mikeweil

Haven't heard her yet, but with these sidemen, there should be something to it:

This board will ruin my slipping budget line! I remember buying Freeman's Atlantic LP 'cause Rahsaan produced it, and encountered one of the most original tenor sounds of all time! Later bought the two Nessa LPs, they're great - a belated thanks to Chuck is in order! Happy Birthday Von Freeman!

Bob Belden would be the first to come to my mind, if he still is in the reissue business. Anybody got his e-mail adress? Or Michael Cuscuna, how about a Mosaic box set with the title (and respective contents) The Complete Columbia Live Recordings of the Don Ellis Orchestra? :tup

For completeness, if we start listing Hutchserson's dates with flute tracks, the Connoisseur CD Patterns with James Spaulding deserves a mention. He is also on the 1989 Hutcherson Landmark CD Ambos Mundos - flute only, and Roger Glenn on second flute -, which to me was a great disappointment.

This would confrim my impression that Mclaughlin and Corea sound somewhat like they are still looking for their place in the music, and Corea does not really sound connected to the rhythm beneath him. Seems like a lost chance, under these circumstances a trio record with Vitous, Garbarek and DeJohnette would have yielded music of greater potential - once they cut loose ...

Moody recorded two albums in Paris in July, 1951 for Vogue, one with strings, which was licensed by Blue Note, and one with a quintet. As far as I know both were not among those reissued by BMG France.

The Moody and Gillespie sides were licenses of Vogue recordings; the Gillespies were on one of RCA France's Vogue CD series a few years ago, don't know about the Moodys. The Sadi material originally was Vogue LD 212 and still awaits a reissue. It was recorded on May 8, 1953! Only the Sadi quartets with Martial Solal were on one of the three Solal CDs in that series - these were from 1956. They are very nice!

Maybe we should open a "really weird music" thread ..... can you post a link, please?

John, I see you get the idea ...

..... and, well, to listen to some demos, go to the buy page and click on the track listing!

Oh, forgot to mention: be prepared for some weird jokes.

Thelonious Moog website Ordered this after someone mentioned it in the "What are you listening to right now" thread. It's hilarious - I'd say they understood the core of Monk's music better than many a jazz cat playing uninspired routine chord changes instead of playing on the melody and mood - Monk never wrote down chord changes. They play them accurately, never mess with his compositions themselves, even play a whole Monk piano chorus on "I Mean You", just change the sound, and the results are gorgeous. It's a compliment to a composer if his substance is so heavy he survives the "Switched-On" treatment - like J.S. Bach and Frank Zappa.

Just listening to McGhee's Bethelehem LPs, highly recommended, an underrated player, very good music, good sidemen, nice arrangements. He certainly had a sound of his own. I also dig this one a lot:

Found me a copy of a Japnaese LP reissue of that 1958 Newport album at the site of a US shop. As I love Randy Weston's music just as much, this is a double stroke!

I remember a radio interview on AFN over here where he admitted his favourite big bands and/or trumpet players were Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie, Maynard Ferguson, Harry James, Stan Kenton - these all were some kind of entertainers and loved a gimmick and effect. I guess he liked it AND used it to sell his band, which was somewhat bigger than the others, he had to. It was tough for a big band in the rock era, I reckon Columbia took up with him because he played the Fillmore like all their great new rock acts, tracks from his albums were found on anthologies selling the new progressive rock bands. His humour is similar to that of Gillespie AND that of NRBQ, I'll take it just for the fun AND for the substance. No wonder that band worked hard and was pretty much kept busy just with playing that stuff. He would have needed much more time to let it breathe somewhat more - he was aware of this - remember Jim, he more or less invented that stuff, and it's hard to do!

Some 1950's Cal Tjader albums on Fantasy/OJC have Paul Horn on flute, but not on every track. There was another great Johnny Rae album with Herbie Mann on United Artists that was soon reissued under Mann's name, with a killer rhythm section - Philly Joe Jones, José Mangual, Patato Valdez, Victor Pantoja, Bob Corwin and Jack Six. Mann had Johnny Rae, Dave Pike, later Roy Ayers - if you like his music .... Windows Opened on Atlantic with Ayers is a very good album. Among the straightahead stuff mentioned above, the three "opus" albums stand out to these ears. I didn't like Steve Gadd's playing and sound on the Laws album and sold it. Too short, only four tracks with Laws. Laws' "In the Beginning" on CTI has David Friedman on vibes and sounds much better to me.

Dood-doodleeoobup, doodoodleoobup, up-baaah, ----- I'll never forget the first scat on one of that Herman sides. A serious humorist. RIP

Hal Overton had done the arrangements for the 1959 Riverside album "At Town Hall" (now on OJC CD-135-2). The octet used his arrangements in a scaled-down version as well, AFAIK. But other than that Riverside, the Columbia, and the concert bootlegs from Europe there are no recordings of this. The last Monk big band LP for Columbia was arranged by Oliver Nelson with less than great results. While searching the pic I came across this one, which seems worth checking out: Lydian Sound Orchestra - Monk at Town Hall & More 2003 - CD Abeat ABJZ 013 From AMG: "It is ironic that it took an Italian arranger by the name of Riccardo Brazzale, using a top-flight Italian jazz orchestra, to produce such a fine big-band tribute to American composer Thelonious Monk. Occasionally others, of course, such as T.S. Monk, have successfully engaged in big-band tributes, but this one, Monk at Town Hall & More, is distinguished by its use of transcriptions from Hall Overton's arrangements from the classic 1959 Town Hall concert that were reinterpreted by Brazzale. The tentet organized by Brazzale includes some of Italy's best musicians, with Pietro Tonolo on soprano sax and Roberto Rossi on trombone, while trumpeter Kyle Gregory adds some tasty solos on trumpet. In addition to tunes by Thelonious Monk, the band adds a loving version of "Abide With Me" (featuring Tonolo, who unfortunately suffers from slight problems with intonation), and a short piece by Brazzale entitled "Additional C. Q. Six." Highlights include some impressive soloing by pianist Paolo Birro, who plays the Monk role smartly by not aping him; and a lyrical Rossi, who is heard on several tracks to good advantage. Although the new arrangements are an exciting concept, Brazzale is somewhat too respectful; he might have opted occasionally to pursue different avenues while remaining true to Monk's spirit. While the results are almost always of superior quality and many of the solos are first-rate, the talented Brazzale takes his cue directly from the 1959 set, resulting in uniformly high standards but lacking on occasion the high-spirited sense of wonder that infused Monk's music. - Steven Loewy"

Jim, it takes a while to figure it out, but isn'tall that difficult: you're a metrosexual if you: - live in the city - dress sharp - try to look as sharp - use cosmetics a real macho would throw into the trash can - go shopping on a regular basis to keep his image in style - looks after his lifestyle etc.etc. judging from your avatar, cosmetics and shaving gear are not regular features in your bathroom, so it's no wonder you can't relate to this ...

For Guitarists' God's sake, I can't vote in this poll, 'cause I love 'em all so much, each in his own way! Please add the option "all of the above"!

Yes, I too heard McGhee in this track. Generally I think his importance and influence in the 1940's to 1950's is greatly underrated - trumpet players still loved their Roy Eldridge and Buck Clayton, Harry Edison and Joe Newman, not to mention Freddie Webster, and McGhee was someone who showed how to integrate that into the more modern stylings of Diz, Navarro and whoever. Carmell Jones, Benny Bailey, Clifford Brown, Kenny Dorham, Clark Terry all were trumpet players born into the time when swing was still kind of dominating the scene but bop was gradually taking over, so it's no wonder they had elements of both! The trumpet is a highly unforgiving instrument, the slightest technical insecurities show even to a non-musician, and McGhee was not as perfect a player as Diz, so he was easily put into the second league - but he was much more than that. His recordings from the 1950-60's for Blue Note, Bethlehem and Contemporary are among the best trumpet albums of that time, IMHO.

And who's that jazz musician gone acting .... at last, some justification to buy a porn movie

Yeah, start with Monk' Dream, that will get you hooked. Right now it's nearly possible to buy them in the order they were recorded. But a priority should the the 2 CDs from Linclon Center, Big Band and Quartet in Concert, a high point in Monk's career, is this still in print? I looked it up, it is, and even AMG's Scott Yanow considers it essential: GET IT!!!

Rather not, as most of the three albums the Adderley Brothers recorded for Savoy in 1955 are compiled on this available 2-CD-set.

Here's another Don Ellis website: Electric Heart. Another vivid memory is Don Ellis rehearsing and conducting the Berlin Dream Band, a jazz orchestra made up from the best musicians from the big bands of both Berlin radio stations, for the Berlin Jazz Festival (Gil Evans was guest conductor the following year, as was George Russel one year, as far as I can remember). This was documented by German TV, with interviews and all. It was fascinating to see this wailing dervish of a jazz trumpeter teach Leo Wright, Carmell Jones et al. to play in 7/4, 13/4 and you name it! He had so much energy, he made a helluva band out of mostly young college graduates on his last tour, I heard him near Frankfurt a year or so before his death. Dave Holland once said in an interview he found the way Ellis treated the uneven meters somewhat crude, but without him ....... even Holland wouldn't play them, I guess. He was the real pioneer and popularizer of this stuff.