jeffcrom

Clifford Jordan / Sonny Red - A Story Tale (Jazzland mono). I'm really enjoying this.

And it just hit me which thread this is. Thank you so much for the kind words, Paul. I'm honored.

Send me a PM.

Late at night, I'm listening to what might be the New Orleans brass band album I'd take to a desert island (although I'd hate to have to make that choice), New Orleans Funeral and Parade by the Eureka Brass Band. The music once again brought me back to a point I made in my first posts in this thread, six years ago. This music is not Jazz with a capital "J," it's New Orleans brass band music, with its own styles, conventions and musical heroes. Several of these musicians, like Percy Humphrey, George Lewis, and Emanuel Paul, were accomplished jazz musicians, but they play rather differently here. And others, like the trombone team of Albert Warner and Charles "Sunny" Henry, were strictly brass band musicians - and they developed an amazing rapport, as, a few years later, did Warner and Sunny Henry's replacement, Oscar "Chicken" Henry (no relation). Warner played an a few jazz recording sessions, such as Bunk Johnson's second session, but they mostly showed how inadequate he was as a jazz player. But he knew just what to do in a brass band, and knew how to interact with his trombone partner. Then and now, New Orleans brass band music is related to, but not quite the same thing as jazz. But it's amazing music. Pianist Alton Purnell (of the George Lewis band) was on hand during this recording session as the representative of the musicians' union, and after "Garland of Flowers" was recorded, said to the producer, "That's symphony music!"

It's a good one, from 1964. Recorded by Cosimo Matassa at Zion Hill Baptist Church in the Treme neighborhood. The small Nobility label was affiliated with Dixieland Hall, a short-lived rival to Preservation Hall. Their catalog (about a dozen releases, I think) is somewhat mixed in quality; this is one of the better issues.

Kid Howard at Zion Hill Church (Nobility)

For anyone interested in Fletcher Henderson and his work, this book is invaluable. I was lucky enough to find a copy years ago, and often refer to it or just thumb through with pleasure. Someone needs to snatch this up.

Okay, this is the thread that brought me out of a posting hiatus. I'm a huge Randy Newman fan, and I've always felt like that was my dirty little secret - most folks my age think of "Short People" when they think of Newman, and those younger think of his movie scores. But I consider Newman to be one of the great American songwriters. I have the first Ace collection, and am planning on getting the second. I put together a collection of an hour of Newman's best songs to try to convince some of my friends what a great songwriter he was, but recently thought that a case could be made with just three relatively obscure songs. I'm not going to post links, but you can find these. Same Girl Shame Texas Girl at the Funeral of Her Father Many of Newman's songs are "character" songs, sung in the voice of a particular character. "Same Girl" is sung by a pimp to one of his long-time girls. The character in "Shame" is an angry, lonely, aging French Quarter resident; the background singers, who only repeat the word "shame" at appropriate times, are the Greek chorus. This song is funny and chilling in equal parts. The character in the very touching "Texas Girl" is just who the title indicates.

Arnett Cobb - Ballads by Cobb (Status/Moodsville hybrid - mono) Anthony Braxton - Dona Lee (America). Pianist Michael Smith doesn't sound like he knows quite what to do on the standards, but he is sensitive and responsive on Braxton's originals. I always got the impression that he wasn't really a "Jazz with a capital J" pianist. Ronald Shannon Jackson and the Decoding Society - Street Priest (Moers)

Jack Pearson, the greatest guitarist that nobody knows, plays once a month at the Station Inn, in The Gulch in Nashville. I don't know when you'll be there, but Pearson is there on June 1 and July 6. There's also a Jack Pearson Birthday Bash on June 17 at a club called 3rd and Lindsley.

I should say that my comments about Albam and Cohn were strictly guesses - I didn't know about the George Williams credit. But, yes, "Sophisticated Lady" has some interesting, unconventional passages, along with more conservative sections.

Ventura's "Caravan" was an outtake from the RCA Victor album Charlie Ventura Plays Duke Ellington, originally issued in 1950 as three 78s/three 45s. I have the 78 version. I assume that RCA considered "Caravan" too weird to include on the original album. The other arrangements, which I think are by Manny Albam with perhaps some by Al Cohn, are much more conventional. "Sophisticated Lady" has just enough unusual moments that I suspect it might also be a Russell arrangement, although it's far more conventional than "Caravan." RCA Victor issued a whole series of these "Designed for Dancing" albums at the time, each spotlighting the music of a single composer. The others I can think of off the top of my head are Claude Thornhill Plays George Gershwin and Erskine Hawkins Plays W.C. Handy.

I figured that the appeal of this would be so limited that I'm the sole source. Send me a PM - I'll send you the address to pay through Paypal, and send you the files in the format of your choice.

Typical of his work during that period. As Clifford hints, his music got more lyrical and more conservative as time went on. I hope Michael would forgive me for saying this, but there are tracks from his later albums that border on "New Age" music.

I thought I had started a thread about this, but I sure can't find it. So tomorrow night I'm releasing this 7" vinyl 45 RPM EP, with two of my slightly abstract, but bluesy tunes played by just me on overdubbed saxes and clarinets. At the release show tomorrow night, the record will be five dollars, after that it will be eight dollars. For those without turntables, I have downloads available in multiple formats: WAV, mp3, FLAC, and AIFF. Three dollars will get you both tunes with cover art attached and a pdf of the back cover, which has notes and credits. Samples are below. Just send me a PM and I'll tell you how to get this in any of these formats. Tutwiler Depot sample King Oliver in Savannah sample

This show is tomorrow night!

That looks pretty interesting. Don't usually go for this kind of anthology, but I might pick this up.

Daddy-O Presents MJT + 3 (Argo). I had been looking for a decent, affordable copy of this for some time, since it's the only MJT + 3 album with Richard Abrams (not yet Muhal) in the piano chair. He also wrote over half the tunes. Steve Lacy - The Kiss (Lunatic). A solo recital from Hiroshima, 1986. Stunning.

Dude!

I have only sporadically kept up with this thread, so I just read ep's long post from May 1, of which I'm only quoting the first paragraph. I'm not going to say where I come down on the Prince thing or the showmanship thing, because it's kind of complicated. But this post is one of the best things I've ever read on the subject. But just about every time ep1str0phy posts something here, it's deeply thought out and and near-perfectly expressed. Thanks for your contributions.

Nono - Polifonica/Monodia/Ritmica Maderna - Serenata #2 Berio - Diffences 1961 Time LP.

The WSQ is one of the few groups/musicians whose every album I have - bought as they came out. If I could only keep one, this would be it.

James Dawson - Soprano Saxophone (Crystal LP). I'm not sure why I haven't played this mint-condition 1982 LP for a while. Dawson has a beautiful sound and is a very sensitive player, as are all his accompanists. The music is all from between 1957 and 1980; I particularly like Walter Hartley's off-center "Diversions" for soprano sax and piano and Warren Benson's conservative, but gorgeous Quintet for saxophone and string quartet.

Kyoto Imperial Court Music Orchestra - Gagaku: The Imperial Court Music of Japan (Lyrichord)

This is worth reading. It's just unbelievable. Makes me feel better about my house full of records and CDs.