mikeweil

Pres!!! I love that bowed solo Slam Stewart did on "Sometimes I'm Happy", too - King Pleasure did a vocalese version of that.

Monk's sides with Wilbur Ware are essential, although Ware left after some argument. That huge rubbery sound is something I miss from today's bass players.

I just read the news on a German language classical music forum that renowned composer Stockhausen has passed - R.I.P.

I will get myself together and conceive, practice and record a CD of frame drum solos - something I have in mind for several years now, but too many things were distracting me from such a project. I will finally get my webistes online and publish the Cal Tjader disco, as well as others on Don Patterson, Carla White, Melvin Rhyne, and others - a concise version of the Tjader disco will be included in an upcoming Tjader biography.

Marcus, best wishes for you - I have a problem with my left leg and also face the consequence of having to do something for myself and my body to prevent damage, so I can feel with you. Take your time - health is more important than computers!

The disc arrived today, gave it a listen, some nice things. Thanks a lot.

And : brownie, I will miss you! Your positive attitude and wealth of knowledge and first hand anecdotes is indispensible!

I think the moderators should be given a handle to act quickly and directly to discipline those members being part of that undercurrent, with the prospect of being banned immediately in case they prove stubborn. Do you really think 2 or 3 will be enough? The classical forum I'm in has more than a dozen, but on other hand the topics are many and rather specialized.

You're flattering to include me on the list .... how much is the fare over the drink? Dunno if I can afford it.

R.I.P. One of the true originals, for sure. He and Cándido Camero both claim to have invented the lug-tuned conga drum ..... probably an idea that was in the air. He and Cándido were the first to play ttwo or three drums as a set, too. He was on a host of albums, including a few of his own including some recorded on Martin Cohen's label, as he endorsed LP percussion. http://content.congahead.com/galleries/patatotrib/

The theme of this 52nd Organissimo Blindfold Test was Jazz and Afro-Cuban Rhythm. It was not simply Latin rhythm: all grooves here were definitely Cuban, track 5 straying the farthest from a traditional Cuban dance rhythm, but the characteristics were still there. I hate the over-simplification the term "Latin" implies - it does not do justice to the widely differing traditions south of the USA border that each are a musical cosmos of their own, with at least two of them (Cuba and Brazil) being just as complex as the African-American music world in the US. As the great Cuban tumbadora player Luis Miranda (a member of the fantastic rhythm section of the Machito Orquesta from the late 1940's who also played with Cal Tjader for a year) said: To clarify that even further, the arranger had to adapt to our rhythm, not the other way around. This is the true LATIN JAZZ! (Okay, even he uses the term ... many musicians do, but that doesn't make it more accurate.) I quote him because I am convinced that the rhythm is the center of the music, and to progress, jazz must seek to explore new rhythmical worlds, the Cuban being one of the most developped. There has been a mutual fascination between jazz and Cuban musicians from the 1930s that continues to this day. I tried to select some more recent examples to show the different mixtures of jazz or jazz-like improvisation with Cuban rhythm - some only sounds like jazz, but can be perfectly explained without any jazz influence! I also wanted to include some musicians that you wouldn't expect in such a context while avoiding the household names of the scene. # 1 - Maria Rivas: Night And Day (Cole Porter, Spanish lyrics by Maria Rivas). CD Muare (Angel Falls Records AFR 1101, 1998) Maria Rivas vocals; José Rodriguez tp; Domingo Pagliuca tb; Julio Flores ss; Evencio Villamizar as; Horacio Mogollón ts; Dino Nugent p; Gerardo Chacón el-b; Gerardo Rosales cga; Antonio Rondón bgo; Alberto Naranjo timbales, drums, arranger. Recorded August-October 1996, Miami Maria Rivas is Venezuela's # 1 singer. I once ordered a CD of her (Café Negrito) along with some Cal Tjader items 'cause it was a cheap sellout item and reportedly audiophile, but the voice and attitude caught me more than the sound. Her CDs are hard to find, as the US labels she worked with are all out of business, but used copies can be found on Amazon (who misspell this CD "Maure"!) or GEMM. If you like this track, this CD is for you. I find it magnificent, the poetic Spanish lyrics comparing the sound of the rain on the roof with that of drums, the scatting, her rhythmic precision - she surely enchanted me. When I heard this track the opener of this BFT was chosen. Very nice arrangement by Alberto Naranjo, a great drummer who worked with Irakere and is a leading musician of Venezuela. A true synthesis of jazz and Cuban music. http://www.mariarivas.net/ http://www.sincopa.com/jazz/artists/maria_rivas.htm # 2 - Edward Simon: Colega (Simon). CD Edward Simon (Kokopelli Records KOKO 1305, 1995) Mark Turner ts; Edward Simon p; Larry Grenadier b; Adam Cruz d; Milton Cardona cga. Recorded April 1&2, 1995, Manhattan Center Studios, New York City. Another musician from Venzuela! Simon's father was a great folk singer, and he grew up between folklore and his classical piano studies - the latter is the reason for his beautiful touch on the piano. He adopted jazz equally well after movin to the US and turned into one of the best pianists between modern jazz and Latin stylings on the scene. This CD was his debut as a leader, while he was still a member of Bobby Watson's band. I wondered if anybody would recognize Mark Turner here ... Cardona is one of the main figures on the Cuban/Puerto Rican scene in New York. Sometimes I find him bland, but he plays fine solos here. http://www.edwardsimon.com/ # 3 - Don Grolnick: Rojo y Negro (Grolnick). CD Medianoche (Warner Bros. 9 46287-2, 1996) Michael Brecker ts; Dave Valentin fl; Don Grolnick p; Mike Mainieri vib; Andy Gonzalez b; Don Alias timbales, perc; Steve Berrios d, bgo, perc; Milton Cardona cga. Recorded at Power Station, New York, probably 1996. This gets my vote for most overlooked Cuban Jazz album of the 1990's! Grolnick didn't live long after the session, the label had no artist to promote the record and after a rather limited first pressing they deleted it. It's a beautifully conceived album, with arrangements carefully crafted and muscians handpicked like on his two preceding Blue Note albums. I wouldn't have expected Grolnick to go Cuban - who would? But he turned in one of the nicest CDs in the genre. This includes cleverly chosen tunes by others (incl. Andrew Hill's "Catta"!) and fine originals. I ordered this through Jazz Corner and to my surprise got the CD with a handwritten note from Don's wife! (I have no idea whether she still has some copies.) All turn in fine solos, and the rhythm section features some of the most reliable players on the scene. Too sad that three of the players here are no longer with us: Grolnick, Brecker, and Alias ... Dave Valentin's own CDs are not my cup of tea, but he's a great soloist here. I wondered why nobody recognized Brecker ... http://www.dongrolnick.com/ # 4 - Uri Caine: Time Will Tell (Caine). CD Toys (JMT 514 022-2, 1995, reissued on Winter & Winter) Dave Douglas tp; Gary Thomas ts; Uri Caine p; Dave Holland b; Ralph Peterson d; Don Alias cga, perc. Recorded March 1995, Sound on Sound, New York City. This is the farthest we go from traditional Cuban rhythm on this compilation. Caine wrote a clever construction of parts of different lengths, throwing in a measure of 7/4 for breaking up the rhythm. This is how I could invision the future of Latin/African inflected jazz. That part where Douglas and Thomas play lines in different meters is great. It could get my vote for overlooked hidden Latin jazz track of the 1990s - there is only one other track with Alias on the disc, which is more or less a tribute to Herbie Hancock. Alias is one of the few percussionists with enough flexibility to navigate a groove like here. My hat is off! (I feel proud that I talked to him many many years ago when he was gigging Germany with Stone Alliance.) http://www.uricaine.com/ # 5 - Ron Carter: Que Pasa (Carter). CD When Skies Are Grey (Blue Note/Somethin' Else 7243 5307542 2, 2000) Stephen Scott p; Ron Carter b; Harvey Mason d; Steve Kroon perc. Recorded 1999? New York? When I wrote a comment on this on the Blue Note website I called this the cutest montunos you will ever hear. Carter's affinity for Brazilian music is well-known, but here he turns to a Cuban concept, with a subtlety worthy of the Modern Jazz Quartet. The weakest spot on the album is Steve Kroon, who quickly runs out of ideas and doesn't tune his bongos properly - perhaps he was too much in awe in such fast company. Mason has a great playing concept for everything - I think he's a genial drummer. His jazz chops are hardly taken notice of - I started a thread on his last CD as a leader, which is a great trio album, but seemingly nobody from the board bought it besides me. Stephen Scott plays very well on this album - he turned out to become one of the best in the Hank Jones / John Lewis line of jazz pianists, and the way he navigates lyrical jazz piano among those Cuban grooves is very nice! I'm kind of shocked nobody recognized one of the most recorded jazz bassists! # 6 - Hilton Ruiz: Michael's Mambo (Ruiz). CD Manhattan Mambo (Telarc CD-83322, 1992) David Sanchez ts; Hilton Ruiz p; Andy Gonzalez b; Steve Berrios d; Ignacio Berroa timbales; Giovanni Hidalgo cga; Joe Gonzalez shekeré; Charlie Sepulveda & Papo Vazquez, perc. Recorded at BMG Studios, New York City, April 28, 1992. I included this as a tribute to the late Hilton Ruiz, one of the first in the 1970's to navigate suberbly in both styles. I saw him live with Rahsaan, and was delighted to see that he turned to his Latin heritage later in his career. All players here are top names on the scene, Giovanni Hidalgo having a reputation of being the fastest hands on the congas - he sent a whole generation of conga players back to woodshedding! The piece itself is a simple descarga - the Cuban equivalent to a jam session: set up a rhythm and let 'em blow! # 7 - Roberto Juan Rodriguez: Guahira (Rodriguez). CD El Danzón de Moises (Tzadik TZ 7158, 2002). David Krakauer cl; Mark Feldman v; Marcus Rojas tuba; Ted Reichman acc; Brad Jones b; Roberto Juan Rodriguez, Susie Ibarra d, timbles, perc. Recorded in New York, probably 2001. The great Cuban bass legend Cachao encouraged Roberto Juan Rodriguez to write his own music - the results are two fascinating CDs referring to the hidden Jewish heritage in Cuban music. This is hilarious music! The Guajira groove (a Cuban peasant dance/song genre) here is as dry as it gets. I love this! Rodriguez was of course a member of the Cubanos Postizos which feature a similar dry humor. http://www.robertojuanrodriguez.com/home.html more later ....

Where'd ya get dat coupon???

Now that I've recovered a little, let me say thanks to you Jim, for EVERYTHING! This is the place! I would surely miss it - it is the first webpage I open when I go online, and one of two I check every day. The other is a German language classical music forum run by a guy from Austria that I joined a few months ago, and they seem to have gone through some similar crisis with indecent characters on the board - as a consequence new members are only accepted when they prove to be real persons (the main administrator actually called me on the phone to make sure I existed!) and are thrown off when do not contribute regularly. As a consequence this is a club of people seriously interested in the music. To lessen the burden of moderation they have a host of moderators for each subforum, so the board is somewhat run collectively, which seems to work - I would volunteer to moderate the Blindfold Test forum if needed! I opt for regular donations - especially by those who use the board frequently. There are things much less important in my life I spend money for ... There are plenty shoulders here to share carrying the burden of keeping this board in shape: what can we do? Anyway - the wealth of information buried here should be saved!

Bellson is great on "Duke's Big 4" on Pablo, along with ray Brown and Joe Pass.

I am shocked!

... and there's another CTI, "The Rite of Spring":

The Fresh Sound vinyl reissue, btw, was the first release of the stereo tapes of this LP! The Fresh Sound CD currently available also has the stereo version. This is a very nice album ...

Hubert Laws' "Afro-Classic" is a whole album of jazz-treated classical pieces by J.S. Bach, Stravinsky, etc. There are treatments of classical pieces on his MusicMasters CDs as well, Beethoven and the like, but I found them somewhat over-arranged.

The 1st Gymnopédie is probably the classical piece recorded the second most often by jazz musicians - I remember a radio feature on German local hr radio listing about 20 versions by jazz and pop musicians. Hubert Laws recorded this on the CTI album "In The Beginning"; Blood, Sweat & Tears on their 2nd self-tiltled LP. Jacques Loussier made a whole CD of Satie Pieces, as did the Vienna Art Orchestra ("The Minimalism of Erik Satie"). Herbie Mann recorded the 2nd Gymnopédie on his Atlantic LP "Nirvana" with Bill Evans.

The MJQ did that piece at least three times, IIRC, on "Space", on the Atlantic LP with Laurindo Almeida, and on an orchestral LP. It is only the middle movement, the Adagio, from Rodrigo's Concierto, BTW. Miles Davis recorded Gil Evans' arrangement on "Sketches of Spain", Jim Hall, did it on his CTI LP "Concierto". Joe Locke & Geoffrey Keezer recorded it on their second New Sound Quartet SACD, "Summertime". It is one of the classical pieces most often recorded by jazz musicians.

Glad to see the last discs finally reached their destination - stay in the groove! I will be back Sunday or Monday from gigs in Basel and Paris.

Not to my knowledge. Walfredo de los Reyes did an LP Cuban Jazz - I have a Palladium reissue - it is many years earlier, and not nearly as hot. Cachao and Paquito Echeverria are on it as well.

I have the answers ready but will wait until king ubu and Big Al have posted their comments. Due to some post clerk's mistake their discs were returned to me and are still under way, it seems ...

Okay, back in town for a day, this is the state of things: # 2 - identified by Nate Dorward # 4 - tenor player Gary Thomas identified by Nate Dorward # 6 - identified by sidewinder # 7 - identified by John B. ... you're much better than I thought . But I'm really surprised nobody get's a clue on track # 5 .... that pianist was born in 1969, but he's not the leader. Hehe ....