Joe

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)...

I'd forgotten about the recording you reference... should pull that out and give it a spin. The players on #3 are not original be-boppers.

Max has pushed the button for the last time.

Wilen is a good guess... though, stylistically, I'd say this cat is closer to Budd than Barney. And the band here is made up entirely of Americans. Track #1 is not, strictly speaking, a recording. But it is not quite a boot, either. I can't imagine it is listed in an conventional discography (not any that I've consulted, anyway.) That the tune is a bossa nova, or at least bossa-like -- as many have noted -- helps date the performance.

No, this cat wore glasses. I think you're going to like learning who the trumpet player is, too. And the drummer...

Not yet, not yet. But I will be pulling back the curtain about this time next week (TH, 06/30). Until then, if you've got something to say... this is the place. J

Thom -- thanks for the extensive comments. You bring up a whole slew of great and unexpected (for me) reference points for these tracks. I only wish I had the imagination and foresight to have thrown in some Ellery, or Raphe Malik, or Charles Davis (a favorite of mine). But I did not. Early Hutcherson (I mean, like Moncur III's EVOLUTION Hutch) is an important reference point for #12, I think. #1 is going to surprise some folks. The tenor soloist especially (I'm going to guess.) Best, J

A very Shaw-like player, but he's definitely more than slavish Woody-isms. If you'd like to hear him in a slightly atypical context, you might check out altoist Bobby Zankel's PRAYER AND ACTION on CIMP (though, as with all releases on that imprint, beware the "audiophile sound.")

How may tins of Turtle Wax are in a "lifetime supply"?

Just that that opening phrase is almost verbatim, and then it goes off into its own place. But that opening phrase... I was wanting to say Barbara Donald, but didn't....almost, but not quite... If we were playing The Match Game, you'd be kicking yourself for choosing Fannie Flagg rather than Richard Dawson during the Head-To-Head champeenship round.

I'm down for a download. Thanks, J

PS -- the trumpet player on track 2 may be the most important / surprising / remarkable member of that ensemble (though the tenor player is quite a story unto himself.)

5 = you know, that would take some research, but it is very possible that this composition is related to "Where or When". Also, you may not relaize it, but you do have a personal association with this tune (if we stretch the notion of association. As to 13, I could not have said it better myself. Though I might have added the words "psychodrama" or "melodrama". Much grass!

Sonny Rollins. In their BOOK OF ROCK LISTS, authors Dave Marsh and James Bernard include Rollins' "10 Favorite Records." Some interesting choices: #1 is Aretha Franklin's Amazing Grace. I'll try and post the full list when I get a chance.