mikeweil

According to the CD Universe entry they did!

Received a 2-CD set of beautiful, well-played piano music of French composer Deodat de Séverac, rendered by a Japanese residing in Finland, Izumi Tateno. Ordered a copy of James Carter's Layin' In The Cut.

We should make that a habit! Would double the fun!

You can send your copy to randyhersom - see three post further up. Sorry to hear to have too little time!

He generally sounds to me like he is not that developped in his two-way coordination - I know this is a helluva thing to do - but maybe he is more used to play with bass and drums accompaniment. Playing piano without bass and drums needs a lot of practice to learn how to coordinate these two or more voices, and in his first solo passage from around 2:10 he sounds to me like he didn't clearly know how to get to the end of the chorus, the left hand sounds insecure. On the whole, he's not enough to the point, to these ears, rhythmically, in particular. I'm very ctritical about these things ... The saxist takes less chances, stays within certain limits, but he knows more what he can do and what he wants to do. I started liking this tenor player all the more after a few more spins of this track, he reminds me a little of Art Pepper, but with a softer attack. Who is this?

Forgot to mention I really dig this album, ALL players involved. My peronal favorite among Rivers' Blue Notes. I thought Sizzle to be a strange misconceived album. All tunes jump along in lively tempos without much diversification. I sold that almost immediately. Sounds like an underrehearsed one-shot studio affair, even though Holland and Altshul were frequent partners at the time. The Impulse Trios, OTOH, are all great. Good impression of how he sounded live then.

It's not a problem of his playing, but of the way he was recorded: From what I know from photos made in the Van Gelder Studio, Rudy used to place the mikes pretty close to the cymbals. Steve Ellington had his ride cymbal suspended very loosely on the stand, swaying back and forth at a wide angle, thus causing a phasing effect. If Rudy had placed one or two mikes overhead 6 or 7 feet high, he would have avoided this. The first Dave Holland quintet CD on ECM has Ellington too, if you listen closely, you can hear it but it won't distract you.

I remember seeing him live on some Frankfurt Jazz Festival - an unplanned appearance to take advantage of his band passing through town at the time of the festival. Nice music with an original touch. He was a prominent, important figure on the Polish jazz scene back then. But I never saw any of his records.

I haven't heard the Ellington Dreyfus but own several others - they sound spectacular, but compared to transfers from the metal parts I tend to prefer these. The Dreyfus remasterings have much less surface noise, more dynamics and thicker bass and clear treble, but lose on the natural room ambience the Centennial set has. The Django Reinhardt CD sounds great - I think their method works best with pre-1940s recordings.

That album with Stuff Smith is a nice one - the whole band swings their butts off, especially bassist Al McKibbon, who obviously had a great time playing that date. Lou Levy, Shelly Manne, Bob Evelvoldsen - all playing exceptionally well and swinging here. This was on a French CBS CD a few years ago. I doubt there is enough material for a 3-CD Select, just two I think.

WTF does that astrological stuff have to do with anything? I just think his astrological chart mirrors his personality - this way it works out nicely in many cases.

This is the Bill Evans I like the best!!!

Very much agree with you, Jim! There is no mention of Rivers in Michael Fitzgerald's Chronology of Art Blakey. As far as Rivers' tenure with T-Bone Walker is concerned - as a pro you play any kind of gig if you need money. But you expect different things to happen in this band compared to Miles' quintet with its rather open approach. Miles really may have wnated to be the "old man", i.e. leader of the band, and Sam's natural authority and dexterity and his bonds with Tony may have been too much. Furthermore, being a Gemini, there is always a tension between conservative and progressive strains in Miles' music - he wanted to take the music further out, but not as far out as Ornette or Trane or Cecil Taylor. And Rivers and Tony certainly could have done that - Tony wanted to play with Cecil at the time. But he was still so young and perhaps couldn't quite make up his mind. I think Miles was real mad at the loss of Trane, and Shorter was the closest, he had wanted him as early as 1960 when he had just joined the Messengers. But at the same time Shorter stayed inside enough to make it easier for Miles. I always think Shorter observed Trane's path and decided not to follow him, for various reasons.

Finally, my comments to tracks 1-7: Track 1: I like this kind of hoedown, the strings and they way they're used is nice - I appreciate humor in music above all others, and if it is really authentic musical humor I'll accept some flaws - but no flaws here. Would like to hear more of it. The tincans and tambourines are a nice touch. Who is this? Track 2: Some Cecil-ite doing Donna Lee. Interesting, but I probably couldn't take a whole CD of this. But this interests me more than most free style solo pianists I have heard. His witty approach makes it listeneable. Track 3: No idea who it is. Carla Bley's tune "Sing Me Softly Of the Blues". Almost a classical tone on the alto. Is this from a whole CD of Carla's tunes? Something to check. They take the title literally - that's what I always like, when there is some reference to the song title. I dare say it is neither Konitz nor Paul Bley. The cellist uses too wide a vibrato for my taste. It would have worked perfectly without the cello. Still very nice. I'd listen to more of this. Track 4: Saxes only, with bass and drums. Nice writing. They get it across to me. After the ensemble the alto soloist gets a little on my nerves. Would have preferred less alto and more baritone - I think the latter is more consistent in his ideas. Track 5: Starts out making me curious how it will proceed, but what follows is some modern Chick-Corea-esque theme for a jazzy tv commercial with neo-baroque leanings. I probably have heard too much of this kind, so blame it on my listening experiences rather than the level of the playing here, which is good. Still all of the elements here have been used more convincingly, I think. Track 6: Now that could be Konitz, or at least someone who likes him. Konitz' sound is somewhat more fragile. No that's not Konitz. Is that a tenor sax? The pianist plays some phrases that sound he hasn't quite made up his mind - some random chords not totally conceived. Nice idea to take their time before they really play together, but somehow the track as a whole doesn't convince me. Track 7: After some more listening, I'm sure this is Bennie Wallace. I couldn't listen to him all night - well I once did for a whole evening and it was hard to bear as his drummer was so unrestful - but I somehow like his jagged style. I have some tenor battles he organized that are very nice, and his monkisms are always good. Very nice BFT !!!!!

Never was in doubt ...

"Swingmatism" is high on my list as well! Agree on the Prez sides!

Great choice, one of my favourite Keith Jarrett albums! Will give it a listen.

Now that I at last find the time for some more concentrated listening, here are my more elaborate comments on some tracks starting from the piano/bass duo: Track 8: A little too pedestrian for my taste - The walking is pretty simple, not much feeling in it, very conservative, doesn't match his solo ideas. I like to hear more tonal painting on a tune like "Alone Together" - they certainly do not sound like it, but just play the tune and the changes. Track 9: Very nice - an album I would check out for more. No idea who it is, just a feeling I should know. That Dolphy-esque tune sounds familiar. Track 10: NMCOT - and definitely not Gato. This is a Paris suburb I will not pay a return visit. Track 11: Very nice two-handed pianist - don't see how he should be interested in the dull backing of the duo bassist from track 8. Still no clue who it is. Track 12: This has been guessed, and I have it, but listened more to his trio track, one of which I considered for my upcoming BFT. I like this pianist a lot - what has he been doing lately? Track 13: I'm not a fan of this unsettled piano trio style in the Bill Evans wake. I like a tune to be played, not just hinted at. I always have the impression they would improvise just the same stuff on a totally different tune. Track 14. Nice guitar trio, no idea. Would have to hear more to say wether or not I like him. Cool idea to play an ABBA tune - it's the way you play it! He sure does it well! .... oh - it's over so soon? Enjoyed it, whish I had more time for peaceful listening.

I had the Bill Mays CD with ray Drummond, and I'm sure this is not the version. It does not sound like Red Mitchell on bass either, whose sound I know pretty well, so the album king ubu linked is not the one. No clue who it might be ...

For those interested, "All About Rosie" was reissued on CD as part of the Columbia Legacy CD "The Birth of the Third Stream" in 1996.

What I like the best about this is the merging of rhythmic patterns with the abstract contrapuntal lines. This one turned me on to Barry Galbraith and Hal McKusick. I then found George Russell arrangements on albums by Teddy Charles, McKusick and others - this opened up a musical world. Great choice! I have the 1987 RCA Bluebird CD - bought the French CD for a friend years later, compared the sound and found it to be absolutely identical!

Today: Georg Böhm, Complete Suites for Harpsichord, by Mitzi Meyerson (Glossa) Biagio Marini, Allegrezza del Nuovo Maggio, by Emanuela Galli (beautiful soprano, in every respect!) & Ensemble Galilei directed by lutenist Paul Beier ..... as you see, I'm very much into baroque music as well. On Monday: Nicholas Payton, Sonic Trance Cal Tjader, Cuban Fantasy Dave Pike, Manhattan Latin

You're at least the second here to praise this one, and I remember it got bad reviews when it was reissued ..... never trust the critics alone!

Nice to hear you like it! Do you have his first Blue Note, and if so, how do you think they compare?