Rabshakeh

That’s a really good one.

That's right: I meant the kind of piano player or bass player who you almost don't know is there. You just notice what a great album it is, and how unusually self assured and creative the horn player seems.

The forum has all kinds of threads, but I don't think that there is as yet a thread dedicated to members' favourite players in accompanist roles. Not just musicians who do a solid job of playing the chords in the background, but musicians who, by mere dint of being there, can tie an entire group together, and really sell the leader in his or her role, without stealing the limelight or necessarily even taking a solo. My own choice for this category would not cause me a moment's thought: John Hicks. He is on all manner of records as a sideman during his height, from very straight ahead neo bop to Chico Freeman and Pharaoh Sanders. It's no accident that the records that those last two cut with him are (in my opinion) their best (in Chico's case) or a complete revival in quality (in Sanders').

Hampton Hawes - The Green Leaves of Summer (Contemporary, 1964)

One to check out.

Just finished: Jeff Watts - Citizen Tain (Columbia, 1999) Now onto: Mary Halvorson - Meltframe (Firehouse 12, 2015)

Stan Getz etc. - The Brothers (Prestige, 1956)

Uri Caine - Urlicht / Primal Light I liked the Gramophone's review.of this when it came out: "While the project should appeal to admirers of Frank Zappa, ‘cutting-edge’ jazz and BBC Radio 3’s Mixing It, it won’t be every Mahlerian’s cup of borscht.'"

Are these tapes?

I really enjoyed this one, after streaming it following a recent mention in a thread around here somewhere.

James Carter - Layin' in the Cut (Atlantic, 2000)

It doesn't help retrospectively that much of his career was for the "wrong" labels. From the standpoint of 2021, being on Blue Note means you are reasonably famous still. Being on New Jazz, less so. Argo? Nope. It took me a while to get to Golson. It involved one day noticing how much certain albums sounded like each other, and then joining the dots and realising it was because they were all playing that very distinctive Golson material. He's not my favourite horn player, but he's pretty enjoyable and his arrangements and tunes really are great. I asked the question above because, whilst liner notes are always unreliable (being a form of press), liner notes for Golson records or the Jazztet seem a bit more hagiographic than you'd expect for someone of his current standing. I wondered if he was an A Lister at the time who has fallen from view with the passing of time. From the above, it sounds like he wasn't really.

Arthur Doyle Plus Four - Alabama Feeling (Ak-Ba, 1977) Saturday night good times.

Sadly I don't own it.

Sorry to not have been clearer, but I was referring to the album, conventionally called "Moanin'" after the famous Bobby Timmons tune, not to the tune itself. All the songs on it other than Come Rain or Shine and that track are written by Golson, and as a result the record very much has the "sound" of a Golson record from the late 50s. My recollection is that he also gets the most solo time overall, although I haven't sat down with a watch to check. Thanks. That probably is it, isn't it? It also explains the way his career mapped out too.

Itaru Oki - Mirage (Trio, 1977)

Perhaps I should have said "Did not play a prominent part", a la Dexter Gordon and Joe Henderson. This is a similar question to that raised in the recent Sonny Stitt thread, I guess, but it seems even more difficult to explain why McLean missed out.

I think I smothered my own question in the rather flippant post above (which I have since also accidentally edited out of recognition), but does anyone have any idea why Jackie McLean did not take part in the late 70s / early 80s bop revival? On the face of it, he would seem to have been an ideal candidate, given that he was one of the most prominent bop and hard bop musicians and was actually there from bop ground zero through the whole development of the NY scene. Instead, McLean makes a weird disco record then stops recording for half a decade.

Sonny Sharrock - Black Woman (Vortex, 1969)

I've always been surprised at how few jazz fans that I speak to have heard of Benny Golson, despite the fact that he was the star soloist and main writer of Moanin', which is one of the starter albums that most jazz novices buy. So, a question for any board members who were around at the time: was Benny Golson prominent and well known among casual jazz fans in the 50s and has since fallen from recognition, or was he always roughly as well known as he is today?

Craig Taborn Trio - Chants (ECM, 2013) Still great, seven years on.

Let me know if you think I was too negative.

I enjoyed it. Pat Thomas really sounds like he does in person. Musson is strong. Its really nicely recorded too, so it feels very “live”. It’s available to stream if you want a taster. I’m now on: Takeo Moriyama Quartet, with Shigeharu Mukai - Hush-A-Bye (1978) Coltrane worship, mostly, but strongly done. Itabashi Fumio’s very good on this. Not sure why Mukai Shigeharu gets top billing.

Shifa (Rachel Musson, Pat Thomas and Mark Sanders) - Live at Cafe OTO (577, 2019)

Very sad. RIP.