jeffcrom

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....

I like it. Burton and his rhythm section sound good - more straight-ahead than usual. Grappelli sounds fantastic - some of the best playing I've heard by him (although there are tons that I haven't heard).

Gary Burton & Stephane Grappelli - Paris Encounter (Atlantic mono promo)

Fritz Kreisler on one-sided Victor Red Seals: Dvorak: Humoresque (12" - 1910) Kreisler: Caprice Viennois (12" - 1910) Handel: Largo (12" - 1914) Tchaikowsky: Chanson sans Paroles (10" - 1916) Pretty lightweight stuff, for the most part, but Kreisler's playing is just gorgeous.

Kaiser Wilhelm Kaiser Marshall Marshall Royal

HBBB!

Finally got some time to listen. Here's the first half: 1. The old blues-with-a-bridge. This is very well done – tasty without being particularly original. It’s good, but could be almost anyone. 2. Wow! This, on the other hand, is tasty and very original. I like the band, I like the piece, I like the space, I like the interaction. Very nice, compact trumpet sound – is this a cornet? Two thumbs up, plus my big toes. 3. Another winner. My first thought was Perry Robinson, but the sound is a little fuller than Robinson’s. I’m going to make the somewhat ridiculous statement that it’s either Perry Robinson or someone I’m not familiar with. I love the moody atmosphere here. 4. Great! Don’t have any idea who it is, but the conception and playing are excellent. The trumpeter has listened to Lester Bowie. 5. More interesting music I’ve never heard. Some fine bass playing, but once again I have no idea who it is. 6. Ditto the first sentence above. This kind of bass-less trio is hard to make work, but these guys do a nice job. I like the drumming – solid and loose at the same time. I have a feeling that I’m going to kick myself when I find out who the tenor player is. 7. I’m not even sure how many people are playing here. It’s well-done, but kind of episodic – a bunch of parts that don’t really hang together very well, in my opinion. 8. To be honest, my comments about track 1 also apply here. It’s a solid group of musicians whom I don’t recognize, playing competently in an established style. So why do I find this track so much more interesting than track 1? It could be that this area – a Coltrane-esque minor blues – has not been quite as thoroughly mined as the shuffle blues of the earlier track. Or it could be just personal taste. In any case, I like this. 9. The piano solo is fabulous – thoughtful, moving, and spacey. The whole track is touching; good singer, even if this kind of very “clean” jazz singing doesn’t usually get to me. Once again, no idea who anyone is. Although I'm sure you can tell I like some tracks more than others, I'm kind of amazed that there's nothing I don't like here (although track 7 comes closest). Part 2 will follow soon.

Which is why I'll never buy another recording with TS Monk on it. He has no way to know absolutely that his father wrote that piece but Sonny's estate doesn't sue him so he gets away with stealing a piece published by Sonny Clark. That's just not right. Well, TS found the manuscript among his father's papers. That's a level of evidence I'm willing to accept. According to Robin Kelley's Monk biography, Monk knew Clark was down on his luck and just gave him the tune. My memory failed me on this - Kelley implies that Clark did steal the tune, and that Monk didn't want to make an issue of it.

George Lewis - Oh, Didn't He Ramble (Verve mono) One way to "read" the George Lewis story is through the many trumpet players who worked with him. Kid Howard played with him off and on from the 40s to the 60s, sometimes brilliantly, sometimes less so. Kid Shots Madison made his best records with Lewis. I really like the recordings from the 1960s with Jack Willis, who was practically a bebopper when compared to Lewis. George's favorite trumpeter was the rough-and-ready Elmer Talbert, who died young in the early 1950s. I think my favorite George Lewis trumpeter is Percy Humphrey, who replaced Talbert, but was unable to tour extensively due to his insurance business in New Orleans. Humphrey played a driving, exciting lead style which was almost totally pre-Armstrong in conception. This 1958 album has Alvin Alcorn, who sounds great here. He has a beautiful sound, and kind of floats over the beat rather than swinging hard. George Lewis was one of those musicians who probably made too many records; this couldn't be called his best, but it's still beautiful.

As far as I know, Lorenzo Tio didn't visit NYC until 1923, when he gigged and recorded with A. J. Piron's New Orleans Orchestra. (Great records, by the way.) Ed Hall was a country boy (from Reserve, Louisiana) and didn't even make it to New Orleans until 1919.

I don't know the specific account you're referring to, but the Creole Band, with George Baquet on clarinet, played New York as early as 1915. A quick glance at Lawrence Gushee's book about the band, Pioneers of Jazz, doesn't reveal any incident like you describe, but all I have time for now is a quick glance. The band certainly turned heads (and ears) all over the country on the vaudeville circuit.

Glad to hear it!

Acoustic Victor Red Seal classical vocal 78s are pretty common; instrumental records less so. But I like them when I can find them - the sound is really good for the time, which makes them the best way to at least get a glimpse of some of the great performers of that era. Today it was piano time, with a bunch of one-sided Red Seals: Olga Samaroff - Moszkowski: Sparks, Op. 36, No. 6 (10" - 1921) Vladimir de Pachmann - Chopin: Mazurka in F Sharp Minor, Op. 59, No. 3 (10" - 1912) Alfred Cortot - Chopin: Berceuse, Op. 57 (12" - 1920) Alfred Cortot - Liszt: Caprice Poetic (12" - 1919) Alfred Cortot - Weber: Invitation to the Waltz, Op. 65) (12" - 1923) All beautifully played.

Lee Lorenz George Booth Roz Chast

A bunch of Texas soul/blues 45s by the great Johnny Copeland: Down on Bending Knees/Just One More Time (Golden Eagle) Tryin' to Reach My Goal/If Love Is Your Friend (Atlantic) Hear What I Said/Please Let Me Know (Allboy) You're Gonna Reap Just What You Sow/Wake Up, Little Susie (Wand) Ain't Nobody's Business/Year Round Blues (Bragg) If You're Looking For a Fool (Wet Soul promo) Every Dog's Got His Day/Wizard of Art (Kent) There's a Blessing/May the Best Man Win (Golden Eagle) Just what I needed....