jeffcrom

A nice evening with the vinyl: George Freeman - Franticdiagnosis (Bam-boo) Thanks to The Magnificent Goldberg for introducing me to this bizarre and wonderful album. Captain John Handy - John Handy's New Orleans Jazz (Polydor International) A great 1965 album, not released in the U.S., with Alvin Alcorn and Dave "Fat Man" Williams, among others. Snooks Eaglin - Down Yonder (GNP Crescendo) The New Orleans guitar genius had recorded R & B singles and folk/blues albums, but this 1977 record was his first full-length R & B album. Ellis Marsalis, Clarence Ford and the French brothers (George and Bob) are on board.

It's like deju vu all over again....

The Lord discography just says "details unknown."

Okay, my biggest "D'oh!" moment so far has been not being able to come up with the title of Silver's "Peace." And mistaking Chico Freeman for Clifford Jordan makes me want to go back and hear some more Freeman.

Part two: 9. Monk’s music, like Bach’s, should be able to stand up to a wide range of interpretations, but this pianist shows a basic misunderstanding of what the music is all about. It’s okay to play “Eronel” slowly like this – I kind of like the tempo – but he or she puts some of Monk’s syncopations squarely on the beat, playing havoc with Monk’s musical intentions. And there’s a “prettiness” to the whole thing – some dissonances notwithstanding. I’m going to be an old curmudgeon and say that I didn’t care for this. 10. Nice – relaxed, yet intense. It’s just long enough to say what they wanted to say. Good command of their instruments, but with plenty of grit. No idea who or what this is, but I like it. 11. Well, it’s James Newton playing “Prelude to a Kiss,” but it’s not from that excellent Ellington album he did for Blue Note back in the eighties. My guess on piano would be Anthony Davis, but that’s just a guess. This is beautiful – certainly on the conservative side of what Newton could do, but none the less excellent for its power held in reserve. 12. This one drove me crazy. I can’t come up with the name of the tune. Anyway, it sounds like Clifford Jordan playing it. The bass solo is a little breathless, but everything else is just perfect. The arc of the tune – switching to double time, sticks instead of brushes, etc. – is a little predictable, but it’s so good that you don’t care. Again, some masters at work. 13. I wasn’t crazy about this, but I think that says more about my tastes than about the music itself. I kept waiting for it to go somewhere else, but to be fair, that didn’t seem to be the point. Good playing all around, just not really my thing. 14. Music that’s too clean and slick already has a couple of strikes against it, in my opinion. This one was way too slick for me. The bass sound drove me crazy – not in a good way. And the rhythm section was busy, but not in any kind of interactive or conversational way – they sounded like they were throwing in a bunch of stuff because they could, not because it added to the music. The trumpet solo was good, though. I didn’t notice when you sent me the disc that this track was chopped off, or I would have asked you if that was your intention. 15. This is “Ad Infinitum” by Carla Bley, and I think it’s her band playing it, although I’ve never heard this recording. What a great composer – or at least tune writer, which is a pretty big part of being a jazz composer. Is that Gary Valente on trombone? Nice track. Art Farmer did a great version of this tune for Atlantic in 1965. 16. One of the grandfathers of New Orleans R & B piano, Tuts Washington. His rhythm was a little wonky at times, but that’s okay – he had a lot of soul. Tuts was a big influence on Professor Longhair, and so on NOLA R & B in general. Thanks for including this one. Edit: I should have added that this is from Tuts' Rounder album New Orleans Piano Professor. Thanks for a great BFT - I'm looking forward to reading what everybody else has to say. I have this track on Mos' Scocious: The Dr. John Anthology on Rhino. They say it's Lee Allen. I knew that, and that is why I emailed Louisiana Music Factory, because the musician credits for the song on Mos' Scocious do not look correct to me. Those credits omit the trumpet and conga players, for example. Also, there is that credit on the back of the Ace Records Story LP for Alvin "Red" Tyler. The sax breaks on "Sahara" do not sound like the Lee Allen solos I know from so many other New Orleans R&B songs. It could be Allen, but I find it not obvious. I'll compare it to some other Red Tyler tenor solos from that period and see what I think.

Thanks, Paul!

I have this track on Mos' Scocious: The Dr. John Anthology on Rhino. They say it's Lee Allen. Your ability to identify obscure cuts is amazing to me. I just have a ridiculous record collection, and the first half of this BFT was right in my wheelhouse. The second half - not so much.

Stopped at a little junk store out in the country today - they had some records, so I asked if they had any 78s. The owner brought out a stack - only about 15, but there were some great blues and R & B records among them. I bought eight discs; so far I have cleaned and spun these: Muddy Waters - Forty Days & Forty Nights/All Aboard (Chess) Frankly, I bought this more as an object than a record. Somebody back in 1955 loved this record - they played it over and over, but without changing needles very often. Luckily, they liked "Forty Days," which I have on CD, better than "All Aboard," which I don't. "Forty Days" is so worn that playing it is pretty much pointless, but "All Aboard" is still listenable. I love the twin harps of Little Walter and James Cotton. Kid King's Combo - Chocolate Sundae/Greasy Feet (Excello) This, on the other had, is near mint. It's a great little R & B instrumental, with a really nice alto player. Anyone know who was in this band? The Treniers - Plenty of Money/Go! Go! Go! (Okeh promo) Sweet! Sugar Boy and His Can Cutters - Overboard/I Don't Know What I'll Do (Checker) This was the real find - Sugarboy Crawford's first record, and it's a wild one. And it's in excellent condition. Part of me wanted to tell the guy at the store to sell it on Ebay for 20 times what I paid. But I'm glad I took it home. Great record. And I picked up a few more early Jewish/Yiddish records a few days ago. The best one is an outstanding klezmer disc from 1917 - Abe Schwartz's band masquerading as "Yiddisher Orchester" again, playing "Biem Reben's Sideh" and "Sadegurer Chused'l." There's some very good clarinet playing - it's not Dave Tarras, but I don't know who it is.

As usual for me, I'm splitting my answers into a couple of posts. This will make me look better, because I knew a lot of the stuff in the first half. I listened to everything at least twice, and only looked things up in my own collection. 1. This is young Mac Rebennack, before he was Dr. John. The tune is “Sahara,” recorded at Cosimo Matassa’s famous studio on Governor Nicholls Street in New Orleans. I’ve got to wonder about this from a commercial standpoint – what was the target audience for this single? But in any case, this has a great feel. I don’t know what percentage of the tenor solos on New Orleans R & B records from this period are by “Mr. Lee” Allen, but it must be around 60%. He sounds great here. And Charles “Hungry” Williams’ drumming deserves a lot of the credit for the success of this track. I like this one very much. 2. “Carefree,” from one of Sun Ra’s last albums, Destination Unknown. For a long time it was hard for me to accept a Sun Ra album without John Gilmore, but he was ill and didn’t make this tour. Tyrone Hill is the trombone soloist, and he is very passionate here. This was recorded after Ra had his stroke, but his keyboard playing sounds pretty good. The ensemble is tighter than Ra’s bands were sometimes, but this still cooks hard. Outstanding. 3. I don’t know that many jazz oboists, but this sounds more like Yusef Lateef than any other oboist I know. So I’ll make the deeply profound statement that it’s either Yusef or someone I don’t know. What surprised me most about about this track was my reaction to it. It’s a well-played, interesting composition with good solos – and it doesn’t touch me at all. I’m not sure why, except that the slick mixing and mastering doesn’t help – the sound needs less sheen and more grit. 4. Well, Johnny Otis, I assume from the chant at the end. This is a nice, greasy big band piece, from the late 1940s, I’d guess. The solos are good, except that the tenor player sounds like he’s copying Paul Quinichette rather than Lester Young. Maybe it is Quinichette, but if so this is not his best work. Everything else about this performance is good. Another winner. 5. The John Kirby Sextet playing Grieg’s “Anitra’s Dance.” This is a lot of fun – a very clever arrangement. You can’t really tell from this totally-arranged piece, but Charlie Shavers and Billy Kyle never sounded better than with Kirby. This band could really play some jazz, but this is more or less a soufflé. Nothing wrong with that – I like this soufflé. 6. A broadcast recording of the Benny Goodman band playing Mary Lou Williams’ arrangement of “Roll ‘Em.” This band could get pretty hot, as they do here. Harry James wasn’t a genius, but in his early days could be a pretty exciting jazz player. Later on I guess he played “Ciribirbin” too many times. Great sounding sax section. I had to look up who was playing that meaty rhythm guitar – I should have known that it was Allen Reuss. I love the fact that Jess Stacy isn’t tempted to take the easy way out during his solo – I’m sure everyone was expecting some boogie. Goodman’s solo is good – not great. Overall, this is a great performance that shows what the fuss was all about. 7. Damn, I had forgotten how good this was! This is the Bennie Moten Orchestra from 1932, with Bill Basie on piano. It could almost be Fats Waller. I love this evidence that the later spareness of his playing was strictly a musical decision, not the result of lack of technique. Ben Webster is searching for himself here, and not coming up with much more than Coleman Hawkins. I like Lips Page’s spiky playing. And the band is a force of nature. 8. Three strong musicians playing “Tin Tin Deo.” The pianist sounds like John Hicks to me, but I have I feeling that’s going to just seem stupid when I find out who it really is. Nothing fancy here, but a masterful performance. I'll post the rest soon.

John Hardy Leadbelly Old Ironsides

Some amazing stuff, there, MG! Tonight: Sun Ra - Hours After (Black Saint) Gil Evans (Ampex promo) I've been listening to this amazing, mysterious album for over 30 years - my first copy was on 8-track tape. There are so many layers happening at the same time - it's like a Jackson Pollock painting. Beautiful.

Agree, I have a turntable with two tonearms and two cartriges, mono and stereo. And the mono cart is really great in tracking the mono records, it's such great in cancelling the noise and pops and clicks, that I saved a lot of money buying mono records graded far less then NM, go figure. I recently bought an Ortofon cartridge for my stereo, only to find that it wouldn't fit my headshell - it's kind of oddly shaped. So I bought an Ortofon headshell, and I'm going to get a mono cartridge for my old headshell. I'm looking forward to it.

According to the Lord discography, it looks like it was the 1985 Blue Note LP co-led by Jackie McLean - It's About Time.

The Great Jazz Trio - Direct From L.A. (East Wind) Using this direct-to-disc recording to test-drive my new Ortofon cartridge. It sounds pretty spectacular on my modest system.

Just corrected a couple of mistakes in the current list. Thom Keith is down for BFT #95(!) in February, 2012. King Ubu, I put you down for February, 2011, which was the next open month. If you would rather wait until March or April, let me know.

A 62-year-old bassist I play with sometimes ices his hands after every gig. Good technique helps. I've never had a problem with the saxophone, but about about two years ago I injured a hand while hiking - not a RSI. It rendered me unable to play piano for more than about half an hour without real pain. I just stopped taking piano gigs, of which I used to play a fair amount. Now I'm 98% recovered (it took a year and a half), but I'm so out of practice on piano that I can't stand the way I sound, so I still don't take piano gigs. I was never more than an adequate pianist, anyway, but it took a little getting used to realizing I'm not really a piano player at all any more. I'm not sure why my injury didn't affect my saxophoning, but I'm grateful. That would have been rough.

Thom and King Ubu are now on the list.

Stanley Turrentine - Stan "The Man" Turrentine (Time stereo) His first album. I like it, but I bet the mono sounds better.

That was my first thought. My second was that I always need more Napoleon Strickland, who plays on at least some of the album.

Spent some time with 1920s blues ladies today. I've probably mentioned some of these before. The first three were relatively lightweight: Leona Williams and Her Dixie Band - If Your Man Is Like My Man/That Teasin', Squeezin' Man of Mine (Columbia, 1923) The "Dixie Band" is one of my favorite bands from the 20s, the Original Memphis Five. Lena Wilson and Her Nubian Five - Memphis, Tennessee/He Used to Be Your Man But He's My Man Now (Perfect, 1923) This is an even more ridiculous pseudonym: the "Nubian Five" is also the very white Original Memphis Five. Rosa Henderson - Midnight Blues/Lizzie Miles - Cotton Belt Blues (Victor, 1923) A six-piece Fletcher Henderson group backs up Rosa. The last two were the real deal: Lillian Glinn - Doogin' Me Blues/Brown Skin Blues (Columbia, 1927) I love this record. Lillian Glinn has a tough, Texas voice (this was recorded in Dallas) and sings real blues, not watered-down vaudeville stuff like some of the above. And I always love hearing recordings, even just aural glimpses, of musicians who were around at the very beginnings of jazz in New Orleans. "Doggin'" has Octave "Oke" Gaspard on tuba - he was born in New Orleans in 1870 and was active during the "Genesis" years. He moved to Texas sometime during the 1920s. Clara Smith - Awful Moanin' Blues/I Never Miss the Sunshine (Columbia, 1923) Clara sounds great, in spite of Fletcher Henderson's stiff piano playing.

Very interesting BFT - enjoyed it very much. I hadn't thought about Rasul Siddik for awhile - I saw him years ago with the David Murray Octet and with the Threadgill Sextet. His track was maybe the biggest revelation for me. It's interesting to compare your own reactions before and after knowing who the musicians are. I thought track 15 was just goofy, but I'm intrigued to find out that it's Leroy Jenkins' violin. I'm going to have to give it another listen. Thanks again for putting this together.

I'm into my second year of 78 RPM obsession, and have found that there more 78 albums than I realized - both jazz and otherwise. The jazz albums seem to have been split between sessions designed for album release and reissues - either historical or collections of an artist's most popular sides. Actually, calling the latter kind of collection "reissue" is not always accurate - several Armstrong Hot Fives and Sevens were first issued in such albums. Here are a couple of early Columbia albums with great Jim Flora covers. I have the Kid Ory; it's an example of music that was intended for album release - this is the first release of the two sessions involved.

Dave "Fat Man" Williams - I Ate Up the Apple Tree (New Orleans) Wonderful album by the late Mr. Williams, who is something of a legend in New Orleans but probably unknown everywhere else. The heart of it is a live session from 1974, with English expatriate Clive Wilson on trumpet (it's his record label) and longtime Fats Domino saxist Clarence Ford, who plays some sweet clarinet. It falls stylistically somewhere between R & B and traditional jazz - not that those labels mean much in NOLA.

I know (or I think I know) from our discussions that you view music as a largely social phenomenon, and your post here seems to confirm this. That's one way to look at it. I would suggest that musicians who play music that doesn't seem to adequately meet larger social needs are simply playing the music they need to play for themselves. That's not to say that they don't want people to listen, to dance, to smooch, whatever - but that their music is a personal expression, a personal need. The music of the boppers was, at least partly, an artistic expression rather than a music created to meet the needs of society at large. Of course, it reflected what was going on in society at the time, as well. There's always going to be music for the masses, and there are always going to musicians whose music is for a smaller audience. I'm glad that, 60 years later, I can listen to both Roy Milton and Charlie Parker. And today, I'm grateful for both Cecil Taylor and the Treme Brass Band. I'm not totally satisfied that I'm expressing myself clearly, but there you go.

I was excited to find a Lucky Thompson CD I was not familiar with - Soul's Nite Out on the Spanish Ensayo label. A little research shows that it's the same session as Nessa's Body and Soul, which has been on my list for my next Nessa order. So sorry, Chuck. But I will be placing an order for some other stuff soon.