randyhersom

Early Bill Withers and John Handy's Hard Work is already a hell of a career.

The vocalist on 8 is definitely not Louis.

1. Something a little tart in the harmonies of the theme has me thinking early Sun Ra, but the alto solo leads me away from that. Art Pepper? 2. Bass is upfront in the recording, suggesting late seventies or later. I'd suspect the bass is the leader, but get no Mingus vibes at all. Maybe not, maybe Kahil El-Zabar? 3. Post-Ayler tenor meets hand drums. Joe McPhee? 4. Back inside. Stanley Turrentine? 5. Back out with awesome horn control and facility. I didn't start thinking Coltrane Interstellar Space until the second half, and I don't think it is, but that's a reference point. The first part is edgy and precise. How about Sam Rivers? 6. Still out, but seems to be an older recording. The bowed bass should be a clue ... Two basses? Maybe Sonny Simmons? 7. Sunny inside theme. Since I can't get a handle on the horn, I'll guess it's the pianist's data - Kenny Barron? 8. Is that lead kazoo? Yields to excellent clarinet. Darktown Strutters Ball. Length doesn't rule out pre-50s and the style fits. Louis Armstrong? 9. Two different lower flutes? alto and bass flutes? if it were Art Ensemble of Chicago, we would hear some bass too, so no. Cant buy Mann, Laws or Steig. Lloyd McNeil? If so, who's the second flute, it doesn't sound overdubbed. 10. Some electric bass and R&B elements. Fathead Newman? 11. Sounds like the vocalist is an earlier generation than the rest of the band - I thought of Al Hibbler.

Actually a dead heat with Quincy, missed that.

Rufus stomps a strong field!

And does Allen still have copies of the Endgame? I would be in at 4x the original cost in this thread.

Likewise Benny Golson

My reaction to your clue turned out to be spot on. Sonny Fortune's debut with organist Stan Hunter, Trip on the Strip, track is HFR.

Enjoyed the set, but feeling clueless as usual: 1. Alto with organ. Sonny Stitt? 2. Sprightly guitar and gruff tenor. Feels like a vintage 50's recording. Al Casey? Willis Jackson? 3. Jazz Messengers? Relatively few editions of the JM had a bone, but the drummer sure feels like Blakey. 4. I'm dissuaded from a Horace Silver guess by the unusual front line - Alto Tenor and Bari with no brass. 5. Clarinet and guitar featured. Maybe Ken Peplowski with Howard Alden? 6. I have no idea who does the Buena Vista Swing. Or do I? There was a Cuban group called Buena Vista Social Club, I think. But would they sing in English? 7. Guitar duo with some country elements. Chester and Lester? (Chet Atkins and Les Paul) Tune is familiar ... Jambalaya? 8. Jumpin' tune. Charles Mingus? 9. Booker Ervin? 10. Sax duo. Kinda ECM feel, and Dave Liebman was the first name that jumped to mind, but it's not one of his ECMs that I know of. 11. Continuing the mood, but just one sax and piano trio. Jan Garbarek? 12. Township feel. I'll go with Abdullah Ibrahim. 13. The willingness to maintain, as opposed to develop or migrate, a groove indicates a pop sensibility. The groove builds tension nicely. The instrumentation doesn't fit some of the explorers in this realm that I thought of like Bad Plus, EST or Medeski Martin and Wood, or even Sea Level. WIth low confidence, I'll guess Bill Frisell (having just backspaced out John Scofield).

Thanks

Although I never thought of the Valentine's day connection, JSngry did correctly deduce that all of the tracks on the BFT were led by women. 1. Wildwasser - Rebecca Trescher from Character Pieces Rebecca Trescher – Clarinet, Bass Clarinet, Composition, Arrangement, Conception Julian Hesse – Trumpet, Flugelhorn Joachim Lenhardt – Tenor Saxophone, Flute Markus Harm – Alto Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone, Clarinet Anton Mangold – Concert Harp, Alto Saxophone, Flute Juri Kannheiser – Cello Andreas Feith – Piano Roland Neffe – Vibraphone Christian Diener – Double Bass Silvio Morger – Drums Released 2024 I mentioned that I obsessively replayed this, and it was a motivation to arrange for my BFT to be sooner rather than later. Not on ECM, but perhaps it could have been. The leader is a fine clarinetist, but her arranging and composing for tentet was the real attraction for me. She has 8 albums as leader, 7 on Bandcamp. It was a Best of Bandcamp blurb that got me to check out her work 2. Black Crow - Joni Mitchell from Shadows and Light Joni Mitchell – electric guitar, vocals Pat Metheny – lead guitar Jaco Pastorius – electric bass (Fender Jazz) Don Alias – drums, percussion Lyle Mays – piano, electric piano (Rhodes), synthesizer (Oberheim FVS-1) Michael Brecker – saxophones The hard driving riffs of this track seemed to me to be a perfect fit to follow the previous track. Probably one of my top 5 favorite albums, I play it way more than any other Joni. 3. Language - Myra Melford from Snowy Egret Myra Melford - Piano Stomu Tasheki - Bass Guitar Ron Miles - Cornet Tyshawn Sorey - Drums Liberty Ellman - Guitar And more hard driving ensembles. I saw this band just after Ron Miles's passing, and Liberty Ellman was missing due to a hand injury, but Cuong Vu fit in nicely and it was an excellent show at Big Ears. 4. Andromeda - Patricia Brennan from Of the Near and Far Modney - violin Pala Garcia - violin Kyle Armbrust - viola Michael Nicolas - cello Sylvie Courvoisier - piano Miles Okazaki - guitar Kim Cass - bass John Hollenbeck - drums and percussion Arktureye - electronics Patricia Brennan - vibraphone with electronics, marimba Eli Greenhoe - conductor 5. Red Velvet in Winter - Geri Allen from Flying Toward the Sound Geri Allen - piano 6. Gloria - Mary Lou Williams from Live at the Keystone Korner Mary Lou Williams - piano Larry Gales - bass Eddie Marshall - drums Mary Lou Williams was both a pioneer and a highly contemporary player. This is from Mary Lou's Mass I believe, possibly right behind Duke Ellington's three Sacred Concerts as prominent large scale religious works for jazz ensembles. 7. Evil Blues - Jeanne Lee and Ran Blake from The Newest Sound Around Jeanne Lee - vocals Ran Blake - piano George Duvivier - bass 8. Rapid Shave - Shirley Scott from Queen of the Organ Shirley Scott - organ Stanley Turrentine - tenor saxophone Bob Cranshaw - bass Otis Finch - drums 9. Most Gentlemen Don't Like Love - Betty Carter from Now It's My Turn Betty Carter - vocals John Hicks - piano Walter Booker - bass Eddie Moore - drums 10. Kool - Mary Lou Williams on either The Asch Recordings or Chronological Classics 1945-1947 Mary Lou Williams - piano Bass – Grachan Moncur Guitar – John H. Smith, Jr. Trumpet – Kenny Dorham The Frankenstein trombonist was only 10 when this was recorded, the bassist is his father. But this is some very early Kenny Dorham. and John Henry Smith Jr. is better known as "the" Johnny Smith who shares a Mosaic with Stan Getz among many other highlights. 11. What's New - Helen Merrill from Helen Merrill Helen Merrill – vocals Clifford Brown – trumpet Danny Bank – bass clarinet, flute, baritone saxophone Jimmy Jones – piano Barry Galbraith – guitar Oscar Pettiford – cello, double bass (tracks 3, 4, and 5) Bobby Donaldson – drums (tracks 3, 4, and 5) Quincy Jones – arranger, conductor An emotional and moving performance that has always resonated with me. 12. Stone Song - Maria Schneider from Data Lords Greg Gisbert – trumpet, flügelhorn Tony Kadleck – trumpet, flügelhorn Nadje Noordhuis – trumpet, flügelhorn Mike Rodriguez – trumpet, flügelhorn Marshall Gilkes – trombone Ryan Keberle – trombone Keith O'Quinn – trombone George Flynn – bass trombone Dave Pietro – alto saxophone, clarinet, piccolo, flute Steve Wilson – alto saxophone, soprano saxophone, clarinet, flute Donny McCaslin – tenor saxophone, flute Rich Perry – tenor saxophone Scott Robinson – baritone, Bb, bass & contrabass clarinets, muson Gary Versace – accordion Frank Kimbrough – piano Ben Monder – guitar Jay Anderson – bass Johnathan Blake – drums, percussion Our Grammy winner. Rebecca Trescher does evoke Gil Evans for me, and Maria Schneider does so even more so. 13. Aussichtsreich - Rebecca Trescher from Character Pieces personnel same as # 1

Looks like I'm missing this year due to a combination of circumstances. Enjoy, all!

Some midmonth hints on the 4 remaining unsolved performances, 1,6,12 and 13. One of the unsolved performances features a musician who also played on one of the solved performances. One unsolved performance comes from a Grammy winning album. Of the three unsolved performances with horns, one elicited the prefix Euro- in a comment from a participant. That is the only one of those three that did not originate in Europe.

Your reaction makes me think it was Gary Thomas. I'll see if I can confirm... Yeah, Herbie Hancock Gary Thomas finds some quick google hits, Herbie Hancock Gary Foster does not. My bad. Corrected my post to Gary Thomas.

Got the artists on 8 and 9. I obsessively replayed 1 for a while, the tenor doesn't demand attention or overwhelm with brilliance, but that doesn't seem to be their role in the music. Reminds me of my reaction to Gary Thomas playing in a Herbie Hancock quartet live many years ago. Not a star, but committed to not getting in the way of the music. Parts of this feed my Obsequious/Jodo jones for hard driving themes. In the context of the whole album I thought there was a carrying forward of Gil Evans contributions that I really liked.