felser

I got the first two (the Command albums) out of cutout bins as a teen. Kevin Ayers on the first, Hopper on the second.

Anything/everything by Greil Marcus is worth reading

Grab 'Bundles'. Allen Holdsworth's greatest moment is the "Hazard Profile" suite. '6' and '7' and 'Softs' and 'Live in Paris' are also well worth your time. Karl Jenkins joined the group on '6' and quickly became the dominant voice, though Ratledge continued to have good moments until he left.

Atlanta sent Grissom down last year and went with Arcia at SS because Grissom's glove work was so poor. You don't want him as your SS. You stick him at 2B, but I would have rather taken my chances with Urias there. Two bad trades, Sale and Urias.

Thanks Tim! This album was my first conscious notice of Dana Hall. I was mightily impressed! Researching further, I see that he plays on some Malachi Thompson discs I own. I'll need to circle back and listen to those.

Please let us know what you think of the second disc when you get to it. I stopped following rock in the mid-80's.

He and Greil Marcus were the first great rock critics. To me, they and Dave Marsh remain the gold standard, especially Marcus, who is still astonishing as he pushes 80. Marcus's review of Bob Dylan's Self Portrait album remains the ultimate work of art in rock writing 50+ years later: https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-album-reviews/self-portrait-107056/

Please report back on the 2 disc set. The idea intrigues me, but Robert Christgau, I think, savaged it in a review.

I'm generally in on their archival stuff on decent labels, will look forward to checking this out - especially since it's what I consider their most exciting group (Dean/Ratledge/Hopper/Wyatt).

Very kind of you, thanks! Maybe give it to Jim. The one I got was $3.99 with another $3.99 shipping, so not a big expenditure

I ordered a used copy of #4 yesterday, will report back on the CD.

That's a good album, you should have bought it. Watson's writing was wonderful back then, and, hey, Walter Davis Jr. was in the house. In many ways an extension of the Blakey albums of the same period.

1 – Sixties style, right out of “The Sidewinder” family by way of Eddie Harris and Jon Hendricks. I like it OK, though it feels a little bit like a novelty to me. Suspect this is a later vintage than its style would suggest, as it’s a too studied in its evocation. 2 – The style is fun, but the horn soloists don’t do much for me. Sound like older guys used to going outside who are trying going inside. I do like the trumpet solo. Hamiett Bluiett on bari? Also sounds underrehearsed to me. Mapleshade Records? Is that Don Pullen on piano? On balance, I like the track, but not big-time. 3 – Swingin! Good mainstream stuff, I like it fine, though again the soloists don’t do much for me. I could see this being on a label like Pablo. 4 – This is more my sweet spot than the previous cuts and wins the coveted “wouldn’t mind having that in my collection” award. Sax player is very strong, I suspect a big-time name who I have well-represented in my collection. 5 – Is this from that Oscar Peterson meets the Trumpet Kings series of albums? Pleasant. 6 – I like this one ok. The bass player really has my ear. Older horn players, and I don’t care all that much for them, or for the piano solo, but the rhythm section is really locked in! 7 – Old-fashioned organ player. I assume late 50’s. Guitar player wins solo honors to me. I would see it as a fun track, though not essential, but the trombone player gets on my nerves, and it sounds like his album. 8 – JATP feel to the cut, classic “tenor battle” – is it a JATP recording? I like this one a lot! I want to think I have enough of this sort of thing to not need more but could be convinced to make an exception in this case. All of the solos are very good. Oscar Peterson on piano? 9 – Good soloists on this cut, the solos raise it above background music level for me. I assume big names on this. I like it on balance! 10 – Older sax player, not a fan of their tone (I got myself in trouble with you last time I said that about the sax player on one of your BFT’s – it was Percy France!). 11 – Well, I’ve never heard a version of “A Night in Tunisia” I didn’t enjoy, though this probably falls below the midpoint for me. I like it less relaxed (think the Blakey/Messengers version on Blue Note), and the stride aspects of the pianist’s style are somewhat off-putting to me. 12 – Fine for what it is but feels earlier than my domain. Sax and guitar are fine with me, but the roller-rink organ grates on me. 13 – Sax player has exquisite control, but it’s a performance I admire more than enjoy, found myself getting very impatient with it. Lee Konitz? Thanks, Dan, for the BFT and the comradery! A lot of good tracks on here (I give 9 of 13 a thumbs up – nine more than you liked on my BFT 😊). #4 and #8 are big winners for me, and I greatly look forward to ID’s of them (which I’m sure people here will provide soon enough).

Thanks Big Al, a blessed 2024 to you and your family!

Finally, some real jazz, as opposed to the junk that other guy hoists on us every December. I, for one, look forward to listening!

60's live concert standard. Not bootleg quality, but not great either. Maybe 7 on a 1-10 scale. The DVD is B&W, but well-shot, and is the major draw for me.

+1

The Crawlers were actually the dancers. The musicians were the Registers.

Thanks T.D., have a great new years!

Thanks Mark, yes, by the end I was trying to give away that #3 was Allen. Wishing you and yours a happy new year and blessed 2024!

RIP. I especially like the 'Live at Montreux 1972' and 'Invitation to Openness' albums.

CD/DVD set: 3180330.avif

Ravens-49'ers Superbowl coming up, I think. I'm an Eagles fan, but they look like toast to me at this point.

BFT 237 Reveal – thanks to all who participated! 1 - Alvin Cash & The Crawlers – “Twine Time” Mar-v-lus Records 45 - 1964 This funky masterpiece reached #14 on the pop charts and #4 on the R&B charts in 1965. I latched onto it when I first started listening to the radio on my own, and it’s slinky meters caught my 10 year old ears immediately. Largely forgotten now outside of Northern Soul circles, but it needs to be heard and appreciated! 2 - Ralph Bowen – “Rahsaan's Run” from the album “Five” Criss Cross Records-2008 Excellent version of the great Woody Shaw composition. Love the drumming by the little-known Dana Hall! 3 - Allen Lowe – “Out to Brunch” from the album ‘In The Dark’ ESP-Disk - 2023 Fun cut from Allen’s recent epic 3-CD set. Great tribute to Dolphy, right down to the title. The "vibes" solo was played on synthesizer by the very talented Lewis Porter. 4 - Marion Brown – “Terra” from the album ‘Offering’ Venus Records – 1993 Beautiful cut from the great alto saxophonist. The whole album is stunning. I remember how surprised I was by his stylistic change in the mid-70’s on ‘Vista’, but it paid great dividends on that gem and going forward. 5 - Jackie Cain & Roy Kral – “Open” from the album ‘Grass’ Capitol Records-1968 I don’t expect this to necessarily be a popular cut, and it wasn’t, but I love it, and it is so far afield of what we would expect from the storied Jackie & Roy team that I thought it might open some ears and surprise some people. 1968 did a lot of unusual things to a lot of jazz musicians. 6 - Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers – “Time Will Tell” from the album ‘Gypsy Folk Tales’ Roulette Records - 1977 A beautiful and grossly underrated album. The jazz world’s introduction to Bobby Watson, who wrote this gorgeous piece and other beauties on here and was the musical director of the group. Great playing and writing by Walter Davis Jr. on this album, and strong work by Dave Schnitter and Valery Ponomerev. 7 - Charles Mingus – “Opus 4” from the album ‘Mingus Moves’ Atlantic Records – 1974 Another extremely underrated album, which gave wider exposure to George Adams and Don Pullen. Often overlooked, as soon thereafter Jack Walrath joined in and the two fabulous ‘Changes’ albums resulted, but this album holds its own in that illustrious company, though in a slightly more muted way. The writing is extremely strong and consistent here, and the playing is inspired. 8 - Roy Ayers – “The Ringer” from ‘Virgo Vibes’ Atlantic Records – 1967 Strong performance of the Charles Tolliver gem on this classic album. Tolliver, Joe Henderson, Reggie Workman, and Herbie Hancock (under an alias) all onboard. 9 - The Nineteenth Whole – “You Caught Me Smilin' “ from ‘Smilin’ Eastbound Records-1972 One of two cuts on this BFT that an ID by anyone would surprise me, yet it was ID’d. This group featured Billy Wooten and Emmanuel Riggins, who were playing in Grant Green’s group in that era, as well as Cornell Dupree and others. Song is a Sly Stone composition from his 1971 downer album ‘There’s a Riot Going On’ 10 - Phil Farris – “Sun Sound (Summer)” from ‘Sun Sound’ Posi-Tone Records – 1996 I don’t know anything else about him and would have been shocked if anyone had gotten this this (though I expected it to generate all sorts of interesting guesses), but I love the album. Picked it up in a mass purchase from another board member, and it’s one of my favorite discoveries of the past couple of years. I especially like the piano playing on this cut. 11 - Julie Driscoll/Brian Auger & The Trinity - Flesh Failures (Let The Sunshine In) from ‘Streetnoise’ Atco Records – 1969 This 2LP set was a favorite album from my teenage years. The cut here is a song from the 60’s play ‘Hair’, which produced so many amazing songs. ‘Hair’ was the soundtrack of 1969 in a lot of ways, given the proliferation of cover versions which were big hits that year. Auger is a fabulous organ player, and Driscoll is a fascinating vocalist who has been a critic’s darling for decades. This group had a huge #3 UK hit in 1968 with a cover of Dylan’s enigmatic “This Wheel’s on Fire”. 12-Hugh Masekela – “Inner Crisis” from ‘Home is Where the Music Is’ Chisa/Blue Thumb Records – 1972. Excellent 1972 double album includes this wonderful Larry Willis composition. Willis and Eddie Gomez join Dudu Pakwana and Masekela on this set. This is the last Masekela album that really reached me musically.