jeffcrom

Andrew Cyrille & Maono - Metamusicians' Stomp (Black Saint)

Well, since no one else has jumped in: The main theme of "Black Beauty" is a really gorgeous melody - one of my favorites by Ellington. It's full of wide intervals, with a touch of blues flavor. Ellington first recorded it for Brunswick in March, 1928, and for Victor a few days later. A solo piano version for Okeh came a few months later. The Brunswick record opens with Artie Whetsel, Ellington's "sweet" trumpeter at the time, playing the main theme, with fellow trumpeter Louis Metcalf taking the bridge. There's a contrasting B theme featuring trombonist Joe Nanton, then Ellington plays a full-chorus solo based on the main theme. Barney Bigard's solos on the theme in the last chorus, staying close to the melody, until the last eight bars, when Whetsel again takes over. The Victor recording is pretty similar. Nanton's trombone takes the bridge of the first chorus, and Ellington takes advantage of Victor's excellent recording techniques to feature bassist Wellman Braud; the piano solo has become a dialogue between Ellington and Braud. The Okeh piano solo builds really nicely. It puts a little more emphasis on the B theme - Ellington states that theme, then improvises on it. This is the only version I've heard in which the B theme is more than a brief contrasting section. "Black Beauty" showed up again in the 1940s. At the January, 1943 Carnegie Hall concert, the theme is stated beautifully by Shorty Baker on trumpet. It's much slower, and the slow tempo seems to fit the melody better. The tempo picks up for the B theme, which now pits the trumpets, trombones, and saxes against each other. Ellington has an unaccompanied solo which is even faster, then there's a brief recap of the theme, again featuring Baker. Ellington recorded a new arrangement for Victor in 1945. Lawrence Brown is now playing the first theme on trombone; there's a brief unnacompanied piano solo (again at a faster tempo), and short solos by Harry Carney on bass clarinet and Jimmy Hamilton on clarinet. The B theme has been modified a little - it's leaner and more modern sounding. The saxophone voicings behind Brown's theme statement and the brass voicings behind Carney and Hamilton are really wonderful. Ellington returned to "Black Beauty" one more time, on the excellent 1960 Unknown Session septet album. Ellington, Ray Nance, and Lawrence Brown are the soloists, and the tempo is just perfect - a relaxed medium-slow pace. Thanks for prompting me to listen to all these versions back to back.

Money sent. Clifford, you make me feel guilty. Not guilty enough to step aside and let you have the record, though. Dr. Andrews teaches down the street from me, at Emory University in Atlanta. Send him an email - maybe he's got some copies left.

I'd like these, please: -Dwight Andrews - Mmotia -The Little People - Otic 1007 (private press??) ring and shelf wear - seams worn but intact - stickers on front VG/EX 8 -Bob Cooper - Tenor Sax Impressions (direct to disk) - Trend TR 518 small promo punch - four small stickers on front VG(+)/EX 4 Thanks!

Dexter Gordon - Manhattan Symphonie (Columbia) Basie Jam #2 (Pablo). Basie, Lockjaw, Benny C., Terry, Al Grey, etc. Hells, yeah!

Well, it's a single, not an album, but I can't recommend one download enough - "It's Not My Fault" by the Gulf Aid AllStars for 99 cents. I included it on a blindfold test, and it's the only track that absolutely everyone responded positively to - the moldy figs, the beboppers, the funk lovers, and the free jazz guys. The AllStars are rapper Mos Def, Trombone Shorty, Lennie Kravitz, and several members of the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. Anyone I've ever played this for digs it.

Today's vinyl, so far: Bobby Watson - No Question About It (BN) Oregon - Friends (Vanguard). The friends are Bennie Wallace, pianist Larry Karush, and percussionist David Earle Johnson. Don Pullen/Chico Freeman/Fred Hopkins/Bobby Battle - Warriors (Black Saint) Kind of all over the place, in a way, but it's all jazz, baby.

John Adams' opera A Flowering Tree, by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra & Chorus, with Jessica Rivera, soprano, Russell Thomas, tenor, and Eric Owens, baritone. It was a minimally-staged performance, with the chorus and orchestra on stage and projections on a large screen behind the chorus. It was pretty wonderful.

One of the half-dozen Lacy albums I would take to a desert island.

Steve Lacy - Shots (Musica). Mr. Lacy in 1977, with Masa Kwate on traditional Japanese percussion instruments. Wonderful cover by artist Brion Grysin, another frequent Lacy collaborator.

A Mighty Wind - a very funny film, and the "Mitch and Mickey" songs are really touching.

Oh nice! I saw the trio (minus any local ringers) in Austin, and they were very good. Been meaning to check out the Levis; thanks for the reminder. I like them a lot, both as musicians and as friends. I think I said something like this before, so forgive me for repeating myself: The Shaking Rays play improvised music somewhat out of European free music tradition, but it somehow has a Southern, backwoods flavor. Part of it is something teetering around the edge of the music - a suggestion that, no matter how wild and atonal the music is, they boys could break into an old-time reel or a Southern funk beat at any time. (Something like the latter happened last night for a few seconds.) And Dennis Palmer does occasionally pull a microphone close and start vocalizing - speaking in tongues like a synthesizer-playing Pentecostal preacher or singing an other-worldly hillbilly song with almost-intelligible syllables. It's startling, funny, and kind of magical. If you can manage to track down a copy, you should get their CD False Prophets or Dang Good Guessers - the first CD of an American ensemble ever released on Incus. It took me a while to find one, and I gave my copy to Bob Stagner last night, because he had told me that even he didn't have a copy. But you can get an excellent 30-minute CD from their website - Live at Lamar's. It's Derek Bailey with Bob and Dennis, recorded at a Chattanooga restaurant in 1999. And they have formed a remarkable non-profit organization, The Shaking Ray Levi Society, who do an incredible job of make the arts a flourishing part of life in Chattanooga, including bringing some amazing avant-garde musicians to that little city. God bless Bob and Dennis.

Alert! MG is listening to avant-garde musicians: George Adams, Byard Lancaster, Yusef Yancey, Garrett List!

Just got back from Chattanooga, where I heard two great sets of free improvisation by John Butcher, Gino Robair, Thomas Lehn, and The Shaking Ray Levis (Dennis Palmer on synth and Bob Stagner on drums). Butcher's music is very controlled, in a way, so it was interesting to see/hear him respond to Dennis Palmer's unpredictable wildness. I'm not sure he had ever come up against anything like Mr. Palmer, especially when Dennis started speaking in tongues.

The blues portion of the evening: Jimmy Reed - I Told You Baby/Odds and Ends (Vee-Jay) Willie Cobbs - You Don't Love Me/You're So Hard to Please (Vee-Jay) George "Harmonica" Smith (as George Allen) - Sometimes You Win When You Lose/Come On Home (Sotoplay) Robert Curtis Smith - I Believe We Love Each Other/Don't Drive Me Away (Arhoolie) Eddie Clearwater - Lonely Nights/True Love (Cleartone) Elmore James - Dust My Broom/Everyday I Have the Blues (Enjoy) Jessie Mae Hemphill - Jessie's Boogie/Standing In the Doorway Crying (High Water) The Hollywood All Stars - Long Way From Home/Mary Joe (High Water) Junior Kimbrough - Keep Your Hand Off Her/I Feel Good, Little Girl (High Water) R. L. Burnside - Bad Luck City/Jumper Hangin Out On the Line (High Water) Ranie Burnette - Coal Black Mattie/Hungry Spell (High Water) I have the complete run of High Water 45's.

Whenever my wife is out of town for a few days, there is always one night when I drag out the boxes of 45s. I love the rituals of riffling through the boxes, picking the records, and even getting up every three minutes to turn the record over. I think the jazz portion of the evening just ended; I played: Jack Jenney (Columbia). A four-record box by the great swing trombonist/bandleader. This was also released on 10" LP. Bob Wilber - Petite Fleur/Atlas #1 (Cub). An obscure 1958 release. Hank Marr - Easy Talk/I Remember New York (Federal). 1963, with Rusty Bryant. I wish The Magnificent Goldberg was here to enjoy this one, as well as the next few. Bunky Green - Sweet Inspiration/By the Time I Get to Phoenix (Met). A very obscure Paul Serrano production, not listed in any discography that I've seen. Leo Parker - Low Brown/Parker's Pals (Blue Note) Freddie Roach - I Know/Googa Mooga (Blue Note) On to blues and R & B!

Tony Williams - Life Time (BN). What a wonderful album. Mine is a UA pressing, but with Van Gelder's stamps in the dead wax - it sounds pretty damn good.

Don Pullen - Tomorrow's Promises (Atlantic)

Noah Howard - The Black Ark (Bo' Weavil). A wonderfully produced limited edition LP reissue. I loves me some Earl Cross on trumpet.

This tenor saxophonist/bandleader is really Gay: And that's young Mr. Coltrane on alto!

Capt. John Handy - All Aboard, Volume 3 (GHB)

I'm really grateful to you for including this one in Ellington-a-thon #15, because it took me back to the 1963 Reprise album Will Big Bands Ever Come Back? I had forgotten, or never noticed, how wonderful this album is. On the surface, it seems like kind of a pointless idea - Ellington playing other big bands' hits. But of course, it's Ellington, and he takes most of these pieces to very different places than you'd expect. "The Waltz You Saved For Me," Wayne King's theme song, gets a striking transformation into Ellingtonia. First of all, it's in 4/4 rather than in waltz time, and from the first notes, it sounds like Ellington. The melody is presented very simply by two saxophones in harmony. Except that it ain't that simple - even here Ellington is not content to do what any other arranger would do. Harry Carney's baritone takes the melody, with Paul Gonsalves' tenor scored below the bari. It's an unusual sound, and it works wonderfully. Under, or beside, the theme statement, open trombones and plunger-muted trumpets provide fascinating commentary. Jimmy Hamilton and Cootie Williams have solos (Cootie's rude-sounding entrance is something of a shock), and Sam Woodyard swings hard, if not subtly. And Johnny Hodges and Russell Procope were, I imagine, at the bar - there aren't any alto sax parts in this arrangement that I can hear. Simple, kind of brilliant, and very Ellingtonian.

More of this.

Some interesting stuff here. Most of it I would never have guessed if you had given me a year. I'm disappointed that I was disappointed by Mark Turner and Fly, if that makes any sense. Thanks for the BFT.

The New Howlin' Wolf Album (Cadet Concept). Wolf called this album "dogshit," but I have liked it more and more as the years pass. Pete Cosey provides the most extreme of the guitar weirdness here.