mikeweil

I remember the praise this concert got once it had taken place - and I wonder why so few of the Berliner Jazztage concerts, practically all of which were recorded by the local broadcast stations (many of them on videotape!), made it to vinyl or CD. I think it was still Joachim Berendt who invited Shaw, and was willing to pay for the extended ensemble (I saw the quintet or sextet around that time in Frankfurt). Anyway, it was some international credit to that festival when the LP on Muse was released. I get the impression from his music that this was one period of relative stability and musical satisfaction in Shaw's life.

I got the Leucasia disc last week - it is one of the best folklore/jazz fusions I have ever heard. Mille grazie for the recommendation, Luca - I will order another copy for my cousin whose daughter lives in Florence - her partner is from Sardegna.

There are several excellent Red Mitchell sessions on Capri Records, all highly recommended. I always considered him one of the greatest jazz bassists, with a gorgeous sound all his own, no matter how small it was, and great swing and ideas. One can hear from the joy in his music how much living in Sweden relaxed his life. The one with Jimmy Rowles and Donald Bailey is one of the best ten piano trio CDs I have!

I once saw Cyrille live with his own quartet - the most relaxed drummer ever. He's terrific on Horace Tapscott's two HatArt CDs The Dark Tree - he plays two completely different solos on the two takes of the title track, and one is a masterpiece of thematic drum improvisation.

The Alessis Masterlink is an excellent machine, and is very well suited for home recording to its harddisc as well, given you have a microphone-preamp and a pair of decent mics. A friend of mine has one and uses it for both purposes - the recordings are excellent depending on the quality of the mics, and the LP transfers sound almost exactly like the LPs. Editing functions are relatively easy to handle - I compiled my recent Blindfold Test with it, adjusted track levels etc. There is a Yamaha CDR-HD 1500 which serves as a hi-fi harddisc recorder designed especially for the needs of LP collectors - I consider buying this one, it got good reviews in German hi-fi magazines.

There is a third one on VeeJay.

Fantasy EP 4021: Mambo Moderno, Afro Corolombo, Alegres Congas from the March 6, 1954 session; Goza, Panchero Mambero from the March 25, 1954 session. Fantasy EP 4022: Alegres Timbales, Mueve La Cintura from the March 6, 1954 session; Ritmo Caliente, Mambo Inn, Bernie's Tune from the March 25, 1954 session.

Thanks, Duncan, for the specific analysis of the Verve sessions personnel - what I wanted to say is that only three featured the working band as was, without any guest artist. I am aware that other projects just expanded on it. BTW, the liner notes for Along Comes Cal are easily misread: there is only one track featuring the live band: Los Bandidos. If you have the LP, read the credits carefully. I made the same mistake, as did Walter Bruyninkx. See the discussion of this on the Cal Tjader Forum.

Don't hold your breath, Al - everything from the two EPs Fantasy 4021 and 4022 was on the 10" LP 3-18 (all titled Cal Tjader Plays Afro-Cuban) and were then reissued on the 12" LP "Ritmo Caliente" and their CD counterpart "Los Ritmos Calientes". There are only two rare Tjader tracks from the 1950's that never were on CD: - a ballad reading of "As I Love You" on the 45rpm single Fantasy 540 recorded late in November 1957 (the other three tracks were on the "Tjader Goes Latin" and "Mas Ritmo Caliente" LPs) - a version of Ellington's "Squeeze Me" released only on the stereo LP Fantasy 8019 "Latin For Dancers", which included all tracks recorded in stereo from the "Tjader Plays Mambo" and "Mambo with Tjader" sessions of September 11 and 21, 1954. Everything else Tjader recorded as a leader for Fantasy in the 1950's is available on some CD.

Happy Birthday, and wish you well in every respect!

Interesting that you mention that one - it's the only among the Verves that I have a hard time listening to.

Tjader was briefly available on CD in Japan - but I couldn't get a copy so far.

That is partly due to the fact that they used studio musicians rather than Cal's working bands for most of the Verve albums. Or they used a part of his band among the studio guys for special recording projects. Among the Verve LPs, only those marked * are with his working band of the time. Verve V6-8419* Cal Tjader - In A Latin Bag Verve V6-8459* Cal Tjader - Saturday Night, Sunday Night At The Blackhawk Verve V6-8470 Cal Tjader Plays The Contemporary Music of Mexico and Brazil Verve V6-8472 Anita O'Day & Cal Tjader - Time For Two Verve V6-8507 Cal Tjader - Several Shades Of Jade Verve V6-8531* Cal Tjader - Soña Libré Verve V6-8575 Cal Tjader - Breeze From The East Verve V6-8585 Cal Tjader - Warm Wave Verve V6-8614 Cal Tjader - Soul Sauce Verve V6-8626 Cal Tjader - Soul Bird: Whiffenpoof Verve V6-8637 Cal Tjader - Soul Burst Verve V6-8651 Cal Tjader & Eddie Palmieri - el sonido nuevo Verve V6-8671 Cal Tjader - Along Comes Cal Verve V6-8730 Cal Tjader - Hip Vibrations Verve V6-8769 Cal Tjader - The Prophet

IIRC they pressed only 1000 copies of each album and sold most of them at their gigs, although they were being distributed by Bellaphon, who had the largest jazz catalog in Germany back then. I think the single was by Dzyan.

Click here

Thanks Duncan! That question was placed here by baryshnikow. He also asked about the circumstances of Cal's death - click here.

These are the Giger/Lenz/Marron LPs on the list I posted. I found them pretty weird back then and didn't buy them.

Skidmore just wailed on top with no regard to the different rhythms of the pieces - he had a time when he played like that.

Nagara was Giger's own label, he ran it with his sound engineer, but they went broke when the studio burnt down - they had no insurance. There was about a dozen records: 1010 Peter Giger - Family of Percussion 1011 Giger/Lenz/Marron - Beyond 1012 Riot - Green and Blue 1013 (a 45 rpm single by ?) 1014 Peter Giger - Illegitimate Music 1015 Giger/Lenz/Marron - Where the hammer hangs 1016 Family of Percussion - Message to the Enemies of Time 1017 Riot - Black Hill 1018 Family of Percussion & Guests - Sunday Palaver 1019 Papa Oyeah MacKenzie & Peter Giger - Africa Meets Europe 1020 Eddy Marron - Por Marco 1021 Family of Percussion & Archie Shepp - Here Comes the Family 1022 Peter Giger Percussion Orchestra - For Drummers Only: Live at Cologne

Yessir, of course I know and have that one. I was there when the Family of Percussion was born - they rehearsed after hours during a week-long workshop in Bavaria that I attended - Tom Nicholas and Trilok Gurtu where my teachers. Shortly after that record was released I worked as a roadie for them on a two weeks tour through Germany (without Shepp), where they played that song "Here Comes The Family" every night, and we all sang along. The Family was a nice band, but somewhat inconsistent - I witnessed nights where they lost themselves in endless jams and others where they all really listened to each other and played for each other - then it was terrific. They were all heavy players. Their experiments with guests (especially the horn players) were a mixed bag. Peter Giger complained that Alan Sikdmore (who, along with Wolfgang Dauner, guested on "Sunday Palaver", the previous LP) simply couldn't adapt his bebop style to a more rhythmic way of playing. That Shepp vocal was a spontaneous thing happening at the recording session where Shepp overdubbed his part. The groove of that piece was much better live, I assure you. I wish there was a live recording - well there is one, with an expanded version of the band playing pieces written especially for that concert. There is a Peter Giger solo LP titled "Family of Percussion" where he overdubbed all parts that is great. He had the Idea for a percussion band for quite some time before it clicked with this quartet - I saw the previous lineup live in Frankfurt. That group was a pioneer band for percussion music in Europe - I learned a lot from them.

I may get you wrong here, but Monk's tune "Light Blue" is totally different from this one here.

I figure I'm the only one here who really digs them corny congueros .....

You sure it wasn't him and Elvin?

Fathead on flute - of course. I was distracted when I listened to the Wess track - I should have got him. .... but I got Hutch, before I looked here!

Wow! Some real good tracks here!