JSngry

Dude, Maynard was a "star" going back to the early 1950s and Stan Kenton. How he got back into big public eye is a long and typically Maynard-ish story. Let's just say that he had a ready-made fan base and had no problem adding to it once he got back into it.

At the time, the term was "jazz-rock", even if there was nothing really "jazz" about it. It was pop/rock with horns. Today, the most commonly recognized name might be just "horn bands". But there is a distinction between a pop/rock horn band and a soul/R&B horn band. The latter music dann near ALWAYS had horns, before, during, and after the "jazz-rock" period. James Brown ALWAYS had horns. Otis Redding ALWAYS had horns. BB King ALWAYS had horns. Rock/Pop did not ALWAYS have horns. So when discerning different categories of bands (if we really must...and do we?), it's important to note that Tower of Power HAD to have horns because they were a SOUL band first, and everything else second. AWB, Scots though they were, they were a SOUL band (and had the African-American fan base to prove it). Blood Sweat & Tears was not a Soul Band (even in their original Al Kooper incarnation, and even though they led off their first album (first song, anyway) with a Donny Hathaway song) . Chicago for damn sure NEVER was. And true to form, a few bands had hits, and next thing you know, EVERYBODY had horns and record deals. Most either sucked or mioght as well have. But a few of them at least made it interesting, a few, like Archie Whitewater and Azteca more than a little interesting. And then there's Cold Blood)... records never really did them justice, but...

Coliseum led the pack in the UK as far as "horn bands" went. Never made it big here, though. From Canada, we got Lighthouse. "One Fine Day". I would advisedly suggest checking out the first Chase album. "Get It On" was the hit, but the entire album was a pretty big hit. How this is relevant is that Bill Chase left Woody Herman to have a jazz-rock band built around four trumpets, each one playing higher than the next on. And their 1971 debut album was a hit, a pretty big hit actually Meanwhile, in 1970, MF Horn was released on Columbia in a very dull cover and aimed straight to a jazz audience. It did ok, but the Chase record (on Epic) was a genuine pop hit So...screech trumpet had a moment, and in the end, Maynard's moment was a lot longer. But Chase... to hear THAT on AM radio, that was startling, to put it mildly.

Apples and oranges it is, and just remember, the claim is not that it is "the best", just that there are none better. Goodbye is really good too CTI did well by Milt, actually.

That bigass press roll at the end of his second chorus. Hank is about to go for a third, watch his breathing. But Tootie's roll stops him cold. Watch him, you can see it on his face

Buttloads of horn bands. BS&T opened the floodgates. Me and a buddy played a game of phone tag coming up with all the ones we could think of and it took us, like 3-4 days before we ran out. Don't make me go through that again Just cue up "Vehicle" and that will give you the general idea. Keep in mind that this is what was known as "jazz-rock" before "fusion" became a thing. This is pop music, although occasionally in spite of itself.

Maybe Hank was a "special guest" on the show and that's all there was? It seemed like Tootie was trying to cue him out of his solo, like, okay, we gotta move along here. Hank stops playing and looks at him like oh, okay, right Maybe.

Scott Sohr Andy Lotshaw Mike Murphy

The Hank Mobley TV Show, brought to you by Dippin' Dots.

Dorn did well with a lot of his people, but Laws was not one of them, imo. And it took him a while to get a zone on Yusef.

I agree musically, but also agree that it's not recorded particularly well. A lot of "dead air" in the sound, like somebody forgot to hire Sebesky or something. Really not sure how/why that happened, but it's always "mystified" me. I'd definitely not ditch it though, it's WAAAAAYYYY to good for that, imo!

Not every Hubert Laws CTI record is great (or even good), but the ones that are good, I'm ok with them being the only Hubert Lasw records to have. I thought that the Atlantics with Chick Corea would be better than the CTIs, but they're really not. They're good, but they're just Hubert Laws with rhythm section. The CTI records are hubert Laws in rich and varied settings. That's what the best CTI rcords are, usually, a voice or voices in settings, like a planned program, not a man-on-the-street interview.

Hey there Joe, now whaddya' know? I'm a-lookin' at The Hank Mobley TV Show!!!!

So....is a bit of a picture kinda emerging that the last year or two of the OT band is already moving in a direction in which the NT band would fully continue? As usual, evolution is gradual rather than immediate, or even sudden.

There's certainly some Hubbard records as good as Straight Life, and in a lot of different contexts, but none actually better than. That record is HOT. Nobody skates, and everything has substance. That it's got an element of "production" to it is neither here nor there. Doesn't affect the playing one bit. I don't think there's a better George Benson record than Beyond The Blue Horizon.

About Dameron and Basie..."Stay On It' was recorded by Columbia, but was it actually released i its time? and was "Good Bait" recorded at all past that airshot?

Looks like Joe Zawinul was in the room also!

Did y'all play hardball?

There might not be a better Freddie Hubbard record than Straight Life.

Oh yeah, Little Jazz, that seals he deal, then. Interesting anyway to hear Basie do "Good Bait, and "Stay On It", modified slightly to fit the band of the time.

Very much in the vein of The Jewel In The Lotus (which is covered here). Benny Maupin is mostly under the radar these days, but he has not vanished.

I recognize some of those Harding charts. Still...

Branch Rankled Flye - Getting Started (and Going)

"Not a better" certainly allows for 'as good as'.