So, What Are You Listening To NOW?

[JSngry]

3 hours ago, Larry Kart said:

. (BTW, some of the Woods solo work on the Oliver Nelson Mosaic set is relatively  sober and quite good. In those instances, I suspect, the lucid complexity of Nelson's writing served as a guiding, restraining influence.

Woods also turns in some truly excellent lead playing on those sessions. The artistry of that part of his craft never left him. As for the soloing, it seems that after he repatriated, after he did the L.A. thing with the Pete Robinson band and it got cold-shouldered, perhaps that was his Pet Sounds or River Deep, Mountain High, some kind of bruise that he never got over. Seems like he realized that he was not going to be accepted as hip/forward thinking (and I think it was not so much that he thought he would be, just that he wanted to be given credit for making a serious and sincere effort to keep moving ahead instead of people saying hey Phil Woods, why are you playing all this weird electronic shit?), so he became kinda passive-aggressive retro-hipster, which certainly served him well in terms of stability and reputation of a certain sort, but geez, such a lead player, always! But the soloing...maybe there's a bitterness there that was being redirected so as not to appear as bitter as it was?

But yeah, Nelson touched a lot of people, both through his writing, his life, and woefully abrupt ending of all of that.

[Peter Friedman]

[danasgoodstuff]

8 hours ago, duaneiac said:

https://www.amazon.com/Second-Star-Right-Salute-Disney/dp/B0000281VF

[jazzbo]

CD from Warner Japan.

[paul secor]

Hawkins! Alive! At the Village Gate

[Marzz]

I'll join you, paul 

Coleman Hawkins - Soul

[paul secor]

Claude Hopkins: The Transcription Performances 1935 (Hep)

[soulpope]

Still caught in Copenhagen 1979 ....

[John Tapscott]

[jeffcrom]

Arne Domnerus - Best of Dompan (Amigo). A nice two-CD retrospective of the Swedish alto player / clarinetist's work from 1949 to 2004 that I picked up in Stockholm. A lot of the material veers into easy listening pop territory, but I'm really enjoying that stuff this morning.

[Buddha the Magnificent]

  

Billy Harper Quintet - Live on Tour in the Far East and Live on Tour in the Far East Vol 2 (SteepleChase, 1992 and 1993).  Billy Harper - tenor sax; Eddie Henderson - trumpet; Francesca Tanksley - piano; Louie Spears - bass; Newman Taylor Baker - drums.

 

[alankin]

Chico Hamilton – The Chico Hamilton Quintet with Strings Attached (Warner Bros. / Collectables)
— Chico Hamilton - drums, percussion; Eric Dolphy - alto saxophone, bass clarinet, flute; Nathan Gershman - cello; Dennis Budimir - guitar; Wyatt Ruther - bass; plus string section arranged and conducted by Fred Katz

[HutchFan]

Early Ellington: The Complete Brunswick And Vocalion Recordings Of Duke Ellington, 1926-1931 (GRP)

 

 

On 8/7/2017 at 9:03 AM, Larry Kart said:

The Oliver Nelson Mosaic set. Hesitated for years, finally took the leap a while back, and am glad I did. Not all solid gold and/or to everyone's taste, but the best of it -- in terms of writing and playing  (Nelson himself!) -- is superb. Insightful notes by veteran bari player and former Danny Bank student Kenny Berger (Bank more or less was Nelson's Harry Carney). The tale of Nelson's sudden death at age 43 from almost insanely conscientious overwork (when he went to Hollywood, unlike other composers of that milieu, he personally wrote out every note of his scores, used no orchestrators, copyists, etc.), plus undiagnosed pancreatitis and perhaps a previous undiagnosed bout of malaria that weakened his immune system, is a sad one.

Couldn't agree more with this assessment, Larry.  

I find the same is true of Gerald Wilson's Mosaic set.  The good stuff is just SO STRONG that it's "essential" -- even though some of the music in the latter part of the set is less-than-stellar.

Edited August 9, 2017 by HutchFan

[duaneiac]

[Peter Friedman]

[alankin]

Noël Akchoté – J'en Doute Encore (Stupeur & Trompette!)
— With Noël Akchoté: Guitar, Vocals, Objects; Pakito Bolino: Guitar, Vocals; Gilles Campaux: Drums, Vocals; Yves Miara: Guitar, Vocals;Jo Thirion: Vocals, Farfisa Organ; Maki: Guitar, Vocals;  Didier Roth: Guitar, Percussion, Vocals

 

[Morganized]

 

John Rae...vibes

Bobby Jaspar....flute

[alankin]

Uwe Kropinski – Berlin Concert Live (ITM) — solo acoustic guitars, percussion

 

[Buddha the Magnificent]

Kneebody - The Line (Concord, 2013).  Adam Benjamin - keyboards; Shane Endsley - trumpet; Ben Wendel - tenor sax; Kaveh Rastegar - bass; Nate Wood - drums.

[Peter Friedman]

I have long been reading criticisms of Phil Woods playing in the last 3 or 4 decades of his life  I have a very different point of view. While Woods playing changed a bit over the years as is the case for many musicians, Phil remained one of my favorite alto players up until his death. Woods knew how to swing, how to craft an interesting solo, and had  deep jazz roots that permeated his playing.

It now seems as if Pete Christlieb has become persona non gratis as a jazz player to some here. I consider Christlieb to be one of my very favorite living tenor players. I recall reading an interview with Warne Marsh in CODA Magazine where he called Christlieb one of the players saying more on tenor than anyone else. I stand with Warne. 

[soulpope]

2 hours ago, Peter Friedman said:

A personal favourite of mine  ....

[paul secor]

Blind Willie McTell: The Early Years 1927-1935 (Yazoo)

[Morganized]

1 hour ago, Peter Friedman said:

I have long been reading criticisms of Phil Woods playing in the last 3 or 4 decades of his life  I have a very different point of view. While Woods playing changed a bit over the years as is the case for many musicians, Phil remained one of my favorite alto players up until his death. Woods knew how to swing, how to craft an interesting solo, and had  deep jazz roots that permeated his playing.

It now seems as if Pete Christlieb has become persona non gratis as a jazz player to some here. I consider Christlieb to be one of my very favorite living tenor players. I recall reading an interview with Warne Marsh in CODA Magazine where he called Christlieb one of the players saying more on tenor than anyone else. I stand with Warne. 

It is easy to criticize..... I, instead, prefer to cheer those in the arena!! 

Good job, Peter..................

 

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs; who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

Theodore Roosevelt

 

[John Tapscott]

3 hours ago, Peter Friedman said:

I have long been reading criticisms of Phil Woods playing in the last 3 or 4 decades of his life  I have a very different point of view. While Woods playing changed a bit over the years as is the case for many musicians, Phil remained one of my favorite alto players up until his death. Woods knew how to swing, how to craft an interesting solo, and had  deep jazz roots that permeated his playing.

It now seems as if Pete Christlieb has become persona non gratis as a jazz player to some here. I consider Christlieb to be one of my very favorite living tenor players. I recall reading an interview with Warne Marsh in CODA Magazine where he called Christlieb one of the players saying more on tenor than anyone else. I stand with Warne. 

 

Thank you Peter.  

Now:

 

[John Tapscott]