felser

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.

@GA Russell That If set is great. I also own the Rollins set and glad to have it. Own most of the material on the Charles and Lewis sets in other configurations. Happy listening!

Much better than I expected!

I just got it from Face Records and played it on Saturday!

I best like the early 70's albums where he splits the difference between rock and jazz - Offering, Fairyland, and Barefoot Boy. The earlier stuff was at times gripping, but inconsistent. Eleventh House era seemed like a crass sellout, and his latter albums usually put me to sleep. Hated his thin tone on the Muse albums.

Great Concert of... is wonderful, the first full Mingus I ever heard (it was in my college's library browser rack). First Mingus cut I ever heard was "Hora Decubitas" from the wonderful 'Impulse Energy Essentials' sampler collection, which opened so many pathways for me when I picked it up as a brand new jazz convert.

I (Eagles fan) did!

Yes, a blessed Christmas to all. Very thankful for this community!

Agreed. To my ears, they had figured out optimal digital remastering by the late 90's, so any remaster from then or later generally suffices for me. I will sometimes upgrade for packaging or bonus tracks.

Alexander is my favorite jazz player who started after the 70's. Harold Mabern shines on this (no surprise)

Neither is almost everything else everyone's ever recorded. 'The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady' is a desert island disc for me.

Depends. Martyn's 'Bless The Weather'/'Solid Air'/'Inside Out'/'Sundays Child'/'Live at Leeds' era was amazing, and the earlier folky stuff was excellent, but to me he then artistically fell off a cliff with 'One World' and never recovered, even though he kept cranking out album after album.

He's a great guitar player, and she's an incredible songwriter. Saw them with Emmylou Harris, and have many of their CD's.