JSngry

The AMG link doesn't list a drummer, but a look into Bruyninckx revealed it is not Dunlop on that album - somewhat too busy for him, anyway, but that drummer sure is great, but completely unknown to me! - if it's that album. Who does Bruyninckx list as the drummer?

[Conjunto] Libre is percussionist Manny Oquendo and bassist Andy Gonzalez's group. I think that their music is generally more traditional (in an Afro-Cuban-Puerto Rican way), more intense, and more innovative than most of what has been released by Jerry Gonzalez's Fort Apache Band. I thought that Jerry was on the first Libre album or two back in the 70s, but I could be wrong.

The BeeHive stuff that made it to The Bridges Of Madison County soundtrack is superb as well. Also, the Bethlehem STRAIGHT FROM THE HEART is pretty good, but Hartman's not quite fully matured yet, at least not to my ears. One thing you GOT to get, though, is the Roost/Blue Note AND I THOUGHT ABOUT YOU. If you dig Hank's version of "There's A Lull In My Life", you'll dig hearing this version too. But the whole album is really nice.

Indeed, and the two covers of material from the Kenton book are as wonderful as they are successful. Ricky Ford, who goes back a long way w/Blake (I believe he was a student of Blake's at the New England Conservatory - where Byard also taught - and was on Blake's great Arista/Novus LP RAPPORT, as was Chris Connor(!) ), plays throughout with a laser-like focus, something he was not always wont to do at the time. Although I like him (Ford) no matter what, to hear him play like this is quite satisfying to me.

Anybody heard his Milestone album THE BLUE POTATO? Never been able to find that one, unfortunately. Another one that is well worth a listen (well, really, they ALL are, or have been so far...) is IMPROVISATIONS, a duet album w/Jaki Byard. Byard is more than compatable with Blake, and vice versa. Love the Mapleshade side w/Jordan too. Clifford had an "adventurous" side to him that his earthy feel sometimes disguised if you don't pay close attention, and he too is totally at home in Blake's world. Pick up on the IAI solo album BREAKTHRU if it's not in your collection already. www.cybermusicsurplus.com used to have it for a good price, don't know if they still do, though. But it's my-t-fine indeed. And by all means, read Joe's piece. Outstanding in every way, and one of seemingly innumerable reasons why I am both proud and delighted to have him as a personal friend.

Jerome was house saxophoist for Cameo/Parkway records, so I asssume that it's him you hear on hits by the likes of Chubby Checker, Dee Dee Sharpe, Bobby Rydell, etc.

I do, and that's not it.

No thanks. I want others to learn from my mistakes. If we prevent even one mistake from being made, it will be a life well lived!

Well worth seeking out are the albums that Jerry & brother Andy made as Conjunto Libre. RC, I don't know the answer to your question, but thanks for mentioning that album, long a "genre bender" favorite of mine.

Went on a Blake kick of my own about 6 months ago. One very pleasant discovery was ROUND ABOUT w/vocalist Christine Correa, on Music & Arts. Correa's no Jeanne Lee, but who will ever be? Correa's readings of the standards are almpst straigh, which throws Blake's reimaginings of them into that much higer contrast, and her work on the originals is clean but true. Blake came to NTSU the same year as Clare Fischer. To say that the contrast between the two men was a marked one....

Jim, your first link to track # 3 leads to your guess for track # 2 - you probably didn't notice. I concur with you on # 3 - didn't realize it was the identical take. But who was the cat that Alexander used to go after ? YIKES!!! I pasted w/o copying! Bad scene, man, bad scene... I've corrected teh error by inseting THE CORRECT LINK.

NONA HENDRYX?????

I dunno, man. That Carter thing was just a total dis of bach, and Carter, with his not insignificant classical training, should have known better. e doesn't even TRY to play in tune! That's betyond "self-indulgent", man, that's just WRONG. As for anything else, I'm loathe to come down too hard on something without knowing or feeling what was going through everybody, but a lot of the live Grateful Dead jams I've heard are things to which I could apply the label without feeling too terribly guilty... But then again, that stuff connects with a lot of people.

RE: # 6: Tone does not lie, or at least it shouldn't. The clothes might change, but what's underneath doesn't. I should have known.

Thanks to John for an absolutely superb selection of tunes, and to Tom Rolin for getting them to me. I've glanced at others' comments along the way to see if I could figure anything out without actually hearing it (could, but not always), but followed no links. Now, on to the comments... TRACK 1 - Sounds like a movie cue, mostly due to the alto flute in the 2nd section, and, I think, French horn in the opening ensembles. Alto flute was a trademark of Mancini, but I seriously doubt that this is him. Possibly an excerpt of a soundtrack by Quincy Jones from the 1960s, but again, I doubt it. Whatever, it serves as an effective opener for the disc, with a bit of combination martial/spy thing going on - we're on a recon mission, baby, coordinate your watches! Nice writing, and the stylistic impurity works both for and against it, depending on what its origianl intent was meant to be. Here, it defintiely works. TRACK 2 - Trickiest damn 5/4 I've ever heard! 99% certain I know the specific album (but not the song title), have been sent an unlabeled burn of the Japanese issue a few months ago, and remember repeatedly listening to this cut (or something VERY similar to it) making sure of the time signature - the bassist and drummer go out of their way to be non-obvious about it. If it's the album I think it is, damn you for not selecting a cut with a tenor solo! Pretty sure it's this TRACK 3 - DEFINITELY know this one! Such a great cut that it was issued twice - once as a just a part of a very great album, and again later as the title tune of an album recorded a few years later by a totally different band (save for the leader, of course)! FIRST ISSUE SECOND, TITULAR ISSUE And don't Eric Alexander sound great here! TRACK 4 - Pretty sure of this one too. Early European jazz beginning to declare its independence from America, and doing a great job at it. Even though the saxists use Rollins & McLean, respectively, as their starting points, where they go with the inspiration is decidely NOT in the mode of their inspirations, and that's the way it ought to be for everybody. If this is what I think it is, the "non-American" aspect of it all is heightened yet further by it being based on a theme by the father of a current Blue Note Records recording artist. This record (again, assuming I'm correct in whom I think it is), and others by the same group of players, is as seminal in its own way as the Armstrong Hot Fives. Ignore and/or dismiss it (and the leader, in particular) at the risk of waking up one day and finding everything somehow "different" (an admonition that I myself should follow better than I have!) My Guess TRACK 5 - People seem to think that this is a "Europen" band, but frankly, I don't hear that. Maybe superficailly, in the drumming, but not really. Whatever, it's an absolutely gorgeous tune, and the tenorist who plays the melody does so superbly. The tenor soloist is telling his story his own way, too. Definitely nothing innovative, but definitely a truly personal expression all the way around, and that means a lot to me. Can't wait for the identity to be revealed! TRACK 6 - Sure sounds like Lucky Thompson! Except - there's that little vibrato thing on some of the notes that harkens back to the Barney Wilen cut on Dr. J's BFT. But I don't know enough about wilen's playing to know if he ever went through a Lucky phase, and I don't know enough of Lucky's Paris work to know if he might have picked up on some of that Parisian vibrato (a big feature of their classical saxophone style, which is where/how I'd guess that Wilen picked up on it). Feel safe in saying it's not Guy Laffite! (or IS it?) The rhythmic attack is coming out of Byas, as did Lucky, but it's not Don, not with that tone, which is Lucky-thru-Hawk. Actually, the breath support gets a little funky in flashes, which makes me wonder if it's somebody in their twilight years. Never heard Benny Waters, I haven't, so I don't know if this is how he played. Under the impression that this might be too "modern" for him, but I could also be very wrong. That vibrato is the "identifier" for me, but ultimately, I'm stumped. Perfect bass/drums duo too. Whoever it is, they're playing! TRACK 7 - Well, if the trombone playing doesn't give it away (and it might not...), the writing darn sure should! This guy has his own style, and here it is, albeit in a smaller size group than he made his mark writing for. Pretty sure I have a burn of the Euro-only LP of this, but I see it's been reissued on CD. Have to get it! Eric again! He kind of runs out of gas, but does so with total composure. Is that Frankie Dunlop on drums? Or are there two drummers?Whoever it is is not backing down. Nor should they! Is this it? TRACK 8 - Lovely tune. Very Dewey-ish in tone and (almost) intonation. Can't commit to Dewey though, although I'm tempted. Just a tad too restrained rhythmically, but then again, it seems to be a pretty straight reading of the song, so maybe that's the point. If it's Dewey, I want it. If it's not, it's still nice, but it ain't Dewey! TRACK 9 - Nice. Melody has a (perhaps) Eastern European source, but then they take it to the street underneath. Soprano solo sounds based in the same esthetic as that of the Liebman/Grossman school, if a bit looser in feel (and for the better, I think). If not for the bass and drums sound, I'd be tempted to guess one of those absolutely insane Grossman PM sides from the mid-70s. Might be something later by either him or Liebman, but I think not - they don't play in this bag too much anymore. Absolute command of the soprano, though, absolute. Don't think this is Evan Parker's bag (still getting accquainted with him). But - bass clarinet at the beginning - John Surman? Don't know if I'd want an entire album of this, but I might, if I were in the right mood. Again, whoever it is, they're playing! TRACK 10 - YOU CALL THIS JAZZ???? Well, good! First cut off the first album I ever bought by this band (and the first cut by them I ever heard). It was love at first listen, and the love remains. You got to be totally tight to be this loose. And vice-versa. And you GOT to be 1000% real to be either one! AN ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL ALBUM!!! And, following the precedent of James Brown, Rosemary Clooney, and Marvin Gaye, an appearance of a "Top 40" vocalist on a BFT. Kudos! TRACK 11 - This one I don't have a clue on, but I like it. Totally psycho altoist, complete w/retro-slapback reverb (and full command of the instrument as well). The obvious guess for a clueless sort like me would be Zorn, but that's not the tone of his I've heard. Fun stuff, might like to hear more. TRACK 12 - I recognize Ray Anderson, fersure, but nobody else. This is good stuff. Ray gets a lot of flack for buffoonery, and sometimes it's deserved, but Good God can he play! When he reigns in his most exhibitionist tendencies, you get some amazing playing, and when he supresses them completely, like he did w/Braxton, you get some downright heavy music. Either way, you got a player with a 100% personal thing going on. This is good. Damn good. TRACK 13 - The arrangement puts me in mind of Chico Hamilton, but the sopranoist's tone reminds me of Jarrett on that instrument. Also, Abdullah Ibrahim plays soprano with this kind of vocal, song-like quality. the Dolphy-esque flutie reinforces the Hamilton vibe (although it would have to be pretty recent Hamilton, and I think he always uses guitar these days), but the near hymn-like quality of the reading. w/the pedal bass, has me leaning towards Ibrahim. Bottom line - I don't know. But it's a totally lovely performance, and the "unusual" quality of doing this song like this only enhances its intrinsic beauty for me. I'm very interested in finding out who this is. TRACK 14 - Why I'll be damned if it ain't "The Search For Direction"/"Direction Discovered" from Horace Silver’s Silver ‘N Strings Play The Music Of The Spheres! No. I know who & what this is. Buy it now and enjoy it forever TRACK 15 - Ok, I'm reading "Lover Man" & "solo alto", and I'm thinking it's gonna be Lee Konitz. But it's not. It's Art Pepper. No mistaking that tone and that feel for the beat, both squeezed so tightly into themslves that they threaten to explode at any moment. Don't have a clue what album. He's not a player I feel especially "warm" towards, but damned if I can't help but being rivited by his playing. This is no exception. Great stuff, John, auperbly programmed too. And great piano/guitar playing throughout. Seriously, I find that unless you got somebody who REALLY knows how to comp, the absence of a chordal instrument is preferable, not so much for harmonic reasons as rhythmic ones, at least in some types of situations. When it's just you, a bass, and a drummer, things seem to automatically get looser and you can dig into the music with less hesitancy, becasue sometimes the rhytm you're feeling and the rhythm that the pianist/guitarist/whatever is feeling ain't the same, so you got to meet halfway (at best), and that's not exactly a drag, but it ain't ideal either. Besides, a well-played bass is such a beautiful SOUND that the opportunity to hear it more fully exposed is always a treat. Looking forward to now going back, clicking on some links and engaging in further discussion/guesswork, something I really missed doing w/BFT #4. Sincerest thanks again.

Turntables that played at 16 2/3 RPM came in handy for transcribing solos and tunes off of 33 1/3 RPM LPs, since half speed means that the record is slower, obviously, but also exactly an octave lower. So you could learn the stuff in the right key and work it up to proper speed. No other speed combination worked like that - if you slowed a 45 down to 33 1/3, you'd have to switch keys to get the slower transcription into the right one. By the same logic, 16 2/3 could be a big help in figuring out fast and densely voiced ensemble passages.

The yardstick I try and use is a simple one - do I get the impression that the artist is doing this just becasue they want to, or, for whatever reason, they feel as if the have to? I'm a lot more sympathetic to following a burning compulsion than I am to recreational jerking off. Even if I don't care for the results, if I have/feel a respect for the intent, that's good for something in my mind/heart. I'm also inconsistent about applying this yardstick, but aren't we all?

Black Lion was releasing LPs in America as early as the early 1970s. A lot of live and otherwise archival stuff to be sure, but it was all(?) "new" at the time.

Oh yeah, that first Billy & The beaters album features guest artist Skunk Baxter on pedal steel, If you're worried about how a pedal steel fits into R&B, don't be, The cat can play! Pedal steel is one of those "mystery instruments" for me. In the first place, I don't see how anybody plays the damn thing (you use your hands AND your knees!), and the possibilities of voicing and texture seem nearly unlimited. In the wrong hands, it's a tragedy, but in the right hands, it's a freakin' miracle!

Rock City Rock, baby.

He also cut a disco-"jazz" record for Philadelphia International in the late 70s as Michael Pedicin Jr.

As good as it gets!

Vera goes back quite a way, parterning with the late Judy Clay on Atlantic (Atco?) as the first ongoing interracial/intergender singing team. I think he comes to jazz more from the R&B angle, but the era of R&B he's into the deepest was one were it and jazz were next door neighbors who often had property disputes, if you know what I mean. The first Billy & The Beaters album, the one that spawned "At This Moment" features some really great horn writing, as well as a more than decent cover of T-Bone Walker's "Strollin' With Bones". Might be up your alley, Dan. I know it is mine. I accidentally stumbled onto the band in 1982 through a blues bassist I worked with in Albuquerque who was always buying off the wall indie stuff that nobody else was into. One listen to this, and I dug it. We went on to cover about half the album, and transcribing the horn charts proved both a challenge and a pleasure. I don't know how hip Billy Vera really is, and I don't think I'd want him writing liner notes to A LOVE SUPREME or such, but the niche he occupies seems to be one that he comes by honestly and occupies authoritatively. Check out his website for more info/detail: http://www.billyvera.com

Well, your father must sound like my father did. I AM adopted, you know...

Not really sure what the formula is, but if the NFC wins the Super Bowl, don't the AFC "almost rans" move down a notch in the "second, third, fourth, etc. best team in football" rankings? Of course, if the AFC wins, "as you were", as the say in the military. Really,though, the loser of the Super Bowl has to be considered the "second best" team in football, right? Then again, that's what's killing sports today - all them damn statisitics!