jeffcrom

Clifford, Dan, and relyles - your magazines were mailed today. Fer Urbina's will go out tomorrow or the next day. RJ, I need your address. Everyone else, I'll keep the remaining issues for a few days more, so speak up soon if you want them.

Joseph Orange Fiona Apple Peaches & Herb

Dave Tarras - Freilach in Hi-Fi (Period)

. I'd say that the Chicago guys (and those associated with them) were playing small-band jazz as they felt it, not looking back to New Orleans. In practice, the rhythm sections were closer to what we would call swing style; the ensembles were loose (no arrangements!), and they definitely liked four beats to the bar. The West Coast bands tried to stay "truer" to the New Orleans gospel, somewhat naively, in my opinion. That's not to say that they didn't create some good music (I kind of like Turk Murphy, for example), but they were sometimes pointlessly archaic. A lot of Dixieland bands who think they sound like New Orleans bands really sound like their West Coast "echoes." The New Orleans musicians who recorded starting in the 1940s - that's a whole 'nother thing. I'm fascinated by how the ensemble style of the New Orleans recordings from the forties, fifties, and early sixties differs so much from the "classic" New Orleans style of 1920s records by King Oliver, Jelly Roll Morton, etc. In those early records, the instrumental roles are pretty clearly defined - the trumpet (or cornet) played the lead; if there was a second trumpet, it harmonized with the first; the clarinet played high countermelodies and bridged the gaps between the trumpet phrases; the trombone played spare, quasi-bass countermelodies. In the "revival" recordings, there is a much more complex and subtle sharing of roles. At the beginning and end of a piece, the trumpet usually has the lead, but otherwise, any one of the front-line instruments can be playing a first, second, or third part. And they change roles spontaneously between choruses. It's really amazing, and in my opinion demonstrates as well as any other body of recordings how jazz can be populist music and art at the same time. You can really hear this in the long "Midnight Blues" from the Bunk Johnson album you got. And there's an album from the 60's that is on G.H.B. - Kid Howard at the San Jacinto Hall - that just kills me. There's hardly a solo on the entire record - it's all ensemble, and almost every chorus has a different relationship of lead, second and third parts among the trumpet, clarinet, and trombone. And you know nobody talked about it beforehand - they just played.

More work on the music room, to the accompaniment of big bands. First, Jimmie Lunceford, in reverse chronological order: The "Jimmies"/I Need a Lift (Majestic, 1946) Back Door Stuff, parts 1 & 2 (Decca, 1944) Omer Simeon on clarinet! I'm Gonna Move to the Outskirts of Town, parts 1 & 2 (Decca, 1942) Blues in the Night, parts 1 & 2 (Decca, 1941) The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down/I'll See You in My Dreams (Decca, 1937) Then Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra: No Name Jive, parts 1 & 2 (Decca, 1940) Pretty good, swinging record from a band that wasn't considered that hip at the time. Memories of You/If I Love Again (Decca) A reissue of two trumpet features; side one, from 1937, is arranged and played by the now-forgotten Sonny Dunham; the 1946 flip features Bobby Hackett. I feel bad that we didn't get into the 78s when you visited, but my music room was so cluttered that it would have been tough. Now there's actually room for a couple of people to sit and listen.

A bunch of gospel and R & B as I clean/reorganize: The Caravans - Tell Him What You Want/Wait for Me (States, 1954) The Famous Ward Singers - Anywhere in Glory/Hold Back the Tears (Savoy, 1954) The Famous Ward Singers - I'm Climbing Higher and Higher/God's Amazing Love (Savoy, 1955) Ray Abrams - Tami's Blues/Sandy (Sittin' In With, 1948) Allegedly with Jay McShann on piano, and it sounds like him on the first side. Fats Domino - So Long/When My Dreamboat Comes Home (Imperial, 1955/56) Paula Watson - A Little Bird Told Me/Stick By Me Baby (Supreme, 1948) Bumps Myers Sextet - Memphis Hop/Forty-Nine-Fifty (Selective) Joe Morris Orch. with Al Savage - Just Your Way Baby/I Had a Notion (Herald, 1953) Tab Smith - On the Sunnyside of the Street/Darling, You're All I Need (Hub, 1945) Tab Smith - Boogie Joogie/Hands Across the Table (United, 1951) Tab Smith - Jumptime/Strange (United promo, 1951) Joe Houston - Atom Bomb/Windy City Hop (Imperial, 1952 Willis "Gator Tail" Jackson - Rock! Rock!! Rock!!!/Here in My Heart (Atlantic, 1952) The second side is more exotica than R & B, with Gladys Bruce's wordless vocal. Dinah Washington - My Voot is Really Vout/Blues for a Day (Apollo, 1945) Nice solos by Lucky Thompson, Milt Jackson, and Charles Mingus. Joe Liggins and His Honeydrippers - Got a Right to Cry/Blue Moods (Exclusive, 1945) Joe Liggins and His Honeydrippers - Think of Me/Little Willie (Exclusive, 1945) Side two is a feature for Little Willie Jackson on bari sax. Joe Liggins and His Honeydrippers - Rhythm in the Barnyard, parts 1 & 2 (Specialty, 1950) Chuck Willis - I've Been Treated Wrong Too Long/Don't Deceive Me (Okeh, 1952) Chuck Willis - Change My Mind/Hy Heart's Been Broken Again (Okeh, 1954) This one has nice solos by Fred Jackson and Mickey Baker.

I found four more issues - they're the last four in the list.

Slide Hampton Hampton Hawes Lord Haw-Haw

Send me your address and it's yours. They'll go out next week.

The Complete Ben Webster on EmArcy includes a fabulous 1951 session with the Johnny Otis Orchestra. Webster was featured on three takes of "Stardust," the third of which was released as the master. But they're all fabulous. On take one, Ben doesn't even touch the melody; he's improvising from the get-go. The brief vibes interlude is pretty chaotic, though - the rhythm section doesn't all agree on the chords. On the second take, Ben is closer to the melody, but it's pretty intense saxophone playing, and the interlude is more together. This might be my favorite take. On the master, Ben is much more conservative until after the short vibes solo; then he wails - and the cadenza at the end is longer than on the other takes. I'm really glad we have all three takes of this.

Clifford has asked for a stack; plenty left.

Well, I don't really know anything about it, except that it was issued in 1955, and that makes it kind of early for Booker to be on piano. Not impossible, mind you, but not really likely - he would have been 15 at the time. Of course, he had recorded his first single by then - Doing the Hambone/Thinking About My Baby for Imperial, but it's kind of "unformed" - not quite his mature style. He was more active in the studios by 1958. Sounds like a great 78 listening session.

I'm in the midst of major cleaning/reorganizing of my music room. I decided that, out of the boxes of Cadence magazines I had, I could live without all but half a dozen issues. I'd rather put them into the hands of folks who might enjoy them than throw them out, so I'm giving them away for the price of postage. For those who don't know, Cadence features interviews with (mostly jazz) musicians and tons of record/CD reviews. Here's the deal: 1. Take a look at the list below; post what you want in this thread. 2. Send me a PM with your address and the list of what you want. 3. I'll send you the magazines at my convenience - probably within a week. 4. When you get the package, note the postage and my return address. Send me a check for the amount of the postage. 5. If you don't reimburse me for the postage in a timely manner, I will harass and embarrass you. In about a week I will throw out any that are left. Condition ranges from mint to okay - all are in one piece and readable. There are to be no complaints about bent corners or barbecue sauce stains. January 1981 – Loek Dikker/Woody Shaw/George Morrow August 1983 – Nadi Qamar/The Fringe/Larry Gelb February 1985 – Betty Carter/Valery Ponomarev March 1986 – Kim Parker/Pepper Adams/Kansas Fields October 1986 – Roy Porter/Randy Brecker/Anthony Davis November 1989 – Seldon Powell/Rodney Richardson August 1990 – Houston Person/Irv Kluger April 1994 – Teddy Edwards/Willem Beuker, pt. 2 February 1998 – Steve Swell/Gerry Hemingway June 1998 – Buster Williams/David Amram August 1998 – Gordon Brisker/Marzette Watts September 1998 – Carlos Ward/Floyd Standifer October 1998 – Ivo Perelman/Jack Lesberg December 1998 – Tyrone Hill Marshall Allen/Matthew Shipp February 1999 – Peter Brotzmann/Jeff Williams March 1999 – Attila Zoller/Tom Varner May 1999 – Mickey Roker/Mat Maneri June 1999 – Shorty Rogers & Bud Shank/ Gregg Bendian July 1999 – Alan Silva/Michael Weiss August 1999 – Michael Weiss pt. 2/James Emery September 1999 – Dave Liebman/Jason Hwang November 1999 – Ornette Coleman/Gino Robair December 1999 – Roy Campbell/Burton Greene January 2000 – Gary Burton pt. 1/1999 Record Poll February 2000 – Marcus Belgrave/Gary Burton pt. 2 May 2000 – Greg Osby/Allen Tinney September 2000 – Charlie Kohlhase/Bobby Watson October 2000 – Don Byron November 2000 – Joe Fonda/Joe McPhee January 2001 – Lester Bowie/2000 Record Poll February 2001 – Randy Weston, pt. 1/Johannes Bauer March 2001 – Bob Brookmeyer/Randy Weston, pt. 2 April 2001 – Cedar Walton/Charles Gayle May 2001 – Fred Hersch pt. 1 June 2001 – Hans Koch/Fred Hersch pt.2 July 2001 – Dominic Duval August 2001 – Kevin Norton/Jon Raskin September 2001 - Carlos Zingaro/Gary Peacock pt. 1 October 2001 – Gary Peacock pt. 2/Larry Ochs November 2001 – Pierre Favre/Andre Jaume February 2002 – Mats Gustafsson/Hugh Ragin March 2002 – Stefon Harris/Fred van Hove April 2002 – Jay Rosen/Chris Barber August 2002 – Gunter Hampel/Richard Tabnik December 2002 – Henry Threadgill/Brenda Bufalino/Biggi Vinkeloe January 2003 – Eric Person/Josh Roseman/2002 Record Poll March 2003 – Billy Bauer/Rudiger Carl April 2003 – Don Cherry/Lauren Newton May 2003 – Marian McPartland/Guerino Mazzola June 2003 – Marco Eneidi/Idris Ackamoor July 2003 – Michele Rosewoman/Rob Reddy September 2003 – Joseph Bowie/Scott Fields October 2003 – Sal Mosca/Joe Morris November 2003 – Malachi Thompson/Matt Turner December 2003 – Kidd Jordan/Jim Hartog January 2004 – Ahmed Abdullah/Oliver Johnson March 2003 – Hamid Drake/Pate Malinverni April 2004 – Alvin Fielder pt. 1/Ruth Naomi Floyd May 2004 – Paul Dunmall/Alvin Fielder pt. 2 July 2004 – Howard Johnson/Alex von Schlippenbach September 2004 – Henry Grimes/Issi Rozen November 2004 – Eddie Higgins pt. 1/Derek Bailey January 2005 – Julian Priester/2004 Record Poll February 2005 – Barry Altschul/Andy Middleton March 2005 – Peter Kowald/Dave Pietro April 2005 – Don Friedman/Fred Hess February 2006 - Darrell Katz/Ignacio Berroa October 2006 - Grachan Moncur III/Kerry Politzer November 2006 - Bert Wilson/Jimmie Smith (the drummer) January 2007 - Jack Sheldon/2006 Record Poll

First: Sonny Rollins - The Sound of Sonny, from the Freelance Years box set. That album was so great that it made me want to hear a Coltrane quartet album from around the same time. The closest was Traneing In from two months later, from the big red Prestige box set. The Rollins was the better album, but those with ears to hear probably knew that Coltrane was destined for great things.

MG traveled thousands of miles and snatched a couple of these right out from under my nose. I hate him so much.... This afternoon I've been assembling Ikea bookcases to the accompaniment of: Jimmy Smith - Livin' It up (Verve) Inspired by another thread. This is not the Jimmy Smith album I'd take to a desert island, but it's a lot of fun. Leo Parker - Rollin' With Leo (BN rainbow) A gift from a friend - thanks, Paul. Rev. James Moore - Live (Malaco) An MG recommendation. Now I've got to rearrange my overcrowded music room and see where everything is going to fit.

Don't know about that, but I have visited all three of Robert Johnson's graves in Mississippi.

Okay, I can't quite just let this go unanswered. Yes, Robert Johnson seems to have listened to lots of blues records carefully, and learned their lessons well. When I listen to Kokomo Arnold, Lonnie Johnson, and especially Leroy Carr, I hear lots of stuff Robert Johnson got from them. Yes, RJ learned a lot from records. But it's just as clear to me that a lot of his music reflected what was in the air in Mississippi at the time. The Library of Congress recordings made by Son House, Muddy Waters and others a few years after Johnson's death touch on some of the same musical territory. And in the end, Robert Johnson's achievements surpass his influences. I have no interest in arguing about whether Johnson was the "greatest" or "most important" bluesman of all time, or of his time, or whatever. To me he, was like Bach - he represents the highest peak of a musical style that was already becoming unfashionable; at the same time, his music pointed toward the future and the next steps in the music's evolution. Saying that Robert Johnson learned blues from records is like saying Bach learned music by copying Vivaldi - in both cases, it's kinda true, but ultimately not really important. His music, like J.S.B.'s, far transcended its influences.

Okay, I'm much more of a curmudgeon with the second half. Not that there was anything I thought was terrible, although I kind of hated track 17 by the end. Several tracks were good, but (in my opinion) not outstanding - nothing I would need to hear again. Other tracks had potential, but let me down in some way. There were two that I really liked, as you'll see. 10. This and track 16 were by far my favorite from the second half. This is excellent music – no reservations of any kind on my part. Very nice drum solo – those can be so dull, but this was well-constructed. Is that Pharoah Sanders on tenor? 11. I kept waiting for something to happen, but it never really did. This sounded like a well-played five-minute introduction to something that never came. Don’t have any idea what or who it is, except that the tenor player has George Adams’ sound. Whoever it is doesn’t really do enough to be identified, though. 12. The set drummer sounds like Ed Blackwell, but it’s probably not. I like the tenor player, but I would like him more if he played through the eight-bar periods of the tune more. He builds up a good head of steam, but it’s still in eight-measure sections. Excellent drummer, Blackwell or not. 13. Excellent bass playing and piano solo. The singer, whom I’m guessing is one of the instrumentalists, is very enjoyable – he doesn’t try to do too much, or go beyond his limits. Good without being really memorable. 14. Much more driving and exciting than track 13, but some of the same comments apply. It’s good, but not very individual except for the vocal. 15. This could have been really good, but I ended up not liking it very much. The bari player has a good sound and good command of the instrument, but his improvisation didn’t do anything for me – I found it pat and predictable. 16. This could have been really bad, but I liked it a lot. Jazz-with-poetry is always dangerous, but this worked due to the strength of the poem, the vocal delivery, and the musical backing. I did think that the singer went a little higher than his vocal range near the end. “Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child” is one of the most powerful melodies in the history of music, in my opinion. 17. Okay, I started out liking this one. Good players, good ensemble concept, good singer…. But the quasi-mystical lyrics gave me a real pain. I liked the singer at first, but after about five minutes I wanted to hit her with the Juju stick we picked up on the way. And give the horn players some space – they were excellent with their fills; how about some solos? 18. I love the tenor player’s sound and approach – I wrote in my notes that he has an “old, wise sound.” But the electronics get more and more intrusive as the piece goes on – the organic sound is spoiled. This one could have been a contender. Is it Charles Lloyd, by any chance? Thanks for the BFT, Thom. I obviously liked some parts better than others, but there are several tracks I'm really looking forward to finding out more about.

I bought a CD player as soon as they became affordable - after the first wave of audiophiles bought theirs. I loved CDs right away, but in the early days it was hard to find anything I wanted to buy. The first four I remember were Beethoven's Emperor Concerto by Rudolf Serkin and the Boston S.O. on Telarc, that great Telarc Cleveland Symphonic Winds album with the two Holst Suites for Band, and Japanese issues of Blakey's Moanin' and Stan Getz's Sweet Rain. I still have all of those discs. And I think I've told this story elsewhere, but I kept that first CD player until it burned a hole (!) in disc 2 of my Complete Charlie Parker on Verve set - the motor died, but the laser beam didn't. Polygram sent me a new disc - it seems unlikely that I would get that kind of customer service today.

More Victor Red Seals; this time it's violinist Mischa Elman, recorded with beautiful presence, considering the techniques of the time. Drigo - Serenade (10" - 1905) Beethoven - Minuet in G (10" - 1910) Wagner - Preislied from Die Meistersinger (12" - 1910) Schumann - Vogel als Prophet (10" - 1914) Drdla - Souvenir (10" - 1917) Saenger - Scotch Pastorale, Op. 130, No. 2 (10" - 1919)

Florida Mass Choir - Be Encouraged (Savoy)

Just got back from a concert at Atlanta's Eyedrum - a show that I only found out about at 5:00 PM today. Urs Leimgruber, Charlotte Hug, and Jacques Demierre played an hour of excellent free improvisation. Leimbruber was the only one of the three I was familiar with; he played only soprano, and got an amazing range of sound out of the horn. (As a saxophonist, I winced when he banged his metal mouthpiece cap against the keys and body of the instrument, though.) Demierre is an good pianist (and toy pianist), but the real surprise was violist Charlotte Hug, whom I had never even heard of. She used an even wider palette of sound than Leimgruber, using two bows at once at times, and employing the old Joe Venuti trick of detaching the hair of the bow, then inverting the bow around the instrument so that the hair activates all four strings at once. Unfortunately, there were less than a dozen people in the audience. Like I said, I only found out about the concert a few hours ago. But I'm glad I went.

Happy Birthday to a swingin' cat.

I wasn't aware of this album, but I've never forgiven myself for not picking up Eddie Bo's New Orleans Piano Riffs for DJs when I saw it in a stack of used LPs 20 years ago. I didn't quite get what it was, and money was tight - oh, well....