jeffcrom

Didn't expect to see you here - thanks for playing, Paul. Yes, "Miss Ann." I like the drummer, but I'm a fan of the George Clinton line, "Funk is its own reward." Track 2 is from an album co-led by the pianist and saxophonist. I kind of regret not choosing a track on which the saxist is more prominent. Track 4 is partially identified above. Yeah, track 5 is a strange one. See comments above.

American for sure. No Cooper-Moore.

I like the contrast between your reactions to track 1. No connection to Oliver Lake on track 2. Thom is right, that's not Sonny Simmons on track 3. I included this because I wanted something with a strong Ornette influence, and I like this young altoist. I figured that track 5 would be the most controversial thing in all four sections. It certainly occurred to me that it could be a track that absolutely no one likes. I do like it, but I'm odd. As is track 5.

By now you've probably read the rest of the thread and have some answers. I find the guitar tone in track 4 annoying, but it's not a fatal flaw, in my opinion. Not McCaslin on soprano. And yeah, Dave Holland is a bad man on that track. A couple of your comments led me to muse on atmosphere or feel vs. content. To me the arrangement on #2 is so interesting that any gentility in the approach doesn't bother me at all. Anyone know the arranger of that track? And while I like track 4, I frankly picked it as much for the song as for the performance.

Thanks for listening to the old stuff; glad you enjoyed some of it. I'm actually with you on track 6 - I don't care for the rhythm section very much. The clarinetist makes it happen, though. And I know what you mean with your comments about track 2. It's a tricky thing - younger musicians playing older styles is fine with me if they have their own voices and can make the music live. And this (middle-aged) clarinetist comes by his style naturally, and has his own voice, in my opinion. I remember a Lester Bowie blindfold test from the 1980s that struck me - his reaction to a beboppish track was something like: "5 stars if it's an old recording; 1 star if it's young guys." That struck me as kind of absurd. But it's a tricky thing....

Got it - "Dark as a Dungeon" (yes, the old Merle Travis song), by Jeremy Steig - from the Flute Fever sessions, but not included on the LP or the CD reissue. It was issued only on a 45 RPM single.

Thank you all - it was very nice.

As usual, I've been playing way more 78s than I've been posting about. But here's today's (pretty good) complete list, including some new ones : Charlie Parker - Passport/Visa (Mercury) Hans Holler Quartet - Beat/Up From Munich (Discovery International Jazz Series). From 1952, with Jutta Hipp on piano. Nat Pierce and his Orchestra - It Might as Well Be Spring/Searsucker Blues (Motif). Side one label reads "Alto Sax by Charlie Mariano." The three records above were all in E or E- condition - the 78 equivalent of Mint. Then on to three early discs by a New Orleans clarinetist I love, Tony Parenti: French Market Blues/Dizzy Lizzy (Victor) Cabaret Echoes/Midnight Papa (Columbia) In the Dungeon/When You and I Were Pals (Columbia). The great cornetist Johnny Wiggs is on the last one. I love his playing, which seems influenced equally by King Oliver and Bix Beiderbecke. I ended with another new one, a 1940-ish reissue of a couple of 1928-29 Victor sides. This one is also in E- condition: Jelly Roll Morton - Shreveport / Duke Ellington - Doin' the Voom Voom (Bluebird).

I saw Mabern at the Fat Cat in Greenwich Village in June, and was mightily impressed.

Happy birthday, Paul! (And to my dad!)

Happy birthday!

Wow - a big one. Happy birthday!

I don't have a dog in this hunt, but I get tickled every time I see the title of this thread. It sounds like a chapter title in a 19th-century music appreciation book.

Perhaps that's because it's the Spontaneous Music Ensemble.

Yes. I'm fairly impressed, since his work here is so different than most of his ECM output.

King Oliver on Okeh Butterbeans & Susie on Okeh Clara Smit on Columbia

Not Leo.

If you didn't participate in alex's BFT #130, you should go back and read the threads and check out the music. It was almost a "greatest hits" of early jazz.

I can't recommend that collection enough - I bought it 20 years or so ago, and it was eye-opening. Pardon me if I'm repeating the story of how I got it. Money was tight at the time. I was living in the suburbs, and drove into town to visit a record store. They had this set for 80 dollars. I didn't have 80 dollars, so I drove home, feeling dejected. When I got home there was a check for 80 dollars waiting for me in my mailbox. I turned around immediately and drove back to the store, stopping on the way at the bank to cash the check.

Nice try. Yes, some well-known players here, mostly pretty early in their recording careers.