I've spent the last couple of days with this disc listening while driving to & from work, and hope I 've come up with a few decent guesses!
1. This reminds me of some of the early 60’s Max Roach groups, but I seem to recall that most of those sessions were without piano, so I don’t know. If this is Roach, then we’ve got George Coleman on tenor, Booker Little trumpet, a second tenor player. The tempo seems to be more than some of the musicians are comfortable with, and the drummer really doesn’t sound like Max. Kind of a muddy recording, as well.
2. This is awfully familiar, but coming up with some names? These guys are very much in the Miles Smiles bag, but who the hell is the soprano player? Maybe this is of more recent vintage than the mid-1960’s style suggests? Good playing all around.
3. A bluesier bag on this. I think the alto gives it away. Joe Gordon, trumpet, from Lookin’ Good, with the unruly Jimmy Woods on alto!
4. Can’t really place this – sounds like 1950’s. Possibly Cecil Payne on bari? Or maybe Tate Houston? Can’t place the tenor.
5. This whole thing has got a McCoy Tyner feel to it, I wonder if this might be from one of those Blue Note sessions that came out years after the fact. Is that John Gilmore on tenor? The trumpet has got to Freddie.
6. I think this is a Freddie Hubbard tune, probably from his Open Sesame album. I’m gonna guess that this is James Spaulding on flute, probably from one of his recent Muse or Highnote albums.
7. Boppish alto. The drummer reminds me of Philly Joe – can it be Kenny Washington? I dunno, the whole things seems a tad shallow to me, a little too clever for it’s own good.
8. Can this be anyone but the late Albert Mangelsdorff? This sounds as if it dates from the late 1960’s.
9. I think this is Clarence (Gene) Shaw, from one of his Argo albums, most likely Carnival Sketches. A lovely track. Richard Evans , bass.
10. Cole Porter’s Get Out of Town. The tuba threw me off at first. I’m thinking Arthur Blythe on alto.
11. The vibes player has certainly heard Bags, but then who hasn’t? Possibly Lem Winchester? Or maybe very early Bobby Hutcherson? The alto as a little off kilter in a nice sorta way, can’t recognize him.
12. In the mid 1960’s, just about every other jazz album had a track like this, and this one doesn’t seem to rise above the ordinary, at least to me. Solos are too short for anybody to get anything going, but then again, the whole idea was to get it played on jukeboxes. I do like the drummer, but the whole thing’s just a little too trite for me. Pucho & the Latin Soul Brothers maybe?
13. I’m pretty sure this is Chico Hamilton, possibly Conquistadores. The guitarist has some elements of Gabor Szabo, but I’m not so sure it’s him. I was a big fan at the time of the Hamilton groups with Charles Lloyd et al, but in the mid-60’s Chico’s music took a more commercial turn, and he lost me. This is fun to hear now, though. A nice upbeat ending to a fine and very challenging BFT, Stefan!