Big Al

I liked Yusuq's second great quintet, sharing the front line with Hous Bin Pharteen. That's my boy!

All of this is off-the-cuff, no edits, first take! Track 1: Now THIS is nice! Has a nice intensity a la some of Trane’s modal stuff. I’m already humming the bass part in those quiet moments. Beautiful track! No clue who it is, but it sure is nice! Track 2: Even more beauty! This reminds me of a Buddy Montgomery track that was on a BFT from some years back! Love that bass line, too. The drums are exotic and mysterious! Love it love it love it! Track 3: HA! Cool lead-cello intro on the Monk tune (no, I don’t know the name of it! Whattya expect? I’ve already confused “Blue Bossa” with “Fly Me to the Moon”). MAN, that was cool! Track 4: Who is playing those wicked harmonics? That is wild!!! Was almost put off by the unison voice and muted trumpet, but it’s okay. Oh, is that Joe Henderson? Which makes the voice Flora Purim? Stanley Clarke on bass? PLEASE say I’m getting close hear! Sweet, SWEET groove! Track 5: Oh my, what a guilty pleasure this would be for me! My kinda groove! Really, it is so freakin’ cheesy that I can’t help but love it! I can’t wait to find out who this is, cuz I can’t even begin to guess. Maybe Chuck Mangione in the 70’s on a good day? Heck, I don’t know! Track 6: Ooooh, nice mysterious 3/4 groove being played by the drums. Very cool. Sax trio, eh? First guess is something from Trio Fascination, the Lovano album with Elvin on it, but it’s been so long since I’ve heard that album. Okay, too many high squeals on the tenor sax for me. Losing interest very quickly. Track 7: Another nice piano trio, along the lines of tracks 1 & 2. I’d even go so far as to say it’s George Winston (who I enjoy) ever recorded a trio album, it might sound like this. My apologies to anyone whose heads just exploded because of that last statement. Eh, this one’s going on a bit too long as well, and the bass solo ain’t helping. No, I take back my earlier statement about this being George Winston; it sounds like a classical pianist trying to play jazz. Not necessarily a bad thing, but not good in this case. Track 8: The slow intro almost lost me, but now the groove has picked up and I’m really enjoying this. For some reason, I wanna say Michael Brecker from his final album. Sometimes the piano sounds like Herbie Hancock. Intro suggested yet another version of “All the Things You Are,” but this clearly ain’t that! Thankfully! Track 9: Nice. No clue as to the tenor player, they all kinda sound the same at this point. Heck, at one point, I thought I was still listening to track 8! Like the occasional percussion statements. Track 10: Nice Latin groove here! My first guess is Chucho Valdes, but that says more about how little I know than anything else! Track 11: Man, Marcos, you sure like your piano trios! Unfortunately, and especially among today’s players, I can’t tell one from the other. But this is nice! Track 12: Another nice groove! Another track I don’t know anyone! By and large, and especially with those first few tracks, this was a pretty enjoyable BFT. Thanks Marcos!

I know it's already being discussed in the"Joe Zawinul is hospitalized" thread, but felt like he deserved a tribute thread of his own. Thanks for the great music Joe. RIP.

Can't believe how wrong I was about track 6. Well, yes I can, but still....

"Disc one" All of this is off-the-cuff, no edits, first take! Track 1: Sounds like a McCoy Tyner group, maybe Hubert Laws on flute? Sounds of recent vintage. Okay, that flute solo is reeeeeeally grating on my nerves. See if I can’t skip thru this. Hmm, long-ass drum solo. Snore. Ends on a nice note, though. Cut out about five minutes of this and I’m enjoying this a lot! Track 2: Great in-the-pocket reading of “C-Jam.” Sounds like a young lion playing with some old masters. Is that Ron Carter on bass? Sure sounds like him! The drummer keeps things swinging ever-so-nicely, so I’m gonna guess Louis Hayes. Nice & tight, not one note wasted. At some points, the piano player sounds like he’s throwing around some Monkisms without losing the beat. Very nice! Track 3: No clue. Sounds like another Monk fan, filtered through Vince Guaraldi. Has kind of an ECM feel to it. Track 4: Wow, I never knew this song had lyrics to it. Nice arrangement. No idea who it is or who’s singing it. For some reason, this guy sounds more American than the language he’s singing. Ah, never mind; I thought it was a Jobim tune, “No More Blues” I think. Doesn’t matter; it’s still nice! (Actually, truth be told, this sounds like Harry Connick Jr. trying to sing bossa nova, without the nasal overtone that makes him sound like Billy Joel trying to sound like Frank Sinatra) Track 5: The stereo separation of the horns makes me think it’s an RVG recording, but that’s about all I can come up with. It sure is long. A little too long for my attention span. The alto does sound like Jackie Mac, but that’s all I’m coming up with. Track 6: Nice solo version of “Fly Me to the Moon.” Tatum maybe? Track 7: Strings to start a jazz tune. Uh oh. Unless it’s Claus Ogerman or maybe Don Sebesky. Then I usually don’t have a problem. Eh, nothing about this tune really grabs me. Just sounds like just another piano player. Track 8: Pretty cool, I guess. What’s that “whoop whoop” sound I keep hearing? Track 9: Boy this guy is fast. Not a bit interesting to listen to, probably a lot of fun to watch. Track 10: Kinda nice in the classic Miles ‘60s Quintet mode. Honestly, it went by me without really grabbing my attention. Track 11: I like the sound of this. Well I did, until that tenor solo took over. Geezus, man, take yer thumb off that upper-register flap! Yer makin’ my ears bleed! Sorry to be such a pill. Maybe others’ responses will provide enlightenment or something like that.

'bout damn time! {{{{{{{{mega-sigh}}}}}}}}}}

Damn! Selim Sivad! Why didn't I think of that? I always miss the obvious!

I'm actually looking forward to a single-disc BFT for a change. Not to knock anyone else's 2-disc BFTs (especially mikeweil's BFT #18), but I just don't have time for two discs these days. Heck, I haven't even had a chance to comment on marcoliv's BFT yet!

Yup! That's part of the order. The only one I couldn't order was Smooth as the Wind. I used to see that used all over the place. Of course, this was before I actually wanted it.

NO Drat! seems ... ??? Meaning that either he or Lion decided Blue needed to keep going with the Silver Quintet formula. Only problem was, IMO, without Silver it ain't the same. Corea's great but he ain't Horace.

Yes, people tell me all time I look like American musician Miles Davis; but I tell you, I just taxi driver from Morocco named Yusuq Madiq.

Yeah, I watched the game off & on, and was surprised that the Dallas D let the Giants come back. Good thing for the Cows that they scored a lot of points!

Making needledrops of: Vince Guaraldi OH GOOD GRIEF Gabor Szabo MIZRAB and RAMBLER Cal Tjader LATIN KICK (from the red vinyl! mmmmmm!) and LATIN CONCERT

I've always enjoyed the track "Smooth as the Wind," but haven't been able to find the CD of the same name; not on Amazon or anywhere! I'm hoping the fact that it's OOP means it's about to be released in the Keepnews series. I do have Blue Soul and what a beauitful album that is. Can't go wrong with Jimmy Heath (playing AND arranging), Curtis Fuller, and the crack Riverside rhythm section of Wynton Kelly-Sam Jones-Philly Joe Jones. Based on this, I ordered all the other available Riversides of Mitchells. It seems to me that he was placed in different sized groups during his Riverside career, while his Blue Note output seemed to echo his setting within the Horace Silver Quintet. For that reason, I've never really cared for his Blue Note output, but I have a feeling I'm really going to enjoy the Riversides. Regardless of which label he was on, he possessed an absolutely gorgeous tone. So, what do y'all think?

Can't wait to hear this on the upcoming Trane box!

Rangers sweep the A's to move into a tie for third! Hey, it ain't much, but the way this season's going and the fact that things are FINALLY starting to look up for my guys, there is reason to be excited! I hope I'm not jinxing anything by saying I'm actually looking forward to next season. If the Rangers can finish at .500 or better this year, it will have been a success. (I can only imagine where the Rangers might be right now if April and May hadn't been so horrific)

I listened to clips of SERENADE last night. Looks like that'll be a good one to get! I didn't realize it had Johnny Griffin, along with the rhythm section of Kelly-Chambers-Philly Joe!

Are you kidding? They're ahead of Leonard Feather???? When did that happen?

No one in Austin is excited about the rare chance to see the great Chico Hamilton? I would go myself except it is on a Wednesday night, 200 miles away. Same here. I'm very curious about that one. Me three. Tell ya' what let's do - let's pick Chico AND the band up at the airport, highjack their ass outta that town, and take him to Dallas where...

FWIW, I thought his extended notes to Jimmy Heath's REALLY BIG were more heartwarming than I was expecting.

BTW, is there a complete list of the Fantasy, Milestone, and Prestige 2-LP sets somewhere? The jazzdisco site has the list of Prestiges, but that's it.

Agree for the most part; I just wish Concord would indicate on their website why they're doing this, what tapes are being used, etc. Are they only going to release the 2-fers that will fit nicely on a single CD? What gives? That's the problem with all of this speculation is that is all it is: speculation! But you may be onto something: maybe Concord really is trying to retrace Fantasy's first steps. Oy!

Y'know, on the one hand, that's pretty cool that they're releasing those old 2-fers on one CD. I'm guessing the sound will be the usual 20-bit mastering & all that. OTOH, some of those titles are either: a) redundant (the Coltrane 2-fer, which is already out in the Concord/Prestige RVG series as Soultrane and Traneing In, not to mention the Trane Fearless Leader box, the OJC, etc etc etc; the Griffin is also readily available in more complete form on the OJC's Thelonious in Action and Misterioso) or b) lacking (the necessity of the bonus tracks from the Burrell All Day/Night Long sessions, which are easily available on the OJCs, cannot be overstated enough. It also looks as though a track or two has been left off of the Parker 2-fer (according to the jazzdisco.org site), but that may be due to duplication of titles. I'm not sure, having never heard the album. The Miles leaves off "My Old Flame" from the Dig session that was originally on the 2-LP set). That said, I still think this is a cool thing Concord is doing. I mean, it sure beats another issue of "Trane for Lovers" or some such crap. For those of us who value quantity for the price paid, you really can't beat these deals.

Gotta admit, I'm happy that there's nothing in the list of Keepnews issues that hasn't already been re-released umpteen million times. For that alone, this is a good set of reissues (although none really interest me personally).

"Portrait of Louis Armstrong"? Were you thinking of Cootie Williams? First time I've heard it... just picked it up at that Corner Record Shop in GR. Thanks for sharing your addiction... Drattit!!! Do you know how close I came to buying that when I saw it that night? Ah well, at least I know it's in good hands! Anyway, I was wrong: it's the fourth track, "Thanks for the Beautiful Land on the Delta," that makes me wanna get up and join the procession! Next year, I'm setting aside a whole DAY to rummage around in there!