Hot Ptah

I agree that "Epistrophy and Now's The Time" is a great album. Slight correction--while Hannibal Marvin Peterson plays on it, Richard Davis is the leader and the album is under his name.

There is room for more than one great talent in the supporting roles of a big hit show!

In the 1990s he became a successful bond trader with a financial firm in Kansas City. He would be mentioned once in a while in the Kansas City newspaper.

I have seen all of the big name bassists live from the late 1970s until now, and Richard Davis is without a doubt the overall best in live performance. When he plays everything he can play, when he goes down as deep as he can, he has no equal. His intensity, inspiration and creativity are quite amazing. I echo Chuck Nessa's thoughts about him being a good guy. He was my jazz history professor in college. Many liberal arts students took the course to try to get an easy A, much like taking an introductory survey course in art history. I had a true interest in jazz but went into the class wondering how valuable it would really be. I encountered the single most inspiring teacher I had at any level of schooling, in any subject matter. He was funny, insightful, and made learning easy and fun. He demanded commitment and performance in his students, but gave back a lot. Looking back on it now as an old adult, I can see how unusual it was. Richard treated the college students with friendliness and respect, was a valuable life mentor to many of them (including many non-music majors), and genuinely liked his students as people. He showed no ego with his students. Maybe that is why he held his professor position for over 35 years, while his predecessors in the position were only able to stay for 1 to 3 years. An overlooked gem in his career as a recording leader is As One, on Muse. It is a live album of duets with pianist Jill McManus. Some of the other albums which he recorded as a leader which I think are notable are Fancy Free (with Eddie Henderson, Joe Henderson and Billy Cobham), Philosophy of the Spiritual (reissued as With Understanding), Muses For Richard Davis, Persia My Dear, and Blue Monk (mentioned above, from 2008).

The liner notes and photos to his Reminisces CD are very interesting. I love the photo of Sun Ra as a young man sitting in Richard's family's living room. Richard grew up with, and played with, musicians of every style and era, from swing to bop to avant garde, from the beginning of his career. His discography is quite amazing and is set out on his website: http://richarddavis.org/?page_id=42

Richard Davis' recent recordings show him to be at a career peak. The arco bass features on his 2008 album, Blue Monk, are amazing: http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41OUbl4l2rL._SX300_.jpg Here is another excellent 2008 album, Madison: http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41n6RNQbw0L._SX300_.jpg

#15 is Marlena Shaw singing "You've Changed" on Jimmy Smith's "Sum Serious Blues" album. I like this a lot. Marlena is one of the few vocalists who can be genuinely humorous, and in a way in which I can stand to listen to the humorous parts many times. To me, sometimes humor on record can be unlistenable after one or two times hearing it, but not with Marlena. All I can say about the comments so far is that this is one tough crowd. I find this BFT consistently very enjoyable from start to finish. I am working on some more guesses.

Jeez! I was expecting maybe Jeffcrom to get this one, not you! Bloomin' fantastic! MG Even a blind pig finds an acorn once in a while. I thought that #7 begins with a very characteristic Dave Bartholomew riff. To try to identify #7, I played my CD of Classics 5002, The Chronological Dave Bartholomew 1947-1950, in the car, hoping to find a song that began with that riff. To my surprise, the very first song on the CD begins just as your entire Blindfold Test begins. Well, I never thought of that! MG PS and I recall now that it was you who was the only one to get the instrumental B side of Jessie Hill's 'Ooh poo pah doo' in an earlier BFT I did. I didn't think ANYONE would get that! I found that "Ooh Poo Pah Doo, Part 2", to be the easiest song to identify in any BFT. I don't have nearly the knowledge of New Orleans music that Jeffcrom does, but I know some.

Jeez! I was expecting maybe Jeffcrom to get this one, not you! Bloomin' fantastic! MG Even a blind pig finds an acorn once in a while. I thought that #7 begins with a very characteristic Dave Bartholomew riff. To try to identify #7, I played my CD of Classics 5002, The Chronological Dave Bartholomew 1947-1950, in the car, hoping to find a song that began with that riff. To my surprise, the very first song on the CD begins just as your entire Blindfold Test begins.

#1 is Dave Bartholomew on trumpet, Deliuxe 1104, recorded 1947, with Joe Harris on alto sax, Clarence Hall on tenor sax, Fred Lands on piano, Meyer Kennedy on Guitar, Frank Fields on bass and Earl Palmer on drums.

Dan, After reading your Reveal, I think that there should be an Advanced Blindfold Test category for your BFTs. Your BFTs are really difficult! This one is also very enjoyable and rewarding. Now that I know who was playing, I have some further investigation to do of several of these artists and albums. I did not know about that Mal Waldron Impulse album, and that is one I really want to investigate further. I love the fact that we were able to hear such an early South African jazz recording on #2--that is just the kind of rare treat that makes any BFT really great. It is pretty embarassing that we were not able to recognize Organissimo by sound! That was a nice touch, to include them.

You don't know how good it makes me feel that you could not identify anything here either. Dan's BFT's are hard!

I will need a disc. Your BFTs are consistently intriguing. I am looking forward to this.

No one seems to mention Circle any more, the quartet with Anthony Braxton, Corea, Dave Holland and Barry Altschul.

Here are my reactions. I say reactions rather than identifications, because once again I will be unable to identify anything. This is a very interesting, enjoyable BFT. Thanks to Dan for putting together another great one. 1. This drummer has learned the characteristics of Art Blakey's playing. I recognize more than a few of them, but the drummer does not play with Art Blakey's power or inner fire. The pianist plays in a more contemporary style than any of the pianists who recorded with Blakey, so I think it is a recording made after Blakey passed away. It's a spot on tribute to Art. 2. I love this one. The opening saxophone soloist has such a unique approach. These musicians are not playing cliches, but are playing something not at all typical. I love the feel, the sound of this cut. 3. Impressions, by saxophone player who has listened a lot to John Coltrane. As with #1, he does not have the spirit of John Coltrane, but then no one else does. 4. This sounds like a Pablo album to me. I think that the drummer is really good, but I can't identify him. I have to admit that I peeked and saw that Harry "Sweets" Edison is the trumpeter. While I saw him live several times, I could not recognize him. If it is Sweets on Pablo, that narrows the list of possible pianists, but I still cannot identify him. 5. What is this? I love it and want to buy it. I wonder if that is Kenny Dorham on trumpet. There is a soulfulness to the approach of the musicians which really appeals to me. 6. What a big tenor sound. The tenor player has heard his Ben Webster, but it is not Ben. 7. Duke Ellington's "Rockin' In Rhythm", in a performance which reminds me of the opening cut of Duke's "70th Birthday Concert" album, which I have always really enjoyed. I do not know who the guitarist is. This is great. 8. Grease drips off of the organ sound like a plate of beef 'n fries at Arthur Bryant's barbecue in Kansas City, Missouri. I was once standing right behind a young hippie-like woman in the line at Arthur Bryant's. As she approached the counter she asked, in a hopeful voice, "do you use polyunsaturated or saturated fat?" The older man behind the counter bellowed, "we use LARD, ma'am!" This song uses lard, in the best sense. The guitar soloist is quite good. Once again, I have no idea who they are. 9. Those vocals are weird sounding. It sounds like they were recorded in a cave adjacent to the recording studio. I have no idea again who the pianist is, but his playing is very appealing. 10. A bright, swinging big band, with an energetic tenor sax duel--what could be better? I don't know who it is, but want to hear more. 11. The pianist reminds me of Erroll Garner at times, but I don't think he ever recorded anything like this. 12. Since I can barely tell the difference between Cecil Taylor and Bill Evans when I listen to these BFTs (well, that is a slight exaggeration), this series of mainstream pianists is something I have no chance to shed any light on. This is Duke Ellington's "I'm Beginning To See The Light". I always liked Ella Fitzgerald's version on her Duke Ellington Songbook album. 13. Another fine mainstream pianist playing "Old Devil Moon." 14. This bassist is superb. He has a wonderful sound. I should know who he is, but I don't. 15. Really good playing by all-- I don't have a clue once again. 16. I really like the drummer, his approach to setting the groove. Another very enjoyable cut. Well, I can't wait for the answers, because there are several songs here I just love. Once again, thanks for your thoughtful work in putting together such a sheerly enjoyable BFT, Dan.

It is a fantastic book. Someone should jump on this.

There is a great radio show devoted to this genre of music, hosted by a very knowledgable and pleasant host, Darrell Brogdon. You can access old playlists and listen to old shows: http;//www.retrococktail.org To answer Ted O'Reilly's question, I am sure that I have heard music from the TV show "Johnny Staccato" on this radio show.

This is a very interesting and appealing BFT, with some surprises and several musicians and recordings new to me. Thanks for putting it together!

Richard Davis--Philosophy of the Spiritual, reissued as With Understanding. Richard and Bill Lee play bass on it together.

I would like to participate. I will need a disc. I will send you my mailing address by message.

Could you answer the guess I have already posted, is #10 Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra playing Strayhorn's "Ishafan"?

I watched the Grammy show this year. There was a good but too short tribute to Dave Brubeck with Chick Corea and Kenny Garrett .i thought that several of the pop singers sang really well, especially Rihanna and Carrie Underwood, who sang outside their best known styles and gave beautiful performances, I thought. I also liked the all star version of "The Weight" in tribute to Levon Helm. I thought that Bruno Mars sang well in the Bon Marley tribute and that Kelly Clarkson was surprisingly good singing Carole King, Some of the other performances were energetic and better than I would expect on a show like this . I did not like some of the performances very much

The Grammys are always about the most popular pop acts of the year. The show has never been a documentary about the most artistically valid, high quality music on the planet that year. It is not a non-commercial arts presentation. It is not called the "High Quality Art Music Awards" show. The show has never presented a large amount of jazz and classical music. So why do we have a thread every year expressing negative emotion about the fact that top selling pop music dominates the show? It is like tuning into the major league baseball all star game and then beginning a thread on how shocked you are that a championship chess match was not broadcast. It's just two completely different things.

Every year we have this post-Grammy show, let's bash the Grammy show thread. Yawn.

I have tried to identify musicians in the Organissimo Blindfold Tests for years now, with a stunning lack of success (even as to albums which I own, and cannot identify when I hear them in the Blindfold Test). Unlike the live Blindfold Tests which these musicians are part of, I have the opportunity to play the Blindfold Test cuts several times and think about them at length. I still do extremely poorly. So I am no longer hard on anyone who misses the identification of musicians in a Blindfold Test. Now granted, music is Branford's profession and main focus in life, so he should be able to do better than me. Still, I am in awe of anyone who can identify even one musician by hearing them in a Blindfold Test.