jeffcrom

Essence: John Lewis Plays Gary McFarland (Atlantic mono promo)

Alec Wilder edition: Give me time; I'll be around while we're young. Never love a stranger; love is when Mimosa and me walk pretty. Everywhere I look: moon and sand - unbelievable! That last one was the Wilder medley sung by Neil Armstrong when he first set foot on the moon.

Have you heard the two volumes of Live in 75: The Japanese Tour by Supersax? These are the only two Supersax albums I've felt compelled to keep on my shelves. I remember posting here years ago that I found myself staring dumbfounded at one of my stereo speakers during one of the Warne Marsh solos.

The two new avant-garde releases that have excited me the most recently are: Eve Risser - Des Pas Sur La Neige (Clean Feed) Bill Pritchard - Amplituba Neither of these are jazz, really,, and neither of them sound like the instrument that the artist plays. They are both totally improvised, unusually and beautifully. The French pianist Eve Risser produces very few sounds that are recognizable as coming from a piano, and the same is true of Atlanta tubist Bill Pritchard. (Full disclosure - Bill is a friend of mine, and he's in one of my bands.) His Amplituba project uses electronics, loops, and effects to create some pretty amazing improvisations. "For Cliff" here is really amazing. You can buy the Amplitua CD at CDBaby, or download from Amazon or iTunes.

The best recording job this great band ever had, at RVG Studio.

Aw, man. I hate hearing this.

Shorty Baker / Doc Cheatham - Shorty & Doc (Prestige OJC). A genial trumpet non-battle. It would have been nice if they had spelled Doc's last name correctly on the cover.

Well, if anyone's interested, I've got: 45-1710: Horace Silver Quintet - Señor Blues (with Bill Henderson, vocal) / Tippin'. No album release at the time. 45-1727: Bill Henderson with the Jimmy Smith Trio - Ain't No Use / Angel Eyes. No album release at the time. 45 - 1752: Lou Donaldson - Mack the Knife / The Nearness of You, from The Time Is Right. 45-1761: Sonny Red - Stay as Sweet as You Are / Bluesville, from Out of the Blue. 45-1823: Leo Parker - Parker's Pals / Low Brown, from Let Me Tell You 'Bout It. 45-1890: Freddie Roach - I Know / Googa Mooga, from Mo' Greens Please, but to my chagrin, both sides are edited and shorter than the LP tracks.

Thank you, Dmitry! My favorite of my half-dozen is BN 45-1710, by a version of the Horace Silver Quintet not recorded elsewhere, with Donald Byrd and Junior Cook as the front line. "Tippin'" is over six minutes long, and Bill Henderson joins for the vocal version of "Senor Blues." I know these tracks have been reissued on CD, but it's cool to have the original single.

So I'm spinning all my Blue Note 45s tonight, and they sound great (except for one very worn Lou Donaldson). It seems obvious to me that they were all pressed well before the Liberty era, but none of them have the Plastylite backwards P "ear" in the dead wax. Does anyone know if Plastylite indeed pressed Blue Note's 45s? (Calling Chuck Nessa!)

I became aware of Mr. Parlan's work back in the 1970s, when, as a teenager, I heard him on a Mingus album I checked out from my small-town public library. Over the years, I admired his work on his own albums, and as a sideman. RIP.

George Lewis - Concert! (BN NYC). Found this one this afternoon. I had just about given up on finding a decent mono copy - every one I had previously come across was fake stereo. It sounds really good for a live recording of the time - RVG mastered, although he didn't do the recording. This is the afternoon set from a 1954 Bakersfield, California concert; the evening set was issued on Storyville.

Yes, although I know this question has already been answered. Levister did some "music director" type work for Debut - arranging and conducting on several sessions. Later in life he did a lot of commercial arranging/composing - Motown, Verve, Broadway, commercials. Manhattan Monodrama seems to be the only time he was given the freedom to write and record whatever he wanted. It looks like one track showed up on a Debut CD collection, but it's otherwise un-reissued.

Alonzo Levister - Manhattan Monodrama (Debut). I found this record in a junk shop in Savannah around 20 years ago. I always thought it was interesting, but tonight it seems more than that - really excellent, well-crafted music. "Third Stream," maybe, and that implies "pretentious" to some folks, but there's none of that here - the music is natural-sounding, personal, and expressive.

Paul Chambers - A Jazz Delegation From the East (Imperial) Globe Unity Orchestra - Pearls (FMP) Gary Burton Quartet - In Concert (RCA). RIP Larry Coryell. Lars Gullin - Modern Sounds: Sweden (Contemporary 10")

I rank "Cold Sweat" right up there among mankind's greatest music creations (no kidding), and Clyde Stubblefield was a big part of that. RIP to one of the greats.

Jazz: Mark Taylor - QuietLand (Mapleshade). Out of print, but cheap copies are easy to find on Amazon. Excellent music, impeccably recorded. Classical: Mozart's four horn concerti, but on a modern horn. (Historical "natural" horn may freak her out.). I like Barry Tuckwell's recording from the 1980s.

Borbetomagus / Shaking Ray Levis (Agaric 10").This also was issued as a picture disc; that's what I'm listening to. These pieces are well-shaped noise improvisations. Dennis Palmer of the Shaking Ray Levis died four years ago tonight, and I wanted to listen to something to remember and honor him. He also painted the cover art. RIP, Dennis.

Chico Freeman - Chico (India Navigation). I like his dad better, but this is a pretty adventurous and enjoyable album. Something New, Something Blue (Columbia 6-eye stereo). A pretty cool 1959 album; Manny Albam, Teo Macero, Bill Russo, and Teddy Charles were each commissioned to write a new piece and arrange an older blues tune for a medium-sized ensemble.

I just spun Gennett 4966, 4967, and 4968 - the first three records by the New Orleans Rhythm Kings, then known as Friars Society Orchestra. Hearing that first record in 1922 must have been amazing. The "A" side is one of the band's weakest sides, an ordinary dance tune, "Oriental." But I can imagine the record owner turning the disc over and being hit with "Farewell Blues." It must have stunned some folks back in the day.

Except for a brief passing reference, I don't think that this new-ish Resonance release by guitarist Dennis Coffey, Hot Coffey in the D, has been mentioned here. I'm thoroughly enjoying it tonight. It's a live 1968 date by three Motown session musicians - Coffey, Lyman Woodward on B3, and drummer Melvin Davis - playing funk originals, pop tunes, and jazz at Morey Baker's Showcase Lounge. Coffey hired an engineer to record onto four-track tape, and the sound is not bad, although not up to the quality of the best live recordings of the time. The trio is fiery and imaginative, whether they're playing "Maiden Voyage" or "The Look of Love," and the audience seems to be enthusiastic about all of it. And I never thought I would hear a version of "By the Time I Get to Phoenix" that I could sit through, much less enjoy. But I was wrong. I really don't like the cover, though.

As a teenaged would-be musician in Georgia, the Allman Brothers Band were heroes to me and my circle. On discovering jazz at age 15, I pretty much stopped listening to any rock, including the ABB. Through a friend's gift of a copy of Eat a Peach about 15 years ago, I rediscovered the band and became a fan to an almost obsessive degree. I only heard the band in person once, in their great final lineup, and am grateful for the experience. I loved the way the two drummers, the rock-solid Trucks and the more conversational, jazz-influenced Jaimoe, complemented each other, and how in the final lineup they adjusted to the addition of percussionist Marc Quinones to form the "three-headed percussion monster" envisioned by the late Duane Allman, but which he never lived to see. RIP to the only member of the Allman Brothers Band who never missed a gig.

It's funny - the West End Blues disc is indeed a little heavier than an averaage 12" 78, but the other Punch Miller, Muscle Shoals Blues, is even heavier - very noticeably.

Mid-40's New Orleans Jazz: Baby Dodds Jazz Four on Blue Note: Winin' Boy Blues / Careless Love and Feelin' at Ease / High Society - with Albert Nicholas, Art Hodes, and Wellman Braud Punch Miller's Stompers on 12" Session: Boy in the Boat / West End Blues and Muscle Shoal Blues / Sugar Foot Stomp, - Artie Starks, Richard M. Jones, John Liindsay, and Snags Jones.

Jazz at the Philharmonic in Europe, Vol. 1 (Verve stereo). Except for those involving Charlie Parker, this might be my single favorite JATP disc.