relyles

Just a follow up to my initial post: Every time I listened to track 7 it sounded familiar. By coincidence a little while ago I was just going through one of the boxes of CDs in my basement and found the CD that I was thinking of. Track 7 is the fifth track on this CD Track 7.

I listened to this compilation several times while driving over the past couple of weeks and today I finally squeezed in some time to sit at the computer and listen to the disc a little more attentively so that I can compose some comments. I am certain that I have not heard any of these specific tracks before, but several of the individual musicians sounded familiar. Most of the music on the disc is outside the so called straight-ahead or mainstream and often requires repeated attentive listening before a true appreciation can form. Here is my reaction to the first eight tracks. I am going to have to find some time as soon as practical to finish off the remainder of the disc. 1. I enjoyed the bass playing and overall groove on this track, but the somewhat hokey lyrics, and recitation did not do much for me. 2. Another nice bass vamp to start before drums and guitar enter. The guitarist does not necessarily play in the Wes Montgomery-Grant Green approach to jazz guitar, but I can appreciate this restrained approach and sound that reminds me of Bern Nix more than I can the more overtly rock/distortion influenced guitar sounds. Another solid bassist. Interesting track. 3. The first three tracks share a slightly similar reliance on bass line grooves. Here is a somewhat funky arrangement of a familiar tune. The bassist here gets a chance to solo and he/she held my interest. The alto saxophonist sounds familiar, but not enough for me to confidently attempt and identification. I liked the arrangement of the tune. It kind of stuck in my head and I found myself singing it around the house to my infant son. 4. Sounds like a bass-guitar duet? It could actually be a guitar solo. As there is no obvious “tune” it requires close listening to really appreciate. This is a track that even after several listens I never really connected with. 5. I don’t know if it is intentional or I am noticing something that does not exist, but this is another track that relies on the bass line or at least because it is a somewhat off meter rhythm, it stands out to me. In any event, this is a piano-less quartet featuring trumpet-sax-bass-drums. The trumpeter is interesting. Has a familiar sound that I attribute to players like Dave Douglas or Russ Johnson and seems to be less overtly derivative of the bop/hard bop mainstays like Morgan and Hubbard that seem to be ubiquitous in the sounds of many trumpeters. The bass-drums combination is very good. Solid track. 6. Long track the highlight of which is the tenor saxophonist’s playing in the beginning. I like the sound he/she gets and the nuance in his/her playing. There is also something familiar about the sound, but again not enough to make an identification. About six and a half minutes in we actually get to the tune, which sounds like something I have heard before. The trombone seems to be a little low in the mix compared to the trumpeter and saxophonist. The arrangement of the horns is interesting – the sax and trumpet improvise simultaneously while the trombonist plays lines underneath. As it continues the trombonist shifts to the foreground and plays a decent solo. The track is long, but for the most part it was able to sustain my attention. 7. This may be my favorite track on the disc. It has a Tristano like flow in the rhythmic pulse and I really enjoyed the pianist’s quirky playing with references to Monk without being imitative. The beginning of the trumpter’s solo sounded a little like he was referencing one of the Coltrane tunes from Blue Train. The trumpeter is solid, but it is the pianist that is the star for me. This is something that I would probably purchase for my own collection. 8. Solo violin performance. Like a couple other tracks, even after listening to it several times nothing really moved me about this performance although I can recognize the musicianship and imagination of the violinist.

Has anyone that ordered this before the availability status was changed actually received it yet and can confirm that it is real? Just curious. I placed an order a couple of days ago and the status has since been not yet dispatched.

Considering the length of time of his career, Von Freeman does not have that many recordings as a leader. His recent recordings for Premonition seem to be the most activity he has had from a recording perspective in his career. I enjoy all the recent Premonition discs, but my personal introduction was the two Nessa releases, Serenade & Blues and Have No Fear, both of which are easily recommended. I also like his debut recording as a leader, Doin' It Right Now and the SteepleChase quartet recordings that I believe were all recorded at the same sessions. Thanks Relyles. Are the Nessa's available? I've got "Doin' it right now" - played it this morning Did Rahsaan produce the Steeplechase albums, too? MG I see now my sentence structure may have created a little confusion. The SteepleChase quartet recordings (recorded in 1992) were not produced by Rahsaan.

Considering the length of time of his career, Von Freeman does not have that many recordings as a leader. His recent recordings for Premonition seem to be the most activity he has had from a recording perspective in his career. I enjoy all the recent Premonition discs, but my personal introduction was the two Nessa releases, Serenade & Blues and Have No Fear, both of which are easily recommended. I also like his debut recording as a leader, Doin' It Right Now and the SteepleChase quartet recordings that I believe were all recorded at the same sessions.

There is a radio broadcast of a live performance by this group that I think was seeded on dimeadozen a while back. The basic info is as follows: Freeman, Von 03/13/02 Concerto Jazz Rete Due, Studio 2, RSI, Lugano, Switzerland Von Freeman (ts), Amina Claudine Myers (p), Hein van den Geyn (b), Han Bennink (d).

Jim - thanks for pulling our coat. I am so far out of the loop that I did not even realize Ms. Scott had a new recording out. And if I remember correctly I am the person that first turned you on to Beautifully Human. I am going to have to pick up the new one soon. I probably told you this before, but if you ever have the opportunity to hear her live, do not miss it. In an era where most pop stars can barely sing, she puts on a wonderful show. Interestingly, I was just reading an article the other day about a movie currently in production in Africa where she is playing the lead role. I also think she has a role in an upcoming movile with Queen Latifah. Very talented woman!

He is not someone whose recordings I go out of my way to purchase, but in his chosen genre I do think he is a respectable talent.

Thank you everyone. It was a quiet, but good day.

Obituary -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mike Osborne Saxophonist at the heart of the resurgence of British jazz Richard Williams Friday September 21, 2007 Guardian In the late 1960s, as jazz appeared to be losing its base of popular support, a new generation of musicians revitalised the London scene. Prominent among them was Mike Osborne, an alto saxophonist whose playing combined poise and passion in a way that helped banish the inferiority complex long endured by British musicians. For the next few years, Osborne, who has died of lung cancer aged 65, could be numbered among the most outstanding exponents of his instrument, irrespective of nationality. Prolific to the point of ubiquity during his short time in the spotlight, Osborne was gradually handicapped by mental illness, exacerbated by the strains and indulgences of the jazz life. After several years of increasingly infrequent activity, he finally ceased playing in 1982, returning to Hereford, the town of his birth, where he spent the rest of his life in various forms of care. His long silence deprived jazz of an individual voice characterised by an ardour that seemed to come from somewhere deep within him. Osborne's father worked as an administrator for the local council and his mother owned a hairdressing business. He was educated at Wycliffe college, Stonehouse, Gloucestershire, and arrived in London at 18 to study clarinet, piano and harmony at the Guildhall School of Music. His gifts and interests led him towards a circle of young musicians surrounding the composer Mike Westbrook, who formed the first of his many bands in 1962 and invited Osborne to become one of its principal soloists, alongside the baritone and soprano saxophonist John Surman, the trombonist Malcolm Griffiths and the trumpeter Dave Holdsworth. This ensemble, usually of between 10 and 12 pieces, became known as the Mike Westbrook Concert Band and made a series of albums that won widespread acclaim. Although his ease with the idiom of post-bop jazz and his fondness for the work of such American altoists as Jackie McLean and Ornette Coleman was evident from the start, Osborne was no copyist. His originality could be heard in the cadenza and solo that decorate the version of Lover Man, included as part of the potpourri of standard and original tunes making up Release (1968), the second of the Westbrook band's albums. Taking a tune familiar from versions by Billie Holiday and Charlie Parker, he invested it with a new and compelling poignancy. Soon in demand with other band-leaders, he appeared in Surman's octet, the big bands of John Warren and Kenny Wheeler, Chris McGregor's Brotherhood of Breath, and Harry Miller's Isipingo. Pianist McGregor, bassist Miller and drummer Louis Moholo, all part of the South African diaspora of the 1960s, formed the rhythm section on the first recording to appear under Osborne's name, a quintet album titled Outback (1970). Working with the South Africans exerted a powerful effect on Osborne's approach. Alongside Miller and Moholo, in a trio whose activities extended across a decade and were documented in two further albums, Border Crossing (1974) and All Night Long (recorded at the Willisau festival in 1975), he shed the last vestiges of the reserve that had marked his youthful playing, his tone broadening and coarsening to powerful effect as he engaged in three-way interplay with a pair of musicians who had become soulmates. His tone, which had once sounded detached, now possessed a scalding urgency. He also became a member, with his former Westbrook colleagues Surman and Alan Skidmore, of a saxophone trio called SOS (Surman-Osborne-Skidmore), whose format anticipated those of the World Saxophone Quartet and the Rova Saxophone Quartet. In 1974, SOS spent several weeks at the Paris Opéra, performing music written by Surman and Skidmore for a ballet titled Sablier Prison, created by the American dancer Carolyn Carlson, then newly installed as the company's chorégraphe-étoile. It was the first time that the Opéra had opened its doors to an audience wearing jeans and T-shirts, and it created something of a sensation. Towards the end of their stay in Paris, however, the symptoms of Osborne's illness became troublesome. After returning to the UK he was committed to the Maudsley hospital, south London, where paranoid schizophrenia was diagnosed. On discharge, he and his wife Louise, from whom he was later divorced, decided to move to Norfolk, with mixed results. His friends tell the story of how, at the end of a regular London gig at the Peanuts club in Liverpool Street one night, he hopped into a black cab and instructed the driver to take him home to King's Lynn. Other recordings, notably Shapes (1973), Marcel's Muse (1977) and Live at the Plough (1979), testified to the success of his move away from the shadow of his early American influences. The reappearance of his work on CD in recent years won him new admirers while reawakening the sense of premature loss experienced by those fortunate enough to have witnessed him in full cry. Michael Evans Osborne, musician, born September 28 1941; died September 19 2007 Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2007

It could possibly come from this radio broadcast, which I have had in my collection for a couple of years now. Osborne, Mike 10/17/80 3. Kölner Jazzhaus Festival, Musikhochschule, Cologne, Germany Mike Osborne (as), Dave Holdsworth (tp), Marcio Mattos (b), Brian Abrahams (d) It is in deed very good and I will be sure to purchase it once it is officially released. To me, Osborne occupies a similar space as Jimmy Lyons in some ways and I have really enjoyed his playing since a friend hipped me to him.

I am thinking about attending this.

I received the disc today. Looking forward to listening to it in the next few days.

Are these official authorized DVDs with cover art and necessary packaging, or are you attempting to sell DVDRs of television broadcasts that you recorded or acquired through other means? I don't mean to offend, but your post seems a little suspicious to me.

Takase and Mahall have a duet recording. I heard most of the recording and what I heard sounded good. Mahall can also be heard with Der Rote Bereich

I own a few of them, but off the top of my head the Eskelin and Konitz discs are both pretty good. Just for clarification, the Eskelin is actually a reissue of a recording that Eskelin self released several years back.

My suggestion is always to start from the beginning and work your way forward chronologically. But assuming you are not necessarily trying to collect the entire Hill discography, of those you listed Judgment! is probably my favorite.

True, but if the downloads are free or essentially free, that does wonders for the bank balance compared to a serious jones for CDs. Doesn't help much on the time front though -- both searching time and trying to find listening time. Maybe purchases decline, but the budget for blank media rises. Not as costly as purchasing an equivalent number of official releases, but there is a cost involved still.

I don't purchase as much music as I used to, but the bit torrent downloads and trades remain a problem. I have tried to stop on many occassions, but it never lasts very long. So my unheard back log grows faster than I can actually listen.

The Candid release? I do not think this is a solo piano performance.

I echo this sentiment.

I have heard several live unissued recordings by the group. I am encouraged to hear more.

I also heard him live once in Brooklyn and found the performance entertaining.

I have that recording. It is solid and you probably will not be disappointed. But if you only purchased it because of Lou Donaldson, IIRC Donaldson does not appear on all the tracks.

I bought a pair last fall. I don't really have an audiophille ear and my only prior experience with headphones was Sony walkman headphones years ago. When I do actually get a chance to listen to them, I enjoy what I hear.