jeffcrom

Woody Herman - Road Band! (Capitol)

Well, I don't much like Alter Ego, a duet with bass clarinetist Walter Zuber Armstrong, but I haven't listened to it in years. Probably time to give it a spin and see if it's grown on me.

I wanted my 5000th post to be in this thread. Steve Lacy's music has, for years, been for me a source of both inspiration and chagrin - a lesson on getting to the point, musically, that I still haven't learned in 40 years of playing the saxophone. This postcard is one of my prized possessions:

I think I'll go for the Powell biography. I like my Kindle. I hadn't thought of getting one - it was an unexpected Christmas present from my wife two years ago. I see it as the equivalent of my iPod. I like the iPod for the convenience and the ability to access music which I can't find in a physical format, but it will never replace my CDs and LPs (or 78s, for that matter). I like the Kindle for the same reasons - I have many of my favorite books at my fingertips when I travel, and I have books which are not available in any other format, like the recent Teddy Weatherford biography. It will never replace the experience of pulling one of my favorite books of poetry off the shelf and thumbing through it, but that's not what it's for, for me. And depending on how much trouble the publisher takes to format an e-book, access to footnotes it pretty easy. The Kindle has lots of drawbacks, but I wouldn't discount it and other e-readers out of hand as a supplement to "real" books. And no, nobody asked me.

Hank Mobley - Mobley's Message, from the Messages two-fer; Prestige, with the Harold Land cover!

Various early jazz and classical 78s today. The most interesting (to me, anyway) were: George Barrere - Minuet from L'Arlesienne Suite No. 2 (Bizet)/Dance of the Blessed Spirits from Orpheus (Gluck) (Columbia, 1913). This one fascinates me, not only because it's an early recording of the great flutist, but because the Bizet Minuet contains a very early recorded example of orchestral saxophone playing. The orchestra is anonymous, and the saxophone is far from the recording horn, but it's there. Pretty cool. Hegamin's Blue Flame Syncopators - Strut Miss Lizzie/Sweet Mama (Bell, 1921). Two examples of early New York jazz by Lucille Hegamin's backup band, without her.

Hey! I live on earth! I'll take a download.

Eric Kloss - To Hear is to See! (Prestige)

Right now I'm listening to Liquid Dancers from 1989, the last of Giuffre's Soul Notes, and I realize that I didn't even come close to articulating the primary virtue of JG's Soul Note recordings - that is, their Giuffre-ness. Giuffre was one of those musicians who created his own world in a way that most musicians don't, and that comes through strongly on this album, dated synth sounds and all.

I love Giuffre so much, including the Soul Notes, that I have my blinders on a little bit, I guess - it always surprises me when folks don't like those albums. I've got a friend who loves Giuffre almost as much as I do, but can't stand the Soul Notes due to the 80's synth sounds. Those three albums are not my "desert island" Giuffre records, I still think they're wonderful - interesting compositions, great colors, lots of textural variety. The rhythm section doesn't bother me at all. There are musicians whom I'm willing to "forgive" for a lot of questionable musical decisions, but that's not an issue with the Giuffre albums - I like them a lot. I'm not sure what the point of this post was. Nothing to add except my opinion/tastes, but there it is.

Me, too. I saw her live once, and it was more impressive/scary than enjoyable. Probably just me.

Yes, Alec Wilder wrote lots of the music that came out on those kids' Golden Records.

No, it's the same one. The solo recordings on Crops were later issued on CD, along with the rest of the concert they came from, as Hooky (Emanem 4042). The Woe suite was then paired on CD with the Avignon concert as Weal and Woe. Now that Mr. Davidson has found more solo material to add to the Avignon concert, "The Woe" has now been reissued on The Sun. I think Emanem is vying with Prestige to confuse us with varying issues of the same material. Actually, I'm glad that Mr. Davidson keeps finding more music to issue and trying to pair it in the most logical way possible.

They're not shellac - they're vinyl-ish. They actually seem to be similar to the kind of hard plastic pressings Decca/Brunswick used in the 1950's, if you've ever seen any of those.

Bell was a discount label distributed by Pocket Books, a company that issued cheap paperback books. There were issued from 1953 to 1959, and are actually pretty common - I come across them fairly frequently in my 78 hunts. The two above are from my collection. They're basically microgroove 78s - the narrower grooves allowed a full three minutes of music to fit on a 7" 78. Why so tiny? Well, they would have been cheaper to produce, for one thing. And folks who still only had a 78 RPM record player could feel like they were buying something a little hipper than an old-fashioned 10" 78.

I was listening to those two discs earlier in the week. I won't pretend to even begin to understand it but it was certainly fascinating. Which other discs did you order? I'd say that if you thought it was fascinating, you "understand" it just fine. My order consisted of the SME double CD above, plus: Spontaneous Music Ensemble - Summer 1967 Steve Lacy - The Sun Steve Lacy - Avignon and After Volume 1 John Carter & Bobby Bradford - Tandem 2 (I already had Tandem 1) I listened to most of the Summer 1967 disc late last night, and it's fascinating. It's mostly duet recordings of John Stevens and Evan Parker - some of Parker's earliest recordings, and the first ones I've heard on which he sounds like himself. I haven't yet listened to the two long tracks on which Peter Kowald joins them on bass. Since someone will probably ask about Lacy's The Sun - it's probably for hardcore Lacy-ites only, of which I am one. These are early-ish recordings (1967-73), when Lacy was at his most radical. And I know many folks here are allergic to Irene Aebi; she has several prominent vocals. But I loved the anti-war piece "Chinese Food," with Irene chanting Lao Tzu texts over an insane background by Lacy on soprano and Richard Teitelbaum on synth. It's a real 1960's "happening." And I've long thought that the two takes of "The Way" (previously released on a limited edition LP) would be my demo tracks to play for Irene Aebi naysayers - she sings Lacy's long, complicated melody a cappella for a minute and a half. On the last note, she's joined by Lacy's soprano, and they're perfectly in tune. I certainly haven't heard everything by the SME, but there seems to be some consensus among listeners and writers that yes, this is the one. And finally, maybe this would be a good place to offer my copy of Steve Lacy's Weal & Woe to someone who might be interested, since that CD is now redundant in my collection. It's got the originally issued tracks from Lacy's first solo concert (Avignon, 1972) and the intense Vietnam War suite "The Woe," recorded by the quintet in 1973. I'll send to a U.S. address for $8 or to Europe for $10. If one of our friends in east Asia wants it, I'll figure something out.

My order arrived today, and I'm a happy boy. Thanks for the quick service across the pond, Martin. I don't think anyone has mentioned this one yet: Spontaneous Music Ensemble - Quintessence. Maybe I'm not really in a position to recommend it yet, since I haven't yet heard all of this two-disc set. But I just finished playing "Forty Minutes," from the 1974 concert that makes up disc one, and it's just amazing. This version of the SME was John Stevens, Evan Parker, Trevor Watts, Derek Bailey, and Kent Carter.

Very nice haul! This post reminded me that I had been trying to find some Kenny Graham Afro-Cubist material ever since reading Max Harrison's commentary about those recordings in The Essential Jazz Records, Volume 2. (If Max Harrison praises something, it's probably worth checking out.) I had completely struck out in the past, but since the last time I checked, there are some albums available as downloads. MP3's aren't my preferred format, but they do come in handy when there's no other way to get the music. I'm downloading the two albums Harrison talked about right now - they include all the tracks you got. Thanks for reminding me about this material.

Cool - I've got those tracks on a Swedish LP. Today I played some vintage jazz, all recently acquired: Louisiana Five - Heart Sickness Blues/Orange Blossom Rag (Emerson 9", 1918-19). I love this trumpet-less band, with New Orleans clarinetist Alcide Nunez taking the lead. Original Memphis Five - Blue Grass Blues/Sioux City Sue (Perfect, 1924). Another favorite early recording band of mine. Ladd's Black Aces - Long Lost Mama/Two-Time Dan (Gennett, 1923). This was the name the Original Memphis Five used when recording for Gennett. Tennessee Ten - You've Got to See Mamma Ev'ry Night/Paul Whiteman - Nothin' But (Victor, 1923). The Tennessee Ten was the Original Memphis Five expanded to regular dance band size - three brass and three reeds. The Whiteman side is pretty good for 1923. Gus Mulcay - St. Louis Blues/Farewell Blues (Diva, 1926). Mulcay was a vaudeville harmonica player. These are his only solo recordings (with piano accompaniment), and they're pretty interesting. Clara Smith - Down South Blues/Kind Lovin' Blues (Columbia, 1923). Her second record, with Fletcher Henderson on piano. Columbia's records from this era remind me of Blue Note's 1950's mono pressings - they can look pretty beat and still sound pretty good.

Michael has recorded with Braxton and Noah Howard, among others, and was Steve Lacy's pianist for a couple of years in the mid-70's. Check out the Lacy/Smith duo album Sidelines on Improvising Artists for one of the best Lacy-plus-piano recitals on record. I know Michael's music pretty well because he spent a year in Atlanta in an odd artist-in-residence gig back in the 1990's. We played together a fair amount, and I issued two tunes from a recording session we did back then on an otherwise fairly mediocre CD I put out 20 years ago.

Is this quite obscure, and how is it? It's from 1976, on a Polish label, and it does seem to be pretty obscure. I found it in a little record store in Malmo, Sweden a couple of years ago - a nicer copy than the one pictured here. Musically, it's excellent - one of my favorite of Michael's recordings. Michael's frequent partner in those days, Laurence Cook, is on drums; there are two bassists, Kent Carter (doubling on cello) and Jacek Bednarek, and two alto saxists, Claude Bernard and the outstanding Zbigniew Namyslowski. The cover reverses the instrument credits for Bernard and Cook. I'd describe it as pretty intense free jazz with some nice passages of lyricism. Geomusic 111 -PL _Pronit, no leader named Confusingly titled this is a different recording to the above, Zbigniew Namyslowski on alto/ flute. , Michael J Smith piano and Jacek Bednarek (bass), pretty intense free jazz with melodic passages. My copy has this cover. I've got that one, too. It's definitely Michael's record - he has a whole series of compositions in the "Geomusic" series. My copy has the same cover, but has the title ("Geomusic" 111-PL) written in blue ink in the upper left hand corner.

Woody Herman - Road Father (Century). A really nice-sounding direct-to-disk record of a band Woody must have been proud of. Marc Johnson is on bass, just before joining the Bill Evans trio, and the saxophone section is pretty bad-ass: Frank Tiberi, Gary Anderson, Joe Lovano, and Bruce Johnstone.

Well, I see that Mr. Weiss stole everyone's thunder on this one. I should have recognized Lucky Thompson, at least! And I don't feel too bad about describing Emmett Berry as a restrained Roy Eldridge - that's a pretty good description of his style. And I never would have guess Harold Mabern on #7. I like Harold Mabern, but I didn't like that solo. Maybe I'll give it another listen.

Interesting stuff! 1. I recognize Arthur Blythe, Chico Freeman (I think), and Don Pullen, so I’m assuming that this is the Roots saxophone ensemble. I can’t remember who the drummer is, but the opening solo is very creative; somebody’s got a strong left foot. Blythe is off-center enough to grab me right away, and Chico Freeman (if that’s indeed him) is more interesting than usual. I like my Pullen a little wilder, but this is good – I like it. 2. “Self-Portrait in Three Colors” by, I guess, the Mingus Big Band. Covington, Georgia’s own George Adams is the tenor soloist. Nice, if short and not very well-recorded. 3. I have a feeling that I’m going to kick myself for not identifying the saxophonist who is having such a wonderful autumn in New York. Really nice! 4. “Robbin’s Nest” by… well, I don’t know. I would guess that this is a Jazz at the Philharmonic recording, except that it’s too laid back. The first trumpet soloist sounds like Roy Eldridge in a restrained mood. Is that Dicky Wells on trombone? Anyway, I like the fact that nobody is overplaying or trying too hard, just swinging nicely. 5. I’ve got no idea – I’m not much of an expert on Latin jazz, but this sure is good. The vocalist is the opposite of slick – just straightforwardly honest. Who is the hot tenor sax soloist? He’s really excellent. 6. That’s some saxophone playing! It sounds like Mr. Stitt, playing “Stardust,” of course. Too bad your wire recorder was so noisy. This was a blast. 7. I so strongly associate “Every Time We Say Goodbye” with a certain other saxophonist who played it on soprano that I was prejudiced against this. But the playing won me over – this is good. Once again, I feel that I should know who this saxophonist is, but I can’t quite put my finger on who it might be. The piano solo is much less enchanting – I don’t like the first half at all, although the player settles down some after that. After listening to the coda: Ouch! I guess I’ll have to forgive the saxophonist for throwing in that quote from “Mexican Hat Dance,” but I hate silly stuff like that in otherwise serious performances. 8. Nice enough. I’d enjoy this in a club or a party, but have no need to hear it as preserved for all time. The saxophonist reminds me of the British New Orleans revivalist Sammy Rimmington. 9. “When Sunny Gets Blue” – a ballad that’s different enough to be interesting. That’s a hard-toned tenor player (a description, not a criticism). He’s good, but the long-held notes seem kind of gimmicky. (I hope I didn’t just diss someone I admire.) I like the piano solo. I’m not sure that the dissonance at the beginning of the last eight bars of the piano solo was intentional, but he/she made it work. Is that Ron Carter on bass? And sigh… more silly quoting by the tenor player. Again, not bad, but not something I’d have to hear a bunch. 10. This is lovely. I can’t quite place the tune, but it doesn’t sound like a “standard” as we usually think of it. Is this a more a recent pop song, or maybe a folk song? The pianist made me think of Renee Rosnes, for some reason, but I don’t really have a clue who anyone is. I like the tenor player’s unusual, hollow sound. 11. Once again, I don’t who is meeting Miss Jones here. It’s good enough that I would have liked to have heard more – it’s surprisingly short. 12. Well, I don’t know this recording at all, but that sure sounds like Dexter Gordon on the tenor solo, even down to his not being quite in sync with the forward-pushing drummer. This is good all the way through, and I’m wondering why I don’t know this record. I’m a firm believer that a BFT test should be no longer than one CD’s length, so I’m going to stop there. I enjoyed listening, and I’m looking forward to finding out more about these tracks.

You've got it, unless you'd rather have January.