GA Russell

It looks like you pick the games after they've been played!!!

There is a thread over at AAJ calling for the posters to list the best 25 albums recorded since 1980. I enjoyed going through my database and recalling some albums I hadn't heard in quite a while. So while I was at it, I went through the 70s and thought I would start a similar thread here. Most of my 70s jazz featured electric instruments, and for that reason are not as appealling to me now. I was struck going through the list how many I didn't particularly want to listen to. Anyway, here's my top ten list of albums recorded in the 1970s. What's yours? First the vocals: If - If2 Mark Murphy - Sings Michael Franks - Sleeping Gypsy Blood Sweat & Tears - Brand New Day The Hi-Lo's - Back Again and the instrumentals: Attila Zoller - Gypsy Cry Charlie Byrd & Cal Tjader - Tambu Jean-Luc Ponty - Cosmic Messenger Mike Nock - In Out & Around Art Pepper - Today

Where have you been, Bertrand? LOL! Here's a lengthy discussion of the sound: http://www.organissimo.org/forum/index.php?showtopic=27290

I see that CD Universe says: List Price $17.98; Their Price $14.29; Pre-Order Price $12.59.

After the Concord sale with its three dollar CDs, everything else seems so expensive! CD Universe says: List Price $17.98; Their Price $14.29; Pre-Order Price $12.59.

Here's what Doug Ramsey has to say about One and the Same in his Rifftides blog today: The leader of The Jeff Gauthier Goatette is an acoustic and electric violinist, whose other instrument is listed as "effects." In One and the Same (Cryptogramophone), guitarist Nels Cline and pianist David Witham also play effects, meaning electronics. When all of the effects and all of Alex Cline's drums are working at once, as in a piece called "Water Torture," the result resembles random noise of the universe, the perfect accompaniment for astral travel. Nearly everywhere else in the album, the Goatette commits melody. Even in "Water Torture," there is an interval of lovely free improvisation between Gauthier's violin and Joel Hamilton's arco bass. Two pieces by the late Eric von Essen are particularly moving. Gauthier, not incidentally, is the moving force behind Cryptogramophone.

Here's what Doug Ramsey has to say about Penumbra in his rifftides blog today: Bennie Maupin was on the New York jazz scene as a saxophonist and bass clarinetist in New York in the 1960s and '70s, most famously as a member of Miles Davis's Bitches Brew cast and of Herbie Hancock's Mwandishi group. He worked off and on with Hancock for twenty years. In Penumbra (Cryptogramophone), he nods briefly toward those jazz fusion days, but the loveliest music on the CD is in the Castor and Pollux interrelationship of Maupin on bass clarinet and bassist Darek Oles. The highlight is "Message to Prez," which builds langorously into a colloquy of low-register counterpoint and, finally, perfectly intoned unison on the dance-like melody.

You forgot "bilious"!!!

Sidewinder, you're making me laugh!

Reminds me of homebrewing. I wonder if one day many people will make their own fuel in their backyard.

Here's what Doug Ramsey has to say about The Image of Your Body in his Rifftides blog today: Cryptogramophone In its ninth year, the little Cryptogramophone label is attracting increasing attention for recordings on the forward edge of music, with good sound and imaginative packaging. Myra Melford and Nels Cline have new CDs on the label, both likely to attract listeners who accept that jazz values can exist apart from standard song forms and harmony, and without being tied to a steady 4/4 pulse. Myra Melford In The Image of Your Body, Melford continues her fascination with music of India. A fearless piano improviser and a composer of meticulous precision, she introduces her new five-piece band, Be Bread. She called her last five-piece band, which had nearly the same instrumentation, The Tent. The mystique of band-naming aside, Melford's music uses the evocative capabilities of electronics and amplification to summon up the exotic atmospheres of the subcontinent and hint at the spiritual mysteries there. She employs the Indian instrument the harmonium, as she did in her previous album, The Tent, to impart a kind of folk simplicity as one layer in the complexity of "Equal Grace," "Be Bread," "If You've Not Been Fed" and the title track. The iconoclastic trumpeter Cuong Vu is on board again. Guitarist-banjoist-vocalist Brandon Ross, bassist and electronicsician (it's a new word) Stomu Takeishi and drummer Elliot Humberto Kavee are recent arrivals in Melford's world, which is wide. For all of the unfettered--not to say unhinged--expressionism in the improvisation throughout a piece called "Fear Slips Behind," Melford wraps up the track in the last twenty-six seconds with a lapidary bit of ensemble writing that might have come from Andrew Hill or Sam Rivers in the 1960s. There are too few extended passages of her piano playing, though one of them begins the long performance called "Yellow Are the Crowds of Flowers." Then the piano melds into Ross's keening guitar, and we seem headed into a stretch of ECM-ish floating. Before long, however, the band is generating gale-force mutual improvisation that lasts until Melford calms things down at the keyboard and the sun comes out just as it is setting. Did I mention that this is evocative music? Cuong Vu's own CD, It's Mostly Residual, includes his Melford bandmate Stomu Takeishi and the always gripping guitarist Bill Frisell. It is well worth hearing.

Here's what Doug Ramsey has to say about New Monastery i his Rifftides blog today: Nels Cline Cline, a guitarist not shy about using electronic enhancement, is one of a small stable of Cryptogramophone semi-regulars. For twenty-five years he has worked in jazz fusion, jazz rock and free jazz, and made occasional forays into folk (with Ramblin' Jack Elliot) and country (with Willie Nelson). Cline's New Monastery: A View Into the Music of Andrew Hill, draws on all of those genres with the exception, perhaps, of country. I say "perhaps," because in the tidal wave of electronics and percussion that engulfs the listener in the final three minutes of "Compulsion" there could be hidden away some little allusion to C&W. That seems unlikely but, then, I've heard it only five or six times. At the other end of the decibel scale, a delicate rubato duet between Cline's guitar and Ben Goldberg's clarinet on "McNeil Island" contains suggestions that swing may be about to break out. Sure enough, shortly before the three-minute mark, Scott Amendola's cymbals and Devin Hoff's bass begin sliding into the mix. Now, they are Cline's customary band, The Nels Cline Singers, which has no vocalist, plus Goldberg. Soon cornetist Bobby Bradford is aboard, as slippery around tonal centers as he was in the late fifties and early sixties when Bradford, Ornette Coleman, Eric Dolphy and John Carter were enfants terribles of the Los Angeles avant garde. They meld into "Pumpkin," one of Hill's beyond-boppish themes. It may not be your grandmother's kind of swing, but now they're swinging. On other tracks, Andrea Parkins joins on accordian. Yes, accordian. At times the cumulative sound is so dense that the ears can barely penetrate it. At others, the music is gentle, open and lyrical almost in the Viennese sense or it tends toward the kind of atmospheres generated by Miles Davis of the post-Bitches Brew period. Lack of dynamic range is not a problem here. In addition to Bradford, Goldberg and Parkins, Cline brings in his twin brother Alex on a couple of tracks to ramp up the percussion. After decades in low profile following his success in the 1960s, Hill has begun attracting renewed attention as a pianist and composer. Cline's treatment of his music may be part of the beginning of Hill's rediscovery by a new generation of musicians and listeners. His approach is not to recreate Hill, but to use his compositions as launching pads for his own ideas, which have depth and complexity.

I've been listening to this one for ten days now. The first time I heard it I thought that the atonality was a gimmick and I felt somewhat disappointed. But every time I listen to it I like it more and more. Now I like it a lot. This reminds me of some others I have. The first is one that many here probably have as well - Shelly Manne's The West Coast Sound. The Manne album was also on Contemporary, and was recorded in 1953 and 1955. The Tatro was recorded in '54 and '55. The following are on both albums: Bob Enevoldsen, Joe Maini Jr., Bill Holman, Jimmy Giuffre, Ralph Pena and Shelly Manne. In the mid-60s in England, Edwin Astley did the music for two television shows whose soundtracks I have - Secret Agent and The Saint. The horn arrangements on those albums remind me very much of Tatro's harmonies here - so much so that I have to wonder if Astley had the Tatro album. P.S. Having posted the above, I dug out the two Astley soundtracks and listened to them. "Upon further review", I'm not hearing Tatro in The Saint. It's in some of the Secret Agent songs that I hear the Tatro influence, particularly the Tatro song Dollar Day.

Sal, no, that was recorded in early '56, when Miles still had the first quintet.

I have a pedestrian Technics direct drive that I got twenty years ago. Maybe one day I'll get a Rega. Maybe one day I'll upgrade the entire system. My turntable platter mat has warped! Has anybody heard of that happening before? I haven't found much on the internet to replace it with. I found an ebay seller with one for $14 including shipping. Any reason to think that one is any better than another? edit for typo

Dom Um Romao - Hotmosphere This was recorded for Pablo in 1976. It's a solid little record, what might be called a party album. Brazilian music, heavy on the percussion and horns. No ballads, all uptempo. The band is 18 members, though maybe not all at the same time, plus three female vocalists. The musicians include Claludio Roditi, Sonny Fortune, Ronnie Cuber, Lou Del Gatto and Ron Carter. Not five star, but a pleasant change of pace from what all else is available from the Prestige and Riverside recordings included in the sale.

Happy Birthday!

My first was the Teddy Charles version on the B side of the Miles/Konitz Ezz-thetic LP, which Quincy has mentioned is now available on the New Directions CD. It's still my favorite.

I was surprised to read in her obituary not too long ago that the lady who was the voice of Olive Oyl was also the voice of Betty Boop!

Happy Birthday!

Does anybody have an opinion of Harry Nillson? He sure got a lot of publicity budget behind him when I was in college, but other than the song from Midnight Cowboy and Me and My Arrow, I'm not aware of anything he did. Should I pick up his Best of album?

I don't know if it's still in print, but my favorite Helen Merrill is an album she recorded in the mid-50s for Leonard Feather which Verve released on CD entitled You've Got a Date with the Blues.

From that era, my favorite is Blossom Dearie. A few of her Verves are available from BMG/Your Music. My favorite is her first for that label, just called Blossom Dearie. I also like among the contemporaries Dena DeRose. Her voice is a little thin, but I like her trio's general style and song selection.

Since you think so highly of it, I'll add it to my Your Music queue.

Here are the album's liner notes: Perhaps it will be a letdown for me to say this, but this is not a “tribute record” in the conventional sense. It is not intended as a definitive sampling of the works of a genuine original, Mr. Andrew Hill. There may even be wrong or strange notes here and there. I transcribed everything from the recordings before arranging it, and I’m no wizard! On seperate occasions, Andrea Parkins and Ben Goldberg had been guests with my regular trio, The Nels Cline Singers (with Devin Hoff and Scott Amendola). Andrea had played with us in Los Angeles, lending her wild and woolly accordion to the occasion, heightening the mayhem. Ben played with us in Berkeley on a more low-key affair, and the set included pieces by Jimmy Giuffre, Carla Bley, and Thelonius Monk, as well as some by me. It occurred to me that an ensemble with The Singers plus Andrea and Ben would be of interest, and I immediately began scheming to play music with them that was not written by me, but rather written by someone among us today, still working and growing and perhaps under-appreciated, whose music was flexible and varied enough to allow us latitude to explore it and be OURSELVES. It took about 3 or 4 seconds for me to come up with that composer’s name: Andrew Hill. As I studied the music with this in mind, I realized that I needed a brass player. I called Bobby Bradford, an old friend and inspiration, and I was delighted that he was excited about the project. Bobby and I had played together on and off for years, but had never had an opportunity to record together. So a sextet, albeit a slightly odd one, would do our take on Andrew Hill music - not attempting to be in any way definitive, nor to recreate classic sessions. It is a view - ONE VIEW - into the music of Andrew Hill. Mr. Hill, whom I had met briefly while playing at the jazz festival in Skopje, Macedonia with Gregg Bendian’s Interzone back in 1997, is a delightful man to meet, but crucially he is an artist whose music has continued to change and expand its parameters, becoming freer than the early, classic Blue Note sessions. Mr. Hill’s music has always been unpredictable, perhaps a bit knotty, always forward-looking and beautiful. And, as I was to learn, he had managed to be quite under-the-radar for any but the most ardent jazz-o-phile. It would be a great feeling to send a little energy from the younger listeners his way. Some of his pieces, like “No Doubt” and “McNeil Island” attempted here, are like chamber works and have rarely (if ever) been covered by anyone else. Others are more recent, like “Not Sa No Sa”, which, though whimsical at times, is episodic - an aspect of Mr. Hill’s composing that began as early as the piece “Spectrum” on the classic album “Point of Departure”. It was important to me that this record at least allude to Andrew Hill’s total oeuvre - there are so many compositions that it would be impossible to do otherwise! But the reason for this is to point to ALL the work, work still being produced, work that is open and part of a living tradition. With these points in mind, I decided to play a lot of the pieces as suites. It seemed like a natural way for the group to play, it reflected the methodology of a lot of Mr. Hill’s music, and it enabled me to squeeze more music into this document. I endeavored also to vary the tone or mood of the repetoire. Andrew Hill’s music touches on almost every musical mood or sensation. To “Yokada Yokada” I rather slyly added the “The Rumproller” just to be fun, to have fun with the material. In other areas, darkness may descend, or it may just be time to jam out! Also, with the exception of “Dedication” and “Yokada Yokada/The Rumproller”, we generally eschewed playing on “changes”, instead favoring a free approach. This is not only how we all tend to play naturally, but it is also the approach that Andrew Hill’s music has favored for many decades now. My brother Alex was brought in to supply the percussion drive and color needed for the turbulent “Compulsion” - one of my personal favorite Hill pieces, here given an almost apocalyptic treatment - and he stayed for “Dedication.” There were things that I did not know before embarking on this project. I did not know that Mr. Hill was about to enjoy a resurgence of sorts, once again recording for the Blue Note label. Great news! I didn’t know that Mr. Hill is seriously ill, fighting cancer. Terrible news! Smaller items: I learned that Ben Goldberg had played with Mr. Hill and that he loves this music. I learned that accordion was Andrew’s first instrument! But with all these rather charged revelations floating around, I hope that the real revelation will simply be the music itself: Andrew Hill music. We can approach it, twist it a bit, look into it, try it out, find beauty and inspiration, find OURSELVES as well as the genius who created it in the first place. Right? Thanks to all the musicians for making this concept a reality as well as a beautiful experience. This record could not have happened without the enthusiastic support of my good friend Jeff Gauthier. As usual, he is THE MAN. Thanks also to Michael Cuscuna, who proved a valuable source for information and impressions, and who was always amazingly approachable in musical and in business-related matters. Thanks also to Rich Breen, Bob Hurwitz, Ron Horton, Marty Ehrlich, Paul “Junior” Garrison, Adam Rosenkrantz, Los Wilcos y Compadres, the Crypto clan, kind listeners and gentle comrades everywhere. Special thanks to the visionary artistry of Mr. Andrew Hill. Long may he create and inspire. - N.C. 6/13/06