Late

The Newest Sound Around is the only Lee album I have, but I'd have to go with Joe's remarks about it. Unusually moving singing. The intonation of Sarah Vaughn, something of the approach and phrasing of Betty Carter, and the relative purity of sound of Ella Fitzgerald. This is part of what I hear in Ms. Lee's singing. Oof. It's too much. Available for $11.99 right here. You almost can't afford not to have it. (Edit nearly eight years later: new jpeg of cover, plus Dusty no longer is carrying this title.)

Hard to fault the man's playing based on his contributions to the Plugged Nickel recordings alone. Good gracious. I've actually heard some "controversial" remarks too, but they were about Carter the person, and not Carter the bassist. At any rate, I've always treated them as mere speculation. The guy can play. And he can read Herbie Hancock's mind. Some of their exchanges on The All Seeing Eye are down-right scary.

I've always wanted to hear Three Waves, as it contains my favorite Carla Bley composition: "Ida Lupino." How does it compare to Paul Bley's covers? I've purchased so many Japanese imports lately, that I can't rationalize one more ... I can't ... can't!

The little solo spots Bill Perkins has on the soundtrack to The Subterraneans fit that "starting with an ending" description. Some of the hippest "short" solos out there. Also dig his contributions to Chet's big band album. For as much self-doubt as he may have had, he could deliver.

I hear the Powell influence, too. But, I also hear something else. Not really an influence, but an approach to stating a melody that is reminiscent of, I'd say, Lee Konitz. As Konitz often likes to allude to melodies, I hear some of this tendency in Silver's playing, at least at this time. I really like his treatment of "Ecaroh" here, which I know better from the Columbia Messengers album. On that album, all the lines played seem more direct (whether they really are or not), but on this trio session, they seem served up, how to say it, from the side. I think the longer you play this one, the more it will get into your veins. I played it last night during dinner, and the wife unconsciously began the head-nod on some tunes. Aha! And ... to go along with the Rudy-remasters-Doug-Hawkins theory, I think this again is one of Rudy's better efforts. Now we need the Hope's, Navarro's, heck – bring on the Silver album of the same cover (but in blue): the original studio Messengers album!

As he's posted in this preview thread, I thought I'd list the AOW Chairman for August 31st - September 6th. The nominated member is ... Joe Milazzo. (Applause!) Ghost, does that autobiography list the musicians that Tapscott intended for this session? Though I've heard that Tapscott was infuriated when Don Schlitten had already hired musicians for the gig, I can't say that Schlitten didn't make good choices. Who would have thought that Conte Candoli and (even) Tommy Flanagan would mold their own aesthetic so fittingly to Tapscott's music? At any rate, it would be interesting to see who Tapscott personally had lined up. If I remember correctly, only the drummer was Tapscott's choice. Now — must ... catch up ... on back-logged AOW's ...

These Paris recordings, to me, represent the pinnacle of Chet's career. (Or, if you want to break up Chet's playing into "careers" — 50's, 60's, 70's, and even 80's, then these recordings would be a pinnacle of his "early" career.) Everything Happens to Me, which of course is a Verve-assigned reissue title, I would rate as a 5-star recording. (A crown!) Chet's handling of standards ... very few other musicians, in my opinion, have such an intuitive grasp of melody and how to play inside conventional changes while creating meaning and interest. In fact, I almost never think of Baker as a "bebop" musician (even though his rise to recognition came through his role in Charlie Parker's West Coast quintet), because this often signifies to me that a soloist "runs" changes (a la Sonny Stitt), whereas Baker absorbs a tune melodically and harmonically — almost on an organic level — and then produces a story (i.e. an improvisation) that fits inside, rather than on top of, that tune's structure.

Paul — While I don't have the Mosaic, I have nearly all the recordings that comprise it. The Marsh Atlantic album is my favorite of the bunch. Chambers fits in just fine (as I hear it), and Marsh gives him a lot of solo room. Motian seems an unlikely and yet nearly perfect choice for the trio recordings. The Japanese AMCY version (with the cool cover of Marsh in a white t-shirt) has amazing sound.

Almost forgot about that one! The marching band cello ... I hear it now.

It's too hard to say — I like all of the compositions listed. I especially like Dameron's playing on the album Mating Call. Damn hip. If you want more Dameron, check out Willie "Face" Smith's orchestrations of Dameron tunes on Joe Lovano's 52nd Street Themes. Shazam!

(Sound of crickets.)

This one should still be around. (I see it over here on the West Coast from time to time.) This was Volume 1 of four volumes on Barclay. The impossible one to find is Volume 3, titled "Cheryl," which has some fine Bobby Jaspar on it. I thought that Volume 1 and Volume 2 were still in-print, and that Volume 3 and Volume 4 (which was all alt. takes) hit the deletion axe some time ago. Could be wrong, of course. The original Barclay covers are glorious, and it's a shame that the Japanese market hasn't yet seen fit to release this music with new remastering and the original covers intact.

A fine collection of poems by Caley O'Dwyer — Full Nova. In my opinion, few contemporary poets are able to integrate such understated humor into their writing. O'Dwyer achieves this poem after poem. I believe the book's out-of-print, but it's well worth seeking out.

I think its the "sawing effect" Chambers gets when playing arco that most here are referring to. Richard Davis, to me, does sound as if he's playing "classical" contrabass when he's playing arco — very pure, almost cello-like. Still, I think very few could swing on such a consistent basis as Mr. P.L.D.C. The man could fit into nearly any musical situation you put him in when he was alive. I actually would like to have heard him with Ornette. I think their relative contrast in approach would make for some interesting listening.

OK, decided sooner than I thought. West Coast? Allright ... The Album of the Week for August 24th-30th is: Available here. Yanow Says (which is a variant of Simon Says): For Sonny Criss this was an unusual date. The altoist is backed for the set by a nonet arranged by the great Los Angeles-legend Horace Tapscott. The arrangements are challenging but complementary to Criss's style and he is top form on the six Tapscott originals. The CD reissue includes two additional alternate takes and is highly recommended for both Criss's playing and Tapscott's writing.

Aha! Sleeper. When are we going to start a Woody Allen thread? (Film-related discussion, that is.) Now that's a non-music thread I could get into. Maybe Alfred, as his avatar sports a caricature of Mr. Konigsberg, could lead the way.

Pressure! Selection will be posted in a couple of days. First, however, I need to jump in on the "Nefertiti" discussion.

I slept on this one far too long — just picked it up last week, and have really been enjoying it. Whenever I look at the cd, I say to myself: What was I thinking? Being a fan of Tadd Dameron's compositions ... and I don't buy the disc for almost four years after its release? Argh! Anyway, if any of you (like myself a week ago) haven't yet tried this one, you're in for a treat. The "orchestrations" by Willie "Face" Smith of Dameron's tunes are respectfully, and tastefully, done here, and Lovano's soloing seems to step it up a notch (as compared to, say, his Trio Fascination album, which for some reason leaves me cold). What I'm most struck by is how Lovano manages to integrate the phrasing idiosyncrasies of Sonny Rollins from around (I'd say) 1962 into his playing, and still have his solos be his own. First, I don't think anyone has successfully touched on this phase of Rollins' playing with authenticity, and, second, I can't believe (well, almost can't believe) that Lovano is still Lovano after doing it! Listen to "On A Misty Night." Lovano's whole solo, as I hear it, is marked by that sort of "tripping down the stairs" quality to meter that makes so many of Sonny Rollins' solos (from his RCA period in particular) so amazing. And, the guy is playing a wooden mouthpiece? What a wild sound! I now understand the references I've heard to later Joe Henderson when I hear Lovano on this mouthpiece. He must have had a lot of fun putting this album together. My one (minor) reservation: I wish Gary Smulyan had had more solo space. Then I find out this album won a grammy?

S'good.

A monster bong: + a monster bass: equals:

I was just listening to McBee last night, on Charles Tolliver's Live at Historic Slugs' on Strata East. What a quartet that was! For anyone that hasn't yet heard Tolliver's work on Strata East, our favorite troubadors of rhyme and reason are offering quite a good price on select titles here. $6.99? Dig.

(Kind of the right place to post this.) Question to Everyone: What will it take for the Japanese market to start releasing Atlantic sides again? The short-lived AMCY series whetted my appetite, and then ... nothing? Either I missed more releases, am not paying attention ... something! Any guesses? I'd like to see the Shorty Rogers' Atlantic sides see a Japanese remaster, as well as the Ornette's, more Mingus, another shot at Infinite Search, what else?

Reports on the Silver? For some reason, the Borders here never gets their Blue Notes on the release date. (Well, maybe they do ... but don't stock them until a week later. )

I was just playing Chico Freeman last night. Both Beyond the Rain ('77) and Destiny's Dance ('81), the latter title with a 20 year-old Wynton Marsalis on board. Chico's chops really shaped up in those four years, and I think I tend to play the '81 record more. Then I realized ... shame! I have no Von Freeman in my collection. Must -- be -- corrected.