jeffcrom

Kid Avery Howard it is!

Oh, and I should add that lipi was right about the trombone soloist on "Zonky." Don Redman's on the record but doesn't solo, saxophonically or vocally.

Martial Solal - Son 66 (French Columbia/EMI). I enjoyed that last one so much that I went for a second helping.

Martial Solal Trio (French Columbia/EMI). A wonderful album, featuring bilingual puns ("Jazz Frit") and a hilarious "Four Brothers" played on harpsichord.

Pete Brown/Jonah Jones - Jazz Kaleidoscope (Bethlehem). The Pete Brown session on side one is just delicious. It was originally a 10" LP; Joe Wilder is on trumpet. Charlie Poole with the Highlanders - The Complete Paramount & Brunswick Recordings, 1929 (Tompkins Square)

You got track 1 on your second try - it is indeed Brew Moore with a Scandinavian rhythm section playing the tune he called "Ergo." My CD reissue is called Svingtet 14, but it's the same album. I tend to give away too much too soon in my BFT discussion threads, because I enjoy the discussion. But there is an interesting connection between this track and a track in one of the other sections in the BFT. You're right about the tune (of course) and the general time period of track 2. I like it a lot, too. Neither Milt Jackson nor Barry Galbraith are involved, though.

You probably saw them, but in case you didn't, the links are in the post about yours.

Wade Walton - Shake 'Em on Down (Prestige Bluesville mono). An excellent album by the Clarksdale, Mississippi bluesman, recorded at Van Gelder studio in 1962. Mr. Walton autographed my copy at his barber shop in Clarksdale about 20 years ago.

Steve Lacy - Eronel (Horo). Solo Monk compositions. Jimmy Deuchar - Pub Crawling (Contemporary). I listened to this once when I found it about a year ago, then forgot about it. That won't happen again - excellent writing and playing from Mr. Deuchar and an all-star British cast.

We have our first correct ID - track 5 is indeed "Disc Jockey Jump." Not Zoot on 1, though.

Talk about it here.

Talk about it here.

Talk about it here.

Talk about it here.

Here are the links. Anyone can feel free to join in at any time. Moldy Fig Stomp Straight No Chaser The Freedom Principle Rara Avis Someone wanted streaming. Here's the whole thing, but you'll have to click one track at a time: BFT 140

I finished putting this BFT together today, and I'm pretty happy with it. The mainstream section is 26 minutes long, and the others are each 21 minutes long - so you can participate with a pretty minimal time investment if you wish. The Rara Avis section has six tracks, transferred from LP, 45, and 78. These tracks are way obscure; I would be surprised if anyone here has heard any of them. (I would love to be proved wrong.) But I can pretty much guarantee that you'll be knocked out by some of them.

OMG! I remember that guy. All I can say at this point, many years later, is that I meant well, musically. There are a few tracks that don't make make me cringe. I still like "Ivory Burn." And I guess it's notable that I still have the only cover version of Tristano's "Turkish Mambo," as far as I know. But, yeah, I'm cringing, at least a little bit. But I'm glad you like it. haha, I think it's an enjoyable a respectable release. A few tracks sound dated (Geomusic 4006) but for the time I understand it. King Oliver in Savannah and Falling got multiple listens. Your chops are sting thoughout. I actually bought it on a whim thinking it might be your album but really wasn't sure. Definitely money well spent. Well, thanks. I think a lot of musicians, when they get older, are slightly horrified by their early efforts. If you like "King Oliver in Savannah," you might be interested to know that a much better version of it is coming out in a few months. I'm putting out a 7" vinyl EP and download of that tune and another which has never had a good recording. It's just me on multiple saxes and clarinets. I like it. Maybe in 25 more years it will make me cringe, but I don't think so.

OMG! I remember that guy. All I can say at this point, many years later, is that I meant well, musically. There are a few tracks that don't make make me cringe. I still like "Ivory Burn." And I guess it's notable that I still have the only cover version of Tristano's "Turkish Mambo," as far as I know. But, yeah, I'm cringing, at least a little bit. But I'm glad you like it.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels that way. I've kept the early albums I have by her, but I've never kept the more recent Bloom albums I've tried for more than a couple of months. Now playing: Sunny Murray - Homage to Africa (BYG Actuel)

I feel a little funny presenting a blindfold test right now - I used to participate just about every month, but haven't done so in a while now. But for what it's worth, here's what I'm planning for November. My tastes are so eclectic - old New Orleans jazz to avant-garde and in between - that just about every participant has hated something on my BFTs. So I'm trying something different. I'm going to present four blindfold tests, each 20-25 minutes. Every participant will be given the download links to all four, but can listen and comment on only the ones he or she wishes - just one or all four. I'll start a separate discussion thread for each, unless Hot Ptah tells me that's too unwieldy. You don't have to tell me in this thread in which you want to participate, only that you want to participate. The four BFTs are: Moldy Fig Jam (New Orleans and early jazz) Straight, No Chaser (mainstream jazz) The Freedom Principle (avant-garde) Rara Avis (rare, little-known tracks of various types, but mostly kind of mainstream). Sign up and you'll have access to all four - then choose which one(s) you want to participate in.

I particularly like the second of these pictures (taken by a friend), because our rather cynical tenor player is hugging one of the residents with obvious emotion.

Not quite sure where to post this - I guess here is as good a place as any. Again, I don't post much about my musical activities here, but: The Edgewood Saxophone Trio played tonight at Trinity House, a transitional residential shelter for homeless men with addiction problems. It's in Atlanta's Sweet Auburn neighborhood - just a few blocks from the old Royal Peacock club and from Martin Luther King's birthplace. (And unfortunately, right across the street from a crack house.) The director, Bruce, has started to have music in the beautiful chapel there. His goal is to bring in audiences to interact with the residents, but tonight only a couple of "outsiders" ventured to the somewhat daunting venue. No matter - we all agreed that this was the best audience we had ever played for. Most of our audiences seem to think that we're playing "interesting," kind of weird saxophone music. These guys instantly heard and felt the blues content that's part of almost everything I write, no matter how abstract the music is. They hollered and stood up and encouraged us. We do a piece called "Hymn," and the guy sitting nearest to me started crying as we played it. Afterwards, every single member of the audience came up and gave each one of us a hug. My wife could tell that I was really high when I got home. She said, "I'm not a musician, but it must be nice to play a gig that really means something like that." Yep.

I am writing this right now in part to delay my departure from My Favorite City; I really should be on the road back to Atlanta right now. But hey, I need to finish my coffee, anyway. Last evening's Preservation Hall performance was moving, intriguing, and thought-provoking. After hearing some less-than-inspired performances of traditional jazz in the Hall over the past few years, last night was a revelation. It felt like Preservation Hall has gone through something and come out the other side. Ben Jaffe, the director of the Hall and the bass player with the main touring band, has been reinventing the venue and the band over the past few years. (Many bands/musicians play at Preservation Hall, but there has always been a "main" band that does most of the touring and recording.) What Jaffe is doing, I think, is moving the Hall and the band from the category of "preserving the past" to that of "living New Orleans music." Whether or not what the band plays is traditional New Orleans jazz now seems to be irrelevant. The band's last album, That's It, is the first album by the PHJB to be composed of all original compositions. Last night I heard the main band for the first time in several years. They played "That's A Plenty" and "His Eye is On the Sparrow," but almost everything else during the two sets I heard was composed by members of the band. Much of it was dark and funky - Joe Lastie's second-line drumming was perfect for the music. Mark Braud on trumpet and Charlie Gabriel on tenor and clarinet were outstanding. What Preservation Hall was has been gone for awhile, anyway, and the pale reflections of past glories I have experienced there have sometimes depressed me. Last night was something else. Whatever the music I heard was, it got under my skin.

Word comes from New Orleans that legendary drummer Smokey Johnson died yesterday at the age of 78. Johnson was a fine jazz drummer, but his real impact was on the New Orleans R & B scene. He was the drummer on many classic recordings, such as Earl King's "Trick Bag," Snooks Eaglin's early Imperial sides, and many of Fats Domino's later recordings. And if you don't know Smokey's 1966 local hit, "It Ain't My Fault," do yourself a favor and check it out. The tune, co-written with Wardell Quezergue, has taken on a life of its own in New Orleans. All the brass bands play it, and there's a phenomenal version from 2010, recorded to benefit the Gulf oil spill cleanup, with members of the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Lenny Kravitz, Trombone Shorty, and Mos Def.