Joe

I know he was very busy in the studios, which is why Gary Peacock, Richard Davis, Albert Stinson, etc. appeared with the Quintet on various tours. And although Carter is a great musician and has written some great tunes, I've never gotten the sense that he has a "vision" - a music that is distinctly his "own." Disagree. Carter's piccolo bass group in the '70s pursued a distinct sound ideal and his more recent trios with guitar and piano go for a kind of immaculately tailored refinement of the mainstream. I'm leaving aside value judgments on quality/profundity of the results and simply addressing the notion of vision as a bandleader. It is true that Carter's own bands have been about things that are very different than his most innovative and influential work he did with Miles and others. Fair enough. Carter may have still been "evolving" as a player / musical thinker during his time with Miles, but I would argue that Herbie, Wayne and Tony were as well. And I am basing some of my wondering on Carter's significant contributions as a composer on E.S.P.... though, again, he, IIRC, he did not contribute anything to Miles' "book" after that album. Which prompts further wondering, though I should probably just trust my ears on Miles' music pre- and post- Plugged Nickel.

And a related question... Ron Carter was the only member of the quintet not to be active as a leader (at least of recording dates) during his Davis tenure. I wonder why. Was he just too busy?

Interesting; thanks. Would still be very interested to hear this performance. Seems like Timmons was sort of experimenting with modal structures on this date, and I wonder is "Remembrance" is a continuation of that. I absolutely LOVE this date (The Soul Man) -- maybe my all-time favorite "less well-known Wayne" date. I can't quite put my finger on why, but everything just seemed to work perfectly on this date. "Tom Thumb" surpasses Wayne's later BN version, and most of the rest of the tunes are compelling, with Ron Carter's "Tenaj" being especially interesting. The date that occupies the first half of this reissue (the original WORKIN' OUT), featuring Johnny Lytle, is no slouch either.

Bobby Timmons' THE SOUL MAN (reissued as one half of WORKIN' OUT back in Fantasy's glory days), while it only features Shorter and Carter, does have something of the feel of the Miles quintet sessions from this era (January 1966), and, to my ears, more so than Shorter or Hancock's BNs (with the possible exception of Wayne's ET CETERA). The Timmons session features 3 Carter compositions as well as the first recording of Shorter's "Tom Thumb". And on drums is Jimmy Cobb, which lends the affair a whole 'nother Miles connotation as well. Postscript: according to this Wayne discography, one tune from this excellent session remains unissued... Wayne Shorter (ts) Bobby Timmons (p) Ron Carter (b) Jimmy Cobb (d) Rudy Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, January 20, 1966 Little Waltz Prestige PR 7465 Einbahntrasse (One Way Street) - Damn If I Know - Cut Me Loose Charlie - Tom Thumb - Tenaj - Remembrance unissued

Very nice; Webb's one of those songwriters whose work truly transcends genre.

The Bennie Green select. I suppose BG was a modernist, but he's always appealed to me as a truly unclassifiable player (judicious use of vibrato, especially at the end of his phrases; an almost Prez-like rhythmic conception; totally at home with bop harmonies).

At least they are keeping the BN imprint alive. Given everything that's going on with the music industry in general and EMI in particular (they're like the LA Dodgers of media companies), that they would be hiring anyone to do anything at all strikes me as a positive development.

Also Terrapin Station! Buckmaster also did some arranging for David Bowie, Elton John, Leonard Cohen and Shawn Phillips.

I've no idea if Davis was aware of this record, but Buckmaster was the primary composer and arranger for the Chitinous Ensemble LP released on Vocalion in 1970. He also made significant contributions to the Third Ear Band's score to Polanski's adaptation of MACBETH. I believe a few well-turned Google searches will produce access to clips (at least) from both of these recordings.

And that's why you always, ALWAYS, got to give the drummer some.

You have heard the Airto dates that were originally issued on Buddha: SEEDS ON THE GROUND and NATURAL FEELINGS? Airto, Flora, Pascoal, Romao and Ron Carter are all featured. Both were reissued on a "2fer" disc courtesy One Way Records in the mid-90's... and are essential to any collection of post-bossa Brazilian music. Sivuca's LIVE THE THE VILLAGE GATE (Vanguard), briefly reissued on CD in Japan, is also worth trying to track down.

Indeed! Direct link for those so inclined... The Red Saunders Research Foundation

As an outgrowth of the discussion swirling (verily!) around BFT 87, I offer this link to quite fine website delving into the life and recording career of Texas tenor Tom Archia. The Tom Archia Discography (by Robert L. Campbell, Leonard J. Bukowski, and Armin Büttner)

Dude, the streaming content is being made available in perpetuity; listen when e'er you're available. BFT 87: Listen Online And best of luck with the job search.

Sure, if there's interest, I'd be happy to start an Archia thread over in "Artists". I've liked Ehrlich's work ever since I first heard him on John Carter's FIELDS. He's developed a very personal voice on bass clarinet; hard to escape the Dolphy influence on that instrument. "The Falling Rains of Life" is just a beautiful, perfectly measured performance; Uri Caine is particularly is wonderfully restrained here (I appreciate the wittiness of some of his other projects, but also appreciate his ability to put it aside when need be.) I also choose this track out of a desire to shed some more light on Jaki Byard's considerable compositional gifts. (BTW, Jaki's original recording has been reissued on SOLO / STRINGS.)

Track 1 -- strikes me as a GREAT shame that this group did not make its way into a studio, at least as far as I am aware. Bob Cooper sounds superb here. He's still pulling his style largely out of Lester's bag, but there's an edge creeping in as well. Maybe its the bossa -- and this has got to be one of the earlier of the "hard bossas". Anyway, a neat souvenir from a rather forgotten period in LA's jazz history. Tom Archia is one of those pseudo-shadowy jazz-no-R&B-what's-the-real-difference-anyway? players. Not quite as distinctive a player as, say, fellow Texans John Hardee or Illinois Jacquet, but as a progenitor of "bluebop"... and name worth remembering. Also, for those curious, there's a very nice website covering Archia's life and recording career, available here: http://hubcap.clemson.edu/~campber/archia.html

NIS -- thanks for being a part of this BFT. I included the Smith / Blackwell track, in part, to shine a light on an archival issue that hasn't gotten much attention. Smith is still going strong, of course; you could even argue that he's making some of the most interesting music of his career right now. Blackwell is no longer with us, sadly, but this is him in his prime... less demonstrative than when he was providing a polyrhythmic foundation for Ornette's groups. Besides, if, as Jim pointed out, Gene Ammons is the answer to (just about) every damn question, "a New Orleans drummer" is the answer to every damn question to which Gene Ammons is not. The Shelton (as well as the Portal) I included out of a desire to stay more contemporary with BFT (my last one, 68, leaned more towards retrospection). I've been impressed with everything I've heard featuring Shelton (check out GREY GHOST on 482 Music) and Adasiewicz thus far... perhaps as composers than "distinctive voices" at this stage of their careers, but impressed nonetheless. Sure, the music is very much indebted to the whole McLean / Moncur / Hutcherson axis of EVOLUTION / ONE STEP BEYOND etc., but that's not a model of group interplay that's been exploited to extent, say, that the Coltrane Quartet or the "2nd Great Davis Quintet" has. For example, there's a focus on space within the ensemble, but not at the expense of rhythmic interest. Adasiewicz in particular impresses; I've not heard a vibes player create accompaniments quite like his.

Sounds good man! I look forward to meeting you when you get back. Hold deposit given to apartment, now just waiting for the fun application process to complete. If everything works out, I can move into the apartment in the morning. :tup

TRACKS 9 - 13 (09) Tom Archia, "The Battle" (Tom Archia) 1947 - 1948 (CLASSICS series), 1948 Tom Archia (ts); Gene Ammons (ts); Willie Jones (p); LeRoy Jackson (b); Wesley Landers (d) (10) Glenn Wilson / Rory Stuart, "Armageddon" (Wayne Shorter) BITTERSWEET, 1990 Glenn Wilson (bs), Rory Stuart (g) (11) A. Spencer Barefield, "Xenogenesis" (A. Spencer Barefield) LIVE AT NICKELSDORF KONFRONTATIONEN, 1984 A. Spencer Barefield (g), Anthony Holland (as), Tani Tabbal (d) (12) Aram Shelton's Arrive, "There Was..." (Aram Shelton) "THERE WAS...", 2011 Aram Shelton (as), Jason Adasiewicz (vib), Jason Roebke (b), Tim Daisy (d) (13) Freddie Redd, "Night Song" (Freddie Redd) EXTEMPORANEOUS, 1978 Freddie Redd (p)

TRACKS 5 - 8 (05) Frank Van Bommel, "Albuquerque Social Swim" (Dick Twardzik) A CRUTCH FOR THE CRAB, 1999 Frank Van Bommel (p), Tobias / Toby Delius (ts), Arjen Gorter (b), Martin Van Duynhoven (d) (06) Michel Portal, "Bailador" (Michel Portal) BAILADOR, 2011 Michel Portal (bass cl), Ambrose Akinmusire (tp), Lionel Loueke (g), Bojan Z. (p), Scott Colley (b), Jack DeJohnette (d) (07) Marty Ehrlich, "The Falling Rains Of Life" (Jaki Byard) SONG, 2001 Marty Ehrlich (bass cl), Uri Caine (p), Michael Formanek (b), Billy Drummond (d) (08) Bennie Wallace, "Broadside" (Bennie Wallace) ONE NIGHT WITH BLUE NOTE PRESERVED V. 2, 1985 Bennie Wallace (ts), Cecil McBee (b), Jack DeJohnette (d)

The Q&A has come to an end, Bennet Cerf and Dorothy Kilgallen have removed their blindfolds, and it is time to learn the identities of our mystery guests. I will save my comments for a later post, or will interject them into the discussion (if any) that follows. TRACKS 1 - 4 (01) Howard Rumsey's Lighthouse All-Stars, "Bossa Nova" (Bob Cooper) JUST JAZZ television broadcast, 1962 [?] Bob Cooper (ts), Bobby Bryant (flugelhorn), Forest Westbrook (p), Rumsey (b), Doug Sides (d) (You can watch this band's "complete performance here). (02) Smiley Winters, "Two Trains" (Bert Wilson) SMILEY ETC., 1969 Barbara Donald (tp), Bert Wilson (ts), Chris Amberger (b), Harley White (b), James Zitro (d), Smiley Winters (d), Mike O'Barra (perc) (03) Wadada Leo Smith / Ed Blackwell, "Buffalo People - A Blues Ritual Dance" (Wadada Leo Smith) THE BLUE MOUNTAIN'S SUN DRUMMER, rec. 1986, released 2011 Smith (tp), Blackwell (d) (04) Art Farmer, "Up in Quincy's Room" (Gigi Gryce, arr. Gryce) ART FARMER SEPTET, 1953 Art Farmer (tp), Jimmy Cleveland(tb), Cliff Solomon (ts), Oscar Estell (bs), Quincy Jones (p), Monk Montgomery (el b), Sonny Johnson (d)

The funk is a living creature, and, yes, its origins are otherwordly.

Under-appreciated LP, I think, by someone whose skills as a bandleader have also often been overlooked. The format is "standard horn soloist plus rhythm accompaniment", the results anything but run-of-the-mill. One of Waldron's last "pre-breakdown" recordings, correct?

Sonny Rollins' 10 favorite records, circa 1981, as reported in THE BOOK OF ROCK LISTS (Marsh and Stein)...