JSngry

I'd never heard that, Jim. Can't say that I hear it, but I've not been listening for it either, so... Maybe your source was thinking of "Sexual Healing"?

Any opinions on this one? Love the title, love the cover, but it was a 2-lp set back in the day, and I never bit.

16 is not Don Ellis? Oh well... Is Glenn Ferris on this cut anyway? Yes to Don Ellis anyway, and yes to whoever this is!

Dick Cavett, too, iirc, and.... one of the most bizarre TV lineups I've ever seen - Helen Reddy had a summer replacement show on NBC one year, a variety type thing and on one episode her guest were the MJQ & B.B. King. The closing number was a collective jam between B.B., the MJQ, & Ms. Reddy her ownself on "Every Day I Have The Blues"! That's right - Helen Reddy singing the blues backed by BB King & the MJQ! It's everything you'd expect.... I taped it off the TV on a reel-to-reel, and probably have it somewhere, along with one or two of those other MJQ TV appearances.

Oh, I've heard The Fringe. That was my first exposure to Garzone. Great stuff! I was referring to the "other" dates he's made.

Good to see Lil Green getting some props too. I'll be checking the archives soon.

I'm in a quandary here. I don't dig Bill Evans enough to justify even the most reasonably priced version of this box, but there's enough material on there that I'm curious to hear that a "reasonable" offer could get me to open my wallet (and the Verve offer was close, but not close enough). Plus, I want the set just for the packaging, something to show my grandkids as an example of how they shouldn't make fun of stupid people because some of them will probably go on the get a gig at a major record label.

So...is 3 a Jacquet big band w/him on alto and vocals? Or is Hamp doing the vocals? That first "here comes Louis Armstrong" sounded like Hamp's voice to me, as does the "time for a little dance" (or whatever it is...); but the vocal mugging at the end of the second bridge doesn't sound like Hamp at all. I was just thinking he might have been so old by then that he temporarily went gonzo.

My partner-in-crime Pete Gallio has any number of private recordings of Garzone from various gigs in various settings, and that's most of what I've heard. I've not really started exploring the "official" recordings for fear of finding them less engaging than these live things (as is often the case with many players). But, hey, why not? The organ side w/Palmer looks like it should be a good opening purchase.

Welcome back inDEED!

YES!

Post-post comments: 5's from "Thunder", eh? So THAT'S what it sounds like w/o scratches! But geez, that's some advanced writing, even for Duke/Strayhorn! 6 - Butter, not Brown. My bad. 7 - Mangelsdorf, a-HA! Never would have gotten Elvin, though, can't hear him well enough. Or maybe I just wasn't listening closely enough. 11 is Golson, then. It figures. But it's interesting to hear how he's looped back some Shepp into his thing, a Philly continuum of sorts. And upon further review, it seems to be the bassist, not the pianist, who's threatening to mess up the groove. Apologies to the ivory. 12 - sounds like Joe, Wayne, & Warne rolled into one. Usually when I hear this much Joe in a tone w/o it being imitative, I go to Lovano for a guess, and I'm usually right, but don't know if I would be here. If it is, it's some of the very best playing of his I've ever heard. But I don't think that this is Lovano. But it could be. How's that for certainty? 14 - taking your, uh, "hint" , I'm prepared to offer the names of Glyn Paque & Earl Fouche into nomination as the altoist and let the process of elimination take care of the rest. If that fails, Capt. John Handy gets the nomination, but recording quality makes me skeptical.

A few comments now that I've read the previous postings. So 2-4 are not all the same player, eh? Interesting...the tone of the tenorist is more rhythmic than I associate with Hawk of any period, except maybe the mid-40s. But I'm light on his Euro years, so maybe his tone got more limber during those years. Time to learn, no doubt. 5 is not Jaquet? Wow.... 6 - "Hush" is from ROYAL FLUSH, fwiw. 10 - Irene S. is a name I've heard, but not her playing. This is a good piece to me. I'll explore more of her work. Thanks for the coat-pull! 11 - Not a varitone? A multivider, then? My h.s. band director also owned a music store, and he brought one of those in for us to experiment with. Worked w/either a pickup or a mike, which is what I used. Fun, but when you're 15, what the hell do you know what to do w/a multivider, a tenor, and a mike?

Nearly 3 AM here, perfect time for fruitless guessing... As usual, haven't looked, blahblahblahblahblah. TRACK ONE - Revivalist, I guess. "High Society", I think. Good enough to be good, not anything else, which is good, right? And brief, which is also good, at least for this. TRACK TWO - Jacquet curses? TRACK THREE - Now THAT'S a tempo! HELL yeah! Vocal seems to be a really aged Hamp his ownself. Alto ain't Hodges, but is in the style. Maybe Marshall Royal, Bobby Plater, or possibly even Illinois. Great band, great writing. It's music for old folks, and the more old I get, the more I can feel it. I've always been old in some ways, but now that it's getting to be the real deal, hey, bring it on. These guys are probably all dead now, but that's cool, so will I be, some day. This is a favorite cut. Hey-bob-a-rebop indeed, no matter how slowly! TRACK FOUR - "For Dancers Only", Sy Oliver's great chart for Lunceford. This was also in Harry James' book iirc, and the sound of the band here is closer to James' 50s and beyond than Lunceford, but that ain't Willie Smith on alto, nor James on trumpet. No clue, but good stuff. The band's together and plays the arrangement appropriately, which is becoming increasingly rare these days. Another good one. TRACK FIVE - Oh geez, some later Ellington, but the exact title eludes me. Maybe something from "The River"? Nah, that wasn't full band...But something of that vintage, anyway. What is there to say? Duke was the shit, and still is. The rest of us are just trying... TRACK SIX - The unmistakable sounds of the great Ray Nance in his native habitat. See above about that. What I'd love more than almost anything is for somebody to unearth some recordings of the tour that Duke made with a quartet with Nance, him, bass and drums. You'd think that somebody would have something, but if they do, I've not heard about it. Yeah, Procope, what a fine voice he was. This is the kind of thing that they'd do on dance dates - play a popular warhorse, give the rest of the band a breather, not a chart in sight, no need. Brown gets in, sounds like Terry's coming in for some action as well. Everybody's happy, and those not involved could go take care of whatever business they had to take care of. Life on a steadily working band, ain't nothing like it. TRACK SEVEN - Ray Anderson? Don't usually associate him w/the multiphonics, that's Mangelsdorff's trademark, but he's capable, that's for sure. Kind of a nifty take-off on Rahsaan's take of the same tune. Anderson sometimes goes overboard, and comes close here, but I'd rather hear him go too far than somebody else not go far enough. Digging the bassist's lines very much, the solo less so, but just by a little. His time is so bassy, and then he goes all high-end on the solo, totally different feel too, not like Mingus, whose playing went efverywhere, but in service of a unified vison. Seems to betray an inorganic concept to me, but then again, that's the world in which we live. Life on the run does that to a person, I suppose. On the whole, this is not too deep a cut, gets a little too clowny, but there's any number of worse things that can happen in music than that, far more than better. The soprano player's in on the joke, too, so that helps. TRACK EIGHT - Hmmm..."Blood Count"......................................... Not too many tunes I thik should be left alone, but this is one of them. The combined circumstances of its creation and its original presentation are so uniwue and so powerful that anything else is bound to be an anti-climax. Getz came close, but close ain't there... Anyway, this is good, considering. Consideration is given to the melody, tahnk god, and the arrangement doesn't rush matters. Tenorist's tone is reminiscent of Jimmy Heath in the head, but many elements of the soloing suggest a much younger player. Pianist just doesn't...ah, never mind. I don't want to hear this tune done by anybody but Hodges w/Duke. Simple as that. Anything/anybody else is just gonna get it wrong. These folks mean well and do good, but it doesn't matter. Sorry. TRACK NINE - "KoKo" (certainly an ongoing Ellingtonia theme!). Now this one is pretty interesting. Are there two pianists? Sometimes the soloing is kinda "generic", but overall, the arrangement holds interest, stays within itself and relates to the orchestral version rather nicely. Replay factor is high. TRACK TEN - Ok, I'm guessing Jimmy Smith from some live thing, but hell if I know for sure. That guitarist, who the hell is that? To the manner born, it sounds like to me. When you play for a blues crowd, sometimes when the groove gets really deep, people will shout out "TAKE YOUR TIME!" at the beginning of a solo, which means that they're in a good zone and want you to stay there with them, that there's no rush to get it over with, so, yeah, take your time to do what it is you're about to do. This cat doesn't have too may choruses, but he takes his time, and I DIG that. He sets up the organ solo perfectly that way, and the organis does indeed fly it to the moon, and then home again. I like space, I like pacing, I like contrast, I like this. TRACK ELEVEN - Oh where oh where did the treble go? Left on somebody's tape heads I suppose... In a BFT filled with mysteries, this is perhaps the mist mysterious cut of all. On the head, the tenor sounds very much like latter-day Golson, and on into the solo. But then, little by little, it starts to sound more and more like a highly restrained Archie Shepp! Must be a Philly thing... No matter - I dig the tone, I dig the lines, and I dig the drummer. Hell, I dig the whole thing, it's the real deal, even if the pianist doesn't cop as deep a groove as the tenorist. That drummer's got his/her back and keeps him from stiffening up and rushing like he/she constantly threatens to do, even thought the bassist seems to have no opinion regarding the matter one way or the other. That's what a real drummer can do for you! And face it folks - "Whisper Not" sounds a helluva lot better on tenor than it does on accordion. TRACK TWELVE - Oh my, more treble loss! This makes for a nice companion to the Ben "Old Folks". Do idea who this is, but we're talking about a very controlled (in the good sense) player here, one who has everything under control in the fingers, and more importantly, in the head. No spewing, no gratuitousness, just play the music. The lack of a readily identifiable tone (unless it was left behind on the cassette machine...) bothers me a little, but is more than compensated for by the improvising, which is totally bullshit free, even with the quoting. Again, time is being taken by all. A lesson, that is. TRACK THIRTEEN - Elvin, right? TRACK FOURTEEN - "Ja-Da". I was thinking Hodges until the last few choruses, when the riffing make me rethink into not knowing, as has been the norm for this BFT, albeit delightfully so. There's another verse tothat song, don't know if it's "official" or not, but it's something about "She hadda, she hadda, she hadda hadda wooden leg" and her boyfriend getting splinters. I kid you not. Hey, a MOST interesting collection, one with more mysteries than solutions for me, but very pleasnat mysteries. And the "bonus" disc is about as welcome as welcome can be!

OTOH, the use of high school girls as sex objects to stimulate athletes has never been too cool with me, especially now that I've got a daughter who is that age. Latest trend? Cheerleaders, drill squads, etc. wearing really tight and skimpy shorts with the girl's name spread out over her ass. We're talking high school girls here, not pros. So, I can not only notice a 16 year old girls tight round ass, I can now know her/its name. Lovely... This Edwards guy is probably a wingnut, but when you see high school chicks doing bits not too far removed from a lap dance (and I have seen such routines, and in both contexts), something's not right. Are we raising women or training hos? Granted, I dig a woman who can get as nasty as we wanna get, but once that ho mentality sets in w/a teenager, the other side, the intellegenge and TCB mode, usually goes away, possibly for good. That's a bad thing.

That's obviously not true, but still... don't sell short the importance of "a laugh or two." CHEERS! Indeed. It's the collective personality of the board that makes it such a treasure for some of us, and your's was (and likely still is ) a distinct, positive personality. Your absence will be felt, as will that of your fellow departees. The problems that created this unfortunate turn of events have not yet been resolved. Sitting in a booth back in the corner and quietly taking notes, I remain Yours in Obesity, Daddy Pop

That Sinatra/Jobim side (the first of two collaborations, actually) would be one of my desert-island Sinatra albums. Great arrangements by Claus Oggermann, and some of Sinatra's most muanced singing ever, which just goes to show what a waste the mid/late 60s were for him overall - he still had the gifts, he just didn't put them to use very often, for whatever reason. But that thing that he does going into the bridge of "Baubles, Bangles, and Beads" - goosebumps every time for me. EVERY time!

Same here (especially the orchestral things), but as the 60s wore on, those tendencies became less common (or at least less overt), and that's when things got a little more interesting for me. I remember in 1975 (74? 76?) when they were celebrating some anniversary, and they had a run of appearances on several TV shows. The music was very strange, really, lots of vamps and open-ended sections with sparse changes, no real "beat" out of Kay, just a nice soft blur of sound. "Avant-garde" in many respects, although it was still performed in tuxedos and stuff.

A long life definitely not wasted. Rest in Peace.

Thanks indeed, maren. Let me join the collective sigh of relief...

Hopefully not a part of the recent Euro-Exodus...

Somebody.... Anybody... ...2...3...4...

Been trying to find a time where I could post everything at once. Doesn't seem like that's going to happen any time soon, though, so here goes. Ususal thanks and disclaimers apply. TRACK ONE - Ben & "Old Folks" (is this a theme for cuts to follow?). Beautiful. So much virtuosity involved to play so "simply", virtuosity of tone, phrasing, timing, all the things that make music music. Listen to the cat - he never plays the melody per se, yet the melody is the only thing he plays. Art of a very high order. TRACKS TWO - FOUR - Sounds like excerpts featuring the same tenor player. Very fluent player, especially for the time, tremendous swing, very driving. If I had to guess, I'd guess Chu Berry, but I'd not put any money on it. These are cuts I need to obtain myself! TRACK FIVE - "Mop Mop", although maybe that's not what it's titled. Prety sure I her Jacquet, Hamp, & Milt Buckner. Very nice swing-to-bop cut whoever it is. Pianist is very forward thinking harmonically, I'll take some of this too, thanks! TRACK SIX - D. Byrd's "Hush", but by whom? Altoist has a pretty distinctive tone and way of juggling traditional bop harmonic gambits rhythmically, which makes not being able to readily identify him very frustrating. Not Sonny Redd, is it? Actually, the same goes for the entire group - they play the style, so to speak, but find polenty of room for surprises therein. TRACK SEVEN - Again, no idea who it is, but the backing trio is some baaaaaaaad mofos! Helen Merrill? Maybe a touch of a "European" accent there. No matterr - it takes a singer with guts to neither be cowered by nor try to outdo the backing when it's this hardcore. Very nice! TRACK EIGHT - "Whisper Not" on accordion. Now I've heard everything! Good, yeah, but not really anything or anybody I'm particularly taken by. TRACK NINE - WHOA! "When Will The Blues Leave" played totally straight, and burningly so! Tenor sounds quite a bit like Oliver Nelson in spots, but not consistently. Same w/the drummer vis-a-vis Roy Haynes. I'm guessing that this is some really hip mid-60s European Hard Bop players. I'd like to hear more by them, especially the tenor player, whose tone is quite interesting and somewhat "German" in character, ala Heinz Sauer. TRACK TEN - Ok, I swear that I either have this one or have heard it enough back in the day for it to stick, but as to who it specifically is, I can't say. Don Pullen comes to mind, as does some of the freer Dave Burrell things. I like this quite a bit - it's "free" but totally focused in it's developement. Everybody's on the same page from the git-go, and that's the name of the game. No bullshit here! Sure sounds familiar, but if I could remember everything I've heard, what fun would that be? The tune itself isn't really "out" either, it's pretty straightforward, so what they do with it should be able to be "picked up on" by a listener who's so inclined. TRACK ELEVEN - Varitoned alto, humming bass, electric piano, enthusiastic drumming, waht's not to like? Well, the recording quality for one thing, but I can live with that. Is this some late-60s MPS thing? No clue, but I dig it muchly. Lightweight, but positively so. TRACK TWELVE - I dig Joe Harriot quite a bit, and have heard a fair amount of his work, but never the Indo-Jazz things. This would be my guess. I like this very much, and if it is in fact Harriot, that's a hole in my collection I need to fill soon. Spots of it seem "naive", if that makes any sense, but for all the right reasons. TRACK THIRTEEN - Again, no idea (setting a record here for times having to say that...), but also again, I dig it a lot. Not much more to say than that. Very focused in its "free"-ness, so it conveys the sense of a story being told and developed, which i really all I ask of any music. TRACK FOURTEEN - Tune sounds like "Delilah", but it's not. Pianist sounds very familar, but again, I can't call anybody specific, much to my chagrin. Defintiely sounds like a long-standing working group, great empathy and interplay amongst the three. That quasi-Jamal groove is like cream gravy - you could put it on a turd and it would make it taste good! But fortunately, this is no turd. Not the kind of bag I'd necessarily follow for a lifetime, but then again, maybe it is if the results were always this good. TRACK FIFTEEN - BEAUTIFUL tune, a descendant of "Blue In Green", sorta, BEAUTIFUL arrangement! No idea who it is (again), but the writing alone makes this a "must have" for me! That French horn solo is wonderful, wholly personal, "world weary" yet defiant. Yeah! The other soloists don't do as much for me - there's a quality of "fluent noodling" to them, of gliding to and from all the notes without a lot of thought in between. But that's cool - it's a great tune and even greater arrangement, and that, plus the french horn, is more than enough for me! TRACK SIXTEEN - Don Ellis? Fillmore? Bootleg? From a well-. perhaps over-, played cassette? The band is totally into the chart, which makes the difference in something that has the potential to be as ponderous as this one does. That it doesn't end up there is a testament to the difference that the "team spirit" in a band makes. If this is Ellis, there's things of his that I like more, but also things I like less. His was a very unique world, and one that is full of its pwn special rewards. Yeah, that's Glenn Ferris, right? Big FAT ensemble chords, nice. Yes to Don Ellis! TRACK SEVENTEEN - "Ghosts". Sounds like somebdy halfway between Blood & Frissell, kinda like Brandon Ross... Great cut, again, everybody's focused and playing together "spiritually", which be it this or Don Ellis, is the key to making music that exists at a level other than mere "product". I'll take some more of this, too, please! TRACK EIGHTEEN - Duke at his most sardonic. God, I love that man - has anybody ever said FUCK YOU more gracefully? A tremendously satisfying set! Gotta go make a gig. Will try to get to Disc Two upon return.

Or warm fronts in general, especially this time of year.

The door is always open afaic. Warm "welcome backs" await within.