jeffcrom

I avoided posting in this thread for a long time, but I guess the news is as "official" as it's going to get. The first Blue Note album I bought was Fuego. I liked Byrd's compact sound and lyrical approach right away, and my appreciation for him has grown over the years. To my ears, his absolute peak was reached with the two 1961 albums The Cat Walk and Royal Flush, with Mustang, Blackjack and Slow Drag from 1966-67 representing another high point. And I'm grateful to Rooster Ties' thread on Byrd's Ethiopian Knights album - after hearing (and disliking) some of the Mizell-produced funk albums, I wouldn't have checked out Knights, but it's now one of my favorite Byrd albums, in spite of its obvious difference from Royal Flush, my absolute favorite. Donald Byrd was not an innovator, but not everyone can or should be. RIP.

This afternoon: Red Garland - Red Alone (Prestige Moodsville mono)

Piron's entire output has issued on CD, but as you know, there's nothing like hearing old music as originally issued. My near-minty copy of "Mama's Gone/New Orleans Wiggle" sounds better than my Azure CD.

I've spun lots of 78s the past few days - maybe I'll get around to posting about some of them. But a few early jazz discs before bed tonight, starting with three by Gene Fosdick's Hoosiers, a pretty good Midwestern jazz band: One Night In June/Lost (Vocalion, 1922) You've Got to See Mamma Ev'ry Night/Way Down Yonder in New Orleans (Vocalion, 1922/23) Peggy Dear/Apple Sauce (Vocalion, 1923) The first three sides, from 1922, have Gene Fosdick's (relatively) more well-known brother Dudley on mellophone. And two by a band I really love, A.J. Piron's New Orleans Orchestra: Mama's Gone, Goodbye/New Orleans Wiggle (Victor, 1923) West Indies Blues/Do-Doodle-Oom (Victor, 1923) The great Piron band included the legendary Lorenzo Tio Jr. on clarinet, Peter Bocage on trumpet, Steve Lewis on piano, and Louis Cottrell Sr. (the father of the clarinetist) on drums, early jazz giants all. Cottrell is one of the real fathers of jazz drumming; Chuck and I visited his tomb in St. Louis Cemetery #1 in New Orleans last month, where I did a really poor job of explaining his importance.

Picked up Without a Net in a local brick-and-mortar store a few days ago, and just finished spinning it. I'm an old guy, raised on 20-minute album sides, and I seldom listen to a 78-minute CD in one setting. I was planning to listen to half of this one tonight and the other half tomorrow. Once the music started, I didn't want it to stop - I played the whole thing. Many of the comments above baffle me, but hey, everybody hears things differently. Innocent me - I really didn't realize that Wayne Shorter was anything but revered. To me, he's one of those improvisers who can play a few notes and create a whole world. There are a few moments on the new CD that are relatively pedestrian, but for the most part, this is music that is more than the sum of its parts.

Donald Byrd - House of Byrd (Prestige two-fer); sides three and four, which were originally The Young Bloods.

PM send on: Niehaus, Lennie Zounds OJC 7 Ory, Kid Kid Ory 1922-1947 Document 5

Wade Walton - Shake 'Em On Down (Prestige Bluesville mono). Autographed by the late Mr. Walton at his barbershop in Clarksdale, 1996 or so. Edit: I had forgotten that Wade's version of the title tune has a verse I've never heard in any other version (and I've heard lots of versions of "Shake 'Em On Down": For my breakfast give me soft-boiled eggs. For my dinner give me fish and bread. For my supper lay me down 'tween your legs. Must I holler; baby, must I shake 'em on down? Don't stop hollerin'; believe I'll shake 'em on down.

A sideman appearance - right now I'm spinning Shirley Scott's Blue Seven (Prestige, recorded in 1961 and released in 1965), and every time Nelson solos, I involuntarily get a big smile on my face.

Shirley Scott - Blue Seven (Prestige mono)

Jeez, what a bargain that is! Congrats!

Donald Byrd - Free Form (BN mono)

Disc two. Disc three.

As you probably know, the 1943 George Lewis recordings were made in New Orleans by Bill Russell. Alfred Lion was with him; he was very excited by the recordings and wanted to issue them, which he did on Climax. I don't know the details of the deal they made, but I do know that Russell kept the original session acetates - Lion took copies. I'm doing a little reading between the lines here, but I think that the deal as Russell understood it didn't give Blue Note the right to release the alternate takes; Russell leased various unreleased masters to the Japanese Dan label in the 1970s. Russell is clearly talking about Mosaic in his liner notes to the George Lewis Trios & Bands CD on American Music; he's speaking about three alternate takes from the 1943 session: "Although these selections have recently been issued in a third-of-a-million-dollar illegal bootleg operation this is the first time these three numbers have been issued from the original master acetates." Based on a couple of other cases where other labels have issued material belonging to the Jazzology group, I'm guessing that American Music/Jazzology complained to Mosaic and/or threatened a lawsuit and won the right to issue the entire session themselves.

Disc two.

The Blues of Robert Curtis Smith: Clarksdale Blues (Prestige Bluesville mono)

Heather and Glen (Tradition). More of the Alan Lomax field recordings that I'm currently obsessed with, this time from Scotland, 1951.

Carl Sandburg - Cowboy Songs and Negro Spirituals (Decca) I've had this four-record album for about a year and a half, and wasn't that impressed on previous spins. Today I listened to it more sympathetically after reading John Szwed's biography of Alan Lomax. Lomax produced this album, and it was one of the first commercial presentations of American folk music by a major record company. Most of Sandburg's renditions of African-American songs are pretty grim (a couple are really embarrassing), but I enjoyed the cowboy songs this time around. There's a nice booklet with Lomax's notes and musical notation and lyrics for all the songs. Not great music, but I appreciate this album for what it is.

There are so many long free-jazz/avant-garde tracks that I'm not even going to try to mention my favorites. As far as straight-ahead stuff goes the first track I thought of was Dexter's "Tanya," but Shawn beat me to it. Next to mind was KD's "Una Mas." I love the way that one builds, in its own modest way.

Ben Webster - Did You Call? (Nessa)

Herbie Nichols Blue Note Recordings, disc one

Capt. John Handy - Introducing (RCA Victor mono)

Wardell Gray - Way Out Wardell (Crown). Seemingly a very early pressing - the bsnpubs.com website describes Crown 5004 as a Reissue of Modern 1204 with "Sweet Georgia Brown" deleted, leaving only four songs. Some of the Crown LPs list "Sweet Georgia Brown" on the back of the jacket, however. Modern 1204 had a blue cover with a photo of Wardell, while the Crown reissue has a red cover with a different pose from the same photo shoot. Here's the cover they're talking about: My cover is blue like the Modern issue, with the same picture, but it says "Crown" rather than "Modern." And my copy has "Sweet Georgia Brown." It also has a price tag from an unidentified store, revealing that this record was a $3.98 value sold for only $1.49.

Tennessee Williams Mississippi John Hurt Jersey Joe Walcott

Tubby Hayes Fatty Arbuckle Frank "Big Boy" Goudie