Hot Ptah

Is Phil Upchurch the guitarist on #4?

Is #4 recorded in California, as the final track, the blowing track, on an otherwise much-arranged CTI album?

But not #4, which I am very curious about. I keep listening to the guitar and saxophone solos and sometimes think I hear identifying licks. I should be able to identify this one but cannot so far. I really like it a lot, too.

I would like to participate and will need a disc.

Nothing shows up on my computer, just a red X. I would like to read your list.

Yes, there was a divider in the CD racks at Ann Winter's store that had the word NU on it.

My guesses and comments: 1. I hear Jon Hendricks very clearly. It is not Lambert and Ross with him. I am not familiar with this song. 2. This female vocalist has a beautiful quality to her voice. I really like her singing. The soprano sax player is playing the kind of solo that almost all soprano sax players played in the 1970s. I used to think of it as "Coltrane-lite", influenced by Coltrane but without his overwhelming intensity of spirit. Someone like Joe Farrell would have played a soprano sax solo like this in the 1970s. I think this was recorded long after Joe's passing though. 3. Marlena Shaw from her "Who Is This Bitch Anyway" 1970s Blue Note album. I saw her live in a 1970s fusion all stars concert about five years ago. She was goofing around onstage too much, not singing enough. 4. I really like the guitar and saxophone solos, and have no idea who it is. I want to know! This is an album I would go out and buy. Now watch, I already own it. 5. I do not know who is doing this comedy bit. It reminds me of Second City. 6. Nat King Cole with a swanky big band. I really like this, and do not have it. 7. Clara Hill singing with Jazzanova, the song "That Night". 8. Is this Willie Bobo? I absolutely love this track. If I don't already own it, I will for sure get it after it is identified. This is exactly why I participate in the Blindfold Tests, to discover great songs like this!!!!!! 9. Ray and Aretha--I had never heard this before. 10. Gene Ammons. I have this on a collection of early Chess recordings by Jug and Sonny Stitt, which is one of my favorite albums. 11. This is either an early jazz rock fusion experiment, or someone recent who is trying to play in that style. It has a more recent sound to me somehow. I do not recognize the players. There is a body of early jazz rock fusion that sounds like this, risk taking, not jelling completely, but exciting, with the players going for broke and seeming not to care if it totally works. 12. This singer sounds somewhat like Dinah Washington but is not Dinah. A very Duke Ellington jungle band style trombone sound. I do not know who this is. 13. I found this to be quite humorous. It reminds me of the box set I have, "The Beat Generation". I do not know who is talking. 14. I like the tenor sax player but cannot identify him. This was a very appealing, very interesting Blindfold Test. Songs 4, 8 and 11 will have to be added to my collection if I do not already have them! It would be common for me to own them and not remember.

I saw the Dave Brubeck quartet live three times in the 1995--2005 period. I was surprised that Brubeck's piano playing was uniformly excellent to me. He did not do the clunky pounding that the critics have written of. His playing was swinging, creative and quite subtle. It was often quite beautiful. I found his piano soloing to be very compelling on each occasion. His group was excellent too, genuinely exciting.

Thanks Noj!

I am glad that you liked it. Thanks for the encouraging words.

I am glad that you found it interesting. I had a lot of fun with this one, and with the comments made in the discussion. I found your comment very intriguing, that Jimmy Blythe's 1926 piano roll (#10) showed a player with lots of harmonic knowledge. Perhaps Blythe deserves more attention from jazz critics and listeners.

Zorn does not play on that album, just writes and produces. That Greatest Jazz Concert album sounds like a typical show by these artists, not a transcendent one.

Various Artists: Texas Guitar Slingers Vol. 1 CD Track Listing (2002) Roscoe Beck - Outrage (04:54) Chris Duarte - Violence (04:00) Jimmie Vaughan - Dirty Girl (05:52) Eric Johnson & Alien Love Child - Enzo Shuffle (02:46) Dave Sebree - Halfway to Avalon (05:56) Chris Vincent - Taranto (02:39) Stephen Bruton - Just a Step (03:13) Double Trouble with Denny Freeman - Abandoned in London (04:21) David Grissom - Belly of the Beast (05:35) Derek O'Brien - Nose Open (04:43) Mitch Watkins - Why Not? (04:05) Bill Carter wth Erik Hokkanen - Feels Like Rain (04:17) Omar & the Howlers - Meanin' of the Blues (04:10) Ray Benson - Moon Over Manchaca (03:08) Stephen Doster - You Can't Touch Her Anymore (04:03) Van Wilks - Little Mona and the Scorpion (04:06) Various Artists - Glenn Rexach - Electric Drunk (05:47) Jim, and everyone else for that matter, I thought you might be interested in the other Texas guitarists on the album from which #16 is taken.

I actually heard #12, the Gary Burton track, on this B.B. King album. I could not post it with the Reveal because I got an error message that I had posted too many images. Does anyone know how to defeat that annoying error message and post an additional image? 'Ere, I don't wanna nitpick, but if that's the FLip Phillip/Buddy Rich trio, 'ow come there's 7 of 'em, and not even the Drummer is called Buddy? MG I have no idea! I only have this track on the Flip Phillips CD collection, Best of the Verve Years. I agree about Flip Phillips. I had always heard that he was a showboating, squealing tenor player on the JATP tours of the 1940s and 1950s. I was pleasantly surprised at his playing on this Verve compilation, from which #7 and #8 were taken. I thought that maybe Mitch Watkins was well known in Texas and that you would have known him just by his sound.

8. Ralph Burns—Music for a Stripteaser (Composed and Arranged by Ralph Burns) From Ralph Burns Among the JATPs (Clef, 1955); Reissued on Flip Wails: The Best of the Verve Years (Verve, 1994) Ralph Burns’ orchestra: Al DeRisi, Roy Eldridge, Bernie Glow, Lou Oles, Al Porcino—Trumpets Bill Harris—Trombone; Hal McKusick—Alto Saxophone; Flip Phillips, Al Cohn— Tenor Saxophones; Danny Bank—Baritone Saxophone; Oscar Peterson—Piano; Ray Brown—Bass; Louis Belson—Drums. Soloists—Roy Eldridge and Flip Phillips When Streetside Records closed in Kansas City a few years ago, they held a significantly discounted sale of the remaining CDs. There were only a few jazz CDs left in the basement room which once held an excellent, deep jazz section, but which had become a sad shadow of its former self over the years. The going out of business sale was disappointing, but I did pick up this Flip Phillips collection at the sale, from which Songs 7 and 8 are taken. 9. Alaturka—Leyla (Traditional) from Tamamabi (Tzigane Music, 2010) Beau Bledsoe—Oud, Saz, Guitar Rich Wheeler—Tenor Saxophone Jeff Harshbarger—Bass Sait Arat—Darbuka, Bass Darbuka, Bendir, Tef, Hand Cymbals 10. Jimmy Blythe—Mr. Freddie Blues (Composed by J. Henry Shayne, 1924). Piano roll, recorded probably 1926, National 7984. Reissued 1987 on CD, Biograph Records, on The Greatest Ragtime of the Century Jimmy Blythe—Piano. It is stated in Michael Montgomery’s liner notes that this digital recording was made from the one existing piano roll still surviving. 11. Richard Davis—Dear Old Stockholm (Traditional), from Philosophy of the Spiritual (Cobblestone, 1972), reissued as With Understanding (Muse, 1975) Richard Davis, Bill Lee-Bass Chick Corea—Piano Sam Brown—Guitar Sonny Brown—Drums Frankie Dunlop--Percussion 12. Gary Burton—Six Pack (Composed by Gary Burton) From Six Pack (1992, GRP) Also appears on B.B. King—Here and There: The Uncollected B.B. King (2001, Universal) Gary Burton—Vibes; Bob Berg—Tenor Saxophone; B.B. King—Guitar (first solo); John Scofield—Guitar (second solo); Paul Shaffer—Piano, Organ; Will Lee—Bass, Percussion; Jack DeJohnette—Drums. This strikes me as not the best use of Jack DeJohnette's talents. 13. Count Basie—Kansas City Stride From The Best of AFRS Jubilee, Volume 13, No. 98 and 351 (Date of dubbing, September 25, 1944; Released on CD, 1985, RST Records, Vienna, Austria) The liner notes state that Lester Young and Jo Jones left Basie in late September, 1944, and were replaced by Illinois Jacquet and Buddy Rich, who was with Basie for two weeks. Ed Lewis, Joe Newman, Harry Edison, Al Killian—Trumpets Dickie Wells, Louis Taylor, Ted Donelly, Eli Robinson—Trombones Earl Warren, Jimmie Powell—Alto Saxophones Buddy Tate, Illinois Jacquet—Tenor Saxophones Rudy Rutherford—Baritone Saxophone, Clarinet Count Basie—Piano; Freddie Green—Guitar; Rodney Richardson—Bass; Buddy Rich-Drums. 14. Duke Ellington—Take The A Train (Strayhorn) From The Greatest Jazz Concert in the World (Pablo; Recorded June and July, 1967, in New York, Hollywood and Oakland, California; Released 1975) Cat Anderson, Cootie Williams, Mercer Ellington, Herb Jones—Trumpets. Lawrence Brown, Buster Cooper, Chuck Conner—Trombones. Johnny Hodges, Russell Procope, Paul Gonsalves, Jimmy Hamilton, Harry Carney—Saxophones, Reeds. Duke Ellington—Piano; John Lamb—Bass; Rufus Jones—Drums. Guest Soloist—Oscar Peterson. 15. Mary Halvorson Quintet—Leak Over Six Five (No. 14) (Composed by Mary Halvorson) From Saturn Sings (2010, Firehouse 12) Mary Halvorson—Guitar; Jonathan Finlayson—Trumpet; Jon Irabagon—Alto Saxophone; John Hebert—Bass; Ches Smith--Drums 16, Mitch Watkins—Why Not? (Composed by Mitch Watkins) From Texas Guitar Slingers, Volume 1 (2002) This is a CD with songs by seventeen different guitarists. The proceeds from the CD benefited the Texas Council on Family Violence. Mitch Watkins—Guitar.

1. Sun Ra—Urnack (Composed by Julian Priester), from Angels and Demons At Play (El Saturn 407; reissued on Impulse as an LP and Evidence as a CD. Recorded 1956 in Chicago). Sun Ra—Piano; Art Hoyle—Trumpet; Julian Priester—Trombone; John Gilmore—Tenor Saxophone; Pat Patrick—Baritone Saxophone; Charles Davis—Baritone Saxophone; Wilburn Green—Electric Bass; Robert Barry—Drums. Solos—John Gilmore, Art Hoyle, Charles Davis, Julian Priester, Sun Ra. This is a Julian Priester composition, one of the few songs written by someone in the band other than Sun Ra, which was recorded in the early days of Ra’s career. Julian Priester is the answer to this trivia question—Who was a member of the working bands of Duke Ellington, Sun Ra, and Herbie Hancock? 2. Tiny Bradshaw—Soft (Composed by Tiny Bradshaw) (1952, King 4577) My copy is from Blowing The Fuse: 29 R&B Classics That Rocked The Jukebox in 1953 (Bear Family Records, 2005) Lester Bass-Trumpet; Andrew Penn—Trombone; Red Prysock, Rufus Gore—Tenor Saxophones; Jimmy Robinson—Piano; Clarence Mack—Bass; Phillip Paul--Drums 3. Stan Kenton—Dynaflow (Stan Kenton-Art Pepper) Recorded 1951 for Capitol, reissued on Art Pepper—Those Kenton Days (Definitive, 2002). Chico Alvarez, Maynard Ferguson, John Howell, Shorty Rogers, Ray Wetzel—Trumpets Milt Bernhart, Harry Betts, Bob Fitzpatrick, Dick Kenney—Trombones Bart Varsalona—Bass Trombone Art Pepper, Bud Shank--Alto Saxophones Bart Calderall, Bob Cooper—Tenor Saxophones Bob Gioga—Baritone Saxophone Stan Kenton—Piano; Ralph Blaze—Guitar; Don Bagley—Bass; Shelly Manne--Drums 4. Doctor Nerve—Nothing You Can Do Hurt Me (Composed by Nick Didkovsky) From Live At the Knitting Factory Volume 3 (Knitting Factory Works, 1990) Dave Douglas, Rob Henke—Trumpets; Yves Duboin—Soprano Saxophone; Michael Lytle—Bass Clarinet; Marc Wagnon—Vibes; Nick Didkovsky—Guitar; Greg Anderson—Electric Bass; Leo Ciesa—Drums. 5. You Asked I Came (Composed and Produced by Don Was) Music From the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack of the film Back Beat (1994) Terence Blanchard—Trumpet; David McMurray—Tenor Saxophone; Eric Reed—Piano; Mark Goldenberg—Guitar; Don Was—Bass; Arthur “Buster” Marbury—Drums; Luis Conte—Percussion This is a film about Stu Sutcliffe, an artist and friend of John Lennon, who played bass in an early lineup of the Beatles, before they became famous. He quit to concentrate on his painting. He died of a brain hemorrhage at age 21. 6. John Zorn—Mao’s Moon (Composed and Arranged by John Zorn) From The Gift (Tzadik, 2001) Dave Douglas—Trumpet; Jamie Saft—Piano; Greg Cohen—Bass; Joey Baron—Drums; Cyro Baptista—Percussion; Jennifer Choi—Violin; Masumi Rostad—Viola; Raman Ramakrishnan—Cello. 7. Flip Phillips—Salute to Pres (Composed by Flip Phillips) from Flip Phillips-Buddy Rich Trio (Clef, 1952); Reissued on Flip Wails: The Best of the Verve Years (Verve, 1994) Flip Phillips—Tenor Saxophone; Allen Smith—Trumpet; Chuck Etter—Trombone; Jerome Richardson—Baritone Saxophone; Richard Wyands—Piano; Vernon Alley—Bass; Earl Watkins--Drums

11. You've got it! 12. You are one of very few who IDed both B.B. King and John Scofield as the two guitarists. 13. It is mid 1940s Basie. Some of your IDs are correct, including some which strike me as not easy. 14. Ha! I wondered if anyone would hear that faint verbal exhortation to Oscar. You are the only one to mention it. 15. That is Mary Halvorson on guitar, and leading the group. 16. Just wait until you see the album cover art for this guitar piece. Thanks for the nice words about this BFT.

Webb city, you are one of two participants who knew that track 1 is by Sun Ra. It is an interesting comparison with Either Orchestra, although it is not them. Thanks for your encouraging comments.

Yes.

No. I assume you are referring to the powerful music industry figure referenced in my hint to #5. Don Was is correct!

I don't know how powerful Bob Belden actually is, but is he involved? No. I don't know how powerful Bob Belden actually is, but is he involved? I was going to say Bert Kaempfert MG Sorry, MG, Bert Kaempfert is not correct!!!

HINTS Here are some hints for the remaining songs which have not been identified: 4. One of the musicians who does not solo here has become a prolific bandleader. 5. The leader has become a powerful figure in the music industry. One of the soloists has become a respected bandleader and composer. 6. The leader is not the trumpet soloist. The trumpet soloist is a current well known jazz artist.. 7. The tenor saxophonist is better known for a different style of playing. 8. Roy Eldridge is on this song but is not the leader of the date. The leader is best known as a composer. 10. As at least two members have noted, this is a piano roll recording. The pianist is not a household name. probably not even in your household. 16. The cover art of the album from which this track comes, is about the least likely cover art to be associated with this song. The following musicians are not on any of these songs: Cecil Taylor, Harry James, George Shearing, Stanley Clarke, John McLaughlin, Gato Barbieri, Jimmy Smith, Cal Tjader, Herbie Mann, Jabbo Smith, Otis Spann, Pete Cosey, Regina Carter, Peanuts Hucko, Joe Pass, Charles Gayle, Machito, Ornette Coleman, Miroslav Vitous.