ep1str0phy

Not that I doubt NH's sincerity/honesty, but this makes for some problems in someone's discography. On what Chalupa said--does NH know that all his stuff may be easily located (wink, wink) at present? (not saying where...)

You know, I can't help but think that we had something to do with it (it's certainly come up enough times).

(Thanks, B.) What we do know is that "Prophet John" came first, and that Donald continued to play it into the later stages of his career. Anyone got anything else?

Um, you would have to say that. Anything with McBee has got to be at least worth hearing once. Uh-oh ... I feel some caps-lock coming on. Must -- hold -- back -- no -- don't: MUST NOW HEAR THE LEVIN! And it's got Calo Scott! I enjoy Zwerin's contribution to Magic of Ju-Ju, although the personal relationship between the two artists (Shepp and Zwerin) has always been a little confusing to me. Of course, there was a point at which Shepp just let everyone into the door with the Impulses! (which was perhaps one of his great missionary works in the way of playing the major label system), but that Zwerin took the coveted trumpet chair--especially on an album that is, for the most part, a saxophone concerto (and hence requires some serious weight from the brassmen, when they do come in)--is remarkable to me... he's a rare figure, to be sure.

Yeah, thanks for that. Futhermore: "Queen Anne" (Black Ark) = "Aurora Borealis" (Uhuru) For posterity's sake, they're different versions of the same compositions (named differently). Almost as confusing as Ayler. Now, even crazier: "Being" (Uhuru) = "Prophet John" (Albert Ayler: Holy Ghost Boxed Set, Disc 7--Don Ayler Sextet at Town Hall). -I don't know if anyone has pointed this out before, but on Uhuru the composition is credited to Noah Howard; on HG, it's credited to Donald Ayler. There was certainly a cross-pollination between the groups--Wright played with Ayler, and Muhammad Ali played in both the Wright and Ayler groups (Muhammad appears w/Albert and the Don Ayler group on the HG boxed set--he was also in one of Ayler's later bands). What I want to know is how the origins of the composition got so (seemingly) mangled. Discographers, start your engines...

With little to add (agree with the enthusiasm for the Bley and Moffett in particular, as I've really lived with those records...), I'll just say that the Dixon/NYC5 session is totally of its own piece. None of it is exactly unheralded, but all the music on that record is fascinating historically and contextually. It's some of Dixon's "prettiest" work, for one, and it's astonishing how quickly he'd move into abstraction after the later Savoy record got waxed. Also, the rhythm section makes a HUGE difference for the NYC5; those sides--tho they burn slow--cook well, and without the bombast of the Moore/Moses underpinning.

Second (third) the enthusiasm on Illumination...

I saw the "Night of the Cookers" sub-group at Yoshis a few months back (Harper + Tolliver + John Hicks--RIP--Dwayne Burno and Roy McCurdy). If the large group is anywhere near that level, than the audience is in for a treat.

Bill Folwell and Lewis Worrell. For a long time (hey, both are bassists, both associated with Albert Ayler--maybe it was just the 'l's).

Complete tangent, but I'd like to know how that (rumored) Revenant box is coming along (hopefully it will have some of the OOP material back in action).

Oh--and why does everyone talk about the first GC album over the second? Though they're both great, I've always felt as if Vol. 2 was the more nuanced document (a violin/trumpet burnout, a ballad, a fast-tempo free blower, a latinish groover...). Is everyone just turned off by "Snowflakes and Sunshine"?

To reiterate and add (a bit), Sam is in a different stratosphere in this one. Which is not to say that he outpaces the band, or that the "other" horn (Miles) sounds outdated by comparison--it's just that this was a group of cats who were willing to move with the flow of outness... and, whereas, Miles could rein them in tight, Sam could take them out loose. I don't find Sam more jarring on this one than on Into Something!, for example, but he's clearly not as much of a 'unity' with Miles as Wayne was. All in all, it makes for some startling stuff.

Edgier, yeah (and, at times, perhaps the darkest that Mingus ever got), but I think that there are moments on the other big band Impulse album that surpass Black Saint for sheer brio, shock, and surprise. Dolphy's solo on "Hora Decubitus", for example, is one of the single wildest things on a modern large group side I've ever heard... makes me wonder what his presence might have done to Black Saint.

Yeah, having Dolphy on the album would have been tremendous (it's terrifically wishy-washy, of course, but--then again--I've never been one of the many diehard fans of this recording). I think I first spun this one back when I was just getting into Mingus, and compared to the rougher, generally looser Atlantic material, I found the Impulse sides somewhat lacking. I still get the sense that this one is a little too rarefied--conceptually dense, of course (that was always one of the 'take it or leave it' parts of the whole Mingus ethos), and not without its moments of dire spontaneity (Mariano is superlative, as previously mentioned), but perhaps a little overwrought, verging on affected. This isn't to say that I don't find the album enjoyable--and technically, at least, it's a masterpiece of modern jazz... points for ambition, and passion, of course--only that it doesn't feel quite so organic and, for that matter, emotionally salient. For whatever it's worth, I'd take "Haitian Fight Song" for the win...

The Trane tribute is indeed fantastic, but--in the way of all-out free blowing--I'm almost as much a fan of his Silkhearts. For bullshitless, hardcore delirium, I'd track down a copy of Repent (which is about as exhausting as it gets, in my book). For whatever it's worth, though, Spirits Before is pretty great stuff--it's got Sirone on it, and the blowing (although more contained than on a lot of Gayle's albums and live perofrmances) is mark (post-Aylerian evangelizing in the finest sense).

Hey, congrats--that's a terrific set. Green, Clark--for that period, on Blue Note, that's what it's all about. I don't know if I'd call it 'typical' BN music, but it's certainly at the very apex of that rougher hard-boppish style. I don't think I pull the set out often enough...

If you're referring to the version with Blakey on skins, then I'm with you. Grant just tears it on that one. Instant favorite is right.

As a fan of GG, I'll second (third? etc.) the enthusiasm for Solid and Matador (interesting to hear Tyner on the latter session--in this less volatile context, the influence of later Trane--dissonances and all--is on full display). I've always been a Street of Dreams fan, myself. Also, the very fact that Clifford has an avatar (however appropriate) is freaking me out.

Wow. That's a gorgeous cover.

Jimmy Stewart Clint Eastwood Franco Nero

I live extremely close to the Berkeley Amoeba and Rasputin, so it's actually cheaper for me--in the long run--to go brick-and-mortar. For imports, I go to the usual online suspects (both corps. like Amazon and E-Bay and the smaller guys, like DMG...).

Yeah--Shepp is a bitch when he cuts into that pianoless burnout bag. He can go a million places, but I've always enjoyed him the most just floating over a great bass/drum duo.

...as far as the Rudd/shorter tracks axis is concerned: I think Mohawk is awesome. Milford Graves is stunning on that one.

Was it that "he sounds like he's rapping a cardboard box" (or something like that) comment? While I love Roach's dark, punchy sound, he's also very on-the-beat--which can get a little draining (there's a sort of "monolith effect" at work).

You're a fan of the Shepp BYG's, then? There's some dross in this period, but it may represent some of the most virtuosic "free" tenor ever waxed... there's certainly some disappointment in that Black Gipsy is (mainly) a soprano feature--sometimes it sounds like a concerto for Leroy Jenkins to me--but I wouldn't say it's any worse (it's more interesting, probably) than a lot Shepp's live Paris dates from the period. At the very least, the band is hot to play. Re: the Braxton discs... that "Donna Lee" never really connected with me, either (especially considering how well some of his other free-ish "standards" dates have fared--especially the ones with Dave Holland).