jeffcrom

CDs arrived yesterday - thanks for the quick service.

Happy Birthday!

Shellac highlights from the last couple of days: Red Norvo All Stars - Congo Blues/Get Happy (Dial) Unissued masters from the Comet session. Gerry Mulligan Quartet - My Funny Valentine/Bark for Barksdale (Fantasy) Charlie Parker with Strings- Laura/Dancing in the Dark (Mercury) Art Shaw and His New Music - Sweet Lorraine/Streamline (Vocalion) Cootie Williams and His Orchestra - House of Joy/Everything But You (Capitol) Eddie Vinson tears it up on "House of Joy."

Joe Chambers with Larry Young- Double Exposure (Muse)

People Sure Act Funny - Arthur Conley People Time - Stan Getz People Are Talking - Dave Bartholomew Power to the People - Joe Henderson I See a Million People - Benny Goodman/Peggy Lee Next up: GEORGIA

Pete Rugolo - Brass in Hi-Fi (Mercury mono) Earl Hines - A Monday Date (Chicago Living Legends series, produced by our own Christiern) (Riverside mono) Lee Collins - Ralph Sutton's Jazzola Six Vol. 1 (Rarities)

Ornette Coleman (The Paul Bley Quintet, really) - Coleman Classics (Improvising Artists) Billy Tipton - Plays Hi-Fi on Piano (Tops) Allen asked about the Billy Tipton album on another thread. I would say that neither of Billy Tipton's albums is great, but Sweet Georgia Brown, the earlier one, is at least recognizable as a jazz album. Tipton is an accomplished pianist, but this second album is basically a tinkly cocktail music album, given a bizarre aspect by the incredible reverb - it's so prominent that it becomes the fourth musician of the trio, like on some of Sun Ra's albums from the early 1960's. Of course, that kind of makes this album more fun to listen to - it's just so strange. My wife has used the album cover in her psychology classes as a springboard to the discussion of gender identity.

See the vinyl thread for my comments - I feel like we've gotten too far from the point of this thread, which is the incredible Johnny E's tour with the Tiptons. I'm still pissed that my visit is a couple of weeks too late to catch them in Bellingham.

Cool! How 'bout a link?

Got ya beat, dude - I've got both of them. I once made myself a mix CD consisting of alternating tracks - one by Billy Tipton and one by the sax quartet, etc.

Dang! I love that band, and I'll be in Bellingham starting on the 26th. Well, have fun, anyway.

Exercise #1 is pretty unusual, too: eight measures of whole rests (at 138 beats per minute). The student is instructed to "mentally picture the beat." A pretty great exercise, actually.

Women of the Blues (RCA Vintage Series). My favorite tracks here are the two by Sippie Wallace, but there's something to be said for Lizzie Miles' "My Man o' War." Sample lyrics: "He storms my trench and he's not afraid; His bayonet makes me cry for aid. Oh, how he handles his hand grenade; He's my man o' war." "If I'm retreating he goes around and gets me in the rear. He keeps repeating a flank attack until victory is near."

Ben Tucker - Baby, You Should Know It (Ava mono). Not a masterpiece, but a nice little album, with Victor Feldman on piano and Larry Bunker on vibes and marimba as the main soloists.

New York Contemporary Five - Consequences (Fontana Japanese reissue)

Atlanta is a crappy city for live music, if you want to hear anything more complex than three-chord rock. But we are singularly blessed with great record stores. I regularly stop by six or seven record stores. Two of them are within walking distance of my house - one is a mile away, and one is only a block away! (This is one reason I like living in the city rather than the suburbs.) Most of these stores have pretty good turnover, and I've found amazing stuff at most of them. And two of them even have 78s. The Magnificent Goldberg and I once walked the mile to Wax 'n' Fax, and he snatched a gospel saxophone LP right from under my nose. I eventually forgave him.

I've got a Charlie Shavers I don't see pictured there. I posted about it in the 78 thread here.

That 1965 Paris recording is the only one I know from those years. I love it - the more the audience derisively whistles, the wilder Giuffre plays. The musicians and music-readers here can gain a lot of insight into Giuffre's thinking during those years if you can find a copy of his 1969 book Jazz Phrasing and Interpretation. It's one of the few "jazz education" books I've seen that delves deeply into free, atonal jazz. And it's one of those books I pull out when I'm practicing and want some material which will kick my ass.

Steve Lacy - Saxophone Special (Emanem)

It was stone cold classics morning with my 78 rig today: Count Basie Kansas City Seven - Lester Leaps In/Dickie's Dream (Vocalion) Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five - Two Deuces/Squeeze Me (Okeh) Louis Armstrong and His Orchestra (same group as above, despite the name) - Basin Street Blues/No (Okeh) Mahalia Jackson - Move On Up a Little Higher, parts 1 & 2 (Apollo) As I said when I got them, both Armstrongs are in really nice shape. But Basin Street/No (which was recorded on this day in 1928, by the way) is as close to mint condition as I've ever seen for an 83-year old record. I basically never call a 78 mint, but I would call this one mint if one of the sides didn't have a tick which lasts for three revolutions. I grew up with the four-LP Columbia reissue series of early Louis, and always thought that Zutty Singleton laid out for long stretches. Nope - on this record I can hear everything he does. It's really a magnificent record

Thanks for posting that. He's an excellent writer; I admire his big ears and and his analyses. I enjoy his writing more than his playing. I just told my wife that this afternoon. Another thank-you for the link. The story about Iverson's confusion when playing "Blue in Green" with Haden and Motian is priceless.

Those look very cool, Neal. I wish I had more cajun 78s. I've got one Harry Choates 78 - a reissue of a Gold Star on Modern, better known for blues and R & B.

I guess I'm going against the grain here by choosing some early Roy. The first two sessions that popped into my mind were: Fletcher Henderson and His Orchestra - March 27, 1936; the "Christopher Columbus" session. Both Roy and Chu Berry are young, strong, and fabulous here. Teddy Wilson - May 14, 1936; Teddy with a bunch of Fletcher's guys of the time - Chu, Buster Bailey, Sid Catlett, etc. "Blues in C Sharp Minor" is a masterpiece.

Today I revisited this self-produced 1996 album: Paulin Brothers Jazz Band - The Tradition Continues. It reminded me of how much individuality and variation there is among New Orleans brass bands. Despite the name of the band, it's a brass band. (They call themselves the Paulin Brothers Brass Band these days.) The core of the band is formed by five sons of the legendary trumpeter and brass band leader Doc Paulin, whose musical career stretched from the 1920's to shortly before Katrina. He appears on several tracks of this CD, and I really enjoyed his vocals and rough trumpet playing. The Paulin Brothers play traditional New Orleans and swing tunes, for the most part (there is one funk tune), but they don't sound like any other brass band. The main reason for this is the three-part saxophone section. (There are rarely more than two saxes in a New Orleans brass band.) The saxes had obviously rehearsed a lot, and worked out some parts in rich harmony, beyond the harmonic simplicity of many brass bands. The band has the spirit and abandon typical of the best N.O. brass bands, but the saxes give the music a sheen that sets this band apart. It's a cool album (apart from one pretty dreadful vocal by Doc's daughter), but it seems to be out of print and hard to find. I did see Roderick Paulin selling CDr copies in Jackson Square a year and a half ago.

I've played a bunch of 78s over the past few days, but the winner was: Smiley Lewis - Tee-Nah-Nah/Lowdown (Imperial). This New Orleans R & B single kills! It's from 1950, and Smiley is backed up by Dave Bartholomew's band, with Fats Domino on piano - he wasn't too big to play on other guys' records at that point. Great stuff.