Rooster_Ties

Henze - Requiem: 9 sacred concertos, for piano, trumpet & orchestra Sony/58972 (first recorded in late 1993, written between 1990-93) with the Ensemble Modern Ueli Wiget: piano Hakan Hardenberger: trumpet And you know... - I think I see this recording in your very near future, Chuck.

Getting slightly off track (the composer I’m about to mention isn’t an American)... Hey Chuck!! - by any chance, are you also a fan of Hans Werner Henze (b. 1926, German)??? I'm not nearly as up on Carter as I should be (I can never seem to find anything of his in stock anywhere, and I have to confess that I just haven’t made the effort to get his stuff on-line). A friend of mine is a Henze nut (and so am I), and he keeps recommending Carter to me, on the basis of my Henze fanaticism. ===== Getting back on topic, another American 'classical' composer I really love is... Roger Sessions - perhaps the greatest serial composer of the middle part of the last century. His symphonies keep me coming back, again and again and again. Difficult stuff to get one's ears around, but not at all just "noisy, for the sake of being noisy".

A subject near and dear to my heart. I'll do a little thinking about the subject, and post more to this thread soon. I'll start by saying that there is a relatively new and EXCELLENT series of CD's on the Naxos label, devoted entirely to American composers. And since it's Naxos, all the CD's are available very inexpensively, usually $7 or $8 per CD, at most. I own probably 60%-75% of what's been released in the series already (probably about 30 discs), and nearly every one is a winner. Some quick names to throw at you... Arthur Foote, a Boston composer from the late 1800's spanning into the early 1900's. An excellent composer of chamber music, much in the style of Brahms, but somehow with an American flair. Three string quartets, a piano quartet, a piano quintet, and two piano trios -- all of which are excellent. (My wife and I had the scherzos from all three of his string quartets played at our wedding, as prelude and/or postlude music.) Oh, gotta run. I'll post several more names later... One more, quick... Carl Ruggles!!! And another - Samuel Barber!!! (His concertos and symphonies are all pretty incredible neo-romantic works.)

Hey Dmitry!!!!!!!! http://shit.ru/forum/index.php

Understood Chuck. For what it's worth, I haven't said a word about any of this, to anyone - except of course within this thread. No e-mails have been sent, nor have any phone calls been made - - - at least not on my part. Cool!!! Thanks!!! -- Rooster T.

You know, I was just about to ask the very same question. I'm getting my first WCC disc next week, via a trade on this board, and I wondered what all the other ones were. I too think I missed out on some good stuff. Here's the one I got commin' Curtis Amy: Katanga!

Has this ever come out in Europe?? - meaning the new issue, with the bonus tracks??? Just wondering... -- Rooster T.

Heard this Chick Corea album from 1981 for the first time yesterday. Mighty fine Joe to be found here. In fact, it's cool to hear Joe in such a challenging context (post-1975), yet on tunes that aren't his own. Whether you like Chick a lot (or not), this is a great album to get just for Joe's contribution - and the whole band is pretty tight too. What other of Joe's sideman appearances (after say 1970), really stand out as being top-drawer performances??

Just thought I'd bump this topic up (since it came up in another thread), for some exposure, and to plug "Conflict" for future consideration as an "Album of the Week". I listened to it again a couple weeks ago, and was still blown away. If anybody doesn't have this one yet, then go out, right now, and get it. Go on!! I'll wait here...

I'm not sure how obscure these are, but I've been enjoying them both recently, and thought they fit the bill in terms of this thread... Kenny Wheeler - A Long Time Ago (ECM, 1999) - scored for Wheeler on flugelhorn, plus John Taylor (piano), and John Parricelli (guitar), along with a full brass band (4 other trumpets, two trombones, and two bass trombones). Quite beautiful, and lush - but still not sappy, at least not to my ears. and something similar, and probably more obscure... Florian Ross Brass Project - Lilacs & Laughter (Naxos, 2000) - scored for a similar sized group, all brass, plus piano and drums. Really outstanding, in a sort of "Gil Evans"-ish way at times. (It's on Naxos, so you can pick this up, brand new, for only like $7 or at most $8 - so there's no excuses to not getting this one, if you're at all interested.) Anybody already have and like these???

if it fits in a shoe..., what????? (Never mind, I don't want to know.)

ROTFLOL!!!!

Can anyone (Kevin??) mention these sides to Michael sometime, and just get his perspective on this. Maybe get him to brainstorm about how to somehow get them released?? Or Chuck, do you have any kind of rapport with Michael, enough that it would it be worth you contacting him somehow (e-mail, phone, whatever), to discuss/brainstorm it?? Maybe even play the tapes for Michael, even over the phone (hell, Miles played music over the phone to people all the time!! - or so I've read in every Miles biography ever written). Then (maybe?) Michael could maybe talk it up with the right people, or at least help make some of the bigger "behind the scenes" movers and shakers aware of the music, and the need for it to be released?? Or is there anybody besides Michael worth bringing into the discussion on this?? Normally Chuck would be the first person I would think of in these kind of situations, but Chuck's already on the case!! ===== By the way, on the Cherry sides – does he play trumpet / pocket trumpet / cornet on the whole thing, or are there any of his world music instruments?? (I don’t mean that disparagingly, although I am revealing my personal preferences (brass!) in Cherry’s choice of instruments.)

This just came out in on CD in the U.S. in late April of 2003 -- with 3 pretty significant bonus tracks (about 20 minutes of extra music), all of them "alternate takes", but one is especially important in my estimation). It should be easy to order from almost any store or on-line source. Here's a whole thread about it... Link: Jimmy Woods - CONFLICT, first U.S. CD release, w/ bonus tracks!! One of the very best re-issues of the last year.

I'm amazed all the time at the obscure shit that Google can find for me. Or, rather, I guess I should be amazed at all the really obscure shit that's out there on the web in the first place!!!!

All this is RE: I see it at the used record stores practically all the time. That good? I'm not saying it's a 5-star record, but it's probably a 4-star record, or at least 3 & 1/2 stars. Frankly, I hadn't even given it a second thought when I first saw it in the stores, prior to it being offered to me in a trade. I'm not sure how I can characterize this, without going overboard. It's a much deeper album than it could have easily been. It's not just a bunch of guys doing a bunch of standards, without any thought or care about the music. (Not that I thought that Jackie, Cedar, and the others were gonna just phone it in.) But, I think they dug deeper than certainly I was expecting, on what I would have normally dismissed as being a fairly (sorry) boring program. I mean, come on, "Nightingale"?? - "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes"?? - not exactly titles that motivate me to buy something, that's for sure... 1. You Don't Know What Love Is (DePaul/Raye) - 7:47 2. Nature Boy (Ahbez) - 9:30 3. I Can't Get Started (Duke/Gershwin) - 7:57 4. What Is This Thing Called Love? (Porter) - 6:31 5. I Fall in Love Too Easily (Cahn/Styne) - 5:09 6. Smoke Gets in Your Eyes (Harbach/Kern) - 5:51 7. Star Eyes (DePaul/Raye) - 5:31 8. A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square (Maschwitz/Sherwin) - 8:27 Jackie McLean - Alto Cedar Walton - Piano David Williams - Bass Billy Higgins - Drums If you see "Nature Boy" used, by all means get it. Just don't expect quite the same old Jackie. He's much more "inside" than usual (and I almost never (ever!) sing the praises of really 'straight-ahead' dates recorded within the last 10 or even 20 years.) This one, however, is strangely different.

hell yeah!!!!

Man, I shouldnt' have done this, but I did. Here's what I just posted to the parallel thread on AAJ, after several people started taking Hardbop to task over his complete dismissal of fusion, and his equating of "Head Hunters" with Kenny G.

Yes, the Impulse Ornette's would be excellent to finally have on CD, someday. And it's a crime that "Contours" has never been issued as a Conn. Although I'm really glad to see "Fuschia Swing Song" finally get released domestically (this Fall), I was really disappointed that it isn't/wasn't going to be a RVG, and instead is being released as a Conn. If it were me, I would have definitely released "Fuschia Swing Song" as a RVG, followed by "Contours" as a Conn about a year or three later. As it is now, I'm afraid it'll be 5 years before we get "Contours" released in the U.S. as a single CD. I'm not at all familiar with Art Hodes. (eek!! ) What's the story with "Shine"?? The AMG doesn't have it listed at all, and for that matter, none of the Blue Note albums for Hodes have any BN covers shown, with the minimalistic reviews in the AMG. Somebody edumacate me!! What's the 'original cover' to "Shine"???

Still, you'd think Jackie could play for the 'hometown' crowd once or twice a year, even if the money wasn't as good as in New York City. Reminds me of somebody else... Kevin Mahogany was way beyond being just a 'local musician' on the Kansas City scene, shortly after I moved here in mid 1994, although he hadn’t quite broken with the kind of huge success he would soon achieve in the mid-to-late 90’s. But, I remember having chances to hear him sing, maybe twice a year, from 1994 through at least 1998. Usually one of the jazz festivals would pick him up, every other year it seemed (there were two or three major jazz festivals in Kansas City back then, and then the University of Kansas has an annual festival that he was at one year, barely an hour from Kansas City). And then he'd get booked into one of the better jazz concert series, perhaps once every other year. And then, he'd probably do one 'club date' per year, locally. All that added up to nearly twice a year (or at least once every 9 months, roughly) that Mahogany played in his hometown, even though he was clearly a 'national' and 'international' artist, capable of netting gig money beyond what he could pull at home. All that says to me that Jackie could play at home at least once per year, without compromising his salary requirements too terribly much. Or am I being unreasonable?? Mahogony and his lovely wife (who is an incredible jazz photographer, I might add), have since moved away from Kansas City, so he doesn't play here nearly as much any more (in fact, I can't remember him being here anytime in the last 3 or 4 years). Then again, all three of our jazz festivals (except K.U.'s) have dried up and gone away too, one by one.

When I was demoing (sp?) bookshelf systems a couple years ago, I took... "New York Reunion" McCoy Tyner, Joe Henderson, Ron Carter, and Al Foster (on Chesky) "Requiem" by Hans Werner Henze, which is this HUGE 20th-century work for chamber-orchestra, trumpet soloist, and piano soloist. It's a MONSTER, and will put hair on anyone's chest. (Imagine a cross between Stravinsky, Ives, Hindemith, and Frank Zappa's orchestral work.) I usually call it Henze's "Trumpet Requiem", since it's basically an hour-long trumpet concerto for trumpet and 26-piece chamber orchestra, with lots of piano (but less piano than trumpet). Also, probably something more conservative, like some late Romantic chamber music, perhaps Grieg's string quartet, and/or cello sonata. And maybe Brahms' 1st piano quartet. And, probably some sort of pop/rock music, maybe Matthew Sweet, or Ben Folds, or something like that.

By the way, I picked up Jackie's "Nature Boy" from the late 90's - in a trade from Conn500 a few months back, and I really love this disc. It's a side of Jackie I hadn't heard as much (if ever?) - more 'inside', and it's all standards, but still some very tasty stuff, kinda like the way Joe Henderson treats standards - and above all, it really speaks with Jackie's voice. I wanted to tell others not to overlook this gem, especially if you see it as a bargain somewhere.

Of course the irony in all this is that I don't own either "Head Hunters" or "Blood On The Fields". I've heard "Head Hunters" before (about 6 or 8 years ago), but I've never heard "Blood...", not even any sound-samples. BUT, if you look at all my posts on this topic (both here and on the parallel AAJ thread) - I don't think I've ever made any grand statements about the relative value of either title, short of suggesting that maybe Carla Bley's "Escalator Over The Hill" might be more groundbreaking (for it's time), than "Blood On The Fields" is (for it's time). I just was getting tired of Hardbop and that other guy having a big old pissing contest, without enough other people giving their opinions on the matter - to hopefully add weight to what I think is the relative value of each. (And yes, I said "think", because I have my serious doubts about "Blood..." (which I've never heard) --- but then, yes, it's been years since I've heard "Head Hunters".) BUT, I never actually said one is better than the other. I just wanted to create a poll and a thread to go with it (more so on AAJ than here, cuz AAJ is where Hardbop and that other guy hang out), so people could hash it out however they like.

Paging "Peter Johnson".....

I know, many of you don't give a rat's ass about the jazz polls (and I'm not asking anyone to). But come on, some of you can admit that there is some aspect to them that's interesting, if for no other reason that to gauge what the core readership of a magazine like Downbeat is really interested in. And in that regard, although I never expect all my favorites to 'win' their respective categories... ...I am always glad to see when some more slightly obscure (or at least less 'popular' people) actually place highly in the polls. For instance, Jason Moran probably isn't selling a ton of CD's, but I love that he's doing so well in the critic's polls, and doing (what I think is) pretty darn well in the reader's polls. Same thing with Greg Osby. Gives me some hope for the future of the music. (And yes, I realize that some of you are barely interested in even half-a-dozen names (total!!) in any of the polls. That's fine - I'm not suggesting anybody like anything they don't like.)