Hot Ptah

Wow! I've got three tracks from that LP on a Copeland sampler, but never looked at the personnel until just now. Yeah, you can't tell. MG Does your Copeland sampler include "St. Louis Blues" (excellent George Adams work) and the rousing "Claim Jumper"? "Copeland Special" is an album which REALLY needs to be reissued on CD. No; the three cuts are: Down on bended knee Everybody wants a piece of me I wish I was single MG I am without a turntable for a few weeks, so I can't confirm my impressions of those songs, but any Copeland compilation which omits "Claim Jumper" does not do his fans any favor, in my opinion.

On a superficial level, yes - some of the vocal tunes. But Duke's voice is quite different. He was forced to start singing while with Zappa, and found out he was best using hismfalsetto register, which sounds nice - his singing is definitely a lot better than Hancock's! The common denominator with Stevie is the positive vibe the tunes radiate, I'd say. Well, some of the rhythms are inspired by Zappa, some of the fun tracks are, but in my ears only about 20% jump out as strongly Zappaesque. Duke admitted that he was learning much of his synth stuff by trial and error - Zappa bought an ARP 2600 which wasn't the easiest model to handle, took it home several times and kept struggling with the manual, so he got himself an ARP Odyssey which was easier to operate. His sound is very personal to my ears and different from those of Hammer, Zawinul, or Hancock - the latter's sound is dated compared to Duke. Since Duke used a Wurlitzer more often than a Fender Rhodes and the Hohner D6 clavinet in a rather unorthodox fashion, it sets him apart. Hancock's rhythm keyboards are much closer to Stevie Wonder's than Duke's. Some of that stuff sounds incredibly fresh and overall very positive - in the way that many Zappa tunes sound positive - you get the idea? And the groove is basically very loose with a lot of jazz approach, even looser than Weather Report's. In retrospect, Hancock's grooves sound stiff in comparison. And although Duke did overdub a bit, it all sounds very impromptu the way he does it, not as constructed as Hancock's. There even is a long solo track from "Faces in Reflection" done live in the studio that's downright fantastic - I listened to that one in the dark and several times in a row back then. O.K., now you've convinced me to go buy the box!

While we are bringing up positive George Duke recordings, he played some really fine solos on Gerald Wilson's "Eternal Equinox", recorded in 1969. These are found at the end of the last CD in the Mosaic Gerald Wilson box.

I am not familiar with the second one. Thanks. Duet was recorded inTokyo in Tokyo for Paddlewheel in 1985. My copy is a German Bellaphon presssing. Now that I see the artwork I am sure that I have never seen a copy.

Wow! I've got three tracks from that LP on a Copeland sampler, but never looked at the personnel until just now. Yeah, you can't tell. MG Does your Copeland sampler include "St. Louis Blues" (excellent George Adams work) and the rousing "Claim Jumper"? "Copeland Special" is an album which REALLY needs to be reissued on CD.

Side One of Escalator Over The Hill.

Here's one I can add: This is a 5 CD set of 1983 concerts. The group consists of Lester Bowie, Don Cherry, Archie Shepp, John Gilmore, Marshall Allen, Sun Ra, Richard Davis, Philly Joe Jones, Don Moye and Clifford Jarvis.

I got back about an hour and a half ago from the show. George Duke played 1970s style fusion, contemporary R&B and old school funk. There wasn't too much that was "smooth". There was a lot of hard funk playing. The beginning of the show featured the most ambitious fusion compositions. He played some tasty jazz solos on an electric keyboard array, some of which was programmed to sound like an electric piano. Those solos reminded me very much of his solos with Frank Zappa when I saw them live together in the fall of 1974. Since I had always thought of those 1974 solos fondly, I have to give Duke credit for playing like that again now. There was no acoustic piano playing, but the guy can really play jazz. Some of the show was commercialized vocal work, but it was melodic and for what it was, it was listenable. The last section of the show was wild funk playing, with Duke wailing on a small electronic keyboard he held in his hands. This was far from smooth jazz. He included some James Brown compositions. The crowd loved it, and there was much vocal enthuiasm from members of the African American community, which attended in large numbers. (There were several thousand people at this outdoor concert). It was not an acoustic jazz concert, but it was not bad either. It may not have been a jazz purist's cup of tea, but Duke was sincere in what he was doing, and he and the band played their butts off.

Another album like that is bluesman Johnny Copeland's "Copeland Special", where Byard Lancaster, George Adams and Hamiet Bluiett fit in really well into the blues music, playing their uncompromised solos but working as seamless parts of the blues band too.

I just got home from seeing him live at the Kansas City Rhythm and Ribs festival, about an hour ago. He was part of Louis Hayes' Cannonball Tribute band, sharing the front line with Vincent Herring. It was an excellent set. Pelt played very dynamic, exciting solos, both open horn and muted. He is a leading younger trumpet player of today in my book. His playing was consistently at a level above "solid" hard bop soloing.

That's just a bit too pithy for me. Do you mean Joseph Jarman or Joseph Bowie, and if so, which albums? In response to The Flam - it's Joseph Bowie on trombone, not Lester Bowie on trumpet. The trumpet is Leo Smith. Thanks. I saw Joseph Bowie with his Defunkt band in 1982. I always wondered what happened to him. It was a hot band live.

I am familiar with those--they are great!

I became a patron. If we hadn't just bought a house I would have given at a higher level. These house expenses hurt.

I have to get that one.

I am not familiar with the second one. Thanks.

MG, I tried to steer away from anything resembling Soul Jazz, since you covered it so well. The jazz artists play so well with the Skatalites on High Bop Ska--so often those collaborations are an uneasy oil and water mix--not the case with High Bop Ska.

I agree with all of those as quite possibly "essential". To me, Unity is one of the few totally successful Sun Ra recordings. It is a shame that it is not available.

I agree with that. Still, it's jarring to see one of your idols losing it somewhat before your eyes. That happened to me with Dizzy Gillespie too--after 1978 he wasn't the same in live performance.

You are a lucky guy. Mosaics are such a fun gift to receive. My mother ordered one for me when Mosaic was in its first year of operation. They were so helpful to her that she will not get me any other gift. She only wants to deal with Mosaic. So she has purchased a Mosaic for me for my birthday and Christmas for many years now. It's always great.

That's just a bit too pithy for me. Do you mean Joseph Jarman or Joseph Bowie, and if so, which albums?

Thanks for the encouraging words. It is difficult to draw the line on essential and non-essential. I left off Oliver Nelson's "Blues and the Abstract Truth", all of Billie Holiday, all of Bessie Smith, and several Miles, Coltrane, Duke, Basie, Mingus, Clifford Brown, and Monk albums, because they were too "essential".

I have that James Carter album and had forgotten that Lester is on it!

I actually own that one on LP. I did not realize at the time how fortunate it was that I bought several Horo sets at Schoolkids Records in Ann Arbor in 1978--81.

I've got that one. Firestorm, indeed.

No, I missed that one. Thanks.