Stereojack

Trumpeter looks a little like Sy Oliver to me.

I really like "Live at the Apollo" from 1990 a lot, BB with big band backing from the Philip Morris Superband. For the most part, when it comes to the post-Kent material, the live albums are best. I assume you already know about "Live at the Regal" and "Blues Is King". I bought all of the albums he made in the late 60's and early 70's after seeing him live for the first time around 1969, including "Live & Well", "Completely Well", "Indianola Mississippi Seeds". While each of these has its moments, ultimately I think as whole albums they are weak at best, misguided at worst. The long jams are boring, the guest stars are out of place. BB works best with his regular band in front of an audience, and when all is said and done, this is how I want to hear him. One of the greatest evenings of music I can remember was BB live at the Hampton Beach Casino in 1992. I had seen him several times prior to that, but was absolutely on fire that night.

Some years ago, 60 Minutes did a piece about Chuck, including one scene at his mom's house, and he was wearing the hat at the dinner table! I assume there's very little hair under there! Around 1966 I saw Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers when Chuck was in the band. Accustomed as I was to the likes of Freddie Hubbard & Lee Morgan on the records I'd heard, I didn't care for Mangione that evening, thought he was more jive than substance. Years later I finally checked out the one LP he's on, "Buttercorn Lady", which is by the lineup I saw, and he sounds good. I like the quartet albums he made for Mercury, especially the one that is entitled simply "The Chuck Mangione Quartet". Gave up on him by the time he went to A&M.

Austin Crowe Tony Hawk Christopher Robin

Rosa Ponselle Harry Von Zell Larry Mizell

Spice Girls Herb Hardesty Buddy Weed

Wayne Campbell Garth Algar Alger Hiss

Dooky Chase Kay Paul Pascal's Manale

Ferde Grofe Grand Hotel Canyon, Steve

Coleman Hawkins Jim Hawkins Long John Silver

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I suspect that they were intended to be legit, but got into clearance trouble immediately, and were discontinued quickly. I agree, there were many fine performances in this series, and in good sound.

Dance, Stanley Awl, Dave Knight, Shirley

Lionel Barrymore Barry Morse David Janssen

Gal Young 'un Cole Younger Neil Young

Colonel Mustard J. Mayo Williams Quentin "Butter" Jackson

Little Richard Tiny Tim Baby Rose Marie

I second the recommendation. I've known these sides for years from earlier LP reissues, but the sound on this set is amazing! And the music is timeless......

Rudolf Ising Patrick Pye Al "Cake" Wichard

The sessions were recorded in mono. When Pablo acquired the material and released it in the 1970's, the music was "rechanneled" for stereo. This is not stereo, but a doctoring to create a stereo effect, and I find it really distracting. Both the Tatum boxes as issued by Fantasy on CD utilize the fake stereo masters. I haven't heard the individual CD's drawn from the boxes - are they also fake stereo, or have they restored them to mono?

BFT # 35 1. I can’t pick out just what band this is, although stylistically they are in the Basie camp. Very impressed with the trumpet section! The tenor sounds an awful lot like Ben Webster. Why is his solo so short? A pleasant kickoff to this BFT. 2. This violinist sounds familiar, but I can’t come up with a name. The flautist has a nice spot. His sound (a little thin) reminds me of Herbie Mann. I like the drumming – is that timbales I hear? The tune is somewhat of a trifle, but not unpleasant. 3. “Stormy Weather”. All I can think of here is Roland Kirk – both saxes sound like him. Might this be from his first album, originally on King? If this is Roland, then this would have to have been overdubbed, as I don’t think Roland ever achieved this kind of separation of ideas when playing the two horns simultaneously, as great and unique as he was. Soulful playing all around. The little punctuation at 3:03 kind of clinches it for me. 4. Oh man, this is so familiar. A tune that has been recorded by many – “Exactly Like You”. The bass sounds like Ray Brown, might the pianist be Gene Harris? The pianist has a nice touch, but his ideas (to these ears) are not too fresh. A perfunctory performance, at best. 5. Frank Strozier & Booker Little! From Frank’s first Vee Jay album. What’s the title – “Runnin’”? Frank & Booker sound great, very inspired. Is that Jimmy Cobb on drums. The whole thing seems slightly under rehearsed, but no matter! 6. This is the famous Billie Holiday classic “Strange Fruit”, written by one Lewis Allen (?). Frankly, I think Billie’s rendition is more effective than this version, which does very little for me. 7. “Chega De Saudade”, one of my favorite Brazilian tunes (written, I think, by Luis Bonfa?). A virtuoso performance by Gary Burton, from his “Alone at Montreux” album on Atlantic. Burton doesn’t always knock me out, but he’s really on the money here. Five stars. 8. This starts out with a nice groove, but none of the soloists really get off the ground. A wild guess – Bobby Bryant on trumpet? I wanted to like this, but the soloists let me down. 9. Here we have a nice Illinois Jacquet kind of thing – fast and cooking. This could be Illinois, but I’d expect him not to resort to so many cliches so soon into his solo. I imagine if I were half in the bag in some bar that I might dig this, but frankly, it’s all just a little too familiar, and they never rise above it. 10. The original version of “Soul Serenade” by King Curtis is an all time favorite of mine – very sweet and soulful. This rendition, however, goes on way too long. Nobody’s got enough in the idea department to sustain interest for the fifteen minutes that this track runs. I’m gonna guess Maceo Parker on alto. 11. The alto on this version of “Lester Leaps In” sounds like Bird, but the sound is weird. The crowd noises are in stereo, and the rhythm section is much more clearly recorded than Bird is. Might this be from the “Bird” soundtrack, on which they took some old low-fi live tracks and dubbed on a new rhythm section? 12. Well, this starts out as a nice hard bop track, but I really don’t think much of the tenor player, who, instead of trying to develop some ideas, resorts to squawking. Now don’t get me wrong, I enjoy a good squawk as much as the next guy, but I’d like to have heard more substance. Might the tenor be George Adams? The pianist has a nice solo, but the trombonist isn’t having a very good day. Also, I’m not a big fan of the everybody-solos-on-every-track concept, generally bored by bass and drum solos if they are too plentiful. 13. Bright moments indeed, thank you Rahsaan. And thank you, for an enjoyable set, even if I did get a little cranky.

As far as I know, Pharaoh was with Trane right until the end. He appears on the Olatunji concert and on Expressions, both recorded in early 1967. I bought "Karma" as a new release back in 1968. I had loved "Tauhid" (still do) and snapped the new one up the day I saw it. The album was somewhat of a hit, as Pharaoh attempted a similar approach with his next release "Jewels of Thought". I saw Pharaoh at the Jazz Workshop in Boston sometime after the release of "Karma", and the music they played was mostly in the style of the album. Leon Thomas was there, as was Norris Jones/Sirone, can't remember who else. My friend and I spoke to Pharaoh briefly between sets, commending him on how much we liked what they were doing, and he emphaticaly stated that everything they played came from John Coltrane, or words to that effect. Shortly around the time of Trane's death, perhaps in middle or late 1967, I saw Larry Young leading a group at Connolly's in Boston. He had Pharaoh Sanders on tenor (I could see his saxophone case which had his real name Farrell Sanders written on it), and a drummer whose name escapes me. At the time I was disappointed, as the music was much looser that what had been on Young's LP's, and the drummer was weak.

OK, last night around 7:00 I couldn't access the site - figured there must be a problem. One gets addicted to this place!

Reginald Van Gleason The Poor Soul Joe the Bartender

The Yas Yas Girl Carl Yazstremski Jerry Yester