jeffcrom

Wildflowers 1 (Douglas) Kalaparusha Maurice McIntyre, Ken McIntyre, Sunny Murray with Byard Lancaster, Sam Rivers and Air

This is definitely my least favorite Sam Rivers album. You need not tell me I am wrong, as my friends have already done that I just don't enjoy it very much. I think SR is mostly (not always) at his best in trio formations. At least that is where I like him most. Wouldn't dream of telling you you're wrong - although I seem to remember that I may have done just that a few months ago about something, but I don't remember what. To me, though, Rivers' writing is as important as his playing. I'm listening to Inspiration by the All-Star Orchestra right now, and am enjoying it more than ever.

Glad you like it, and you're right about one of the saxophonists - Sonny Stitt. The other one is not James Spaulding, but that's a great guess - that probably would have been my guess if I was hearing this cold. Is the other sac player Charles McPherson? Nope, it's not Charles McPherson. Bill was right that it's someone a little more "out."

The Right-to-Profit State and All That Jazz. This not-very-promising-sounding promotional LP, recorded in 1967 and put out by the Louisiana Department of Commerce and Industry, is one of my favorite New Orleans albums of the 60's. The band is fabulous - Alvin Alcorn, Jack Delaney, Harry Shields, Armand Hug, Danny and Blue Lu Barker, Chester Zardis and Louis Barbarin. Harry Shields, unlike his more famous brother Larry, never left New Orleans for any appreciable length of time, but I think that he's a far superior player to Larry; one of the greatest of all New Orleans clarinetists, in fact. He has a hair-raising solo on "Tin Roof Blues;" its impact makes me think of Sonny Rollins' "Misterioso" solo from Volume Two. Blue Lu Barker sings one song: "Basin Street Blues." She told me that she had to leave the session early to close on the Sere Street house where the Barkers lived the rest of their lives. I spent a wonderful morning there in 1992.

Sam Rivers Winds of Manhattan - Colours (Black Saint)

George Barnes & Carl Kress - Guitars, Anyone? (Carney) This later showed up on Audiophile, with the same awful cover.

Khan Jamal - Infinity (Jam'Brio)

Glad you like it, and you're right about one of the saxophonists - Sonny Stitt. The other one is not James Spaulding, but that's a great guess - that probably would have been my guess if I was hearing this cold.

I'm listening to an interesting AM blue-label issue right now: Papa Laine's Children. Papa Jack Laine was the patriarch of the white New Orleans scene in the early days of the 20th century - the ODJB and NORK guys cut their teeth in Laine's bands. The meat of this CD is a 1951 session featuring some of my favorite white New Orleans trad jazz guys - Johnny Wiggs, Tom Brown and Harry Shields. But it also has a 1959 track that is the only released recording of Papa Laine; he plays marching-style bass drum and cymbal with Wiggs, Raymond Burke, and a six-piece jazz band. It won't change anyone's life, but it's great to hear one of the most important figures in the early history of jazz. Coincidentally, on my trip to New Orleans last fall, I stumbled upon Papa Laine's house in the Bywater neighborhood, just by accident:

Hope it brings in some money. The dental theme seems to be strong - I love that an ad popped up for a dental clinic in Social Circle, the little town southeast of Atlanta where J. C. Higginbotham was from. I'll periodically click on a few ads.

Sorry, haven't been paying attention to much lately. Send me a link, please, and I'm in! "The member JSngry cannot receive any messages." God, I hate you so much! So there.

You're behind the times, dude - see post #2. And why aren't you doing my current blindfold test?!? I hate you so much! But he got a bunch of new Selmer horns out of the deal.

A track from one of my biggest "under the radar" recommendations is part of my current blindfold test, so I can't tell you until January 31.

That's just 20 minutes... is it the complete concert or just all that has ever been released (and/or is known to have survived)? You're right - I had forgotten that just 20 minutes of music from Molde was on the CD. There must have been more played.

LTD

After that intense Cecil Taylor experience, I needed something completely different. So: Herman Foretich - The Foretich Four (Jazzology) This 1987 album was one of the last gasps of the once-thriving Atlanta dixieland scene, with Ernie Carson, Bill Rutan and Shorty Johnson. Herman Foretich was a great clarinetist, and one of those guys that Atlanta musicians still tell stories about. Sorry about the large picture - it was the only one I could find on the web.

The Great Concert of Cecil Taylor (Prestige 3-LP set) Brilliant, warts and all. I bought this set in 1979 or '80 and have listened to it in pieces many times, but this is probably only the second time I've listened to the whole thing in one sitting. And I enjoyed it more than I ever did in the past - I heard more of both the variety and the unity of the music. That being said, I've always found Sam Rivers' playing here to be somewhat unsatisfying, but I've never been able to pin down why until tonight. Rivers was essentially a melodic player, even if his melodies were pretty abstract at times. But it sounds like his response to Taylor was to try to become an "energy" player, and it didn't work - that's not what he was. In contrast, Jimmy Lyons is always playing melodically, even when those melodies are fast and complex. It was telling that my favorite bit of Rivers on this set was his brief soprano solo on side four - it's more straightforwardly melodic than his tenor playing here. But damn, what a great concert! Cecil is brilliant, of course, and Andrew Cyrille deserved a medal for his stamina and inventiveness. Indifferent sound and all, this music will sustain me for days.

That's it. In my opinion, this is the best track from an excellent album.

Not Christian or Goodman, and later in the decade. As I've said, the composition/arrangement is the main reason I selected this one, although I knew that the guitar soloist would be of interest. Alex recognized "That's a Plenty" and nailed the date as 1929. Nice job recognizing Muggsy - he's the only soloist here folks are likely to recognize. Not Gil Evans. I knew this composer would remind folks of Evans, although I find the similarities kind of superficial - the more I listen, the more I hear the differences in approach. This is indeed a needle drop; I don't think this has made it to CD, even by the Andorrans, as far as I know. I consider the album this came from to be one of the forgotten masterpieces of its time.

Dang, Brownie beat me to the punch! I had three of the same tunes among my five.

This American group features much improvisation in most of their pieces, but I was very taken with this piece - improvisation or not, jazz or not. This has been identified by Alex as "You Do Me Any Old Way" by Big Bill Broonzy. It does share a verse with Elmore James' song. Any comments on the trumpet player? Not Stan Getz. I included this artist to see if I could get away with it, if that makes sense. He has a distinctive sound which I thought would be instantly recognizable to those familiar with him, but this is a very untypical recording by him. I have to give you this one, Bill - it's not just someone in the J. J. Johnson tradition, it's Johnson himself. Maybe Hardbopjazz can tell us more about this track, which gets to me deeply every time I hear it.

I have a VHS tape of this gig, which I recorded off the TV when it was broadcast at the time. It's pretty good, musically. For Sam, it was just another gig; at one point, during someone else's solo, you can see him in the background yawning very deeply.

Finishing up a large bottle of La Fin du Monde - an amazing Belgian-style ale made by Unibroue in Canada. I bought it on Sunday, January 1 because I could. It's the first time I've ever been able to legally buy alcohol in Georgia on Sunday. Georgia leaps into the mid-20th century!

Julia Lee - Kansas City Star (Bear Family) Disc one, with all of the George E. Lee Orchestra's recordings from the 1920's, as well as mid-40's sides by Julia and a rehearsal tape. I might move on to disc two tonight.

There are three tracks from the 1960 Philly Jazz Fest on Thelonious Monk - In Philadelphia 1960 With Steve Lacy, put out by the Andorrans.