Big Al

Smith yes, Getz no. Gotcha again! Yes, it's definitely from that! Yes, it definitely is not the familiar take. Oh, you KNOW it! The way the pianist and drummer spar off during the piano solo is fiery, then the alto & trumpet come in to finish it off with unbelievable fireworks. I agree, I wish these two had recorded together more often. Crud! Thought I could slip the Fat man by y'all! DAMN!!! Right on both counts! Wow! That was beautiful. Really! I couldn't have said it any better. The rest of this album isn't as melancholy, and in fact took me awhile to get used to. But I've always loved this track. Listening to it makes me feel very wistful, and listening to the fade-out feels like leaving a wonderful dream about a past happiness and fading back into reality. I'll go into even more detail about this song come answer-time, but for now, I'll PM the answer to ya.

I got everything I ordered in my shipment, which arrived yesterday!

Heh heh! It's neither the tenor nor the arranger (hey, whattya makin' fun of my favorite arranger? Why you brassafrackarackshlacka@^#@^%#%^#!!^!!!!! ). I can't answer the second question for fear of giving it away. Someone oughta figure out soon enough, though! Be more specfic! You know it! The first time I heard this song, I was working on a Saturday and got so hooked on it, I hit the 'repeat' button and listened nonstop for at least an hour! He is? (goes over to jazzdisco.org to check it out) Well, whattya know, so he is! I overlooked that little tidbit! You'd think I would've noticed that in putting this together. Any idea when KD wrote this? I've never found where he recorded this tune. But yeah, Chet makes this his own. Right song, wrong performers. This may have been pretty evil of me! It ain't Harrell, but if you think Harrell sounds like the trumpeter here, please give me some recs on some good Harrell albums! It's not film music, but I could see where it could be mistaken for it. DING! DING! DING!!! Correctamundo again! So far so good! Can't wait to read the rest of your guesses!

Nope, not a needle-drop, although speaking of that, what did you think (sonically) of the actual needle-drops, tracks 9 & 11?

It ain't Harper, but if you know of any recordings of his that sound like this track, please let me know!

As the great Kay Kyser would say, "That's right, you're WRONG!" I was SO hoping someone would guess Terry Gibbs on this track; it's the whole reason this track is on here!

You got THAT right! It is a gem!

Thanks! Glad you like it! Nice to know someone else would've guessed KD/Afro Cuban. As I said before, it is Blakey on the skins. Dude, you are so close it's not funny! Your description of the tenor player is pretty apt. You're wrong about everything else, though. This album cannot be praised enough! I'd be interested to hear what you & Spoontooneous think of the recording (i.e. engineering, stereo-spread, miking, etc) of this tune. Not even close. EDIT: My bad, it is Cleveland. Everything else is wrong though. Fletcher Henderson? Wow! You guys are gonna be in for a helluva surprise when this one's revealed! DING! DING! DING! (with a swing!) We have a winner on all counts! Great guess! Y'know, I never knew Golson was so recognizable. I always confuse him with Johnny Griffin. Great guess! Wrong about the trumpet, though. Yes, yes, yes, and hell yes, before you can't find it anymore! Great guesses all around! I'm having as much fun reading y'alls guesses as I hope y'all are listening to the music!

And a damn good one, too! This album doesn't get near the credit I think it should. I'm glad you liked it! You're right about Silver, but wrong about which track he's on. Everything else is wrong, though. As a bass player, however, I have to admit that playing along with track 11 is all kinds of fun! Easily my favorite album of his! I didn't think I'd fool anyone with this one, but it swings and that's all that matters to me! Nope, not Ammons! I was listening to that this morning and thought the same thing about the tenor solo. I mean, he sounds like he's bending over to play his solo from the chart that some careless klutz knocked to the floor. Interesting you would, er, "pick up" on the bass and then guess OP. It's not OP, but it's got someone closely associated with him. Great guesses! Sounds like you had a good time with this one! I hope you enjoy disc two just as much!

Yes, it is Blakey on the skins. FWIW, if I didn't already know the answer, I would've also guessed KD from Afro-Cuban. Nope, none of those. Yes, it's Hodges, but I'm not saying the piano player. Yet! Nope, none of those either. I will say that the rest of this album is just as good as this one track, and trying to narrow it down was not an easy task! Boy, are you in for a surprise, as will a lot people (I hope!). I was hoping this argument could start again! Same argument we had on my last BFT. Totally agree about this being an old favorite, and even though this album had recently been sampled on a previous BFT (which I didn't realize until AFTER I'd sent mine out), I still wanted to include it. Correctamundo on Golson & Blakey. Yes on Watkins! The ensemble sound is what sold me on getting it onto the BFT. I'm glad you're enjoying this, so far. It was just what I was hoping for!

Don't mind me, I'm just trying to pad my post count!

When did Jim grow a goatee?

It's okay, but certainly not worth THAT much. I see it on vinyl every now and then around here.

Thanks for posting that. I was not aware of that.

If anyone hasn't signed up and just wants to download, be my guest. Hope you'll contribute as well!

Same as it ever was, only more of the same!

Let the comments, discussion, whining, arguing, and the usual shenanigans begin!

Links to the downloads have been posted in the first post! Good luck and happy listening!

Yes, I accept the points you make about about Swamp Seed. It isn't quite the album that Really Big! is - or Triple Threat or Quota for that matter. But I personally prefer it to Thumper, which is much more of a blowing session. (I'm very much into arranged modern jazz.) Respectfully disagree with you guys about Swamp Seed; I think it is almost the equal of REALLY BIG! However, like BillF, I also really dig arranged jazz.

As much as I love Mobley's playing and arranging on this album, I find it difficult to listen to all the way through simply because of the presence of James Spaulding. He overplays damn near every solo he has, screaming into the upper registers of his alto sax AND flute, so much so that I usually end up hitting the FF button through his solos.

When I went to Rapidshare, there were all these options of different softwares to choose from. Did I miss something?

Sweeeeeeet!

I think this is their way of clearing out the inventory without actually setting anything out on the clearance racks. This doesn't make sense to me, but then what does anymore?

Yes! I find a lot of similarities between Blue's mid-size (sextet & greater) sessions and Heath's albums. Both men's Riverside albums are extremely enjoyable!