jeffcrom

Mad King Ludwig Beethoven Symphony Sid

I like Helm, too. Hope you enjoy the CDs.

A friend bluntly, but accurately, described me as "a moody fuck." I was in a dark mood today, but an hour and a half among the shellac was highly therapeutic. I covered a lot of bases, with some old favorites and some new discs. Hot Lips Page - If I Were You/Small Fry (Bluebird, 1938) Page plays and sings with more commitment than these lousy songs deserve. And Benny Waters has a short tenor solo on the first side. Hot Lips Page - Uncle Sam Blues/Paging Mr. Page (Savoy, 1944) The Changing Face of Harlem album uses a different take of "Uncle Sam Blues" - finding lesser-known takes is one of the small joys of 78s. Hot Lips Page - Let Me In/That's the One For Me (RCA Victor, 1951) Genial R & B, with some nice playing by Paul Quinichette. Sacasas and His Orchestra - Mambo/I Cherish a Memory (RCA Victor, 1946) Side one is nice Afro-Cuban - side two is weaker, as you might guess from the title. Illinois Jacquet - All of Me/Pastel (Mercury, 1951) Excellent, with Carl Perkins on piano. Illinois Jacquet - The Cool Rage/Lean Baby (Mercury, 1951) A delight, with Basie on organ. "Lean Baby" is apparently also a rare take. James Moody - Moody's Home/Serenade in Blue (Mercury, 1951) Not as good as he was by the end of the decade, but still very nice. Sensational Nightingales - The Lord Will Make a Way/To the End (Peacock, mid 50s) The more I hear by this group, the more I like them. Sensational Nightingales - Pressing On/View That Holy City (Peacock, mid 50s) "Holy City" is the old spiritual "I'm Going to Cross the River Jordan." I was surprised to learn from the label that Don Robey wrote that old song, which Blind Willie Johnson had recorded 30 years earlier. How 'bout that? Anyway, the Nightingales take it to a pretty interesting place - by the end, the lead singer is riffing about "no more discrimination, no segregation, no North, no South." Sons of Jehova (sic) - Teach Me Lord/High Cost of Living (Nashboro, 1957) I'd never heard of this group, but I found a review of this record in the October 7, 1957 Billboard. (Side one got a rating of 78, side two just 74.) They're rough and very soulful; "Teach Me Lord" has some nasty guitar. Lowell Fulson - Trouble Blues/I Want to See My Baby (Big Town, mid 40s, I think) "Trouble" is rougher and more down-home than I'm used to from Fulson. Very worn record, but nice. Lowell Fulson - I've Been Mistreated/Juke Box Shuffle (Swing Time, early 50s, I think) Another of the joys of 78s is the vibrancy and immediacy of the sound, even with surface noise. Okay, I feel better now.

Isn't that a great album?!?

Part the third: 11. Coltrane’s “Mr. Syms” played by a genial trio. Nothing wrong with it, except that it’s so genial. It’s pretty, but I can’t tell that the tune means much to these guys (or girls). Kind of a yawn for me. 12. I like it. Good, Ornette- and Rollins-influenced music. The tenor plays with enough edge to make it interesting. The bass player has kind of a Haden-esque sound, although it’s obviously not Charlie Haden. Gut strings? I’m not crazy about piano and string players singing/mumbling along with their solos (unless it’s Slam Stewart), but everything else was so good that I’ll forgive that. No idea who anyone is. 13. Nice quartet, with their own sound. Everybody’s good; the piece is good; the concept is good. The bass clarinetist has a beautiful sound, particularly in the high register. I’m looking forward to finding out more about this group. 14. Okay, I’m probably slamming some musicians I like on this one. “Spiritual Jazz” over a one- or two-chord vamp can be such an easy way out. Not to say that there’s not some incredible music in this style, but there’s much more lousy music that comes out of this approach. Nothing here got to me. The piano solo was kind of a mess – all over the place. And I’m probably going to cringe about saying that when I find out who it is. I like the drummer and conga player. But this isn’t anything I’m going to want to hear again. 15. This was too willfully odd for me to get much out of. I kept focusing on how the toms were almost, but not quite, tuned to fit the key of the song. The best thing about it was the very brief organ solo – whoever it was showed some talent. I think we were “supposed” to think this is early Sun Ra, but I’m pretty sure it’s not. Thanks for the BFT. I like most of it, and some of it I like very much. Looking forward to reading the rest of this thread now.

I'm in, and already have the music, of course.

When I was 12 and had just taken up the saxophone, my sweet mom got me my first jazz album, which I still love: Ya! Ya! by Budd Johnson on Argo. The inner sleeve had pictures of dozens of Argo jazz albums, and I spent hours poring over it, trying to figure out this jazz stuff. One of the albums pictured was the JUNK album, and I eventually figured out that it was some sort of joke. It took me years to track down a copy. It's a parody of a JATP - type concert. All I can say is that it's a mixed bag in terms of humor. Some of it is over-the-top slapstick, like "Morris Ferguson's" trumpet, which is speeded up, Chipmunk-style. The Brubeck parody is pretty deadly, and "Sol Desmond" makes me laugh out loud. A comic masterpiece it's not, but I spin it a couple of time a year, and I always laugh a few times. That ain't bad.

Well, I tripled the size of my calypso 78 collection today. As I said in a previous post, calypso 78s seem to be prized among collectors, so when they appear on Ebay, they quickly go out of my price range. I knew that to add to my calypso collection, I'd have to come across a stash or two on my own somewhere. I stumbled on six such records in a stack of 78s in an antique store today - on U.S., British, and Trinidanian labels. There's not a loser in the bunch: Lord Kitchener - Africa My Home/My Landlady (Melodisc) Mighty Spoiler - The Bed Bug/What the Scientist Say (Calypso) I haven't caught all the lyrics to these songs yet, and that's a lot of the fun of these records. I got most of "What the Scientist Say," though, and it's pretty bizarre/funny. King Flash and His Calypso Masters - Confusion Calypso/Black Bird (Monogram) Russell Henderson and His Orchestra featuring Syl Dopson on his Clarinet - Ju-C Jingle/In Ah Calabash (Sagomes) So now I know another calypso clarinetist. I like Syl, but he's not in the same league as Gregory Felix. King Radio (Norman Span) - Brown Skin Girl/Melody (Fitzroy Alexander) - McDonald Almanac (Sagomes) Mighty Spitfire - Post! Post!/Pounding Rice Fine (Sagomes) I told my wife that I was going to ask for my money back on this one, because "Pounding Rice Fine" seems to have very little to do with the processing of foodstuffs. From what I can tell, the Lord Kitchener record was recorded in London, all the others in Trinadad. They're all wonderful - this was a good day in the 78 world.

Part two; # 6-10: 6. Sounds like a European percussionist – or someone influenced by that skittery approach to free jazz drumming. It’s a real dialogue – the bassist’s entrance was a perfect response to what the drummer was doing at that time. But each of the three players is maintaining a certain amount of independence in his/her line – it’s like they’re all going in the same direction, but not always on the same path. I like this approach to free improvisation; it keeps things from getting either too predictable or too chaotic. The trombonist is very melodic, although someone not used to this kind of music might not hear it that way. Thumbs up on this one. 7. Hmmm…. Well, once we’re past the Rodrigo/Sketches of Spain introduction, I like this well enough. Nothing about it really gets to me strongly, except the flute player’s distinctive sound – on an instrument that it’s hard to have an individual sound on. Don’t know who it is. 8. This one drove me nuts for a little while – I knew the tenor player was someone with whom I was familiar, but I couldn’t place him at first. It’s Odean Pope, playing a tune he called “Prince Lasha” on another album. Since that other album also featured Lasha, there’s a chance that this trio recording (which I’ve never heard before) has a different title. Good, strong playing, with an awareness of all the jazz tradition, not just the Lincoln Center-approved parts. 9. Good stuff – a beautifully conceived and played tenor solo. Is it Joe McPhee? Whoever it is, it’s good. 10. A nice swinging, well-organized trumpet solo – an improvised rondo, in a way. There were 15 seconds I didn’t like – the bugle call passage. But I can forgive that – this is a nice piece of music. No idea who it is.

I'm with you on this.

Duke and Tina arrived today - thanks.

Back in October, Lazaro Vega posted that he was looking for the Jazz View CDs of Tadd Dameron's band with Fats Navarro at the Royal Roost. I found copies for him and for me. I figured that there would be some overlap between them and the Milestone CD Fats Navarro Featured With the Tadd Dameron Band. It turns out that the first ten tracks from the Milestone CD are also on the Jazz View CDs - that's all of the Milestone tracks except the three on which Kai Winding replaces Navarro. That leaves plenty of tracks on the two Jazz View CDs which aren't on the Milestone. The Jazz View tracks often have Symphony Sid's spoken introductions, which is cool, but the high end has been drastically rolled off to eliminate surface noise; this affects the sound very negatively. So the Milestone issue sounds better, even with surface noise. Anyway, they're all worth having, and I finally got around to making a little chart of which of the Milestone tracks are on which Jazz View CD. I tried to get the PDF just the right size to fit neatly into a CD booklet, but I got tired of fooling with it before I reached that point. If you download this chart and print it at 80 or 85%, it should fit pretty well. Dameron RR chart.pdf

Thad Jones/Pepper Adams Quintet - Mean What You Say (Milestone)

George Lewis was what he was - a simple musician whose style never changed. His early recordings have a freshness and directness that I like a lot. He probably recorded too much over the years - there's a sameness about many of the later recordings. But there are some good ones, too, like the Atlantic album. George Lewis Plays Hymns, mentioned by jazztrain, works so well because it's so straightforward and sincere. I agree with Greg M. that Bechet's "Blue Horizon" is a masterpiece. I can't follow him into Eddie Daniels appreciation, though. Daniels has amazing command of the clarinet, but his music leaves me cold.

I knew I would forget to mention one of my heroes. How could I have overlooked Jimmy Giuffre?

Cool - I didn't know he had a new one out. Thanks for the tip!

Any particular album recommendations? Damn. Okay.... I was going to use something from one of these albums on my next Blindfold Test. But this is more important. Try this for a readily available album: Delta Bound on Arbors. My favorite Evan C. album is probably going to be hard to find if you don't live in France. It's called Introduction: Live at the Meridien. I can't even tell for sure what the label is - Classic Jazz, maybe, or Jazz Traditions Project. But it's very cool - Evan plays standards, Ellington, and Ornette with a French guitar/bass/drums rhythm section. Same request here. All I have are four tracks with Billie Holiday & Bunny Berigan. Mostly Faz on Jazz Band is very good. Most of it is two mid-40s sessions from when he moved back to New Orleans. Otherwise look for the stuff he did with Bob Crosby. Yeah, Doreen's great. Not really in the first rank of New Orleans clarinetists, but not that far off, either. And I forgot to mention Ben Schenck, a New Orleans guy who just gets better and better. His band is the Panorama Jazz Band - they've got three albums, of which Come Out Swingin' is the best. They play traditional jazz, klezmer, calypso - all sorts of stuff.

15 divides so nicely into thirds, so here are my comments on the first five tracks. I like every track, and almost every moment of every track. I'll mention the one exception below. I don't recognize anyone except for one musician. 1. A wonderful version of Monk's "Skippy." Two excellent musicians, and I have a weakness for good stride piano. I love the contrary motion at the beginning of the piano solo, where the improvised melody ascends while the bass line is descending. The only thing I wasn't crazy about was the trumpet player's double- or triple-tonguing - that's a sound I've never much cared for in jazz. But a great performance, nonetheless. 2. This sounds like the heyday of free jazz - the 1960s. I like the fact that the soloists keep the theme in mind while they're improvising. No one who listens to this one carefully could say that the playing is just random. Are there two drummers? I didn't like the bass duet. The first bass solo was good, but once the second bassist entered it got ugly. And good jazz is never ugly - free jazz or not. Albert Ayler was alway beautiful, no matter how intense the music got. 3. Wow - is this Buell Neidlinger's tune "O.P?" I've always thought that was a great bass player's tune. Good performance, good solos, even if they aren't particularly distinguished. 4. Interesting performance - I love the pointillism. Again, the horn players aren't just blowing randomly; everything they play has a melodic point to make, even if the melodic language is pretty abstract. I'm looking forward to finding out more about this well-organized piece of music. 5. Sunny Murray on drums, I'm pretty sure, but I don't know what album this is from. Hard-core free music from the 60s again. It must have been a shock for a lot of folks back then, but it makes sense to me. I like this one a lot.

Jeez, I love the clarinet. Most of my favorites are from New Orleans, not surprisingly. I don't know that I can put them in any particular order. Sidney Bechet, Irving Fazola, Willie Humphrey, Harry Shields (not his brother Larry), Raymond Burke, Tim Laughlin, Evan Christopher, Ed Hall, Albert Nicholas, Alvin Batiste. I could elaborate on all of these, but I'll just say that Willie Humphrey improvised with a brilliance which was usually not recognized during his lifetime - he was just thought of as the the old guy who played with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. If you want to judge for yourself, his best single recital might be the Eureka Brass Band's Jazz at Preservation Hall album - Willie plays one amazing solo after another. and some non-New Orleanians: Benny Carter (It was a tragedy when he stopped playing clarinet), Pee Wee Russell, Frank Teschemacher, Lester Young, John Carter. And yes, of course - Benny G. and Artie S. You almost don't even have to say that. I'll go out on a limb and say that my favorite living jazz clarinetist is probably Evan Christopher. Most of the folks who have heard of him probably have dismissed him as a revivalist. He's more or less a traditionalist, but he's got a wider range than most folks realize, and he's an amazing improviser. And as far as I can tell from recordings, the great Irving Fazola had the most beautiful clarinet sound I've ever heard. And since I've been listening to lots of klezmer lately, I have to mention the great Dave Tarras and Naftule Brandwein. They ain't jazz, though.

Duke Ellington - Ellington Indigos (Columbia stereo) I don't know how many Ellington albums I have, but it's a lot. This is probably the least-played album among them, but it was just right for me tonight. I didn't even buy this one - it was an unexpected bonus with an Ebay purchase. It's supposed to be a representative sample of the music Ellington would play for a dance, circa 1957 - a collection of well-done pop songs, three by Ellington himself. Not Ellington's most profound album, but like I said - just right for tonight.

Okay - BFT update. Seeline is not going to be able to present a BFT for September, but Hot Ptah has his ready to go and has agreed to take September. So I moved everyone up a month, except myself. I moved Tom in RI up two months - since he hasn't presented before, I thought he should move ahead of me. I'll be contacting the other presenters individually to make sure they're all okay with this. If you're interested in participating in a future Blindfold Test as a listener or presenter, read the first post in this thread for info. And I promise an updated FAQ and Master List soon.

Joe Henderson/Woody Shaw - Jazz Patterns (Everest) Dubious provenance, but excellent music.

I was actually kind of "suspicious" of this one for years - I picked up Recollections, a solo album Brown made a decade later, first. And I was never very fond of Recollections, so I delayed getting the Solo Saxophone for far too long. It's really wonderful.

Marion Brown - Solo Saxophone (Sweet Earth) Beautiful.

Killer solo, Jim!