Rooster_Ties

The linernotes to "Passing Ships" mention this about Joe Farrell: But I can't seem to find what Farrell album(s) these might have been recorded on (at least I'm not finding them on the AMG). Anybody here know???

That's what I would have thought too, and I may yet figure out who's who on all the solos. But Dizzy's soloing is more progressive than I even knew he had in him. (The only Dizzy I've ever hear is from about 1960 and before.) Kind of a nice challenge, me thinks.

Unless I'm overlooking something, I don't think a single word has been said about the new round of Conns over on the AAJ board. Nothing about "Passing Ships", or any of the others. Back before AAJ went down for a couple weeks, I used to have a poll that I started there asking which of the 6 Conns people were most interested in getting. The thread never went very far, although (much to my surprise) "Passing Ships" was leading in the votes. But then Oct. 7th comes and goes, and not a single word mentioned about the Conns. Man, just goes to show how my heart is more with the Organissimo board. AAJ may be fine for some things, but how can a jazz board not even have any mention or any discussion (none!!!) about what we've started three or four separate threads about here, some of which (by now) are starting to get a bit lengthy.

From the "Passing Ships" linernotes... Same rhythm patterns and essentially the same vamp (at least in the piano), but the melody over it is different. Threw me for a loop too, the first time I heard it on "Passing Ships". I'm thinking -- where the hell have I heard this before?????

I sent e-mail too, but don't see myself on the list either. About to resend again now...

Ah yes, but at least this thread properly refers to "Pops"!!!

Stewart Copeland: Sting, without getting goopy or anything. I think your heart-felt solo stuff you've done with your hirelings - who you can kick around, and who don't give you any shit or grief at all is pretty cool.

"Satchmo"??? Oh, you must be talkin' 'bout Pops!!!

Yeah man. What are you doing anyhow? Running up and down all day, spending time sitting in your car, listening to this stuff and then going back into the house to type your impressions to this board... That's WEIRD man! :rsly: I do have a half-way decent bookshelf system in the bedroom. And another bookshelf system on the first floor (two-floor house), but it isn't hooked up right now as we're in the process of painting/remodeling. Yesterday I just happened to give a first listen on the PC, so I could type my thoughts about the music as I was listening to it. (And I had some errands to run, so I wasn't in the car specifically to listen on a better stereo.) But, all that said - I've always put whatever extra cash I had into more music (recordings), as opposed to springing for an expensive system. All that said, I was just listening to "Passing Ships" again on the better system in the bedroom a few minutes ago - and lovin' every minute of it!!!! Man, what a great disc.

Get "Grass Roots" for sure, which is Hill's attempt at something akin to soul-jazz (though entirely mixed with Hill's advanced concepts, at least on some level). It was a Conn just a few years ago, and should be fairly easy to locate - at least on-line. It was from 1967 (if I remember right), and is stylistically pretty similar to "Passing Ships" in a number of ways. Next would be "Lift Every Voice", which was recorded in 1969 and 1970, around the same time as "Passing Ships". Warning - it has a small vocal choir on it (of about 7-9 voices), but they sing mostly wordless "heads" to tunes, or simple lyrics. The album has LOTS of great soloing from the likes of Lee Morgan, Woody Shaw, and Bennie Maupin. The vocals are wierd (or at least some people think they are), but they'll grow on you over time (or at least they finally grew on me). Try to think of the vocals as being just other instruments. FYI, both "Grass Roots" and "Lift Every Voice" have extra sessions on their Conn release on CD. Each disc is well over an hour long (70+ minutes each), and the extra sessions are absolutely as good as the main session originally released back in the day. That's it as far as Andrew Hill titles that are (or were ever) on CD, as far as things similar to "Passing Ships". There are a couple titles that have only been released on LP ("Dance With Death" and half of the double-LP "One For One") which are also somewhat similar to "Passing Ships", but they are probably somewhat more difficult to locate, though many of us here on the board have then on CDR. (Neither has been released on CD anywhere, not even in Japan.)

Before today, I'm not sure I ever realized that Joe Farrell was white. (I guess I just assumed he was Black all these years.) I'm not sure I've ever seen a picture of him before today, now that I think of it.

Both the Scofield titles are outstanding (IMHO), though quite different. Look 'em up on the AMG, and take a chance. At $5 each, how can you go wrong.

How about a couple companion threads... "What are you thinking about listening to?" "What did you think about listening to, but then listened to something else?"

Just listened to the first three tunes again on my car stereo (which has quite a bit more 'kick' to it than my PC's speakers), and I am really blown away by this disc. There are some moments that are a little rought around the edges, sure. But overall, it's easily as good as anything Hill recorded on BN after 1965, and probably better than "Grass Roots" (at times). Hill does it again!!!

Not sure how to collect all my thoughts about "Passing Ships" after only one time through, except to say that I really liked it quite a bit, and expect it only to grow on me more and more and more, over time. (And in some ways, it reminds me of Duke Pearson arranged date on some serious steroids, with Andrew guesting on keys.) Love the complex vamps behind many of the solos -- complex enough that I couldn't hum along with them instantly, and I know I'll take great pleasure in learning them well enough to "play along" with the recording. In some ways, a few of the tunes remind me of "Grass Roots" on steroids, especially "Plantation Bag". Ron Carter's playing reminds me of "Grass Roots" too. Not entirely in a bad way always, but not entirely in a 'great' way either. He's kinda just there, and kinda 'heavy' at times. Interestingly, I'm having a tiny bit of trouble figuring out who's who on the trumpet solos (on my very first listen, mind you), though I've heard a few that I was pretty certain whether it was Woody or Dizzy. I'm sure I'll figure them out soon enough. Funny thing is that in some ways (on a few tunes, though not every one), this album totally sounds like I would expect a "small big-band" date to sound like from Andrew Hill. I know that's a cheesy thing to say, but it's true. It really does sound like Hill with a biggish-band, especially in 1969. I love it!!! Which is to say (like I do about every Andrew Hill release), that I know I'll find new things in this album every time I hear it, for dozens and dozens of listens to come. I'm still hearing new things in all his other albums, and finding new ways to approach them, even a decade after I first heard them. "Passing Ships" appears to be one that will hold lots of secrets and reveal them slowly over time --- which is what the draw of Andrew Hill is for me. He always keeps me guessing, even when I get familiar with the albums. And it's that "always keeps me guessing" aspect of Hill that I love, as much as the music itself. And that's what I love about Andrew Hill's music so much. By the way, the U.S. Conns are definitely not copy protected - as I burned a copy to listen to in the car, and keep in my glove box semi-permanently. (In fact, what I listened to just now was the copy.)

I'll ask my wife. She's the sports fan in this house. For instance, the last time the Chiefs got a new quarterback, I prided myself on NOT even knowing his name, until like 9 or 10 weeks into tje season. Seriously!!!! And I only found out his name by accident, on the news. (Damn it!! - I was really gonna try to make it through the whole season without knowing. And I almost did!!!)

I just used the same 40% off coupon on the Andrew Hill conn, without any problem. The clerk behind the counter was clueless, and didn't even notice the notice posted by every register not to take the 40% off coupons!!! Got it for $10.79 + tax --- sweet!!!! (Never expected it to work so easily, and thought I would have to speak to a manager and have him say "just this one time", like the last time I used it on the new "Jack Johnson" Miles box, which I got for $41.99 + tax.) Hell, if I knew it was gonna be that easy, I might have taken my chances with buying more than just one Conn on that same coupon.

Free For All doesn't have time to hang out this afternoon... (He gave me some B.S. about stuff he's got to do in order to close on buying a house in less than 48 hours. What's up with that shit?? Where's your priorities man?? You can buy a house any old time you want, but hearing 'new' old unreleased Andrew Hill doesn't happen all that damn often. ) ...so I'm listening to "Passing Ships" for the first time right now. Here I go!!!!

Yes, it was included in the Mosaic box as well as half of One For One What I meant in my original post was (hypothetically speaking) if there turned out to be another 'lost' 1965 session (besides the "One For One" session on the Mosaic)..... -- vs. "Passing Ships" -- which is a 'lost' 1969 session.

Yes, compared to later Blue Note Hill, but not as much as Black Fire, Judgment, Point of Departure and Andrew!!! Me too, sorta. It took me a long time to get into "Dance With Death", but now I really like it - quite a bit. It's no "Black Fire", to be sure. But as long as I don't expect it to be, I do really find lots of things to like in it, on it's own merits. (Charles Tolliver, for sure!!!!) Or, in other words, regardless of Andrew's earlier output, I like and treasure most of his later BN out put too --- just in a different way. Generally speaking, I have a sweet spot for quirky and/or slightly avant dates that also have some accessible traits to them too --- particularly if they are both quirky and slightly more accessible at the same time. "Dance With Death" fits well with that area of interest for me, and I think it (DwD) is probably as good an album as "Grass Roots", now that I think of it. But "Lift Every Voice" beats 'em both. And frankly, as much as I like "Lift Every Voice", in some ways I'm even more interested in "Passing Ships" (partly because it's got Woody Shaw, and partly because it's Andrew Hill in 1969) --- than I might have been in another 'lost' Andrew Hill date from say 1965 or '66. Or, yet another (stupid?) way of putting it is this: A 'lost' Andrew Hill album from 1965 might be better, but a great 'lost' Andrew Hill album from 1969 probably would be cooler, if you catch my drift. B) (And no, I don't expect all that many of you necessarily just caught that drift. )

I don't think you're the atypical Blue Note fan, but you may be the atypical Larry Young fan!!

This is probably my favorite Sting release of the last 10 years, but it's not a studio album of all new material. It was recorded live, and has an interesting augmented group backing him up, with cello, acoustic piano, trumpet, pedal steel guitar, and trombone. Worth picking up if you find it used at a decent price: Sting: All This Time (2001) 1. Fragile (Sting) - 4:35 2. A Thousand Years (Kipper/Sting) - 3:02 3. Perfect Love...Gone Wrong (Sting) - 4:11 4. All This Time (Sting) - 5:20 5. The Hounds of Winter (Sting) - 4:29 6. Don't Stand So Close to Me (Sting) - 2:15 7. When We Dance (Sting) - 4:52 8. Dienda (Kirkland/Sting) - 3:12 9. Roxanne (Sting) - 3:36 10. If You Love Someone Set Them Free (Sting) - 4:57 11. Brand New Day (Sting) - 4:46 12. Fields of Gold (Sting) - 3:50 13. Moon Over Bourbon Street (Sting) - 2:55 14. If I Ever Lose My Faith in You (Sting) - 4:31 15. Every Breath You Take (Sting) - 5:04

I would have said the record before that, "The Soul Cages", was his last really great record. "Ten Summoner's Tales" was good, but no where near as good as everything he'd done before it. There have been individual tracks off of all his albums since, that are really good singles - maybe - but Mr. Sting hasn't turned in a really great album in 10 or 12 years (IMHO). I saw Sting play live about 7 years ago, and it was one of the most "so-so" shows I had seen in a long time. I'm not very much of a Dave Matthews fanatic, but (because of my wife) I've been to 4 or 5 Dave Matthews shows that were all better than that one Sting show (in about '96).

Always great to hear a Lee as part of a three-horn front line too. I'd give the extra session (just by itself) at about 3 and 1/2 stars. ( It's not quite good enough (or maybe "not long enough" is part of the problem) to be a 4-star session, but it's better than a bunch of 3-star sessions I can think of. )

I really like the 2nd session on the new "Sonic Boom" (a.k.a. the second session on "The Procrastinator"). It won't change your world, but I do think it's a solid session. I paid a fair bit for a TOCJ of "The Procrastinator" a couple years ago, and wasn't dissapointed by the quality of the date (I already had the U.S. "Procrastinator", so the extra session was my only reason for looking for the TOCJ.) I imagine the two sessions fit together quite nicely on the new Conn. I'd say get it, for anything less than $15.