Jump to content

BFT200


jojazz

Recommended Posts

Track 4: Coltrane's "Lonnie's Lament". Reminiscent of Conrad Herwig and Brian Lynch's Latin treatment of this tune on Que Viva Coltrane though of course it isn't that.

Track 5: Now this is a track and composition that I know quite well, though, of course, I can't place it. :(

Track 7: I'll guess Joe Pass.

Edited by BillF
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Track 9: Something of Lucky Thompson in that tenor style and I hear echoes of Roy Eldridge in the trumpet, but I don't think it's either of them.

Must admit I didn't recognize the changes of "Body and Soul" until the melody came in at the end.

Edited by BillF
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nothing from me in terms of guesses, but a generally quite enjoyable BFT without any tracks with a 'WTF - people like this?' reaction. Rare these days. I guess I'll save up those reactions for Felser's effort in December. :g

I really, really enjoyed track 2, with 5 and 9 close behind.  Looking forward to what those with better ears have to say.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

1 “Freedom Jazz Dance” or a variant thereof, by a trombone ensemble.  Too much ‘bone for my tastes, but I do dig the pianist and drummer a lot, especially the drummer.

2 Nicely done.  Jackie McLean on alto?  50’s?  Not knocked out by the tenor player, more impressed by the bari player.  Pepper Adams?  One of those Gene Ammons All-Stars outings?

3  To me more new age than jazz.   Great background music, but not something that keeps me actively engaged.

4 I believe I have this on the shelves, or at least some version of it with this tenor player, just need to think of what it is.  Good stuff for sure, though the reggae bass/drums approach isn’t really doing it for me.  No doubt one of the usual suspects will ID it.

5 Pleasant.  Art Farmerish type of vibe.

6 “Send in the Clowns”.  Not a favorite of mine.   It’s from this album   This tenor player was so talented, but did so many types of things that annoyed me when he was leading sessions.  He is what track selection buttons are for!

7 The bassists set themselves free, bossa nova style, I guess.  Doesn’t really translate that well as a full listening experience for me, though I like the one bass player (the one who solos first) plenty well.

8 Now we’re talking!  Right up my alley, every single instrument.   Not sure who it is, but I want to know, and I hope I own this (if not, will try to take care of that oversight right away).  The bass player has listened to Charlie Haden’s work with Ornette, and the drummer is well familiar with Billy Higgins!

9 “Body and Soul”.  Like the tenor player a lot (very Dexterish), but the trumpet doesn’t do it for me.  Sounds like a player very advanced in years. 

10 Very Oriental.   Out of range for me.

11 I like this plenty.  Billy Bang with Frank Lowe?  Pianist steals the show for me.

 

Thanks for an invigorating BFT, kept me well-musiced while I did my bills!  Greatly look forward to some of the discussion and reveals, especially #8!

Edited by felser
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks to jojazz for stepping up and in. Let's see what we have here.

TRACK ONE - "Big Alice", Don Pullen's tune, from here:https://www.discogs.com/Howard-Johnson-Gravity-Gravity-/release/1872593 Howard Johnson has played a lot of music with a lot of people, and for a long time. Nothing but love here for Howard Johnson.

TRACK TWO - "Blu-A-Round" by Sahib Shihab from here: https://www.discogs.com/Sahib-Shihab-Jazz-Sahib/release/2239330 Beautiful record, beautiful playing by all, especially Shihab, who has been damn-near criminally under-looked in the annals of jazz, one of the more distinctive voices on his or any instrument. Also, although I've been very, uh, disdainful of what both Phil Woods and Bill Evans' playing became over time, this is not that, this is wonderful music, period, Whatever they turned into, before they were that, they were this. Never forget that. And hello Benny Golson!

TRACK THREE - Sounds like some good weed!

TRACK FOUR - Had to do some sleuthing to find this one: https://www.discogs.com/Ari-Brown-Groove-Awakening/release/9507998 Ari Brown is a serious MF, and although this cut is not exactly "representative" of his overall ability, that sound tells you all you need to know about what else lies in wait. And I really like the pianist!

TRACK FIVE - Somewhere between Kenny Dorham and Johnny Coles, meaning a lot of thought and detail - and no cliches. Actually sounds  somewhat like Coles, but I don't know this record if it is. Marvelous music, though, and a special shoutout for the nice, crisp drumming. Nice tune too, moves to some "extra" places in the changes that shows, again, thought, Want to know more about this one!

TRACK SIX - Ah, George...I love this guy, especially when he plays "unexpected" material. That's a really good song, imo, The lyrics are deeply human, too bad that the "usual" treatments go for the "drama" rather than the "truth" of it. But not, George Adams, George Adams was a humanist, a jazz humanist. I miss having him around to tell stories like this one.

TRACK SEVEN - is this a Stevie Wonder song? No idea who it is, and not sure if I'd go for a full album, but this one here is very enjoyable. The guitarist has the touch of Adam Rogers, at least as I have heard him on various Monday Michiru records. Good cut.

TRACK EIGHT - hmmmm....fluent, but not necessarily succinct? Can't argue with any of it, but would like to hear a little less "groove"...sounds like it's forcing people to breathe in a more regimented (symmetrical) pattern than they might in a little "freer" pocket. That sounds weird, hope you know what I mean, though. These are some serious players though, SERIOUS, just would like to hear them a little looser. Looser might have brought more focus. Funny how that works sometimes...

TRACK NINE - Ok, I'm wanting to say Flip Phillips and Charlie Shavers playing Body & Soul, but there's no such record...no matter, that's a RudyPiano

TRACK TEN - Oh my! That sounds like a John Lewis composition stretched out into a percussion ensemble piece (although if you think about it, MJW WAS a percussion ensemble...). Pretty damn delightful! M'Boom? I need to revisit them...I love this one.

TRACK ELEVEN - "Nothing But Love", a great Frank Lowe composition, surely it has words? Don't know this version/record, but I like it a lot. I like how it stays within itself, knows what it wants to say and says only that. It's long, and doesn't go off into a like of machinations, but that's what makes it work, it stays on-message. Surely there are words!

A delightful mix here, and once again, thanks for stepping up/in here. Superb!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, JSngry said:

TRACK ELEVEN - "Nothing But Love", a great Frank Lowe composition, surely it has words? Don't know this version/record, but I like it a lot. I like how it stays within itself, knows what it wants to say and says only that. It's long, and doesn't go off into a like of machinations, but that's what makes it work, it stays on-message. Surely there are words!

 

It's from this.  I recognized Bang, who is a favorite of mine.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, I was going to hold off on this one because I had an advance listen, but I see everybody else is cooped up, as well.

Track 01 - Sophisticated Alice (later Big Alice).  Don't know who, doesn't matter -- it's a Pullen tune and it's a bitch.  I assume that's DP on piano.  Maybe not; seems a bit stiffer than Don.  It's not Craig Harris.  Is that actually a Euphonium?  What the hell is this?  Some of the lines are straight bebop (and grossly out of context), but then it flirts with being downright dirty.  Stewart and HoJo are the only guys I can think of that would do something like this, but that doesn't sound like a Tuba to me.  And it clearly is NOT Pullen on piano.  Maybe Steve Turre?  They don't *quite* pull it off, but it still works.  Wondering if your throwing a curve with some newer players.  Maybe Anthony Cox on piano.  Arrangement is Quotey Quotenstien, but I'm loving it.  

Track 02 - Man!  What a BITCH of a tune!  [FYI -- Growing up, this guy used to make me mixed tapes like this all the time.  Not a bad way to learn.]  Though I'm sure I have this, it's dancing around me.  It's guys I know but I'm trying too hard.  Stitt?  Benny Golson.  Man... why is he NOT the guy every horn player loses his mind over?  So that's Sahib.  Could that have been Phil Woods on alto?  Seems like the band on New York Scene, but I can't think of the title.  

Track 03 - If this isn't Sam Cooke's Wonderful World, it probably should be.  Because of recent avenues your ears went down, it has me thinking Khan Jamal, and that could be right.  Either that or somebody like Warren Smith.  I'm about to doze here, but I'm doing it with a smile.  

Track 04 - ARI!!!!!  How can this NOT make you smile?  Two tenors just sit there, **glaring** at me while I listen to this.  Ari is SUCH a baaaad mf!

Track 05 - This just showed up recently on a BFT if I'm not mistaken.  Tonk (Ray Bryant?), from Art Farmer's Perception.  Yes please.

Track 06 - How dare you.  Grew up in a duplex owned by my grandparents.  My grandfather told me he loved it when I played this song (transcribed it from the album; for me this was the first version I really knew beyond the one lyric).  George was inspired to do this tune by Elizabeth Taylor's version.  One of my first purchases from Loony Tunes in Boston.

Track 07 - Swear I know the tune, but I'll be wrong.  So... guitar and two basses?  So there's only a handful of people this could be.  I'm also positive you've played this for me once before and I was surprised.  But, my memory is shit, so I get to be surprised, again!

Track 08 - You're a dirty man.  MY GUUUUYS!  Took me forever because Assif threw me off.  I couldn't come up with Ragin's name, and when I did the rest of it smashed me in my face.  Lucky enough to take part in an after show jam with this rhythm section years ago in central Maine.  Still have chills.  #Hamid  Kamal's Gift from Revelation.

Track 09 - Yeah, pretty sure you played this for me recently, too.  I'm always wrong if I don't try it, Sweets?  If I guess him, it'll be one of the others I'll usually guess here.  Gotta listen again, but I'll come back.  This is killing me, because I know this is a tenor I absolutely love!  Smoother than Ike.  Clean and powerful.  Lucky?  Fifth listen, damnit.  I'm going to get this guy.  WAIT!  That's Ray Nance!  Shit!  Of course!  Took some sleuthing, but I got it.  I'm wrong on the tenor and I would have NEVER guessed this.

Track 10 - Can't get me here!  Gotta be Khan Jamal!  It's one of the ones I don't have, but you definitely laid this on me on a recent visit.

Track 11 - Damnit!  I know this.  I'm sure I have it, but I'm not seeing it.  It's Frank Lowe, but I'm not sure if that's Bang, I don't think so.  This is a bitch, too!  Drummer is a bad man.  Damned digital piano.  Okay, found it, but I don't have it?  Don't know how that is.  It's Nothing But Love from this.

Okay, coach.  How bad'I hit?

 

 

Edited by tkeith
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 - kind of a modified latin rhythm here and I love the brass. Not sure who this is but it's a good song and really well recorded. 

2 - Fantastic song, kind of a blues waltz. Excellent reeds players. Kind of reminds me of Johnny Hodges on alto but I'm sure it's not him. 

3 - Really nice cover of some pop song is what it sounds like. The vibes player really lets em ring. Is it Burton? Nice trio tune here. 

4 - Reggae cover of a song I've heard before (I think). Reggae covers have to be played with a drummer that knows what they're doing and this drummer's got it. I'm wondering if this is one of those Monty Alexander sessions? Tenor player is great and I love this tune. 

5 - At first it sounds like Miles on trumpet, but this is a quartet date and I think his only studio quartet dates were on Blue Note and this doesn't sound like it's coming from those. So I don't know. Good tune. 

6 - That spiritual jazz vein and I can't name the players. The song is good. I want to guess Pharaoh but I'm not sure it sounds like him. 

7 - You dig these softly played jams don't you? Another great song. It's like these should go on the morning walk playlist. Some excellent playing here, noticing the bass especially. Steve Swallow maybe? Or Weber? 

8 - I feel like there's got to be an Adderley Bros song in this group - is this it? Sounds like it could be but again, I'm probably wrong. Nice groove though. 

9 - The sax here is killing it, just so good. Wow. No idea, I want to guess Ben Webster but nah, not him. Trumpet is great too. Unreal how good this is. 

10 - No idea. Bells, vibes, marimba, it's all here and I have no clue. 

11 - No idea yet again. Nice tune though, good melody and love the playing by the bass & drums. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1.  Gravity?

2.  Oliver Nelson?

3.  Joe Locke?

4.  Reggae Jazz Piano!  maybe Ethan Iverson?

5.  Art Farmer?

6.  Send in the Clowns.  Steve Grossman?

7.  Richard Davis?  He did a trio album with Joe Beck.

8.  Fred Anderson?

9.  Lovely, but I'm still stumped after several listens

10.  Joe Chambers, from The Almoravid, I believe.  Always liked this album.

11.  Hints of the Tyner Horizon band, then thoughts it might be Pharaoh.  It goes a little out but not very far or for vey long.  I think about Billy Bang and Michael White and come back to Pharaoh Sanders.

Edited by randyhersom
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

This is a great Blindfold Test.

1. I have this album. This is Big Alice from Howard Johnson—Gravity!!!!   Great album! The tuba playing is so smooth and soulful at the same time. 
 

2. I don’t know what this is but I love it and want to get it. Both saxophone solos are so compelling! This is great stuff. 
 

3. I have this album and have played it many times. It is Khan Jamal’s Three album with Johnny Dyani and Pierre Doerge. For awhile I was trying to buy any album with Johnny Dyani on it and this is one that I picked up. This is the track titled Children of the Third World. 
 

4. This is John Coltrane’s Lonnie’s Lament played by really excellent musicians. I do not know who the tenor sax player is but he is really good! I want to get this album.

5. A Blue Note trumpet player with a lyrical tone, but not Kenny Dorham. I can’t quite place who it is. If he did not play on Blue Note he is playing in that late 1950s to mid 1960s era. This is really nice.

6. Oh this is George Adams from one of my favorite albums of all time (not just by George but by anyone)—Paradise Space Shuttle. I have played this album a great many times in my life. Thank you for including this!!!

7. I love this. Two basses and is that Phillip Catherine on guitar? The bassist in the left channel made my whole house shake with his big sound near the end of the track. I want to get this album. 
 

8. This is fantastic. I absolutely love this track. This is right up my alley, like a song on my personal all time playlist. I can’t wait to find out who is it so I can buy it. I love the trumpeter but can’t place him. He is in the Ahmed Abdullah/Roy Campbell ballpark but I don’t think it is either of them. The rhythm section reminds me of Roscoe Mitchell’s album Snurdy McGurdy and Her Dancing Shoes (which is high praise from me). 
 

9. I included a track from this album on my BFT last year. That is Seldon Powell and Ray Nance, from the Spellbound album by Ahmed Abdul-Malik. A great track and a great album. 
 

10. That is Max Roach and M’Boom. As time passes I think about what an audacious project that was for a major label release from a master who could have just stayed in his small combo comfort zone. 
 

11. I don’t know who this but I like it a lot. Great energy and compelling solos. I want to buy this when I find out which album it is. 
 

For listening pleasure this is one of my favorite BFTs. The compiler and I are on the same wavelength musically!

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Track 2: At first, I thought: Gil Melle. Alto defintiely Phil Woods. But then... Benny Golson? OK no question that's Golson... So now I'm woindering who is baritone player is. Not Pepper Adams, not Cecil Payne. Guessing it's someone who doubles/triples on that instrument. Love his entrance on his solo! Lovely piano solo. I may be crazy, but it sure sounds like early/pre-hunched-over Bill Evans...

Track 5: this is an early Wayne tune, I think; maybe from one of his Vee Jay dates? I feel like I just heard this somewhere. Maybe this is from one of Brian's Lynch's "Unsung Heroes" dates?

Track 7: George Adams and Stephen Sondheim! OK; works for me! Interesting to hear all those Adams-y gestures at work within this compositional framework. It's a respectful treatment, but still all Adams.

Track 8: the drummer is... energetic. Trumpet sounds a bit like Ahmed Abudullah. Might not be his record/gig, though. 

Track 9: Just has to be one of those Prestige Swingville dates. Red Allen on trumpet? Both players are idiosyncratic traditionalists. The tenor solo is almost postmodern in its references/homages to the tenor traditions associated with "Body and Soul." As Jim Sangrey would say: "Character!"

Track 10: M'Boom in a quiet moment?

Track 11: Billy Bang and Frank Lowe. I believe this is from the live date they put out in the early 00s. Fantastic work by two of my favorite musicians of that generation.

Edited by Joe
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 11/1/2020 at 3:57 PM, tkeith said:

Well, I was going to hold off on this one because I had an advance listen, but I see everybody else is cooped up, as well.

Track 01 - Sophisticated Alice (later Big Alice).  Don't know who, doesn't matter -- it's a Pullen tune and it's a bitch.  I assume that's DP on piano.  Maybe not; seems a bit stiffer than Don.  It's not Craig Harris.  Is that actually a Euphonium?  What the hell is this?  Some of the lines are straight bebop (and grossly out of context), but then it flirts with being downright dirty.  Stewart and HoJo are the only guys I can think of that would do something like this, but that doesn't sound like a Tuba to me.  And it clearly is NOT Pullen on piano.  Maybe Steve Turre?  They don't *quite* pull it off, but it still works.  Wondering if your throwing a curve with some newer players.  Maybe Anthony Cox on piano.  Arrangement is Quotey Quotenstien, but I'm loving it.  

Track 02 - Man!  What a BITCH of a tune!  [FYI -- Growing up, this guy used to make me mixed tapes like this all the time.  Not a bad way to learn.]  Though I'm sure I have this, it's dancing around me.  It's guys I know but I'm trying too hard.  Stitt?  Benny Golson.  Man... why is he NOT the guy every horn player loses his mind over?  So that's Sahib.  Could that have been Phil Woods on alto?  Seems like the band on New York Scene, but I can't think of the title.  

Track 03 - If this isn't Sam Cooke's Wonderful World, it probably should be.  Because of recent avenues your ears went down, it has me thinking Khan Jamal, and that could be right.  Either that or somebody like Warren Smith.  I'm about to doze here, but I'm doing it with a smile.  

Track 04 - ARI!!!!!  How can this NOT make you smile?  Two tenors just sit there, **glaring** at me while I listen to this.  Ari is SUCH a baaaad mf!

Track 05 - This just showed up recently on a BFT if I'm not mistaken.  Tonk (Ray Bryant?), from Art Farmer's Perception.  Yes please.

Track 06 - How dare you.  Grew up in a duplex owned by my grandparents.  My grandfather told me he loved it when I played this song (transcribed it from the album; for me this was the first version I really knew beyond the one lyric).  George was inspired to do this tune by Elizabeth Taylor's version.  One of my first purchases from Loony Tunes in Boston.

Track 07 - Swear I know the tune, but I'll be wrong.  So... guitar and two basses?  So there's only a handful of people this could be.  I'm also positive you've played this for me once before and I was surprised.  But, my memory is shit, so I get to be surprised, again!

Track 08 - You're a dirty man.  MY GUUUUYS!  Took me forever because Assif threw me off.  I couldn't come up with Ragin's name, and when I did the rest of it smashed me in my face.  Lucky enough to take part in an after show jam with this rhythm section years ago in central Maine.  Still have chills.  #Hamid  Kamal's Gift from Revelation.

Track 09 - Yeah, pretty sure you played this for me recently, too.  I'm always wrong if I don't try it, Sweets?  If I guess him, it'll be one of the others I'll usually guess here.  Gotta listen again, but I'll come back.  This is killing me, because I know this is a tenor I absolutely love!  Smoother than Ike.  Clean and powerful.  Lucky?  Fifth listen, damnit.  I'm going to get this guy.  WAIT!  That's Ray Nance!  Shit!  Of course!  Took some sleuthing, but I got it.  I'm wrong on the tenor and I would have NEVER guessed this.

Track 10 - Can't get me here!  Gotta be Khan Jamal!  It's one of the ones I don't have, but you definitely laid this on me on a recent visit.

Track 11 - Damnit!  I know this.  I'm sure I have it, but I'm not seeing it.  It's Frank Lowe, but I'm not sure if that's Bang, I don't think so.  This is a bitch, too!  Drummer is a bad man.  Damned digital piano.  Okay, found it, but I don't have it?  Don't know how that is.  It's Nothing But Love from this.

Okay, coach.  How bad'I hit?

 

 

 

            Organissimo

            November Blindfold Test #200 

            REVEAL

 

            1. Big Alice (Don Pullen)

                HOWARD JOHNSON: Gravity!!!

                Howard Johnson,tu. Bob Stewart,tu. Dave Bargeron,tu. Earl McIntyre,tu.

                Raymond Chew,p. Bob Cranshaw,b. Kenwood Dennard,d. -12/95

            2. Blu-a-Round (Sahib Shihab)

                SAHIB SHIHAB: Jazz Sahib

                Phil Woods,as. Benny Golson,ts. Sahib Shihab,bs. 

                Bill Evans,p. Oscar Pettiford,b. Art Taylor,d. -11/57

            3. Children of the World (Khan Jamal)

                KHAN JAMAL: Three

                Khan Jamal,vb. Pierre Dorge,g. Johnny Dyani,b. -10/84

            4. Lonnie’s Lament (John Coltrane)

                ARI BROWN: Groove Awakening

                Ari Brown,ts. Kirk Brown,p. Yusef Ben Israel,b. 

                Avreeayl Ra,d. Dr. Cuz,pc. -5/13

            5. Tonk (Ray Bryant)

                ART FARMER: Perception

                Art Farmer,flgh. Harold Mabern,p.

                Tommy Williams,b. Roy McCurdy,d. -10/61

            6. Send in the Clowns

                GEORGE ADAMS: Paradise Space Shuttle

                George Adams,ts. Rahn Burton,p. Don Pate,b.

                Al Foster,d. Azzendin Weston,pc. -12/79

            7. A Notion (Albert Heath)

                SAM JONES/NIELS-HENNING ORSTED PEDERSEN: Double Bass

                Sam Jones,b. N-H Orsted Pedersen,b. 

                Philip Catherine,g. Billy Higgins,d. -2/76

            8. Kamal’s Gift (Hugh Ragin)

                HUGH RAGIN: Revelation

                Hugh Ragin,tp. Assif Tsahar,ts.

                William Parker,b. Hamid Drake,d. -9/03

            9. Body and Soul

                AHMED ABDUL-MALIK: Spellbound

                Ray Nance,cnt. Seldon Powell,ts. Paul Neves,p.

                Ahmed Abdul-Malik,b. Walter Perkins,d. -3/64

            10. Twinkle Toes (Will Smith)

                  MAX ROACH: M’Boom

                  Roy Brooks,cymb. Joe Chambers,vb. Omar Clay,mrb.

                  Fred King,mrb. Max Roach,tymp. Ray Mantilla,bells. 

                  Warren Smith, Afr.bells. Freddie Waits,xylp. -7/79

            11. Nothing But Love (Frank Lowe)

                  BILLY BANG: Above & Beyond

                  Frank Lowe,ts. Billy Bang,vi. Andrew Bemkey,p.

                  Tood Nicholson,b. Tatsuya Nakatini,d. -4/03

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...