Nate Dorward

I like the new one with Hayes too, though it's a slightly oddball relationship--it's pretty obvious that Hayes didn't really know what to expect, & Hewitt apparently just picked the tunes on the spur of the moment & didn't work out arrangements in advance. So you can hear that Hayes isn't quite in sync with Hewitt--most notably, he either misjudges the tempo Hewitt wants for "Just One of Those Things" or else decides to rein it in (Hewitt launches into a really fast tempo after the intro, but Hayes comes in on brushes a gear or two lower, & Hewitt has to pull back). Nonetheless, it's a pleasure to hear another album's worth of Hewitt, & despite the rough edges it's got a lot of fine music on it. I think "I'll Remember April" is my favourite track.

Yeah, that's true, I only learned how to really use the caps lock properly when I took "Advanced Shift Key Techniques" in my 4th year.

I rarely use the term "LOL" but this is definitely the right occasion. That's priceless, deus62. I have no idea why ariceffron can't figure out how to use the caps (among other things). He's an endless source of entertainment, though. I keep on thinking it's a put-on but I'm pretty sure it's not.

It's (Canadian?) humo(u)r, yes, but the point is serious. If the point of music were purely "to communicate" then it's a rather peculiarly inefficient choice of medium.

It's one of Ornette's best violin solos--which isn't faint praise, I mean it's a really good solo. Not sure about how much I like this disc now but, hey, it does bring back the 1980s if you give it a spin, esp. that tacky Power Station sound.

"It's the Spanish Inquisition!" Q: Do you have Laurindo Almeida's A Man and a Woman, volume 2? A: Er, no... Q: And WHY NOT, MAY I ASK? A: [cowers in shame and agony]

Taylor New World discs are great. But what I've heard of Malik on his own account has been unremarkable. Yes, he does eat up a lot of the airtime on disc 1 of the Lyons set..... there's a couple tracks where Lyons barely gets a look-in (due to the loss of parts of the tapes).

Title-tune of Grant Green's Idle Moments is another good one.

Well, why not send a letter?

Funny, that's the piece that Paul Plimley & Lisle Ellis landed on above all on their superb Ornette tribute album Kaleidoscopes (now o/p but SURELY Hatology will bring it back?). Worth comparing Ornette's & Braxton's "Embraceable You". Haven't heard the latter for a bit (it's on the Sackville album) but I remember it as being just as extraordinary a revision as Ornette's.

It's not the most thorough book (it only covers discs in-print, & it's a bit choosy about even that), but what it does cover it covers well. Futterman's only in the 1st edition (a very unenthusiastic verdict about 3 discs, if I remember rightly). Tyler's in most editions--the 6th for instance has one disc of his on Silkheart & recommends an o/p 1981 Storyville session. Their coverage of singers is very idiosyncratic & maybe Dorough falls outside their limits.

While we're at it, is there any CD issue of "The Third World"'s master take that doesn't have the awful phasing problem on the currently-available box-set from Blue Note? It's a real bummer.

Mike--good luck getting hold of it! Hope you enjoy it once you locate it. In North America anyway it's pretty easily found in the OJC series. Yeah, I'm a little surprised at the tepid response, as I'd thought that the presence of Pepper & Webster would bring a few fans out of the woodwork. Ah well. It really is a very handsome disc--just about every reference book I have (e.g. the Penguin Guide, the Rough Guide) singles it out as Humes' best album. It makes me want to hear her other two discs of the time on Contemporary, which I gather are nearly as fine.

Yes, they're both very fine releases, the duo being the pick of the two.

OK, just spinning this....a few quick notes. "If I Could Be With You (One Hour Tonight)"--a tune by Henry Creamer & James P Johnson which you don't hear so often. Slow, rocking, softly aching opening with strings & cocktail piano, Humes giving a slight Billie Holiday tinge to the risque lyrics (full of sexual longing), though she has a very pure voice (unlike Holiday's rasp & ambiguity). Then it snaps into mid-up tempo--the mood shifts from wounded/tender to vampy & there's a strutting Ben Webster solo that exactly captures the brazen/pleading mood. "Don't Worry 'Bout Me", another rarely heard tune, by Rube Bloom & Ted Koehler--a breezy big band chart, with Humes giving a thrilling vibrato to her voice. Paich's charts unmistakable, esp. a polytonal moment behind Humes on the first chorus! Pepper gets the solo here, with that peculiarly heavy bent tone he had just before his enforced retirement at San Quentin--it reminds me more of Ornette or Bird's work on the plastic alto than the metal sax. "Mean To Me" (Turk/Ahlert). Holiday territory here! Just Previn's piano behind Humes for the verse. Humes balances the emotion between pathos & a certain amount of scorn (note the hint of steel in her voice at "you love to see me crying" for instance), & by the end the mood's transformed, becoming positively exhilirated at the point that the key changes upward & Humes edges up into that thrilling high register that bespeaks her background singing blues, I think. "Every Now and Then" (Al Sherman: which she names as her favourite ballad in the liner notes): out of tempo verse with just Previn again, & then gradually the rhythm section & then strings come in. As with the other songs you get a sense of tenderness but also strength & pride: somehow a sense of optimism comes through even when the lyrics are full of pathos. Webster has a brief but gorgeous little interlude--just a few bars, plus some slow sotto voce notes squeezed out right at the end. "I Want a Roof Over My Head", Harvey Brooks. A little gospel! Jack Sheldon & Barney Kessel get the spots here. The sense of spiritual uplift & celebration here feeds back for me into the ballads, explaining something of the spirited, bright feeling to the ballads. "St Louis Blues", WC Handy of course. A bit disconcerting--this is fast! Humes comments that it "has always been my favorite blues. It was just nice to get a chance to record it in a swinging up tempo." Hey, one of Pepper's great out-of-left-field blues solos! (I've never heard a less than terrific blues solo from Pepper.) Pity that they turn over the next chorus to Sheldon, though he does fine too. You can hear Humes really feeding off this busy, charged arrangement, with all sorts of snaky overlapping answering phrases from the horns. "You're Driving Me Crazy" (Walter Donaldson). She sings this one like she's amused at herself. Brief feathery solo from Webster, Sheldon gets a little more, & then Humes sings the whole final chorus up there as the band struts like a peacock behind her! "My Old Flame" (Johnston/Coslow), this one is the first piece on here really to aim for pathos, with the strings more prominent/heavy than on side A & lots of portamento (gentle swoops & falls) in Humes' delivery of the melody. Meat & drink to Webster, who gets a brief interlude just before the end. The arrangement ends in minor, unexpectedly. "Million Dollar Secret" (Humes). A straight-up blues addressed to the gals, with Kessel in virtual dialogue with Humes. Note the funny Previn run that at one point seems to almost make Humes crack up! A laconic Webster solo, &--right at the end of the track--Art Pepper's clarinet pops up. "Love Me or Leave Me" (Kahn/Donaldson), midtempo swinger with Kessel again taking an important role. I think the sentiment of the lyrics exactly fits Humes' persona on this album--not immune to love but a little brassy. "Imagination" (Burke/Van Heusen). The last of the strings tracks. I've never liked the lyrics to this tune much--a bit twee, & the feminine rhymes are too cute--but it's a nice tune, & Webster gets in some brief but lovely obbliggatos. "Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone" (Stept/Clare). An uplifting end to the album! I love the lyrics to this one, & the tune brings a smile to the face. Typically brash Teddy Edwards solo with a carefully placed wrong note., & a little Sheldon. One of Pepper's quizzical little farewells at the end--almost symbolic, given that he was just about to be put in the slammer.

Mike--yes she had an interesting, & long, career that took her to Australia for a spell & frequent European visits. I'll post a response to the album tonight I hope--was just spinning it over the weekend.

Schweitzer's solo albums I've heard have been very good but yes they do tend to have a fairly small range of favourite devices & use them a lot--in particular the little singsong waltzes she likes to drop into. They're not as "outside" in many ways as her ensemble stuff: instead, they're often closer to Abdullah Ibrahim or Monk (there are a couple Monk exercises on vol. 2 of the Solo Piano series--a Monk tune & a standard that's virtually an exact transcription of how Monk used to play it). Schweitzer's also said in the past that she used to be a big Horace Silver fan & I can hear that in her playing too. She also obviously knows her Lennie Tristano (cf. "...endlich!" on vol.1).

Actually there are lots of good reviewers there--take a look at Greg Taylor, Samuel Chell, autonomeous & weirdears for starters.

Yes, they solo! Webster solos on all the string quartet tracks & most of the others, except one track where Teddy Edwards gets the tenor spot. Pepper also gets several spots, as does Jack Sheldon.

Yes, I can see them fine now. Hm, a resounding silence so far. Any particular reason? I pulled this one out & gave it a play, though mostly while doing other things. Not the world's best recording--I hope on CD it sounds a bit better. & it reminds me that in general I've never gotten as much out of Cecil's solo albums as the ensemble discs.... though I like this better than the other solo album I listened to lately (the Willisau album) which seemed to me kind of repetitive. Maybe the reason no-one's discussing this one is that it seems too much like hard work.... It's certainly not as much fun as something like Three Phasis.

Yes, most Contemporary discs sound great! I was particularly struck by how nice my vinyl copy of this one sounded. A lot of my Art Pepper is on vinyl too, & again sounds pretty good. Don't sweat it about getting it in time for next week. But I'm a trifle surprised the disc isn't better-known, given the sterling personnel (Pepper's easily as good here as he is on Mel Torme's Swings Shubert Alley, but really it's Ben Webster who's the standout instrumental voice). & Humes is great--you'd never guess she was almost 50, given how clear & youthful her voice sounds.

Yes, the recent work with Lane (documented on two CIMPs) is very good. -- I have only heard bits & pieces of his other stuff (a friend burned a few CDRs of things such as a date with Charlie Kohlhase), mostly pretty good.

It's recorded in Contemporary's Studio, yes, but the engineer is Howard Holzer, who also recorded Art Pepper + 11: Modern Jazz Classics and Shelly Manne's At the Blackhawk.

It's EKE BBB's turn at the moment but I thought I'd start this thread in case people wanted extra time to dig out this album from their collection (or purchase it). It was a difficult decision between picking this one & Helen Merrill's first Mercury disc with Clifford Brown, but given that this board already seemed to have a lot of Merrill & Brown fans I thought I'd go with this less celebrated gem. Probably my favourite purchase this year--found it on vinyl at Around Again, a mere $5, but it's easily available as an OJC reissue on CD. The kicker here, besides Humes herself (in really good voice), is the band: where else can you hear Ben Webster & Art Pepper (just before his enforced retirement in San Quentin) on the same track? All the arrangements are by Marty Paich, using two different lineups: eight of the tracks feature Webster & a West Coast big band; the other tracks feature Webster, a small combo (Previn, Kessel, Vinnegar, Manne) plus a string quartet. Recorded in September 1960. The track listing: 1. If I Could Be With You 2. Don't Worry 'bout Me 3. Mean to Me 4. Every Now and Then 5. I Want a Roof Over My Head 6. St Louis Blues 7. You're Driving Me Crazy 8. My Old Flame 9. Million Dollar Secret 10. Love Me or Leave Me 11. Imagination 12. Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone Personnel: on 1, 4, 8, 11: Humes, v; Ben Webster, ts; Andre Previn, p; Barney Kessel, g; Leroy Vinnegar, b; Shelly Manne, d; James Getzoff & Joseph Stepansky, vn; Alvin Dinkin, vla; Eleanor Slatkin, clo. on all others: same personnel as above, except omit the strings & add: Al Porcino, Ray Triscari, Stu Williamson, Jack Sheldon, t; Harry Betts, Bob Fitzpatrick, tbn; Art Pepper, as, cl; Teddy Edwards, ts; Bill Hood, bari s.

BTW of the 3 cover images EKE BBB posted I can only seem to get the 2nd & 3rd to load...anyone else have this problem..?