jeffcrom

I was in the mood for something slightly off the wall: Jimmy & Marian McPartland - Play TV Themes (Design stereo). Among the oddities on the front and back cover are Marian's misspelled name, the attribution of the trombonist as "Manhattan Red" (Urbie Green, presumably), and the arranger credit: Aul Hedd. The music's pretty good, actually.

That's hilarious. Company - Trios (Incus) From Company Week, 1983 - Vinko Globokar, trombone, voice, flute; Joelle Leandre, bass, voice; Hugh Davies, live electronics; J.D.Parran, basset horn & piccolo; Peter Brötzmann, tenor & baritone saxophones; Jamie Muir, percussion; Ernst Reijseger, cello & electric cello; Evan Parker, tenor & soprano saxophones, John Corbett, trumpet & flugelhorn; Derek Bailey, acoustic and electric guitars. The short Parker/Reijseger/Bailey trio that ends side one is really beautiful.

Thanks for turning me on to this. I've since acquired the rest of the disc and am enjoying it a lot. Good! And you're welcome.

Jeffcrom has quite a lot of that material, but I don't think he reads this thread. Jog his elbow. MG Of course I read this thread! I just don't often have much to add. Yes, I have almost every issued recording of Southern black fife and drum music that I'm aware of. It's amazing music which affects me deeply every time I hear it. I'm less confident than I used to be about the connection between this music and West African music - I was way more sure about it when I knew less; my ignorance gave me confidence. But it's hard to hear "Emmaline, Take Your Time," played on the four-note quills (panpipes) interspersed with falsetto whoops, and not feel that this music has a strong connection to Africa. (That track is on Traveling Through the Jungle.) Part of what makes less willing to connect the seemingly "primitive" fife and drum music of the Mississippi hill country to African music is the extent to which the music has become simpler over the past 70 years. The 1942 recordings by Sid Hemphill's fife and drum band on the above album are more complex, at least in the fife playing, that the Young Brothers' recordings, made for Alan Lomax in 1959. And the much-beloved Othar Turner's fife playing (recorded examples exist from the 1960's to 2002) is even simpler. Listening uncritically, most people would say that Othar's music sounds "closer to Africa" than Sid Hemphill's. In any case, it's amazing music, like I said. If you like Traveling Through the Jungle, check out the Lomax recordings of the Young Brothers - I've got the OOP Atlantic box set Southern Journey, but I'm sure that stuff has been reissued on Mississippi and elsewhere. And check out Othar Turner, and his granddaughter Sharde Thomas, who is keeping the tradition alive in Mississippi.

Bev is giving me too much credit - I know a lot about concert band music, not as much about wind quintets. But I like Hindemith's "Kleine Kammermusik," for wind quintet, Op.24, No.2. If you want spiky, it is. Larger than quintets, but I very much like: Dvorak - Serenade in D Minor for Winds, op. 44. Several recordings out there; I have this one: and this album, which has Richard Strauss' Serenade for Wind Instruments, Op. 7, Suite in B flat for 13 Winds, Op. 4, Sonatine No. 1 in F "From an Invalid's Workshop," and Symphony for Wind Instruments "The Happy Workshop." And not quite what you're looking for, but which I can't resist mentioning, is a piece by Saint-Saens which is just a delight: Caprice on Danish & Russian Airs, Op. 79 for flute, oboe, clarinet & piano.

I lost that one in the divorce 15 years ago. (She wasn't all bad - she was a Milt Jackson fan.) I need to get it again, in some form.

Jimmy Owens/Kenny Barron Quintet - You Had Better Listen (Atlantic mono)

This thread is pointless - if Allen's album were any good, it would be on ECM.

Since this thread was "inspired" by hearing some pieces by Bailey's Company, I'll go on record as being a Company fan, at least to an extent. I love the idea - bring together musicians from different backgrounds (including those with little or no experience in improvisation), put them together in different combinations, and see what happens. It doesn't always work, but when it does it can be surprising, beautiful, or at least interesting. As I write this I've got "EP/LS/DB" from Company 6 & 7 playing, and it's pretty cool. Evan Parker, Leo Smith, and Derek Bailey are all traveling in the same general direction, but taking different routes to get there, and Bailey's path is sometimes pretty far removed from the others. I don't have a ton of Company recordings - three CDs and a couple of LPs - but all of them have some stunning music, as well as some tracks that wear out their welcome before the end. I particularly like Once, from the 1987 Company week; Lee Konitz is on board, and it's very cool to hear him playing with Bailey. Knowing his attitudes, he probably thought it was interesting bullshit, but to me it works. Keep in mind that this is not "free jazz" per se - it's free improvisation without genre. It seldom has the forward-moving energy of free jazz; it's more abstract, and even more "in the moment." What Company did well was put accomplished musicians into unexpected improvisational situations; the results were mixed, but sometimes remarkable. By the way, if anyone has a copy of the Fables LP by Company you'd be willing to part with, please let me know.

Here's part two. 8. Ray Miller and His Orchestra - That's a Plenty, from Ray Miller and His Brunswick Orchestra (Timeless Historical), January 3, 1929; Ray Miller - director; Muggsy Spanier - cornet; Jim Cannon - clarinet; Al Carsella - accordion; Jules Cassard - bass; Bill Paley - drums; others I love those hot dance bands from the 1920's - much of what they played wasn't really jazz, but they usually had a few pretty good soloists on hand. This collection of Ray Miller's 1924-29 recordings has a few good soloists - Andy Sanella, Frank Trumbauer, Volly DeFaut - but none better than Muggsy Spanier, who was in the band for a short period in 1928-29. That is, except for Bix Beiderbecke, who might be playing the cornet solo on "Cradle of Love." I love Muggsy, who brought his own voice to King Oliver's style. If you buy this CD, don't expect hard-core jazz all the way through. 9. Dick Grove Orchestra - Mosca Espanola (Grove), from Little Bird Suite (Pacific Jazz LP), 1963; Dick Hurwitz - trumpet; Joe Burnett - flugelhorn; Paul Horn, Bill Perkins - reeds; Bill Robinson - baritone sax; Ralph Pena - bass, and others A little-known masterpiece, never reissued on CD, to my knowledge, even by the pirates. I became aware of it when I came across a short reference to it by Max Harrison, who praised it. The first five tracks constitute the Suite, which I knew would remind a lot of folks of Gil Evans. But Grove has his own thing going on. I love the sound produced by flugelhorn on top of three trombones in this movement. The last two tracks of the album are not part of the Suite, and I almost picked one of them - they're harder-swinging and, in some ways, more original. Grove went into education after this and never recorded under his name again. Coincidentally, the 1967 Gerald Wilson album I listened to last night has a Grove arrangement on it, a fact I had forgotten. 11. John Tchicai/Reggie Workman/Andrew Cyrille - Andrea Calling, from Witch's Scream (TUM), September, 2004; Tchicai - bass clarinet; Workman - bass; Cyrille - drums A collective improvisation from a wonderful Finnish album by these three free-jazz masters. The cell phone at the end was Cyrille's daughter calling, giving the piece its name. The album has originals by all involved, Monk, some standards - and Tchicai even sings. He plays as much bass clarinet as saxophone on the CD, which is where the title comes from. He compares the bass clarinet to a witch's broom: "It can take you on great flights if you know how to handle it, but if you try to force it, it will scream like a witch." 12. Tom McDermott/Evan Christopher - Heavy Henry (McDermott), from Almost Native (Threadhead), 2011; McDermott - piano; Christopher - clarinet Almost Native is the second duet album by two of my favorite New Orleans musicians. The excitement that Evan Christopher can produce in person has never quite been captured on a record, but this track comes close. They boys play jazz, tangos, waltzes, choros, and even zydeco on this great CD. 13. Horacee Arnold - The Actor (Arnold), from Tribe (Columbia), 1973; Joe Farrell - soprano sax; Billy Harper - tenor sax; Dave Friedman - marimba; George Mraz - bass; Horacee Arnold - drums. Ralph Towner also plays on this album. This album is not as elusive as it was for many years - it's recently been reissued by Wounded Bird. It's perhaps not as good as the personnel would suggest (some of you picked up on that), but it's well worth hearing, in my opinion. Arnold's next album, Tales of the Exonerated Flea, was a full-fledged fusion record, with Jan Hammer and Rick Laird on board. 14. Spike Hughes - Donegal Cradle Song (Hughes), from Spike Hughes & Benny Carter (Retrieval), May 19, 1933; Coleman Hawkins - tenor sax; Red Allen - trumpet; Dicky Wells - trombone; Chu Berry - tenor sax; Benny Carter - alto sax; Sid Catlett - drums; others British composer and critic Spike Hughes came to this side of the pond in 1933 and organized an all-star band, using Benny Carter's big band as its core, to record some of his compositions. They results were brilliant and very original, although some folks might hear a touch of Ellington's influence. But the muted trumpet passage at the beginning of "Donegal Cradle Song" is like nothing else in jazz, and Coleman Hawkins' solo lives up to the writing. If you like jazz from this period, you need this CD. Most of the stellar participants get solo space, and several of Hughes' other charts are almost as good as this one. 15. Sonny Stitt - In the Bag (Kenyatta), from Deuces Wild (Collectables, orig. Atlantic), 1967; Stitt, Robin Kenyatta - alto sax; Don Patterson (as Wilmer Mosby) - organ; Billy James - drums; Rufus Harley also plays on this album. I love the contrast between the two saxophonists, and Patterson's organ. I don't know why he appeared under a pseudonym here. Kenyatta and Stitt appear together on two tracks, Rufus Harley plays tenor and bagpipes on one, and the rest are the usual Stitt blues and ballads. 16. The Gulf Aid Allstars - It Ain't My Fault (Preservation Hall download only), 2010; Mos Def - vocal; Lennie Kravitz - guitar & background vocal; Tim Robbins - background vocal; Trombone Shorty - trombone; Preservation Hall Jazz Band: Charlie Gabriel - clarinet; Freddie Lonzo - trombone; Clint Maedgen - tenor sax; Ben Jaffe - tuba; Joe Lastie - drums I'm glad almost everybody liked this one. I think it's a beautiful thing, and I've listened to it many times since it was released during the Gulf oil spill crisis in 2010. The tune is Smokey Johnson's local R & B hit, "It Ain't My Fault," which all the brass bands still play down there. Mos Def's lyrics work perfectly, and when he goes into the spiritual, I get a lump in my throat every time. Trombone Shorty takes the lead in the first half of the trombone duet; Lonzo leads the second half. There are decades of history in Joe Lastie's second-line drumming here. This is the kind of genre-busting music that New Orleans musicians do so well. If you download this from iTunes, a really nice video is included - a sharply-dressed Mos Def sings through Sweet Emma's megaphone. (Preservation Hall fans will know what I'm talking about.) Thanks again to everyone who participated. I enjoyed reading your comments.

Corrected. I guess I was overly exciting about your upcoming BFT. Yes - our own Johnny E did a west coast tour with them in December. They played Bellingham, Washington, where my wife has relatives, about a week and a half before I was out there. I may have cursed a little.

Thanks to everyone who took the time to listen and make comments. Here is the first half of what you've been listening to. 1. Jesper Thilo - Donna (Miles Davis), from Together (Music Mecca), October, 1995; Jesper Thilo - tenor sax; Søren Kristiansen - piano; Niels "Guffi" Pallesen - bass; Svend-Erik Nørregaard - drums This was a somewhat personal choice for me. A couple of years ago I spent a wonderful evening in a little club in Copenhagen listening to (arguably) Denmark's finest straight-ahead jazz saxophonist. There were about five of us in the audience for the first set; the crowd swelled to eight for the second set. Thilo played as if there were 500 of us listening. He's on of those players jazz needs - accomplished and personal without being particularly original or groundbreaking. I'm glad we have the innovators, but I'm glad we have guys like Jesper Thilo. This particular album, on the Danish Music Mecca label, seems to be extremely hard to find (although I found it here), but there are plenty of albums by Thilo out there for those who are interested. 2. Eddie Miller, George Van Eps, Stan Wrightsman - Ain't Misbehavin' (Jump 78), March 21, 1946; Miller - tenor sax; Van Eps - guitar; Wrightsman - piano I love the sessions these three guys made for the Jump lable in the 1940's. I have some of them on 78 and some on a 10" LP, but they have been reissued on a CD called Jump Presents George Van Eps. Miller is often thought of as a Bud Freeman disciple, but he plays in a white New Orleans tenor style that goes back to the 1920's. George Van Eps always knocks me out, but several of you were impressed by Wrightsman, a journeyman pianist who played with lots of west coast dixielanders and big bands. 3. Barry Wedgle/Steve Lacy - Cancoa do Amor Demais (Jobim), from The Rendezvous (Exit), January, 1994; Lacy - soprano sax; Wedgle - guitar Steve Lacy is one of my major musical heroes, and I wanted to included him in a blindfold test. His sound is so distinctive that I wasn't sure if I could get away with it, but this unusual (for Lacy) setting fooled folks for a couple of weeks, at least. Wedgle was a Paris friend of Lacy's - he appears on Lacy's Futurities albums. Rendezvous is a really nice album, with lots of Lacy originals, a couple by Wedgle, one Monk, and this rarely-recorded Jobim tune. 4. Panorama Jazz Band - Romski Chochek (traditional gypsy), from Come Out Swingin' (PR), 2009; Ben Schenck - clarinet; Aurora Nealand - alto sax; Charlie Halloran - trombone; Walter McClements - accordion; Seva Venet - banjo; Jon Gross - tuba; Sean Clark- drums A New Orleans band I love. They play traditional New Orleans jazz, klezmer, calypso, and Balkan music. They're really a blast to hear live, if you get the chance. This is a gypsy tune they learned from a Turkish band. I know Ben slightly, and sat in with them on my last visit to New Orleans. Come Out Swingin' is the best of their three albums (except for the inclusion of a silly song Ben wrote as a teenager), and includes two tracks by the Panorama Brass Band. The brass band version of the Panorama also has a full CD out - 17 Days. Aurora Nealand is a wonderful saxophonist who also has her own band, the Royal Roses. They also have a CD out, of course. 5. The Tiptons Saxophone Quartet - Klaxon de la Notte (Amy Denio), from Strange Flower (Spoot), June 2010; Amy Denio, Jessica Lurie, Sue Orfield, Tina Richerson - saxes; Chris Stromquist - drums This all-female saxophone quartet was formerly known as the Billy Tipton Memorial Saxophone Quartet. This through-composed piece is a little unusual for them - they usually feature plenty of improvisation - but I like it a lot. Like the Panorama Jazz Band, they often include klezmer and Balkan tunes in their repertoire. I'm not sure I made them any new fans with my choice of tune, but check them out if you like edgy jazz. 6. Big Bill Broonzy - You Do Me Any Old Way (Broonzy), from Big Bill's Blues (CBS/Portrait), January 31, 1937; Broonzy - vocal & guitar; Punch Miller - trumpet; Black Bob Call - piano; Bill Settles - bass; prob. Fred Williams - drums I included this mostly because I love Punch Miller. Like Lee Collins (whom I included in my last BFT), Punch was one of those New Orleans trumpeters who was only a couple of steps behind Louis and Red Allen. He played a lot behind blues singers in the 1930's. This collection is a reissue of an Epic album, and is a really nice one-volume collection of Big Bill. I'm glad folks liked this one. 7. J. J. Johnson - "You've Changed," from Quintergy: Live at the Village Vanguard (Antilles), July, 1988; Johnson - trombone; Stanley Cowell - piano; Rufus Reid - bass; Victor Lewis - drums. Ralph Moore also plays tenor sax on this album. A beautiful ballad from an excellent latter-day J. J. album. This VV run also produced a CD called Standards. Not much to say about this, except that it always gets to me. 8. Ray McKinley Orchestra - Tumblebug (Eddie Sauter), from The Most Versatile Band In the Land (Savoy double LP), July 9, 1946; McKinley - drums, leader; Mundell Lowe - guitar; Peanuts Hucko - tenor & clarinet; Sauter - arranger/composer This was a somewhat controversial choice, but I love Eddie Sauter's writing. We was McKinley's chief arranger in the mid-to-late 1940's, when the band was recording for Majestic. His forward-looking charts were mixed in with ballads and novelty tunes. Most CD reissues emphasize the last two parts of the band's output, but this CD has lots of the Sauter arrangements.

Big Maceo - Chicago Breakdown (RCA/Bluebird)

Gerald Wilson Orchestra - Live and Swinging (Pacific Jazz mono) Pretty great. I had forgotten that there is a Dick Grove chart here - "I Should Care" is arranged by that underrated writer. I wish Anthony Ortega had been given some solo space, but Charles Tolliver, Hadley Caliman, Harold Land and Jack Wilson all get to blow.

Ice T Dennis Coffey Koko Taylor

This evening I was in the mood for Benny Carter's mid-40's big band: Benny Carter and His Orchestra - Malibu/I Surrender Dear (Capitol) It's not fair that Carter, as a saxophonist, was such a good trumpeter. "I Surrender Dear" features his trumpet throughout, and it's fabulous. Savannah Churchill and Her All Star Orchestra - Daddy Daddy/All Alone (Manor) This is the singer with Carter's big band; it's Benny's band backing her up. I had been looking for this record, and just found a copy. One reason I love it is that the label of "Daddy Daddy" has the credit, "Trombone Solo Jay Jay." The other side - "Tenor Sax Solo Don Byas." Benny Carter and His Orchestra - Patience and Fortitude/Jump Call (DeLuxe) Benny Carter and His Orchestra - I'm the Caring Kind/Some of These Days (DeLuxe) The first record is by Carter's regular band; the second is full of ringers. "Some of These Days" is a Neal Hefti chart, and the soloists are again listed on the label: Trummy Young, Carter, Hefti, Byas, and pianist Sonny White. Maxine Sullivan sings "Caring Kind." Ended with something different, but related: Ernie Andrews - Don't Lead Me On/Make Me a Present of You (Trend) This 1953 record has the singer backed by Benny Carter arrangements; he also conducted.

Chu Berry - Chu (Columbia Special Products reissue from Epic) I bought and discarded two fake stereo issues of this before finding this nice mono copy.

Steve Lacy Seven - Prospectus (Hat Art) Disc one. Another fabulous slice of vinyl, by the sextet plus George Lewis.

Inspired by "that" current thread: Sam Rivers - Contrasts (ECM) I know that everyone's ears and tastes differ, but dang - I think this is one fabulous album.

I'm in for a download.

I don't know how much this will apply to the two records in question, but on the most recent Motian album (which I liked a lot) there was a highly unrepresentative selection of performances, tilted toward (surprise surprise) ballad tempos. So the ECM aesthetic, whatever you feel about it, can sneak into live recordings too. That was NOT the ECM aesthetic. That was the Motian aesthetic. And I never thought that criticism of the Motian album was very accurate. Yeah, most of the pieces start at a slow tempo (or slow free non-tempo), but many of them go somewhere else entirely. Try playing drop-the-needle in the middle of one of those "ballads" and see what it sounds like.

that looks interesting, I've not exactly been bowled over by his piano style but that line up sounds promising It's a really beautiful album, in my opinion. It was issued on CD by Blackhawk, but that issue seems to be as rare as the original vinyl - I've never come across a CD copy.

Wow - that's a treasure, sound or not.

Abdullah Ibrahim - Ekaya (Home) (Ekapa)