jeffcrom

Okay, feel free to mock me about this one: Bobby Hackett Plays the Great Music of Henry Mancini (Epic stereo) I sometimes like to pull out one of these "bachelor pad jazz" albums. This is a good one. The tunes and arrangements are pretty corny; Hackett plays great.

Happy Birthday, GA!

Earlier today: Odell Brown and the Organ-izers - Ducky (Cadet) Odell Brown is a name I wasn't familiar with before finding this forum.

Alex, I think this just shows that the main difference between us is that you have a life, and I don't.

I don't see this at the bottom of the page. Is it left, center or right? I should have said "near the bottom" rather than "at the bottom" of the page. It's in the center, just below the list of individual threads in each forum. It's not right at the bottom.

...where he plays one of the most amazingly twisted guitar solos of all time.

I don't have any tattoos, but I've got a story about one of my oldest friends, Ben, the bass player in my quartet. At the time, I had known and played with him in various bands for about ten years. I went over to his house to take him a copy of a recording we had done. I had heard it so much that I was sick of it, so I amused myself by looking through his magazines while he listened. I noticed several tattoo magazines in the stack, so I asked him, "Do you have a tattoo?" He looked kind of sheepish and said, "I've got a few." I said, "Show me." So he rolled up his pants leg - his left leg was completely covered with an elaborate rendering of a Japanese creation myth. It was really beautiful work. His right leg was covered with American icons - eagles, anchors, the Kingfish - a catfish in a derby smoking a cigar, etc. He also has quite a few tattoos on his upper body, but nowhere that could be seen when he wore long pants and a short-sleeve shirt - I realized then that I had never seen him shirtless or in shorts. He only lets the best tattoo guy in Atlanta work on him, and he never exposes them to the sun; his tattoos look really good. A few years ago when I was playing in a quartet with Roger Ruzow of Gold Sparkle fame, we played a gig at Lennie's, a punk club in Atlanta. We made Ben wear shorts for that one.

Thelonious Monk Quartet: Idrees Sulieman (tp) Thelonious Monk (p) Curly Russell (b) Art Blakey (d) WNYC Broadcast, "Festival of American Music", New York, February 16, 1948 Just you, just me Chazzer 2002 All the things you are - Suburban eyes (incomplete) - Now available on the RLR (Rare Live Recordings) CD Thelonious Monk in Philadelphia 1960 With Steve Lacy Charlie Parker All Stars: Kenny Dorham (tp) Charlie Parker (as) Lucky Thompson (ts) Milt Jackson (vib) Al Haig (p) Tommy Potter (b) Max Roach (d) Dave Lambert, Buddy Stewart (vcl) Symphony Sid (mc) [ Symphony Sid (mc) ] WMCA Broadcast "Royal Roost", New York, February 26, 1949 Half Nelson F2507 A night in Tunisia Chazzer 2002 Scrapple from the apple Deedle [static] (dl,bs vcl,1) Jumpin' with Symphony Sid (theme) (*) All now available on Savoy, as will as other CDs, I imagine. The Tatum stuff is from Cafe Society Downtown, July, 1950. Don't know if it's been issued elsewhere. Don't know what the LP would be worth. I love that Monk session.

Well, maybe I should have waited awhile, but since I started, here are my comments on the second half. Don't read on if you don't want to know the IDs of the tracks - I knew all of them except one. 10. Sidney Bechet playing “Blackstick” with a group drawn from Noble Sissle’s big band, 1938. O’Neill Spencer, the drummer, is the only other semi-big name here. Bechet’s clarinet sound is unique – it took me a little getting used to as a young man. But now I hear it as very expressive. He could bend notes like nobody else on clarinet, although he doesn’t really do that here. And when he switches to soprano sax, he sounds like the sun – bright and hot. I wish he stretched out more on this track, but it was still great to hear. 11. “Azure” from The Original Ellington Suite by the Chico Hamilton Quintet. I wish Eric Dolphy had played clarinet more often – he sounds good here, if a little restrained. I know I keep saying this, but I wish Dolphy had been given more room to stretch out – he only improvised a few measures, but they’re very interesting. Beautiful cello playing by Nate Gershman. I love the story (told in the liner notes to the CD) of how this session turned up as a test pressing in Brighton, England. 12. Recognized John Carter and Bobby Bradford right away. “Sticks and Stones” from their 1969 album Seeking. These guys learned Ornette’s lessons well; this is out of the O.C. tradition, but very individual. Carter was an amazing clarinetist in 1969 and just got better with the passage of time. Great rhythm section, too with Tom Williamson on bass and Bruz Freeman of the Chicago Freemans on drums. The only negative aspect of this track is the lack of a Bobby Bradford solo, although he has some nice interplay with Carter near the end. 13. Poor Prez doesn’t have much left at this point – not much technique, sound, or stamina; nothing but musical instincts. And maybe that’s enough. I love the last chorus – fragile and full of pain. This is “They Can’t Take That Away From Me” from the Laughing to Keep From Crying album on Verve, from 1958, almost the end of the road. Sweets Edison and Roy Eldridge sound great, as do Hank Jones and Herb Ellis. A sad and touching recording. 14. Okay, this is pretty obscure, but I’ve had a Stan Hasselgard CD on the Phontastic label with this session for at least 15 years. It’s “Lullaby in Rhythm” from 1947; it was supposedly recorded by Les Paul, but never released at the time. Hasselgard was really amazing, and his early death was a tragedy – he was dead within a year of this recording, only 26 years old. Here he’s got a beautiful sound, great technique, excellent ideas. I would have loved to hear how his music developed; with more maturity and exposure to the blues he could have been frighteningly good. 15. This version of “Someday Sweetheart” was familiar, but it took me a few minutes to place it. The key was Red Norvo again – I recognized him right away, then realized that it was Woody Herman’s Woodchoppers from 1946. Jeez, everybody sounds great here. I sometimes don’t think highly of Herman’s own playing, but what a beautiful sound. I know he’s more or less just playing the melody, but it’s great. Chuck Wayne, Jimmy Rowles, Norvo, Flip Phillips, Bill Harris – they all sound wonderful. But Sonny Berman – absolutely beautiful. When I was about 15 I had a 10” LP of the Herman Band from this period, and Berman’s solo on “Your Father’s Mustache” floored me. It was years before I heard another Berman solo. This one is great. Beautiful record – thanks for including it. 16. This track unfolds like one of those movies where things make sense in retrospect. Once it reveals itself to be “A Night in Tunisia,” everything that has gone on before makes sense. Wow – I like this a lot, and couldn’t even hazard a guess as to who’s playing. The woodwind player is an excellent clarinetist, but what a great sound on the alto! The flow and interplay of this group is really nice. This just gets better and better the more it goes on. Wonderful recording! 17. You almost got me on this one. I recognized Edmond Hall and Vic Dickenson right away, and was pretty sure that this was a recording I had, but I couldn’t remember what it was. I kept thinking that the tune was “Down in Honky Tonk Town,” and it’s similar: “At the Ball” by James P. Johnson’s Blue Note Jazzmen. Sidney DeParis is the trumpet player. I like the little-known Al Trappier’s drumming very much on this. This was the alternate take, and there is a little awkwardness in the transitions between solos. But the solos (and ensembles) are very good here. I don’t think I’ve ever heard a bad Ed Hall recording – always consistent, and always a giant. I’ve loved Vic Dickenson’s burry sound since I was a kid. James P. is not at his best here, which is probably why the faster take was chosen for release at the the time – he plays a great solo there. Otherwise I like this take better. 18. I recognized this instantly – it’s from an album that blew me away when it was issued in 1992 – Don Byron’s Tuskegee Experiments. 90% of that album was so good that I thought we’d be hearing greater and greater music from Byron in the future. I’m not sure what happened – I don’t think he’s done anything as good since. Anyway “Waltz for Ellen” is a beautifully played piece with a few expressionistic touches like sudden changes of register and dynamics. Nice piece. Thanks for this BFT – as you can tell, I love the clarinet.

Thanks for that link. The article is both sad and inspiring.

Jeez - I didn't think that some people probably haven't received the CD yet. Probably should have waited.

Well, I thought this one was pretty cool. I've listened to the whole thing once, and the first nine tracks twice, so I'm going to go ahead and jump in with the first half. Some spoilers ahead. 1. A great version of a great Steve Lacy composition, “Blinks.” I know who it is, but only because I got curious and did some web searching – so I’ll let someone else ID this one if they can. I like this a lot – this kind of free improvising is full of pitfalls, but these guys find a space between conversing and going their own way which works very well. I plan to check out the album this is from. I hope Lacy heard this before he passed. 2. Ah, that great Paramount sound! This is Johnny Dodds and Tiny Parham playing “Oh Daddy,” a tune that was pretty popular in jazz circles in the mid 1920’s. This one is from 1927. Dodds is Soul Brother No. 1 – rich sound (even through the terrible recording), vibrato that just dances, bluesy approach. I love it. Parham ain’t bad either – that’s a cool chromatic break. Thank you, thank you, thank you for this one. 3. Don’t know who anybody is, but this is some nice stuff – what used to be called “mainstream” jazz. Is the clarinetist primarily a saxophonist? He doesn’t sound completely at ease. The trombonist sounds most familiar to me, but I can’t place him. There’s a wildness about his playing that I like. Very tasty, well-constructed trumpet solo. I understand why this kind of four-to-the-bar rhythm guitar playing lost favor in modern jazz, but we lost as much as we gained. Nice. 4. Well, I haven’t heard this before, but I think this “Blue Skies” is played by Red Norvo – it sure sounds like him. And the outstanding guitar solo sounds like Remo Palmieri to me – an underrated talent. If I’m right about that, it might be Aaron Sachs on clarinet – he played a lot with Red Norvo in the mid 1940’s. His playing doesn’t make much of an impression here, and I can’t claim to recognize him, but I’m guessing based on the context. I can’t say that I’m crazy about the rather formal arrangement, but the vibes solo and especially the guitar solo make this one. And I might be all wet about Norvo and Palmieri. 5. Jimmie Noone, the epitome of the New Orleans Creole clarinet! I was trying to explain my love of Noone to a friend recently, and it came out all wrong. I mean, his music is corny at times, his solos are very formal, he doesn’t swing that much, and his playing has almost no blues content. But I love it – it’s almost like a glimpse into the past; a look down a road not taken. Jazz went in another direction than the Creole style Noone represents, but I still love his “dead end.” And he’s an incredible clarinetist. This is his best group, with Earl Hines and saxophonist Joe Poston, playing “I Know That You Know” from 1928. Sweet! 6. I’ve got this one on a 78 – Buddy Defrano playing “Dancing on the Ceiling” from 1951. I love the first chorus, where it sounds like the whole sax section is playing clarinets. Nice Prez-ian tenor solo, which I assume is played by Jerry Sanfino. I wish DeFranco had stretched out more, but what he does play is very impressive. Edited to add that my favorite "Dancing of the Ceiling" is Frank Sinatra's from In the Wee Small Hours - even though I think of it as a girl's song. 7. Well, I think it’s Anthony Braxton, and I don’t know what to say. I love his recordings of standards on alto – they’re ferocious and audacious. But this “Skylark” is just uncomfortable. His note choices don’t sound adventurous; they just sound fumbling, like he doesn’t know the chords. The minor seventh of the key that kept showing up in all the wrong places drove me crazy. I actually hope I’m wrong, and it’s not Braxton. 8. Someone’s got an excellent command of the clarinet and some of the “extended” sounds it can make. Like a lot of unaccompanied solos by wind players, he (or she) sometimes implies a couple of parallel lines going on at the same time. Excellent avant-garde improvising; don’t know who it is. 9. This threw me for a loop for a few minutes, but a little digging through my CD collection turned it up – The Earl Hines Quartet from 1937, with Omer Simeon, Budd Johnson, and Wallace Bishop. Budd Johnson always was hip, wasn’t he? I love that chromatic opening to his solo – it sounds like something Don Byas would do a few years later. Simeon is not one of the most individual of New Orleans clarinetists, but he sounds good, and Hines is great, as usual. Thanks for reminding me of this recording; hadn’t heard it for awhile.

Paul Desmond's Pure Desmond is an often-overlooked gem.

Evan Parker never had another hit after "Aerobatics 3."

Not sleepy - can't get music and thoughts of tomorrow's election out of my head. The 1926-42 gospel collection I'm listening to isn't helping - it's stirring me up instead of settling me down.

Ahmad Jamal - Extensions. A Cadet stereo reissue in an Argo stereo cover with an Argo mono back sheet. Waste not....

Lots of vinyl today, including: Duke Ellington - One Night Stand at Steel Pier, Atlantic City 1964 (Joyce) Most of the material is from the Ellington '65 album. This one unfortunately plays about a half step sharp. Gene Ammons - Bad Bossa Nova/Jungle Soul (Prestige mono) The Mighty Sparrow - Calypso Carnival (Id) A really nice 1968 calypso/soca album from Trinidad. Duke Ellington - Newport 1958 (Columbia 6 eye mono)

Okay, this is one of those questions about original issues and repressings that's ultimately kind of unimportant, but I'm curious: I just picked up a nice mono copy of the Prestige 7257 by Gene Ammons. It's got the Prestige blue label with the silver trident and lettering; deep groove with Van Gelder's stamp in the dead wax. The title on the front cover is "Bad! Bossa Nova." The title on the back cover and labels is "Jungle Soul (ca' purange)." Is this the original pressing or an early repress, or what? In any case, it's musically pretty badass behind its genial facade.

Yes, that's Gonsalves. Hamilton and Gonsalves both have strong, meaty sounds, but Gonsalves' is "bushier" if that makes any sense. I'm going to be late to this party - I ordered Afro-Bossa from one of my local brick-and-mortar stores a couple of days before you posted Chapter 9, based on Chuck and Jim's raves. Not sure when it will be in my hands.

Sun Ra - The Soul Vibrations of Man (El Saturn) The Arkestra from the Jazz Showcase, 1977. I picked this one tonight because it contains "Halloween in Harlem." It's also got a great version of "The Shadow World." I must have eight or nine recordings of that piece, but I never get tired of it.

Picked up a few new 78s today - all from the 1920s, and very different from each other. Three of them are really fabulous, and the fourth is okay. Sara Martin - You Got Ev'ry Thing a Sweet Mama Needs But Me/'Tain't Nobody's Business If I Do (Okeh, 1922) Sara's good, but 18-year-old Fats Waller is great. Uncle Dave Macon - All I've Got's Gone/Hill Billie Blues (Vocalion, 1924) "Hill Billie" is Dave's version of "Hesitating Blues." The labels call these "Comedy," but "All I've Got's Gone" is mournful. Bela Lam and His Greene County Singers - See That My Grave is Kept Clean/Row Us Over the Tide (Okeh, 1927) This was the gamble - I didn't know what I was getting. But it's great - raw white Virginia gospel, with banjo and guitar accompaniment. Wonderful. Marion Harris - I'm a Jazz Vampire/Never Let No One Man Worry Your Mind (Columbia, 1920) Not great, but fun. Not a bad haul.

I couldn't remember anything about "Cincinnati Daddy," so I went back to the Early Ellington collection of Brunswick recordings. It's mostly a string of solos over a "Ballin' the Jack" type chord progression, although there is a little bit of composed melodic material. Not much to it, but since the solos are by Cootie, Hodges, Tricky Sam, and Bigard, it ain't too shabby. Maybe Ellington (or the record company) thought there wasn't enough to it, because it wasn't released until 34 years later.

I swear, this is the absolute truth - my family had that record when I was a kid (around 1970, I guess), and I loved it. Hey, I was eleven - not quite ready for late Coltrane at that point. I remember the titles "March of the Martians" and "Moog Foo Yung."

Abdullah Ibrahim - Soweto (Chiaroscuro)

The CD says Peter Ind recorded it.