jeffcrom

Reminded by the valve/slide trombone thread: Brad Gowans and His New York Nine (10" RCA Victor). 1946 recordings, but all but two were unissued until this 1954 ten-incher (in a nice gatefold cover.) It's excellent music - somewhere between small-band swing and Condonesque dixieland, with Billy Butterfield, Joe Bushkin, and Dave Tough, among others. (It was Tough's last record date.) It sounds very fresh 64 years later.

I went back to the 78s tonight, spurred by the fact that I suddenly remembered that I had a Xeroxed Big Bill Broonzy discography in my file cabinet. So I played my Big Bill 78s: Louise, Louise/Let Me Be Your Winder (Conqueror) - This record has the original Conqueror sleeve, but it's so worn that the surface noise is at least as loud as the music. But I love this record for non-musical reasons - its history. Someone bought this record in 1937 or '38 and just loved it. They played it over and over, even though they couldn't afford to change the needle on their phonograph very often. I'm proud to have it now, and I hope the next owner loves it just as much. I Feel So Good/Tell Me Baby (Columbia) - I had thought that the trumpet on "Tell Me Baby" must be the great Punch Miller, and it's nice to have it confirmed. Cell No. 13 Blue/You Got the Best Go (Columbia) - Pianist Big Maceo, from the south side of Atlanta, adds a tough edge to this 1945 record.

I've followed this thread and felt like I should stay out of it, but may I offer this: The music of Africa did not survive the Middle Passage, but African attitudes/approaches to making music did.

In the last few days I've spun too many gospel 78s to post here, but it was back to jazz today: Andy Kirk: Mellow Bit of Rhythm/In My Wildest Dream (Decca) - "Mellow Bit" is a nice Mary Lou Williams chart; the other side is okay until Pha Terrell enters with his vocal. Andy Kirk: Hey Lawdy Mama/McGhee Special (Decca) - McGhee already had it going on in 1942. Howard McGhee: McGhee Special/McGhee Jumps (Modern Music) - This is an even better version, from 1946 or so. The flip side has solos by McGhee, Vic Dickenson, and (I think) Teddy Edwards. This is a great little record. Woody Herman: Four Others/Sorry 'Bout the Whole Darn Thing (Mars) - "Others" is Jimmy Giuffre's chart featuring the trombone section: Kai Winding, Urbie Green, Frank Rehak, and Vern Friley. And some R & B to end with: Roy Brown: Rockin' at Midnight/Judgement Day Blues (DeLuxe) - The original owner liked side one of this record a lot more than side two; side one is pretty noisy. Good music, though.

Sun Ra - The Sound Mirror (El Saturn)

Ratzo Harris Mousey Alexander Squirrel Ashcraft

Give it a try. I can hear it, and I'm an oldie! After 28 years in front of band students and 30 years of gigs, I don't want to be reminded of the frequency range I've lost - I'm all too aware.

Rev. James Cleveland and the Houston Mass Choir - For the Prize (Savoy)

I'm not doing this one. It would just depress me.

Johnny Hodges/Wild Bill Davis - Wings and Things (Verve). One of the better Hodges/Davis albums, in my opinion - recorded by Van Gelder in 1965. It's got Richard Davis on bass and Grant Green; Hank Jones replaces Davis on several tracks.

Back to Jazz with a capital J: Edmond Hall with the Ralph Sutton Quartet at Club Hangover (Storyville)

After a stressful week, I'm blowing it out with some old 12" club singles/EPs: Fela - Shuffering and Shmiling (Celluloid) Amazing. Jamaaladeen Tacuma and Cosmetic - Put It On/Get Ready (Gramavision) Hasn't held up too well - really trendy early 80s dance music. Oliver Lake & Jump Up - Sun People/Don't Go Crazy (Gramavision) Nice reggae-flavored funk. Defunkt - Razor's Edge/Stranglin' Me With Your Love (Hannibal) With all due honor and respect to the J.B.s, P-Funk, the Meters, etc., Joseph Bowie's Defunkt in its prime has got to be in the running for the title of the funkiest band of all time. They featured twin guitars (usually Vernon Reid, Kelvyn Bell, Richard Martin in various pairings) that were downright menacing. Bassist Kim Clarke and various drummers put down complex, syncopated funk. And Joe Bowie improvised some pretty out-there solos on top of it all. Brother Lester Bowie is on this one, and plays beautifully.

I disagree that this is "nothing great." The Hampton set is primo - the best tracks rank with the best jazz of the period. And I think the Pee Wee is really good later Russell.

Brookmeyer plays a valve trombone. They were common in the late 19th century, less so in the 20th. It's shaped like a trombone and has the same internal characteristics - the shape of the bore is that of a trombone. The bass trumpet looks more like a flugelhorn on steroids - no long piece of tubing sticking out at the front. The shape of the bore is different, although I don't know the details on that.

Thanks to all for the encouraging words. I'm already starting to focus on the positive side - like not getting up at 5:30 AM. After 28 years of teaching I'm still not used to that.

I hope you let it Rep on your birthday.

I've been teaching band in the same metro Atlanta school system for 28 years; I started out as a high school band director, but have been teaching fourth and fifth graders for many years now. Yesterday our superintendent announced that, as a budget-cutting measure, band and orchestra would no longer be offered in elementary school. I know that in many places band and orchestra doesn't start until middle school anyway, but I always prided myself on working for a school system that was more enlightened. For me this probably means early retirement, with some work to build up a clientele of private students to make up some income. I should be fine financially. What I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around is seeing a program I've devoted so many years to just disappear. And what's more distressing is the direction the school system is headed. Programs and personnel are being slashed right and left. Next year class sizes will start at what has been the maximum class size in the past. That's where they'll start - most will go up from there. This is happening all over the state - property taxes partially fund the schools, and property values are way down. And the state's contribution to each system has been drastically cut - although the state is still planning to build the College Football Hall of Fame. I guess being ranked 47th in education (according to one ranking) isn't good enough for Georgia - we're shooting for #50! Watch out, Mississippi! I'd better go ahead and get that Hank Mobley Mosaic set before May 31; it'll be my last one for awhile. Thanks for letting me vent.

Back on the Scene from the Bennie Green Select.

Happy Birthday. My 40s were way better than my 30s - hope it's the same for you.

Just went through this entire thread for the first time, since I'm in the throes of a Ra fixation right now. I'm not going to count my Sun Ra LPs and CDs, but I have a lot. I do have these original Saturn (or Thoth) LPs: The Night of the Purple Moon - Quartet session from 1970 Somewhere Over the Rainbow - Live in Bloomington, Indiana, 1977 Taking a Chance on Chances - Live at the Jazz Showcase, Chicago, 1977 The Soul Vibrations of Man - More from the Jazz Showcase, 1977 Media Dreams - Quartet live in Italy, 1978 The Sound Mirror - More from the Italian quartet tour/1978 NYC studio Oblique Parallax - Jazz Center, Detroit, 1981/82 A Fireside Chat With Lucifer - NYC studio recordings, 1982. One of the all-time great Ra albums, in my opinion. Stars That Shine Darkly I/Hiroshima - Side one is the 1983 all-star group with Don Cherry, Lester Bowie, Archie Shepp, etc. Side two is an organ solo recorded at the Fox Theater in Atlanta, 1984 or '85 Stars That Shine Darkly I/II - A Saturn "hybrid." Ra would sometimes repress side one of an album with side two of another album. In this case, the hybrid made more sense than the original pairings, which split "Stars That Shine Darkly" over two albums. Only one of these (Purple Moon) has a printed cover and label. Others have blank covers, covers with Xeroxed papers glued to them, blank labels, penciled labels, and various combinations of the above. The Robert Campbell/Chris Trent discography The Earthly Recordings of Sun Ra has been invaluable to me in figuring out the details of what I have.

Earlier: Sun Ra - Hiroshima (Saturn) A solo recorded on the amazing theater organ of Atlanta's Fox Theater. Now: Sun Ra - The Sound Mirror (Saturn) One side from the great 1978 Italian quartet tour, one side of declamation with accompaniment.

My current short-term musical obsessions seem to be Sun Ra, New Orleans music, and gospel. I indulged the latter today with these, some of which I've mentioned here before: The Caravans - Tell Him What You Want/Wait For Me (States) Great mid-50s Chicago gospel with Albertina Walker Dixie Humming Birds (sic) - In the Storm Too Long/Every Knee Surely Must Bow (Apollo) They don't sound like themselves on this early record - more like the Southern Sons or an older group like that. Dixie Humming Birds - Christians Automobile/Stop By Here (Peacock) This is more like their familiar style - it rocks. Angelic Gospel Singers - Jesus Paid It All/I Want to See Him (Gotham) An early fifites recording from an all-female group that is still around and recording. Rev. B. C. Campbell and Congregation - Jesus Was Great (sermon)/Let Me Go Back (song) (Apollo) I like this one a lot. I think Rev. Campbell was from Texas. His sermon fragment here may not make a lot of sense, but it has a lot of energy.

I have an apparently legit CD of this - on British CBS, if I remember correctly (I'm at work right now and can't check). That doesn't mean it's print now, but it has been reissued.

Nice!

The Dixie Hummingbirds - We Love You Like a Rock (Peacock). An effort to make the Birds "happening" a la 1973. Some of it seems kind of corny 37 years later, but the best tracks are excellent. And Stevie Wonder plays on "Jesus Children," which he wrote.