CJ Shearn

johnagrandy, I agree. I have the California Concert CD which I've had for maybe 12 years or so. Though my favorite is "CTI Summer Jazz At The Hollywood Bowl" I am soooo lucky to have been able to buy that in the CD version jlhoots mentioned earlier in the thread. If Sony wanted to they could reissue the California Concert on a 2 disc set, recovering the omitted Leaving West(which could have fit on the original CD) and adding the remaining cuts that are unissued. I'd like to know if there are any unissued tapes from other performances of the '72 CTI All Stars sans the overdubs that are on the "Hollywood Bowl" albums.

well I really enjoy Hutch, gotta get some of his albums, his phrasing is unbelievable, and that tone. I vote for Milt Jackson simply because he is the first vibraphonist I ever heard, when I was little (even saw him with the MJQ when I was 6!) and all the albums I have of his are wonderfully consistent. Note I mostly have the Pablo stuff, I really like "Montreux '77" a whole lot!

I hacked my cheap $150 (I love it) Coby DVD player to play Japanese Pat Metheny DVD's by using the remote. It now plays all regions.

I'm perfectly happy with the Connoiseur of this title so I'm not upgrading. I was listening to this the other day, its one of the last sessions when Jimmy is heavy into that weirdo swirling sheets of sound thing he experimented with between 57-8. Donald Bailey's playing on "Someone to Watch Over Me" is amazing.. perfect in that context.

after "The Sermon" see if you can grab "Houseparty" its companion and "Cool Blues" a live jam with similar personnel recorded a few months later. the albums "At the Organ" from 1957 will blow your mind as well, theres a lot of amazing organ playing there John, as there is on "The Sounds of Jimmy Smith" which is readily available as an RVG. I have the Mosaic box, so I skipped the "Sounds of" RVG.

interesting theory Greg. Would you care to expound on what the third party of influence might be? I believe around '56-7 Trane was studying the Slonimsky book of scales, perhaps JOS had studied that as well? Certainly, to my ear the modal influences in Jimmy's playing is made explicitly clear in tunes like "Greensleeves"(made 4 years after Trane's version) "Refractions", "The Boss", "Fingers" and even some of the funky stuff from "Root Down". And of course the title track of "Legacy" with Joey D. finds Jimmy mining modal territory as well.

I love "On the Road" I grew up with the red vinyl version too! This probably is not one of the Basie classics, but because I grew up on the album, it has a real special place for me.... I really also love the mid-late 70's band with Eric Dixon, Jimmy Forrest and Al Grey. Smokin "Jumpin at the Woodside" on the "Montreux '77" album, also available on DVD that features Eric and Jimmy battling on tenor.

oh yeah, a live BBC thing.... but it's true it is interesting when you hear the kind of shapes Jimmy's lines had back then, it proves he was not just a soul jazz and blues player like a lot of people think. I know many who are not even aware of the mid 50's JOS that shows all that incredible playing.

oh man, Soul Stream, right on......... I said that to a friend the other night. Especially if you listen to "Groovin at Smalls Paradise" the parallels are uncanny....... even the stop choice Jimmy uses on that is Traneish. I'd love to see more discussion on this topic, come on everybody

very interesting. I have only the Miles Plugged Nickel and Blackhawk boxes, singles for everything else, but I think especially with live material boxes are very important for the differing approaches to tunes. Even so we probably all have our favorite sets from live boxes, that we pull more often than others.

Keith would probably barf at that notion, lol. playing 'lectric keys again.

John, I mentioned Wynton's playing.

I'll second Butch Cornell. Gary Versace is another one, as is Barbara Dennerlein, only heard some clips, but she is really interesting in her approach.

that video was funny. Wes playing free jazz? LOL

yep, that Tain indeed is a hot album.

John, I have to agree with you about Freddie on "Free For All", what a powerful, emotionally charged performance. But, I think its important not to forget the other important contributions of Lee Morgan (Moanin', A Night in Tunisia) Clifford Brown, and Kenny Dorham, in the Messengers canon. I would also add that Wynton's playing is very strong on the "Keystone 3" album.

I thought of Miles too, when he walked off stage. It was very hard to hear him too.

I agree on the unreleased Jimmy Smith date.

me too!!!!!

Blow Arnett Blow is great........... I'm not a huge fan of the chunky organ of Bill Davis (hey its the roots of JOS, gotta respect it) but with Arnett and Lockjaw.. ouch

I await your full commentary, Jim.

I think so too, Guy.

Guy, I just listened to this as well. I was 3 when this album came out and my mom bought it along with one of Wynton's classical albums after the buzz about him, and I listened to both when I was a little older. Now, 21 years after this recording was made, and now that I'm an adult I can fully comprehend what this album meant. To me, it seems to have made a movement mainstream, which bands like VSOP and Woody Shaw were doing years earlier in the mid 70's, and the post Wynton "young lions" began to investigate the style of post bop Miles did in the 60's with his 2nd quintet, after this came out. From what I understand, gathering from the liners of the reissues of these Miles albums, was not popular at all at the time. What also is apparent to me about this record, is that Columbia seemed very bent on finding the next Miles and packaging Wynton as such with a band of great young players capable of playing music in the style of that great group. The presence of Ron Carter on "Phryzzinian Man" makes the link stronger with the Miles band, and that was magnified even more on Wynton's first album which had 3/5ths of the second quintet involved. That must have been completely orchestrated by Columbia knowing the history and importance of music made by that band on that label. Musically, I still like the music... it is, however like you said Guy, is very derivative despite the bullshit of Stanley Crouch's liner notes trying to sound as if something new was going on. Wynton's tone and ideas here show the influence obviously of Miles, and Woody Shaw, but some of his own personality comes through, especially on the CD only bonus track of that improvised trumpet and bass blues. Branford's tone and ideas on tenor remind me especially of Wayne Shorter, though his tone on soprano, at that early stage in the game I can identify as Branford, I think he has an individual sound on that instrument. Kenny Kirkland shows pretty much what made him one of the best post Hancock pianists, and a heavy influence on his generation. I like how Kirkland could go from the acoustic straight ahead of this album, to the complex, electric fusion/straight ahead hybrid of Mike Brecker's first album the following year. (That in itself should be an album of the week) Tain, definitely is Tain tho his playing definitely is very similar to Tony circa '67-8. The title track swings extremely hard, with the mix of swing and second line rhythms.... and a tune like "For Wee Folks" has a slick melody. "Delfeayo's Dilemma" reminds me very much of "Pinnochio", could be because a descending line in the melody is ripped straight from that tune. I think a tune like "The Impaler" recorded years later on "Citizen Tain" shows that band pretty much full circle, in a performance that I would argue, is better than anything on "Black Codes" because it has that flying by the seat of your pants feel, and that record I think is one of the best in that post bop style Wynton and co. explored that I have heard, I return to it often.

listened to the soundclips. great mature sound. I like their cover art design over at Lineage

I've heard him on a McDuff date. Eddie's tone/ideas on that one reminded me of Eddie McFadden.