BFT 110 Reveal

[jeffcrom]

I think BFT 110 has run its course, and BFT 111 is already in full swing, so I'm going to go ahead and post the reveal, although all but one track has been identified. (And although I admire MG's use of the more proper "revelation" instead of "reveal," I've come to accept the nounification of "reveal.")

1. Ira Sullivan - That's Earl, Brother, from Ira Sullivan (Flying Fish). Ira Sullivan - trumpet; Simon Salz - guitar; Jodie Christian - piano; Dan Shapera - bass; Wilbur Campbell - drums; recorded in Chicago, October 11 or 20, 1977. Produced by Chuck Nessa.

As Chuck has mentioned elsewhere, the folk label Flying Fish tried branching out into jazz with this one record, and it's one of Ira Sullivan's finest - maybe his best. The guitarist, the late Simon Salz, was universally panned by all the BFT listeners. He was a Sullivan student/protege who came up from Florida for these sessions with Ira. According to Chuck, his solos were intended to be "placeholders" - the plan was that Sullivan was going to return to the studio and overdub saxophone solos in place of the guitar solos. For one reason or another, the overdubs never happened, and Mr. Salz is immortalized on this fine album.

2. Mary Lou Williams - Monk's Mood/The Bebop Waltz, from The Circle Recordings (Progressive). Recorded in New York, 1951. These two tunes fell right in the middle of a seven-part medley, probably intended for one side of a 10" LP, but not released until 2006, on this CD from the George Buck/Jazzology group of labels. These early recordings of pieces by two great modern jazz composers, Monk and Herbie Nichols, fascinate me. According to the liner notes, manuscript copies of both ot these pieces, in the composers' hands, were found among Williams' papers. This very interesting album by the ever-searching Mary Lou includes piano solos, trios, small groups, and even the Dave Lambert singers on a few tracks.

3. The New Orleans Wanderers - Perdido Street Blues, from Johnny Dodds 1926-1928 (JSP). Johnny Dodds - clarinet; George Mitchell - trumpet; Kid Ory - trombone; Lil Armstrong - piano; Johnny St. Cyr - banjo; recorded in Chicago, July 13, 1926. Some of you responded to this one positively, in spite of not really being "early jazz guys." I love Dodds' strong, passionate playing here. I took it from the JSP CD, which collects all the New Orleans Wanderers, Footwarmers, Dodds' Black Bottom Stompers, and Chicago Footwarmers tracks, but it should be available on various Dodds collections.

4. Tin Roof Blues, from The Right-To-Profit State and All That Jazz (Louisiana Department of Commerce and Industry). Alvin Alcorn - trumpet; Jack Delaney - trombone; Harry Shields - clarinet; Armand Hug - piano; Danny Barker - guitar; Chester Zardis - bass; Louis Barbarin - drums; recorded in New Orleans, December, 1967. Produced by Al Rose. This is a wonderful, never-reissued LP with an odd provenance; it was the first of four promotional albums issued by the Louisiana Department of Commerce and Industry to attract business to the state. The liner notes are half about the music and half about the Assessment of Industrial Properties Amendment, the Tax Credits for Industrial Natural Gas Users Amendment, etc. Blue Lu Barker also sings on one track of the album. Back in the 1990s, I visited Danny and Blue Lu at their home on Sere Street in New Orleans. I mentioned how much I liked this album, and Lu told me that she only sang one song because she had to leave the session early to sign the closing papers on that house.

But the real reason I included this track is the searing clarinet playing of Harry Shields, the brother of Original Dixieland Jazz Band clarinetist Larry Shields, and an unsung hero of New Orleans jazz. When I first heard this solo, it just about took the top of my head off. Shields recorded one session in New Orleans in 1925, and recorded frequently after 1950. If you can't track down this album, you should be able to find CDs he plays on. He recorded frequently with George Girard, and Girard's three tracks on the Good Time Jazz collection Recorded in New Orleans Vol. 1 are probably Shields' easiest-to-find recordings. He's also very good on Journey Into Jazz on Jazzology; Danny and Blue Lu Barker are also on that one, as well as the great bassist Chester Zardis.

5. David Krakauer - Klezdrix, from A New Hot One (Label Bleu). David Krakauer - clarinet; Mark Stewart - guitar; Ted Reichman - accordion; Nicky Parrott - bass; Kevin Norton - drums; recorded in New York, February, 2000. This is Krakauer's arrangement of the traditional "Der Glatter Bulgar." It's such a hot, exciting recording that I find it irresistible. Most of you didn't agree. Some of you couldn't get past the klezmer aspect, and some of you just hated it.

6. Charles Earland - Key Club Cookout, from Living Black! (Prestige). Charles Earland - organ; Gary Chandler - trumpet; Grover Washington, Jr. - tenor sax; Maynard Parker - guitar; Jesse Kilpatrick - drums; Buddy Caldwell - conga; recorded at the Key Club, Newark, September 17, 1970. I was impressed with how many of you immediately recognized Earland. I included this for his hot playing, and for the chance to hear young Grover Washington in a straight-ahead context.

7. Claude Thornhill and His Orchestra - Sunday Drivin', from The Uncollected Claude Thornhill (Hindsight). The song is interesting, the words are cute, and the singer (Gene Williams) isn't very memorable. But the Gil Evans arrangement is brilliant, in my opinion - full of unusual, original touches. This is one of Lee Konitz's earliest recorded solos, and he's already totally original, if not fully developed yet. Nobody mentioned the short trumpet solo - I think it's by Red Rodney, who was in the band around this time.

Part two to come.

Edited May 30, 2013 by jeffcrom

[jeffcrom]

Okay, part two:

8. Bunky Green - East & West, from Places We've Never Been (Vanguard). Bunky Green - alto sax; Randy Brecker - trumpet; Albert Dailey - piano; Eddie Gomez - bass; Freddie Waits - drums; recorded in New York, February, 1979. This is the one that stumped everybody, and almost everyone like it. This album blew me away when I heard it, and it started me on a Bunky Green jag from which I have not yet recovered. Vanguard wanted, inexplicably, to turn Bunky into a pop-jazz saxophonist, so his first two Vanguard albums are full of 1970s pop hits like "The Greatest Love of All" and "Alone Again (Naturally)." But Bunky made sure his contract was written so that he would make two albums to Vanguard's liking and one however he wanted to. This third Vanguard album seems to have been barely distributed; it hasn't been released on CD, but it is available as a (legal) download. It's fabulous, as is everything Bunky has done since.

9. Bob Moses - Smoke Gets In Your Eyes, from Love Animal (Mozown); Bob Moses - drums; Jim Pepper - tenor sax; Keith Jarrett - piano; Steve Swallow - bass; recorded in New York, 1967-68. Love Animal is all over the place, with this standard, some free jazz, and some rock and funk. (Larry Coryell also plays on the album.) It wasn't released at the time, and the CD sounds like it was mastered from a second-generation tape copy. A lot of it is dated and forgettable, but I was taken with this track, with Pepper's muscular tenor and Jarrett's really beautiful piano.

10. Budd Johnson - Off Shore, from an Atlantic 78; Budd Johnson - alto sax; Lawrence Kayes - organ; Hank Jones - piano; Mickey Baker - guitar; Lloyd Trotman - bass; Panama Francis - drums; recorded in New York, November 5, 1953. I didn't expect anyone to identify this, especially since Budd plays alto on this side. But I hadn't realized that Earl Bostic recorded this song, and of course MG would know that. It's just a nice little record; the flip side is "Don't Take Your Love From Me," with Budd more recognizable on tenor.

11. Marion Brown - Similar Limits, from Porto Novo (Black Lion). Marion Brown - alto sax; Maarten van Regteren Altena - bass; Han Bennink - drums; recorded in Holland, December 14, 1967. I loved the combination of Marion Brown, in his first maturity, with the wild Dutch rhythm section. Bennink was identified before Brown.

12. Danny Barker - Chocko Me Feendo Hey, from Baby Dodds Trio/Jazz a'la Creole (GHB). This track has already been thoroughly gone over in the discussion thread. I'll just say that I knew about Danny's Indian songs (recorded for his own King Zulu label) long before I heard them, that I've loved this track since finally finding it on a cassette at the Louisiana Music Factory years ago, and that Albert Nicholas' Creole songs (sung in French) from this album are equally excellent and "important." The Baby Dodds Trio tracks are very good, too.

13. Louis Armstrong - Dream a Little Dream of Me, from What a Wonderful World (Decca/GRP). Louis Armstrong - trumpet & vocal; Tyree Glenn - trombone; Joe Muranyi - clarinet; Marty Napoleon - piano; Art Ryerson - guitar; Buddy Catlett - bass; Danny Barcelona - drums; recorded in Las Vegas, July 23, 1968. Everybody liked this, of course - every detail of the vocal is just perfect - but nobody mentioned the short trumpet solo, which is the main reason I included this. I love this solo - to me, it's an example of how a genius plays trumpet when he is not longer physically able to play much trumpet. Every note is just right; every nuance and shading works. The little descending chromatic thing he plays at 2:04 gets me every time.

14. Jonathan and Darlene Edwards - Don't Get Around Much Anymore, from Jonathan and Darlene's Greatest Hits (Corinthian); originally issued on Jonathan Plays Fats/Darlene Remembers Duke. Jonathan and Darlene were the alter egos of Paul Weston and Jo Stafford. Weston and Stafford would entertain guests at parties with this kind of painful performance, and Jonathan and Darlene were born. They continued their innovative performances into the 1970s, at least - Jonathan invented the "disco rest," heard in their equally fine version of "Stayin' Alive."

So that's BFT 110. Thanks to all for listening and commenting.

[Joe]

8, 9 and 10... wow! Extremely happy to have all that info. And 12, too!

(BTW, I liked the Krakauer, though I'm surprised to learn this date appeared on Label Bleu and not Tzadik.)

[jeffcrom]

8, 9 and 10... wow! Extremely happy to have all that info. And 12, too!

(BTW, I liked the Krakauer, though I'm surprised to learn this date appeared on Label Bleu and not Tzadik.)

Some earlier Krakauer albums were indeed on Tzadik.

[JSngry]

Ah, Bunky. No wonder I heard Steve Coleman!

I have that LP, but only got it recently and have only preview-played it so far. Need to get into it a little deeper, obviously!

[NIS]

Thanks very much for the BFT, Jeff. Going to play it again knowing the IDs.

I think I will put track 4 on my upcoming BFT just to hear it again. That one and the Danny Barker in particular are just too good.

[Hot Ptah]

I liked this BFT from start to finish. The Bunky Green is a surprise. I need to check out more Bunky Green!

That Mary Lou Williams medley is so beautiful, and interesting. I am not aware of anything she ever released that was less than very good.

Very cool to hear the obscure #4, which I never would have been able to hear otherwise. Thanks for that one!

I have always liked all of the different kind of songs on #12. I was first introduced to that album on the HBO TV show "Treme". One of the main characters in the post-Katrina time period of the show, is a perpetually struggling local trombone player, Antoine Batiste. In one episode a short flashback is shown, to the time before Katrina. Antoine is in his very nice home of that time, and holds that LP jacket for awhile, before setting it down on top of something. The viewer realizes that Antoine was doing dramatically better before Katrina, and that it was the devastation of Katrina that ruined his life, which he never seems to be able to overcome. Anyway, the "Indian Red" song about the Mardi Gras Indians from that album is played in that episode. Between that song, and the unique LP cover, I had to find the album, and have enjoyed it ever since.

Edited May 31, 2013 by Hot Ptah

[webbcity]

Hey Jeff, thank you again for all of your efforts on this! Some terrific stuff here, and definitely a few folks I need to explore further.

[jeffcrom]

For those who were taken by track four, and who have a turntable, I came across a sealed copy of The Right to Work State and All That Jazz in Lincoln, Nebraska this past weekend. The store is Recycled Sounds; their email address is recycledsounds(at)hotmail(dot)com. If I remember correctly, the price was $12, and I got the impression that the store owner would be willing to ship it. I actually intended to pick it up to pass along to any interested member of the board, but the owner was an incessant talker, which drove me crazy and made me forget to go back and pick it up when I bought a few items for myself.