BFT for September

[medjuck]

Since BFT 161 has been revealed this must be 162.  It's not actually September here in California for another few hours but it must be September for some people on this board (though Thom might not activate this right away-- not sure where he is --but I'd like to thank him for al his help).

 

http://thomkeith.net/index.php/blindfold-tests/

Edited September 1, 2017 by medjuck

[medjuck]

OK It's BFT 162 and it's up and running.  Thanks Thom. 

[BillF]

Track 1: Wardell Gray "Southside"

Track 3: Tiny Grimes?

Track 4: "Swapping Horns" with Bird on tenor and Allen Eager on alto.

Track 7: Red Norvo in there?

Track 11: "Abide with Me" and "Blue Monk" but by whom I wouldn't know.

[medjuck]

2 hours ago, BillF said:

Track 1: Wardell Gray "Southside"

YES

Track 3: Tiny Grimes?

NO

Track 4: "Swapping Horns" with Bird on tenor and Allen Eager on alto.

YES

Track 7: Red Norvo in there?

NO

Track 11: "Abide with Me" and "Blue Monk" but by whom I wouldn't know.

YES, but....

 

[hgweber]

great compilation!

1. wardell gray

3. i love this. some of my most favourite recordings feature great musicians on "second" instruments. wes on 6-string bass, sam jones on cello. john webber plays great jazz guitar too. the guitarist falls into that league. he sounds a lot like wes on that echoes of indiana blues tune. it ain't wes, but man, has he soul. he did record with wes though

4. bird on tenor

5. this is lenny breau. the way he incorporates chords into his single-lines is so sophisticated. beautiful voicings. like a joe pass with more taste.

7. that swung. purely guessing: adrian rollini on xylophone? great rhythm guitar. that sounded so fresh.

9. poorly recorded, "blanket over amp" sound. but he is good. single lines do sound a bit like bickert, but a bit more agressive. would like to hear more.

12. sonny greenwich with bickert. great record and pairing. greenwich gets such a great sound out of his appearantly cheap amp. his obvious admiration for grant green and coltrane make him very enjoyable to listen to for me. and bickert has so much taste.

 

 

[medjuck]

11 hours ago, hgweber said:

great compilation!

1. wardell gray

3. i love this. some of my most favourite recordings feature great musicians on "second" instruments. wes on 6-string bass, sam jones on cello. john webber plays great jazz guitar too. the guitarist falls into that league. he sounds a lot like wes on that echoes of indiana blues tune. it ain't wes, but man, has he soul. he did record with wes though

4. bird on tenor

5. this is lenny breau. the way he incorporates chords into his single-lines is so sophisticated. beautiful voicings. like a joe pass with more taste.

7. that swung. purely guessing: adrian rollini on xylophone? great rhythm guitar. that sounded so fresh.

9. poorly recorded, "blanket over amp" sound. but he is good. single lines do sound a bit like bickert, but a bit more agressive. would like to hear more.

12. sonny greenwich with bickert. great record and pairing. greenwich gets such a great sound out of his appearantly cheap amp. his obvious admiration for grant green and coltrane make him very enjoyable to listen to for me. and bickert has so much taste.

 

 

 

11 hours ago, hgweber said:

great compilation!

1. wardell gray

3. i love this. some of my most favourite recordings feature great musicians on "second" instruments. wes on 6-string bass, sam jones on cello. john webber plays great jazz guitar too. the guitarist falls into that league. he sounds a lot like wes on that echoes of indiana blues tune. it ain't wes, but man, has he soul. he did record with wes though

You seem to know who it is but aren't saying.  Most people on this board have this record. 

11 hours ago, hgweber said:

4. bird on tenor

5. this is lenny breau. the way he incorporates chords into his single-lines is so sophisticated. beautiful voicings. like a joe pass with more taste.

Yes.  

11 hours ago, hgweber said:

7. that swung. purely guessing: adrian rollini on xylophone? great rhythm guitar. that sounded so fresh.

No

11 hours ago, hgweber said:

9. poorly recorded, "blanket over amp" sound. but he is good. single lines do sound a bit like bickert, but a bit more agressive. would like to hear more.

12. sonny greenwich with bickert. great record and pairing. greenwich gets such a great sound out of his appearantly cheap amp. his obvious admiration for grant green and coltrane make him very enjoyable to listen to for me. and bickert has so much taste.

Yes.  Wow. You're good. 

11 hours ago, hgweber said:

 

 

 

[hgweber]

not good, just lucky with the selection of tunes.

3. milt jackson on guitar with ray charles. he plays with his thumb like wes. mindblowing track. did he ever record on guitar before or after?

[medjuck]

Are you Canadian?  You got three out of 4 of the Canadian guitar players.  And 4 out of 5 of the guitar players. 

[hgweber]

just a guitar player.

[Hot Ptah]

#6 has the sound of Blind Willie Johnson, almost like jazz musicians playing over an old Blind Willie Johnson album. 

#8: I can't identify it but I want to buy it I really like this track a lot! The arrangement, the feel, the solos--all just what I like. 

More comments to come.

[medjuck]

2 hours ago, Hot Ptah said:

#6 has the sound of Blind Willie Johnson, almost like jazz musicians playing over an old Blind Willie Johnson album. 

It is a Blind Willie composition.

#8: I can't identify it but I want to buy it I really like this track a lot! The arrangement, the feel, the solos--all just what I like. 

The bass sax solo might be a clue. 

 

[Hot Ptah]

One of the saxophonists on Track 4 is either Charlie Parker or a disciple of Charlie Parker who was so into Parker that he slept with his Charlie Parker records.

Track 11--who is that clarinet player? He is more smooth and elegant sounding than any top jazz clarinet player I can think of. So who could that be, who also has a lot of technique? I can't figure it out.

Track 13 is interesting. The trombone soloist sounds more like an R&B/blues player, not a bop schooled jazz player. So how many of those are there, if I am correct about that? Fred Wesley? I saw him live and he did not sound like this. The trombonist could be a Latin player. I don't know the world of Latin trombone at all. Willie Colon did not sound like this. It is a mystery, and intriguing.

[Jim R]

On 9/4/2017 at 6:38 AM, medjuck said:

You got three out of 4 of the Canadian guitar players.  And 4 out of 5 of the guitar players. 

So, I listened to track 9 in the hope that I might recognize the Canadian player.  Thought it might be someone like Peter Leitch, or Lorne Lofsky, or Reg Schwager.  Doesn't sound like any of those to me.  This player sounds a bit less fluid/polished and confident than those guys.  Good player, but not what I would call world class (feel the same about the pianist).  He/she sounds like they might have been influenced by Joshua Breakstone (who has done a few stop-time tunes like this, btw).  I think I like the composition better than the playing on this track.

I've heard about another Canadian player named Richard Ring, but I'm not familiar with his work.

[miles65]

Track 7 Sweet Sue made me think of John Kirby sextet like music. But he didn't use xylophoon in his band. It took me some searching to find Kenny Clarke's Kvintett Stockholm 1938. Great fun find.I got it on a Edgar Hayes Classics CD. Hadn't played it for ages.

Realy liked track 8.

[Hot Ptah]

On ‎9‎/‎7‎/‎2017 at 10:37 AM, medjuck said:

#8: I can't identify it but I want to buy it I really like this track a lot! The arrangement, the feel, the solos--all just what I like. 

The bass sax solo might be a clue. 

Well, I have listened to Track 8 many times. I really like it a lot! but the bass sax solo provides me with no clues.

Edited September 20, 2017 by Hot Ptah

[tkeith]

Sorry to be so late to the party -- this is my super busy season.

 

Track 01 - Loving the ideas.  Even though there’s a lot of distinctly traditional patterns in there, the soloist is really working them in melodically.  Rhythm section, again, is very traditional.  I’m guessing early-to-mid-50s because the bassist is pretty much staying with a straight swing time, even on the breaks.  I want to say Allen Eager, but the sound seems more open and the ideas maybe a shade more contemporary.  I like this a LOT.  Second listening — how’d I miss that.  0:55-1:03, that’s trademark.  It’s Wardell Gray.  A bit of a search shows me the tune is called Southside.  I can’t believe I almost blew on Wardell!  First guy that reached me from the “old” guys (hey man, I was 12!).

 

Track 02 - Not my genre, but I really appreciate that ascending pattern on the melody — way ahead of its time.  Not enamored of the scatting, nor the strings, but the melody is really appealing to me.

 

Track 03 - Bit of a flashy blews on them there keys.  Not sure on the guitar.  Here we go.  Bad ass tenor.  Filthy.  OH!  That’s Fathead.  Egad!  I know this.  It’s Deed I Do from this.  David was baaaaaad.  Super nice guy.  Had the opportunity to meet a few years before the end and he was terrific.  Playing and persona.  

 

Track 04 - Huh!  THERE is Allen Eager.  Gruff and BIG.  Nice!  This is a neat one.  That’ll be Charlie, from Kansas City, on alto.  In fact, isn’t this version called “Original Horns”?

 

Track 05 - No clue.  I was going to say Doug Raney, but it’s a bit more… how to put it?  I kind of put him in the ‘tribute jazz’ category, and this seems more like the real thing.

 

Track 06 - Seemed like one of those Alan Lomax things, at first, then it got rather odd.  You can probably see the lack of clues through the screen.  Interested in knowing what this is, because I like the blending of the voices.

 

Track 07 - No idea.  Predates my typical listening, though the sound leads me to believe it could be a later recording.

 

Track 08 - Off the bat, the ideas are Tristano, but the sound seems far too new.  Yeah, definitely too new.  Has a Mingus influence, as well, but doesn’t quite have that biting swing of Mingus.  Powerful band, though.  I like this a lot.  Ah, now that we’re going, seems very modern.  Trumpet player is aggressive, but definitely schooled.  I could more easily name everybody it is not.  No idea… muted bone or French horn?  Sounds an awful lot like Mr. Garrett on alto.  An AWFUL lot.  Who is THAT fat bastard?  Only bass sax players I’d feel comfortable guessing are from Chicago or that James Carter guy (THAT guy, heh!).  It’s none of those people, but this guy is playing it like a big, fat tenor.  Good on him (or her).  Man, I got nothin’.

 

Track 09 - I like the tune, but, again, I got nothin.  I want to say Ed Cherry, but I know that it isn’t him.  

 

Track 10 - Interesting, but not really clicking… until about 6:30, then it gets all weird and Milesy.  Maybe Masabumi Kikuchi?  Actually, now that I type that, those synth sounds sound a lot like Gil, but I’m not familiar with this.  

 

Track 11 - Not a clue.  First thought was Van Halen’s Jump from the keys, but I knew I was out to lunch.  Has that 80s vibe, though.  Then into Monk?  Like a Geico commercial, that’s unexpected.  No idea who.

 

Track 12 - Unsure. There’s another guitar in there, though (or it’s overdubbed).  This is beautiful.  I need this.  

 

Track 13 - No clue.  I want to like it more than I do (typically like the islandy stuff).  Something about the drums though sounds more like Jimmy Buffett island music.  (That’s just mean.) 

 

Found a lot of happy stuff in here.

[medjuck]

2 hours ago, tkeith said:

 

 

Track 03 - Bit of a flashy blews on them there keys.  Not sure on the guitar.  Here we go.  Bad ass tenor.  Filthy.  OH!  That’s Fathead.  Egad!  I know this.  It’s Deed I Do from this.  David was baaaaaad.  Super nice guy.  Had the opportunity to meet a few years before the end and he was terrific.  Playing and persona.  

Very close in every sense of the words. 

2 hours ago, tkeith said:

 

 

Track 05 - No clue.  I was going to say Doug Raney, but it’s a bit more… how to put it?  I kind of put him in the ‘tribute jazz’ category, and this seems more like the real thing.

Indeed the real thing. 

2 hours ago, tkeith said:

 

 Track 07 - No idea.  Predates my typical listening, though the sound leads me to believe it could be a later recording.

Tracks 3 and 4 give a clue. 

2 hours ago, tkeith said:

 

 

Track 10 - Interesting, but not really clicking… until about 6:30, then it gets all weird and Milesy.  Maybe Masabumi Kikuchi?  Actually, now that I type that, those synth sounds sound a lot like Gil, but I’m not familiar with this.  

it is Gil and probably no one but a Gil completist like me would have this. 

2 hours ago, tkeith said:

 

 

 

Track 12 - Unsure. There’s another guitar in there, though (or it’s overdubbed).  This is beautiful.  I need this.  

I think you can still get it. 

2 hours ago, tkeith said:

 

Track 13 - No clue.  I want to like it more than I do (typically like the islandy stuff).  Something about the drums though sounds more like Jimmy Buffett island music.  (That’s just mean.) 

But this seems to have disappeared from the face of the earth. 

 

2 hours ago, tkeith said:

Found a lot of happy stuff in here.

 

On 9/19/2017 at 0:04 PM, Jim R said:

So, I listened to track 9 in the hope that I might recognize the Canadian player.  Thought it might be someone like Peter Leitch, or Lorne Lofsky, or Reg Schwager.  Doesn't sound like any of those to me.  This player sounds a bit less fluid/polished and confident than those guys.  Good player, but not what I would call world class (feel the same about the pianist).  He/she sounds like they might have been influenced by Joshua Breakstone (who has done a few stop-time tunes like this, btw).  I think I like the composition better than the playing on this track.

I've heard about another Canadian player named Richard Ring, but I'm not familiar with his work.

This was probably the most obscure track. 

[medjuck]

On 9/18/2017 at 1:17 PM, CardinalJazzFan said:

This is my first attempt to discuss a Blindfold Test. It is a humbling experience.

1. A great mainstream tenor player. I should know who it is but I don't. This sounds like a 1940s recording. Great tone, memorable.

Not exactly his usual tone. 

On 9/18/2017 at 1:17 PM, CardinalJazzFan said:

2.  Is this from a film soundtrack? It sounds like one of the earlier scat singing recordings, apart from Louis Armstrong. I can't place the singer.

He doesn't usually sing.  Hint: he's also the bass player. And the fiddler might give a clue. 

 

On 9/18/2017 at 1:17 PM, CardinalJazzFan said:

3.  This is from the expanded CD reissue of Soul Brothers, the album with Ray Charles and Milt Jackson. My LP did not have this song on it. It is "Bags Guitar Blues". That is Milt Jackson on guitar. It would have been interesting to hear him play guitar like this when he was in the Modern Jazz Quartet. It would have been a natural thing while the MJQ was recording for Apple Records.

Yes indeed!!

On 9/18/2017 at 1:17 PM, CardinalJazzFan said:

4. Two excellent saxophonists. I am afraid that I do not know who they are. I will probably be embarrassed when I find out who I could not identify.

They were playing each other's horn.  I picked it to cause  confusion. 

On 9/18/2017 at 1:17 PM, CardinalJazzFan said:

 

5. Again, I do not know who these two guitar players are. The main soloist is a fine player but his unique stylings are not something I really like. I am pretty sure that I have never heard his playing before.

I think it's just one guitar and bass but he's a prodigious guitar player. 

On 9/18/2017 at 1:17 PM, CardinalJazzFan said:

6. That is the famous Blind Willie Johnson song, "Dark is the Night Cold Is the Ground". Ry Cooder covered it on one of his early albums. That made me go back and find the original. I think Blind Willie's original was included on the gold disc that was sent into outer space, with sounds of Earth, for alien civilizations to find and listen to. I do not know who is recording this version. It is very interesting. It sounds so close to the original at times, but then not close to the original at other times.

Ry Cooder also used it in the soundtrack to the film Paris, Texas.  (Not this version.) 

On 9/18/2017 at 1:17 PM, CardinalJazzFan said:

7. This is a cheery, bouncy little song. Who would have recorded this? It sounds like something from the 1930s, maybe the 1940s. I am not familiar enough with those time periods to know this song. It embodies light heartedness. Most of the musicians I know from those years are heavies.

You got the time period right and the leader on vibes is not playing his usual instrument. 

On 9/18/2017 at 1:17 PM, CardinalJazzFan said:

 11. This is a set of songs recorded by Thelonious Monk. One of them is Blue Monk. The musicians are very fine musicians. I cannot place them.

Wow, you're right.  I'd completely forgotten that Monk recorded Abide with Me. You'd probably only be familiar with the bass player. 

On 9/18/2017 at 1:17 PM, CardinalJazzFan said:

.12. Two very good mainstream guitar players. I cannot place them. At times it reminds me of the 1970s Paul Desmond recordings with Ed Bickert. Of course Paul Is not here.

But Ed Bickert is.   And IIRC the bass and drums are also on the Desmond recordings. 

On 9/18/2017 at 1:17 PM, CardinalJazzFan said:

   I hardly know any of the musicians, songs or albums. As I said, this was a humbling experience. Maybe I will do better on my second try with a Blindfold Test.

I picked some of them for their obscurity (and I think deserving of more recognition) and in 4 cases there are musicians not playing their usual instruments. (Well one is playing his usual instrument but he's also singing.) And three of them aren't really jazz. So you did pretty darn good. 

[JSngry]

8 sounds like a Mel Lewis band after Thad left? .

 

[medjuck]

6 hours ago, JSngry said:

8 sounds like a Mel Lewis band after Thad left? .

 

Uhh. No. 

[JSngry]

A Thad band with or without Mel? It's got that vintage aggressiveness.

[BillF]

1 hour ago, JSngry said:

A Thad band with or without Mel? It's got that vintage aggressiveness.

I think I'm familiar with all the Thad & Mel/just Mel big band tracks on record, but I'm not familiar with this.

[JSngry]

The soloists don't sound like that, the writing itself is a little too unconvoluted to be Thad, but the drummer sure profiles like Mel, and the way the band roars really reminds me of Jones and/or Lewis.

No matter, soloists a bit non-descript, but outstanding ensemble and really enjoyable Mellish drumming.

[sidewinder]

Is track 5 Lennie Breau with bassist Dave Young from 'Live at Bourbon Street'?

Track 9 - Dave McMurdo Jazz Orchestra (with Reg Schwager)?

Track 11 - Abide With Me/Blue Monk. Woody Allen? 

Track 12 - Sonny Greenwich? With Ed Bickert, Don Thompson and Terry Clarke.

Track 13 - Trombone Shorty?

 

 

 

 

 

[medjuck]

3 hours ago, sidewinder said:

Is track 5 Lennie Breau with bassist Dave Young from 'Live at Bourbon Street'?

Yes

Track 9 - Dave McMurdo Jazz Orchestra (with Reg Schwager)?

No. 

Track 11 - Abide With Me/Blue Monk. Woody Allen? 

A much better clarinet player. 

Track 12 - Sonny Greenwich? With Ed Bickert, Don Thompson and Terry Clarke.

Yes

Track 13 - Trombone Shorty?

Yes!  

Wow. That's amazing. 

So now the only cuts (is that the correct word?)  that haven't been identified at all  are 2, 6, 8, 9 and 11.  They're all pretty obscure though still available except maybe 9. 

Edited September 22, 2017 by medjuck