Joe

Vi Redd, BIRD CALL Pharaoh Sanders, PHARAOH'S FIRST MINGUS AT THE BOHEMIA

It may be flawed, but I'd rather read Clellon Holmes THE HORN many times over than spend my time with either the Morrison on Ondaatje books cited here. Same goes for any of the volumes that constitute Nathaniel Mackey's FROM A BROKEN BOTTLE TRACES OF PERFUME STILL EMANATE.

Thanks NIS. TLDR = Internet-ese for "too long, didn't read." On 9, Colin Walcott is the only jazz-like tabla player I can think of. But your hint really has me wondering about the flutist. I'm thinking Codona, and I'm thinking that's the Pied Piper himself, Don Cherry 10 still seems very Towner-like and Mariano-esque to me. Is that Juhani Aaltonen on alto. Really curious to learn the answers now on this one, too. On 11... Gary Lucas? Or maybe even Danny Gatton? 12: listening again, I hear now why I could not quite decide if this was valve trombone, bass trombone, or some bastard instrument. If my ears aren't entirely deceiving me, its French horn. Is this Tom Varner? If so, its a Varner recording I've not heard before.

Longish, unedited comments attached. Hope its not too TLDR. Enjoyed the journeys this BFT sent me on. Interesting meeting of roots and branches throughout, if that metaphor makes any sense. 1 = strong South African flavor, with pianist's figures most reminiscent of Abdullah Ibrahim. The trumpet player has technique to spare, but his / her tone -- "puckish" -- seems oddly matched to his ideas. Maybe a wild guess, but I would not be surprised to learn this is a brass payer not necessarily associated with this style / idiom 2 = Monk-ish piano, but with a much more velvety touch. Very much like the way the horns weave around each other to construct this theme. Timbral qualities suggest a familiar pairing... Herb Robertson and Michael Moore? Piece is full of subtle rhythmic surprises. Sonority explained! Prepared piano, or the pianist is dampening the strings with his / her hand... I know Denman Maroney has worked in this idiom, so I'm going to guess that this is a track from the recent quintet recording UDENTITY (Clean Feed). If so, I don't think I've ever heard Ned Rothenberg play quite like this. 3 = Pleasantly reverberant recording. The vibist does not quite have Walt Dickerson's "brittle" sound, but whoever it is is close, and the conception -- spacious, elliptically lyrical -- is very Walt-like. Check that: at the 2:20 mark, or so, that could be no one else but Walt Dickerson. One of his mid-70's duets with Richard Davis (if so, he sounds less stringy here than I'm accustomed to hearing him sound)? Whoever it is, just beautiful. 4 = Sort of a revival piece; I mean, idiomatically, it feels "old", but the recording sounds contemporary. Very attractive, and adventurous in its own way. I mean, I don't hear bass at all; an unusual trio formation. Not quite brassy enough to be Ruby Braff, but could be. Or, perhaps Jan Allan? No idea on the clarinet player, but whoever it is knows how to obbligato. 5 = I like the pairing of muted trumpet and violin. The vaguely Ellingtonian colors here impress more immediately than the melodic content, which seems to me to be related somehow to track 1. That this becomes something of a trombone showcase is not anything I expected. This almost has a Breuker Kollektief-type vibe, but the humor isn't quite a broad as it could be. Though there is the staggering around that commences about the 4:30 mark. Ray Anderson? Glenn Ferris? Certainly a bone player who knows the jazz tradition of the instrument, but is also comfortable going outside. Very beer-hall-like ending. 6 = Drummer definitely has a Han Bennink-tye thing going on. Could be Chris Corsano, though. If so, maybe the reed player is Paul Flaherty, but I think of him as more blowtorch-like. Have no idea about the bassist / cellist. Does not do much, I have to say, to distinguish itself from many another free performance I've heard. 7 = Nuevo-N'Awlins groove. Glad to know the trumpet player did not overdose on high notes. I like his / her semi-growl better. Nice, guitar-like approach by the bassist. I trust this track is not a joke, per se. 8 = Not a Weather Report track I recognize, but damn does it sound like Weather Report, especially the soprano sax (not an incisive as Wayne, though), bass and Airto-like percussion filigree. But the electric keyboard sounds with which this opens makes me doubt that this is either vintage, or something so easily recognized. Are there 2 drummers here? The more I listen, the more atmospheric this becomes... an ECM session? An MPS session? Maybe Charlie Mariano in his fusion phase? Rainer Bruninghaus? VERY curious to learn the answers on this one. 9 = Or this could be Charlie Mariano. Trying to break the chain of private associations here, but, well... having difficulty. Mariano has definitely worked in this context in the past, most notably with the Karnataka College of Percussion. But this is the guitarist's track, really, isn't it. Some really unusual stuff happening there: alternately reminds me of a sitar and a waterphone. Pleasant. 10 = Again, I can't escape the ECM connotations. Terje Rypdal and Jan Garbarek? Rather more romantic sounding than that, I guess, (more flamenco than I might have anticipated.) More likely its Ralph Towner, and, on second thought, the reed player does not sound all that much like Jan Garbarek... not quite hoarse enough. But I'll stick with Towner. Not too pastel for me; the rhythm section is too interesting for that. 11 = I have to confess that I really don't like for ostensibly "jazz" guitarists to experiment with rock sonorities, and have never really warmed to the playing of Bill Frisell, John Scofield, John Abercrombie et al. Nor am I much of a fan of the kind of antic swing on display here. Nice to hear a bass clarinet slorping and pitter-patting in this context. Could this be one of Carla Bley ensembles? I like the pianist's use of dynamics, which at times recall Jaki Byard, but I've no real clue as to who this is. 12 = This I know. Ry Cooder and Earl Hines playing the "Diddy-Wah-Diddy" from PARADISE AND LUNCH. A seemingly off pairing that nevertheless results in a classic performance. I prefer the light-heartedness of this to the more caustic humor of the previous performance. 13 = This trombonist sounds more like Ray Anderson -- more vocal, but not into Roswell Rudd territory, though the performance itself is an extension of jazz tradition in a very Rudd-like manner -- than the individual on track 5. But could this be a bass trombone? David Taylor? Almost sounds like a valve trombone at times (the flourishes at the 3 minute mark.) Whenever this player goes up to the top of his / her register, he / she sounds most familiar to me. Not that I can place him / her exactly. A strong ending.

This one? THELONIOUS ATMOSPHERE (K2B2, 2001) Not familiar with it, but Krystall has never failed to impress. Not ALL Monk (some Ellington sprinkled throughout), but LOCOMOTIVE, on Soul Note, is very much worth tracking down. Ditto BLUE CHOPSTICKS, which draws upon the Herbie Nichols "songbook."

Alexander von Schlippenbach, MONK'S CASINO http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=17548

Could have been gimmicky, but isn't... John Stetch's EXPONENTIALLY MONK: Monk compositions arranged for prepared solo piano.

Hi all. Putting the frosting and hundreds & thousands on the baker's dozen that will soon be served as BFT #87 (June). I prefer digital distribution, and will make the entire BFT avaialble both in the form of a download (some sort of compressed file) and via the web (play the tracks right in your browser). If you know you want or need a CD version of the BFT to participate, drop me a line and I will send you a physical address to which you can mail blank media; I can then burn you a copy and mail your (now full) disc(s) back to you. More info to come in the next week or so. Thanks; ciao, J

Wow; I'd no idea Jimmy's association with George Braith went back that far. Thanks for these posts.

Have not spun FJ in some time either... what stands out in my memories of the record are Dolphy's contributions. IIRC, this was the record where I first encountered Dolphy, and Dolphy's bass clarinet. I'd never heard anything like it, and it prompted me to purchase OUT TO LUNCH without idea #1 as to what it actually sounded like. Hearing OTL so soon after FJ has since probably colored my opinion of the latter; I preferred the spaciousness of the Dolphy session to the density (superb descriptor, Jim) of the Coleman. If only Bradford had been available for the final recording...

For those with an interest in the Kashmere Stage Band of Houston, TX... http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/independent/thundersoul/

"Sensitive Skin’s Sir Andre Bemler writes about the release of a rare recording of a Sun Ra lecture during his stint as a Berkeley professor in 1971—Herman “Sonny” Blount was artist-in-residence at the University of California campus that spring, and apparently taught a course listed as “Sun Ra 171” but also called “The Black Man in the Universe,” or “The Black Man In the Cosmos.”" http://www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet/2011/05/listen-to-sun-ras-berkeley-lecture/ Direct link: http://blog.sensitiveskinmagazine.com/2011/professor-sun-ra/

Will you please stop being so damn humane?

Some early Monk Montgomery electric bass can be heard on the Art Farmer SEPTET sides collected on this Prestige / OJC release...

A third recommendation for the recent Nilsson documentary. Things get a bit too boozily self-indulgent for my tastes after SON OF SCHMILSSON (Cee-Lo Green has nothing on Harry's FU anthem), but the earlier, frankly "Beatles-esque" / false naif material is almost uniformly wonderful, and I do like his take on the Great American Songbook.

Sadly, Possum Kingdom State Park, one of the more scenic areas in North Central Texas, has been almost entirely consumed in these wildfires. This is bad, almost as bad as Southern California in 2007, when much of Los Angeles, Orange, Ventura and San Diego counties were on fire during a good chunk of October. I had to self-evacuate to Long Beach for about a week.

Seconded.

Damn. I kind of lost track of his discography over the last couple of years, but his run of releases for Soul Note -- especially RAINBOW GLADIATOR, LIVE AT CARLOS I, VALVE NO. 10 with Frank Lowe, and the Stuff Smith tribute with Sun Ra -- are some of my favorite "post-Trane" recordings, period. Many blessings upon you, Mr. Bang.

Yep, Nesmith's mom invented Liquid Paper, and right here in Dallas TX. Boyce and Hart were responsible for a good many of the Monkees' hits, but they also benefited from material supplied by Goffin and King, Harry Nilsson, Neil Diamond, David Gates, Mann and Weill, and others. If only music video as a form had retained the charm of the Nesmith clips that are collected on ELEPHANT PARTS...

Wow, his I think his lyrics are his strong suit. It's amazing that Gram Parsons gets all this credit for beginning country rock, yet teeny boppers who bought those Monkees records got at least two tracks of proto-country rock on each album, courtesy of Mike. Oh, don't get me wrong; I quite like how "literate" Nes often is. But I do feel that sometimes the sentiments (and sentience) overwhelms the grace of those melodies. Re: the country-rock question... Isn't that the big joke in the Nes - Zappa clip? "As soon as I quit The Monkees, I'm going to join The Byrds."

Great stuff, with some superb steel pedal playing from Red Rhodes really enlivening the material. (Nesmith can pen a tune, but his lyrics can tend toward the long-winded.)

NOVEMBER 1981 is probably my favorite out of all these recordings: a quartet with bassists Mario Pavone and Alan Silva, plus drummer Laurence Cook. Now that they've been collected, are these titles no longer available as single discs?

All prices quoted below are USD. Shipping is NOT included and is to be negotiated on a case-by-case basis. These items are available to international buyers, though please state as much in your initial inquiry. All sets are complete, with all discs in playing order, booklets, inserts, etc. intact. Happy to answer additional questions via PM.

A couple of large group classics from the 1970s that remain sadly out of circulation... Roswell Rudd's NUMATIK SWING BAND http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numatik_Swing_Band And Clifford Thornton's GARDENS OF HARLEM http://www.discogs.com/Clifford-Thornton-Jazz-Composers-Orchestra-The-Gardens-Of-Harlem/release/604664