jeffcrom

Jack DeJohnette's Special Edition - Inflation Blues (ECM)

Wadada Leo Smith - Spirit Catcher (Nessa)

Disc seven this evening - the Wheelin' & Dealin' session.

St. Louis ragtime pianist Charles Thompson's two American Music 78s: The Lily Rag/Derby Stomp Delmar Rag/Lingering Blues I've prized these because they are different takes (and from a different recording session) from those released on the American Music Dink Johnson/Charles Thompson CD; as far as I know, these records have never been reissued. And I broke my copy of "Lily Rag/Derby Stomp" about six months ago! I was really bummed, but a copy recently appeared on Ebay, and I got it for a very reasonable price. It came in yesterday's mail, and it's in mint condition, so all is right with the world again.

Happy Birthday, David!

Me, too - disc eight, Traneing In and parts of All Morning Long & Soul Junction.

A while back I posted about a Charlie Shavers Vogue picture disc I had found. Since then I've tracked down the other two records by Shavers on Vogue; I played them all today: Dizzy's Dilemma/She's Funny That Way Musicomania/If I Had You Broadjump/Serenade to a Pair of Nylons They're cool objects, of course, but they're also very good musically. Young Buddy DeFranco is on clarinet. Also with Shavers, two by the Herbie Haymer Quintet on Monarch: I'll Never Be the Same/Swinging on Central Laguna Leap/Black Market Stuff This is the "Anatomy of a Jam Session" stuff, with Nat Cole and Buddy Rich. I've had the first one for awhile, but just found its sessionmate yesterday. In the same box I found: Tom Archia and His All Stars - Mean and Evil Baby/Fishin' Pole (Aristocrat)

Dave Brubeck Quartet featuring Bill Smith - The Riddle (Columbia 6-eye stereo)

Hank Crawford - The Soul Clinic (Atlantic mono)

My favorite Atlanta saxophonist, my friend and colleague Ben Davis, also plays guitar with the math rock trio Purkinje Shift. They have a CD release party tonight, and I'm about to leave to catch them. (The club is about 10 minutes from my house, and they'll start in about an hour.) Their music, not what I usually listen to at all, is fascinating.

Cal Tjader - Soul Sauce (Verve mono) Gene Ammons - The Twister (Prestige mono)

I've got the record you pictured.

Okay, JSngry sent me the disc to upload, and when I stuck it in my computer's disc drive, all the titles and artists came up for my edification. At my age, I forgot about half of them within two minutes, but I won't be identifying anyone in my comments. That's usually not the most interesting aspect to these monthly exercises, anyway. I've participated in most of the blindfold tests in the three and 3/4 years I've been here, and this was probably the most unusual. That's a good thing. In one case I preferred to comment on an imaginary track in my head rather than what I heard and tried without success to erase from my brain cells. 1. A hoot. Very cool that you could hear something like this on AM radio. I can’t understand many of the words, but it sounds like they’re promoting cholesterol! 2. This one really grew on me as I listened and relistened to this BFT. I was particularly impressed with the saxophonist – I’ve got no idea whether he’s part of the singer’s regular band, a studio gunslinger, or a recognized jazz soloist. But he/she brought passion and imagination to what could have been just another day at work to collect a paycheck. 3. How’d you get one of my old girlfriends to write a song? Maybe a little less distinctive than the previous track, but still very nice. And I like me some analog synth. 4. I love this, not least because it’s so not-slick. The guitarist’s time is all over the place (particularly when he plays lots of notes), the saxes aren’t in tune, the mix is rough, and there’s no real ending – it just kind of drifts off. I chalk up all of those things to the positive side of the board. I thought of Ronnie Cuber during the bari solo, but don’t really know if it’s him. A fun track. 5. Lots of problems here. The trombonist shouldn’t have tried to play the head if he really didn’t know it. The bassist and pianist don’t agree on the chords of the bridge. And the rhythm section isn’t in sync – you can play on the front side of the beat, lay back a little, or play right on top of the beat, but the drummer and the bassist have to feel it the same way. Otherwise, it’s uncomfortable, like here. On the plus side, the solos are good – I particularly like the tenor player. 6. Nice. The ensemble playing is magnificent – these are musicians. When JSngry sent me the disc to upload, he referred to this track: “…the Nat Cole track (you’ll know it because it’s the one with Nat Cole).” 7. Everybody’s tastes/ears are different, but this was my least favorite of the female vocals in this set. I really didn’t like the background vocals. But again, this could have been produced very slickly, but it also turned out anti-slick. 8. I’m such an ignoramus when it comes to Latin music. I don’t know enough to say anything about this except that I like it – very hot rhythm section. Good flute and trumpet solos, and better-than-good tenor solo, with a very cool overblown entrance. 9. Hey, I’d buy a Coke from them. 10. “You’re not the kind of boy for a girl like me.” I first heard this song in Sarah Vaughan’s great Musicraft version. The fine tenor sax player here has surely been identified by now. I like all sorts of music, but when I hear a player swinging like this, everything else disappears for awhile, and this seems like the pinnacle of mankind’s musical achievements. As I listened to this, I flashed on Steve Lacy’s tune “Duck” (aka “The New Duck” “Swiss Duck,” etc.). That piece is “about” different ways of attacking a note. (I’ve never liked that word for starting a note on a wind instrument.) Our tenor soloist here has mastering an incredible range of attacks – he’s a total master of the part of saxophone technique concerned with the relationship between the tongue and the reed. 11. I like me some wah-wah and some overdriven electric piano. Don’t much like the folksy lyrics. And the bass solo made me a little seasick, with all those sliding glissandos. But I liked everything else. Of its time, but there’s nothing wrong with that. 12. Thanks for this one. I had never understood Lester Young’s comparison of this singer to Bessie Smith (in that famous Chris Albertson interview) until hearing this. To me, she’s more like a cross between Dinah Washington and Brenda Lee, but still, I see what he meant. 13. “Please let me encourage you to listen to new music all the time, so that we may keep pace with the advances in music in the same way that we follow the exploits of our scientists….” To paraphrase a Randy Newman lyric, if Stan Kenton were alive today he’d be rolling around in his grave. 14. To me, this one’s all about the harmony. Simple, almost predictable chord changes – that just work. A nice ending to a very cool BFT.

Chu Berry - The Calloway Years (Meritt)

Isn't that on bakelite? If so I would prefer to avoid (combined with the fact that 99.9% of previous owners aged 5-10 will have already trashed them ) - the only issue on the reissue is that it is in mono. I remember seeing that LP in Woolworths (I think) back in the 1960s when I was shopping with mother for a bat-cape ! It seems to be on regular vinyl. My copy is not too bad - scratchy, but not trashed. And it's not something I play very often - but it's cool to have.

The Sensational Guitars of Dan & Dale - Batman and Robin (Tifton) I'm in that dangerous spot, like a little kid - I'm tired, but don't want to go to bed yet. So some silly music before I give up. Somebody here recently spun a reissue of this, but this is the real thing, in all its scratchy glory. The opening organ chord on the first track couldn't be by anyone other than Sun Ra. But the really wild soloist here is guitarist Danny Kalb, from The Blues Project.

The Dave Brubeck Octet (Fantasy red vinyl)

Dave Brubeck Quartet in Europe (Columbia 6-eye mono)

Thanks for this story, Chuck.

I was afraid that this day would be sooner rather than later. Like some others have said, I avoided Brubeck's music for years. But when the Time Signatures box set came out in 1992, I decided to get it so I would at least have some familiarity with the music. I thought at the time that it would be all the Brubeck I would ever need. Much to my surprise, I found most of it to be pretty good, and some of it really excellent. Needless to say, my collection of Brubeck recordings has grown a lot since I bought that one. Again much to my surprise, I have become a real fan in recent years. And a video clip has stuck with me - it might have been from the dreaded Ken Burns documentary. Brubeck is talking about his experiences in World War II. When he speaks about the treatment African-American soldiers received from their country, his voice shakes and tears come to his eyes. The injustice is not abstract or removed - it's real and personal to him. He wasn't always a great musician, but he was an important one, and from all reports a great human being. So long, Mr. Brubeck.

Jim Hall - Concierto (CTI). Hadn't listened to this for awhile; now I remember why. It's half a good album - I zoned out on the side-long "Concierto de Aranjuez" long before it was over. Side one is good, though, and Chet Baker sounds great. Something's wrong with Steve Gadd's straight-ahead drumming on side one, though. It feels vertical rather than horizontal - up-and-down rather than forward-moving. He's marking the beat instead of letting it flow. His playing sounds okay, but doesn't feel right.

He's a very talented saxophone player - in some ways, much better that me. He used to sit in with bands I was in when he was 15, and it was apparent that he was going to be really good. He's got no social skills, though, and has burned a few bridges since reaching adulthood. I don't hate him, and wish him well, but I'm done with him.

I loaned my mid-40s Buescher bari sax - a horn with a beautiful sound - to a friend for a gig. I should have known better - he had lost his driver's license for alcohol-related reasons. So he walked the mile or so from his house to the gig. Well, apparently he enjoyed a few cocktails at the gig. He left for home about 2:30 AM and "got tired" after a short distance, so he sat down to "rest." He passed out, woke up about 5:30 AM and, of course, the horn was gone. I was informed that afternoon by email - the subject line read "I lost your horn last night." For multiple reasons, some not related to the above, we are no longer friends.

Yes - I've got that issue, and it also showed up on Joker in Japan. Only the big band piece is from Oslo - everything else was recorded in Rome, May 27, 1968. I don't know whether Kuhn and Mitchell are in the big band, but the actual personnel for the Rome show (taken from Lukas Lindenmaier's Lacy discography) is Lacy, Lincoln, Franco D'Andrea on piano, Giovanni Tommasso on bass, and Roach. Lacy was living in Rome at the time, so it looks like Roach and Lincoln were touring as a duo and hooking up with local rhythm sections. I think Steve sounds pretty good on the two pieces he plays on.