jeffcrom

Okay, I've got to get that 8 Bold Souls album.

I keep intending to listen and comment on the BFT earlier in the month. Here it is the 20th, and I'm just getting around to it. Haven't read anything in this thread yet. 1. Well, it’s “Don’t Stop the Carnival,” or at least part of it is. It sounds like a “Well, You Needn’t” bridge. Odd instrumentation: trumpet, clarinet, tenor sax, cello, bass and drums. The big-toned tenor player reminded me of Lucky Thompson, but I can’t imagine that it’s really him in this context. Nice trumpet solo. Bass solo is good enough; not really crazy about the cello, although improvised cello is cool by its very nature. An odd and appealing little track. 2. “Lonely Woman” is one of the most haunting melodies in the jazz repertoire, but it’s a difficult piece to approach, in some ways – do you follow the approach of the original recording, play it as a ballad, try to find a new interpretation? That could be why more folks don’t play it. This is an excellent version; it uses the multi-layered rhythmic approach of Ornette’s version, but adds its own flavor. It sounds like Frank Lowe on tenor, and I would guess that it’s Billy Bang on violin. I like the fat-sounding bassist, but don’t know who it is. The drummer could be Ed Blackwell, or someone who has listened to him a good bit. I like this “Lonely Woman.” 3. Okay, this is going to drive me crazy. It sure sounds like Archie Shepp, but I don’t have this recording and have no idea what it is. This is exciting music, and I’m bummed that I don’t have the album. Looking forward to finding out more about it. 4. A murky bootleg recording, it sounds like, but Oliver Lake shines through the fog. Improbably, the tenor player sounds like Mark Turner to me. (I say “improbably” because Lake and Turner don’t seem like they would travel in the same circles.) I have no idea who anyone else is. In any case, I like it, and really like the tenor player’s sense of rhythm, whether he’s Turner or not; I love the way he sometimes implies a different, but related tempo. Good stuff, from the Thom Keith archives, I imagine. 5. This is good, but I probably won’t run out and buy this when I find out who it is. Good piano trio music that doesn’t “send” me that much. 6. The lumpy rhythm section drove me crazy. The tambourine really muddies things up. And I’m not a real fan of high soprano voices, although the singer has a good voice and good control. The solos are all right, but this one just doesn’t do it for me. 7. The drummer sounded like Paul Motian to me at first, but later sounded like someone trying to sound like Paul Motian. (Apologies to the late Mr. Motian if it is him.) I associate “Melancholy Baby” with the Tristano school, and this sounds like an attempt to update the Tristano approach, with thoughtful, non-clichéd improvising. But it mostly seems artificial and stiff to me. The alto player was actually the most interesting soloist to me, although I’m not at all convinced that he actually knows the chords to “My Melancholy Baby.” A noble attempt, which I wanted to like, but don’t, much. (I hope I haven't embarrassed myself with that admission.) 8. Wow – a good old-fashioned free-jazz blowout. I’m not going to venture any guesses, but I loved the energy, even if this was rough around the edges at times. 9. This is “Hip Dripper” by The Leaders, a supergroup that actually lives up to the name. It’s from Unforseen Blessings on Black Saint. Ensemble playing and soloing of the highest quality here. Arthur Blythe wrote the tune, so he gets the only real horn solo. Great stuff. I'm stopping there - that’s one CD’s worth, which is enough for me.

Bobby Hackett - That Midnight Touch (Project 3). For the same reason as stated in the last post.

George Shearing - The Shearing Spell (Capitol). Maybe all the talk around here today of easy-listening Shearing affected me. And after two gigs and a rehearsal yesterday, I'm beat today. At this point in the evening I find that I no longer have much ability to actively listen to music - so time to let some music wash over me. It sounds pretty good to my tired brain.

This afternoon: Lars Gullin - Baritone Sax (Atlantic black label mono) Cootie Williams - Original Hit Recordings (Phoenix). That's "Hit" as in the 1940s record lable. Young Bud Powell is pretty amazing on "Floogie Boo" and "My Old Flame."

Once ran into Marchel Ivery loading groceries into his car in a Kroger parking lot. Pete Fountain pumping gas into his very nice little sports car (don't remember the model) at a convenience store uptown in New Orleans around 1990.

Eureka Brass Band - The Music of New Orleans Volume Two (Folkways). The greatest of all New Orleans brass bands, recorded in 1958. The long dirge "Eternity" got to me tonight, for personal reasons. I think that this is the only recording of this dirge.

Wow, completely opposite to my reaction. I read this in a matter of days while I was visiting my Mom in June. I didn't like the racial ID system (but got used to it pretty quickly) or the dropping of "the" before proper nouns (more annoying) but never felt that the writing was otherwise terrible or in anyway difficult to follow. Jeff could you favor me with a quote or two that you think epitomizes this problem you had? I'm probably just being a curmudgeon - the writing is usually not as bad as I indicated. This morning, when I read my post from last night, it seemed overstated. But there are enough examples of muddled writing and incorrect use of punctuation that I was really put off. I'm not going to spend a bunch of time looking for examples, but here are a few quickly-found examples of what I consider bad writing, all from a few pages of Chapter Six: Not just bebop's but Powell's time was flying, and that is reflected in the title of the first piece that he chose to play, one in which he tries to catch up, all at once, to everything that he has been missing. For the uniqueness of the event, not Brown, Roach or Granz remembers anything of the unprecedented circumstances or Powell's dramatic response to them. What Granz heard was more likely stride piano; that was the style that Powell had first learned from his father, and then from watching Tatum and the other after-hours pianists, and had, latterly, dashed off phrases of when a member of Cootie William's orchestra. In each case I know what he means (sometimes after reading the sentence twice), but I doubt that any of these sentences would have passed muster with a good copy editor. Neither would Pullman's refusal to capitalize Catholic, as in the name of the Christian denomination. There was a passage or two (which I'm not going to search for) where the small "c" confused the meaning. The nonstandard nomenclature, dropping the definite article "the," the sometimes poor sentence structure, the sometimes missing punctuation - the cumulative effect of all of these just really exasperated me. But maybe that's just me. I'm a curmudgeon when it comes to writing.

After over a month, I've finally finished this. What a waste of research. By that I mean that the research was very thorough; I learned a lot about Powell. But the writing is truly awful. It's bad enough that Pullman decided to single-handedly try to change standard English usage; even worse is the fact that his writing is often muddled and confusing. I read some passages several times in order to figure out what he was trying to say. I often came away with a pretty good idea of the meaning in spite of his writing, not because of it. Too bad. If Pullman had been willing to work with a good editor, this could have been a great book.

I wrote a long-ish post, then took a deep breath and stepped away from the minefield.

Fletcher Henderson/Bill Harris/Sidney Bechet - First, Last & Only Concert From Kimball Hall, Otterburn - Flint, Michigan (Big Chief-Jerollomo) There are actually two old threads (both started by chewy) about this album, which is actually a 1947 concert from Kimball Hall in Chicago, recorded by John Steiner.

Jazztime U.S.A. (MCA). Sides two & three, which are, of course, both on record two. (See JSngry's explanation above.) This record has 1952-53 live recordings by Hot Lips Page with the Marian McPartland Trio, Mary Lou Williams, Oscar Pettiford on cello with the Billy Taylor Trio, Terry Gibbs, Coleman Hawkins, Stuff Smith, and more. Hot Lips Page is one of those musicians who just makes me feel good. I thought of The Magnificent Goldberg when his tracks were playing. Are you a Page fan, MG?

I was hoping that someone more knowledgeable about the Bozzie's CDs might answer. But since NIS hasn't gotten any answer yet, I'll say that this is the only dedicated Boswell Sisters CD I have, and I like it. It's not perfect - some of my favorite Bozzie tracks are on other albums in my collections (Bunny Berigan and Jack Purvis sets, to be specific) - but it's good. It's OOP but not hard to find or particularly expensive

Hank Mobley - Hard Bop (Savoy)

Jim Hall - Jazz Guitar (PJ). The rough condition of my copy became easier to take when I learned that the original tapes are gone, and that subsequent issues had edited tracks and overdubbed drums.

Jackie McLean - Jacknife (BN). Sides one & two, conveniently spread over two different records. Dang - I wish I had a big-ass console stereo with an automatic record changer.

I tried to give my favorite local brick-and-mortar CD store the chance to order this for me and get a cut of the profits. They tried for months, but their distributor couldn't or wouldn't get it. I finally broke down and ordered it from Amazon. I'm listening right now. The first jazz record I bought for myself (not the first one I owned) was the Milestone two-fer Bix Beiderbecke and the Chicago Cornets, which paired the Wolverines stuff with Muggsy Spanier's Bucktown Five. I can still remember that it took me all of four minutes back in 1973 or '74 to understand what all the fuss was about. Throughout "Fidgety Feet" and the first part of "Jazz Me Blues" I was thinking, "What's the big deal about this guy?" Then Bix soloed on "Jazz Me Blues," and I immediately "got" it. The note choices, the time feel, and the atmosphere all hit me immediately. This is important music for me, and I've had several issues over the years. For the past ten years or so my main source for this (and almost all Bix) has been the Italian IRD complete set, maybe the most obscure of the "complete" Bix sets out there. It sounds pretty good, for the most part. The Archeophone/Off the Record set sounds very good, indeed. I must admit that my first reaction was that of slight disappointment. The improvement over past issues was apparent, but not as dramatic as that of the King Oliver set. But as I continue to listen, that disappointment is fading. The excellence of sound is there, track after track - it doesn't let up. It grows on you. This is a good one - and I haven't gotten to the four tracks by the Original Wolverines which I haven't heard before.

did wor carry bob and ray???? they were an nbc(wnbc) entity, as i recall. B & R did the afternoon drive time show at WOR from 1973 to 1976. I didn't know this from listening at the time - I've never lived in NYC. But I've got lots of recordings (legitimately licensed and otherwise) from their WOR days. I love the daily episodes of "Mary Backstayge, Noble Wife." At the end of each episode, Bob would say, "Tune in tomorrow, when you'll hear [one of Ray's characters] say: ____" Ray would come up with something off the wall, and the next day's episode would be based on that.

George Freeman - Franticdiagnosis (Bam-Boo). With brother Von on board. Thanks to The Magnificent Goldberg for introducing me to this album.

Fats Waller - "Fats" in London 1938-1939 (French EMI/Pathé). Poor transfers of some good music, not all of it jazz. Watazumi Doso - The Mysterious Sounds of the Japanese Bamboo Flute (Everest). Unfortunate album title; the improvising by Watazumi is stunning. The Lee Konitz Nonet (Roulette). The first album by this interesting group.

I predicted that WOR would fail when they fired Bob & Ray in 1976. And look - 36 years later, I'm proved right.

Not just sound, but plenty of Adams' signature licks abound.

Yes, sir. If you thought it was worthwhile, I'm glad I posted it. I just checked the interwebs - the year was 1990, and Johnny Griffin was the headliner. I thought that was the case, but wasn't sure, for some reason. IIRC before or after we played, Von and Clifford Jordan played together. Wondered if you were on that gig.

Charlie Parker - One Night In Chicago (Savoy). Still probably the best issue of a 1950 gig with some local heroes - Chris Anderson, Leroy Jackson, George Freeman, Bruz Freeman, and a tenor player who may or may not be Von Freeman.

Yes, sir. If you thought it was worthwhile, I'm glad I posted it. I just checked the interwebs - the year was 1990, and Johnny Griffin was the headliner. I thought that was the case, but wasn't sure, for some reason. The only thing better than a $2 Old Style, is a $1 Old Style, but that's a story for another day.