Nate Dorward

Oh well, it's about par for the course with me--I think there were only two tracks I actually disliked, most of the rest were various shades of "OK", & there were I think 3 or 4 winners. Maybe my days as a TA have rubbed off--grading on a bell curve.... Anyway, will get on to disc 2 sometime tomorrow.

I'll be interested to hear if that disc with Maltese & Evan Parker is good--I've only heard one of his duos with Marilyn Crispell, which was a bit offputting. He does have very strange intonation.

Just got this this morning, so jumping in a bit late--didn't peek at any answers. * 1. “Cottontail”. Some Oscar Peterson mannerisms in the piano at the start but it’s much more tentative than Oscar. Urk, I don’t like the timbre of the singer’s voice. & the scat singing.... as garish as usual for this style. The sax, hm is it actually an old guy or a young guy imitating Hawkins, Webster, &c (James Carter?). The advent of the big band surprised me, I’d assumed this was a small group. I don’t know, maybe one of those Lincoln Center Ellington recordings. Whatever it is, I hated this. 2. From the opening notes I already think I should know these players, esp. the drummer. Oh, Elvin! The tune sounds familiar but I can’t place it. Joe Henderson on sax, & oh right, he’s the composer, what’s the name of the tune? Hate the sound on the bass, & in general this isn’t sonically very pleasing. The trumpeter’s name isn’t coming to me. The second tenor I’m not sure about – I’d actually at first assumed it was a 2nd solo helping from Joe but there’s obviously two tenors in the ensembles. Despite the obviously first-rate lineup, I didn’t like this track very much. 3. The sax is perhaps Ted Brown: not assured enough for Marsh surely? This has an odd Tristano-goes-to-the-West Coast vibe. No idea on the guitarist. The poor pianist is lost in the mix! S’ok, not all that good. 4. First thought is 1950s Chet. Hm, I’m not sure I know this saxophonist: interesting tone, a little thicker than usual for Parker disciples. Nah, the trumpeter can’t be Chet, but he does sound darn familiar. The relentlessly bouncy rhythm section feel is starting to get to me by the end. Again, has something of a West-Coast feel for me due to the chunking, cheery piano comping. It’s an all right track. The player I’m curious about is the saxophonist. 5. Nice to have the compilation cooling off a bit – too many fast ones for me so far. Nice trombone solo; the bass solo is good but does less for me. I’m not sure I know the trumpeter – probably a younger guy who’s got the 1960s Blue Note trumpeters under his fingers. An OK track without quite doing it for me. 6. I like the after-hours sound quality! What’s the tune? Oh, right, “Hallelujah”, an Art Tatum fave. This track has buckets of atmosphere unlike the previous tracks – a nice feel. Hm, I’m puzzled: so much here says “Tatum” & yet surely Tatum would be a little more hyperactive? There’s not a single one of his “breaks”, those runs that interrupt the steady rhythm & careen around the keyboard. & there’s a bit around 4:00 which is definitely NOT Tatum. I’ve really no idea who this is but it’s the first track I like a lot. 7. Much louder track than the last one: a rush to turn it down. Milesish trumpet, maybe Enrico Rava? I always thought of him as a slightly tougher customer than this, though. What’s the tune? I think my memory’s going to pot. This is very pretty but cloying. I’d wager this is an ECM disc: maybe Rava’s new one Easy Living? 8. Oh, I have this track, it’s a “very” good album indeed! 9. Oh I’m hopeless with early jazz but I liked the track. 10. Pretty, tremulous opening that tickles the ear. I wonder where it’s going. Hm, this one keeps my interest without really strongly grabbing me: it stays “light” when I expected it to get a little heavier, & that’s OK. No strong reaction to it really, & I don’t know who it is. This is just too loooong. 11. “Valse Hot”. The free time passage after the head takes me by surprise. I don’t know who any of these players are. Wasn’t hooking in by the 1st tenor solo, got a little more interested by the time of the 2nd tenor solo (both in the solo & the rhythm section’s shading-in of the background). No idea who any of these guys are. This is all right. 12. David Murray. Ugh, I do NOT like this track. It may be deliberately messy but it’s nonetheless messy. No idea who the other players are. Dave Burrell on piano? 13. Um, is this really the best rhythm section & material for this singer? 14. Ah, this is more like it. A bit puzzled: isn’t that Hodges on the alto? but this surely isn’t Ellington? But, hm, sounds like maybe Jimmy Hamilton on the clarinet. I guess it is the Ellington band??? This is a bit uneven as a track – a really dull chart, in particular – but I liked it moderately anyway.

OK folks. This'll be a single-disc BFT--this meant a few difficult exclusions but I like to keep things short & sweet, & I'm pretty happy with the 14 tracks I squeezed onto the disc (79 minutes & umpty-ump seconds!). I didn't stick religiously to a common theme, but there are several (fairly obvious, I think) "threads" that run through most of the selections. So drop me a PM or email with your address. I'm in Canada, so the mailout may be a little slower than usual (what's mailing time from Canada to the US usually like?). If there are any kind souls who feel like helping with the distribution that'd be very welcome, given the longer mailing time & somewhat steeper postage costs. Anyway, I hope people enjoy the compilation. (NB: EKE BBB had some trouble with messaging me, so if there's some problem: my email is ndorward AT sprint DOT ca.) The participants are (boldface marks those who've told me their discs arrived): Bright Moments Peter Johnson EKE BBB Daniel A couw catesta MartyJazz (disc flawed--will send replacement!) Gary relyles Noj Jim Dye Dan Gould deus62 Big Al Jim R king ubu Д.Д. Saxophone__Vagina randyhersom (disc got damaged after receipt--2nd copy on the way) John B dutchmanx tooter brownie mikeweil cannonball-addict alejo tjobbe marcoliv Stefan Wood take5 Man with the Golden Arm Eloe Omoe RDK

Scott DeVeaus's The Birth of Bebop is very useful, though it's not (of course) exclusively concerned with Parker. But it gives you a good idea of the innovations made by the beboppers, the thinking behind them, & the way that these led out of the music of predecessors like Hawkins & Young.

Hadn't known of this one--recently encountered Schachter on Tom Lawton's excellent Retrospective/Debut on DreamBox Media, where he plays very well, though as you say he's not all that unconventional a player. Lawton's a pretty fine composer too, so you might find it worthwhile. Not "outside" music for the most part, though there are a few free-jazz pieces (think Paul Bley or Fred Hersch rather than Cecil Taylor, though!). Lately been listening to various things--got a batch of Matchless releases (the new Chant/Edwards/Prevost, Parker/Prevost, & Conditions). So far I'm kind of underwhelmed. The Parker/Prevost is more or less the same as the last four tracks on Most Materiall--you'd barely know 6 years had passed between them; solid, maybe a little better than the earlier session (I find there's an intriguing speechlike quality to Parker's playing I'd not noticed before) but basically nonessential. So far I've retained no impression at all of the other two after a spin. Anyone have the first two Chant/Edwards/Prevost discs? I've not heard their earlier efforts. Very casual packaging by Matchless standards: the Conditions has a chunk from Prevost's new book for the liner notes (nothing of direct relevance), & the other two have just a blank sheet of paper in lieu of liner notes. I'm told that the Tilbury/Prevost release on the label is the one to go for--frustratingly, it's the one release not in the batch I received. Been listening to Home Cooking in the UK by Sunny Murray/John Edwards/ Tony Bevan (on Foghorn): recommended for fans of hard blowing. Bevan's last one on the label, NHAM, was a fairly muted encounter with some Chicago-scene players (Bishop & Zerang)--this one pulls out all the stops by comparison. A dose of the hard stuff. That Wayne Spencer piece is awful.

Thanks for the kind words on the reviews. There are a lot of good reviewers who toss things to Amazon (as well as a lot of not-so-good reviewers of course--ever come across the ubiquitous Mister Maxxxxx?). I think I have about 40 people listed as "friends" on my page who are mostly people whose writing I like.

Any thoughts on the Croydon Hall concert by the way? It's got another string-quartet piece on it. I seem to recall it as painfully dull. But it was written at the last minute to get around a British musician's union loophole so that may explain it.... Why's it never been reissued anyway? I have it on LP & though my turntable is currently not plugged in, I remember the trio tracks as being rather better than the Golden Circle recordings.

Hm, definitely my worst showing on a BFT ever, including my first non-i.d. of a track I know well, the Jan Allan. (Not my favourite track from the disc, admittedly--it's the big-band pieces on there I like most, & probably I'd have gone with one of the Lindberg pieces if I were selecting a track off that disc.) Considering that I dislike Chris Potter's mannerisms & disliked the saxophonist's mannerisms on #13 I'm surprised I didn't make the connection. Oh well, let's see if I do any better on EKE BBB's test before I get a turn at the wheel.

He's also on a very good new George Schuller disc, JigSaw.

No, no strings on Swedish Schnapps! The Hank Jones one I think just has a title like "The Charlie Parker Quartet" or the like. "Confirmation", "Kim", "The Song Is You", I forget the other tracks on it ("Laird Baird"?). Swedish Schnapps is among other things interesting for some of the tune choices & some of Parker's own compositions. If I remember rightly the title piece is a Charlie Shavers tune. There's also the strange piece "Segment", the classic "Star Eyes", & an interesting uptempo improv on "Out of Nowhere", if memory serves.

I don't know the 1st & 3rd but the 2nd is a classic. The best Parker sides on Verve are the Bird+Diz session, the late one with Hank Jones, & Swedish Schnapps (which has Parker's working band with Kenny Dorham or Red Rodney on trumpet).

Haven't got this but have The Trance, The Freedom Book & The Song Book, all of which are excellent, with the nod going to The Freedom Book. I'll get around to the others in this series soon, I'm sure.

No "C Minor Complex" isn't on the Rhino twofer--they omitted it to save space, the nitwits.

Hm, one of my more gaffe-filled BFTs I see--particularly annoying to have failed to i.d. the tunes of "Poinciana" & "Dark Eyes", & to have correctly guessed the 3rd track then have talked myself out of it. Bleah. At least I correctly got the 2nd track (& without knowing the album in question). The most interesting thing for me is the O.P. track, which is far better than most of the stuff of his I've heard.

1: This is the kind of track that tends to get used as a source for electronic cut ups & funnily enough my first reaction to hearing the vinyl crackle was to assume that this confirmed rather than disconfirmed this guess (given how vinyl noise is now often used as deliberate ingredient in the mix). But nope, I’m an idiot, this is a genuine bigband arrangement of “Manteca” presumably from the 1960s (surely no other decade could have possibly been responsible for this combo of hyperreal Latin percussion, trumpets & of all things an organ?). No idea who it is. 2: This is interesting because while it’s got Tatumesque touches & it’s a tune Tatum likes (“Have You Met Ms Jones”) it’s clearly not AT, because this guy’s got a beautifully hesitant sense of swing that’s all his own. Bop traces too in there, plus a touch of Debussy's "Reverie". I’ve never heard an early solo performance by Hank Jones, so I’ll guess that. Wrongly, I'm sure. 3: The head has a West Coastish feel like a Gerry Mulligan chart. But then it sounds like Clifford Brown, & the sax sounds like Land sure enough. But I’m really puzzled, as this is definitely NOT Max Roach on drums. Frank Butler? Is this a Brown tune (the key changes with each chorus make me think so)? Oh, hang on.... is this a Curtis Counce album? Then it’d be Land, yep, &, um, Jack Sheldon, Carl Perkins, Counce, Butler. Nice ending with a lift from “Con Alma”. 4: opening made me think he was going to play “Speak Low”. Ugh, why can’t I place this tune? It’s terribly familiar. Has this person put together two different tunes (“Speak Low” & something else?). Dazzling, really original piano, really doing something different with the Bill Evans legacy. The drums have a Paul Motianish feeling. Crowd noise at the end. Is this that 1960s Denny Zeitlin album with Jerry Granelli on it? 5: Nice chart, no idea who it is. A muted but piquant contrast between the fragile, restrained trumpet & the lushness of the piano....hm, is it McCoy, which was my first thought? It’s just not dense enough, & there’s a few phrases which couldn’t be McCoy. Harold Mabern maybe? Gorgeous stuff. 6: Oh god, what’s the name of this tune? Hm, weird – it starts off all Oscar Petersonish & then it segues to a featherlight bit, then cooled-out swing. The solo still’s got a lot of Oscar to it, but it’s got a trebly delicacy I don’t associate with him at all, & he doesn’t slam home the left-hand chords like Oscar does. Jeez, so much about this track says “Oscar” & yet I really hesitate to say it’s him. If it is, it’s so much more inventive in the arrangement & subtle in the playing than I’ve usually heard from him. 7: Hm, the tenor’s terribly familiar, that cry. Racking my brains: who is it? Piano gives me no clues. The track’s too short really for me – nice but it could have been more. 8: Well no-one will give me a prize for i.d.ing the tune. Jeez, the piano’s so understated it’s barely there! Not Herbie, not sure who it is. I begin to wonder if it’s the original rhythm section though – Carter & Williams. Aha, the pianist is starting to wake from his trance as we near the 5 minute mark...! A pretty track but doesn’t really grab me strongly – a bit too sedate. Nice inside-the-piano ending. 9: This group sounds very familiar for some reason, esp the Milesish trumpeter. I’m tempted to say Dave Holland for the bassist yet, hm, there’s something that makes me back off on that – just not inventive enough for Dave. Maybe Liebman on soprano....nah, it’s not quite inventive enough to be Liebman either. I’m back to square one. This kind of peters out rather than ends properly. I liked this didn’t love it. 10: Nice flute tone. Hm, Tabackin with Akiyoshi? I don’t know her charts well (I have a few LPs but haven’t listened to them for a while). But, jeez, I didn’t think she ever recorded with electric piano & hang on, once the solo starts it’s clear it isn’t her on it, so I’m back in the dark again. Truthfully I could have used more from the rest of the band rather than just the electric keyboard. I’m less happy with the flute solo when it gets kinda electronicky (some FX on it?). OK, not great. 11: nice opening. The tune’s kinda Wayne Shorterish. I should probably recognize this pianist. Aha, now I’m SURE this is Liebman, tell me I got it right this time. Strange chart – is the extra soprano in the ensemble overdubbed or were there really two soprano players present? 12: yikes! quite the change of mood! Then a pause, & then a big band chart in 6 which has some of the same pearly serenity of several other big-band tracks on this compilation, & the piano has a calm stasis near the start that’s reminiscent of #8, so I begin to sense some threads running through the compilations. Very pretty stuff, a little more conventional that I’d expected from the opening. I was wondering how they’d ever get back to the singer but the transition is very deftly managed. 13: nice tune & arrangement of what initially sounds like a stretched-out blues & then turns out not to be. Tenor’s OK, hm: a little too pushy & tough-guy in spots for me, or maybe I’m trying to say I find him too obvious (hitting those false notes like hot buttons). The trumpeter’s OK, a nice cooling off, though again it doesn’t really grab me. More Tynerish piano, another running theme on this compilation (though again I don’t think this is McCoy), but not really with enough flavour to grab my ear. Hm, this track disappoints me: the opening made me expect something a little more interesting. Still, it’s good. 14: Before posting I accidentally caught a glimpse of someone nailing this as Getz, but I think I’d have said Getz anyway. There’s a gorgeous version on Nobody But Me which is much better than this but this is still nice, though the big-band-bossa arrangement adds unnecessary clutter. Pretty. (Footnote: actually I see the glance I caught was wrong & it ain't Getz on alto. Never mind, I was trying not to peek...) 15: Ha! Just one of those things indeed! Is the false start “real” or just part of the joke? I guess it is a real false start, but this sounds like something that would happen if Jimmy Rowles participated in Cobra! A nice compilation, I didn't dislike any of the tracks & really liked several of them. This is closer to heartland jazz than many of the BFTs I've participated in, which is nice for a change, though sometimes I like to be pushed outside my comfort zone too.

Just got this in the mail today & listened to it several times. Yes, this is a remarkable disc, as Jim says. I'm reminded of the equally little-recognized pianist Chris Anderson--there's the same sheer follow-your-inner-ear audacity to Hewitt's playing, though Hewitt's more boppish, the debt to Bud Powell's crazychords coming through clearly (esp on "Polka Dots & Moonbeams"). Anyway, it's fascinating music. Aside from the minor flaw of the programming (which places a bunch of ballads in a row right at the start) which is easily fixed by putting your disc on shuffle play, this is a pretty outstanding release if like me you're an addict of this kind of "insider's" jazz piano. It's as deep as it gets. I see there's now a review of this & other Smalls releases by Mwanji Ezana here-- http://www.onefinalnote.com/features/2004/smalls/

My impression was that fans of hers were divided about whether her latterday reinvention as a heavy Japnoise bonecruncher was a good idea or not. I would like to hear her more thoughtful side (she's recorded with Paul Bley): I've only heard Minerva (all right) & Hada Hada (worthless), both of them with bombastic drumming & Hada Hada with eararche-inducing synths & FX. That said, you do know that Thom Jurek's reviews are pure doo-doo, right? I'd be interested to hear your own take on the disc but Jurek's words aren't going to sell me on it, that's for sure. Hey, I like seemingly random stuff.

Squelch that curiosity about Sign of 4 if you can. It's a waste of time, despite what some critics say (e.g. four stars in Cook/Morton). But if you're genuinely looking for a copy you probably won't have much of a problem finding someone happy to ditch a copy. Ditto Metheny's awful solo disc Zero Tolerance for Silence. Bird? The infamous Lover Man/Gypsy/Max Making Wax/Bebop session was hardly his shining hour--the spaced-out ballads & slurred uptempo pieces.

For a very good vocal version try Chris Connor's version on Atlantic (A Jazz Date With...).

Hey, New & Old Gospel's just fine--one of Ornette's better trumpet outings. The title-track's a good tune, too. Bad'uns: Yosuke Yamashita, Asian Games--horrible Laswell-produced effort with Yamashita on synths throughout. The only bad Yamashita disc I've heard. Cecil Taylor--I'm told the meeting with Mary Lou Williams is (as they say) "interesting" but nonetheless a terrible mismatch. I haven't heard that so I'll go with the Taylor/Dixon/Oxley meeting on Victo--47 minutes of Bill blowing raspberries while Cecil & Tony do their best to coax him out of his shell. John Zorn's "Mystic Fugu Orchestra", Zohar--20-odd minutes of Zorn & Eye pretending to be doddering rabbis. Derek Bailey/Pat Metheny, Sign of 4. This is a disc which should only be acquired with great caution because most 2ndhand record stores, I've found, refuse to buy it, because it's a disc returned by virtually everyone who purchases it. I did manage to trade it away to a correspondent after years of trying to ditch it. David S Ware, Threads. I probably have dissed this one enough, but it still is a bona fide clunker. William Parker/Hamid Drake/Joe Morris, Eloping with the Sun. Desultory "ethnic" jam session, with Joe on banjo & banjouke for the duration. Evan Parker/Han Bennink, The Grass Is Greener. 'Cause nothing much happens.

Funny I was just listening to it this afternoon. Still sounds great.

Gee, while I'm not a devoted Kirkian (I have a number of friends for whom Krik can do no wrong: Ken Waxman & Bill Barton, notably), I don't fathom the hostility here to him either. "A total show-off fake"? "gives me the creeps"? Yikes. Some of the Mercury set's tame, but there are great things there: Domino, Rip Rig & Panic, the album with Benny Golson's charts, for starters. I think the Kirk cult overdoes it but that's a different matter. I think the only Kirk tune that really stands out from the rest (most of which are functional variants on the blues or various standards, & none of which I can remember at all) is the lovely "Serenade for a Cuckoo".

Actually much of Dream Sequence was recorded before Angel Song, with some of the same tunes; then it got added to gradually later on. Oddly fragmented history for the album--I wonder why it took so long to piece together. There's a piece I wrote on it here trying to pick through it carefully: http://www.paristransatlantic.com/magazine...jan_text.html#8 The tracks on Music for Small & Large Ensembles that matter most to me are the small-group stuff, esp that reading of "By Myself". Nice to have the example of Evan Parker's "jazz" playing though on disc one (& he does just fine). Norma Winstone's lyrics are cloying though--I think I prefer Wheeler's gentle melancholy to remain unverbalized.

Well, neither Sonny Rollins nor Roland Kirk was exactly a major composer--that's not primarily what makes their work so important.