Lesser-Known Leaders with Well-Known Sidemen

[Peter Friedman]

[GA Russell]

20 hours ago, mikeweil said:

 

Mike, I haven't thought of this one in over thirty years!  I'll have to try to dig it out.

[Joe]

2 hours ago, Д.Д. said:

I should have been the first!!!!! My wife distracted me when I was posting (pick up the kids from the kindergarten - woman, don't you see I am BUSY?!?!)!!!!! For 17 years since I joined this forum I was waiting for this moment - to be the first one to post about this (mediocre) Chris Fagan album when THE RIGHT MOMENT COMES!!!  And then some American Joe posts about it a split second before I do!!!!!! Americans were not even supposed to be awake at that time!!!! What an abject humiliation!!!!!! Have no choice but to quit this forum in disgrace now (might have to consider a divorce too)!!!!!!!

What a coincidence, though .    

[mikeweil]

8 hours ago, Д.Д. said:

Chris Fagan (alto saxophone) with Bobby Bradford, Reggie Workman and Andrew Cyrille - "Lost Bohemia" (Open Minds, 1992): https://www.discogs.com/Chris-Fagan-Lost-Bohemia/release/1014907

It's OK, nothing special.   

Workman and Cyrille! My dream bass/drums team! Just ordered a copy for ten bucks incl. shipping.

[sgcim]

22 hours ago, jlhoots said:

So are some of these what used to be called "vanity projects"?

Let's just say it became a ploy to get on a label.

[sgcim]

The only album I have of an obvious example of a guy that 'had issues' in playing his instrument, but hired fine sidemen was Cecil Gregory "Nova Guitar".

He got Jack Six on bass and Frankie Dunlop on drums, and basically just played the melody to the tune, then for his solos just kind of comped. I searched for his name, and came up with this review of a live 'concert' in a place he rented out for a night, using the same players:

THE perennial problem of the jazz musician of finding an audience has no pat solutions. He may scuffle in obscure clubs for years hoping that someone may notice him. Or he may take the bull by the horns and invest some money — his or friends’ — in a showcase for his talents.

 

That is what Cecil Gregory, who has • been playing guitar for more than 20 years, has done. Mr. Gregory made two grabs for the bull. First he made record, playing with a quartet. And then, on the basis of the record, he gave a concert Monday evening in the Jade Room of the Waldorf‐Astoria, using the same quartet he had on the record two established jazzmen, Jack Six on bass and Frankie Dunlop on drums, and a friend, Howard Williams, on piano, along with his own guitar.

 

•

Mr. Gregory's program was a mixture of pop standards that have been taken up by jazz musicians (“Indiana” and “Just Friends”), jazz standards (Charlie Parker's “Yardbird Suite,” and Horace Silver's “The Preacher”) and his own compositions. He made no pretense of being a virtuoso guitarist, but instead, played in a pleasant, straightforward style, mixing flowing, single‐note lines and chorded passages. It was an approach that would make for a pleasant, low‐keyed evening in club but did not have the substance for a concert presentation, especially when virtually every number was played in the same sequence of solos."

I've got many albums of fine players who never got well known, who used well-known sidemen, but that wouldn't be as fun as this one album.

[JSngry]

3 hours ago, sgcim said:

Let's just say it became a ploy to get on a label.

And let's also say that when you see a "big name" on only some of the album, it's because that's all the "leader" could afford to hire them for - and the "big name" was only into the "project" for that amount of both money and time.

Mercenary work by any other name is called "yeah, I can help you out".

[Daniel A]

On 2020-05-25 at 0:21 AM, sgcim said:

I decided not to follow his advice, because I didn't like the song order he insisted I use.

Is "he" Herbie, or the other unnamed well-known musician? 

Edited May 27, 2020 by Daniel A

[Д.Д.]

Owen Howard (drums) "Sojourn" (KOCH Jazz 1995, recorded in 1993) with Chris Potter, Larry Grenadier, Phil Grenadier, and Brad Shepik: https://www.discogs.com/Owen-Howard-Sojourn/release/4367486 

This one is actually really good.

To be fair, I don't know how much of a profile the sidemen had in 1993, but by now all of them (expect for Phil Grenadier, I guess) are definitely more well-known than Owen Howard.  

Edited May 27, 2020 by Д.Д.

[Dan Gould]

Ben Webster and the Frans Wieringa Trio should almost get honorable mention in this thread, since supposedly Wieringa got the date because he raised the dough to hire Ben. He might not have been the greatest pianist but at least he had the good sense to put Ben's name at the top on a record that only got made because he wanted to record.

[Simon8]

[Kevin Bresnahan]

Pianist David Leonhardt was able to parlay his time with David Fathead Newman into a debut recording on his own label that featured Eddie Henderson, Robin Eubanks, Rich Perry, Ray Drummond & Marvin "Smitty" Smith. Lonnie Plaxico played bass on 2 tracks too.

[kh1958]

I realized I had one of these, though I haven't listened to it yet. Also with Barrett Deems on drums. Eric gets his money's worth (also vintage photos of the elder band members on the back cover).

Introducing Eric Schneider, featuring Earl Hines, Eric and Earl (Gatemouth)

[Kevin Bresnahan]

For Ned Otter's debut recording, "Focus", recorded at the Van Gelder Studio for his own NO label, he managed to bring in Tom Kirkpatrick on trumpet, Harold Mabern on piano, Dennis Irwin on bass & Billy Higgins on drums. This was also released 14 years later on the Two and Four label as "Powder Keg".

To top if off, for his second recording as a leader, he brought this band back and added George Coleman. That was released on his own label as "The Right To Know" and re-released on the Two And Four label as "So Little Time".

[BeBop]

[Justin V]

Jon Nagourney - Second Light Up, with Cedar Walton, Andy Simpkins, Ralph Penland and Bob Cooper.  Vibraphonist Jon Nagourney, who passed away last year at 63, was new to me until Peter Friedman posted that he was listening to this one.  I've been listening to it quite a bit.  

(Nagourney's first release for Trend, A Song for Marion, had Kenny Barron, John Clayton and Dick Berk.  I haven't heard it yet, however.)

[Joe]

[Peter Friedman]

[Kevin Bresnahan]

Leonard (Lennie) Hochman was on the scene for many decades before his recording debut as a leader in 1995 on the Brownstone label, "Until Tomorrow". Less than a year later, he returned to the studio to record his second and final leader date, "Manhattan Morning", also on the Brownstone label. For "Manhattan Morning", he brought in Kenny Barron on piano, Harvie Swartz on bass, Joe Locke on vibes and Victor Lewis on drums. I really liked this CD and wanted to see & hear Lennie live. Sadly he died in 2000 and I never got the chance to see him play.

[Peter Friedman]

[duaneiac]

It's a little hard to read, but the featured musicians on this 1991 CD included Clark Terry, Sir Roland Hanna, Benny Green, Geoff Keezer, Lonnie Plaxico, "Bobby" Cranshaw, Marvin "Smitty" Smith, Kenny Washington and Nicholas Payton.

 

[clifford_thornton]

Ed Kelly isn't too well-known, but was a Bay Area fixture for many years. Pharoah is the "Friend," obviously. 

[sgcim]

On 5/27/2020 at 8:41 PM, JSngry said:

And let's also say that when you see a "big name" on only some of the album, it's because that's all the "leader" could afford to hire them for - and the "big name" was only into the "project" for that amount of both money and time.

Mercenary work by any other name is called "yeah, I can help you out".

Ha! You're right, That cat that had Herbie Hancock on his CD had HH playing on only ONE cut!

[clifford_thornton]

nice record under bassist Jay Oliver's name (this is the first private press issue; it was later reissued on Konnex)

[Peter Friedman]

Alejandro Espinosa Quartet - Like Someone In Love - Sony (Chile)

With Ralph Lalama (tenor), Renee Rosnes (piano), Ramon Romero (bass), Alejandro Espinosa (drums)

This was recorded in the country of Chile. A good friend who lives in Santiago, and is the leading jazz expert in Chile sent me a copy of this CD  20 years ago. 

I have been unable to find a copy of the CD cover online.