistakes the same way every time. And if they were, ok, do it like that NEXT time. Just try. And if so, ok, then, yes, WAY, and welcome to the future before most everybody else go there! Or is it South African?

TRACK SIX - Johnny Beecher? Johnny Beecher could PLAY! And serious - tenor players of all stripes, take a lesson about knowing how to make the instrument speak clearly and consistently no matter in what range. Some serious schooling here. And god love the bari player. I used to hear records like this and think, hey, bari player, easy gig. Nooooooooo! Not if you do it right!

TRACK SEVEN - Coral Rock Takes An Intermission Riff And Licks Your Father's Mustache? And god love the bari player. I used to hear records like this and think, hey, bari player, easy gig. Nooooooooo! Not if you do it right! Not one of those Leo Parker R&B 78s, is it?

TRACK EIGHT - Sounds like an early-ish digital recording...that circular breathing trumpet sounds like Jimmy Owens, that was his schtick back in the day, so, is this from his Polydor side the one with a wee bit o' Billy Harper? So much for early-ish digital if so, but not, if not. Bass goes out of tune on the fade, Ron Carter? No, but, see this is what happens once precedent is set. Boom goes the dynamite! I could almost see this being Dr. John, to be honest.

TRACK NINE - Arthur Prysock? A very old Arthur Prysock? How about that guy, eh? Who's told the Arthur Prysock story, and would it be believed anyways? Or more to the point -who among us would have the frame of reference to know whether or not to believe it? Good luck on that one. That song should be sadder than it is, but then again, maybe that's the point, that this story is so sad that sadness is cheap, just too damn easy? I don't know.

TRACK TEN - What cartoon is this from. JK! LOL! It's from a cartoon called LIFE (AND ALL THAT IMPLIES). I've not yet seen it, at least not in this form, but somebody call me a cab, I gotta train to catch, and hey, nice ass!

TRACK ELEVEN - Jeez, I thought those opening notes were plunger trumpet from an old 78 (and he's saying Goodbye, but we all know there is no goodbye, ever, not in this song). "I'm A Fool To Want You", great tune. Sinatra = Soul when it gets here (yes, it does), and enough soul for it to get to Illinois, even with a Donkey Serenade quote by Milt Buckner (and how about that guy, eh? Who's told the Milt Buckner story, and would it be believed anyways? Or more to the point -who among us would have the frame of reference to know whether or not to believe it? Good luck on that one, too.). Favorite Illinois Jacquet story, the one where some sideman goes to collect wages and Illinois has got this buttload full of cashmoney all over his bed and says just LOOK at all this money! in half total disbelief and half I AM GOD NOW mode, so yeah, three you go, and here you go. Great music.Illinois fianlly got it figured out, and I don't knwo that Milt Buckner never not had it figured out.

TRACK TWELVE - Oh shit, that's beautiful...brings tears to my eyes...just beautiful...like a post-liberation Billy Eckstine, and geez, how many ways can that be (and should have been, but life is not fair) beautiful? They almost lsot be in the double-time, but only almost.

TRACK THIRTEEN - I was bored, and then the modulation sounded like a Jimmy Jones WTF? but no, just something else of the same. OTOH, not don byron, and none the worse because of it. I think it's some W.C. Handy tune that I should have already known well enough to have forgotten but instead have just forgotten. Oh well, every hard drive needs some space cleared and files deleted, even before it crashes.

TRACK FOURTEEN - My favorite version of this great, great song (which I first got hipped to as a real song and not a Bobby Vinton POS by a sweet Houston Person version from late-70s(?)), bar none, is by The Moonglows. This is The Clovers (another great group indeed)...sweet turnaround, skillful singing, but the "bouncy" feel and the evenness of the phrasing works against the float, and when this tune floats is when it gets there, imo only, of course. Please bear indulge me some Moonglows (and...accordion? Really? WTF and not even Jimmy Jones!), even through The Clovers did it before them (The Moonglows are IT for me, unabashedly and unapologetically):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJsyVXgG6GI

TRACK FIFTEEN - The poor guy couldn't get over Ethel, could he?

BONUS TRAX

  • TRACK B01 - Oh, yeah, right. Let's get real about this subject: http://www.sosuave.com/articles/aoa/evilwomen.htm
  • TRACK B02 - Too many memories? No, too many backgrounds. Paying for horns does not mean that they need to play every damn second to earn their keep. Hell, the tenor player gets more breathing room than does the singer, which, ok, passive-agressive misogysingery (and oh yeah, we all might feel the pain, but that doesn't make it right, must less justify a lifestyle), but still, you gonna beat the woman down one way or the other, it seems, and that shit might work for a little while, but sooner or later boom GOES here dynamite, and you can't say you weren't warned not to write all that shit just to be doing it, ok?

Very nice, Allan, very nice. Sorry I couldn't get to it right away, but..well worth the wait, for real.

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Very glad you could spare the time at the moment Jim, thanks.

Finally able to come up for air, at least for a few minutes...forgive me if I get kind of maybe more stream of semi-consciousness than usual tonight...the facts and disclaimers facts and disclaimers firmly in place, here we go!

TRACK ONE - Gotta be Charlie Shavers.on "Stardust". Charlie Shavers was one of the first jazz musicians I knowingly head, on the Lionel Hampton Just Jazz Star Dust 10" LP (all thanks be to the late Buzz Messner for bringing his records to school for his band students peruse more or less at will). I later learned of Shavers' bad taste and show-offiness, but not until it became too late for that to just not matter to me, nope, sorry, yeah, but no. Charlie Shavers was one badass trumpet player, period. He was A BOSS.

Nope. Hot Ptah got this one. One ofthe unsung geniuses of R&B.

TRACK TWO - Red Fever-Clay? Not Freddie, but somebody who loved him, for sure (and how not to, void replaced by..what? Nothing? Yep). Tenor player, cool. No space in him or the trumpet, but it's not first-gen anyway, so..let it be what it will be and appreciate it for that (at least tonight...). Everybody sounds familiar, almost UK-ish in a way, and I do like the drummer, although he's no different from the other people here, really, but he does put me in mind of Billy Cobham for some reason. Two bassists? Or just extra strings and/or fingers at first? Stanley Clarke? This is one of those things where if I play Serious Life (or your DEATH) Listener, then I get all persnickety, but I find myself doing that less and less these days, and...WTF? TROMBONE? Well cool, let's do THAT, then! Hey, it's got spunk. Unlike Lou Grant, I rather like spunk.

You're not the only one to think of Freddie Hubbard. The bass player (only 1 with lots of fingers) isn't Clarke. If you don't know this, I don't reckon anyone will, so surprises in the reveal.

TRACK THREE - No idea, but where does the cowbell go once the organ comes in? And every time I start to think I'm going to hear a transition from the vernacular to cliche, I'm pleasantly denied. Oh, the timbalero probably had the cowbell, so that's where it goes. Nothing really "fresh" here, but damn groove. Groove FTW, at least here.Now tell me thsi - who is the bass player. THAT'S the MVP!

Watch everyone's face when Mike Weil comes in :) What's FTW? WTF backwards? And MVP?

TRACK FOUR - If I don't have this record, I should.My bad if I don't.

I expect you do. Jim R got this one.

TRACK FIVE - This is some kind of DJ-ness, right? No way you get that feel just like that with real players in real time, especially the way the reverb just DIES as soon as it begins to start. Not unless everybody was making the same mistakes the same way every time. And if they were, ok, do it like that NEXT time. Just try. And if so, ok, then, yes, WAY, and welcome to the future before most everybody else go there! Or is it South African?

Yep, South African. Surprised Dan didn't cotton on :)

TRACK SIX - Johnny Beecher? Johnny Beecher could PLAY! And serious - tenor players of all stripes, take a lesson about knowing how to make the instrument speak clearly and consistently no matter in what range. Some serious schooling here. And god love the bari player. I used to hear records like this and think, hey, bari player, easy gig. Nooooooooo! Not if you do it right!

Not Plas. You'll really dig the answer.

TRACK SEVEN - Coral Rock Takes An Intermission Riff And Licks Your Father's Mustache? And god love the bari player. I used to hear records like this and think, hey, bari player, easy gig. Nooooooooo! Not if you do it right! Not one of those Leo Parker R&B 78s, is it?

Not Leo. But the period's right, of course.

TRACK EIGHT - Sounds like an early-ish digital recording...that circular breathing trumpet sounds like Jimmy Owens, that was his schtick back in the day, so, is this from his Polydor side the one with a wee bit o' Billy Harper? So much for early-ish digital if so, but not, if not. Bass goes out of tune on the fade, Ron Carter? No, but, see this is what happens once precedent is set. Boom goes the dynamite! I could almost see this being Dr. John, to be honest.

Yes, it's Jimmy Owens. Thought you'd get him. Don't think you'll get the leader, and it ain't Dr John. Oh, it's not Ron Carter either.

MG

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Part 2

TRACK NINE - Arthur Prysock? A very old Arthur Prysock? How about that guy, eh? Who's told the Arthur Prysock story, and would it be believed anyways? Or more to the point -who among us would have the frame of reference to know whether or not to believe it? Good luck on that one. That song should be sadder than it is, but then again, maybe that's the point, that this story is so sad that sadness is cheap, just too damn easy? I don't know.

Yes, Arthur. That's the thing about a sad story. Even happy blues are about sad stories. Arthur is one of my favourites.

TRACK TEN - What cartoon is this from. JK! LOL! It's from a cartoon called LIFE (AND ALL THAT IMPLIES). I've not yet seen it, at least not in this form, but somebody call me a cab, I gotta train to catch, and hey, nice ass!

Yes, it's Cab. Amazed it's on You Tube.

TRACK ELEVEN - Jeez, I thought those opening notes were plunger trumpet from an old 78 (and he's saying Goodbye, but we all know there is no goodbye, ever, not in this song). "I'm A Fool To Want You", great tune. Sinatra = Soul when it gets here (yes, it does), and enough soul for it to get to Illinois, even with a Donkey Serenade quote by Milt Buckner (and how about that guy, eh? Who's told the Milt Buckner story, and would it be believed anyways? Or more to the point -who among us would have the frame of reference to know whether or not to believe it? Good luck on that one, too.). Favorite Illinois Jacquet story, the one where some sideman goes to collect wages and Illinois has got this buttload full of cashmoney all over his bed and says just LOOK at all this money! in half total disbelief and half I AM GOD NOW mode, so yeah, three you go, and here you go. Great music.Illinois fianlly got it figured out, and I don't knwo that Milt Buckner never not had it figured out.

Yes, Illinois and Milt. Have you got this album?

TRACK TWELVE - Oh shit, that's beautiful...brings tears to my eyes...just beautiful...like a post-liberation Billy Eckstine, and geez, how many ways can that be (and should have been, but life is not fair) beautiful? They almost lsot be in the double-time, but only almost.

TRACK THIRTEEN - I was bored, and then the modulation sounded like a Jimmy Jones WTF? but no, just something else of the same. OTOH, not don byron, and none the worse because of it. I think it's some W.C. Handy tune that I should have already known well enough to have forgotten but instead have just forgotten. Oh well, every hard drive needs some space cleared and files deleted, even before it crashes.

Yes, another Handy tune.

TRACK FOURTEEN - My favorite version of this great, great song (which I first got hipped to as a real song and not a Bobby Vinton POS by a sweet Houston Person version from late-70s(?)), bar none, is by The Moonglows. This is The Clovers (another great group indeed)...sweet turnaround, skillful singing, but the "bouncy" feel and the evenness of the phrasing works against the float, and when this tune floats is when it gets there, imo only, of course. Please bear indulge me some Moonglows (and...accordion? Really? WTF and not even Jimmy Jones!), even through The Clovers did it before them (The Moonglows are IT for me, unabashedly and unapologetically):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJsyVXgG6GI

Thoughts on the tenor player, Jim? Authorities are divided as to who it is.

TRACK FIFTEEN - The poor guy couldn't get over Ethel, could he?

Not Ethel Ennis :D

BONUS TRAX

  • TRACK B01 - Oh, yeah, right. Let's get real about this subject: http://www.sosuave.com/articles/aoa/evilwomen.htm
  • TRACK B02 - Too many memories? No, too many backgrounds. Paying for horns does not mean that they need to play every damn second to earn their keep. Hell, the tenor player gets more breathing room than does the singer, which, ok, passive-agressive misogysingery (and oh yeah, we all might feel the pain, but that doesn't make it right, must less justify a lifestyle), but still, you gonna beat the woman down one way or the other, it seems, and that shit might work for a little while, but sooner or later boom GOES here dynamite, and you can't say you weren't warned not to write all that shit just to be doing it, ok?

Very nice, Allan, very nice. Sorry I couldn't get to it right away, but..well worth the wait, for real.

Glad you enjoyed it Jim.

Oh, MVP - Miles Vows to Practise?

MG

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Most Valuable Player

& FTW = For the Win

The true story of Ethel

Oh, well, the MVP on #3 is actually unknown :)

There used to be a column in the Record Mirror in '62-'63 called 'Great unknowns' - I recall Marvin Gaye being in there in '63 (!) but he hadn't had any hits in the UK then (no Motown hits at all 'til '64). Anyway, this guy's one of them.

MG

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Re tenor on #12, I don't really hear Sam The Man or Gator. They're not the only two guys Atlantic used...didn't Budd Johnson get in on some things? This sounds more like Budd than either of those two, although I';ll not jump and say that it "sounds like Budd".



Most Valuable Player

& FTW = For the Win

The true story of Ethel

Oh, well, the MVP on #3 is actually unknown :)

There used to be a column in the Record Mirror in '62-'63 called 'Great unknowns' - I recall Marvin Gaye being in there in '63 (!) but he hadn't had any hits in the UK then (no Motown hits at all 'til '64). Anyway, this guy's one of them.

MG

Lloyd G. Mayes?

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Re tenor on #12, I don't really hear Sam The Man or Gator. They're not the only two guys Atlantic used...didn't Budd Johnson get in on some things? This sounds more like Budd than either of those two, although I';ll not jump and say that it "sounds like Budd".

Most Valuable Player

& FTW = For the Win

Oh, well, the MVP on #3 is actually unknown :)

There used to be a column in the Record Mirror in '62-'63 called 'Great unknowns' - I recall Marvin Gaye being in there in '63 (!) but he hadn't had any hits in the UK then (no Motown hits at all 'til '64). Anyway, this guy's one of them.

MG

Lloyd G. Mayes?

Don't know. Really.

Yes, Budd did a lot of sessions. Not sure how much he did for Atlantic. Have to check.

Have you recognised the tune on #5 yet? I'm certain you have at least two versions of it. It's part of the story.

MG

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Very interesting BFT, as one would expect from The Magnificent One. As you'll be able to tell, I liked some tracks more than others, but I didn't hate anything. I was only able to identify a couple of artists, with a couple of more guesses.

1. Sounds like Charlie Shavers to me. This “Stardust” was fun, rather than heartfelt. The soloist was showing off, playing for effect rather than for depth. Nothing wrong with that – like I said, it was fun.

2. This was okay. Everyone was good, particularly the tenor player and the pianist. I don’t know why I didn’t like it more – I think that there was a sense of predictability that put me off; I felt like I knew what the soloists were going to play before they got there. And I would have preferred a drummer who mixed things up a little more, instead of coming down hard and two and four throughout.

3. Okay, this is weird and cool. The somewhat old-fashioned organ sound reminds me of Milt Buckner, but I really don’t know who it is. Some fine timbale playing later. Good stuff!

4. I like this one (although I hate the stereo separation). Nice, unassuming solos by everyone. The tenor player sounds the most familiar to me, but I can’t place who it is.

5. Well, the soloists are pretty good. The drummer is annoying to me, and I’m not crazy about the tune – it has an air of, “Hey, let’s play a jazz waltz!” (While I was wondering if I was being too hard on the drummer, his fills on the out chorus made me want to shoot him.)

6. Nice! The chords coming out of the bridge are pretty hip. I’m kind of sick of “Misty,” but I enjoyed hearing this.

7. The drummer’s kind of relentless, but otherwise, this is a joy to hear. You get the impression that these guys could play everything from the most basic R & B to the most advanced bop – or mix it up, like they do hear.

8. I kept waiting for something to happen, but not much did. I did like the organ chorus when it finally happened. Check out that distorted bass sound – that, I liked!

9. The vocal would probably be fun to hear in a club, but it doesn’t do much for me on repeated hearings. Some excellent tenor playing, though, by someone I probably should recognize, but don’t.

10. A young Cab Calloway doing “St. Louis Blues.” It’s so early that at first I thought it was Billy Banks – I wonder which way the influence went. This is a hoot. Is it the Missourians, or had Cab taken over the band by then?

11. The tenor player’s opening phrase gave me chills – “I’m a fool to want you.” Really beautiful playing here. I had a few guesses, but I’ll spare myself the embarrassment….

12. I’m weird, I guess; I respond more to instrumental music than to vocals. But this is beautiful. I particularly like the piano player’s accompaniment, both to the vocal and to the excellent flute solo.

13. Hmmm…. Something’s out of whack here. The clarinet player is trying to play a style older and less sophisticated than he is. It sounds like someone more or less trying to play like an old New Orleans guy, but it’s not, I’m pretty sure. It feels very artificial to me. I like the idea of playing “Memphis Blues” this slow, though.

14. Nice! “Blue Velvet” by the Clovers. Great saxophone playing – is it Budd Johnson? A delicious pop record.

15. More or less the same reaction as I had on track 9. I wanted to like the organ solo, but he (or she) just skated over the wonderful chord changes with blues licks. “You’ve Changed” is a great song, and deserves better than that.

Bonus track 1. More raw jazz/blues/R & B. That piano has seen better days, but it fits the mood of the song. Nice vocal – not spectacular, but nice.

Bonus track 2. Sounds kind of like Alice Roberts, who sang with Dizzy Gillespie’s big band in the mid 1940s. I like the trumpet obligato a lot. Something about the lyrics makes me think of those blues Leonard Feather wrote in the forties. Good one to end on!

Thanks - that was fun. Now to read this thread and see how embarrassed I should be.

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And for what it's worth, Budd Johnson did at least some recording for Atlantic. I've got a Budd Johnson Atlantic 78 recorded a few months before the Clovers record.

Oh, that's interesting. Well, I wouldn't say no to Budd then.

First of all, I never would have guessed Dave Bartholomew on "Stardust." And I thought I could recognize him any time!

I thought you'd get this straight off.

MG

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Very interesting BFT, as one would expect from The Magnificent One. As you'll be able to tell, I liked some tracks more than others, but I didn't hate anything. I was only able to identify a couple of artists, with a couple of more guesses.

1. Sounds like Charlie Shavers to me. This “Stardust” was fun, rather than heartfelt. The soloist was showing off, playing for effect rather than for depth. Nothing wrong with that – like I said, it was fun.

You've seen who it is, now. This was Bartholemew's first session. Kind of understandable that he'd want to show off.

2. This was okay. Everyone was good, particularly the tenor player and the pianist. I don’t know why I didn’t like it more – I think that there was a sense of predictability that put me off; I felt like I knew what the soloists were going to play before they got there. And I would have preferred a drummer who mixed things up a little more, instead of coming down hard and two and four throughout.

3. Okay, this is weird and cool. The somewhat old-fashioned organ sound reminds me of Milt Buckner, but I really don’t know who it is. Some fine timbale playing later. Good stuff!

Not Milt Buckner.

4. I like this one (although I hate the stereo separation). Nice, unassuming solos by everyone. The tenor player sounds the most familiar to me, but I can’t place who it is.

5. Well, the soloists are pretty good. The drummer is annoying to me, and I’m not crazy about the tune – it has an air of, “Hey, let’s play a jazz waltz!” (While I was wondering if I was being too hard on the drummer, his fills on the out chorus made me want to shoot him.)

No one's identified the tune and I doubt if you'd have any versions in your collection (though I don't know). But it's well known in concentric circles :)

6. Nice! The chords coming out of the bridge are pretty hip. I’m kind of sick of “Misty,” but I enjoyed hearing this.

7. The drummer’s kind of relentless, but otherwise, this is a joy to hear. You get the impression that these guys could play everything from the most basic R & B to the most advanced bop – or mix it up, like they do hear.

8. I kept waiting for something to happen, but not much did. I did like the organ chorus when it finally happened. Check out that distorted bass sound – that, I liked!

9. The vocal would probably be fun to hear in a club, but it doesn’t do much for me on repeated hearings. Some excellent tenor playing, though, by someone I probably should recognize, but don’t.

Yes, you should - he was on a recent BFT :)

10. A young Cab Calloway doing “St. Louis Blues.” It’s so early that at first I thought it was Billy Banks – I wonder which way the influence went. This is a hoot. Is it the Missourians, or had Cab taken over the band by then?

Well, it's Cab's first session, with the Missourians, but I believe he'd already taken them over.

11. The tenor player’s opening phrase gave me chills – “I’m a fool to want you.” Really beautiful playing here. I had a few guesses, but I’ll spare myself the embarrassment….

12. I’m weird, I guess; I respond more to instrumental music than to vocals. But this is beautiful. I particularly like the piano player’s accompaniment, both to the vocal and to the excellent flute solo.

13. Hmmm…. Something’s out of whack here. The clarinet player is trying to play a style older and less sophisticated than he is. It sounds like someone more or less trying to play like an old New Orleans guy, but it’s not, I’m pretty sure. It feels very artificial to me. I like the idea of playing “Memphis Blues” this slow, though.

Wait for the reveal, Jeff :)

14. Nice! “Blue Velvet” by the Clovers. Great saxophone playing – is it Budd Johnson? A delicious pop record.

15. More or less the same reaction as I had on track 9. I wanted to like the organ solo, but he (or she) just skated over the wonderful chord changes with blues licks. “You’ve Changed” is a great song, and deserves better than that.

Bonus track 1. More raw jazz/blues/R & B. That piano has seen better days, but it fits the mood of the song. Nice vocal – not spectacular, but nice.

Bonus track 2. Sounds kind of like Alice Roberts, who sang with Dizzy Gillespie’s big band in the mid 1940s. I like the trumpet obligato a lot. Something about the lyrics makes me think of those blues Leonard Feather wrote in the forties. Good one to end on!

It's not Alice Roberts, but there is a Dizzy Gillespie connection; rather indirect, though. Now you mention it, it is a bit like a Feather song - much of the same feel as 'Signing off'.

Thanks - that was fun. Now to read this thread and see how embarrassed I should be.

Glad you liked at least some. And I'm glad I fooled you with Dave Bartholemew :D

MG

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