Alexander Hawkins

I'm just now getting into these recordings and I love them. Does anybody know what the best book out there is on the sacco & vanzetti case? Not a book, but if I remember correctly, Karl Llewellyn wrote very intelligently (no surprise) about it - although I forget the precise reference.

Apologies, first of all, if these notes are error-ridden...I've had a couple of stabs at writing some thoughts already, and each time have been thwarted by my computer shutting down with no notice. I'm now writing on some other application so I can copy and paste, but nonetheless..! The first thing which occurs to me listening to an album I love so much is that my critical faculty goes out of the window. It's very difficult, talking about an album so dear to me, not to devolve into superlative-laced blathering. So, with renewed admiration for those of you who do write about music(!): Leave Tatum himself aside for one moment. What a rhythm section on board here! Playing with Tatum must have been one of the most treacherous gigs around. Offhand, the only similarly hazardous jobs would have been playing with Earl Hines, or some of the Tristano-school musicians, I'd have thought. What's a player to do? Keeping time is redundant with Tatum. I think of Tatum and Philly Joe in the same bracket here: should a recording featuring either ever fall out of synch with a metronome, I'd suspect the metronome, not the musicians. But if simply keeping time is not a terribly exciting option, how does one go about elaborating it in this context? Tatum not only has one of the most dizzying imaginations I know of, but, unlike a horn player, he's got 10 fingers worth of it. There are, usually, multiple lines executing impossible rhythmic pirouettes. And how is a player to anticipate a mind like Tatum's? In any case, even if marking time is not an option, is elaborating it any more viable? Isn't this decking-out a baroque edifice with balloons and streamers? I'm not necessarily a great fan of Benny Green's liners to the set this album is from, but he puts the problem well: '...if Armstrong usurped the role of the other soloists, and Bechet usurped the role of the trumpeter, Tatum usurped everybody's role. He was his own rhythm section; he was his own front line; his own orchestrator, and at many exalted moments of inventive resource his own composer too. What could he ever do to make room for the other players..?' Now, I suppose it's the thinking of many people who regard Tatum as a solo musician, and his group projects as markedly less successful as a result of this, that the rhythm player's dilemma is unresolvable. I'm not one of these people: these group masterpieces are just that (and the earlier trios are also successful, by and large, to my ears). I have no clue exactly how Red Callender and Jo Jones negotiate Tatum here, but it works. If Callender does more than mark time, nevertheless the key is his simplicity, I think. He stays low down in the register, and really anchors proceedings - perverse that 'anchoring' should seem to be a good thing alongside a player such as Tatum! Jo Jones - well: what to say? I really don't know. His brush-work is commented on rather a lot. It is simply astonishing on the opener, for example. Now, Tatum. The usual observations apply: the phenomenal pianisim; the prismic harmonic mind (a lot of very modern substitutions - including some things you only really hear elsewhere in Monk and Dolphy, IMHO); the extraordinary melodic sense - is this paraphrase improvising? Is it almost motivic melodic development as Rollins would arrive at? I suppose at face-value there's embellishment going on, but embellishment suggests something too superficial. Every last detail of every run seems to me to be musically essential. In this way, I think the comparisons between Tatum and Cecil Taylor make sense: the excursions all over the keyboard are not elaboration, but vital substance. We also get Tatum in a real range of situations: up/down tempo; striding; and playing lines which remind me of nothing quite so much as Bud Powell's headlong double-timing. Tune selection is also interesting here. All absolutely wonderful standards, IMHO (although I'm not sure I could recognise a 'bad' tune if the only version I knew was Tatum's). What's also interesting here is the inclusion of a blues (and indeed, there are a few blues throughout these late group sessions). For those who think Tatum needed a 32-form with a strong melody to hang his flights of fancy on - think again, surely? The final cadence of this blues is a summation of everything great about the form. I'm certainly not out of superlatives...but these are all subjective, so I'll spare everyone my gushing. It'd be interesting to hear from people who don't share my critical blindspot when it comes to Tatum. Perhaps even some positive Tatum detractors! I can almost imagine the lines of the criticism (although, of course, would be forced to tell you you were wrong ). After my comments in the post above, I'm aware I haven't said anything about 'If'. I can't. I love it too much.

I still can't get through the first two discs, but I agree with you, disc 3 is excellent, and disc 4 has some interesting moments too I'm another fan of the set, especially the third disc.

Just bumping this up! I'll post some comments on this after my gig this evening or tomorrow morning. All I'll drop in at the moment: 'If' is the single greatest piano trio performance I know. Difficult to pinpoint why: it's one of those essentially irrational musical judgements we all have/make, but I never fail to be absolutely astonished by it.

I think the implication that piano's easier is simply wrong (if intended! ) - it's simply different. Mastering an instrument is tough whichever one you go for. Don't choose an instrument for the shortcuts it presents.

I said - and repeat - there is only one piano player on this track. Overdub is a possibility! 'Curiouser and curiouser...'

Yeah, too right - that's those liberal Scandinavians for you

They're stupendously talented, vocally. I worked with a guy a while back who knew/knows them well. I believe they went through a music college jazz course together as a group, via some special dispensation or other, and spent their whole time getting this stuff together. Absolutely nothing, as far as I know, is digitised/synthesised/whatever: it's all untreated vocal noises (one of them has a really dirty hammond-through-leslie sound down which is incredible). I'm told their live shows are something else. Great arrangements (from a technical point of view) as well. The music I've heard is kind of fun, I guess, but not much more than that. I for one enjoyed them far more as a novelty act than anything else (don't get me wrong, a mighty mighty impressive one!).

Wow - a hammond? I've got to confess, I'd never have picked it! Track 10...hmmm...I'm stumped here. I'm going to have another listen in the morning. Does anyone else hear more than one guy at the piano? Maybe I'm losing it. Too many late nights!

A really enjoyable CD - thank you! 1. Tympani makes me think Max Roach...the trumpeter is very reminiscent of Kenny Dorham. Nice, atmospheric group sound; very filmic. 2. I'm not usually a fan of basses amplified like that, but it's not too distracting here. Nice groove. I'd think Mal Waldron (the tune almost inhabits Andrew Hill territory, though). It's the obsessive working over of motives; Brahms-like fascination with the middle register; and general dark intensity of the thing. I don't really know who the tenor player is; my best guess would be Joe Henderson, but I don't think it is him somehow. A great track - although more and more frightening with each listen: it's extraordinarily focused and concerted piano playing. 3. Post-Bill Evans piano trio - if that isn't nearly a tautology, unfortunately, these days. That said, I really quite enjoy this. I don't know who this is, but I will say this: if it's not Oscar Peterson (and I don't quite think it is), it's the piano player he could have been if he cut the BS more often. The voicings are VERY reminiscent of some of OP's ballad playing (e.g. 'Nightingale', that strings track). What's not to like here, I suppose, although that's not the attitude, if you're not in the mood! 4. Now, the band is quite ragged, I'd say (not a working unit, I'd have thought, more a collection of name players?), but I like the sound a lot. Great arrangement. Piano player certainly not for me. It's piano 101 - learn your chord/scale stuff and you're there. Congratulations. The 'Jordu' quote is just egregious to my ears. Anyway, don't like the piano player at all. Things markedly pick up for me after that! I like what comes next, though I couldn't name a player. Bass player is doing a grand job of keeping it all moving. 5. Now I really liked this. Fairly generic hard bop stuff, but none the worse for that! Horribly familiar players - I think I'm going to be exercised all day before I get these. A really nicely constructed tenor solo, and a nice tone. The piano player and trumpeter are so familiar that I've got to move on out of frustration. I don't have this - yet. One to add to the list - so thank you! 6. My Romance. With a rhythm section who swing HARD. Can't place either horn player, but it sounds as though they're (stylistically, at least) from either US coast, and playing together is just tending to make them meet in the middle. First soloist sounds like he'd play harder in a different context (and the rhythm section are playing hard for him, as though they know his true game), whilst the second sounds like he's playing slightly harder than he might otherwise (sounds like it mightn't be his rhythm section of habit). Piano solo doesn't do too much for me, but it's nice enough. 7. This is FAR OUT. No idea what it is. Although it might be the love child of a drunken night spent between 'The House of the Rising Sun' and 'My Romance'. Trumpet OK, but not my thing. Is the tenor player Ben Webster? I wondered on first listen if the piano player senses the tenor player is lost; he feeds him a lot of slightly too obvious 'clues' towards the end of his solo, but maybe not...Don't know what this is, like I say, but I'm definitely curious! Are there Frenchmen on board? 8. Very familiar tune...I can't place it though. I want to so 'I Guess I'll Hang My Tears Out To Dry', but I'm not sure. Don't know...Dexter Gordon looms in some way here, but I don't know I'm afraid. A nice performance for sure. Nothing out of the ordinary, but beautiful of its kind. 9. This is great! Jackie McLean on alto? Funny vocals - overdubbed I'd have thought initially, but it would've been a bugger of a job getting the backing track down in that case (maybe the vocalist put down a guide track). Don't really know what to say here, but fun! 10. New to me, not something I know, but something I'd like to get to know. Very responsive playing between the two. Nothing outstandingly original in the playing of either, I'd say, but the interplay is what's most of interest here. Hang on, now we've got more than two hands on deck at the piano - does the tenor player sit at the piano to join in? I take it it's not a line-up with two piano players! No, maybe not - unless the tenor's return is a tape splice. Hmmm. I'm foxed! 11. Nice tune. Don't know who the players are, but they're familiar. The touch of the piano player is reminiscent of Tristano. It's a good solo IMHO! I'd like to hear more of this, for sure. Trumpet player sounds pushed, but plays more interesting perhaps even because of this? 'Bone player, I don't know. Nice job though. Or is it a trombone? I don't know now...something funny about it...Nice sax - that split tone came from nowhere, and was very effective. Great stuff. Wow, and listening again, it gets better. It slightly reminds me of a Max Roach arrangement, but I don't know where that leaves my thinking! 12. A nice voice. I'm not too predisposed to this kind of stuff, but there's something about this actually. It's hard to dislike, and I don't mean that to sound damning. It's very by the book, but beautiful. Lyrics/delivery more important than the music, in many ways. Piano solo, however, treads water for the first bit, at least. Can't place the musicians. 13. I'll be honest - I can't tell if it's an alto or tenor. Very post Lester Young. Nice feel, and quite a fun arrangement. Not the sort of feel I associate with saxophonists of this type. No guesses at all! 14. Nice arrangement. Very familiar. That organ sound is crazy. Is it a Wurly? It's a real achievement to get anything else sounding remotely like that I'd have thought. Saxophonist is very familiar, although I can't place any names. This track is growing on me, actually! The organ sounded very heavy-handed first time around, but I'm coming around to it! 15. Is that an English accent counting them in?!? That doesn't help me at all. It's very West-coast influenced, obviously. I have no guesses, but I like it a lot. I don't think I've heard the soloists before, because I'd hope I pick them with a few listens under my belt - they seem very distinctive. 16. A manic tune. Fun again. Is this our friend from number nine? I love this guy! Rhythm section swings hard. Nice piano player! Once again, very enjoyable, thank you...I look forwards to reading the rest of the proceedings now!

My initial reaction to the question would, albeit that there may be one or two exceptions, be a resounding 'no'. Why would an organist not want to use the pedals, other than as a technical shortcut? Seems to me it gives you greater expressive potential (you free up your left hand, you give yourself the capability to highlight certain notes, etc.), so it would have to be a good thing. I never played Hammond, but used to play a lot of classical work on church organs. The pedals are integral to the instrument: they're not some afterthought to an essentially 'manual-only' console. Slightly different, perhaps, but it makes my point: we'd be slightly perplexed by a piano player who wanted to know if it was ok only to use his/her right hand; or a drummer who wanted to know if he could get by with just a right hand. Or, only slightly differently, a guitarist who wanted to know if it would be ok not to play in flat keys, or a tuba player who wanted to know if it would be ok not to play fast, etc. etc. etc.

"My One & Only Love"? "Polkadots and Moonbeams"? That would have been my second choice, but Sonny's played "My One & Only Love" quite a bit over the years, iirc. In a Sentimental Mood? Another pentatonic-y one he likes to play. Edit: Oops. Should have read to the bottom!

I really like a track I've heard from 'Hum Dono' by Amancio Da Silva. Plus, you also get the *great* Joe Harriott on it.

It could be worse. Here in the UK, the government is running a series of commercials indicating that it is your fault if your car is broken into if you leave it on the street (as if there were 10% of the garages you would need to park cars off the street). An even more annoying set of commercials indicates it is your fault if your cell phone is stolen because you actually talk on it in public. Maybe they could go around and hire some police with the funds they wasted on these moronic and demoralising ads. I think our current government probably assumes it's wrong not to be wealthy enough not to have your own driveway

Art Tatum - Pablo Group Masterpieces vol. 6 (click to buy) Just an advanced warning - on gigs for a few days, so might not have been able to give enough warning otherwise - my choice for Album of the Week will be one of the trio sessions from the Art Tatum Group Masterpieces recorded for Pablo. The antipenultimate volume, IIRC, featuring Red Callender and Jo Jones. More in a week's time!

On a Black Saint note - I'm just listening to November 1981 and it is fantastic. Compositionally very interesting, and Bill Dixon is something else. How do Barry Guy and William Parker work together on the Vade Mecum disks? Sounds like a slightly unlikely pairing.

Afraid I don't know this album, but there's a whole load of great players on it by the looks of things!

Beat me to it! Rhodri was my next call.

Casper Rearden might even have recorded as far back as the 20s - I forget...

The look on Bird's face when Buddy Rich gets his break on that second number is priceless!

And man, is this a beautiful record! Agreed - beautiful stuff. FWIW, Taylor Ho Bynum is originally from Baltimore, I believe, but was based around Boston for a long while (before moving to NYC) as a result of his Wesleyan connection. He plays in Boston in 'The Fully Celebrated Orchestra' alongside Jim Hobbs.

Football as played in Europe is older than your so-called "football", so your use of " is misplaced in my opinion. Especially since in our "football", the ball is touched mostly with hands. I hadn't even thought of that... Except for the keeper. Unless you're Jens Lehmann or David James.

Wolff, This Definitive release is illegal in the US. It can be stopped at the US border. I don't know who is importing these CDs in the US (wholesalers or the CD stores themselves), but it's the well known US stores (including CD Universe and Tower records) that are selling them. They are doing it because they can be quite sure that nobody does anything about it. That is actually irrelevant since the Definitive CDs are being released in conformity with EU law (unlike many Lonehill or Gambit releases). Definitive doesn't need to "hide" in Andorra for copyright reasons. ... I agree it's irrelevant (although I confess I don't know anything of the differences between e.g. Lonehill and Definitive) - I was simply trying to avoid the 'lumping-in' of all these issues with the EU

Great original compositions on here as well. As for the standards - I thouroughly agree about 'Tenderly': phenomenal stuff. I used not to warm so much to 'It's Magic', but the sound of Dolphy's bass clarinet playing the melody really gets to me. 'Ugly Beauty' says it all (a composition he'd have sounded great on, IMHO). Much as I love Booker Little and Jaki Byard (and I do), I've always felt that part of the fascination Dolphy holds for me is in the musical tension with his sidemen. He sounds to me to be SO far ahead of everyone else (to my ears, Richard Davis excepted, on 'Out to Lunch' as well) that the whole enterprise is very precarious indeed. That said, Booker Little often works for me with Dolphy because he can play something of the straight man - Miles to Dolphy's Bird: but I really hear tensions with almost anyone else: Hutcherson, Hubbard, Haynes, Williams, Carter etc.

And - please no-one misunderstand me, I'm emphatically NOT defending releases like this, much less the EU - much of this is misdirected as it applies to firms from Andorra. Andorra is NOT in the EU.