king ubu

I see in Weston's discography that the CTI has been on CD in Japan, at least... also the pictures (from the website) won't show, sorry for that, but all the info is posted, too.

Found these two on Saturday, both solo piano LPs: RHYTHMS-SOUNDS PIANO recorded 1978 ? Vercelli Italy LP 1978 Cora 01 1 Niger Mambo (Bobby Benson) 2 Portrait of Vivian (Weston) 3 Willie's Tune (Weston) 4 Hi-Fly (Weston) 5 The Man I Love (G.Gershwin) RANDY WESTON MEETS HIMSELF recorded 28 January 1976 Milan Italy LP 1976 PAUSA 7017 LP Production Associati 70 1 Portrait of Tuntemeke (Weston) 2 Buena Cosecha (Good Harvest) 3 Out of the Past (Benny Goldson) 4 Monk Steps (Weston) 5 Ode to Om-Kel-Thoumt (Weston) 6 The Three Pyramids and the Sphinx (Weston) 7 Sister Gladys (Weston) Anyone knows these? Haven't had a chance to play them yet, but I paid quite a lot for the Cora 01, twice as much as for the Pausa, roughly. Also found his CTI at the same store two or three years ago, and it's a pity that one's not on CD - it's easily as good as the best CTIs I've heard (never been a big fan of the label).

I don't know about pick ups or cars, but to me it rather seems to go like this, nowadays: provide the best marketing (and have good lawyers) and people will buy (regardless if it's old or new or good or the crappiest sh*t you ever saw).

Reviving the Cold War?

#1 Another Monk tune... apeing Monks or monking apes? Some french deconstructivists taking apar... plenty of fun, for sure! #2 Huh? Corny synth? That's a contemporary take on the corny sax w/singers or strings track we had on the last BFT, I assume... sax is alright, but this is definitely not my cup of tea, sorry. Not that there's anything totally wrong with it, but it's just that I don't like the sound of it. Is that Toots? Hm, as it continues, it grows to me... some radio big band project? Vince Mendonza? The tune is very familiar, but I can't pin it down... #3 Hm, I guess after the last one I'm sort of prepared for more moody stuf... but I like this one a lot better. Trumpet is nice, and so is what follows! Gil Evans Orchestra in the 80s? Just a very rough guess... guitar sounds a bit like Sco... #4 Nice! I like the fact that there's so much space between what the pianist is playing. #5 Delilah! Love that tune! Favourite versions include the Roach/Brown and Lateef's (with the great Richard Williams) from "Live at Pep's Vol. 2". Very nice how organ and flute fit together. Great one! #6 Old-fashioned ballad playing... but not that old a recording, I think. Nice tenor sound, but probably not one of my favourite players... out of the Hawk tradition, most obviously... the band is alright, giving good support, but noch much more... could this be Houston Person or a similar player? #7 Brubeck's "In Your Own Sweet Way" - very nice tune! Hm, could this be the Kirk Lightsey/Ricky Ford band? Nice one, very warm music - don't know how to put it better, but this really let's me in... pity it just cuts off! #8 What's this one again? I'll let Mike pin the tune down. A nice change of pace after the wacky tenor of the preceding track, this is soothing. Very laidback phrasing from the tenor, and then that swaggery vibrato just before the quote of another tune I can't pin (a short moment that reminds me of Dexter, but it's much too mellow for him, soundwise). Nice how the bassist takes up the same quote again. #9 Lovely closer, but I'm clueless once more...

Tom, here are my guesses - first spin at work, away from my CD collection, as I did it with the last few discs, too... I enjoyed your two CDs a lot, thank you! #1 A fun opener! Lovely sound on them doorbells, dry, no reverb and vibrato. Bass and drums do a good job, retro stuff? Sure sounds like a fairly recent recording. #2 March drumming, similar to what Blakey did on his "Blues March" (Golson's, actually...) Horns sound like from some film soundtrack, with much brass (french horn, too). Alto is nice, pretty heavy meaty sound. Bass-sound gives it away as a 70s recording... not my favourite way of catching a double bass, in fact it doesn't sound like a double bass at all... Anyway, alto is nice! The recording all together sounds pretty nice to me, pretty moody. Tenor sax now... Trane-ish in conception, pretty nice! Good one, will have to play this again, would like to have more of this, too! Probably a live recording or a vinyl dub? #3 Uh-huh! Sounds quite like Dollar Brand... lovely! He was great... still is, but he mellowed somewhat and I find lots of his more recent recordings less interesting than what he did in the 70s and 80s... my guess for this would be late 70s or 80s. I wouldn't be surprised to find out I have this one... Oh, on his later albums, "Yarona", a trio live recording from Sweet Basil is a total stunner, a fascinating and deeply involving disc! Hm, that transition after five minutes goes into territory that I wouldn't necessarily associate with Ibrahim, but the piano is still there, of course... lovely lovely cut! Is the tenor player one of the ZA cohorts? Basil Coetzee? Or rather a US guy? I'd opt for the later... #4 Nice one! Floating tenor... Clifford Jordan in the late 60s? Guitar sounds a bit like Grant Green... nice sound, but not a very coherent solo. Tenor is very nice here, rest I don't like that much... #5 Yuck, flute and corny conga? Nice, sounds familiar, but I'm not sure I know who this is. Swallow on electric bass. Nice one, maybe Puschnig on flute? These finishing cadenzas sound purty european... #6 One of those Monk tunes I can never pin down... tenor has a nice gruffy sound, piano is - as always with monkish stuff not done by Monk himself - a bit too easy and tickling... he was just so totally unique in any way! So there's the tenor solo... Could this be Joe Henderson? There are a few spots where it sounds like him quite some, but all together the sound's a bit too rough and loud for him, methinks (but what do I know...). #7 Great! Sax sounds familiar but I can't place it. Accordion, hmm... Stian Carstensen? He did duos with a sax/clarinet chap, but I can't remember right now who that was... ah, Iain Ballamy... could be them. Great one! And a hearty recommendation for anyone enjoying some accordion to watch the film "Accordion Tribe" (Carstensen is not in it, but Guy Klucevsek, Otto Lechner and three others)! #8 First association of course CT! Maybe with Oxley & William Parker? No... would Oxley go into these rockish beats? And would they do such a short tune... #9 Lovely soprano! Fullbodied tone, nice hints of vibrato here and there, someone pretty much in command of the bitchy horn... beautiful! Not Barney, is it? A tiny bit too much bite in the sound, I think... #10 Oh, more soprano, and more beautiful soprano, too! "Yesterdays". I like this out of or very slow tempo. Very, very nice one! Older recording, from the sound and style. I won't drop any names, not eager to embarass myself...

Sorry, must have forgotten the link, but the Enja # is in the post above - hadn't noted Aggie had posted that info, too. Here's the link, just in case: http://www.diapazon.pl/PelnaPlyta.php?Id=1629

Sure, just making fun a little bit... in fact, I also got the RVG of "Another Workout" two weeks ago, never heard it before, and was very pleased!

Nice to hear it's good - I wanted to ask, having seen you playing it!

There's a track with a corny conga player, you noticed?

And what's so special about the spanish kind of poppin'?

Hank who?

Ronald, with this link you'll find the info about the original release of "Movies, Too" - since it's a 1988 recording I assume the CD (ENJ-5079-2) was the original release, but possibly there also was an LP of it. The Blue Moon CD issue you list, is that the spanish Blue Moon label, from the Freshsound family of labels?

There's another meaning (derived, I assume, from the military one), meaning "appeal" or "plea" (that's the translations on dict.leo.org give, if you enter the german word "Appell").

That word is in use in the glorious swiss army still today... "Morgenappell", for instance: 7 in the morning, everybody standing outside in some kind of formation, listening to some stoopid guy telling what the days programme will be...

What, you already got your replacement booklet??? No trace of the set here... not even a shipping confirmation email!

I actually think the Atlantic title is somehow fitting. But the Prestige is ridiculous. Guy Same here... even more so since he was anything but a fearless leader... Rollins and Roach produced much more interesting and daring music in that time, same for Monk... don't get me wrong, I love most of the Coltrane Prestige output, and since I missed all those chances to get the 16CD box cheap, I will likely get this one some day... but his music is not that very special, sure he starts developping his solo style early on and it's getting quite advanced (but to not much effect) on "Black Pearls", for instance... but the Prestige albums are more like "round up a few of the usual guys, pick some standards, do a record in a couple of hours" affairs... no fearless leading needed there!

Urbie Green is featured on Skylark on the Woody Herman at Monterey album - fine one! Also I like Oriole from Booker Ervin's Booker'n Brass a lot.

Got the discs, Tom! Thanks a lot!

Saw them last night... didn't enjoy it as much as the last two times I saw them. The trio is terrific, their interplay, their power, their groove - they can build up an almost unbelievable pressure! Stanko himself was pretty weak, though... maybe it's me that has changed and not him, but somehow it seemed like he went on playing the same solo again and again, always doing the high screeching 70s Miles stuff. Sure, he always was a limited technician and not the most subtle soloist, but I found him pretty boring. His sound would be so beautiful in the lower and mid register, but he always went back to the fumbling high screeching nonsense stuff. Anyway, if you can catch the band, I still recommend going, if only for Wasilewski and Kurkiewicz! The later's sound on bass is terrific, so natural and wooden (woody?). Wasilewksi is great, too, almost flying while playing, it seems... Miskiewicz played an ugly-sounding drum set (mainly the cymbals were crap - even worse that I saw Jonathan Blake two days prior, playing a beautifully tuned drumset and being much more a master than Miskiewicz, anyway).

And François back on Big-O!

So what does that say about the Democratic Party? It's more than 50 years older. 50 years? Wow! Must have been founded in the middle ages!

Time to put It Club on top of the listening pile, it seems...

If this is your honest reflection I can't put it down, BUT: I think you shouldn't be so rough on Tom. You sound frankly like you've come a bit late to the party. That's OK, I suppose. I couldn't tell whether you are a musician or fan, probably fan--which is cool, and you've obviously thought this through somewhat so I'll tell you the following: I've been following Harrell since the mid-70s when I met him musically and personally (never hung much or played, but from our few very meaningful conversations I got a clear sense of the man---he is thoughtful, caring, and especially hilarious) originally through Bob Mover. Harrell blew everyone away with his trumpet playing then. I mean everyone, especially musicians. We loved him then and now. Ask Phil Woods anytime his opinion of Tom Harrell and be prepared for a heartfelt testomony about a person he adores and considers a giant. He took the best of what was there in the literature from the 40s on and put it in a funnel with his own stuff (a lot of triplets as glue to tie things together, a beautiful melodic sense, the hippest harmony, and perfect structural soloing form) and came up with beautiful, passionate music in so many situations. He seemed to love all of them. I heard him with Ronnie Cuber, Mover, Sam Jones, Mike Nock---just off the top of my head. I know he and Cuber were tearing it up with Bobby Paunetto, playing cumbia and salsa. (Both are on Paunetto's point---great record). Every trumpet player bowed to him. Even the arrogant Woody Shaw gave it up. (please, no comments on that. I had dealings with him and know whereof I speak. Still love his music, though). I became aware of his writing somewhere along the line and fell in love with it also. He's a real explorer and writer of memorable melodies. The ones I like and have learned are not complex as you say, but clear as mud. It's all honest, anyway. My favorites remain Open Air; The Water's Edge; Train Shuffle; Sail Away---and the entire album called Stories. They make me feel beautiful and human. I just was cleaning up some and found a composition James Zollar gave me of Tom's from 1972---it's deep. So having said this and revealing my prejudice and also my knowledge of him I would say that I really have come to admire his courage, but this courage in the face of illness is very overplayed. The schizophrenia thing has become a press angle---and I wish people would shut it out, shut up, look away if his manner bothers them. If they do this they will hear some beautiful music and that's all that should matter. For the record I'm not apologizing for Tom's weird behavior in any way here---it has distressed me too at times through the years, the way you don't want to see someone you revere or love in bad shape. But Tom keeps getting up on the one and keeps creating. And think how much people's perception of him must bother as sensitive a soul as he. But fortunately for us his love of music and desire to honestly go inside, reveal what's there, and communicate on a human level overwhelmes the demons. He's also living proof that music speaks louder than words. BTW the 'woman who cares for him' is his wife Angela. I know her a bit too. She is really in his corner and a very nice person. Mainly fan, yes, and born towards the end of the 70s, so obviously I joined late, yes. Nothing I can do for that, and no way anyone can blame me for it, either. I didn't want to sound as negative as you obviously read my attempt at a review. I have the utmost respect for Tom Harrell, and indeed I do think it's great that he manages to do what he does, to write, to play, to travel. His strange behaviour is not a thing that did bother me too much, but it's just too obvious not to mention. I tell you, the atmosphere in the club he played in (the "Moods", in case you should happen to have been in Zurich) was different from the atmosphere at each other concert I saw there, and that was because the audience felt something about Tom, in whatever way they felt something, and whatever exactly they felt, everybody was aware this was different from all the other nights. And just that alone is not bad, and neither did I want to make it sound bad. It was more a kind of astonishment, that I felt... Anyway, I indeed think it's great that he manages to do what he does, and I admire him for that, and even more so for his music and his trumpet playing.

Are you KIDDING? Danny Grissett is a great player!! His debut album as a leader on Criss Cross is one of the best releases of the year! I have heard him with Harrell, John Heard, Vincent Herring and the Mingus Big Band and he was ALWAYS stellar. What didn't you like about his playing? I am VERY curious . . . Hm, he was playing soooooo many notes all of the time... just virtuoso solos with no end. Didn't fit in with Harrell that much. Next to Blake playing terrific solos and reacting and listening all of the time, he was just pale - these same criticisms apply to Escofferey, but he played a very heartfelt solo on "Autumn Leaves", after Harrell had one of his best, beautiful moments. Maybe I'd have to hear Grissett in a different setting to be able to build an opinion of him - I didn't want to put him down, but that night, in that setting, he simply didn't convince me.