Hot Ptah

The first encore, Day Tripper, Kansas City\Hey Hey Hey Hey, I Saw Her Standing There, was one of the hardest rocking sequences I have ever heard live, by anyone.

Scott, I got online about 5 minutes after the tickets went on sale, and the best I could do was to purchase lower level, right side seats, almost to the back of the arena. We had unobstructed views, but the musicians looked pretty tiny to us. We saw all of you down on the floor. The huge video screens on either side of the stage showed us what we could not see. That is interesting to me. When I would see arena rock shows in the 1970s, you just saw the tiny musicians from far away, and it stunk, and that was that--there was no simultaneous big video screen to enhance the experience. I found that the combination of seeing a far off musician moving around, and then seeing the same musician making the same movements on a large video screen, was all right, not as unnatural as I might have expected. Old fogey alert here!

I saw this concert in Kansas City as my friend wanted to go to it. I did not know what to expect. It was one of the best live concerts I have ever seen, in any genre of music. I have to give him his due. He performed for almost three hours with no intermission, sang his heart out, and gave it his all on every song. He performed many of his most famous songs with passion. His band is excellent. It was overall an amazing concert.

I saw him live in May, 2014--about two months ago. He was great. The first half was more straight-ahead jazz. The second set was more rock oriented, and got the crowd all excited. It was really, really good rock oriented music.

I agree. I think that collecting is not interesting, and that collectors and their stories are usually quite boring.

This is a very enjoyable, interesting BFT. Here are my impressions: 1. I like the bells and harp, and really like the sound of the saxophone player. I don't know who this is, but it is very appealing. It is a good opener for a BFT. 2. I really like this piano trio recording. All of the musicians have an individual voice, which is not always the case with material like this. Who is that bassist, who is playing all over the bass while still maintaining a supportive role? That can't be easy to do, because not many bassists do it successfully. Richard Davis can do it really well, but this does not sound like him. 3. This is a very lyrical performance with depth of feeling--not easy to pull off. The bassist is again playing actively while also supporting the other musicians. 4. This one reminds me of the feel of George Adams' "Sound Suggestions" album, but it is not George Adams. I like this one a lot. 5. This is a highly arranged piece, which I do not find all that interesting, I am sorry to say. 6. The guitarist has really absorbed Pat Metheny. The composition reminds me of Pat Metheny's second folk song on "Two Folk Songs" on his "80/81' album--that classic folk/country song quality. It could be a traditional folk or country song from long ago. The drummer is dropping in unexpected little bits--Tony Williams did that too, but this is clearly not Tony. 7. I have already identified this Arthur Blythe recording and written about it. 8. This to me is recorded jazz at its highest level. The pianist has a strong personal voice. He or she had to come after McCoy Tyner's Coltrane recordings. Really great track! 9. To me, this is recent generic mainstream bop music, all good, but not very compelling or distinctive. I think that there is a ton of this kind of stuff recorded in the past 15 years, and it is just not exciting enough for me any more. 10. I really like the mallet instrument/guitar/percussion combination, the textures they achieve together. The reed player knows Coltrane's music. The wordless vocals are nice-I wonder if that is the percussionist singing? Sometimes a "world music" percussionist will sing wordlessly like this, it is fairly common. 11. The pianist has a very personal voice and conception. The pianist has absorbed 1970s Keith Jarrett, but developed his or her distinctive style. I like this one a lot. 12. Very breathy harmon muted trumpet--a very good player. This is lovely, really good. 13. A very nice version of "A Child Is Born". I don't know who it is, but it is a very successful version of a song which has been recorded so many times that it can be forgettable if not performed in a distinctive way. 14. Who does a precise tribute to Leon Thomas, right down to some of his vocal mannerisms and devices? I had no idea that Leon had inspired another vocalist to this extent. I really want to know who did this--they captured Leon's style very successfully. Overall an excellent Blindfold Test, with many treasures! 7.

awesome_welles has now contacted me and will present the next Blindfold Test.

Chuck, I have seen Otis Rush, Muddy Waters, Son Seals, Albert Collins, B..B. King, Albert King and Buddy Guy live, among others. I fully understand the distinction you are making. Yet among the white blues artists, I think Winter was the best. He had a genuine love and knowledge of the older blues. His slide guitat playing was really good. He tended toward bombast, volume and speed at times, but at other times he achieved some really compelling blues guitar playing. I prefer his less heralded blues albums which probably sold 1/1000th as much as his Columbia albums at the time that Columbia was trying to make him a rock star. I think his first Columbia LP, titled "Johnny Winter", was one of the worst of his career, a time when he just did not achieve the blues feeling he was striving for. He did much better on many other albums. He wasn't the deepest blues artist, but he was not as shallow as a birdbath either. He should not be lumped with other mechanical guitar technicians posing as bluesmen. His later albums went much beyond that, I think.

Yes, he helped bring Muddy Waters to a new level of recognition and popularity, with a minimum of commercial concessions or false steps. He could have spent those years on his own career--the "Captured Live" album from just before that time, is quite energetic and good--or sitting on a veranda drinking cool beverages. Instead he helped out Muddy Waters, and didn't get much recognition for it for himself, outside of a small blues fanatic circle.

awesome_welles, please contact me. I have sent you a Private Message to check on the next Blindfold Test, which you signed up for in April. It is due to be provided on August 1. awesome_welles has not posted on Organissimo since late April. If he is unable to provide a Blindfold Test, does anyone else want to get one ready for August 1? Thanks, Bill

I had rediscovered his music in recent years and have been pleasantly surprised at how good it is. I really like his 1990s albums, including "Hey Where's Your Brother" and "Live NYC '97". The Deluxe 2 CD set of "Second Winter" is a favorite of mine. The second disc contains an excellent live set. His Woodstock CD, with his complete set, is another excellent album. His 1980s Alligator releases are some intense electric blues outings. He recorded a lot of very worthy music after his first rock star burst of fame. He had more good music left to give us. This is a sad loss.

That is very funny!

I do not use the site as a definitive resource. I use it for a rough level of information about an album. For example, if I do not know much about an artist's input, AllMusic will at least tell me if this is the one time that the pianist recorded with techno beats behind his solos, or if a particular album is a blues singer's less than great attempt to combine blues with Stax/Volt soul music. I use AllMusic in combination with other online sources, but AllMusic can be useful for concise descriptions of that sort. With other online sources, it can take a lot of reading to get to those kinds of nuggets of information about an album.

Complete Arthur Blythe on Columbia. Some of the better albums are not available on CD.

Was there supposed to be an article with this thread? I don't see a link to any article. "Classic Rock" to me is a brand, a radio marketing concept, which has nothing to do with the merit of any particular rock music, or the years in which it was produced.

Charlie Haden's albums of duets on A&M/Horizon, "Closeness" and "The Golden Number", made a huge impact on me as I was getting into jazz, from rock. The first time I saw him live was in the first edition of Mingus Dynasty, at the 1979 Ann Arbor Jazz Festival. Sue Mingus gave a talk in the afternoon and said that Charles Mingus had always respected Haden's work, so Haden was her choice for the newly formed Mingus Dynasty band. He performed with John Handy, Jimmy Knepper, Randy Brecker, Joe Farrell, Don Pullen and Dannie Richmond. The group played Charles Mingus songs in arrangements faithful to the original recordings. Jazz repertoire bands were not widely known in 1979, so I wondered if all of the music was going to be a note by note recreation of the Charles Mingus sound, or what. I remember that when Charlie Haden took his first bass solo of the evening, I wondered if he would try to sound like Charles Mingus. He did not. It was purely a Charlie Haden bass solo. Then I thought, of course he would just play his own style. That is what jazz is.

The Arthur Blythe Columbia albums are all very much worth hearing, with the possible exception of "Put Some Sunshine In it", which was a purely commercialized album forced on him by Columbia. (I liked the title of the Village Voice feature story on that album, which was "Desperately Seeking Sunshine", a play on words on the title of a popular film of that time, "Desperately Seeking Susan.") Back then an Arthur Blythe new album release would be given a full feature story in the Village Voice. The other Blythe Columbias range from very good to great, in my opinion. In The Tradition, Illuminations, Lenox Avenue Breakdown, Blythe Spirit, and Elaborations are all especially outstanding, in my opinion. As you look for Bob Stewart sideman albums, don't forget his stellar work anchoring Lester Bowie's Brass Fantasy. I remember Lester shouting approvingly onstage, "Bob Stewart--lungs of steel!"

I would like to recommend this set to everyone. It is fantastic.

#7 is Thelonious Monk's composition "Light Blue", from Arthur Blythe's early 1980s Columbia album "Light Blue". Joining Arthur are Bob Stewart-tuba, Kelvyn Bell-guitar, Abdul Wadud-cello, Bobby Battle-drums. I loved the Arthur Blythe Columbia albums as they were coming out. To me, as each one was released, it was an event. I would buy each one the first day that I could find a copy. It is a real shame that some of them are not available on CD, including this album. Also, the very accessible and fun "In The Tradition" is not available on CD, to my knowledge. I wrote to Mosaic recently suggesting that they release a box set of Arthur Blythe's Columbia albums. They have not responded to me yet. I saw Kelvyn Bell live in early 1982 in a small club as he was playing with Defunkt. Trombonist Joseph Bowie was the leader of that group. I don't think that group was ever adequately captured on recordings. Their live performance was amazing, and quite fun. Bell played wild and excellent guitar.

Mississippi John Hurt's 1928 recordings strike me as essential. Sylvester Weaver's "Guitar Rag", recorded in 1927, has to be heard. How did someone travel back in time many decades to 1927?

It is interesting to me that some of Sun Ra's unusual stage costumes were influenced by masonry. I had always assumed they were designed from one or more person's imagination. But to consider that they had an origin in a long standing tradition completely outside the Arkestra, that is interesting to me.

No wonder I could not identify the musicians or recordings. I have learned a lot here, including an introduction to several artists I want to check out. I have the album for #11, but did not remember it. #5 is a surprise to me. I have not perceived Jon Faddis as being the type of soloist he is here. That is one album I have never heard and now want to check out.

I'm in. I will send you a private message.

Looking at the entire list of those who have won in the past, I think Charles Lloyd's body of work with Chico Hamilton, Cannonball Adderley, and his small group recordings from the late 1980s to the present, place him within the general level of those who have been awarded. That is even assuming that you think that his group with Keith Jarrett and Jack DeJohnette was overhyped, and that you discount his 1970s and early 1980s work. That is just my opinion, of course. Lloyd's albums are not the first thing I think of reaching for on any particular day, but I think that he has a worthy body of work. I am not sure I understand the negativity about him. If he had never recorded after 1987, I could see it, but he has released a string of quite good albums in the past 25 years, I think. Has everyone who is negative about his selection heard the albums from the past 25 years?

I have been listening some more and 5, 6, 8, 9 and 11 are going on my shopping list. I have been enjoying those five tracks in particular!