jeffcrom

Late last night: Derek Bailey - Lace (Emanem) This morning: Dave Brubeck - Jazz: Red Hot and Cool (Columbia) The Bailey is lovely. I will admit that some of Brubeck's entrances after Desmond's solos made me want to tear my hair out, if I had enough hair to tear out.

I'm going to cheat and list two, because I can't decide: Louis Armstrong - I Double Dare You. Recorded in a period (1938) that's not supposed to be Armstrong's best - between his youthful triumphs and later superstardom. The casual brilliance of Armstrong's trumpet solo slays me every time - he doesn't sound like he's straining at all, but constructs a perfect 32 bars of spontaneous melody. And J.C. Higginbotham represents Social Circle, Georgia pretty well, too. Miles Davis - Round Midnight, from In Person at the Blackhawk Complete.This track didn't even make the cut for the original albums, but of the scores of recordings Miles made of "Round Midnight," this might be my favorite - abstract, yet grounded, and seemingly deeply felt.

I don't think I've mentioned this very cool rarity, which I've had for a few months now. Claxtonola was a small Iowa City label that leased material from both Paramount and Gennett. "The Jazz Harmonizers" are in fact the Wolverines, featuring Bix Beiderbecke. This is a pretty worn record (that's my copy in the picture), so I have it in better sound on the Off the Record CD reissue of all the Wolverines' material. But it's still a pretty amazing thing to hold and play this, one of the rarest Bix records.

Yep - a unique edit, after listening to the LP side. But it's "Yesternow," not "It's About That Time" that's the second bit.

When I bought the Miles Davis Bootleg Series Vol. 3 - Miles at the Fillmore - I kept my vinyl double album to have the originally-issued edits. But I never listened to any of the vinyl again until tonight, when I spun "Friday Miles" - and thoroughly enjoyed it, awkward splices and all - in anticipation of something really ridiculous. I few days ago, I spotted a single from these sessions on Ebay. I thought the idea of three and a half hours of music edited down to an hour and forty minutes edited down to a little over six minutes was so surreal that I bought it. The record arrived today, and it is indeed cool and ridiculous. "Friday Miles" is a solid 3:27 of "Bitches Brew" from that night - one chunk with no editing, apparently. "Saturday Miles" is 3:14, and I think that the edit is unique, not just a piece of the LP version. (But I need to check more carefully to make sure.) It starts with "Bitches Brew" in full cry, then moves on to bits of "It's About That Time," "Willie Nelson," and "The Theme." Cool and ridiculous.

McKinney's Cotton Pickers on the Victor scroll label: Milenberg Joys / Shim-Me-Sha-Wabble Cherry / Some Sweet Day Hullabaloo / Baby, Won't You Please Come Home

Really enjoyed both of those.

Lester Bowie - All the Numbers (Nessa). Disc one - the trio session. An interesting listen after spinning the 50th anniversary edition a couple of nights ago. Miles Davis Quintet - Berlin, November 4, 1967. Spectacular.

Louis Cottrell Trio - Bourbon Street (Riverside OJC)

Roscoe Mitchell - Celebrating Fred Anderson (Nessa). Just kind of awesome, is all.

The best of all the Katrina relief albums. Carol Fran singing a funky blues in Creole French just kills me.

I was listening to Delmore Brothers 78s the other day. Just now: Louis Armstrong - Disney Songs the Satchmo Way (Buena Vista) John Coltrane - Expression (Impulse stereo) Makes sense to me. The Armstrong Disney album, hokey as it is, has what are perhaps Louis' last great recorded trumpet solos. The first solo on "Chim Chim Cheree" is just stunning.

I came home from my west coast trip with a stack of about 25 78s, found in Bellingham, Washington. Included were half a dozen 1927-29 Red Nichols Brunswicks in original sleeves. I cleaned and spun the Nichols discs last night and really enjoyed them - interesting arrangements, great clarinet by Pee Wee Russell, Benny Goodman, and Fud Livingston, trombone by Miff Mole and Jack Teagarden, and plenty of Adrian Rollini's bass sax. It's funny how I enjoy some music more on 78 than on CD. I have all this Nichols material on a nice Jazz Oracle set which I seldom crack open. This music gets wearing to me at extended lengths - 70 minutes of it is just too much. But a few records, in three-minute chunks, worked perfectly for me, and I enjoyed this band perhaps more than I ever had before. The hot Kansas City band Coon-Sanders Nighthawks has the same effect on me - I gave away the CD I had by the band, but I really enjoy spinning a couple of 78s at a time by them.

I'm stoked about this. I only have the grey-market version of Sortie. Disposability is on my list of ten favorite Lacy albums. Great trio, great playing, and great program: Tunes by Monk, Cecil Taylor, and Carla Bley, improvisations, and Lacy's first recorded composition, "Barble." (Although he later claimed "The Way" as his "opus one." I'll keep my original vinyl, but it will be nice to have a remastered version.

Marion Brown / Gunter Hampel - Reeds 'n Vibes (IAI). I brought this back from Canada with me earlier this week, thereby worsening the US trade imbalance with our northern neighbors.

Steve Lacy - The Door (RCA Novus). One of my favorite Lacy albums, largely due to the variety - tunes by Monk, Ellington, Bud Powell, George Handy, and Lacy himself, and no two successive tracks have the same instrumentation. Mr. Lacy would have been 83 today.

Oh wow - I need to check that out.

I don't know how many years I've been listening to the 1923 Creole Jazz Band recordings - 40 years, I guess - but it's a deep well. They reveal something different every time I listen. Listen to the interplay of Oliver and Armstrong's cornets in "Krooked Blues." Amazing.

Aurora Nealand / Tom McDermott - City of Timbres

Piano Red - Rockin' with Red (RCA Camden). A compilation of his RCA Victor singles from the 1950s.

Air - Air Time (Nessa) Clark-Boland Big Band - At Her Majesty's Pleasure (Black Lion) Aretha Franklin - Spirit in the Dark (Atlantic)

No problem. I've got that one, too. It's kind of fabulous.

Is that the Ahura Mazda single?

Robert Pete Williams - Louisiana Blues (Takoma)

McCoy Tyner - Sama Layuca (Milestone)