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Shrdlu

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Posts posted by Shrdlu

  1. The 1966 Violin Summit

    in Recommendations

    Posted

    Recently, the 1966 Violin Summit came to mind. I'm not big on violin, but this is an excellent session and deserves to be better-known. You don't hear about it much.

    It features Stéphane Grapelly, Svend Asmussen (from Denmark), Stuff Smith and that French sensation of the electric violin, Jean-Luc Ponty. They program most of it with only two at a time.

    It is all very enjoyable, but Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen, on bass, steals the show, especially on "It Don't Mean A Thing". He is recorded high up in the mix.

    Kenny Drew is on piano, and Alex Riel is on drums.

    It is from a festival in Switzerland (I don't remember where), on September 30, 1966. It came out on the MPS label.

    I hope you are able to hear it.

    There are some details here

    https://www.xxxxxxxxxxx.net/3137713478-stuff-smith-violin-summit-1966-2015-hi-res.html

  2. New Hank Mobley Blue Note Set

    in Mosaic and other box sets...

    Posted

    This discussion of these three CDs prompted me to get my 2CD transfer of the material into recording order. Like (I guess) many here, I played them when I got them and then they got forgotten, with all the stuff that's come out since then.

    Naturally, I jumped first to "Me 'N' You", which is being treated to a new take. It is "Sidewinder #7", a pleasant track. It kinda masks Philly Joe, and I couldn't wait to go to the tracks where he plays normally.

    Anyway, everything I had time for today sounded great all round. It was good to hear Hank on these sessions again: he was in great form.

  3. New Hank Mobley Blue Note Set

    in Mosaic and other box sets...

    Posted

    I got those three CDs when they came out and have never played them as is. I rearranged them in the order in which they were recorded, on two CDs. There were reasons for the track lineups on the original LPs, but today we have no need to adhere to them. I much prefer to hear tracks by the same guys gathered together. 

    In case anyone doesn't know, Michael Cuscuna got a lot of flak when, in the early CD days, he put the alternate takes together, rather than sticking them at the ends of CDs.

  5. The bass clarinet

    in Musician's Forum

    Posted

    Yes. An Eb drainpipe, lol. They also slowed the "octocontra-alto" audio down, to simulate the Bb "octocontrabass" instrument, of which no audio exists. You can count the vibrations of the lowest notes. These instruments sound best when blended with higher ones; the same applies to the contrabass saxophone.

    I was terrified when I saw a picture of a contrabass clarinet with "simple system" (very primitive) keywork in a book about woodwind.

  11. Miles on Columbia

    in Recommendations

    Posted

    I have all of those sets. The disks were so hard to remove that they came out once and never went back in.

    They should have included the first version of "Billy Boy". Everyone and his dog knows the version on the "Milestones" album. It would be interesting to hear an alternate.

  12. Controversial Food Opinions

    in Miscellaneous - Non-Political

    Posted

    I'm gonna make you all mad now, because I am very fond of Waffle House. Not for waffles, though they make good ones. That name is misleading. It is a Southern grub place, of course.

    They have an excellent country ham, and, back in the 90s, when America was suffering under battery acid coffee (Maxwell House, Folgers and all the others in the 3 lb tins), Waffle House's coffee was quite decent.

  15. Question re Johnny Griffin BN "The Congregation"

    in Discography

    Posted

    I appreciate what you say, Felser, but I have heard plenty of Johnny Griffin, and I have a good knowledge of the era. I just felt that it sounds like a blowing session for three tenor saxophonists and I didn't think it would be anything out of the ordinary. I've never heard anyone say anything about it until this thread came up.

    Mind you, I do like Gene Ammons with Sonny Stitt, especially the Verve "Boss Tenors" album. But two is enough.

  18. Does Oscar Peterson get a bad rap?

    in Artists

    Posted

    I agree with what Chuck said in post #2. Oscar was an amazing player, of course, but most times, for me, a bore.

    There are some good moments in the "Exclusively For My Friends" series, from the 60s. The best I heard was his Limelight "Canadiana Suite", but the beautiful, elaborate cover outclassed the music.

    He was ideal for Norman Granz's 50s showcases for Bird, Prez etc. I'm sure that the soloists would have been pleased when told that Oscar would be on piano. The word "fuctional" comes to mind.

  19. The bass clarinet

    in Musician's Forum

    Posted

    We might as well look briefly at all the sizes of clarinet.

    You can see pretty much the whole list here, in this very impressive montage

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjERmUZUY78

    The common one in jazz is in Bb. If necessary, it is called a soprano clarinet, to differentiate it from the other sizes. Its saxophone equivalent is the soprano, both sounding a tone below the written note. Clarinets have a cylindrical tube, and this causes them to overblow a twelfth higher, rather than an octave. As a result, they have a huge range, much larger than that of the saxophone. Their note has only odd harmonics, this giving them their distinctive sound. It so happens that the clarinet tube is only half-a-wavelength, which explains why the common clarinet goes down to D (concert) half-way down the bass clef - a low note for an instrument that is only 26" long.

    I disagree with some of their names. I would follow the saxophone names, and call the bass clarinet the tenor clarinet. (It does go up to the Bb above the treble clef, at least.) The contra-alto (in Eb, an octave below the Eb alto clarinet) would be the baritone clarinet. The contrabass (in Bb) would be the bass.

    The "octocontra-alto" piece of plumbing in the video (in Eb, an octave below the contra-alto, yet) is very rare.

    Believe it or not, Leblanc actually made one an octave below the (Bb) contrabass. I have seen a picture of M Leblanc blowing into it, but there doesn't seem to be any audio anyplace. It has been simulated on Youtube by lowering the notes from a smaller horn.

    There have been several clarinets higher than the common one. The most common is the Eb clarinet. (That's all it's called.) It was used very effectively by Johnny T. Williams in the score for "Young Sherlock Holmes" during the final scenes. The guy who loaned me the bass clarinet had one, and let me blow it. It went easily up to its top C. The smallest clarinet is the little Ab piccolo clarinet. They managed to fit the standard Boehm mechanism to it. It is apparently mainly used in Italy. Its bottom note is C, the bottom note of the flute. I assume that they went for the bizarre key of Ab because a Bb piccolo clarinet would be too small to accommodate the Boehm mechanism.

  20. pre OJC Fantasy cd (FCD series) info assistence requested

    in Discography

    Posted

    I have "Equinox" on vinyl. I am a huge fan of his trio with Paul Chambers and Arthur Taylor (a future Mosaic?) but I wasn't knocked out by this album. I got it mainly to hear "Hobo Joe", which is superb on the "Little Johnny C" album (Johnny Coles, Blue Note, 1963), but this version doesn't even get close.

    So, you want vinyl of the Flora. As the albums are 70s, rather than 50s or 60s, you have a good chance of finding good copies.

    Lol, I have no idea what some of all that is. FCD#?

    Best wishes for your search.

  24. The bass clarinet

    in Musician's Forum

    Posted

    When I was a teenager learning the alto saxophone and immersed in the Dave Brubeck Quartet, a neighbor brought around a copy of "Coltrane Live At The Village Vanguard". It blew me away, especially "Spiritual". It had a soprano saxophone, a bass clarinet, a pianist playing all those new (to me) fourth chords, a fine bassist and this drummer with a new (to me) triplet feel. Just amazing.

    From that point on, I wanted a soprano saxophone and a bass clarinet. Just a little beyond a teenager's budget.

    So, let's look at the bass clarinet a bit. Here is one of the best of today's models

    http://www.selmer.fr/fiche.php?code=1108044011

    In its modern form, it was designed by Adolphe Sax in 1838, which explains why it looks a bit like a saxophone.

    Before getting into it, I need to point out that the "ordinary" clarinet (as in Benny Goodman) is in Bb and its bottom note is E. Players in symphony orchestras always have a second one, in A, a half-tone lower: the one that's easier for the current key is used.

    The most common bass clarinet is in Bb, an octave below the regular clarinet. Historically, there have been bass clarinets in A, but they are very rare, and their parts are played on the Bb model, which then needs a low Eb in order to reach the low E of the A clarinet. Pay attention now, class: this will be on the Test.

    For a long time, bass clarinets extended to a low C (concert Bb) have been available. The poor old little fingers on both hands are presented with cumbersome double stacks of keys, and one has to be careful not to get a finger stuck under them. One hopes, ha ha, that they never make a "low C" A bass clarinet.

    When, as a young man with a trip to Paris, France, coming up, I was contemplating buying a bass clarinet, an orchestra musician very kindly lent me a Selmer "low C" model, to see how I went on it. I liked playing it, but we didn't have microphones at sessions, and the middle register was drowned out by the drummer. The middle, or "Clarion", register on a bass clarinet is thin, and if you try to push a note, you get a squeak, which is actually a high harmonic. I decided not to buy one at that time.

    There is another problem with bass clarinets. Unlike the regular clarinet, they need two register holes ("pips"), as on all saxophones. The cheaper ones, such as my current one

    https://used.samashmusic.com/product/bass-clarinet-student-model-sn56336-circa-1970-1975/

    only have the one pip, at the top end. The extra pip goes on the (metal) gooseneck, if fitted. Its absence makes the middle register harder to play well, but I can manage. You don't wanna know what a new Selmer Paris costs.

    I'll end by posting a link to an amazing bass clarinet player called Earspasm. Watch him rip through "Giant Steps" along with the record

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQFySnj-NbM

     

  25. Has the bottom fallen out of the Mosaic market?

    in Mosaic and other box sets...

    Posted

    You are absolutely right about the Teddy Wilson set, Hans. It was the Oliver Nelson set that was about to end.

    That Nelson set is an excellent example of the value of the Mosaic concept. I strongly doubt that I would ever have chased up all the albums covered by the set. There is some superb arranging and playing. I would include Cannonball's "Domination", but they had to consider size, and the album is easy to find.

    I love the fact that Oliver didn't restrict himself to a "trumpet section", a "trombone section", a "saxophone section" and rhythm. He offers mixures of all the instruments, plus many extras, such as bass clarinets, flutes and other tasty tone colors.

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