BFT #80 Discussion

[colinmce]

Alright, I've sent the link to those who asked for it and CDs should be with people shortly. Anyone else may feel free to request a link and I'll send it by.

One note about the link. When I clicked on it in the PMs I sent, this: <br%20/> was tacked onto the end for some reason. Just delete that part of the link and it should take you to the right place. If it says the download is unavailable, just refresh and it should work. Hopefully this is the last of the trouble with all that.

I hope you all enjoy the music.

[jeffcrom]

Well, I thought this one was pretty cool. I've listened to the whole thing once, and the first nine tracks twice, so I'm going to go ahead and jump in with the first half. Some spoilers ahead.

1. A great version of a great Steve Lacy composition, “Blinks.” I know who it is, but only because I got curious and did some web searching – so I’ll let someone else ID this one if they can. I like this a lot – this kind of free improvising is full of pitfalls, but these guys find a space between conversing and going their own way which works very well. I plan to check out the album this is from. I hope Lacy heard this before he passed.

2. Ah, that great Paramount sound! This is Johnny Dodds and Tiny Parham playing “Oh Daddy,” a tune that was pretty popular in jazz circles in the mid 1920’s. This one is from 1927. Dodds is Soul Brother No. 1 – rich sound (even through the terrible recording), vibrato that just dances, bluesy approach. I love it. Parham ain’t bad either – that’s a cool chromatic break. Thank you, thank you, thank you for this one.

3. Don’t know who anybody is, but this is some nice stuff – what used to be called “mainstream” jazz. Is the clarinetist primarily a saxophonist? He doesn’t sound completely at ease. The trombonist sounds most familiar to me, but I can’t place him. There’s a wildness about his playing that I like. Very tasty, well-constructed trumpet solo. I understand why this kind of four-to-the-bar rhythm guitar playing lost favor in modern jazz, but we lost as much as we gained. Nice.

4. Well, I haven’t heard this before, but I think this “Blue Skies” is played by Red Norvo – it sure sounds like him. And the outstanding guitar solo sounds like Remo Palmieri to me – an underrated talent. If I’m right about that, it might be Aaron Sachs on clarinet – he played a lot with Red Norvo in the mid 1940’s. His playing doesn’t make much of an impression here, and I can’t claim to recognize him, but I’m guessing based on the context. I can’t say that I’m crazy about the rather formal arrangement, but the vibes solo and especially the guitar solo make this one. And I might be all wet about Norvo and Palmieri.

5. Jimmie Noone, the epitome of the New Orleans Creole clarinet! I was trying to explain my love of Noone to a friend recently, and it came out all wrong. I mean, his music is corny at times, his solos are very formal, he doesn’t swing that much, and his playing has almost no blues content. But I love it – it’s almost like a glimpse into the past; a look down a road not taken. Jazz went in another direction than the Creole style Noone represents, but I still love his “dead end.” And he’s an incredible clarinetist. This is his best group, with Earl Hines and saxophonist Joe Poston, playing “I Know That You Know” from 1928. Sweet!

6. I’ve got this one on a 78 – Buddy Defrano playing “Dancing on the Ceiling” from 1951. I love the first chorus, where it sounds like the whole sax section is playing clarinets. Nice Prez-ian tenor solo, which I assume is played by Jerry Sanfino. I wish DeFranco had stretched out more, but what he does play is very impressive.

Edited to add that my favorite "Dancing of the Ceiling" is Frank Sinatra's from In the Wee Small Hours - even though I think of it as a girl's song.

7. Well, I think it’s Anthony Braxton, and I don’t know what to say. I love his recordings of standards on alto – they’re ferocious and audacious. But this “Skylark” is just uncomfortable. His note choices don’t sound adventurous; they just sound fumbling, like he doesn’t know the chords. The minor seventh of the key that kept showing up in all the wrong places drove me crazy. I actually hope I’m wrong, and it’s not Braxton.

8. Someone’s got an excellent command of the clarinet and some of the “extended” sounds it can make. Like a lot of unaccompanied solos by wind players, he (or she) sometimes implies a couple of parallel lines going on at the same time. Excellent avant-garde improvising; don’t know who it is.

9. This threw me for a loop for a few minutes, but a little digging through my CD collection turned it up – The Earl Hines Quartet from 1937, with Omer Simeon, Budd Johnson, and Wallace Bishop. Budd Johnson always was hip, wasn’t he? I love that chromatic opening to his solo – it sounds like something Don Byas would do a few years later. Simeon is not one of the most individual of New Orleans clarinetists, but he sounds good, and Hines is great, as usual. Thanks for reminding me of this recording; hadn’t heard it for awhile.

Edited November 4, 2010 by jeffcrom

[jeffcrom]

Jeez - I didn't think that some people probably haven't received the CD yet. Probably should have waited.

[jeffcrom]

Well, maybe I should have waited awhile, but since I started, here are my comments on the second half. Don't read on if you don't want to know the IDs of the tracks - I knew all of them except one.

10. Sidney Bechet playing “Blackstick” with a group drawn from Noble Sissle’s big band, 1938. O’Neill Spencer, the drummer, is the only other semi-big name here. Bechet’s clarinet sound is unique – it took me a little getting used to as a young man. But now I hear it as very expressive. He could bend notes like nobody else on clarinet, although he doesn’t really do that here. And when he switches to soprano sax, he sounds like the sun – bright and hot. I wish he stretched out more on this track, but it was still great to hear.

11. “Azure” from The Original Ellington Suite by the Chico Hamilton Quintet. I wish Eric Dolphy had played clarinet more often – he sounds good here, if a little restrained. I know I keep saying this, but I wish Dolphy had been given more room to stretch out – he only improvised a few measures, but they’re very interesting. Beautiful cello playing by Nate Gershman. I love the story (told in the liner notes to the CD) of how this session turned up as a test pressing in Brighton, England.

12. Recognized John Carter and Bobby Bradford right away. “Sticks and Stones” from their 1969 album Seeking. These guys learned Ornette’s lessons well; this is out of the O.C. tradition, but very individual. Carter was an amazing clarinetist in 1969 and just got better with the passage of time. Great rhythm section, too with Tom Williamson on bass and Bruz Freeman of the Chicago Freemans on drums. The only negative aspect of this track is the lack of a Bobby Bradford solo, although he has some nice interplay with Carter near the end.

13. Poor Prez doesn’t have much left at this point – not much technique, sound, or stamina; nothing but musical instincts. And maybe that’s enough. I love the last chorus – fragile and full of pain. This is “They Can’t Take That Away From Me” from the Laughing to Keep From Crying album on Verve, from 1958, almost the end of the road. Sweets Edison and Roy Eldridge sound great, as do Hank Jones and Herb Ellis. A sad and touching recording.

14. Okay, this is pretty obscure, but I’ve had a Stan Hasselgard CD on the Phontastic label with this session for at least 15 years. It’s “Lullaby in Rhythm” from 1947; it was supposedly recorded by Les Paul, but never released at the time. Hasselgard was really amazing, and his early death was a tragedy – he was dead within a year of this recording, only 26 years old. Here he’s got a beautiful sound, great technique, excellent ideas. I would have loved to hear how his music developed; with more maturity and exposure to the blues he could have been frighteningly good.

15. This version of “Someday Sweetheart” was familiar, but it took me a few minutes to place it. The key was Red Norvo again – I recognized him right away, then realized that it was Woody Herman’s Woodchoppers from 1946. Jeez, everybody sounds great here. I sometimes don’t think highly of Herman’s own playing, but what a beautiful sound. I know he’s more or less just playing the melody, but it’s great. Chuck Wayne, Jimmy Rowles, Norvo, Flip Phillips, Bill Harris – they all sound wonderful. But Sonny Berman – absolutely beautiful. When I was about 15 I had a 10” LP of the Herman Band from this period, and Berman’s solo on “Your Father’s Mustache” floored me. It was years before I heard another Berman solo. This one is great. Beautiful record – thanks for including it.

16. This track unfolds like one of those movies where things make sense in retrospect. Once it reveals itself to be “A Night in Tunisia,” everything that has gone on before makes sense. Wow – I like this a lot, and couldn’t even hazard a guess as to who’s playing. The woodwind player is an excellent clarinetist, but what a great sound on the alto! The flow and interplay of this group is really nice. This just gets better and better the more it goes on. Wonderful recording!

17. You almost got me on this one. I recognized Edmond Hall and Vic Dickenson right away, and was pretty sure that this was a recording I had, but I couldn’t remember what it was. I kept thinking that the tune was “Down in Honky Tonk Town,” and it’s similar: “At the Ball” by James P. Johnson’s Blue Note Jazzmen. Sidney DeParis is the trumpet player. I like the little-known Al Trappier’s drumming very much on this. This was the alternate take, and there is a little awkwardness in the transitions between solos. But the solos (and ensembles) are very good here. I don’t think I’ve ever heard a bad Ed Hall recording – always consistent, and always a giant. I’ve loved Vic Dickenson’s burry sound since I was a kid. James P. is not at his best here, which is probably why the faster take was chosen for release at the the time – he plays a great solo there. Otherwise I like this take better.

18. I recognized this instantly – it’s from an album that blew me away when it was issued in 1992 – Don Byron’s Tuskegee Experiments. 90% of that album was so good that I thought we’d be hearing greater and greater music from Byron in the future. I’m not sure what happened – I don’t think he’s done anything as good since. Anyway “Waltz for Ellen” is a beautifully played piece with a few expressionistic touches like sudden changes of register and dynamics. Nice piece.

Thanks for this BFT – as you can tell, I love the clarinet.

Edited November 4, 2010 by jeffcrom

[lipi]

I enjoyed listening to this, despite what my somewhat acerbic comments aimed at the more modern things here may imply. Good stuff. I can obsess over this for weeks, but I'll likely not get anywhere, so I'll just post my first impressions.

1. Oh, it's an orchestra tuning up! Mus be that modern jazz stuff I don't get.

2. This is way more my style. Unfortunately, I'm not jeffcrom, so I can't identify jack, even when listening to my own iTunes library on shuffle. What did Baquet sound like? Something like this, perhaps. Could it be very early Noone?

3. No idea who or what. It sounds to me like this is from the beginning of the 50's, but I could be totally wrong.

4. Vibes in a small group with clarinet always suggests Goodman/Hampton, but that clarinet doesn't sound Goodmany to me. "Blue Skies". Someone imitating the Goodman small groups? Doesn't sound like they're going for the Goodman sound, though.

5. Neat. No idea.

6. That voicing with clarinet on top of saxes at the beginning suggests Glenn Miller to me, but a) I have no idea who played clarinet in the Miller band and b) the rest of the chart doesn't sound Milleresque at all. The more I listen to this, the less I enjoy it. My favourite part is the da-da-DAAH piano introduction, but the ballady, schmaltzy melody leaves me unhappy. On to track 7!

7. ...which I have no idea about.

8. Hey, it's a reprise of track 1! But in this one, they taped an orchestra tuning and then *played it backwards*!

9. Excellent. Should know this, but of course I don't. "Honeysuckle Rose." Sounds like a jam session rather than an arrangement. I'll make a fool of myself and guess at the pianist: Oscar Peterson?

10. Love this. Have heard it before, probably even own it. I'm fairly certain it's Bechet. God, this is great. Yes, it has to be Bechet. Who else? Fabulous. One of the early 30's sides--maybe with Noble Sissle?

11, 12, 13. Will have to listen again to at least 13, but I don't know that I'll be able to say much of interest.

14. Buddy DeFranco? The tone reminds me a little of the Artie Shaw recreations I've heard of his. But really, that's a random guess.

15. Probably a xylophone. That pretty much means Red Norvo, but that's where my guesses stop.

16. No, thanks.

17. I think that's Edmond Hall. I can't think of anyone else with that amount of power and excitement in their playing, with the possible exception of Bechet, and he sounded quite different. This is great stuff.

18. You can hear the keys and the breathing! Great recording, though I don't dig the piece much. Classically trained player, or at least one who enjoyed the classics. Don't know who, though.

Thanks for the BFT!

Edit: after reading jeffcrom's answers, I feel like deleting some of my guesses in shame, but I'll leave them up for the hilarity of all. Should have gotten Noone on track 5, and confusing Earl Hines with Oscar Peterson may just be enough to get me banned from the BFT threads for good.

Edited November 3, 2010 by alex.

[jeffcrom]

Edit: after reading jeffcrom's answers, I feel like deleting some of my guesses in shame, but I'll leave them up for the hilarity of all.

Alex, I think this just shows that the main difference between us is that you have a life, and I don't.

[Big Al]

Hear we go!

Track 1: Not every time a BFT starts off with a big ol’ WTF from me, but WTH! No clue, and I’m sorry to say that it sounds like they ran out of music and just started going in 100 different directions at once.

Track 2: Sounds like an old old OLD Benny Goodman record. There was a time when I might could’ve been able to ID this. I hate it when tastes change, cuz they’re not always for the better.

Track 3: Man, you sure dig you some clarinet! And the only ones I know are Goodman, Shaw, & DeFranco. So, um, DeFranco? Only cuz I’ve already guessed BG and this doesn’t sound like a Shaw record. Oh, but that SO sounds like Sweets! Sheesh, got me here (like that’s a difficult task!) OH, that break sounded like Max Roach! And I don’t hear a piano! Alright, final answer is a Max Roach group! There! Now, I can reserve DeFranco for another guess! :lol

Track 4: Now THIS sounds more like a Shaw record! Wait, no it doesn’t. It sounds like Bags. OH heavens, you know what this reminds me of? The Benny Goodman Sextet record that came out in the late 40’s early 50’s on Columbia. This isn’t that record (I’ve got that one memorized within the fabric of my being), but I will go ahead and play the Goodman card again and say this is from the same era!

Track 5: And the clarinet madness continues! Gotta love it! No clue here, as usual, but I love the fleet-fingered playing of said reedman! Maybe an early Ellington small group? Jimmy Hamilton! Duh, how could I leave that name out of the list of clarinetists? Oh yeah, cuz I’m as clueless about jazz today as I was when I first started listening years ago. {{{sigh}}}

Track 6: The phrasing kinda reminds me of Glenn Miller (could I get any more whitebread?), which means I love it! Wait, that phrasing sounded like a Riverside recording (gotta love that Plaza Sound echo!). I really have no clue what I’m talking about. Hopefully, someone is getting a good chuckle or glomming some semblance of entertainment value outta this!

Track 7: Man, this one’s making me sleepy.

Track 8: OUCH!!! There are dogs outside my office window screaming at me right now!!!

Track 9: HERE we go!!! Great swing! Love it! Gonna say a Basie band!

Track 10: Hey! I’ve heard this song in various Merrie Melodies & Looney Tunes! But I don’t recall this being on the Raymond Scott compilation that came out years ago. For that matter, I’m not even sure it’s a Scott band. Or that the song is a Scott composition! It just reminds me of “Powerhouse!”

Track 11: A very nice “Day Dream.” Boy, is this being a fantastic lesson in clarinet!

Track 12: Steve Lacy from Evidence? Which is worse: guessing something so obviously incorrect or not guessing at all?

Track 13: YES!!!! I KNOW THIS ONE!!!! WOO HOO!!! I’M GONNA GET ONE RIGHT!!! YES YES YES!!!! That’s Pres barely playing his old clarinet! Track 2 from this album! Ahhhhhhhhh! I may just stop here and savor the moment! This rarely happens! Mmmmmmmmmmmm!!!!!

Of course, it occurs to me that probably everyone else is gonna get this one, but I don’t care! BFT tracks guessed is BFT conquered! Hee hee hee hee

Track 14: No clue. But did you see that I got track 13 right???? HOO HAH!!!

Track 15: Y’know, I remember this starting, but for some reason I thought I was still on track 14. What can I say? They sound like they’re from the same album!

Track 16: I’ll bet this was fun to watch, record, and play. I wish it were as fun to listen to.

Track 17: MMMMMM!!!!! Love grooves like this! Maybe a Jack Teagarden group?

Track 18: No clue. Good enough, I guess. Not the biggest fan of solo clarinet but this is melodic and could certainly be a WHOLE lot worse! Nice peaceful way to end the show!

[Big Al]

Y'know, I think I shoulda just copied & pasted alex's answers. How rare is it that Glenn Miller is guessed in a BFT (I mean BESIDES on my own BFT's!), much less twice, even lesser on the same TRACK???

alex, if you're booted outta the BFT, you're gonna have company. Trust me!!!!

[lipi]

Y'know, I think I shoulda just copied & pasted alex's answers. How rare is it that Glenn Miller is guessed in a BFT (I mean BESIDES on my own BFT's!), much less twice, even lesser on the same TRACK???

alex, if you're booted outta the BFT, you're gonna have company. Trust me!!!!

It just goes to show what fine musical sensibilities we have.

[Spontooneous]

Here goes. I didn't peek, I swear.

1. A cute Tinkertoy head. Sorry, but the improvising leaves me cold -- lots of gesture but not much music through there.

2. I really oughta know this one. I'm getting a Buster Bailey vibe. A nice acoustic side, and the tune itself seems familiar (memory is telling me that it's from the '20s vaudevillian blues singer repertoire).

3. Well, the tune is "Something's Gotta Give." Nice ensemble with that Freddie Green-like guitar. Which makes me think that Basie fan Benny Goodman is the leader. But the chart seems too elaborate for him. Love the horn background to the trombone solo.

4. It's a strangely subdued and gray "Blue Skies." Nice vibes and guitar, one of the best Charlie Christian impersonations I've ever heard. The vibist must be the leader – Red Norvo? -- and the clarinet seems like an afterthought.

5. The verse threw me, but then it's "I Know That You Know." Just two horns, the alto and the clarinet? Quite wonderful in its way, but with both horns going at once, the clarinetist is tethered too closely to the ground. Funny that this sounds so much better than track 4, which is from at least a decade later.

6. Swingin' easy. OK clarinet, nice piano, and a minty-fresh Getzian tenor solo. Second helping of clarinet is very boppish. Maybe two clarinets, perhaps Goodman and then Hasselgard? Beautiful whoever it is.

7. "Skylark," maybe a clarinetist whose intonation was better when he was younger. The piano has seen better days too, as perhaps the pianist has. For the second chorus, the harmony becomes very free-spirited, and I'm liking it more every bar. Yeah!

8. No guess. But I like.

9. "Honeysuckle Rose," with a Commodore Records feeling. Dandy piano and tenor solos along with the clarinet. I want this.

10. At first, sounds like somebody trying to copy the Ellington "jungle" vibe. Is the tune Raymond Scott's "Powerhouse" or does this pre-date it? The clarinet-tenor chorus is OK. Then the Bechet-ish soprano appears out of nowhere and the temperature goes up. Strange and fun.

[Spontooneous]

Take two.

11. The tune is Ellington's "Azure," for which this intro seems unnecessarily elaborate. Is that a cello I hear? Oh, I'll bet it's a Chico Hamilton band. If so, then Buddy Collette on clarinet?

12. Sounds like John Carter. A little searching in the collection leads me to "Sticks and Stones" on the "Seeking" album. Beautiful, the whole band really sculpting the music and the grooves together.

13. After-hours with Lester Young, "They Can't Take That Away From Me," 1958 Verve. Too many notes from the piano (a rare lapse for Hank Jones), and maybe not enough notes from the leader, but hey, the damage was done to Lester by this time, and his fire's still somehow burning, so no complaints. The trumpets and guitar manage not to break the spell.

14. It's "Crazy Rhythm" with a cutesy harmonic dislocation. I'll guess Artie Shaw.

15. "Someday Sweetheart," and this one sounds like Goodman and Norvo. A wonderful side, though the ending sounds contrived.

16. Here we go again with the old BFT "Is that a bass or a cello?" problem, but a little over a minute in it's clear that there are both. As instruments are added, it seems like this one might go south, but then that lovely loping groove starts. At about 3 minutes I finally figure out that they're working out on "Night in Tunisia." I'm going to guess this involves Steve Turre and Akua Dixon. It's probably their project. The other horns seem like the fifth wheel, despite the altoist's efforts. Is that a fade for BFT purposes, or could they not come up with an ending?

17. No guess, but it's a superior example of its kind, and I wish the trumpet solo was longer. No corn growing here.

18. It's "Waltz for Ellen" from Don Byron's "Tuskegee Experiments" album, for which I still have a fondness despite his recent work!

Thanks very much for this. I'm really eager to find out what some of these so I can start searching for them!

[Hot Ptah]

I am averting my eyes, and not reading any of the posts in this thread yet, because I have not received this BFT on disc. Colin, could you tell me when you sent it out? My post office guy said that he could predict when it would arrive, if he knew when it had been sent. Thanks.

[Hot Ptah]

I am averting my eyes, and not reading any of the posts in this thread yet, because I have not received this BFT on disc. Colin, could you tell me when you sent it out? My post office guy said that he could predict when it would arrive, if he knew when it had been sent. Thanks.

I received a CD-R of your BFT 80 from another member, so you do not need to check this, Colin.

[colinmce]

Oh, damn I just saw this. I've sent you a PM and another copy. Apologies again and enjoy!!

[Hot Ptah]

Oh, damn I just saw this. I've sent you a PM and another copy. Apologies again and enjoy!!

Thanks Colin. The ways of the postal service are often mysterious. I am enjoying your BFT very much.

[Spontooneous]

Took me a while, but I got it...

No. 3 is Disc One, Track 19 here.

[Big Al]

Took me a while, but I got it...

No. 3 is Disc One, Track 19 here.

{{{sigh}}} It's finally happened: I missed a track that I have in my collection....

[Hot Ptah]

I am enjoying this BFT very much. It is making me feel even less capable at this game than usual. I can not even venture a guess on any of the songs, except for the Don Byron song which I knew.

I am stunned at the knowledge that some of the other members have shown in their posts on this thread.

[Hot Ptah]

Will there be a Reveal for this BFT soon? I really want to know about the unidentified tracks in particular.