Album of the Week, April 23–30

[gdogus]

So, a couple of weeks ago I'm goofing around and happen to run across a thread begun by our friend Rooster Ties way back in April 2003 - three years ago, almost exactly to the day - about the first U.S. release of Jimmy Woods's Conflict on CD.

Rooster Ties went apeshit about this album in that thread. He loved it. It's the best album in the world - in fact, all other albums are now crap. Well, I exaggerate, but he did seem quite taken with it back then, as you can read for yourself, and he wasn't alone. In fact, I was struck by the consensus that emerged from the thread: Conflict MUST be picked as Album of the Week, and soon! Yeah!!

Well, in the three years since that thread, no one followed through. But I will. So here, at long last:

Jimmy Woods Sextet - Conflict (Contemporary, 1963) (click to buy)

Jimmy Woods: alto saxophone; Carmell Jones: trumpet; Harold Land: tenor saxophone; Andrew Hill: paino; George Tucker: bass; Elvin Jones: drums.

1. Conflict 5:47

2. Coming Home 6:01

3. Aim 7:57

4. Apart Together 6:44

5. Look To Your Heart 5:50

6. Pazmuerte 6:32

7. Conflict (alt. take 5) 4:54

8. Aim (alt. take 43) 7:12

9. Look To Your Heart (alt. take 39) 5:53

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eMusic subscribers can download the album here.

Original liner notes can be found here.

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This is Woods's second album as a leader - and his last, for whatever reason. His first, Awakening!!! (Contemporary, 1962) is terrific too, but the writing and the personnel on Conflict give it a special edge. Hill's weird, vamping chords, Elvin Jones's thunderous drumming, the varied and twisting solos by Woods, Land, and Carmell Jones...this album makes a strong, strong statement. Straight-ahead, modal, and "outside" all get their moments here. A real head-turner, I think.

I'd suggest reading through the 2003 thread on the album, and picking up the conversation now, here, exactly three years down the road...

Edited April 24, 2006 by Jim Alfredson

[BruceH]

Good choice!! Finally, an Album of the Week that I already own. I'll be digging this out and listening asap. I recall enjoying it when I first bought it, but haven't played it much since. So it's high time!

[Uncle Skid]

Thanks for posting the liner notes!

[ep1str0phy]

I don't have my copy handy, but it's definitely one of my favorites. A terrific advanced hard-bop/post-boppish outing with a five-star band... great compositions, great improvising. And... this album boasts some of the most propulsive rhythm work in this style. Elvin is a monster on this--just ballistic (on the level of his best non-Coltrane sideman work, like Judgment). And then there's Jimmy Woods--a forceful, emotionally charged player who walked the line between bluesy, Ornettish sonorities and less oblique hard-bop saxisms. His other album--Awakening!--is a joy... not as powerhouse, but a lot of soul. Both of his albums are more than worth checking out.

[gdogus]

I don't have my copy handy, but it's definitely one of my favorites. A terrific advanced hard-bop/post-boppish outing with a five-star band... great compositions, great improvising. And... this album boasts some of the most propulsive rhythm work in this style. Elvin is a monster on this--just ballistic (on the level of his best non-Coltrane sideman work, like Judgment). And then there's Jimmy Woods--a forceful, emotionally charged player who walked the line between bluesy, Ornettish sonorities and less oblique hard-bop saxisms. His other album--Awakening!--is a joy... not as powerhouse, but a lot of soul. Both of his albums are more than worth checking out.

Yeah, Elvin Jones is indeed a monster on Conflict - incredible stuff from him. One wonders if his special cover credit ("featuring Elvin Jones") was conceived beforehand, or simply came after the company promo men heard the tapes! Some of Elvin's best work, in my opinion.

But listen to Andrew Hill here, too, and his positively spooky, propulsive, chant-like chordal work. Amazing eerie contributions.

I agree, too, that Awakening!!! is also a real delight.

Edited April 25, 2006 by gdogus

[BruceH]

I don't have my copy handy, but it's definitely one of my favorites. A terrific advanced hard-bop/post-boppish outing with a five-star band... great compositions, great improvising. And... this album boasts some of the most propulsive rhythm work in this style. Elvin is a monster on this--just ballistic (on the level of his best non-Coltrane sideman work, like Judgment). And then there's Jimmy Woods--a forceful, emotionally charged player who walked the line between bluesy, Ornettish sonorities and less oblique hard-bop saxisms. His other album--Awakening!--is a joy... not as powerhouse, but a lot of soul. Both of his albums are more than worth checking out.

Couldn't have said it better---or as good---myself!

This is a fantastic album that doesn't get enough notice. I agree that Awakening is also a joy, but I'd have to put Conflict a notch or two higher. Something about having a lineup like Woods, Carmell Jones, Harold Land, Andrew Hill fer Godsake, and Elvin Jones, all performing at or near the top of their form. They really put this one over the top. I think I may like it even more now than I did three years ago. It's just "out" enough for me to dig, but not too out----if you know what I mean. Great choice!

[gdogus]

Listened to this twice today at work, and was struck all over again by Woods's performance. Very unique to my ears, seeming to strain against the rest of the band and the lines they're laying down - but in a good way. Just seems to me he's really seeking out possibilities in his solos, or roughing it up against the grain in some really revealing ways.

[catesta]

I love this one!

[kinuta]

Great record. I bought the Japanese version when it came out without any prior knowledge of the session.

I just looked at the band line up and no further convincing was needed, even at the hefty $25 plus I had to pay.

I remember coming home and putting on the headphones , that title track just blew me away , you know " where the hell have they been hiding this ?"

[Cliff Englewood]

I don't have this but will really have to get it, although I've never seen it in Dublin. Just out of curiousity, how are Land/Jones on this? Do they get much space to blow?

[Joe]

I can't quite articulate why, but this recording has never really clicked for me. I feel there's a certain disconnect between the soloists and the rhythm section, and Tucker seems really out-of-sorts to me. Its almost as if the musicians are having some difficulty really hearing each other. Its often edge-of-my-seat stuff, but not so much "edge-of-my-seat-engrossing" as "edge-of-my-seat-becuase-I-can't-get-comfortable-and-I-might-need-to-move-to-the-next-room-at-any-moment".

Maybe the band needed more rehearsal time? Maybe its just lazy or tacky listening on my part. Like Hill's own POINT OF DEPARTURE (hmmm, similiarly configured, "all-star" band), CONFLICT is a recording I much more easily "respect" than "enjoy". Yet, like POINT OF DEPARTURE, its a recording I won't give up on.

I have to say I prefer Woods' work (both as composer and soloist) on AWAKENING!!! and (as soloist only)on Joe Gordon's excellent LOOKIN' GOOD. A somewhat fugitive figure, Woods. I wonder what happened to him.

[JohnS]

Nice cd. Everyone plays well, shame some of the solos by Land and Jones are a little short, on the opening track especially, as both sound really hot on this date.

Edited April 28, 2006 by JohnS

[ep1str0phy]

(Hey! My old posts are linked up.)

For the aforementioned reservations--I think a lot of it has to do with the edits--some of which are startlingly prominent (especially on the first cut). This sort of music demands extended treatment, although temporal restrictions kind of prevent things from simmering... and it's all very high energy. As a result, there isn't a lot of breathing space--it's consistently explosive (in contrast to, say 'Point of Departure'--which has those quiet moments). The 'compressed' quality of the sound doesn't exactly lighten things up, either. But that's the album's charm, in way... it's a lot more ragged, brutal, and 'rough' than your 'average' inside/outside Blue Note album (for example). What it does have, however, is passion to burn.

[gdogus]

(Hey! My old posts are linked up.)

For the aforementioned reservations--I think a lot of it has to do with the edits--some of which are startlingly prominent (especially on the first cut). This sort of music demands extended treatment, although temporal restrictions kind of prevent things from simmering... and it's all very high energy. As a result, there isn't a lot of breathing space--it's consistently explosive (in contrast to, say 'Point of Departure'--which has those quiet moments). The 'compressed' quality of the sound doesn't exactly lighten things up, either. But that's the album's charm, in way... it's a lot more ragged, brutal, and 'rough' than your 'average' inside/outside Blue Note album (for example). What it does have, however, is passion to burn.

Yes - somebody in the older thread (linked in the first post of this one) commented on the sound of the "room" in which this album was recorded, as if the mics weren't quite right, and I can understand that. And the album does have it's own sound, for sure.

[Niko]

A little late

I bought the record on the strength of the line-up having never heard of Jimmy Woods... when I read the liner notes on my way home with statements like "It was a course in Sociopathic Behavior with Professor Diehl at Los Angeles State College (where I am majoring in Sociology) which clarified many of my thought on this subject [i.e. conflict]." I was a little worried about what I had bought there (like yesterday when I bought Aldo Romano's Alma Latina at a similar reduced price and don't like it at all so far) but now I listen to it very often... I also thought of hill's point of departure - while I share Joe's opinion on that one I really respect but don't really enjoy it (had never seen it that way but it's true) I find Conflict much more enjoyable...

[Enterprise Server]

Outstanding recording..!

[BruceH]

Nice cd. Everyone plays well, shame some of the solos by Land and Jones are a little short, on the opening track especially, as both sound really hot on this date.

Perhaps the brevity of the solos adds to the pressure-cooker feeling on some of these tracks.