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Randy Weston Select


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I've listened to the first two discs -- which includes material I've heard before but never owned (the "Little Niles" album), stuff I've never heard (the Five Spot album), stuff I do have on LP (the Jubilee trio date), and stuff that's out for the first time (the Roulette date with Cecil Payne, Ron Carter, and Roy Haynes) -- and I'm delighted. Melba Liston's charts on "Little Niles" are so good and sound like no one else's writing, though it's hard to tell where her conception leaves off and that of Weston's compositions begins. And the band sounds like it's really committed to the music; this was no "another day in the studio" recording. The live Five Spot album has some fierce Coleman Hawkins, plus a deep Hawkins reading of Strayhorn's "Star-Crossed Lovers" (great to hear Hawk with Roy Haynes, and does he get into Weston's tunes and comping), and Kenny Dorham is in fine form too. The Jubilee trio date is the best Weston trio/solo album, I think (a wonderful stately-solemn-deep solo reading of "Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen," but every track is strong). and the remastering is a big upgrade. Finally, the quartet date may have the best improvising Cecil Payne ever did in front of a microphone.

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I'm with Chuck solidly on this one (save I haven't yet had the pleasure of working with him). I'm one hundred and one percent a Weston fan, I've been tracking down anything he does, and this Select has some of the very best of his first decade of work within it. LOVE it!

Edited by jazzbo
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I pulled this one out right after the Hill and Pepper sets arrived. It seems like I pass this one over a lot because of the last disc being just a little too cheesy for me...the vocals are at least...but having listened to it again I'm wondering why I waited so long to take it off the shelf. I really dig track 4 on disc 3. There's just so much going on. I listened to it several times focusing in one just one instrument - really listening to what was there. Simply amazing.

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It's interesting when Randy Weston songs appear, at random, on other albums than his own. I like to listen to Randy's version then compare to the other version.

For example, Al Grey's Snap Your Fingers contains African Lady and Hi-Fly. Randy Weston wrote Hi-Fly and Melba Liston wrote African Lady. Another version of Hi-Fly is on Cannoball Adderley's Quintet In San Francisco. Cannonball mentions Weston's name during an introduction, if I remember correctly. Also, there is a version of Weston's Cry Me Not on Freddie Hubbards's Hub Cap.

These songs are all performed by Randy on the Randy Weston Select.

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Not only is the music great on this Select, but the remastered sound — thanks Malcolm! — is superb. The unissued quartet session with Cecil Payne is dyno-mite.

If you dig this set and don't yet have the Weston OJCs ... time to snag those before their (eventual?) bon voyage!

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Hmmm, this is the Select which made least impression on me when it arrived, played through it a couple of times ( I had never heard any of the material before) and then it drifted into the heap of other new stuff and eventualy it got filed away, this thread has got me curious again, tis for tonights playlist! Thanks for whetting my appetite!

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  • 2 weeks later...

This set is a favorite of mine too! This was my first exposure to Weston and since buying the Mosaic I've picked up some others on vinyl (Destry, Get Happy).

The music on this set is uniformly excellent. I love the the live session with Hawk and the unreleased session with Cecil Payne. The two African-influenced sessions are terrific also. Highly recommended.

Edited by ralphie_boy
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  • 2 weeks later...

Wes, one of my favorite Weston interpretations is "Little Niles" on "This is Dollar Brand" (Black Lion).  Nice solo piano! Then there is that "The Warm Sound of Johnny Coles" lp/cd. Man.  That is sort of a Weston session in disguise!

I found another Randy Weston song, 'Kuscheza Blues,' on the Horace Parlan Mosaic box. Those Weston tunes keep appearing on other artist's albums.

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  • 5 years later...

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