jeffcrom

One of the great early jazz bands. In my opinion, this is the next set to get if you have the King Oliver 1923 recordings and a good representation of Jelly Roll Morton.

Texas Alexander Jim Bowie Lester Bowie

Paul Desmond Desmond Tutu Tootie Heath

Picked up a stack of vinyl at an Atlanta used record store this weekend, including Strings & Swings. I really like the Suite for Guitar Quintet (guitar and four strings, not five guitars) on side one. Not a hint of corniness or "swinging the classics" - just well-integrated composition and improvisation. And Raney's playing on the 1969 Louisville concert on side two is deep and impressive. The "local talent" backing him up is pretty good, too, especially Bobby Jones (pre-Mingus) and pianist Bob Lam.

I'm watching my homemade VHS tape of a really fun bad movie: Get Yourself a College Girl. This 1964 movie stars Mary Ann Mobley, Nancy Sinatra, and Chad Everett. What plot there is deals with the shocking revelation that young women sometimes have sex. (I know - I was surprised myself!) There's lots of music, by the Animals, the Dave Clark Five, the Stan Getz Quartet (with Gary Burton), and the Jimmy Smith trio. The Getz Quartet plays "Girl From Ipanema" with Astrud Gilberto, but also (somewhat surprisingly) plays "Sweet Rain" by Michael Gibbs. From what I can tell, this movie has never been issued on tape or DVD, and when I taped it, there was a commercial break in the middle of "Sweet Rain." So I just bought the soundtrack LP from an Ebay vendor. This lousy movie has a lot to recommend it - some good music and lots of girls in tight sweaters and pointy bras.

This is a big subject. Many of Stockhausen's recordings are difficult to find, since he took back all of his "official" recordings from Deutsche Grammophon. They are available from stockhausen.org, but they're pretty pricey. My "desert island" Stockhausen would probably be Hymnen, two LPs worth of electronic music. But thinking about what's readily available, I might recommend trying: Michaels Reise - a 50-minute instrumental scene from one of his Licht operas, issued on ECM. I think it's out of print, but it's still easy to find. Kontakte and Refrain seem to end up paired on CDs fairly often. You'll hear where Braxton gets some of his ideas from. Gruppen for three orchestras; there are several recordings out there. Mantra for two pianos (sometimes electronically altered) is excellent and has been recorded several times. Some people might find it kind of long at over an hour. Tierkreis has been recorded many times in various versions. It's one of Stockhausen's most melodic and accessible pieces. If I was going to recommend a starting place for someone unfamiliar with Stockhausen, and I didn't know anything about their tastes, I'd say get the ECM Michaels Reise. It features incredible trumpet playing by his son Markus.

I made my first financial donation to the board this afternoon, just about the time that things went haywire. I probably broke something.....

Happy birthday. Play some Jelly Roll and some Ornette.

Yes, that one is still in print (and pretty cheap). Jeez, "Goldstaub" is strange. For those who don't know, From the Seven Days is a group of texts to guide improvisation. "Goldstaub" starts "live completely alone for four days without food...." And the four musicians who recorded it (Stockhausen was one) did just that. The skeptical part of me wants to dismiss these pieces, but I like the recordings I've heard. I've got two recordings of "Set Sail for the Sun" by very different groups of musicians, and strangely enough (or maybe not so strangely), they came out sounding kind of similar. And I don't know the details about Stockhausen getting his recordings back from DG.

You put it better than I could. I can hear Louis Armstrong's breath and the sound of Eddie South's bow against the strings.

Okay, I know I’m a little like the over-eager new kid in class who raises his hand first to every question, but I’m going to go ahead and post my comments. I had a blast doing this BFT – thanks for setting it up, Bill. I chose to “play” by using only my ears – I didn’t do any research, even in my own record/CD collection. Well, I did look up the spelling of one name, but he might not even be on the recording. There are some spoilers about a couple of tracks, so don’t read on if you don’t want to know. 1. Very nice, adept guitar playing. The guitarist has technique to burn, but keeps it at the service of melody. Even when playing those incredibly fast runs, the playing has a melodic point to make. He (or she) only fell into “pentatonic guitar noodling” at one brief point, but by then I was already on his (her) side. I loved the touch of backbeat the drummer played for most of the track, but my least favorite point of the piece was when the drummer stopped interacting with the guitarist and just shuffled. Thumbs up on this track. 2. The brass player’s sound is so unusual that I wasn’t even sure which instrument it is – trombone or French horn. I first thought horn, but there are a few subtle glissandos that would be difficult on horn. In any case, it’s an odd, very individual sound – could it be Grachan Moncur? Beautiful, wistful duet playing – the tentative air of the trombone actually adds to the emotional power of the performance. 3. The tenor player sounds very familiar to me, but I can’t come up with a name. This is a great example of how a trio performance by three woodwinds can be structured to create a satisfying piece with a balance between composition and improvisation. I love the ostinato by the two clarinets with the tenor improv over the top. Then, just at the point where things might start to get boring, the composer(s) changes things up – more composed material, then bass clarinet over the tenor/clarinet ostinato. A short coda, and we’re done. I think the other clarinet is an alto, by the way. A very well-put-together piece, in my opinion. 4. Here we begin the Herbie Nichols set. “Lady Sings the Blues,” played by (I'm guessing) Misha Mengelberg, Han Bennink, and someone like Ernst Rijseger on cello. Mengelberg knows his Nichols and Monk backwards and forwards, but if it really is Bennink, he’s a little more well-behaved than usual. I love how the pianist, without overt imitation, captures the skittering quality of Nichols’ improvisational style. I like this performance a lot – in the most “out” moments, someone kept the tune grounded – they never left Nichols’ tune behind. 5. My favorite Herbie Nichols tune, “The Gig.” This odd little tune makes perfect sense when you keep in mind Nichols’ explanation to Roswell Rudd: it’s a pickup band trying to play a tune that nobody on the bandstand quite knows, so the “A” section starts, stops, starts again, ends on the “wrong” chord, and winds up being nine measures long. I have no idea who the players are, but they are excellent and obviously know the tune well. It’s a little self-consciously clever to be my favorite Nichols interpretation, but I give these guys their props for such an individual take on a challenging piece. 6. This is far enough out of my realm of experience/knowledge that I don’t know what to say about it, except that the tabla player is good, and that I like the clarinet, particularly his/her use of microtones. 7. Perry Robinson, from Funk Dumpling on Savoy, with Kenny Barron and Henry Grimes. I don’t remember who the drummer is – could it be Pete LaRoca?. I also don’t remember the name of the tune, but think that it may be Grimes’ composition rather than Robinson’s. Robinson is one of those players that might be something of an acquired taste in that you just have to accept certain things about his playing before you can enjoy it – in this case, his intonation, which is somewhat flat, and his odd, kind of unsupported, tone quality. Every time I hear him play, it takes my ears a minute to adjust, then I’m okay with it. Everybody’s good here (go, Kenny Barron!), but Henry Grimes is outstanding. 8. An improvisation (seemingly) in which the three players are on somewhat related paths. Each player is going his/her own way, while listening to the others. This is a common free improve strategy; it avoids the kind of “call and response,” imitative interaction that can become tiresome. I’m impressed with the range of strategies the alto player uses to keep things interesting: microtones, bending pitches, growling, varying the vibrato. A thoughtful blend of interplay and non-interplay. I have no idea who anybody is. 9. Don Cherry, Carlos Ward, Bob Stewart, and Ed Blackwell, from Cherry’s album Multikulti. If memory serves, Stewart wrote the tune, but it might be Ward’s; it’s not Cherry’s tune, I don’t think. Someone once called Cherry’s style “bruised lyricism,” and that seems about right to me. I love his playing, technical limitations and all. I’ll take ten “limited” players who have their own sound and style over one more hot young trumpeter who sounds like Lee Morgan. This track also shows how underrated Carlos Ward is and how versatile Bob Stewart is. 10. I recognized Ed Blackwell again right away, and it didn’t take me long to realize that the pianist was Karl Berger. I think this is from Transit, which means that the bassist is Dave Holland, although there is nothing in the bass part of this track that is individual enough to stand out as anyone in particular. This is not a knock on the bassist; he’s playing a part, and playing it well. Berger is, of course, instantly identifiable on vibes, but to me he has just as distinctive a style on piano – his rhythmic approach, chord voicings, and melodic language stand out. Blackwell’s drumming is absolutely brilliant, and the piano playing is excellent. 11. This confused me at first, but I think it’s Sun Ra. At times there’s not a lot of interest going on in the right hand, but the powerful left hand propels the music. Of course, a rootsy blues like this is not really about originality, it’s about swing and forward motion. I like the drumming, and didn’t even realize that there was a bass until near the end, when the pianist’s left hand subsided a little. 12. An easy one – Cecil Taylor’s first album, Jazz Advance. I think that the name of the tune is “Charge ‘Em Blues.” Extremely powerful music, even at this early stage. If you are listening to this music casually (although I’m not sure that’s possible), it may sound disjointed and discontinuous. But if you’re really listening, it’s not difficult to follow Taylor’s logic. It’s clear to me that he wants to play free – his improvisation is “over” the structure and chords without being “in” them – but he doesn’t know how to make it jazz without the swinging drums and walking bass at this point. As much as I love Steve Lacy, he sounds a little over his head here. He does much better on Taylor’s slightly later session from the 1957 Newport Jazz Festival. The Buell Neidlinger/Dennis Charles rhythm section always sounded a little nervous to me, but that kind of fits the energy of this music. I prefer later Taylor, but this sounds pretty good to me. Thanks again for the great music.

This sounds like a great event. Thanks for the report.

Accompanying Louis Armstrong in my living room this evening is a strong glass of spirits and Dennis Stock's Jazz Street. This book came out in 1960, and it's my favorite book of jazz photographs. It has a beautiful symmetry - the first photo is of Punch Miller, trumpet under his arm, walking home through the French Quarter in the wee hours of the morning. The last picture is of Bill Crow dragging his bass across Times Square at dawn after his gig. I think my favorite photo in between is the picture of Allen Eager in his apartment. Eager had a different background than many jazz musicians - he came from money. He stands holding his saxophone, is in a finely tailored suit, with the high ceilings and beautiful furnishings and artwork that most jazz musicians would never see behind him. I found this book in a used book store almost 30 years ago, and it has been a great source of pleasure ever since.

Sonny Red - Stay as Sweet as You Are/Bluesville (Blue Note 45)

On the "music vs. sound quality" issue, I definitely think the music is more important. But... in recent years I've come to appreciate fine sounding records more and more. I recently picked up three 78s that I already had on LP or CD: "Before Long" by Louis Armstrong, "Ghost of a Chance" by Cab Calloway/Chu Berry, and "Mama's Gone, Goodbye" by Piron's New Orleans Orchestra. All are in excellent condition, and on all of these, the sound just leaped out of the speakers. There was a directness that I just don't get from the CDs - the music just breathes. Beautiful.

David "Fathead" Newman Grady "Fats" Jackson Noble "Thin Man" Watts

I've enjoyed reading this thread - I pulled out In Three Attitudes tonight. What a great album. That led me to give another listen to a kind of strange album: The New Jazz Sound of Show Boat, by Barry Galbraith's Guitar Choir, arranged and conducted by John Carisi. Does anyone else know this record? It's apparently a more commercial substitute for what would probably have been a much better album; Carisi wrote an arrangement of "Israel" for Galbraith's five-guitar ensemble and wanted to arrange an entire album, but Columbia wanted the music from "Show Boat" rather than originals. The guest soloists (Phil Woods, Bob Brookmeyer, and Carisi) take the lion's share of the solo space; there are only three real guitar solos on the record. I think that the 16-bar solos in "Can't Help Lovin' That Man" and "Life Upon the Wicked Stage" are Galbraith, and the full chorus on "Why Do I Love You" is Raney, who is the only other guitarist mentioned in the notes. I'm not at all confident in attributing the solos this way, though. Does anyone who has heard this album have any more informed opinions?

Chuck, you have expressed my exact viewpoint. Philly Joe Jones and Art Blakey are both drummers that emotionally move me in a way that Max Roach does not. Just goes to show how everyone hears/feels music differently. I've never heard/felt Roach's music as cold or unemotional; on the contrary, it's always been tremendously exciting to me. I love Philly Joe and Blakey, too, but the latter's playing does seem kind of bombastic to me at times. Let me also add that my favorite moments of Roach with Bird are his eight-bar solos on the two takes of Klact-oveeseds-tene - abstract, yet logical.

A little off topic, perhaps, but this thread reminded me that a couple of years ago I saw the great New Orleans drummer Shannon Powell at Preservation Hall. He was late, and sat down at the drumset, cymbal bag and sticks under his arm, just as the trumpet player counted off the first tune ("Over in the Gloryland"). He played the first two choruses with only his feet while he set up his cymbals. It sounded great and swung like hell.

Rosemary Clooney her nephew, George Clooney Joe Mooney

All the musicians I could identify have already been named. I think that's J. Edgar Hoover on the right, peering over the piano lid.

That's a reissue of a 1964 Savoy album that featured Dixon with a larger ensemble on one side, and Shepp with the New York Contemporary Five on the other. It's a very good album which, unlike the Shepp/Dixon quartet date, has been reissued several times, including a CD reissue from 2001.

Paul Chambers Whittaker Chambers Alger Hiss

Don Byas - Jazz Legacy (Inner City) Paris recordings from 1953-55.

John Graas - French Horn Jazz (Trend)