awesome_welles

+1 This is one of the reasons that I enjoy this album so much. The personalities of the soloists are so different but complementary. KD here is a perfect foil for Dolphy and just as memorable. I love how throaty his tone gets when playing lower notes. Dolphy's solo on Dedication is a definite highlight of the album though for me. One thing I've noticed though is that the ensemble playing is a little unrehearsed. For example the slight confusion (I think it's KD that fluffs his line) when they begin to play the head at the end of New Monastery or Joe Henderson's premature interjection during Richard Davis' solo on Refuge. Also I'm sure there are minor differences in the "out head" than they play on the "in" (I think I may have just made up those terms so hopefully you know what I mean!).

My soundcloud page has a few "gypsy jazz" style recordings and the last two tracks on the page are more experimental recordings. We have gottent a little better since those were uploaded and will be recording a demo soon. Would love to hear some constructive criticism though.

I used to own and really enjoyed a compilation called "Great Trumpet Legends". And was wondering if anyone can suggest any other various artist compilations. I'm especially interested in expanding my knowledge of early jazz. I've not really heard much besides Louis' Hot Fives and Sevens and this Duke Ellington box but any era/style of jazz is fair game. I don't know why I wrote "good" in the topic title by the way!

I'll take a DL too please.

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll look out for cheap copies of "Booker Little and Friend", "Live at the Five Spot" or "Out Front" then. I forgot that I actually do have the Fantastic Frank Strozier album (as "Waltz of the Demons"). I especially like Strozier's "A Starling Theme" as far as the compositions go. Booker Little get's a lot more out of Waltz of the Demons/The Grand Waltz on the Time quartet album than here though. Tommy Flanagan serves the mood of the song better, that and the tempo. Does anyone (with better ears than I) know if "Runnin'" is a "rhythm changes" tune? I have heard "Blues de Tambour" (off the Teddy Charles MoMA session) as a bonus track on the Time quartet CD, and always thought it was pretty cool so maybe I should check the rest of the tracks out. In fact the only duff bonus track on the CD reissue I have is "Tune Up" where Ray Draper's tuba sounds ridiculous. Tom in RI, do the bass and drums still sound a bit dodgy on you original LP? Tom P, I'm listening to (your voice on) the podcast right now (shame the tracks are truncated)!

The first Booker Little I heard was his composition "Man of Words" a beautiful and haunting piece on this compilation (the other tracks are also well worth a listen by the way). I'm very grateful that I stumbled across this (inexplicably) not very well known trumpeter. I then bought his self-titled quartet LP which I adore and if you haven't heard it you really ought to! To me the album has a melancholy yet hopeful mood (five out of six of the pieces on the album are originals and all of them are in minor keys). Wynton Kelly's is enlisted for the minor blues "Bee Tee's Minor Plea" and also "Life's A Little Blue" but Tommy Flanagan's unassuming, elegant playing on the rest of the album has really grown on me also. Scott LaFaro and Roy Haynes complete the rhythm section but unfortunately the recording doesn't do Roy Hayne's crisp touch justice and Scott LaFaro's bass sounds somewhat distant and boomy (his playing, typically free and melodic, is great though). The last track is a gorgeous rendition of a lesser known ballad "Who Can I Turn To?" by Alec Wilder and William Engvick. I've heard a few tracks from his other albums as a sideman or leader and, although I think the quartet album will remain my favorite, he seems to have been experimenting with dissonance and close harmonies in his own compositions. To me he had it all: brilliant range but with no sacrafice to his pure and sensitive tone, astonishing facility on the instrument but the emotional element was always there also, he (like Eric Dolphy) was stretching the vocabulary of bebop and played a lot of tensions and spiky lines which I think made him sound more modern than Freddie Hubbard or Lee Morgan, great compositions and arrangements which were also pushing the boundaries and he died at 23 years old! He was not a drug addict or alchoholic and by all accounts he was a beautiful and kind person but he suffered from uremia and died of kidney failure in 1961. Luckily for us he left a substantial recorded legacy but as with all great talents who died before their time we can only wonder at what musical directions he would have taken had he lived longer. A really nice page on Booker Little with a discography and lots of other interesting information can be found here (by Alan Saul). I'd love to hear any thought's anyone has on Booker Little and any recommendations on which albums of his to get (I already have Dolphy's "Far Cry" which I like very much but the quartet album still takes the top spot for me).

Disc 3: I'm almost certain track one on disc 3 is off of the Muppets play Sun Ra tribut album (which was never properly released but is included with the special edition dvd of muppets from space). I can definitely hear Gonzo and Rizzo on vocals, not sure whether that's Animal on drums though. Track 4 is a Mingus tune called "Meditations" but it's not the version I know (Cornell Concert) it's really nothing compared to that version. This isn't Mingus though.

Track 1 (0.59) I found this really strange and kind of interesting. 3/5 Track 2 (4:34) The opening bass riff reminds me a little of gnawa music (I've always thought that the Gimbri, which looks so primitive, has such a rich tone it almost sounds like a double bass). The track as a whole reminds me a bit of some of the funky tracks from the Crime and Dissonance Ennio Morricone compilation. No idea who it could be. I found it a bit boring but would probably enjoy it as part of a soundtrack. 2/5 Track 3 (8:24) Reminiscent of Miles' Milestones (new) in tempo, harmonic progression and the horn stabs. Cool bass playing. The saxophonist has a lot of Cannonball Adderley in him/her but not sure who it is. The only vibes player I'm really familiar with is Milt Jackson but I don't think this is him, this person is less exciting than Milt. No idea on who the rest of the players are. The drummer is swinging pretty hard. I find this track also a little boring becaues it harmonically doesn't really go anywhere and I think that it's difficult to maintain interest when playing on changes like that. 2/5 Track 4 (4:42) Again sounds like it would be a great spy soundtrack but a little cheesey for my tastes. The drummer has a funny rhythm I think he's playing ahead of the beat? Anyway it's kind of cool but other than that I didn't think this track was that great. 2/5 Track 5 (4:45) Loved the bass intro. The soprano sax player is mental, could it be Pharoah Sanders? I don't recognise the others but the drumming and bass playing was nice. The piano player had a heavy left hand and sounded somewhat like McCoy Tyner but I think it's not McCoy but someone influenced by him. So far this is the fourth piece which is of that sort of funky, soulful jazz with fairly static harmonies but I liked this one the best. 3/5 Track 6 (5:56) Another minor key, static harmony thing. More of an eastern feel to this one. Don't know who it could be. I found it a bit dull. 2/5 Track 7 (1:25) Not in the mood for this right now, it's going to give me a headache! It's modern guys (1990s or later) 1/5 Track 8 (3:04) Sounds kind of like Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers as far as the composition goes. And the drummer is doing a lot of press rolls like Blakey does too. But why are the solos so short? And the fills don't sound like Blakey. The piano player is a little reminiscent of Bobby Timmons though in his bluesiness and rich block chords. The trumpet player definitely isn't Lee Morgan though. Not sure who it is but it sounds like a pale imitation of Blakey's late fifties early sixties bands. 2/5 Track 9 (3:33) The vibes seem to me to sit really weirdly in the mix and it's a bit distracting. 2/5 Track 10 (7:08) The bass sounds a bit ugly. Horn riff is very "Fela Kuti"/afrobeat. But it's a lot more jazzy than Fela's music and actually I think that detracts somewhat from the overall effect (more during the head than the solos). The piano player is doing that same heavy left hand thing that McCoy Tyner does and sounding a lot like him in his right hand too. When it gets back to the head I'm just missing Tony Allen's grooves. 2/5 Track 11 (2:16)Sounds like it could be the same artist as the first track. Again I liked it because I've never really heard a bassist play this kind of thing. Could it be the bassist out of the Esbjorn Svensson Trio? 3/5 Oh I posted the track lengths just in case I messed up the order when I deleted the tags. That was the first disc/zip file btw.

The tags were apparent on my mp3 player too unfortunately but l only got spoiled for the first track before I removed the tags (with mp3tag) and that seems to have worked. So I can take the test as normal. When I get a chance to listen properly I'll definitely post my thoughts in the discussion thread!

Is the Edmond Hall track available on any release or can you recommend an album?

Download please

Well I for one have no clue about who's playing on tracks 11 onwards. I liked the version of "Three Little Words" though, and the boogie-woogie piano thing.

Just read most of it on google books preview. It's actually a very interesting article.

http://oxfordindex.oup.com/view/10.1525/california/9780520266889.003.0003 Thought this must have been an april fools prank at first but it was published in October!

So I assume that the Album of the Week tradition has died a death? No posts since last June. What a shame. Are there any plans to reinstate it? If so I'd definitely contribute in any way I can.

1. Clarinet has a gorgeous tone and vibrato. I think it might be Pee Wee Russell. The rhythm section is very tasteful and I would imagine is made up of older swing era guys although the pianist could be someone younger like Tommy Flanagan or Hank Jones. Don't recognise the tune. The recording quality is good so I'd say it might have been recorded sometime in the mid to late fifties. 5 stars, really liked this one. 2. Haven't heard much of this type of early piano jazz. Some of the trills remind me of Tatum but it's not virtuosic enough for him. I love the classical sounding ending. 5 stars. 3. Never Will I Marry is the song. Two pianos. One of the pianists is slightly more bebop sounding but both sound pretty similar to me. Maybe Keith Jarrett? I don't usually like this sort of airy and less groovy jazz but I do like this tune. 3 stars. 4. Sound's like he fluffs a note about 15 seconds in. Not one of my favorite versions of this tune but at least he's trying to do something different but then again it's not different enough, not out enough and almost begins to groove halfway through but then backs off again. I couldn't say who it was as I only really listen to Wes and Django when it comes to jazz guitar. 2 and a half stars. 5. Tune sounds familiar. I think I heard it off a Chick Corea record "Now He Sings, Now He Sobs". Bass solo really catches you off guard. He has a lot of technical facility but to me sounds too muscular and lacks a more sensitive sort of emotion. Pianist also leaves me fairly cold. I'd rather listen to McCoy Tyner. 2 and a half stars. 6. Don't like this style of singing. I don't think it's particularly appropriate for this sort of blues/gospel tune either. 1 star. 7. Love those cymbals with rivets on a ballad like this. It sounds like more modern recording (1990s or 2000s I think) but the music is old fashioned. Don't know who the players are. 2 and a half stars. 8. Reminds me of the tune "Black Coffee" at first. Is it Gary Bartz? I've only heard him on Live-Evil but the tone is similar. I Wish I Knew is the name of the tune I think. I like the soprano sax player. No idea who the pianist is, I hear a little Bill Evans influence though. 3 and a half stars. 9. Don't like the snare/kit sound production in general. Sax solo and sound is pretty nice though. Probably some modern guy like Branford Marsalis or Joshua Redman, I don't really listen to that era of jazz so I'm just guessing. 2 and a half stars. 10. That wimpy tone like Barney Kessel or Joe Pass that most jazz guitarists have, I like Wes' thicker sound. Ah Body and Soul again! I think the second solo is Joe pass. 2 and a half stars. Getting late here so I'll do the rest later.

Hi there, I'm new to the forum. Just wanted to introduce myself and also register my interest in participating in this here blindfold test! I have downloaded the tracks. Looking forward to listening to them and the discussion! Adam