jeffcrom

For the second evening in a row - Johnny Hodges: Rippin' & Runnin'. I really like this album.

Picked up a nice stereo copy of The Riddle as one of a stack of LPs I bought yesterday. It's on right now, and I'm enjoying it, not least for a personal, sentimental reason - my mom taught me "Hey Ho, Nobody Home" (that's the way she sang it) when I was about five. Good album, and Brubeck swings more than usual, in my opinion.

The awkwardly-named 4th Ward Afro-Klezmer Orchestra, led by Roger Ruzow and in which I play alto, bari, and clarinet and write some of the music, has just been selected as Best Local Jazz Act by the critics of Creative Loafing, our local entertainment/nightlife paper. Given how lame the jazz scene is in Atlanta, this is a little like being called the smartest kid in the remedial class, but we'll take it. We have a CD coming out in a few weeks, and our next gig is at Eyedrum Gallery on Saturday, October 3. Props to the Bonaventure Quartet, a very fine Django/Hot Club-style group, for winning the Loafing readers' poll in the same category.

The Olympia Brass Band of New Orleans (Audiophile). I hesitated before adding this 1971 album to the stack during my vinyl buying binge yesterday - do I really need another N.O. brass band album, particularly another Olympia record? But I'm really glad I pulled the trigger on this one - it's beautifully played, recorded and pressed. Vinyl lovers looking for a good traditional New Orleans brass band record should keep their eyes open for this.

Well, I'm pretty late to the Billy Gardner party. Vinyl hounds should keep an eye out for Rippin' & Runnin' by Johnny Hodges. It's a really nice album pairing Hodges with a young (as of 1968) rhythm section - Gardner (listed as Willie Gardner), Jimmy Ponder, Ron Carter, and Freddie Waits. I just picked this up yesterday and I'm diggin' it. Edited to add a thanks to sidewinder for pointing me in the right direction to figure out the "Willie" and "Billy" Gardner were one and the same.

Billy Gardner? Recorded on all 3 of George Braith's Blue Note albums. I believe there's been some discussion of him on the board which 'search' under 'Billy Gardner' should throw up. The sleeve definitely says "Willie," but I'll bet it's the same guy. His playing is too good to be someone who just made this one album. I'm at work right now, but I remember that the liner notes said that Willie Gardner played some with Lou Donaldson, so it's probably Billy. Definitely Billy Gardner. The personnel listing has Willie Gardner, but Leonard Feather's liner notes refer to him as Willie (Billy) Gardner.

I need to correct a mistake. Charters came out with two books about New Orleans jazz around the same time, and I got the titles confused. I haven't read A Trumpet Around the Corner, and hope it's great. Playing a Jazz Chorus is the one I found less than satisfying, although Charters' heart was in the right place. He just hadn't paid any attention to the New Orleans scene for years, and so made a bunch of mistakes and incorrect assumptions. Now back to regularly scheduled Henry Butler disscusion....

Billy Gardner? Recorded on all 3 of George Braith's Blue Note albums. I believe there's been some discussion of him on the board which 'search' under 'Billy Gardner' should throw up. The sleeve definitely says "Willie," but I'll bet it's the same guy. His playing is too good to be someone who just made this one album. I'm at work right now, but I remember that the liner notes said that Willie Gardner played some with Lou Donaldson, so it's probably Billy.

Bump.... Any suggestions from our European friends?

Berigan, where do you stay at? (As we inner-city types say.) I'm in the Candler Park neighborhood, just around the corner from the Flying Biscuit, and a mile east of Little Five Points.

Johnny Hodges - Rippin' & Runnin' (Verve). The master with a hip young (1968) rhythm section - Willie Gardner (organ), Jimmy Ponder, Ron Carter, and Freddie Waits. Really nice. Anybody know anything about Gardner?

Woody Shaw - Night Music (Elektra Musician). Odd, kind of unpleasant trumpet sound as recorded, but good music.

No offense, Bev - I hate John Harle's playing. To me, Music for Saxophone by the Rascher Saxophone Quartet is the finest readily-available classical saxophone recording. This Donald Sinta recording is an excellent solo sax-with-piano recording. Not readily available is Sigurd Rascher's early-50s album A Classical Recital on the Saxophone. If you see it for an affordable price, grab it! And Bev, hope we're still buds!

Leadbelly Irene Kral Ray Kral

I took advantage of an unexpected day off to hit a local record store I hadn't visited for a while. I walked out with a bunch of vinyl - I had never even heard of the first three albums: Stanley Turrentine - Another Story (Blue Note w/ Thad Jones from 1969) Artie Shaw & His Gramercy Five - Sequence in Music (Verve w/ Farlow & Hank Jones) Khan Jamal - Infinity (Jam'Brio w/ Byard Lancaster & Sunny Murray) Muhal Richard Abrams - Live at Montreux 1978 (Arista Novus) Woody Shaw - Night Music (Elektra Musician promo copy) Blue Mitchell - Step Lightly (Blue Note Classic series) Willie Bryant/Jimmie Lunceford (Bluebird double) The Oympia Brass Band of New Orleans (Audiophile) Dave Brubeck - The Riddle (Columbia 6-eye) Johnny Hodges - Rippin' & Runnin' (Verve), And I put a bunch of stuff back!

Right now I'm listening to my early-70s blue-and-white label ("Division of United Artists") pressing of The Sidewinder with the Van Gelder stamp. It sounds pretty good to me.

I have several Blue Notes purchased during the 70s with the Van Gelder stamp - some with the blue-and-white label, some with the solid dark blue.

Yeah, that was such a great version of the band - recorded on a good night. The sound is a little odd; not necessarily unpleasant, but odd. It was recorded from overhead microphones, and the sound makes perfect "sense" when you make that mental adjustment. But I agree - primo album.

Didn't Georgia experience a drought last year? What's going on down there? Yes, we had drought conditions in 2008 and 2009 - lake levels way down, outdoor water use restrictions, farmers hurting, etc. The drought was officially declared over a few months ago, but it now seems like cosmic payback time. I blame myself - I played Son House's "Dry Spell Blues" and "High Water Everywhere" by Charlie Patton back to back a few days ago....

The northern third of Georgia is experiencing non-stop torrential rains (a foot or more in 24 hours) and flooding. We live just a few feet (literally) from the Eastern Subcontinental Divide, so we're fine on some of the highest ground in Atlanta, but people living in river and creek basins are in bad shape, and about half a dozen people have died. I usually have a long commute - 40 or 45 minutes, but it took me two hours to get home today - road after road was flooded. And it's still raining.

Crescent is a masterpiece and seems to be a favorite of several people around here.

Bobbi Humphrey - Flute-In (Blue Note). This album is kind of a guilty pleasure of mine - it's got versions of Bill Withers and Carole King songs. But it's also got some good late Lee Morgan and a couple of killer Billy Harper solos.

Anyone not interested in early jazz can safely skip this. I've just spent an enjoyable hour listening to the Georgians, a group led by trumpeter Frank Guarente, although they were a "band within a band" unit of Paul Specht's orchestra. Guarente is a pretty interesting figure, and is arguably the first really excellent jazz musician born outside the U.S. (he was Italian). As a young man, he ended up in New Orleans, and traded trumpet tips with King Oliver, who taught him his techniques with the mute. The Georgians recorded 44 sides between 1922 and 1924. They were more of a pop-jazz band than a hard-core jazz group, but they were pretty good. Guarente's muted work is really tasty, and reedman Johnny O'Donnell was almost as good on clarinet. He also played alto sax, and his bass clarinet passages are pretty interesting for the early twenties. Arthur Schutt was the pianist, and he went on to play with Red Nichols and other bands. I was particularly taken with the Georgians' version of "Farewell Blues" - slower and more mournful than the New Orleans Rhythm Kings' version. And there was plenty of depth on even something as silly as "Henpecked Blues." Guarente later became a busy studio player. I've got a 1930 78 of "Sweethearts On Parade" by Frank Gaurente and His Orchestra, and it's okay, but not on the level of the Georgians' material. I listen to their stuff on three old British VJM LPs, but I think all the material has been issued on CD on Retrieval - at least the first 24 sides seem to be readily available. The Georgians weren't as hip as the great bands that recorded in the 1920s - Oliver, Morton, NORK, or even the Original Memphis Five - but they're worth checking out if you have a taste for early jazz.

This Southern U.S. boy doesn't have a lot to add to this conversation, but when I visited London for the first and only time about 15 years ago, my list of must-visit spots included Westminster Abbey, the Tower of London, Samuel Johnson's house in Gough Square, and Mole Jazz. I remember that I spent enough (over 100 pounds, I think) to get a discount.

Found in the $1.00 bin: Bob & Ray - Mary Backstayge, Noble Wife