garthsj

How will this compare with the reissue done by Dave Bennett for Avid Records? This reissue is very listenable, especially in comparison to the Schaap version ...

Before this AOTW thread ends .. any others who care to comment on this important album ... ?

As promised earlier ... here is André Hodeir's analysis of the BOTC music. This is taken from "Jazz" It's Evolution and Essence," London: Secker & Warburg, 1956, pp. 127-132. (Forgive any typos that are the result of the scan..) The Miles Davis Band Is the cool style appropriate for bands of the size reached by those at the end of the classical period? Probably not. The ten brasses and five saxes in Hampton's 1946 band had one objected1to create maximum shock power. The sound aimed at by the band that Miles Davis organized in 1948, on the contrary, was a kind of unified half-tint. It was essentially a "chamber orchestra" by virtue of both its composition and the style imposed on it. Its melodic section consisted of six instruments: trumpet, trombone, French horn, tuba, and alto and baritone saxes. It was a rejection of the hot idiom that permitted use of the French horn, which had for a long time been excluded from jazz bands. Similarly, Davis reintroduced the tuba, which had been highly rated by the oldtimers but eliminated during the pre-classical period. It wasn't brought back, be it noticed, simply to turn out rudimentary basses, but rather to be included among the melodic instruments. This plebeian was becoming an aristocrat. To the usual distribution of ranges, with two middle voices balanced by two high and two low ones, was added a distribution of timbres, with each instrument supplying a special color that still blended harmoniously into the whole. The rhythm section was limited to three basic elements – piano, bass, and drums. Davis didn't keep either the guitar, which would be difficult to manipulate in the harmonic and rhythmic climate he had in mind, or the bongo drums, which provided an element of exterior coloration that would be out of place in this intimate music. Accordingly, the band had no more than nine men, just one more than King Oliver's. What remained to be done was to give the group a basic homogeneity. Did Miles Davis manage to do this by a careful choice of collaborators --– arrangers and instrumentalists – or did the initiative come from Gerry Mulligan and Gil Evans. as Barry Ulanov leads us to understand? Was it these two musicians who foresaw Davis as the leader of a band that was really their idea and for which they had composed scores even before it was actually organized? In any case, the problem for these arranger-composers was to write music that the performers could play in the same spirit as they would have improvised solos. Evans and Mulligan were joined by John Carisi and John Lewis- All of them had participated as improvisers, in the cool movement, so there was every reason to hope that the music they conceived would be profoundly impregnated with that spirit. The instrumentalists themselves were chosen among the young school's most remarkable improvisers. It was vitally important that they should express themselves naturally in a common language. The presence of an outside element, even a valuable one, would have weakened the band by destroying its unity. As it happened, only Bill Barber, on tuba, was not one of the movement's leaders, and he showed great flexibility, fitting into his new surroundings very well. Although the Miles Davis band played in public on several occasions, it owes its fame to records. Nevertheless, it recorded very few sides. Its reputation was made by eight pieces recorded during two sessions in New York in 1949.8 In the first, the band included seven white musicians (Kai Winding, Junior Collins, Lee Konitz, Gerry Mulligan, Al Haig, Joe Shulman, and Bill Barber) and two colored, ones (Miles Davis and Max Roach). In the second, this proportion was almost reversed, since Winding, Collins, Haig, and Shulman were replaced, respectively, by J.J.Johnson, Sanford Siegelstein, John Lewis, and Nelson Boyd. Furthermore, Max Roach was replaced by Kenny Clarke, so only Davis, Konitz, Barber, and Mulligan remained. It is hard to compare the work of the two groups. One thing is certain: the second plays in a more relaxed way than the first. The two most successful sides, ISRAEL and BOPLICITY, both come from the second session. It should be noted, however, that the first group, which perhaps had less practice, had to handle arrangements that were trickier to perform. Since some of the pieces (BUDO, MOVE, VENUS DE MILO are interesting almost exclusively for the playing of the soloists and the rhythm section, we shall consider only four sides in this brief study of the cool orchestral language. Two of them, JERU and GODCHILD, arranged by Gerry Mulligan, were recorded during the first session. BOPLICITY, arranged by Gil Evans, and ISRAEL, John Carisi's work, come from the second. What do these two records bring us? They seem to offer, not merely the promise, but the first fruits of a renewal that has a twofold significance, first for what the music represents in itself and second for the conclusions it permits us to draw about certain conceptions demonstrated in it. To begin with, let us limit ourselves to a consideration of melody, harmony, and orchestration. The convergence of a fairly special orchestral combination and the cool style of playing created an absolutely new sonority, which is what was meant by calling it a fresh sound. The term is a good one. It gives a fairly accurate definition of this music's special climate and obviates certain misunderstandings on the part of listeners whom its small quota of the hot element might have led to speak in terms of "straight" jazz or even of "sweet" music. There is no justification for making such comparisons. Both "straight" jazz and "sweet" music, which are commercial products, make use of a sonority and a melodic and harmonic language that are exaggeratedly sugar-coated. The work of the Miles Davis band, on the contrary, boasts excellent melody and expresses it, as we have observed, by means of a sonority that is to be admired precisely because it forgoes all ornament; and if the firmness of its harmonic language is sometimes veiled by an apparent indistinctness of timbres, analysis shows it to be there nonetheless. Davis uses some of the same clusters as Gillespie, although the latter made them seem more aggressive because of their violently expressionistic context. Elevenths, thirteenths, and polytonal chords alternate with more consonant combinations; the successions are generally more supple, less mechanical than in Gillespie's work. Frequently – and this is one respect in which the new works fit into the jazz tradition – the harmony develops in the form of chord clusters garnished with acid dissonances. Judging by ear (naturally, I haven't had a chance to look at the scores), I'd say that the rather special character of these dissonances comes less from the actual notes than from the orchestration. Since the most dissonant note is more often than not assigned to the French horn, which has a less penetrating timbre than the other instruments, the result is an equilibrium in the superposition of timbres and intervals that is not the smallest charm of GODCHILD and BOPLICITY. This sort of interpenetration of instrumentation and harmony would repay closer study, with the scores in hand . Generally speaking, the arrangements played by the Miles Davis band treat each section as a unit. Nevertheless, as we have just observed, the diversity of timbres among the winds adds a great deal of freshness. Moreover, the arrangers have shown a certain amount of flexibility, occasionally dividing this section. The voices are not yet really independent, but they are clearly moving in that direction. The writing of the middle voices in GODCHILD and the attempted polyphony of ISRAEL are evidences of an effort to achieve some still vague goal, which I would define as a worked-out counterpoint in which each voice is conceived as if it were improvised. Such music would require its creators to study a lot and to make a great effort of adaptation; but what possibilities a kind of jazz based on this principle would have! Miles Davis' beautiful passage in the second part of the central bridge in BOPLICITY, which imitates so delicately the ascending melodic figure stated a few bars earlier by the clear voices of the band, gives a cautious glimpse of what an orchestral language based on this conception might be, Other details of orchestration and melody are worth noting. Octave doubling, a holdover from bop's unisons, is fairly frequent, notably in the central bridge of BOPLICITY and in the exposition of ISRAEL and GODCHILD. On this last side, the exposition, which is assigned to the tuba and bariItone sax, begins in a very low register; the color of the sound becomes brighter as the melody rises; then, in a second phase, the theme is taken up by the whole wind section. The gradation is skillful, and George Wallington's nimble theme lends itself nicely to such treatment. In terms of melodic analysis, the piece contains in the fifth measure a figure in triplets that is typical of the classical period; on the other hand, the central bridge of BOPLICITY begins with a phrase obviously inspired by bop. Except for these two relatively minor reminiscences, the melodic language expressed by the themes and the arrangements would seem to account in large part for the originality of these works. On this score, the most remarkable side is probably ISRAEL, which offers a rather astonishing renewal of the blues. ISRAEL is an example of blues in a minor key, like Ellington's KO-KO. Combining the minor scale and the scale used in the blues results in a scale like the mode of D. With true musical intelligence, John Carisi has played around with this ambiguity, extending the modal color of his composition by making fleeting references to other modes and by using defective scales. The most significant passage in this respect is the end of the trumpet solo (fourth chorus), in which a countermelody in parallel fifths accompanies Davis' improvisation. Since the soloist, too, has caught the modal atmosphere of the piece perfectly, the combination of his melody and the underlying harmony is an exceptionally happy one. It should be added that the blue notes, which figure naturally in each of the modes employed, help to make the piece sound like the blues but do not have the kind of expressive singularity that makes them stand out from the other degrees in the regular blues scale. Finally, ISRAEL suggests two other observations, one concerning the melody, which moves chiefly by scale steps at some times and largely by leaps at others, and the other concerning the orchestral language, which curiously heightens the effect of the lower voices by making them very mobile (particularly in the second and seventh choruses, which are the most polyphonic of all).

I have not delved into the dowloading and "burning" of music .. yet! (I guess I am still basically a hardware guy) ... but could any of you answer this question. Is it my understanding that when Verve puts these albums out for downloading that they will NOT be releasing them as actual CDs? If that is the case, then I am going to have to figure out a way to get both the DeFranco and Konitz albums. (I wish that Verve had included this Konitz gem with the Konitz/Giuffre set they issued several years ago).

I would daresay, having listened to him quite extensively because I am always interested in those who are brave enough to try and play jazz on the clarinet, that those "clinkers" are an integral part of his improvisational style ... or, God! I hope so!

If God had meant the clarinet to be played with that tinny tone, he would never have given us Karl Boehm! Seriously, Byron is a fantastic technician, but I get the feeling that he goes outside for sake of going outside ... I never feel any real conviction in his music, and I am not an admirer of his angular lines. I guess I am just a diehard DeFranco/Scott/Giuffre fan ... where is Perry Robinson when you need him? This new, old guy Mort Weiss in not bad either ... check him out ... click here ... http://www.smsjazz.com/catalog/index.php?o...175b7609c2a0964

I'm interested in what you (and others) have to say about this, Chuck.... YES PLEASE, Chuck... do initiate a discussion of this aspect of these recordings .... Also, would some of you like to comment on the various reissues/remakes of this album ... including the version with Phil Woods doing the Konitz parts (which I think illustrates in a very substantial way just how important Konitz's role was in the making of the original recordings). Finally, I think that we need an "Ashley Kahninization" of this whole enterprise ... not necessarily in that style, but a social/cultural history of the project considering its importance in the history of modern jazz. As an historian I wish that I was equipped musically to undertake that ... but .... Mike Fitzgerald ... What are the chances of bringing this off as a project, considering that most of the key players are no longer with us?

I have been "itching" for a reissue of "Sweets" ever since I ruined my copy of the LP by putting it close to a wall radiiator in Canada about 30 years ago ... I could only play the last two tracks on each side ... I truly love that album! Now when will Verve reissue "Ellis in Wonderland" ... a great Herb Ellis date with very similar sounds. ..

Yes, I agree totally! The station has declined enormously, and for that reason I do most of my internet jazz listening on KCSM-FM ... have you tried that?

I was not really sure where to post this new site, which is just now up and running ... but this does seem to be the most suitable place. Enjoy .... http://www.lajazzinstitute.org

Actually, it would interesting to see how many of these 200 sessions have made it to a CD reissue .....

Bobby Short was one of those unique figures in cabaret/jazz who helped to keep great music alive. Thanks to his recordings, he will not be forgotten.

I have a friend and colleague who writes film reviews for Variety on a regular basis ... we get to see a lot of free movies (mostly the crummy ones); directly afterwards we retire to a local "eatery" and over a couple of glasses of wine we compose these reviews in "Varietyese" ... lotsa fun doing that! A whole language unto itself .....

Here is a recent article from Variety ... I am not sure whether to get out my Visa card for the misssing OJCs in my collection .... Concord's Vineyard Overflowing Label follows Grammy wins with jazz, adult pop staples by Phil Gallo Variety, March 21, 2005 Following the phenomenal success of Ray Charles' final recording, Concord Records is getting back to business as usual. Label resumes its role as a jazz and adult pop house, working a slate of 23 new albums that will be released between now and the end of August. It includes an intriguing confluence of female singers -- Mary Haskell, Keely Smith and Debby Boone -- with new albums hitting retail within the next five weeks. "The first thing we look for is quality plus a reason to do something," says Gene Rumsey, general manager of Concord. "The consistent thing across all three records is the quality of the recording." For the Smith record, titled "Vegas '58 Today" and filled with the repertoire she and Louis Prima performed in Las Vegas, Concord has "a story that should be retold and one that coincides with the 100th birthday of Las Vegas." As for Boone, Rumsey noted: "It's ironic that Rosie's daughter-in-law comes to us right about the same age as when Rosie came to us. After hearing the music, we had a great reason to do this." Boone will be part of the Rosemary Clooney remembrance June 20 at Carnegie Hall. Haskell, a former Miss Mississippi who gave up her showbiz career after she married former William Morris exec Sam Haskell and started a family, is going a unique route: recording well-known songs that work on a spiritual as well as musical level. Titled "Inspired: Standards Good for the Soul," Haskell's disc attempts to cross between the jazz world and the contempo Christian market. Discovered singing with Concord associate Michael Feinstein, she opened a show for Sandi Patty, made TV appearances and will play Feinstein's in New York as well as opening for Tony Danza on March 28. Haskell hopes to be booked into larger church venues, where she will sing standards such as "You'll Never Walk Alone" along with songs from the tuners "Wicked" and "Under the Bridge" plus a number by Dolly Parton. As she puts it: "timeless melodies with a timely message." "One young guy in our international division came into my office and asked me, 'How do I make the world a better place?'" Rumsey relates, noting he was taken aback by the question. "As you listen to the music, you hear a desire on her part to make a difference, to help people get through difficult periods. "It presents a bit of a challenge because it's tough to market to inspirational radio and Christian bookstores. But there is a message, and we have to show how it fits nicely in the cracks." After the releases from the femme warblers hit retail, Concord -- which switched distribution to Universal from Ryko this month -- will issue new recordings from jazzsters Gary Burton and Scott Hamilton, Eric Clapton's drummer Jamie Oldaker and singers Dianne Schuur, Curtis Stigers and Nnenna Freelon. Subsid labels Peak, Stretch and Picante will issue discs by Dave Weckl, Eddie Palmieri, David Benoit, "American Idol" finalist LaToya London, the Rippingtons and Poncho Sanchez. Also on tap are archival releases by Bobby Darin, Marian McPartland and Tony Bennett. That gets the label through August, by which time it is expected to have a plan in place for Fantasy Records, which the label acquired late last year for some $80 million. Fantasy, which includes Stax, Milestone, Prestige, Pablo and other imprints, is one of the largest jazz catalogs in the U.S., also boasts many of the finest soul sides to come out of Memphis in the 1960s and all of Creedence Clearwater Revival's albums. (An olive branch has been extended to CCR's John Fogerty, who had a contentious and litigious relationship with Fantasy and owner Saul Zaentz for three decades). Fantasy is based in Berkeley, Calif., where it has kept a low profile releasing thousands of older albums on CD while new recordings from the likes of Sonny Rollins and Jimmy Scott are kept to a minimum. Rumsey says no decision has been made on whether the label should remain based in Northern California or if the operations should be combined. "Fantasy execs know the restrictions and they've run a really good business," Rumsey observes. "There's no reason to radically change that. We have to do it in a measured way." One part of the puzzle in the success of Ray Charles' "Genius Loves Company" was the involvement of Starbucks and its label Hear Music. Rumsey and Concord execs are finding more willing partners, among them FTD and Hallmark, but the two worlds are operating on different time schedules. "It's better to take your product to where the consumer is, but we're dealing with people whose planning is well into 2006. And we're asking, 'How about Mother's Day?'"

Damn! More proof that I should have hung on to my vinyl ... I had about half of these .... Click here: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...4711729007&rd=1

You might want to check this site. It will answer some, but not all, of your questions. http://www.organissimo.org/forum/index.php...ghlite=petrillo

.... and don't forget to add... "win awards for best design of the year!"

A week of Braxton??? Are you insane?? ... or are you trying to drive me toward that direction??

This is what we are talking about ... as I look at the well thumbed pages of my copy and see the red check marks next to the album titles, I can proudly claim that I once owned 181 of the 200 LP albums listed. (Most of the things I did not have were in the "avant-garde" section ... Taylor, Ayler, Sonny Murray, etc.). I need to go through it and see how many of these I now have on CD ...

Kevin ... I believe that Jordi Pujols has gone "legit" in recent years ... I very much doubt that he would want to take on the Sony Corp. by blatantly stealing this album. Also ... who did the remastering, if that is the truth? He has licensed many albums in the recent past, so let's hope this falls into that category. Also, I wasn't clear about your comment ... you would NOT buy it if the album contained license agreements? Garth, the eternal optimist!

I am giving everyone a "heads-up" to listen to this album over the weekend, so that we can start deliberating in earnest on Sunday. Forgive me for selecting such an obvious album, but I am surprised that one of the seminal contributions to the development of modern jazz has not been discussed before. This is an album that should be in every collection, so I am hoping that we will have a lively discussion of its strengths and weaknesses, and NOT all just a paean to this icon. I will post some comments on the album made by major jazz critics, such as André Hodeir. I encourage others to find critical reviews of this album when it was first released, remembering that while these tracks were recorded in 1949 and 1950, it was only released in 1954 as a 10" album as part of the "Classics in Jazz" series on Capitol, after the initial release as a series of 78rpm singles. It was only in 1957 that the 12" album appeared, with three additional tracks, and was titled "The Birth Of The Cool" ... So ... let the games begin ....

Just to alert those of you interested. This great album, originally on Columbia, is about to be reissued by Fresh Sounds, in what they claim is a remastered 24bit edition. I certainly hope so ... This album is HIGHLY recommended ..... I assume that DG (THE BASTARDS!) will soon have it in stock. FSRCD 381 MANNY ALBAM - BILL RUSSO- TEO MACERO- TEDDY CHARLES - Something New, Something Blue Featuring: Art Farmer, Donald Byrd (tp); Frank Rehak, Bob Brookmeyer (tb); Phil Woods, Hal McKusick (as); Al Cohn, Frank Socolow (ts); Bill Evans, Eddie Costa, Mal Waldron (p); Teddy Charles (vb); Addison Farmer, George Duvivier (b); Ed Shaughnessy (d) Outstanding sound. Digital remastering in 24 bit high resolution. Recorded in New York in 1959, "Something New, Something Blue" was designed as a vehicle for four arrangers, Teddy Charles, Teo Macero, Bill Russo, and Manny Albam, who each contributed an original composition and a new version of a blues standard for a medium-size ensemble which included Donald Byrd, Bob Brookmeyer, Mal Waldron, Ed Shaughnessy, Bill Evans, Mal Waldron, Art Farmer and others. Tracklisting: 1. Night Crawlers - Manny Albam 4:09 2. Tin Roof Blues - Manny Albam 6:48 3. Blues for Amy - Teo Macero 4:44 4. St. Louis Blues - Teo Macero 4:30 5. Swinging Goatsherd Blues - Teddy Charles 4:16 6. Blues in the Night - Teddy Charles 4:42 7. East Hampton Blues - Bill Russo 5:47 8. Davenport Blues - Bill Russo 3:41 Tracks #1-4: Recorded in NYC, May 15, 1959. Art Farmer (tp), Frank Rehak (tb), Phil Woods (as), Al Cohn (ts), Bill Evans, Eddie Costa (p), Addison Farmer (b), Ed Shaughnessy (d) Tracks #5-8: Recorded in NYC, May 15, 1959. Donald Byrd (tp), Bob Brookmeyer (tb), Hal McKusick (as), Frank Socolow (ts), Mal Waldron (p); Teddy Charles (vb), George Duvivier (b), Ed Shaughnessy (d)

I can confirm what Kevin says .. the Japanese version of this set is in stereo, and the range is not that wide, but clearly on the first cut Watrous is featured slightly on the left channel, and Pepper on the right. It is a beautiful recording ... as were the original LPs...

As one of the "older" members on this board, I would like to add my 2 cents here ..... I have been a fan of the this group since their first iteration as the Milt Jackson Quartet in the early 1950s.. and then through the Prestige period, and latterly the Atlantic, and finally Pablo periods. I must have just about every CD they issued, Japanese and otherwise ... so obviously, I am a very big fan. I respect the range of views expressed here, and while I don't agree with many of them (wouldn't life be boring if we all agreed on everything), there is something magical in the way these four men can affect my emotions. For me the MJQ are always of interest as thinking music, not as subtle background. If I lie back and listen, really listen to what they are doing, the interplay, the quality of the improvisations, Lewis's incredible comping (melodies in themselves) behind Jackson, Kay's range of sounds, Heath's hard swing and melodic solos, and, of course, Lewis's incredible way of swinging the hell out of just a single note, then I am transported into a different realm. For what it is worth, I think that the MJQ are underappreciated for their improvisational qualitites. There is so much emphaisis on their tonal presentation that what they are actually improvisationally doing gets lost in the shuffle. The best way to really understand this is to put on those earphones, close your eyes and listen ... It will rock your world. For starters, I suggest you take this challenge with either "Blues on Bach" or "The Final Concert" ....

This was published in today's L A Times: March 17, 2005 Larry Bunker, 76; Respected Drummer By Jon Thurber, Times Staff Writer Larry Bunker, a drummer and percussionist who played with a who's who of jazz giants and fashioned a busy career as a film musician, has died. He was 76. Bunker died March 8 at Queen of Angels-Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center in Los Angeles of complications from a recent stroke, said his wife, Brandyn. A native of Long Beach, Bunker was musically inclined from an early age and was self-taught on piano, accordion, drums and saxophone. In 1946, he was accepted into the U.S. Army band and played drums and piano while serving at Ft. Ord until his discharge in 1948. In the early 1950s, he played with trombonist Howard Rumsey at the fabled Lighthouse Cafe in Hermosa Beach. From then on, he played with the top names in jazz, including saxophonists Stan Getz, Art Pepper and Gerry Mulligan, and guitarist Barney Kessel. He was also a member of singer Peggy Lee's band. He joined Bill Evans in 1964 for one of the pianist's better trios. In an interview with Down Beat magazine in 1964, Evans called Bunker a "marvelous musician." "He plays excellent vibes as well as being an all-round percussionist, and being so musical he just does the right thing because he's listening," Evans said. "He really knows music, feels music - and is a superlative drummer." Throughout his long career, Bunker was a highly sought-after studio musician for movies who worked with a number of leading film composers, including Henry Mancini, Alfred Newman, Miklos Rosza, Jerry Goldsmith, Johnny Mandel and John Williams. His first film was "Stalag 17" in 1953 and his last was "The Incredibles" in 2004. He also was a timpanist for the Los Angeles Philharmonic and, according to his family, performed on more than 30 Academy Awards programs, including the 77th in February. In his later life, he listened primarily to classical music. According to the late critic Leonard Feather, Bunker's avocations included collecting and restoring antiques, repairing instruments and making custom instruments. In addition to his wife, Bunker is survived by his daughter, Tracy; his brother, George; and a granddaughter.