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king ubu

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Posts posted by king ubu

  4. Overlooked pianists

    in Artists

    Posted

    Norris Austin anyone?

    He plays on three of the seven tracks on Fathead Comes On, including a very catchy tune of his, "Cellar Groove". Newman revisited that tune 40 years later and it can be heard as the opener of his album "Davey Blue" (HighNote), which alas I don't know.

    A New Orleans soul jazz group (?) that calls themselves "The Prime Ministers" has also recorded the tune:
    https://www.discogs.com/The-Prime-Ministers-ReadEm-And-Weep/release/10337217
    Could that 1965 album be some kind of lost gem, I wonder? (The credit doesn't turn up via discogs, I found it on Allmusic which lists composer credits for that platter)

    Next, and final (?) piece is another tune, recorded on the Jazzland album of Joe Alexander's, "Brown's Town":
    https://www.discogs.com/Joe-Alexander-Blue-Jubilee/release/6075891
    Alas, I don't know that album yet (Fresh Sound has reissued it though). I can't quite read the print on the cover scans on the interwebs, but there's no backcover liners and the text on front only boldens (large caps, that is) the sidemen, not sure there's anything on the composers/tunes, the text is fairly short after all.

     

    So, who was (is?) Norris Austin? How did he end up with David Newman on that album? A Texas homeboy?

    Maybe also a nom-de-plume?

    Anyone?

  8. Least Favorite Classical Music Instrument

    in Classical Discussion

    Posted

    14 hours ago, JSngry said:

    I hope to be seeing Stephen Mackey in a few weeks: http://www.nashersculpturecenter.org/engage/event?id=633

    I've not at all minded his works with electric guitar. Not sure if this performance will have him playing or not, though.

    Don't know him, but I've had questions about my post since the second I hit "submit" -- it's really about context, I mean I love traditional jazz guitar, I enjoy plenty of rock and r & b (Jimi rulz!), I enjoy dealing with the likes of Fred Frith and other improvisers, but then to name one, Derek Bailey has an exceptionally beautiful (and natural, at that) sound ... there are others, John Russell, Pascal Marzan etc. etc. So it's about the setting/frame, and maybe even about the piece -- but the coupling of electric guitar and orchestra, based on what I heard, totally doesn't work for me (but I still found the two back-to-back performances of "Gruppen" - a few days ago at Lucerne Festival, with pieces by Messiaen and Nono in between, three concerts in quick sequence - a great experience ... I was just wondering "why?", and with the amazing Michiyo Yagi and her - amplified - koto still ringing in my head strongly, after two great concerts heard at Météo festival in Mulhouse in late August, I asked myself even more why Stockhausen, who was drawn to asian art, at least in parts, wouldn't have found a better solution ... maybe someone should do an improved version of "Gruppen" :g )

     

    Other than that, I don't think there's an instrument I really dislike. Harpsichord, in the right hands (and with the right instrument*) is gorgeous (just heard Pierre Hantaï on Sunday, playing the "Musical Offering" with the Savall gang, and boy, his harpsichord sounded much more like an orchestra than the seven six other dudes together!) ...

    Flute, maybe -- at least I'm not on the lookout for flute sonatas and concertos and stuff, though I just found a new Bach disc that works like a charmer (Laura Pontecorvo/Rinaldo Alessandrini, >click<) ... and then there's the Varèse piece and more that's close to being a favourite, so there's that.

    Harp goes quite well with me these days, but it took me a while ... Dorothy Ashby must have been of big help :tup - but I also heard some in concert, of course, either in richly orchestrated stuff by the likes of Holliger, Kurtág etc., or also in more traditionan orchestral settings, and once even in solo (a piece by Holliger, too). (Plus, there's Zeena Parkins!)

    --

    *) though I am in the process of learning how to cope with the industry instruments that were played in earlier decades ... not there yet with Landowska, but working on Ruzickova and Walcha quite successfully, and Kirkpatrick is reat good!

  9. Least Favorite Classical Music Instrument

    in Classical Discussion

    Posted

    Maybe electric guitar for me ... just heard its flat flat flat dead unresonating sound in Stockhausen's "Gruppen", where within all the breathing instruments it really seemed to be a very bad choice. He could have used a koto or something, but then I guess he wanted some of the "effects" (delay and such) that probably at the time he thought he needed a guitar for?)

    I have a similar reaction to the guitar in Schnittke's "Requiem" ... but I guess I need to listen to that again.

    On the other hand, I really do enjoy the Kairos disc "Sgorgo Y . N . oO" with music for guitar by Pierluigi Billone - but that's solo, so to my ears completely different.

  11. Wayne Shorter - Emanon

    in New Releases

    Posted

    Got mine for about 50€ (ordered a couple of weeks ago at amazon.de) - first spin earlier today ... interesting for sure, but I'll need more time to sit down and listen while not doing anything else at the same time ... the quartet concert is indeed less than 80 minutes, so it is weird that on the CD version they split it up onto two discs, but I guess the price I got is quite alright with me, and the London concert is excellent for sure. Envious of all those that were there (and generally of all those that ever caught him live).

  13. Jon Hendricks - A Good Git-Together

    in Discography

    Posted

    @mikeweil Interesting ... like the album a lot, but I never gave the soloists much thought, just was aware of the mighty good bands.

    But yeah ... not that familiar with Pony Poindexter, but very familiar with Cannonball (I used to play an entire book of transcribed solos of his 20 years ago and still am very familiar with his pet-licks, phrasing, intonation and stuff).

    So indeed, the theme presentation in "Music in the Air" sounds like him, totally. The solo afterwards does not. And the intro fanfare has two saxophones, I am quite sure.

    "Pretty Strange": only one sax here, I think? Hard to tell, but I'd rather not opt for Cannonball indeed.

    "The Shouter": the first sax solo is by Jon Hendricks of course ;) - the second again doesn't sound like Adderley - check the rocking phrasing in that 2:13 to 2:16 phrase. No way that's Cannonball. The (what's the tune again?) quote afterwards (2:23 to 2:29) and again the very fluid phrasing from 2:36 on could be Cannonball, but the entire thing: nope! Who's that riffing behind Nat, just Hendricks, guitar and one sax, or do we have two again here?

    "Social Call": again I think I hear only one sax in the backings of the opening theme? The solo again is clearly not Adderley - the licks thrown around here are pet licks, but not Cannonball's (and it sounds very much like the guy we just heard in the two tracks before, so there you go.

    "Out of the Past": This one I find kind of hard to tell, but as with "Pretty Strange" I'd rather go with Poindexter, too. And if you're sure about it, that pretty much seems to seal it.

  19. Any Interest In a Post-Roulette Basie Verve set?

    in Mosaic and other box sets...

    Posted

    39 minutes ago, crisp said:

    I'd be up for this. It sounds like the sort of project that Michael Cuscuna might have rejected because of some of the material.

    Does Universal own Command? I've tried googling...

    Well, ABC bought Command in 1959 ... not sure how long they used the label or if it was divested again at a later time, but the line would go: ABC > MCA (aka the mob) > Universal (later UME).

  20. Randy Weston - Thoughts and tributes

    in Artists

    Posted

    15 hours ago, Rooster_Ties said:

    I have to confess that other than the Select, and the 1964 album African Cookbook (the one with Booker Ervin) -- those are the only Westin titles in my collection.  I've borrowed a few things over the years, but I've been delinquent in picking up more that I have.

    Not sure how much you're into Booger, but if at all, you oughta get this:

    R-3424755-1329877315.jpeg.jpg

    It was released in the 90s, while Weston was in the midst of his great series of releases on PolyGram/Verve/Gitanes in France (11 albums in as many years, rec. 1989-2000, if you include this, you got your dirty dozen ... there was a reissue also of "Tanjah" one of his very finest as well).

    I have played mostly Randy Weston since Saturday night, and revisiting many of his albums, from the 50s to the 10s, is just so rewarding. I don't think he ever made a bad album, hi earliest ones on Riverside may be a bit boring if you play them all in a row, but other than that, I love everything (and going through the discography on his stie - hopefully it's going to be maintained! -, I own but three of his releases, and have been provided a rip of one of those three ... even his CTI album isn't half bad, it's actually surprisingly good, though I'm sure with less streamlining it could have been totally great instead - but that wasn't what CTI was doing then).

  22. Randy Weston - Thoughts and tributes

    in Artists

    Posted

    Randy_Weston_Zurich_20140409_2.jpg

    My only sorta usable Weston pic ... 9 April 2014, at Moods, Zurich, listening to his duo partner Billy Harper - I didn't take out my cell phone that night really, but when Weston just sat there, in a contemplative mood, hearing Billy Harper's contribution to their low end theory, I just had to capture the moment. (And yeah, it's not quite in focus, that's because I was so moved by what was going on, dig?)

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