jeffcrom

Shorty Rogers Quintet - Wherever the Five Winds Blow (RCA Victor mono)

Dogfish Head Raison D'Etre. I've had this before, but had forgotten how wonderful it is.

Pee Wee Russell - Peewee, the Great! (Jazztone). I've always thought of Jazztone pressings as king of lousy, but this is a quiet, wonderful-sounding mono album.

You may have already done some searching but... Positive allmusic review here: http://www.allmusic.com/album/funeral-for-a-friend-mw0000745752 Sound clips here: http://www.dirtydozenbrass.com/catalog/funeral-for-a-friend/ To get personal for a moment - at my funeral I've told my wife that I want the Dirty Dozen's "Just a Closer Walk With Thee" from this album played, along with Memphis Slim's "Mother Earth."

I was always under the impression the "A Merrier Christmas" was the last piece he wrote, but I'm not sure where I read/heard that.

Gigi Gryce (MetroJazz)

I was at these. The Old and New Dreams was part of an "Ed Blackwell Festival" - three nights, I believe. The first night's performance by the American Jazz Quintet (with Alvin Batiste and Ellis Marsalis) was issued as From Bad to Baddest, but I couldn't go that night. Old and New Dreams was followed by the Ornette Coleman Quartet, with Ornette, Cherry, Haden, and Blackwell. That was an amazing evening; maybe Ornette's set will see the light of day at some point. Several shows from the now-closed E.J.'s in Atlanta have been issued on CD, and I'm pretty sure I was at several of them. The Dexter Gordon show is a definite. The owner of the club asked us to be patient, because "LTD" also apparently stood for "Late Tall Dexter."

Lao Tzu A Boy Named Sue Cash McCall

PM sent on Evans, Thornhill and Wax sessions.

One more 10-incher: Muggsy Spanier - Hot Horn (Decca, 1954)

Edmond Hall - Quartette with Teddy Wilson (Commodore). Continuing the 10" LP theme.

Joe Venuti - World's Greatest Jazz Violinist with Russ Morgan at the Piano (Decca 10"). This album was released in 1950 (on LP, 45s, and 78s, I believe), but is not listed in the Lord discography, so I'm not sure when it was recorded. Rust (and Lord) list the first two titles of side one, "Black Satin" and "Red Velvet" by Venuti and Morgan for English Columbia in October, 1935. I suspect all of these recordings were made around that time, but can someone with a good Venuti discography confirm or correct?

Steve Lacy - Reflections: Steve Lacy Plays Thelonious Monk (New Jazz OJC). A really nice-sounding OJC LP. I don't spin this one much, because (in my opinion) Mr. Lacy did so much better later, but damn! This is a good album.

Erskine Hawkins - After Hours (RCA Victor). A 1960 collection of Hawkins' stuff.

Wow - I didn't remember that wild clarinet solo from the Perry Robinson album. I'll spin the whole thing tomorrow.

Now that I've actually commented on BFT 113, I'm in for a download of 114.

Well, coupla embarrassments in my comments.

Well, I'm pretty late, as usual, but at least I got my comments in before the end of the month this time. I haven't read the thread, but I imagine that a lot has been identified by now. A few slightly negative comments notwithstanding, there was nothing I hated, and I like most of it very much. (Well, track 12 did kind of annoy me.) 1. A little chamber group plays Herbie Nichols. Cool! I love this; excellent concept and playing all around. I would guess that it’s a Dave Douglas project, but I don’t know for sure. 2. Some really striking clarinet playing; the player has great command of harmonics, “false” fingerings, and extended techniques. It came off like a 21st-century field holler, and that’s a good thing. 3. Perry Robinson, playing “Atomic Twist” from his 1978 album The Traveler. This is a hoot. Philip Wilson and bassist Frank Luther sound great here, as does pianist Hilly Dolganes, about whom I know nothing. Robinson has such a strange sound on clarinet; it’s not my favorite clarinet sound, but it’s his own – he could never be mistaken for anyone else, and that’s half the battle of playing jazz. 4.Well, I don’t know this piece, but it sure sounds like Wynton Marsalis. All the following comments are based on the assumption that it is indeed Wynton – if it’s not him, I don’t know who it is. Lots of folks here think hate all of Wynton’s output. I don’t like what he represents, but I think that he’s creating some excellent music and some boring music. Whether or not this is Mr. Marsalis, this is excellent. I love the feel and the interpolated blues vocal, which seems to come from another world. I’ll be interested to find out about this one, and if it’s WM. 5. Good, as far as it went. I just went these guys took it “I Remember Clifford” a little further down the road. 6. Here’s where a prejudice of mine affects my judgment. This is very well done; everyone is talented and accomplished. I just wish they hadn’t done it. The whole “gypsy jazz” movement bores me, except when it’s Djano playing. I know that this says more about me than about this music. 7. Sun Ra and the Arkestra playing “Pink Elephants on Parade” from Hal Willner’s Disney album. This is a hoot, and inspired Ra to bring a bunch of Disney songs into the book. I like the way that you can pick out individual voices in the ensemble blend, like John Gilmore’s. I’ve always liked this one. 8. This is beautiful, although I don’t know who/what it is. The tenor player/singer made me think of Charles Lloyd, but I don’t know if Mr. Lloyd has recorded with this instrumentation. The alto player is scary good – wonderful sound, excellent technique, good ideas, and a four-octave range. 9. “Please Let Me Stay a Little Longer,” by the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, from Funeral for a Friend, one of my favorite brass band albums. David Hidalgo of Los Lobos is the guest accordionist. Great Caribbean groove here. It’s excellent, and it’s not even close to being my favorite track on the album. 10. This is certainly an enigmatic little piece. It’s intriguing, but a challenge – not just because of the “advanced” musical language, but because the string player (a cellist?) seems like he’s in a different world than the pianist and percussionist. There might be a connection there, but so far I’m not hearing it so much. 11. Now these guys make it work, for the most part. For much of the piece, they are each following his/her own path, but the paths are parallel, and all going in the same direction, something I didn’t hear with our string player above. It could be argued that this piece goes on too long – I hear a natural stopping point at around five minutes, but the trumpet player disagrees, and so the piece goes on. But it’s still excellent collective improvising. 12. They found a new baby, indeed. Some interesting stuff here, but I there’s an annoying undertone to this – like they’re making fun of older jazz as much as paying tribute. Again, maybe that’s me. 13. Another Herbie Nichols tune to bookend this blindfold test – I think. But I can’t come up with the name, so maybe I’m wrong about the composer. But this is an nice performance by a performance who has heard Mal Waldron. Interesting stuff - I'm looking forward to finding out more.

The United States and the United Kingdom: two nations divided by a common language.

Lars Gullin - Aeros Aromatic Atomica Suite (EMI Sweden)

Cecil Taylor - Nefertiti, The Beautiful One Has Come (Arista/Freedom)

By coincidence, I played all my Ray Miller 78s yesterday. I have four, ranging from boring to darn good, which probably sums up the band in general. My earlier ones (1921-22, on Regal and Columbia), have New Orleans trombonist Tom Brown, but the best is "Red Hot Henry "Brown" on Brunswick, from 1925. It has solos by Frank Trumbauer and Miff Mole. Soon after your record was made, Muggsy Spanier joined the band for awhile.

An excellent album, and not very well known. I think Robin Kenyatta's later work has scared a lot of people off from exploring this one.

The Chicago String Band (Testament mono). Carl Martin, Johnny Young, John Lee Granderson, and John Wrencher.

The sun shown brightly and unequivocally in Atlanta this morning, for the first time in - I don't really know - weeks. Many folks don't realize that Atlanta gets more rainfall than Seattle - about 50% more in an average year. Well, we're way off the charts this summer - it has been rainy and overcast every day for weeks here. Everything feels waterlogged, and everyone's yard is as overgrown as mine is, because it hasn't dried up enough to cut the grass. I took advantage of the sun to take a longish (two-mile) walk through the city. It was nice. Of course, it was raining again by evening.