Rooster_Ties

Amen to that!!

Just got that very CD myself in mid-December. Haven't warmed to Bob Berg yet on it (but I can't decide if the fault is mine or his), but generally liking it. Got it for the Terumasa Hino angle, and he's in fine form, if perhaps a little more (too?) straight-ahead than was typical for him around 1978.

OK, I listened to both of the OTHER two "Deep Reality" reissues last night (session details are in what I've just quoted here -- which is different than my post on Dec 31) and here are my first impressions. Journey To Air: This is QUITE a bit more "free" than Peace And Love or A Part -- but I'm just stunned at how coherent(!) I found all of Journey To Air to be. I can't remember exactly, but something close to 2/3rds of the entire album is collective improve -- but it's all handled just wonderfully. In any other hands, this date could and probably would have been a total disaster, but I listened with rapt attention throughout. Stylistically, I reminds me of a fairly free Sun Ra outing, albeit slightly more 'controlled'. It appears to be a studio recording, and it all just hangs together beautifully! I was fully prepared to be disappointed by this one ultimately (though I know I did report early good things about it back before Xmas) -- but I'm thrilled to report that this is maybe one of the most enjoyable "very free" albums I think I've heard in ages. No themes, no tunes, no 'heads'. But the pacing, and density of the improv - which goes back and forth between more of a single soloist (backed by others more in the background) -- alternating with periods of multi-horn improv (all layered on top of each other) -- ...but the pacing of all that is really a delight, and just right. Hardly a minute (or even a moment) did I feel like the proceedings ever got off track -- and I can't wait to hear it again on my better stereo system in the other room (I was relegated to the bedroom, while my wife had a college basketball game on the TV in the living room). Your mileage may vary, but I really loved Journey To Air. Not necessarily 'more' than the other two slightly more 'inside' dates I gave quick reviews to in my Dec 31 post -- but it's a damn nice date. Love Nature: Pretty meh, I'm afraid. Nowhere near as much collective improv, and things never seem to gel or go anywhere. Doesn't help that Love Nature also sounds like it was recorded in a tiny space (almost like a practice room?), and like the mics were all shoved inside the bells of each of the horns. Very disappointed in this one. The best solos are by the guitar-player, but they're not all that hot either. I guess I should count myself lucky, if only 1 of the 4 titles in this series (at $30 each, OUCH!!) turned out to be a dud, but this is it. I'll give it another listen, and see if it works any better for me the 2nd time -- but nothing on this date was clicking. Guess I should say that there were a couple half-hearted heads in spots, but then it was all free-improv the whole rest of the time, but with just one soloist at a time (iirc). Then at the very end of the whole thing, there's a unison(?) theme stated by the horns, which really seemed out of place, and disconnected with everything else. In any case, NOT my cup of tea.

There was a mention of his passing on NPR this morning (which I only half heard), and I'm almost positive it mentioned something about the Smother's Brothers. I'll have to search and see if the audio is on-line.

This is ultimately a matter of personal taste I entirely realize -- but I think both of those first two Eddie Henderson leader-dates are every bit the equal (5-stars) as any/all of Herbie's Mwandishi, Crossings, and Sextant albums. In fact, to tell the truth, I almost think those two Eddie albums are almost a hair *better* than those 3 Herbie albums.

You know, I mostly like his argument. And his alternative isn't half bad either. I don't love it, but I like better than contrafact. "Scrapple" almost sounds too colloquial, but I'm not sure I'd necessarily think that if this new term were already in place, and well in use. Call me half-sold, maybe. Nice treatise overall, by in large.

QUESTION: Did Gil and Joe ever record together? - in any sort of context? I'm certainly not recalling anything, and my Google-fu isn't either -- though it appears they did play live together in 1972... https://www.nytimes.com/1972/05/17/archives/gil-evans-jazz-pianist-marks-birthday-by-leading-big-band.html Gil Evans, Jazz Pianist, Marks Birthday by Leading Big Band MAY 17, 1972 Gil Evans, the jazz pianist, composer, arranger and conductor who has provided Miles Davis with some of his most viable settings, celebrated his 60th birthday last weekend with his large band at the Westbeth Cabaret, 155 Bank Street, where the group is playing every Saturday and Sunday. Ever since his days as an arranger for Claude Thornhill's band more than 25 years ago, Mr. Evans has been fascinated by the potential effects of waves of musical sound—hanging waves, spreading waves, cumulative waves. With his present orchestra, he is supporting these waves with the tremendous driving rhythmic force of a eight‐piece rhythm section made up of two electric guitars, an electric bass, drums, two percussionists, synthesizer and an electric piano. The rest of the band—two trumpets, two french horns, two saxophonists, trombone and tuba—gives Mr. Evans the mean for rich, colorful voicings that he uses lavishly in establishing themes for the various sections into which he divides most of his compositions. These themes, as a rule, are simply jumping off points for a broad, expansive background over which soloists can improvise. And Mr. Evans, who draws on a large pool of devoted and talented jazz musicians whenever he assembles band, has solists who can meet the challenges that he offers them. In this current group, Dave Bargeron of Blood, Sweat and Tears, plays a brilliantly, lusty trombone, Trevor Koehler builds some striking and exciting lines on soprano saxophone, and Joe Henderson, also of Blood, Sweat and Tears, makes excellent use of a basic, uncluttered attack on tenor saxophone. Dave Horowitz, on synthesizer, does not have solo roles but he constantly heightens and adds accents to the sounds of the soloists and the ensemble. Despite the emphasis that Mr. Evans puts on his soloists, this is essentially an ensemble group that produces an overall effect in which the soloists provide just one of several threads that Mr. Evans weaves together.

Listened to Peace And Love and A Part yesterday just once each (session details above), and both are largely excellent. I'll try and provide a more detailed review at some point, but my off-the-cuff description of both are that they're both fairly "free"-leaning, but with a mostly-solid (structured) underpinning in the rhythm-section through a good 70% of the proceedings. Very solid B+ albums, both of them -- to my way of thinking. The tenor-player on A Part goes too far 'out' for my tastes sometimes, but not for more than about 2 minutes at a time (at most) -- and his bass clarinet playing is also pretty far out there too, but he mostly doesn't detract from the proceedings. (Your mileage may vary with him). In both cases (both these CD's), Hino is in incredible form throughout, and Reggie Workman is a monster at holding things down (with Motohiko Hino on drums -- they really work well together). But the unsung star on both dates is Kiyoshi Sugimoto (guitar), who never fails to be interesting at every turn, and a player who really deserves to be a lot better known. And Hideo Ichikawa (piano and some Rhodes (iirc)), is no slouch either. I'm glad the tenor-player isn't on both of these dates, but I don't mind him entirely (when he reigns it in a bit). I was about to suggest that Peace And Love is maybe the slightly better of these two, but "Ode to Workman" from A Part is really phenomenal, and I definitely wouldn't want to be without it. I'd probably recommend both of these dates equally. My *memory* of the other two 'Deep Reality' titles are that they're both even more 'outside' than these two, and I'll try and given them a listen tomorrow or over the weekend, and report back.

I first heard the term maybe 10 years ago, but I've been familiar with the concept for a good 20-25 years (probably first heard about it back in my Jazz 101 music history course in college, but probably just references to Rhythm Changes). Not a particular fan of the term itself either. I was close to 40 before I'd ever heard the term, and it's certainly not used in common jazz parlance far as I'm aware. Don't "hate" the term, but it doesn't add anything but unnecessary confusion without explanation, even to those already aware of the concept.

BLUE TRAIN!!

I very nearly forgot myself!! - as we were flying on Friday for the holidays. Less than an hour before my wife left for the airport, I had her set the DVR (I was at work, and headed to the airport shortly to meet her). Knock on wood our DVR gets it ok.

I've had periods (back in college) when I rather liked Jethro Tull -- the album Songs From The Wood was probably my favorite, but there were a number of others I remember semi-fondly -- almost anything in their catalog up through about 1987 was ok in my book. Don't spin Tull that often any more (can easily go 5 years without hearing a note), but there's lots about them I do still like. Heard them live once in St. Louis. when I was a junior in college -- pretty sure this was the concert: https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/jethro-tull/1989/the-fabulous-fox-theatre-st-louis-mo-3bdb0c24.html I wouldn't mind a bit if they were added to the RR-Hall, but it wouldn't be the end of the world if they never got in.

I'm especially interested in "Babylonia Wind" - as one track from it is on a J-Jazz v/a sampler CD I recently got (and it's quite good). My sampling of "Country Dream" seems to indicate it's a rather interesting and unconventional date too. Good luck to you too!

One NICE plus, that I was totally not expecting, was the bonus track on this new CD-reissue (which I also got). The Dusty prose says it was/is just an "alternate take"... https://www.dustygroove.com/item/894693?sf=Terumasa+Hino+Masabumi+Kikuchi+Quintet So says Dusty: An incredible session of Japanese hard bop from the 60s – recorded by the crack quintet of trumpeter Terumasa Hino and pianist Masabumi Kikuchi! The feel here is very much in that Blue Note modern mode of the late 60s – with drawn-out tracks that hit a slightly modal groove that reminds us a lot of the work of Hank Mobley and Lee Morgan from the time – and the album's recorded with beautifully crafted lead arrangements which then give way to lots of room for exploratory solos. At times, the feel is almost in the "new thing" mode, but the overall focus here is more strongly straight ahead – extremely evocative, and a real lost jazz treasure! Titles include "Long Trip", "Tender Passion", "Ideal Portrait", and "HG & Pretty". CD also features a bonus alternate take of "HG & Pretty". NOT so!! -- it's a full 15-minute LIVE version of "HG & Pretty" from the same year as the album was recorded (iirc) -- extending an otherwise rather short studio-session quite nicely!! I already had this date on CD (a much older Denon version), but I have to admit that the new mini-LP replications of the original packaging are quite nice. So I made an impulsive decision to upgrade for the bonus track. Glad I did!! EDIT: The live track also includes a trombone player (whereas there's no trombone on the studio date) -- not sure who (as if half the names really register with me yet, on all these Japanese dates). There may be some English credits somewhere in the repro-mini-LP -- but it's all super tiny type, and I didn't want to bother trying to get a magnifying glass on it at 1:30am last night.

Haven't heard anything back, I'm afraid (and I did PM the OP). Last time the OP was even logged into the board was June 20, 2017 (about 18 months ago). FWIW, it was the two Kiyoshi Sugimoto discs I wanted.

Got my treasure trove of new Hino from Dusty today, and sampled all four of the new "Deep Reality" Hino Discs (as I was packing to get out of town for the holidays tomorrow, for a week). Not every track all the way through, but I think I listened to about half of more of all four discs (and I skipped around on most of the very long tracks, to get a better sense of what they were probably about). Clearly I'll have to provide a much better disc-by-disc (track-by-track) review later -- but in a nutshell, I'd say that all 4 CD's are on the "free"-er side of the spectrum, to one degree or another. I think(?) only one of the 4 discs left me fairly cold (most of the disc), with all 3 of the others connecting pretty well (to "pretty darn well"). Two (2) of them were a lot more "outside" (less of a metronomic pulse to the proceedings) -- but one of those two more "out" discs was really outstanding -- tons of collective improv on that one (the largest group of all four discs, iirc) -- but it was really firing on all cylinders for as much as I heard. Very, very busy -- but I kept wanting to hear more, and more. 2 or 3 of the discs had guitar (electric), and quite interesting too -- very tart, angular, and hard to pin down. Taken as a whole (my overall impression of all 4 discs) -- as with most things in life, 1/3rd was outstanding (aka "DAMN good!!"), 1/3rd was merely good or "quite good", and the last 1/3rd was kinda "meh"... Every disc had highs and lows, and 2 or 3 of the discs were noticeably better over all, and I think(?) only one might be especially disappointing. I know, this is all useless unless and until I get into the nitty gritty -- and honestly, I'm not even sure which disc was which (I just put them all in my multi-player, and let 'em roll). Like I said, I had a million things to do tonight, before I can skip town tomorrow (as I'm now finally headed to bed after 1:30am Eastern). Lots more later, but not until I'm back from the holidays. No way I am playing any of this in the car for/with my 92-year old father as I drive from St. Louis to Kansas City (and back) -- so it'll all have to wait until around New Years.

Never knew where "Newk" came from either... Rollins was nicknamed Newk because when he and Miles Davis were taking a cab to Ebbets field in the early ’50s the cabbie thought he was Newcombe. Davis started calling him Newk from then on.

"That's Easy To Say" - single recorded by Wilt Chamberlain (when he was still a rookie, in 1960). Just stumbled on this on Reddit in the last 24 hours... https://www.reddit.com/r/ObscureMedia/comments/a7ch67/thats_easy_to_say_a_single_recorded_by_nba_legend/ (Close enough for jazz?)

I'll see your unrelated note, and raise you an equally and possibly even MORE unrelated note... ...from McCoy's Wikipedia bio... McCoy Tyner is the older brother of Jarvis Tyner, executive vice chairman of the Communist Party USA.[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jarvis_Tyner

I only met Andrew once, in 2003 (Iowa City Jazz Festival) -- the one and only time I ever got to hear him. Only spoke with him for barely a minute or two after his set (if even that long). It was kind of hard to get much of a conversation going, but I also didn't want to monopolize his time either (me not wanting to be one of those overbearing sorts of fans). He came off as a very shy sort of guy, which was my take at the time, and still my memory now. It was his quartet with Greg Tardy.

Brief discussion of Hill (part of a MUCH longer and wide-ranging discussion), by Masabumi Kikuchi (being interviewed by Ethan Iverson)... https://ethaniverson.com/interviews/interview-with-masabumi-kikuchi/ EI: What about Andrew Hill? MK: Oh I love him! He was one of my heroes. I was the producer for one of his records, Hommage? David Baker was engineer. I edited a lot of that record. EI: I gotta hear that! I don’t think I’ve seen it. MK: I think you can buy it somewhere but I don’t have it. EI: Alright. So did you hear Andrew in the 60s, the Blue Note records, or what did you hear? MK: Oh yeah!! And Black Fire is one of my favorites. EI: Yeah, mine too. MK: Yeah, it’s amazing. Did you know the way he lived in Brooklyn? Alfred Lion gave him a lot of money. So he bought a flour mill factory. EI: A flour mill factory…? Andrew Hill bought one? MK: It used to be on the riverside of Brooklyn so he bought it. EI: Really? MK: Yeah. It’s a three story building. He was living with a long time wife who played the Hammond organ. They lived there. There’s just one floor but it’s like a factory floor. They lived there quite a while. After a while they went to San Francisco or something I think. I like him. He was so pure and sensitive.

Here's a thread to discuss various nebulous interviews with Andrew Hill over the years (his interviews might be even more nebulous than his music). Specifically, what details or nuggets of information jump out?? I always learn a thing or two in every interview I've ever heard with him, but I'll be honest -- there are so few specifics in the discussions with him (despite the better efforts of interviewers), that it's kind of hard to all weave together into anything remotely cohesive. Print interviews are game, as are audio (what few there might be on-line). AND, let's also see if we can find any interviews with some of the many musicians who've worked with him, who mention any of their time or experience with Andrew. I know I've always appreciated talking the Ron Horton, or Greg Tardy -- for instance -- who both worked with him a bunch. And Scott Colley too. It would be interesting to have more of an extended Q&A with any of them, or others, about Hill -- than the random 5-10 minutes I've caught any of them between sets, or after gigs. (I can't remember if I've ever talked to anyone else who's played with Hill, off the top of my head.) Here's Hill's appearance on Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz -- which I'm re-listening to now (I'm sure I've heard it a couple times, though it's been eons). https://www.npr.org/2007/12/21/17460558/andrew-hill-master-of-melody And here are a series of four (4) interviews with Hill, which frankly, I can't remember if I've read all these before, and I'm only just skimming them now... https://tedpanken.wordpress.com/2011/06/30/andrew-hills-80th-birthday-anniversary/ But one of the more interesting nuggets I just noticed there, it this (which kind of doesn't surprise me, actually): TP: The three people you mentioned all went to DuSable High School on the South Side. Is that where you went? AH: No. I was one of the first children admitted to the University of Chicago pilot program. At that time, intelligence was based upon a certain middle-class standard, and if a person didn’t fit into certain this middle-class standard they wouldn’t have so-called “intelligence.” But for some reason I appeared to be bright. I was semi-autistic, but as they called me, bright. So they took me in and brought me to the point where I would be sociable. To be honest, Hill has always struck me as a bit of a savant -- and although I wouldn't want to put any words in anyone's mouths, more than one of the 3 musicians I mentioned up above mentioned various aspects and qualities about Hill that don't seem the least bit inconsistent with either that notion of being a 'savant' (which I hope doesn't carry any sort of pejorative meaning, which certainly isn't intended) -- or his self-admission of being "semi-autistic". ANYWAY, this topic isn't limited to any specific area of discussion -- really anything that pops up in interviews with Hill -- or about Hill by anyone with anything interesting to say.

I like it! Left turns a plenty.