Larry Kart Posted January 18, 2018 Report Share Posted January 18, 2018 Worth checking out is “Sam Most Plays Bird, Bud, Monk, and Miles” (Bethlehem, 1957)? Dave Schildkraut plays striking solos on tenor on five of the eight tracks -- four big band, four sextet, with charts by Bob Dorough, who also acquits himself quite well on piano. Contrary to what one might perhaps expect, the atmosphere is forthrightly boppish, not frou frou. Most is on clarinet throughout. Doug Mettome is the trumpet soloist, bold and interesting but also somewhat ragged at times — perhaps he was descending for good into junkiedom. As the other albums collected here make clear, Most was the most accomplished jazz flutist of that time, at least IMO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Posted January 18, 2018 Report Share Posted January 18, 2018 Yes, a terribly underrated recording! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillF Posted January 18, 2018 Report Share Posted January 18, 2018 Yes, that's a good one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HutchFan Posted January 18, 2018 Report Share Posted January 18, 2018 Thanks for the heads-up on this, Larry. I've never heard any of those four LPs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Kart Posted January 18, 2018 Author Report Share Posted January 18, 2018 I also like the small-group recordings that Most made in later years for Schlitten on Xanadu. Some excellent rhythm sections on those, and Most is a very agile and interesting improviser. There are times IIRC when it seemed like he might be playing the flute in the conventional manner and whistling through it at the same time -- quite effectively so, if I'm right about that, and, again if so, not in the Roland Kirk manner. Most had a bright mind and was a swinger. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted January 18, 2018 Report Share Posted January 18, 2018 3 hours ago, Larry Kart said: I also like the small-group recordings that Most made in later years for Schlitten on Xanadu. The only one of those I've hear was a live one that seemed to be unfortunate, at times irritatingly so, on all counts. Are the others any different? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HutchFan Posted January 18, 2018 Report Share Posted January 18, 2018 FWIW, I really like Most's Xanadu LPs, especially Mostly Flute and From the Attic of My Mind. (The latter one took a while to grow on me, but now I really enjoy it.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Beat Steve Posted January 18, 2018 Report Share Posted January 18, 2018 (edited) 19 hours ago, Larry Kart said: Worth checking out is “Sam Most Plays Bird, Bud, Monk, and Miles” (Bethlehem, 1957)? Dave Schildkraut plays striking solos on tenor on five of the eight tracks -- four big band, four sextet, with charts by Bob Dorough, who also acquits himself quite well on piano. Contrary to what one might perhaps expect, the atmosphere is forthrightly boppish, not frou frou. Most is on clarinet throughout. Doug Mettome is the trumpet soloist, bold and interesting but also somewhat ragged at times — perhaps he was descending for good into junkiedom. As the other albums collected here make clear, Most was the most accomplished jazz flutist of that time, at least IMO. "Plays Bird, Bud, Monk & Miles" was one of the "ear opener" purchases among all the Fresh Sound LPs I bought back in the 90s and very early 2000s. I bought most of these unheard and without DETAILED previous knowledge of the contents (just as part of my interest in jazz from that period and curiosity about many of those somewhat under-the-radar artists) and very rarely missed, and this one was particularly striking. "I'm Nuts About the Most" which came with it isn't bad at all either - and this though I am otherwise not really into modern jazz flute and flutists. Very hard to express why maybe he sounds more like a "clarinet-flutist" and not like a "flute-flutist" to me? At any rate, I took to that "Nuts" LP while I rather shied away from Bud Shank and his WCJ flutisms, for example. Edited January 18, 2018 by Big Beat Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Kart Posted January 18, 2018 Author Report Share Posted January 18, 2018 3 hours ago, JSngry said: The only one of those I've hear was a live one that seemed to be unfortunate, at times irritatingly so, on all counts. Are the others any different? All these are excellent (the rhythm sections on "Flute Flight" and "Mostly Flute" (Duke Jordan, Tal Farlow, Sam Jones, Billy Higgins -- just shoot me!) are out of sight, and the contrast between Most and Farrell on "Flute Talk" is interesting). All in all, some serious happy music-making. Mostly Flute - Sam Most | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic.webloc Mostly Flute - Sam Most | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic.webloc Mostly Flute - Sam Most | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic.webloc Mostly Flute - Sam Most | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic.webloc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sgcim Posted January 18, 2018 Report Share Posted January 18, 2018 23 hours ago, Larry Kart said: Worth checking out is “Sam Most Plays Bird, Bud, Monk, and Miles” (Bethlehem, 1957)? Dave Schildkraut plays striking solos on tenor on five of the eight tracks -- four big band, four sextet, with charts by Bob Dorough, who also acquits himself quite well on piano. Contrary to what one might perhaps expect, the atmosphere is forthrightly boppish, not frou frou. Most is on clarinet throughout. Doug Mettome is the trumpet soloist, bold and interesting but also somewhat ragged at times — perhaps he was descending for good into junkiedom. As the other albums collected here make clear, Most was the most accomplished jazz flutist of that time, at least IMO. I know Jimmy Raney played as a sideman on one Most LP. Is he on any of these four? I saw the documentary on Most a few years back. He was a tremendous scat singer! His ideas on flute were fine, but I was surprised how small his sound on flute was in the documentary. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Kart Posted January 18, 2018 Author Report Share Posted January 18, 2018 2 hours ago, sgcim said: I know Jimmy Raney played as a sideman on one Most LP. Is he on any of these four? I saw the documentary on Most a few years back. He was a tremendous scat singer! His ideas on flute were fine, but I was surprised how small his sound on flute was in the documentary. Raney is on this one: http://csgoshow.com/musics/619869-sam-most-the-amazing-mr-sam-most-1957-2014-bethlehem-album-collection-1000.html Haven't listened to it yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin V Posted January 19, 2018 Report Share Posted January 19, 2018 Most is on Frank Strazzeri's Frank's Blues, which is an underrated gem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Kart Posted January 19, 2018 Author Report Share Posted January 19, 2018 2 hours ago, Justin V said: Most is on Frank Strazzeri's Frank's Blues, which is an underrated gem. Though I knew of Strazzeri, I think that was the first of his albums as a leader that I picked up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sgcim Posted January 19, 2018 Report Share Posted January 19, 2018 19 hours ago, Larry Kart said: Raney is on this one: http://csgoshow.com/musics/619869-sam-most-the-amazing-mr-sam-most-1957-2014-bethlehem-album-collection-1000.html Haven't listened to it yet. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted January 19, 2018 Report Share Posted January 19, 2018 On 1/18/2018 at 11:23 AM, Larry Kart said: All these are excellent (the rhythm sections on "Flute Flight" and "Mostly Flute" (Duke Jordan, Tal Farlow, Sam Jones, Billy Higgins -- just shoot me!) are out of sight, and the contrast between Most and Farrell on "Flute Talk" is interesting). All in all, some serious happy music-making. Mostly Flute - Sam Most | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic.webloc Mostly Flute - Sam Most | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic.webloc Mostly Flute - Sam Most | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic.webloc Mostly Flute - Sam Most | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic.webloc Ok, there are no live Xanadu albums by Sam Most, so I don't know what I'm remembering...it might have been Mostly Flute? I remember a lot of thuddy phrasing going on, and a Most/Duke Jordan combination would fit that bill...or it might have been that one with the arty cover, I honestly don't know...I just remember being pissed of at whatever it was. I do remember it on the ipod and listening while walking, any idea which one that might have been? It was pretty hot, that much I remember, I needed some incentivizing music and whatever it was, i was not feeling incentivized. Wrong record for the situation perhaps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Kart Posted January 19, 2018 Author Report Share Posted January 19, 2018 "... I remember a lot of thuddy phrasing going on, and a Most/Duke Jordan combination would fit that bill." Can't imagine why you would think that a Most/Duke Jordan combination would be less than excellent. And I can't think of a pairing between Jordan and ANYBODY that was the least bit "thuddy." Duke was one of the great accompanists. On 1/18/2018 at 9:48 AM, JSngry said: The only one of those I've hear was a live one that seemed to be unfortunate, at times irritatingly so, on all counts. Are the others any different? Looking through Most's albums on Amazon, I don't see a live date. Oops, I stand corrected: "Sam recorded 2 albums in 2012; “A Time for Love” with Bob Alcivar and the live album “Indian Summer” with the Rein de Graaff Trio." Never heard either one. You can find tracks from"Indian Summer" on YouTube. The bit I just heard sounded rather "thuddy." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Beat Steve Posted January 19, 2018 Report Share Posted January 19, 2018 (edited) 4 hours ago, JSngry said: Ok, there are no live Xanadu albums by Sam Most, so I don't know what I'm remembering...it might have been Mostly Flute? I remember a lot of thuddy phrasing going on, and a Most/Duke Jordan combination would fit that bill...or it might have been that one with the arty cover, I honestly don't know...I just remember being pissed of at whatever it was. I do remember it on the ipod and listening while walking, any idea which one that might have been? It was pretty hot, that much I remember, I needed some incentivizing music and whatever it was, i was not feeling incentivized. Wrong record for the situation perhaps. Yes there are. "Xanadu at Montreux" (4 LPs from the 1978 appearance of a Xanadu all-star line-up set up by Don Schlitten at the Montreux festival). I have Vols. 3 and 4, listened to Vol. 4 last night and found Sam Most's flute somewhat airier, more typically "flute-ish" (as opposed to the more straight-ahead phrasing - for want of a better word - on his Behtlehem "I'm Nuts About the Most" LP. But "thuddy"? And there were 20 years between the two recordings so a lot can evolve one way or another. But this is not the one you remember. Dolo Coker and Barry Harris were on piano at Montreux. Edited January 19, 2018 by Big Beat Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Kart Posted January 19, 2018 Author Report Share Posted January 19, 2018 Sam's solo on this track from "Mostly Flute" is far from "thuddy" IMO: Most also is bushy-tailed on this Sam Noto Xanadu album:https://www.discogs.com/Sam-Noto-Noto-Riety/release/4038769 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted January 19, 2018 Report Share Posted January 19, 2018 2 hours ago, Big Beat Steve said: Yes there are. "Xanadu at Montreux" (4 LPs from the 1978 appearance of a Xanadu all-star line-up set up by Don Schlitten at the Montreux festival). I have Vols. 3 and 4, listened to Vol. 4 last night and found Sam Most's flute somewhat airier, more typically "flute-ish" (as opposed to the more straight-ahead phrasing - for want of a better word - on his Behtlehem "I'm Nuts About the Most" LP. But "thuddy"? And there were 20 years between the two recordings so a lot can evolve one way or another. But this is not the one you remember. Dolo Coker and Barry Harris were on piano at Montreux. Actually, I think it is...the opener, "This Masquerade"...wrong band for that tune, iirc, Ted Dunbar...not needed on a George Benson cover, and neitehr was anybody elswe. My memory is of a very loose (and not in a good way) "jam" that was indeed thuddy...do you want some doobie in your funk? Or some Frank Butler? And dolo Coker, hmmm...sometimes yes, sometimes no. As for Duke Jordan...people keep saying that he got better as he got older, but i swear, every time i hear him from the 70s on, he just sounds like he's getting older, tireder, and less imaginative. I'll replace "thuddy" with "borderline plodding" if it makes anybody feel better. No question about his historical importance, but past that, like with later Bill Evans, I keep trying to find what "everybody else" is hearing, but i now think that whatever it is, it's vibrating at a frequency my brain just noes not receive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Kart Posted January 19, 2018 Author Report Share Posted January 19, 2018 Try these latter-day Jordan recordings -- two takes of the same tune with Art Farmer, and as a sideman with Eddie Bert:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SOS2rgRsBEhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_52nSCtlVowhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsLwAlyoSSA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted January 19, 2018 Report Share Posted January 19, 2018 Dave Friesen playing bebop does not make me bounce. That pocket...by the time the tune was over, it was more than a heart that skipped a beat. I could hear Philly getting restles...Art Farmer sounded great, though! The Bert cut...god bless Eddie Bert, but it's just another take on "Love Me Or Leave Me", and kind a flatlined one at that. I like Jordan's comp, a lot, but his soloing...it just doesn't bounce to me. I can hear where he's bouncing, but it's like...it bounces more to him than it does to me, I guess. Did he have arthritis in his right hand or something? I get the "hard" attack, but...thump/plod/whatever, the feel just doesn't grab me. Maybe it's that modern recoring style, seems like he could use the air around his notes that the older recording style gave him. Here's some Bert that bounces: I think people in general bounced more back then, people weren't so damned obsessed with low body fat or something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gmonahan Posted February 1, 2018 Report Share Posted February 1, 2018 Neither "Flute Talk" nor "Flute Flight" have yet seen the light of day on cd, have they? Even in the recent spate of reissues? gregmo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Kart Posted February 1, 2018 Author Report Share Posted February 1, 2018 1 hour ago, gmonahan said: Neither "Flute Talk" nor "Flute Flight" have yet seen the light of day on cd, have they? Even in the recent spate of reissues? gregmo Apparently not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Friedman Posted February 1, 2018 Report Share Posted February 1, 2018 Duke Jordan was a marvelous jazz pianist. He had something unique that made his playing very identifiable to me, He recorded a lengthy list of sessions for Steeplechase and almost every one of them is, to my taste, delightful. The only things by him that I found less than terrific were two recordings for the Japanese label M & I, and one for the Japanese label Baystate. And they were by no means bad, just a bit less interesting than his many other recordings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gmonahan Posted February 1, 2018 Report Share Posted February 1, 2018 52 minutes ago, Larry Kart said: Apparently not. Well, they need to!! gregmo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_forumlogo.png.a607ef20a6e0c299ab2aa6443aa1f32e.png)
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.