jeffcrom

Michael J. Smith - Elvira Madigan... And Other Dances (Horo)

There are several of the Capitol tracks which I consider to be masterpieces, not to be missed - especially "Aunt Hagar's Blues."

I just sent you a long email detailing all the reasons you had to get this album. It's all kinds of fabulous. Well, that's enough recommendation for me! Now downloading from Amazon UK. Sleeve notes - and your e-mail to Jim, which I'm sure is even more vaulable - would be greatly appreciated. MG Done and done. Check your email.

I've got the original 1988 CD issues of the Capitols, where they are indeed spread over two CDs, with four trio tracks on each CD. I know that a few years later, the same material was issued as a two-CD set. Don't know what the most current issue is.

Chuck Carbo - Life's Ups and Downs (504). In a New Orleans mood tonight. The late Chuck Carbo was one of the great New Orleans R & B voices. This album also represents Alvin "Shine" Robinson's last recording. The band is great; the drummer is one of my (two) favorite living New Orleans drummers, Shannon Powell. I saw him at Preservation Hall last week, and have to tell this story. The doors to the Hall open at 8:00 PM. At 7:55, a red SUV drove up St. Peter Street, pretty fast. Across the street from where we music lovers were in line, there was a parking spot that was maybe six inches longer than the SUV on each side. The driver started backing up to parallel park, and we all thought he was crazy. But in seconds, the SUV was in the spot, without hitting the cars on either side. The driver got out - it was Shannon Powell, late as usual. He got his first ovation of the evening before he played a note - everybody up and down the street clapped.

I just sent you a long email detailing all the reasons you had to get this album. It's all kinds of fabulous.

Here's almost the only article I've ever read in The Onion that's not even trying to be funny: Nation Suddenly Realizes This Just Going To Be A Thing That Happens From Now On

Leroy Jenkins - Solo Concert (India Navigation)

I'm just loving your morning listening lately, Brownie. Mine: The Golden Eagles - Lightning and Thunder (Rounder)

Kid Thomas Valentine - In England (GHB). The only picture I could find online was an oversized partial scan of the original UK issue, on Lulu White's Black Label.

Albert Ayler - Witches and Devils (Arista Freedom) George Coleman - Manhattan Panorama (Theresa)

I really like that one. Yesterday and this morning: Jelly Roll Morton - 1938, 1940 (Almanac). Mostly obscure 1938 broadcast recordings from Baltimore. Knocky Parker/Omer Simeon - Parker-Simeon Storyville Creepers (GHB) Borah Bergman - Discovery (Chiaroscuro) Barney Bigard/Albert Nicholas (RCA Vintage Series) Jack McDuff - Screamin' (Prestige blue label mono)

Not as interesting as some of the stories here, but the New Orleans Jazz Museum in the old mint on Esplanade has several notable instruments, including the cornet Louis Armstrong played at the Waifs' Home, Bix Beiderbecke's last cornet, one of Sidney Bechet's saxophones, and several others - it's been a few years since I visited, and I can't remember all of the details.

I would argue in my defense that they played such a short snippet of the actual melody that I couldn't reasonably be expected to identify it. But I loved this recording; this and the Crispell trio playing Braxton are the two albums I most want to pick up. What an interesting BFT - thanks again.

Problem after problem. Test pressing six (!) is supposed to arrive tomorrow.

Donald Byrd - Free Form (BN NYC mono)

Well, I really waited 'til the last minute on this one. I didn't have as much time to devote to it as I often do, so my comments are on the short side. I imagine that a lot of tracks have been identified by now. I was only able to ID one track, but I enjoyed most of them. 1. It’s in the manner of Pharoah Sanders’ early-70s approach, but it’s definitely not Pharoah on saxophone. Could it be Alice Coltrane on piano? To me, it doesn’t start much of anywhere and doesn’t go anywhere, so it doesn’t do much for me. Hope I didn't just insult one of your favorite recordings. 2. Very unusual vibraphone style, with an unusual use of the damper pedal - he or she lets lots of notes ring longer than most vibists would. Some very good, very personal writing and playing here. 3. What an interesting conversation this piece is. And I really like the way that conversation flows into and out of the written material. 4. This is pretty cool. 11/8 I think. Builds very nicely over the vamp. Is that bass clarinet, or alto? I feel like I should know who the tenor player is. 5. I love the rhythmic ambiguity of this, as well as the simultaneous improvising by the horns. It sounds like Charlie Mariano on alto to me - which means it's probably not. 6. Tuba - I'm already interested. Cool groove, good solos, and some French horn (I think). I like. 7. I'm assuming that the most obvious guesses about who's playing this "Afro Blue" would be wrong. Good, fiery playing. 8. That's some harsh, metallic-sounding recording quality. The music's good, though. I think it's Marion Brown. He recorded "Blue Monk" solo in 1985 for the Recollections album. This is not from that album, but I know that there's at least one bootleg recording of a solo concert from the same period that's in circulation. In any case, excellent, soulful playing. 9. Very nice plunger trombone - out there, but bluesy. Imaginative piano playing and rhythm section interplay, too. A good one. 10. My first thought was Prince Lasha and Sonny Simmons, then I realized that one of the saxes is a tenor – or is it? I don’t know, but it’s classic free-ish jazz – I don’t want to call it free, since it’s a blues. Great inside/outside, appealingly sloppy-ish playing all around. 11. The interplay between the piano and the bass was so good that I kind of didn’t want the soprano saxist to come back in, but of course, the high standard of listening and playing continued after that. Beautiful little snippet of melody at the end. Very nice. 12. The trumpet player is kind of a free-jazz Charlie Shavers – fat tone and wide vibrato. I like this dramatic piece, but kind of wish they had developed it a little more. 13. “Out of This World” by Ran Blake and Dominique Eade, from the album Whirlpool. I like the contrast between Eade’s fairly straightforward vocal and Blake’s churning, dissonant accompaniment. 14. A well-played, straightforward reading of a pretty straightforward Anthony Braxton composition (#23C, which Braxton recorded on the New York, Fall 1974 album and elsewhere). I like it – nice, clean playing of an interesting piece. So I had qualms about one track and really didn't like another, but liked everything else - pretty good percentage. Thanks for an interesting BFT.

Abdul the Rabbi debuted at #20 on the CMJ World Music chart. We're showing up on various other airplay charts, too - #4 on the Jambands.com radio chart, for example. Hope this translates to some sales.

Came back from New Orleans with a stack of records. Here are the best of the 78s so far: The Emperors - Clarinet Marmalade/A Blues Serenade (Harmony, 1927). A really nice record by a large-ish Phil Napoleon ensemble. Anthony Parenti and His Famous Melody Boys - French Market Blues/Dizzy Lizzy (Victor, 1925). I have the Frog CD with all of Tony Parenti's early stuff, but I couldn't resist picking up this record. Gene Fosdick's Hoosiers - Apple Sauce/Peggy Dear (Vocalion, 1923). I love this band; found another of their records a couple of months ago. Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra - You Took Advantage of Me/Do I Hear You Saying (Victor, 1928). I have one of the several "complete" Bix sets, so I have known and loved "You Took Advantage" for many years. I had never heard "Do I Hear You Saying," which has some nice playing by Trumbauer.

Snooks Eaglin - New Orleans Street Singer (Folkways mono)

Bunky Green - Playin' for Keeps (Cadet). I've been quite taken with Mr. Green lately.

I don't think I have the absolutely complete recorded works of anyone except a few bluesmen who didn't record that many sides. But I'm pretty close with: Jelly Roll Morton Willie Humphrey Boyce Brown (including the never-reissued Collectors Item 78) Charlie Parker Sigurd Rascher. There are a few tracks by each one of these guys I don't have, but only a few.

That's a good one.

Just one band in New Orleans tonight, after my late night last night: The Tin Men ("America's premier sousaphone/washboard/guitar trio") at d.b.a. on Frenchmen Street. They play lots of guitarist Alex McMurray's strange songs, plus a bewildering variety of covers. Examples of the latter: "I'm a Cowboy" by Danny Barker, "Theme From A Summer Place," "Blackbird Special" by the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, and "Maybellene" by Chuck Berry.

Second night in New Orleans. I heard some of the best music I've heard in Preservation Hall in years - Shannon Powell, one of my favorite New Orleans drummers, was leading the band, which included Mark Braud on trumpet, Daniel Farrow on tenor, and pianist David Torkanowsky. Then on to d.b.a. on Frenchmen Street for a disappointing set by the Treme Brass Band. That's okay, because after that I drove across town to hear the Rebirth Brass Band's regular Tuesday night gig at the Maple Leaf. I just checked my New Orleans journal, and I can't believe that I haven't heard the Rebirth at the Maple Leaf since 1999. (I have heard them elsewhere since then.) They're older, I'm older, and the audience is older, but they are as intense as ever - the loudest acoustic band on the planet. Their lead trumpeter, Derek Shezbie, is superhuman in terms of range, volume, and stamina. One of the tunes they played was Bobby Womack's "It's All Over Now," which they played when I first heard them in Jackson Square in 1990. Derek Shezbie was 14 or 15 then, and looked 12.