jeffcrom

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.

You recall it right.

Adams was the best thing to come out of Covington, Georgia. The tune is Billy Harper's "Thoroughbred." Thanks for the link.

Claude Thornhill - Dinner for Two (RCA Camden) A "mood music" collection; John Carisi, Brew Moore, Hal McKusick, and Herb Geller are on hand on various sessions, but there's not much jazz. It's what I was in the mood for, though.

Prince Lawsha - Firebirds Live at Monterey Jazz Festival Vol. III (Birdseye) It says "stereo" on the jacket, but my copy is mono.

Evangelist Alessie Barney - Searching (Randy's Spiritual) Sister Barney has a steely, intense voice on this album from 1970 or so. It's about the shortest 12" LP I've ever seen - just over 21 minutes.

Rev. Arthur Dave Sims of Mt. Moriah Baptist Church, Augusta, Georgia - The Shepherd and His Sheep (Nashboro) A 1968 Southern sermon.

Defunkt - Thermonuclear Sweat (Hannibal, 1982) Probably the best album by Joseph Bowie's funk band - some tough guitar by Vernon Reid.

So is it Sunny Murray?

Way to go, Allen - ruin a perfectly good myth with facts, reason, and evidence! But you do agree that they probably drove to Memphis in a car?

Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers - 'S Make It (Japanese Polygram/Limelight)

Dudu Pukwana DeDe Pierce Idi Amin Dada

I "knew" this, but have never articulated it to myself (or anyone else) this clearly. Great comment. I would guess that many folks here know the story of Willie Kizart's guitar sound on "Rocket 88" by Ike Turner/Jackie Brenston. The band drove from Clarksdale to Sun Studio in Memphis jammed into one car, with the equipment strapped to the top. Somewhere along the way a policeman decided that they looked suspicious and pulled them over; as they pulled onto the shoulder, the guitar amp fell off the roof, damaging the cone of the speaker. The cop decided that they were okay and sent them on. When they got to the studio, they made do with the broken amp - they "fixed" the cone with a piece of paper and rocked.

Tuts Washington Toots Hibbert Dr. Julius Hibbert

Go back further than that - to West African musicians putting beads on their kalimbas and gourds on their balafons to "dirty up" the sound.