Hot Ptah

Track 5’is not Cal Tjader. The first time I heard this song I wondered if that was him on vibes. But the recording is dated before he started recording. Track 8 is a little later than the 1960s. The artist has been obviously inspired by the post-War Chicago blues but is not from that city. Your comment on Track 9 is so close to my personal experience. I had heard of Sun Ra in the 1970s but had not heard him yet. I listened to a Sunday morning program on WORT-FM, a non-profit community radio station in Madison, Wisconsin. Two men said that they were going to play a show devoted only to the early recordings of Sun Ra. They enthusiastically urged their listeners to give it a chance, that the music was accessible and that “some of it sounds like Charles Mingus to us.” That reference to Charles Mingus made me want to listen. I loved the music. That radio show was a revelation to me. A few weeks later I moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan. On one of my first days there I visited Wazoo used record store and irresponsibly spent too much of my student loan money on a complete used set of the Impulse reissues of Sun Ra recordings. I was on my way from there in a love of Sun Ra’s music. If those unpaid volunteer DJ’s had not mentioned Charles Mingus that morning I would not have listened to that radio show.

Yes! You identified the artist, album and song on Track 9. That is one of my favorites by this artist. I look forward to your additional comments.

Those song identifications are correct. Very interesting comments! I think that you will be mildly surprised at the artist IDs for both tracks.

Here is Blindfold Test 192, which contains a wide variety of music. I hope you enjoy it! Tracks 13, 14 and 15 are actually one track, all part of the same live performance of a song. The different sections of the track are given different titles on the album, and that is how ITunes listed it. Either you will know this three part track instantly or else it may be difficult to identify. But then identifying each track is only part of the fun. Your reactions to the music are just as important, even if you can’t identify it. http://thomkeith.net/index.php/blindfold-tests/

You have September! You have May! That may become necessary. We will see if it is.

What a fascinating BFT, as it features many musicians unknown or barely known to me, playing in styles very well known to me. It goes to show that one's jazz exploration can never be completed. I really appreciate your work Dan, in putting together such a sheerly enjoyable BFT which also has such an intriguing Reveal.

This is such an enjoyable BFT, Dan, with so many recognizable songs. I am not familiar with any of these recordings. I have a few comments. Whatever album Track 3 comes from, I have to get it. That is one fantastic tenor sax solo! I just love it. What a sound! Track 4 is so curious to me. I have seen Bobby Watson live many times in his twenty years as a music professor in Kansas City. That sounds like Bobby Watson on alto saxophone. But I am not aware of him recording this type of material. "Things Ain't What They Used to Be" is an older composition than he typically performs.

This is a very enjoyable BFT. It is the first time that I can’t identify anything on one of your tests. Usually I know some of the tracks as soon as I hear them. But I have found this BFT most rewarding to listen to.

You have February. Thanks for stepping forward.

I should have identified that Mary Lou Williams' album, even with your inclusion of a bonus cut, because I have it both in LP (purchased when it was first released) and CD (with the bonus cuts). It has been featured on other Blindfold Tests, but not that track. Some great things here are new to me--the Frequency album (I like everything I have heard Nicole Mitchell on), the Ray Brown solo track, that Elmo Hope album with my all time favorite John Gilmore, that Amina Claudine Myers album (I have several other albums by her, and saw her live in the early 1980s). Great, and very intriguing, Blindfold Test!!!

webbcity, I know that you are frustrated. But I have come to think of the Blindfold Test as partially an act of creativity by the presenter. There are not that many opportunities any more for a jazz lover to put together their dream playlist and share it with knowledgeable listeners who are going to give all of the playlist their full attention. We do really appreciate a collection of music such as the one that you put together. Even if the community commenting on the Blindfold Tests is relatively small, we don't know how many other people are listening and enjoying your music. I have heard from several members that they enjoy the Blindfold Tests but feel uneasy commenting on the music, for whatever reason. Your Blindfold Test is highly enjoyable and very interesting, and I am looking forward to your Reveal.

I was trying very hard to follow all of the new jazz releases from 1975-1982 let's say, as they came out. I also attended hundreds of concerts of jazz greats in every conceivable style of jazz in 1975-82. There was so much great music coming out and being performed that it was difficult to keep up with it. There was a lot of great straight ahead playing by the bop and hard bop masters who were still active. There was a lot of excellent music being recorded and performed by swing era veterans, big bands and small combos. There was the avant garde going full bore, with so much great music coming out that it was virtually impossible to keep up with all of it. There was a lot of music on the edge of mainstream and avant garde, just on that border, which was very exciting. There was the ECM catalog being released faster than you could keep up with it. There was some electric fusion-like music, but less than one would think. The electric jazz was not that prevalent. Compared to all the decades since, the 1970s, which I think actually ended around 1982 as a musical era, was incredibly rich with great jazz. I could list 500 great jazz albums which I love from the 1970s. I really think that if you don't respect 1970s jazz, you just have not heard enough of it.

Thanks, Jim. I will put down your name in pencil, not ink.

Thanks, John. You have December. You have July! You have January, Dan! Thanks! June is all yours!

I am not sure why, but in the past year or so there has often been a period of time in the middle of the month in which no one comments on a Blindfold Test. Then the comments pick up again at the end of the month. Don't lose heart!

We have had a year of Blindfold Tests which were excellent musically, and which expanded our knowledge of music. I have thoroughly enjoyed the music which was presented. I would like to extend an invitation to all, to sign up to present a Blindfold Test in 2020 I hope that some members who have not presented before will want to do it. Thom Keith and I will help you with everything. Information on how to set up in the Blindfold Test is contained in the topic in this Blindfold Test section entitled: How To: Setting up a Blindfold Test I will fill in this chart as members step forward to volunteer: January Dan Gould February Milestones March Hot Ptah April Cardinal Jazz Fan May webbcity June Dennis Gonzalez July tkeith August Eric Klaxton September Joe October mjzee November JSngry December felser

From that 5 CD set, I always liked Aurora, the second album from the left, the best. All of these albums are strong if you like Ponty's work.

I was there and I totally disagree with you. There are more uncompromised acoustic jazz albums of high quality from the 1970s than one could listen to If one devoted years to it. To say that the 1970s recordings were uninspired or electric jazz means that you have missed hundreds of great, very interesting jazz albums.

I have been following the voting in the Down Beat readers poll since the 1970s. There has never been any logic, any rhyme or reason, to the results. I agree with Jim Sangrey about the marketing ploy aspect of this. The Down Beat Hall of Fame does not physically exist in a building with plaques and physical items on display regarding the winners. (The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum has plaques patterned after those in the Baseball Hall of Fame, with summary information about the musician, and display cases with biographical information and physical items regarding many of the Hall of Fame members. It is a genuinely informative and illuminating facility, no matter what you think of the music). The Down Beat Hall of Fame is a fictitious creation which exits only in the paper files, and now data base, of the changing publishers and editors of Down Beat magazine over the years. The vote totals for the Down Beat Readers Poll Hall of Fame are so low that a single music appreciation class at a major university could place a musician into the top ten simply by passing out ballots to everyone in the class with the strong suggestion that they write down a specific name and drop off the ballot in a box on the way out of the lecture hall. When I was about twenty years old, in the 1970s, I was all excited about whether my favorites would win the Down Beat Readers Poll. Soon I realized that it was all an artificial farce, basically.

It sounds very similar to “Blues Walk.”

Track #2 is a song I have always loved, the opposite of felser's view of it. I often used to attend her club performances in Kansas City before she made it big. It is Karrin Allyson on vocals. In fact I once attended a banquet with a guest speaker and the venue (Plaza III in Kansas City) neglected to tell us that Karrin Allyson and her trio would be performing in the bar on the other side of a thin room divider from us. We were treated to her full set while the guest speaker tried to make himself heard over her singing. Track #13 is an unusual choice, the title track from Frank Zappa's "Dance Me This", released in 2015. This is one of his last recordings before his death, and features Frank on synclavier. Track #16 is unmistakably John Fahey on guitar. I am not familiar with the album on which this version of "Summertime" appeared.

I greatly enjoyed listening to your Blindfold Test. Now that I have read the Reveal, most of the artists were unfamiliar to me. I love learning about new artists and albums. Thank you for a great Blindfold Test!

Or you could ignore what Jim Sangrey says and enjoy this site for what you want to get out of it.