John L

I had to vote for Diz here, the other half of the heartbeat! As for those voting for Rodney, what do you base your judgement on? The one studio date on Verve? The short 1949 Carnegie Hall tape? Some Bird concerts you were able to attend personally?

Amen!

Says who?

"Knock on Wood" is a great performance. But I consider Eddie Floyd's real masterpiece to be "I Never Found a Girl (to Love Me Like You do)."

Yes, B.A.G. I stand corrected! I guess that my mind was on an earlier time from the 20s to the 50s. It seemed that all the ingredients were there but the jazz bands were not. The proximity of Chicago is indeed probably the most compelling theory here. All of the ingredents were in Memphis too. Although Memphis was never serious competition for Chicago in jazz, we did at least have distinctive Memphis "schools" of jazz piano and saxophone by the 1950s. I would have expected at least as much from St. Louis. Maybe if Julius Hemphill had been born a little earlier...

St. Louis: the city that gave us Miles Davis. St. Louis: the capital of Ragtime at the turn of the 20th century. St. Louis: One of the major American blues centers from the 1920s to the 1950s. In the 20s, St. Louis had it all, from the sophisticated jazzy urban blues of Lonnie Johnson to the low down barrelhouse piano of Roosevelt Sykes to the ragtime country blues of Charley Jordan to the down home Mississippi blues of J.D. Short and Henry Spaulding. By the 1930s, St. Louis was home to the mainstream blues synthesis of Peetie Wheatstraw and the first (pre-Chicago) downhome urban blues of Johnny Lee Sonny Boy Williamson, Robert Nighthawk, and Big Joe Williams. By the 1950s, the rich St. Louis blues and R&B scene included Ike Turner, Little Milton, Albert King, and Chuck Berry. SO HOW COULD IT BE THAT ST. LOUIS NEVER DEVELOPED ITS OWN REALLY DISTINCTIVE JAZZ SCENE?

I've got it, and recommend it highly, at least if you like the Isleys AND R Kelly. R Kelly wrote and produced all of the material. As far as I am concerned, it is a triumph: substantial and varied material that puts Ronald right into his best crooning groove and doesn't let up.

Thanks for mentioning William Bell in your last post, Soul Stream. I consider him to be one of the most underrated soul singers, and certainly one of the best. Has anybody kept tabs on him? What is he doing these days? Does he still have his full voice? Otis Clay is another living, breathing soul giant who is too often ignored, especially by record companies. He still has his pipes, and, as far as I am concerned, no recording has yet captured him at anything close to his peak. "Soul Man Live in Japan" comes the closest. But I have been at shows that took it all at least two phases higher than that. As far as I know, Clay hasn't recorded anything in the last 3-4 years or so. That is a crime. I consider him to be one of the all time greats. Speaking of unsung soul giants, I hope that some of you have had the chance to hear Bettye LaVette's new disk: "A Woman Like Me." Deep, mature, and intense. I don't even think that Wilson Pickett has been mentioned yet. Or Solomon Burke. Gladys Knight? Bobby Bland? Mavis Staple? David Ruffin? Bobby Womack? Stevie Wonder? Linda Jones? Little Willie John?....

For me, it's no contest... Favorite soul singer: Sam Cooke Favorite living soul singer: Aretha Franklin Favorite soul artist: Sam Cooke Favorite living soul artist: James Brown

"Jordo" doesn't cook? You guys are tough. "The Night of the Cookers" is a rough recording, but it has its moments (IMO). I was at a David Murray concert a few years back when he had James Spaulding with him. He introduced him as "James Spaulding of the Night of the Cookers." Spaulding does cook pretty hard on "Walkin' too, while showing some strong Dolphy influences. Just my opinion, people.

I am so attached to "Louis Armstrong Plays W.C. Handy" that I find it difficult to post on it. I agree that this is a truly great album. The All Stars never sounded better than on this album, especially Trummy Young. And Pops is consistently magestic in the way that only he could be, bantying around with light humor one moment and blowing the deepest shit you ever heard the next. There may have been quicker and flashier chops back in the 20s. But just one note of this mature Armstrong can send shivers down your spine. Every note is played so forcefully and with such velocity. This is the Grand Canyon of jazz trumpet. I own a large collection of Armstrong from this period. Although most of it is excellent, "Plays Handy" really gives you a feel for what this band was capable of when it was rested and genuinely concentrating in the studio. The Fats Waller tribute worked extremely well too, even if it didn't quite reach the plateau of "Handy." It is hard to choose a favorite from among the masterworks on this album, but "Hesitating Blues" might be it for me. Thanks to this thread giving me the excuse to indulge myself in this one again this evening!

Maybe when he lit his first cigarette? He should still be with us. RIP

It implies that your growing concentration of musical capital has pushed us into Imperialism, the final stage of Capitalism. The Organissimo Army of the Unemployed will soon expropriate your capital for the creation of a new musical order.

A very nice and insightful article. Thanks for posting it. John

My lord!!!! I had no idea that those tapes existed. You just gotta give it to us!!!!!!!

Yes. So where is the contradiction?

1971 Don Cherry(tp,p,fl,vo),Johnny Diani{B},Okay tamiz(d) How is it? I've never heard it. You might check out this valuable resource: http://www.cyborg.ne.jp/~akio01/discograph...y/cherry_d.html

I don't THINK I ever wrote that, but I'll stand by it nevertheless!

I haven't heard this one yet, but I'm not surprised a bit. I heard Teddy Edwards live in a quartet last year and he was in tremendous shape, full of energy, playing for three hours without another horn to relieve him, and laying down some amazing stuff. I sat in the front row and felt that my soul was saved that night. What a loss. RIP By the way, Jim, have you heard If not, rectify that problem immediately!

this entire session was released on Count Basie Masters of Jazz volume 3. These Masters of Jazz series are now out of print, I believe, but still possible to locate. All 11 Masters of Jazz volumes of Count Basie are highly worthwhile. They gather together extensive live broadcasts, mostly in good sound, along with all studio tracks. It is really too bad that Masters of Jazz had to cut the series off in 1939. Some great Basie broadcasts only available on rare LPs were coming up. Who knows when they will ever be released now?

You mean that we don't have to marry her off?

This is an extremely interesting discussion, the sort of thing that makes spending time on the net worthwhile. Thanks for your very thoughtful comments, Jazzbo and Jim S.! I am going to have to go back and listen to Grass Roots again after all of this. I will say that, since the CD was released, I have always preferred the unreleased session to the original album. It just seemed to me that Hill himself is more in his element on that session. And yes, the unique rhythmic pulse with those jagged accents that Hill gets on his best sessions is one reason why I am so attracted to his music. I never considered the possibility that Ron Carter versus Reggie Workman could be the main difference between the two sessions on Grass Roots in that respect. Thanks again, guys.

The liner notes to "Bad" Bossa Nova!" describe a trip to a Columbian jungle. (I assume that they were written by Jug himself, although there is no indication.) While in the jungle, they overheard an Indian tribe singing "Ca purange a pe gawa y tonde." No translation is provided, although it is mentioned that it was a "deeply rooted ceremony" by some "hip" natives. Sounds like jungle soul to me.

I am also a big fan of the Chicago period. My favorite Evidence Ra compilation might be "Fate in a Pleasant Mood/When Sun Comes Out." But almost every one of them is excellent. I agree with Jazzbo that "Sound of Joy" and We Travel the Spaceways/Bad and Beautiful are also exceptional. So is "Jazz in Silhouette." The hard core will check in here soon with the more celebrated highly-experimental stuff from the 60s: Heliocentric Worlds, the Magic City, Altantis...

Good question. I always assumed that it was Portuguese (Brazilian), as it first appeared on Gene Ammons' "Bad! Bossa Nova." On that album, it had the subtitle, "Jungle Soul." That couldn't be the translation, however.