Milestones

My go-to records for Joey are Live at Yoshi's with Pat Martino and McLaughlin's After the Rain (which has Elvin on drums). Guitar/organ/drums doesn't get any better. Concerning his work as a leader, I favor Reboppin'--a generous 14 tracks and covers of Miles, Trane, Monk, Shorter, Silver, plus originals. You'll also hear his trumpet playing. Put it on a blindfold test and most would guess it's Miles.

They are worth hearing, though they strike me as inconsistent. Some of the performances just don't work very well, but there are some great ones: "Once Upon a Time," "I'm a Fool to Want You," "That Lucky Old Sun."

Bob is so expressive on "Once Upon a Time" from just a few years ago. I never thought he could do a vocal like that, especially so late in his life.

Dylan is almost always interesting to listen to, and often he is quite moving as a vocalist. And since I don't care for opera, I'll always take Dylan over Caruso.

More evidence for those who say Reed couldn't sing. I would probably agree, but in rock (and punk and rap) music you don't necessarily need even modest singing ability. You do need a distinctive style, and Lou certainly had that in his best work. His voice, for being the lead, is unusually low in the mix.

Lou Reed is really in there? About all I can say is that this is a bunch of guys who can't sing.

I'm a bit intrigued by the Ron Carter connection. Cobham was on quite a few of Carter's albums in the 70s, and they appeared together on several CTI section. More recently, they can be found on several Donald Harrison records.

I had not known Cobham was on Easy Walker--I guess just the bonus tracks. It's interesting that his early work seemed to in essentially straight-ahead jazz settings, Silver being another case. But there doesn't seem to be a lot of it.

TTK, I'm almost amazed by the similarities of our early purchases. I had some Brubeck in there, but not much. I went heavy on Miles, Trane, McLaughlin, Mingus, Hancock, Wes, Monk (but different titles from yours). I didn't discover Randy Weston, a big favorite, until about 1990--and his early stuff quite a bit later. We are probably about the same age (I was born in 1960), or maybe you are a bit younger. But I didn't develop my interest in jazz until my third year of college.

For me, it was Bitches Brew. That's a great one for a start. I pretty much followed the Miles tree, both the fusion end (such as the Inner Mounting Flame and his own In a Silent Way), but also moving on to Kind of Blue, A Love Supreme, Bill Evans, Sonny Rollins, etc. Also soon began to listen to Bird and Dizzy to hear the start of the music that has influenced so much of jazz that has existed since then. Fusion had an important role in the early days, but soon became a minor interest...and remains so.

Billy Cobham is someone I’d nearly forgotten about, which is a crying shame given how he totally floored me when I first heard him. He was on The Inner Mounting Flame, the great first Mahavishnu record and one of the first jazz albums I ever owned. It was, and has remained, a perfect record. I was coming from rock music, and here was jazz-rock fusion at super high voltage. As far as I was concerned, McLaughlin shredded every rock guitarist I’d ever heard, including Hendrix. He’s an all-time virtuoso of the six-string (sometimes twelve-string back then), and I was glad to hear him return to the Mahavishnu style in 4th Dimension decades later. But Billy Cobham…man, he played ferociously. He just had that total connection with McLaughlin. I can’t think of another guitarist/drummer who connected and played with that kind of fire that hits you right in the gut and in the soul. Simply awesome. I have followed McLaughlin ever since, but Cobham not so much. Of course, he’s brilliant with Miles on Jack Johnson (with McLaughlin!), and then there’s Coryell’s Spaces (with McLaughlin!). I’m aware of some of Cobham’s early fusion records as a leader, usually with Abercrombie in his early years before becoming a leader. They sound pretty good (through some sampling), and I am most intrigued by Total Eclipse. But it’s interesting to hear Cobham on some Horace Silver albums, on several CTI records, on Tyner’s Fly With The Wind, and much later with Donald Harrison (sounding like a different and certainly more subtle drummer). Some real pleasure on all of these records. Early in my love of jazz, I put a lot of attention on the drummers: Tony Williams, Elvin, Jack DeJohnette, Max Roach, Art Blakey. While Billy Cobham is not really a leader like those drummers have been, he’s right up there as a player. I will be listening to his work a LOT!

So the last track is a Hodges record? That's about as Dukish as possible without Duke being there. Or does he take the piano chair while Hodges is credited as leader?

1) J.J. Johnson: “Barbados” from Dial J.J 5–a first-rate version of the Bird tune. Of course, just about anything by J.J. is first-rate. 2) I know this. Such a lovely tune from the 50’s…at least originally. Isn’t this a Gerry Mulligan piece? Great arrangement. That sounds a bit like Lee Konitz. Not hearing Mulligan himself. 3) “Milestones.” There have been many fine covers of this great piece by Miles. This is a superb piano trio version. I know The Great Jazz Trio did this, but it’s clearly not that group. Is it Billy Higgins on drums? These guys are connected and they’re burning through it. 4) “Where or When.” Nice tenor, channeling Ben Webster’s breathy tone. I’m thinking it’s someone else, but maybe it is Ben. It sounds like an older recording. 5) This sounds like Andrew Hill. It's a session that went unreleased for a long time. It has strings, but I believe it’s just a string quartet. Good session. I like Hill and the whole group, including strings. Ah, it’s “Poinsettia.” 6) Not sure about this one. Bobby Hutcherson sometimes had a sound like this in the 1960’s, but not sounding like any Hutcherson I have (which is most of the Blue Note output). I like it, though it seems a bit too simple in terms of the rhythm. 9) “Afro Blue” on guitar--I feel I should know this. Oh, it's John Scofield from the Roy Haynes record Love Letters. Nice performance. 10) “The Wedding” (Water from an Ancient Well) by Abdullah Ibrahim. One of the most beautiful pieces ever written by him—or anyone else! 14) Ellington for sure, but I can't name the piece. I may come back on the others. I really like your choices. I am finding considerable musical pleasure all through the BFT.

Are we on BFT 221 or 222? I'm responding to the latest I have heard, on September 1. 1) J.J. Johnson: “Barbados” from Dial J.J 5–a first-rate version of the Bird tune. Of course, just about anything by J.J. is first-rate. 2) I know this. Such a lovely tune from the 50’s…at least originally. Isn’t this a Gerry Mulligan piece? Great arrangement. That sounds a bit like Lee Konitz. Not hearing Mulligan himself. 3) “Milestones.” There have been many fine covers of this great piece by Miles. This is a superb piano trio version. I know The Great Jazz Trio did this, but it’s clearly not that group. Is it Billy Higgins on drums? These guys are connected and they’re burning through it. 4) “Where or When.” Nice tenor, channeling Ben Webster’s breathy tone. I’m thinking it’s someone else, but maybe it is Ben. It sounds like an older recording. 5) This sounds like Andrew Hill. That session that went unreleased for a long time. It has strings, but I believe it’s just a string quartet. Good session. I like Hill and the whole group, including strings. Ah, it’s “Poinsettia.” 6) Not sure about this one. Bobby Hutcherson sometimes had a sound like this in the 1960’s, but not sounding like any Hutcherson I have (which is most of the Blue Note output). I like it, though it seems a bit too simple in terms of the rhythm. 9) “Afro Blue” on guitar--I feel I should know this. Oh, it's John Scofield from the Roy Haynes record Love Letters. Nice performance. 10) “The Wedding” (Water from an Ancient Well) by Abdullah Ibrahim. One of the most beautiful pieces ever written by him—or anyone else! 14) Ellington for sure, but I can't name the piece. I may come back on the others. I really like your choices. I am finding considerable musical pleasure all through the BFT.

Actually, the Varner record is the only one here that's in my collection. It's a rather fine album.

R.I.P. I didn't think he was quite that young. I guess it's a good thing that he was out there and receiving recognition virtually as a youngster. I really liked some of his stuff, especially his work on the Martino album and McLaughlin's Coltrane tribute.

It took me a long time to find Blue Moses, even though it was supposedly Weston's bestselling record. Weston, to say the least, had mixed feelings--but I'm glad I have it. The title track is a good one (though not the best version), and I also like the closing "Marrakesh Blues." There are exciting solos from Hubbard, Washington, and Laws (all major figures on CTI).

I don't think I even knew that Creed Taylor founded Impulse, though he left after about a year. I've been looking through his bio, and to say the least he had a hand in some outstanding work by many of the greats. R.I.P.

When was this film made?

Conrad Herwig has done many albums based on single composers--doing it with the "latin side" method: Coltrane, Miles, Shorter, Silver. Maybe Hill and Mingus are on the horizon.

Nothing wrong with "projects." I'd say they often lead to complexity and depths. Jams can be fun, but they tend to be basic; and they are certainly hit-or-miss.

So is it fair to say that Monk is a less complex composer than Mingus? Actually, I think that is probably true.

Deserving of rediscovery, IMO.

As for Mingus, you can find his pieces covered by Pepper Adams, Steve Slagle, Paul Motian, Joe Lovano (at least "Duke Ellington's Sound of Love"), and others--not to mention Mingus Big Band and its variations.

Where do people place Andrew Hill as composer? I would place him up quite high, as I'm sure many others would. But it's curious that his pieces are rarely covered. Other than his very first release, I think all of his albums (with few exceptions) feature strictly his own compositions. The exceptions seem to come on some late solo piano records. Even the greatest composers such as Ellington, Monk, and Mingus did not feature such exclusive usage of their own compostions. Interesting!