JSngry

How often did Basie gig w/vocalists? I saw him twice, once in 1970, and again ca.1977, and there was no singer either time. So, were the singers just for certain bookings?

I barely remember what I posted last week, so remembering #5000 might require hypnosis or something... I'll tell you what I'll always remember, though - that "Pina Colada Song" thread. Talk about something going south in a BIG hurry...

This constitutes "domestic battery"?

Sounds reasonable. I know that I've used my middle finger quite a bit in conjunction with this cat.

GREAT idea!

Good lord... The Ravens had a short stint w/Columbia, where they recorded with a Benny Gooman sextet. The results were, as you might suspect, rather, uh... quaint. But I think that hearing Ricks alone with the Basie rhythm section might have been nice. Although by that time, his best vocal days might have been behind him, I don't know. Singers are funny like that.

As I suspected!

In my opinion, The Ravens weren't even slightly "Rock & Roll" & were only sometimes "Rhythm & Blues". They were very "transitional" in that regard. What they were was a supremely tasty and swinging pop vocal quartet that paved the way for a lot of things to come. Like I said, I'm a big fan, even if some of the material was waaaaay beneath them, trite, sentimental dreck. the best of it, of which there is a lot, is as good as this stuff gets, and Ricks was a huge part of the reason why. That sounds like a gas of a week. Love to hear some of those stories!

Yeah, but... Doesn't that suck!

I've enjoyed (and recommended on this board) Ned Goold's playing & recordings, and will continue to do so, but dude, get a fukkin' grip!

None to offer, I'm afraid. It just hits that spot in me. Although, I guess I could say that to me, it's the perfect "transition" album between the mid-period Mobley & the late. You got that compressed sense of about-to-burst energy pared down to the essence, but with just enough of the earlier lyricism to distinguish it from the later, stubborn paring down to a relatively few phrases in the vocabulary (I exxagerate, but only to make the point). Very tense (in a good way), taut playing from Hank, and totally gripping where and what I like to be gripped. It's also one of Billy Higgins' most interactive performances of a career that was all about interactivity. And Lee & Hank were, afaic, his truest "soulmates" in the BN stable, so you're talking high level stacked upon high level. Not coincidentally, I think it's also one of his best recorded BN dates. But then again, I've been unknowingly listening to it in mono for almost 30 years, so what do I know? Bottom line though - it just hits that spot. Nothing else like it for this style of BN jazz, except for "Our Man Higgins" from Cornbread. That shit just hits me where I live.

So, it's a set of jazz CD boxes? I knew that saving all those long-boxes would pay off someday.

Yeah, I'm having a hard time imagining Ricks singing in front of a band like Basie's, especially at what would have been at that time an "advanced" age. He wasn't a "jazz" or even "blues" singer. He was a "pop" singer, and a most unique one at that. Still, I envy you for having heard the pairing. If nothing else, you got to hear two (at least) genuine legends. And yes, I remember watching the Thad/Mel "Top of the Plaza" show on our local PBS station. I was a freshman in college, living in the "musician's dorm". We had several community TV rooms, and they were all packed. That's the only one I remember, though. I'd like to see the Basie one if it exists, especially if Ricks was involved. I'm a big Ravens fan, but have yet to become aware of any video footage of them. Bummer. Agreed, that is definitely the way to hear a big band. Records don't do justice to the experience!

Hell, I just looked, and I've got a mono copy. Never noticed that before. Definitely don't want the RVG now. Don't think I could handle the shock!

Bummer. Kirby was a gas.

This is my favorite Hank album bar none. If I was forced at gunpoint to go through life with only one Mobley recorded appearance, this would be it. Period. Five like-minded souls living and breathing as one w/o a hint of "recording" going on. Favorite song? "The Breakthrough". That's about as perfect as this shit gets, including the ending, how the last note is just a hard little "bop" that cuts off immediately with just a touch of reverb to carry it over. My hunch is that there might have been something that happened after that note that necessitated such an abrupt cutoff, but who knows? Don't have the RVG, don't want the RVG, I don't think. Managed to get a pre-Liberty LP new back in the 70s and have treated it with TLC ever since. Got the McMaster for portability purposes a while back, and it's served well in that capacity. Don't want to hear this one any differently than I have been hearing it all these years. Thanks, but.....no. Dippin' is the real deal.

Jimmy Ricks was, in my estimation, one of the most distinctive vocalists of 20th Century American Popular Music. If you don't know who he was, check out the Ravens' version of "Marie" and take it from there. Seldom has one singer driven a vocal group the way that Harry Carney drove the Ellington band, seldom has there been an "R&B singer" who sang with a truer "jazz swing", and seldom has there been a more distinctive tonal color coming out of a human voice. The Ravens, when not dealing with whatever goofy-ass material their producers foisted upon them, were simply one of the greatest vocal groups of all time. Their blend was unsurpassed, and they could (and did) swing like mofos. And Jimmy Ricks was at the bottom, literally, of it all. But I digress... While searching the web for info about the group, and Ricks in particular, I came across this tidbit on AMG. Now, I don't know that I hear Ricks as a "big-band singer", but the notion of hearing his resonant, foggy bass in front of the Basie band on some good blues is an intriguing one. Does anybody have any further info about this association, or even better, any memories of hearing them together? As always, thanks in advance, and do not miss out on The Ravens!

http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&t...&sql=17:1556673

I know the version on Genesis (quite well, in fact. it's a classic), but what's the other BN version? I'd imagine that Molly was a woman friend, perhaps a shifty one.

Newt Gingrich Ben Webster Emmanuel Lewis

Different albums, same name, same band. You'll want both.

Is this Dick Martin of Rowan & Martin?

Fragile weed?

Well hey. Just listened to some samples at AMG and went on ahead and ordered both of his Hyena CDs from CDU. Sounds like some hard-edged acoustic funk-jazz that's not trying to be warm and fuzzy. A little bit of hip-hop influence as far as beats and tempos go, and no apparent fear of tension through dissonance and intonation. Sounds like there's plenty of street in the music and the players. I can get with that, especially at $9.75 a CD.