Rooster_Ties

'nother bump...

Found this on vinyl here in DC maybe 18 months ago, pretty clean copy for $8 at a local shop. STILL a really fun date, and I never tire of when I put it on -- which isn't often enough.

I'll also offer a BIG second the Turrentine Mosaic, which is very jazz-oriented (and not really soul-jazz). Also, the two very first real "jazz" dates that I heard with Stanley that just BLEW me away completely -- were both from 1960... Dizzy Reece - Comin' On! Duke Jordan - Flight to Jordan Prior to these two (first heard about 10-12 years ago), I'd only ever heard soul-jazz dates by and with Stanley -- which were certainly good for what they were -- but didn't show off his real jazz chops.

Doesn't eveyone have a cut-off date for Horace Silver's recordings? Not the same date for everone, mind you -- but I think his output is a little like Jimmy Smith's -- after some point, it's all been said.

Fell in love with Greg Osby's contemporaneous output around the time he first teamed with Jason Moran. But after Moran left, I've yet to hear an Obsy leader date that floated my boat nearly as well. And it *wasn't* just the presence of Moran and his playing specifically -- rather I think Moran (or the context of his playing) that really brought out the best in Osby. Still waiting/hoping for a reunion at some point, hopefully. (And, come to think of it, personally I think all of Moran's best leader-dates were during the time he was in Osby's band (some with Osby, some not)-- so maybe it went both ways -- the sum of the parts was greater than the whole.)

I had the exact same impression the one time I met Andrew as well, and also in my conversations with at least 3 musicians who played with him extensively (in his later years), i.e. nothing they said gave any impression otherwise. Everything about the man was nebulous -- his music, his direction to the musicians performing it, practically everything. I don't mean that to sound disparaging -- as I rank Hill VERY high on my all-time top-10 list (usually top-5).

Hey Rooster. I am going to be in DC on Jan. 9 - 12. I had a conversation with Ralph Peterson last week and he told me about the gig at Bohemian Caverns. Going to make the effort to get there Friday the 10th. I'm more likely for Friday than Saturday at this point, but if Gary's on the gig -- I may even try to go to both. Yes, we should look for each other!

FWIW, I think Woody would clearly be 10x easier to do justice on a video documentary, than Andrew Hill. Not so much because of the lack of performance footage of Andrew, but because I think what makes Woody special is a lot easier to explain and get one's ears around than Andrew. Also, that there is interview footage of Woody is probably a huge help as well (and I doubt there's any of Andrew, and even if there were, I'm sure it would be just as nebulous as Andrew's music). That Woody was so underappreciated in his day astounds me. Unlike Andrew, where I totally get it.

Never a fan of the 32 Jazz reissues, other than I was super glad to have them on CD. The covers were ugly, and it was impossible to file everything chronologically. I didn't really "need" the Mosaic MUSE set, but -- damn it -- I'll buy almost anything with Woody, and so I did. No disappointment. Don't know if the sound is especially better (I don't have top drawer equipment, and my ears on are backwards in any case), but I've got no complaints. Nice to have the three 80's dates spread across two discs (which makes sense), and all in all, a great release.

FWIW, the Frank Morgan includes Joe Henderson, and a knock-out version of "Black Narcissus". And the Greg Osby includes both Andrew Hill and Jim Hall. Both great discs!

Gary Thomas - "Found on Sordid Streets" (Winter & Winter, 1997) Because I may have the chance to hear Gary with Ralph Peterson here in DC in about 9 or 10 days.

Overall, the broadcast was more enjoyable that I'd expected (maybe I just have low expectations of such things). And given the songs that I'd heard reports of having been performed as part of Herbie's tribute -- I like what I heard a whole lot better than I'd expected (I was more than half expecting just Chick and Wayne to play Walkin' and Watermelon Man as just a duo -- which didn't sound like such a great idea). Walkin' was better than I'd expected, but still seemed like a weird choice. I guess Watermelon Man is his biggest early hit, but I've never liked to the tune that much (but the performance was a lot more interesting than it could have been. Anyone know who was the overall Music Director of the night's proceedings? -- the leader of the "house band" that night, so to speak.

One of the things that I liked was the choice to pan still-photos of Woody (in concert) [Ken Burns style], with superior examples of Woody's soloing. If they limited themselves to the actual audio-track of all the performance footage of Woody that was available (to say nothing of the audio-quality from the video), I'm sure it would have been a lot harder to sell the points they're trying to hit home about Woody's unique style and (often) superior chops and technique. Maybe getting clearances on the video was a factor too (who knows), but to really tell the story right -- I sure wouldn't want to be limited to the audio from what surely must be barely a dozen hours (if even that much exists) of Woody on video. Also, who knows, though, might some footage with Horace Silver turn up from '66 or so?? (And you-know-who else was on that front line!!) Or, at least maybe some new still-images of Woody live with Horace, which might lead to a couple new (good) photos of Tyrone (are there even any photos of him performing live?). Now, if I could only get a similar documentary made about Andrew Hill -- I'd be in heaven (Hill and Shaw being probably my two all-time favorites for going on a decade now). Never gonna happen, I know, but at least there'll be one about Woody now.

Saw the video before the window passed - I'm jonesing to see this, definitely! Interview footage with Woody II (the man himself, the son is III), from one or possibly two different interviews. Can't remember quite all of the other interviewees, Michael Cuscuna and Anthony Braxton definitely, but one or two others I'm forgetting at this hour. Definitely interested, but then Woody is my favorite hard-bop trumpeter, and probably my favorite trumpeter 2nd only to Miles.

Every time I want to buy something from Amazon, I look on my "wish list" (which has about 100+ items on it, mostly CD's, but plenty of books, and a few other things) -- to see if I can get to $35 in stuff I really want to buy right now. If so, great, then free shipping. If not, then I add the new item to my wishlist, knowing it will be there the next time I want t to buy something from Amazon. Rinse, and repeat! As a result, I only buy from Amazon 5 or 6 or maybe 8 times per year, and never without the benefit of free shipping. Or, another way of looking at it -- Amazon ALWAYS has free shipping on nearly EVERYTHING (even without prime) -- if you just aggregate your purchases into $35 increments. Without the "wishlist" function, it would be a huge pain in the ass -- but with it, I never have any trouble getting to the $35 threshhold (and almost never with a bunch of purchases I don't need, as long as I remember to wishlist everything I ever lookup on Amazon).

Speaking of which, "Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)" from Goats Head Soup -- might just be my favorite actual Stones song.

Keith Richards' first solo album, Talk is Cheap (1988), has always been a favorite. Honestly, I prefer it over just about any actual Stones album.

And I forgot to mention -- the next best thing to Trane on all the Prestige dates, is all the MAL WALDRON.

My experience of this material is almost entirely from the three (3) most recent boxes that collect his 1) leader-dates, 2) collaborations as co-leader, and 3) sideman appearances. Which is to say that I've heard next to none of Trane's Prestige material in their original "album" contexts. I'm probably really weird, in that I've never really gotten bitten by the Coltrane bug. I have a TON of respect for his playing (boatloads!!), but -- as crazy as it sounds -- relatively little interest in either his Impulse or even Atlantic material. (For instance, I have about 4x or 5x as much Joe Henderson on CD, as Trane.) And although I'm a Miles Davis nut (and have have nearly everything I can get my hands on, including all the Columbia boxes), I have NEVER been all that interested in MILES on Prestige. All of which is to say that I was totally SHOCKED a few years ago, when I bought my first of the three Trane Prestige boxes -- how much I enjoyed his playing. I don't know that the material is always the absolute greatest, but his playing is just lovely, and really spoke and still speaks to me. Very underrated, or maybe my expectations were unnaturally low, and they were exceded greatly.

Has the date with Lee Morgan ever been issued on CD otherwise? Don't know if I'd ever part with mine, but I *know* I wouldn't ever turn loose of my Elvin box without that Lee Morgan date on CD.

Did someone mention Andrew Hill?

Amen to all that!! Did Jack Bruce and John McLaughlin ever team up again on anything?? Devastating combo on those two tracks in particular.

Doesn't Rawalpindi Blues flow into the next track? - which I believe does have Don Cherry. Either that, or else the "next track" that it appears to flow into, is in fact part of Rawalpindi Blues in the first place. I do know that Don Cherry is on whatever immediately follows what I've always thought of as being Rawalpindi Blues. Love Escalator (have since college, circa 1990), and I just had it on a couple days ago in fact. I usually go a least a full year between spins (sometimes two years), but whenever I hear it, I'm immediately taken back to the awful apartments I had back in college, where I used to spin Escalator the most. Amazingly, I think EOTH was one of the first 50 or 60 jazz CD's I ever owned -- or certainly one of the first 100. As off the wall as it is, even I'm kind of surprised I took to it as much as I did. Probably helped that I had a musical-theater background (most during high-school and early in college, mostly in a couple dozen community theater productions).

"Walkin'" and "Watermelon Man"? Really, THAT'S what gets played in tribute to Herbie? I'm sure we could all collectively come up with 10 tunes that made more sense than those two.

Do the liners happen to mention any other material from that same night? I see the CD clocks in just a hair under 80 minutes, which begs the question if there was any other material from the same source. Still needing to pick this one up, one of these days.