jeffcrom

I will be producing a concert of Alec Wilder's music in Atlanta on Saturday, February 6. We'll be presenting a wide range of Wilder's music: some of his best pop songs (While We're Young, Blackberry Winter, Moon and Sand, I See It Now, etc.), a couple of his great classical pieces (the Clarinet Sonata and Air for Saxophone), and some instrumental jazz (Jazz Waltz for a Friend and Swing Music). I'll be playing saxophone; other musicians will include the Atlanta swing quintet Standard Deviation, with vocalist Janna Nelson and Scott Hooker, an incredible pianist. Sandy Wade, who plays with the Columbus (Georgia) Symphony, will play the Clarinet Sonata. We'll be playing both more and less familiar Wilder pieces. For example, the piece called Swing Music that I mentioned above is from Wilder's score to The Sand Castle; I transcribed it from the soundtrack LP, and I strongly suspect that it has never been performed in person. This is a more conservative musical endeavor than usual for me, but presenting this concert is something I've wanted to do for years. I love Wilder's music and have been planning this for a long time. The concert will be at 8:00 PM at the First Existentialist Congregation of Atlanta (The Old Stone Church) - 470 Candler Park Drive; ten bucks at the door. I'd love to see any Alec Wilder fans in the southeast on Feb. 6.

Sorry to hear about your loss.

Jeremy Steig - Temple of Birth (Columbia). I had been wanting to hear this, and found a cheap copy today. I like it for what it is - trippy seventies fusion. Richie Beirach steals the show.

Coltrane - The Heavyweight Champion, disc 4. The beginning of the great quartet.

Ike Cole Freddie Cole Nat King Cole

Stan Getz at Montreux (Polydor). The "Captain Marvel" band from 1972. Nice!

I can't remember any disappointments (at least nothing worse than maybe mild disappointments...), but it's been a while that I played it. Which sessions do you mean? The Brick Fleagle rehearsal band disc? Sorry it's taken me so long to reply - I've been away from home since this was posted. I haven't made it to the Brick Fleagle disc yet, so that's not what I'm talking about. I should have made clear that the disappointments are mild, not major. I've found several of the sessions (like J.C. Higginbotham, 12/21/45 & Dicky Wells, 3/21/46) to be less than I had hoped. Not bad, just not great, either. On the other hand, some sessions (like Harry Carney, 3/18/46) are great - better than I would have expected - and were totally unknown to me before. Overall, it's a fabulous set, and I'm glad I picked it up.

Summer Samba by Walter Wanderley?

At various times throughout the day: All four of my Original Memphis Five Victor records. I love this band, and probably have more 78s by them than by any artist, on eight or nine different labels. The Victors are the best sounding. Boyd Senter - Prickly Heat/Original Chinese Blues on Okeh. Boyd is corny beyond belief, but this one was saved by Eddie Lang and the Dorsey Brothers. Bill Cox - Browns Ferry Blues/Long Chain Charlie Blues on Conqueror. I didn't know what this was going to be when I found it - turns out that it's really nice early country, from 1934. Tony Hollins - Fishin' Blues/I'll Get a Break (Decca). Fabulous! This appears to be unsold store stock; I wouldn't be surprised I just played this record for the first time. Tough electric Delta blues with Sunnyland Slim on piano. Now for five days away from all my records; hope I've chosen my iPod selections wisely.

Thanks to all, and thanks especially to JSngry for posting a link to the clip. MG, I don't have the Roy Milton CD, but I have a handful of his 78s (Does that make me cooler or more pathetic?), including some that Eddie Taylor plays on. I'll spin them and see if it sounds like the same guy.

Fletcher Henderson: The Crown King of Swing (Savoy) - accompanied by Breckenridge Christmas Ale.

Maynard Ferguson Big Band - A Message From Birdland (Roulette stereo)

The Christmas/Hanukkah episode of Frank's Place.

Merry Christmas to all. Finding this place has adding much joy (and only just enough aggravation to keep things interesting) to my life.

Listen carefully - the spoken intro to that Newport track seems to be spliced in - for what reason I can't imagine. Maybe Getz did play the "Where Do You Go" at Newport that year, and sloppy tape editing resulted in the wrong intro being spliced onto the Gigi Gryce tune. Getz did record the Alec Wilder song at Tanglewood in 1966 with Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops. As for the resemblance between "Wildwood" and "Joy Spring," well, it's only for a few notes, and whoever copped it from the other probably didn't even realize it. And yes, that Stan Getz CD is outstanding - I forget which board member recommended it.

Herb Geller Sextette (EmArcy)

Glad I grabbed this one a couple of weeks ago, too - thanks for the many recommendations. There's some fabulous music here, and to be honest, a few disappointments. But the best stuff is pretty amazing, and the sound is great, considering the source material.

I didn't think of this before, but pianist/arranger Tiny Parham made some some great sides in Chicago around the turn of the 30s. Real compositions, and some of the sessions have the great Punch Miller on trumpet. They were reissued on Timeless.

I thought of Maxwell Davis - that's a reasonable guess. I was hoping that someone had the Chronological Classics Edgar Hayes disc, and that it had more information.

Happy Festivus 2009! I'll start with the Airing of Grievances. "I've got a lot of problems with you people...."

Okay, time to sign up for January's Blindfold Test. Yes, there is a theme, and I hope it will be interesting - the first eleven tracks will be a stroll through the history of jazz: one recording from each decade from 1900 to 2010. (Since the first jazz recordings were arguably not made until 1917, the first couple of tracks could be considered pre-jazz.) Many (but not all) of these recordings will feature major figures and illustrate some major trend that was going on in jazz at the time. There will also be half a dozen or so "bonus tracks" that don't fit into the theme, but that I just find interesting. Everything will fit onto one CD. Don't worry if you don't feel you will be able to identify musicians/tracks from one era or another. Some of these recordings will probably be familiar to quite a few folks; others are so obscure that I don't really expect anyone to identify them - but that's not the point, anyway. I'm not out to "stump" anyone, and I don't want this BFT to turn into a guessing game. I want to present some good music that you may or not know, and I'm interested in your reactions. I'd love to get a good discussion going about the music. I'll offer the music three ways: a zipped download, straight MP3 downloads of each track from my website, or a physical CD. I'll send every participant the web addresses for the downloads; let me know if you want a CD. BFT #71 will begin on January 1 (or Jan. 2 if I don't have my act together), assuming that Durium has revealed his selections by that time. Looking forward to sharing some cool music with you.

Sounds fabulous. Knock 'em dead, Joel.

Peter Ind - Looking Out (Wave LP 1).

Just spun a 78 - Exclusive 110: "Blues at Dawn," parts 1 & 2 by Edgar Hayes and His Stardusters. It's a nice, hot medium-slow R & B-flavored blues, recorded around 1949 in LA. Lord's discography gives the personnel as: Edgar Hayes (p) Teddy Bunn (g) Curtis Counce (b) Bryant Allen (d) but there's a strong tenor saxist on both sides. Does anybody know who it is?

Gary Peacock - December Poems (ECM)