jeffcrom

Thanks to all for participating in my Blindfold Test and for posting such interesting comments. Here's the first half of what you were listening to: 1. St. Louis Tickle (composed by Theron C. Bennett) - Ossman-Dudley Trio; recorded Jan. 24, 1906 for Victor. Vess Ossman - banjo; Audley Dudley - mandolin; Roy Butin or George Dudley - harp guitar Ragtime was the thing in 1906, and this is just a great example of string-band ragtime. It flows - almost swings. One of the reasons I picked this one was for the second strain, which is the "Funky Butt"/"Buddy Bolden's Blues" tune. Several of you guessed Ossman, and Harold Z caught the "Buddy Bolden's Blues" bit. I'm glad that most of you enjoyed this selection. My source for this and the next tune is a very interesting Archeophone CD called Stomp and Swerve: American Music Gets Hot. If you check it out, be warned - several selections have the kind of racist lyrics that were too common in the early 20th century. 2. Castle House Rag (composed by James Reese Europe) - Europe's Society Orchestra; recorded Feb. 10, 1914 for Victor. James Reese Europe - conductor; Buddy Gilmore - drums This is Reese's nervous, exciting New York take on ragtime. It's easy to imagine how this manic music attracted the attention of New Yorkers. Reese's 1919 recordings are somewhat more jazz-oriented, but his groundbreaking 1913-1914 Victors are hard to find. I've tracked down all but two waltzes. This one is also on Stomp and Swerve. 3. I Ain't Gonna Play No Second Fiddle (composed by Perry Bradford) - Perry Bradford's Jazz Phools; recorded Nov. 2, 1925 for Vocalion. Perry Bradford - vocal; Louis Armstrong - trumpet; Charlie Green - trombone; Buster Bailey - clarinet; Don Redman - alto sax; James P. Johnson - piano; Charlie Dixon - banjo; Kaiser Marshall - drums. The genius who changed jazz forever arrived in the 1920s. This Louis Armstrong solo has remained fairly obscure in relation to how great it is. Gunther Schuller transcribed it in Early Jazz - I thought some of you might know it from that. This hot little band was mostly derived from Fletcher Henderson's orchestra. Buster Bailey is fabulous here, too. My source is an Affinity 6-CD set, Louis Armstrong and the Blues Singers 1924-1930. I've found this set to be invaluable - it brings together all of Pops' vocal accompaniments from the 1920s. 4. Merry-Go-Round (composed by Duke Ellington) - Duke Ellington and His Famous Orchestra; recorded Feb. 15, 1933 for British Columbia. soloists: Cootie Williams - trumpet; Barney Bigard - clarinet; Lawrence Brown - trombone; Johnny Hodges - alto sax; Freddie Jenkins - trumpet; Harry Carney - baritone sax This has long been one of my favorite Ellington recordings from this era. Someone pointed out the sectional nature of the piece, but what's remarkable to me is how well the sections flow together, and the soloists and ensemble flow together, to create a unified composition. My favorite brilliant little touch comes at the end of the seventh and eighth blues choruses. The seventh features the saxophones, but the trombones cut them off by entering two measures too early. But Ellington adds two measures to the end of the trombone chorus to balance things out. I just love that. My source was the double CD Ridin' in Rhythm on DRG/Disques Swing - it collects mostly tracks released first in Europe. 5. My Melancholy Baby - Joe Marsala Sextet; recorded Jan. 12, 1945 for Black & White. Dizzy Gillespie - trumpet; Joe Marsala - clarinet; Cliff Jackson - piano; Chuck Wayne - guitar; Irv Lang - bass; Buddy Christian - drums Bebop was the new thing in the forties, but I didn't want to include a straight bop track. Like Spontooneous, I love this period when swing guys, New Orleans guys, and modernists would all play together. Several folks commented on how great stride pianist Cliff Jackson sounds. Dizzy Gillespie is young and brash - I love it. My source CD was mentioned in the forums just a few days ago - Greenwich Village Sound from the Pickwick series of Black & White reissues. 6. Springsville (composed by John Carisi) - John Carisi Jazz Workshop; recorded June 11, 1956 for RCA. John Carisi - trumpet; Urbie Green - trombone; Ray Beckenstein - alto sax; Eddie Wasserman - tenor sax; Sol Schlinger - baritone sax; Barry Galbraith - guitar; Milt Hinton - bass; Osie Johnson - drums There were several major trends going on in the 1950s - hard bop, West Coast cool. But to me the unsung story of the 50s is the rise of the jazz composer - Gil Evans, George Russell, Bill Russo, Jimmy Giuffre, etc. John Carisi recorded very little under his own name, and a 1988 RCA/Bluebird CD called The Arrangers, credited to the RCA Victor Jazz Workshop, contains the first issue of seven tracks he made in 1956. As several folks noted, "Springsville" was the first track from Miles Ahead, but this recording came first, although it wasn't released until 32 years later. I figure Carisi must have played the tapes for Miles and Gil, though. I think his writing here (and elsewhere) is brilliant. That's enough for now. I'll reveal the rest this evening.

Better get in my guesses at the last minute! Unsurprisingly, I liked tracks 1 through 4 and wasn't smitten with anything else. Gimme the old stuff. I'm weird, I guess - I like Johnny Dodds and Albert Ayler. 1: Reminds me of Cantrell & Williams and Vess L. Ossman, but I don't have much of this late ragtime early jazz stuff, so everything sounds like the two or three things I have. I'm picturing Joe Bussard mugging to this in his basement. It's Ossman - well done. 2: Arthur Pryor, maybe? Could be Europe, but I think Pryor is more likely. It's James Reese Europe. I actually kind of like Arthur Pryor's ragtime recordings, but they were usually more sedate than this. 3: "I'm gonna play no second fiddle", Perry Bradfoord's Jazz Phools. Awesome record! Ranks up there with Bessie's recording, in my book. Yep - this is a great one. 4: Ellington, maybe? It's really driving, but it's not Webb, Lunceford, or Basie. Could be some sound-a-like. Charlie Barnet, maybe? Sounds like it's a little earlier, though. Oh, there's a bari sax! I think it's Ellington with Carney taking that solo. Don't recognize the track, but he recorded so much... Love it. I think you were the only person who recognized Ellington without already knowing the specific piece. Good ear! 5: No idea. The drummer is a little too high-hat happy for my mind, and the trumpet player is a little too harmonically out there (yeah, I know...), but I really like the piano player. The ensemble at the end makes my ears bleed. Yeah, it's kind of a mess, but it's a glorious one, to my ears. I'll embarrass myself by guessing at *some* of the newer stuff, at least: 8: Chet Baker? Nope, more obscure - you'll see. 12: This sounds like Tennessee Ernie Ford a bit. I'd be mighty surprised if it were him, though. Is this from the 50s? It is from the 50s. Check out the Reveal. Anyway: thanks! Had fun with it. Glad you enjoyed the early stuff.

I'm planning to record it in pretty casual fashion - a stereo digital recorder set up in front of the band.

Spiritual Starlites - Long Black Limousine (ASL - Atlanta Soul Liberation). Very cool obscure Atlanta gospel, from 1979 or '80, as far as I can tell.

Alto sax, mostly. I'm also playing bari on a couple of tunes in this concert. I've also been playing more and more clarinet the last couple of years. Thanks for the good wishes.

Just returned from the final rehearsal for the Alec Wilder concert, which is one week from tonight. I think we timed the rehearsal schedule just right - the music flowed easily this afternoon, but it still seems fresh. I'm pretty excited about the show.

McCoy Tyner Trio

Hugh Masekela - The African Connection (Impulse). Reissue of a 1972 Blue Thumb double album. What a great band - Dudu Pukwana, Larry Willis, Eddie Gomez, Nakhaya Ntshoko.

Elvin Jones - Genesis (Blue Note UA). Nice buncha saxists - Frank Foster, Joe Farrell, Dave Liebman.

The Complete Fletcher Henderson 1927-1936 (RCA Bluebird). Not accurately titled, of course - the Victor recordings with no alternates.

My grandmother gave me a big box of 78s - this would have been around 1969, when I was about 11. I liked everything - the big bands, the pop vocals, the country stuff. But, without knowing anything about jazz, I found that I kept going back to certain records - Coleman Hawkins, Benny Carter, Louis Armstrong. After that I discovered Bix Beiderbecke and learned jazz more or less chronologically after that.

Coupla more days - all will be revealed on Sunday, Jan. 31.

Chris McGregor's Brotherhood of Breath (RCA Neon promo)

I agree. She introduced me to The Zoo Bar in Lincoln (one of the country's great blues bars), the runza (for those not from Nebraska, it's a meat and cabbage pie kind of thing - Czech, I think), and Cornhuskers football. I think I was more upset than she was when Nebraska lost the Big 12 championship.

I wanted to hear some more George Girard and early Pete Fountain, so: Basin Street Six (10" EmArcy) from 1951. "When It's Sleepytime Down South" is just beautiful.

I've been in a New Orleans mood today, so earlier this evening I spun: Piron's New Orleans Orchestra - Mama's Gone, Goodbye/New Orleans Wiggle (Victor, 1923). I've got these on CD, but it's great to hear them on an excellent 78. Peter Bocage wrote both of these pieces, and his Creole trumpet sounds very sweet here. Wooden Joe Nicholas - Ai Ai Ai/Holler Blues (American Music, 1949). A rougher (and older?) New Orleans style than Bocage and Piron. "Holler Blues" is a different take than the one used on the American Music CD. Santa Pecora - Basin Street Blues/12th Street Rag; My Lou'siana/March of the Mardi Gras (Mercury, 1950). These sides feature the great, ill-fated New Orleans trumpeter George Girard (he died of cancer at 26) and young Pete Fountain. I hope I don't lose any hard-core jazz cred by saying this, but before he joined the Lawrence Welk troupe and became a show biz icon, young Pete Fountain was a fabulous jazz clarinetist - I just love his late-40s/early 50s New Orleans recordings.

Johnny Griffin - The Big Soul-Band (Riverside stereo) Edit: The back cover of my copy has a stamp from an old Atlanta record store - The Music Inn, Hunter St. (now MLK Drive).

Ansamblul Perinita (Electrecord). Romanian folk music. There are some real virtuoso players here, on instruments like taragot, Romanian flute, panpipes, and bagpipe. Edit: Wow - there's a saxophone!

Thanks for your comments. Ironically, in an earlier blindfold test, I thought that the trombonist featured on track 10 might be a French hornist. I'm glad you (and others) like track one - I like that one a lot. And I agree with you that our different preferences are a good thing. And off the subject of music - I had to ask my wife where Papillion is. She's a Nebraska farm girl - from Crete. But she's been in Georgia now longer than she was in Nebraska, and can fry up a catfish as well as any Georgia native.

:tup I love all of these (except some of the vocals on the OM5).

Ma Rainey - Mother of the Blues (JSP) Disc one.

Recommended to me by Paul and others, so I'm reading it now. Nice job on capturing the atmosphere. As to the story - we'll see.

Well, I'm dipping my toe into the water - I ordered this today.

Lonnie Smith - Think! A mid-seventies Blue Note pressing - nothing to get excited about, but it sounds pretty good.