felser

All of the above also applies to the Dylan box that I just received from Amazon USA.

Here's the download link if anyone wants to check it out after the fact: http://rapidshare.com/share/84183696E7B548121B90E9009EA06C94

Well the first two Jazz on Film sets were on the Moochin' About label, so it's pretty confusing. Battle of the PD's. I have the first "Jazz on Film" box on Moochin' About and really like it, so will stick with them.

I have bought dozens of discs from Gokhan through the years and have had many exchanges with him. He is as conscientious as anyone could be, and always does his best regardless of circumstance.

1 – sounds like one of the early, pre-bop players on the organ, and a bunch of swing players. 4 - liked this one, the afro-cuban thing. Maybe someone like Machito or Chico O'Farrill. Mid-50's vibe. 6 – This one feels more “retro” than #4; that one feels more authentic to the era. 7 – Soul-jazz, sounds great for what it is. Stanley Turrentine on tenor? 8 – excellent pianist. 10 – up my alley stylewise, interesting trombonist. Ray Anderson? Like the rhythm section and tenor player a lot. This is really good, look forward to getting it ID’d. 12 – I really hate that particular guitar sound. Sort of kills the whole cut for me. 13 – I’ve heard a lot of versions of “Airegin” (that’s Nigeria backwards, BTW) but none that sound like that! I do like it. Thanks so much for the wide-reaching BFT! Much of it is well outside my familiar territory, so I’ll learn much on the reveal!

Here it is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFrBXvG4q8k

Streams CD has been out of print for many years. It is a very (the most) attractive piece to this box.

Typo on my part on the McNeill. Recording date was 1969, not 1960. But that is still the first recorded Gravatt I am aware of, and he's already a monster player. Loved his work (and Vitous's) with Weather Report, they were never the same again for me after their departures for funkier players.

Thank you! Correct on the drums credit, change made.

91 years old, great legacy, RIP.

01 – African Rhythms – Oneness of Juju - (1975) African Rhythms Plunky Nkabinde Branch- tenor sax, composer; Eka-Ete Jackie Lewis – vocals; Al Hammel Rasul- keyboards; Lon Moshe – vibes, marimbas Muzi Branch – bass; Ronnie Toler – drums; Babatunde Michael Lea – percussion.  Trying to start off the BFT with something that goes “bang”. This has long been a favorite. The group released their first two albums on Strata-East, and were known just as Juju on those. They had a slight populist change of direction (which then got much more pronounced after this) and a slight change of name for this, their third album. I saw this group live ca. 1976 at the Ethical Society in Philly, and they put on a great concert for a disappointingly small audience. Nkabinde was the driving creative force, and had a distinct identity. He has continued to put out releases through the years, but never again hit the creative peak he did on those first three albums. I believe the group was out of the Washington DC area. Several of you knew this one. 02 – Alkebu-Lan – Jimmy Heath - (1972) - The Gap Sealer Jimmy Heath - tenor sax; Kenny Barron – piano; Bob Cranshaw – bass; Al “Tootie” Heath – drums; Mtume – percussion, composer I got this album and a lot of other Cobblestone releases for $1 each in the early 70’s at a cutout store in Philly, where I was able to take chances and build my collection and knowledge. The whole album blew me away, as did the other material Heath recorded in this era. This was the most forward music of his career, and it was a huge disappointment to me when he took such a step backwards with the Heath Brothers. I saw them live at the Empty Foxhole Café on Penn’s campus around 1975 or so, and got to speak for awhile with Heath. He was very kind and gracious. The track heard here was a breakthrough for my young ears. This album and his other classic of the era, ‘Love and Understanding’, are essential, and this one has never had “legitimate” CD release (though the Andorran’s will be glad to help you out). Mtume (Heath’s son) did this song on his double Strata-East 2LP live set, but I always have found that version overblown and underrehearsed, much prefer this succinct masterpiece. 03 –Asha – Lloyd McNeill - (1969) - Asha Lloyd McNeill – flute, composer; Gene Rush – piano; Steve Novosel – bass; Eric Gravatt – drums Nobody got this! About as beautiful a piece of music as I have ever heard. Gravatt is spectacular on this album. McNeill is a renaissance man who has had careers in the visual arts and academia as well as music, and has had two books of poetry published. He hung out extensively with Pablo Picasso while doing a residency in France, and studied flute with Eric Dolphy. This album and ‘Washington Suite’ (his two greatest albums), as well as a best-of collection, have miraculously been (legitimately) reissued on CD by the Soul Jazz label. But he still has a couple more gems in need of reissue. Interestingly, McNeill actually emailed me several years ago after he saw (via google search) some comments I had posted about him on our site, but I got so excited, I think I scared him away. Many years before, he had written me a letter in response to a letter I sent to him inquiring about a reissue of his ‘Tanner Suite’ album. An amazing man, an amazing life. 04 – Or Truth –Ruth Naomi Floyd - (1994) - Paradigms For Desolate Times Ruth Naomi Floyd – vocals, lyrics; Craig Handy – tenor sax; Uri Caine – piano, music; Ed Howard – bass; Terri Lynne Carrington The ultimate ringer in this BFT. Ruth was my wife’s roommate from 1989-1992, and remains a good family friend to this day. We were at this recording session at Systems 2 Recording Studio on a section of Brooklyn that looks like the atomic bomb hit. Vibes great Bryan Carrott also played on the album, but layed out on this cut. This was her debut album, self-financed by her and her manager/friend Keith McKinley so that they could maintain artistic control (Polygram wanted to do it, but wanted extensive lyric rewrites), and to me the album is masterful in conception and execution, but I realize I’m going to be very biased, and wanted to hear what others thought. And for the most part, you weren’t that impressed. But Ruth has been able to attract musicians such as Tyrone Brown, Charles Fambrough, T.K. Blue, and James Weidman to play on her live gigs and recordings (she has released four other albums). 05 – Effi – Max Roach (1968) – Members, Don’t Git Weary Charles Tolliver – trumpet; Gary Bartz – alto sax; Stanley Cowell- piano, composer; Jymie Merritt – bass; Max Roach – drums This is probably my favorite jazz cut of all, definitely the one I listen to the most, and the one I use to try to explain to new people how to listen to jazz. This was the easiest one to ID on the blindfold test, but I can’t conceive of not including it, just in case someone is not familiar with it or has overlooked it’s greatness (and a few of you didn’t know it). I actually initially came to this album because of my early Tolliver/Cowell/Strata-East compulsion (more on that shortly), but came to appreciate the greatness of Roach in short order, especially from his drumming on this song. 06 – Infant Eyes – Semenya McCord (1996) – Good For Me Semenya McCord – vocals; Frank J. Wilkins – piano; Dave Zinno – bass; Herb King – drums The third one that nobody ID’d. My only other encounter with McCord was on Archie Shepp’s mid-70’s work (she wrote and sang that beginning piece on ‘There’s A Trumpet In My Soul’ and had involvement on the ‘A Sea of Faces’ album), but that was enough to burn her into my consciousness, so I snatched up this CD when I stumbled across it on ebay in the late 90’s. This is, of course, the famous Wayne Shorter composition with the Doug/Jean Carn lyrics. I love the Carn’s version, but to me McCord more than justifies her own version - she has such a pure, beautiful voice and such control over such a broad range , and brings such emotion to the song (as did Carn). She does not have the wide vibrato when holding notes that Carn did on her vocal, which makes for a very different experience. This seems like an incredibly difficult song to sing well, but so very worth it. 07 – Lysistrata – The Cosmic Twins (1974) – The Waterbearers Ron Burton – piano; John Lewis - drums And the final one that no one recognized. A burning cut off of what is surely one of the most overlooked Strata-East albums. Ron (now Rahn) Burton had been pianist with Rahsaan Roland Kirk, and really gets to show off his chops here. No bass player necessary! When I daydream of being able to sit down at a piano in front of friends to blow them away, this is the song I am playing in the daydream. 08 – Don’t Look Back – Shirley Scott (1974) – One For Me Shirley Scott – organ; Harold Vick – tenor sax, composer; Billy Higgins – drums Scott declared in the liner notes to this great 1974 release something like “I’ve made a lot of types of albums for a lot of people, and now, thank the Lord, I’ve made one for me!”. And it’s a gem, to me the undisputed highlight of her career. Harold Vick shines on this album, and he recorded this same cut as the title track of his own Strata-East album. Scott was a friend of a friend of my wife, so I got to meet her, and she was a wonderful lady. By that time, she had switched over full-time to piano, and played in a pretty traditional style, not as distinctive as her spare B-3 playing. 09 – Genesis - Charles Sullivan (1974) – Genesis Charles Sullivan – trumpet, composer; Sonny Fortune – alto sax; Stanley Cowell – piano; Alex Blake – bass; Billy Hart – drums; Lawrence Killian – percussion Didn’t realize until now that I had finished off this BFT with three straight 1974 Strata-East recordings, but that’s a pretty accurate view of what I was listening to in those days. I had a very hip salesperson at Franklin Music (who had his own college radio show for jazz) when I got into jazz, and if I bought a suggestion of his and didn’t like it, he would let me return it. He turned me onto Charles Tollver’s Live at Slug’s, and I was stuck on Strata-East immediately, buying up virtually everything they put out the first few years. Their early catalog was awesome, but something happened, and after about 1975, they put out a lot of disappointing albums. Anyways, to the song at hand. I used to just play this over and over and over, and to me it is worth the 17 minutes I’ve invested in it for this BFT. This cut is such a high. Serious question: Why was Sullivan never a big-time presence on trumpet? This album, this cut, shows he had the goods, and I have a couple of later CD’s by him which are still quite good. Thanks for letting me share these musical memories with you, and hope you enjoyed them and discovered something new and good.

What is the price? That is an interesting period of his recordings.

PM sent on Khan Jamal - Impressions of Coltrane (SteepleChase) w/O.Pope, B.Lancaster $8

I always assumed it was Sanders. Really don't think it's Thomas. Compare the vocal to the vocals Thomas did on the Mapleshade album with Gary Bartz around the same time. I know Sanders seems to get into that George Adams hoarse blues voice sometimes on "You Got To Have Freedom" etc., but I don't doubt he had that vocal in him on that cut. Another observation - I'm amazed how much strength and beauty he still has in his playing!

Order placed!

Then I guess we need to keep both of you...but we COULD have a poll on who should buy who the Hancock box.

and the second stint on Blue Note would be the "unplugged" years...

I'll also put in a plug for the Select. 'Expansions' and 'Extensions' are awesome, 'Asante' is fascinating, and the outtakes are well worthwhile for the most part. 'Extensions' and 'Sahara' are probably the picks of Tyner for me if I had to pick (though I own almost everything he's done)

Should we start a poll and vote on which one goes?

And Pete LaRoca's Turkish Women At The Bath. That's my favorite Gilmore (and some fine Chick Corea). Very unusual sounding date.

Oh,so you underestimate their musical tastes just because they are beautiful young women! You don't want to stereotype a whole group of people now, do you? I have a 23-year-old daughter.

At one point in my life (vinyl era) I had to sell off 80% of my collection. But almost all of it came back around on CD. Since then have never been squeemish about selling off things, which makes me able to try a lot I would not otherwise.

DL please - from the looks of the focus group, I'm expecting a lot of Justin Bieber and Miley Cyrus type material.

and that Moncur!