Spontooneous

OK, my Part Two. Wrote this before Clifford Thornton ID’d track 7. I stand humbled. 7 The most literal Ornette imitation I’ve ever heard. I ain’t sayin’ that’s a bad thing. I just LOVE the trombone – is that you, Roz Rudd? The trumpet may or may not be Cherry, or Bradford. The two basses are good, but the extra percussionist doesn’t help much. All in all, lovely. It’s got a good implied beat and you can dance to it in your head. I give it a 7. 8 That Miles in the Sky feel is here, but surely I’d recognize this if it were real Miles. The feel is captured perfectly. Wait a minute, that’s the real Joe Henderson, isn’t it? 9 The guitar sound says Frisell to me. Then there’s two guitars, or is he looping himself? Beautiful either way. Hey, I know this one: It’s track 3 here. Yeah, it’s the real Frisell. The album cover says “No editing, no overdubbing.” 10 I’ve always loved the sound of trombone and tenor together. This one is making me think ECM for some reason. Starts out very well, but around the five-minute mark the tenor player throws too much paint onto the picture. 11 Seems trendy these days to have some singer ooh and aah along with the instrumentalists. I’m tired of that. I confess I’m also not a fan of comping on the vibes. Otherwise I like the writing here, and the trombone. And I very much like everything that happens in the last minute of this performance. Nicely rounded out. It’s a keeper. 12 Ahh, thanks Jeff! I always meant to give this record more attention someday. Why not today? The tenor obbligato behind Billy slays me, and going from Roy to Warne justlikethat is a trip, every time. 13 That organ isn’t being played through a Leslie, is it? The timbre is pallid. So it makes me think this recording comes from Europe. (Rhoda Scott? Eddy Louiss?) The bebop tenor is touching, and sounds more than a little like Johnny Griffin. The guitar is spot-on (Rene Thomas?). I admire the drummer’s restraint (Klook?). 14 The drumming reminds me of Shelly Manne. Something from the Contemporary studio? (Edited to fix link.)

Do we know that A Riff Supreme is doing these reissues ethically?

OK, just the first half for me right now. More later. I see that Paul already nailed 3, and I'd have been disappointed if he hadn't. 1. The gutsy banjo tone is beautiful. A lovely rag, a little out of tune, but who cares when it’s cooking like this? The gentle rubatos at the ends of sections are instructive. Gotta guess Vess Ossman or Fred Van Eps, because they’re the only recorded banjo players from the period I can think of... No idea what the rag is. 2 Enter the drum corps! A fine illustration of why the percussion on early jazz records is so muted. The band isn’t swinging yet, but it might be in another decade or so. The drums seem rather military. Ever hear the high-pressure Victor acoustic recording of “Maple Leaf Rag” by the Marine Band? Got no guess, but I enjoyed it. 3. Wow, a nice transfer of a side I’ve always loved! My only copy is a heavily echoed LP. In the context of this BFT, you become aware all over again of why that trumpet player really matters. Good move, Jeff! 4 It’s track 1 here, among many other releases. I love the multi-sectional quality of the piece, something that would be downplayed in jazz from the ‘40s onward. I wonder, was it composed as an elaborate framework for blues choruses, or were the blues choruses inserted because no one could quickly think of anything to blow on the first part's changes? Never mind, it's still great. 5 You sly dog! I’d thought that if I ever put together a BFT, I’d use a track from this session. It’s track 12 here. But I was going to use “Cherokee” instead of “My Melancholy Baby.” I love the music from this moment, when all these styles were co-existing peacefully. Nobody told these guys they weren’t supposed to play together, so they did, and it really worked. Personal story: This was one of the first jazz 78s I ever owned (got it in the 1980s, mind you). I’d been listening to and collecting jazz for only a few months. If the Very Famous Bebop Trumpet Player hadn’t been credited on the label, I would have passed this by entirely, and I would have missed so much! This record played with my mind then, and I wish that more records in the intervening decades had played with my mind in the same genre-stretching way. 6 OK, you broke my streak here. I assume this is a paraphrase on the Miles Ahead opener? It didn’t come before Miles Ahead? I await the reveal of this one... 7 An Ornettish head that makes me flash back to Track 2 for a second – exactly the reaction you wanted? It ain’t Ornette, but some friends and followers of his. With a little more time I might be able to nail down the ID, but not today. I'm having lots of fun with this, Jeff.

I don't buy it. Many misgivings about the way the study was done. They'll have to pry my SACD player out of my cold, dead fingers.

Great to see you back, Randy. I missed the wonderful clippings and the gentle good humor. Stick around!

Download for me, please!

The only honorable thing Wynton could do on this issue now is to offer Larry Ochs' band a gig at JALC. Several nights.

I'll repeat the Shirley Scott Blue Seven recommendation, because Joe Newman plays his very best in this unexpected context.

In the fine print, the "Dolly" LP cover says "Previously issued MR 5055." It bears a publishing date of 1974 and a copyright date of 1987.

Okay, I didn’t peek. The only one I can positively ID is 6, and someone should have nailed that one already. 1 It’s a prettified version of one of those vamps from “In a Silent Way.” OK, I’m suitably impressed with the bass player’s nice bow sound and good intonation. Bassist must be the leader, because the rest of the trio sure is deferential to him. Short and slick. Tickles my brain but not my heart. A McBride thing? 2. Nice theme. Nice piano. Nice trumpet or cornet. It’s all so nice. Horn player might have had me, but lost me with the unnecessary quote from “ESP” near the end of his solo. Then the piano player quotes “Emily” and the horn quotes “I Love You” and we’re all showing how smart we are. The ending mostly recovers. But I’m not feelin’ it anymore. 3. I’ll guess Venuti because Grappelli’s intonation was better. Piano doesn’t do much for me. Then, holy crap, is that the real Django or a good imitator? 4. The head sounds like Blood, Sweat & Tears “Spinning Wheel” for a few bars, and then it doesn’t. Which is worse, the tenor’s time or his intonation? And he doesn’t know when to stop. The piano might be enjoyable if the tenor would shut up. Is that an accordion in there? Drummer thinks he’s doing Elvin, but he ain’t. 5. “Nuages” on basses. First solo has too many notes! Make him stop! This is not a few too many, this is waaaay too many! Second solo is better by having some breathing room. 6. Ahh, the antidote. Don Byas and Slam Stewart play “I Got Rhythm,” the recording from Town Hall in ’44 or ‘45. Familiar to a lot of us from the Smithsonian Collection of Classic Jazz. And now I realize how much the tenor solo echoes in the work of others. 7. Love for Sale on guitar and piano, with a few beats disappearing here and there, which I kinda like. Russell Malone & Benny Green? I like the guitar solo’s last bridge. Pianist needs to stop hitting all those notes just because he can. 8. The Flintstones on mallets. The one on the right is a marimba, no? Nice woody ping to it. Cute. 9. Aha, it’s the bass BFT. Here’s somebody showing off his bow prowess and playing a bunch of figures copped from the Bach Cello Suites. A hint of “Night and Day” in the chord changes. Did he really have to keep up the same figuration all the way through? Then the piano comes in and it’s more than a hint of “Night & Day.” 10. It’s like an ‘80s pop song that I’m too square or apathetic to recognize. OK, more technically fine bass playing, but I’m left wanting something besides technique. The electronic percussion leaves me cold. Sounds like something from one of the Brian Bromberg records. 11. I’m thinking some kind of Paquito clarinet project. The cello player is eating this up. This feels good. 12. “Our Delight.” This is that Tommy Flanagan/Hank Jones duet date, isn’t it? I don't seem to have the record anymore. 13. “Crazeology” on tenor and bass. A nice hot edge to the tenor tone. Maybe Junior Cook? Lovely. 14. Two pianos; theme sounds Spanish and vaguely familiar. This could have turned into a festival of banging at the keys, but it didn’t. 15. It certainly is fast. Michael Brecker and Chick Corea? I confess, I don’t like this kind of tenor sound. Thanks for a couple of hours of head-scratching fun, Durium!

He's also out of line on some late-career Bud Powell recordings. He wrecks the last Roulette album.

Actually, Drab Zeen was a gift from a friend -- who probably saw the mention in the Star. Shidler, OK, is a strange, haunted place. Just driving through, you get the sense that it must have been a real hub of activity decades ago. There were some huge oil fields nearby, but the boom is long past. I had no idea there was a dance hall. I imagine it's ruins now, like much of the town. The surrounding countryside, like much of Oklahoma's Osage County, is stunningly beautiful. A little research suggests that Big Beaver is a nearby creek or river. There's a Little Beaver creek too. And apparently there was a Big Beaver School. Oh, the mockery its students must have endured!

Sly dog. I thought I was the only guy in Johnson County with a copy of Drab Zeen. Shouda paid more attention to it and nailed that one. Also shoulda nailed the cut from Weird Nightmare, which I reviewed for a certain local publication when it was new. Somebody else said it already, but it bears repeating: Thanks for truly bringing the spirit of the BFT to life here. And I've actually been to Shidler, Okla., this year. Didn't see any beavers, though.

The publication I work for once won some sort of public-service award from a construction trade group. The plaque is still on the wall. It features, prominently, a silver hammer. So I'm reminded of that song several times a day at work. Make it stop.

Yeah, but you'll never get that on the radio in the USA.

OK, here's a patch for the Ipanema bridge: Each day as she walks to the ocean She looks straight ahead, not at Allen.

A download for me, please. Any BFT by somebody who knows his 78s is bound to be a gas.

This thread is almost 24 hours old and no one's posted a Billy Taylor cover yet. I'm touched by the restraint you've all shown.

HP, can you clarify this, please. Decca wasn't started until 1934. MG My mistake. The 1930 recordings were on Brunswick. But a lot of us in the USA first heard the session on Decca or MCA LPs.

Gotta be Richard Davis. Just gotta be. It's the taste, the tremendous control of the instrument, and the willingness to take more than a few chances. Not to mention the beautiful bow sound.

After a slight delay because of computer failure, time to finish Disc 2. 12. “Tico Tico” is one of my favorite “corny” songs. And this one really works. The two-minute-plus closing vamp really catches fire. Sounds like James Booker, but I see somebody's already nailed it down. 13. It’s a symbol of the times when people put this much effort into synthesizing a New Orleans-style performance in the studio. Too bad they didn’t have the guts to try it live, because the overall concept of rapper plus brass band seems like a good idea. At least the producer had the sense to let it swing naturally for a few moments starting about 1:53. But then it snaps back into the automated groove. Coulda been so much better. 14. Do as I say and everyone will have a happy holiday! Creeeeepy. Was there a “Christmas in Jonestown” album? “Is this not a Christmas tree? / Isn’t all the candy free? / If you think that you want out, / A sip of punch will ease your doubt.” But seriously. I can’t tell if this is a cynical commercial contrivance (maybe a quick piece of hack work for a celebrity TV special) or a parody of same. Maybe it’s both. I should recognize that guy's voice. Sounds like it could have come out of the Stan Freberg laboratory. It's been a mind-bender, HP. And it's gonna cost me some money to round up some of these discs. Many thanks.

At the original session, Alfred Lion shouted "Eins mehr!" The voice you hear on the record was inserted later.

Thank you, Seeline, for bringing my obsessive quest to nail Disc 2 Track 5 to a successful end!

OK, onward into Disc Two... 1 First there are some cliches from post-WWII serious music. Then a piano solo that sounds like Ramsey Lewis, over an uncommonly interesting arrangement. Then the brass episode raises the weirdness quotient. Some excited tenor. Then the last couple of minutes are surprisingly cool. Somebody explain this one to me. 2 Quick recognition of the tune itself and the tenor solo by its composer. But I haven’t heard this version before. In fact, if I had a band, we’d play this tune, but not like this. Sounds like the rhythm section hasn’t grown into the concept yet. So often in Caribbean grooves, rhythm sections seem to turn on the cruise control. 3 Maybe this is from that afternoon Hubert Laws spent over at Deodato’s house. Then again, maybe the Lew Tabackin suggestion is correct (it’s that big vibrato). 4 Well, it sure sounds like Teddy. Exactly like Teddy. So I go to my Teddy records to nail down this “Ghost of a Chance,” and I can’t. Grrr. 5 HP, I hate you! This is one of those tunes that I’ve been carrying around in my head for years that I can’t identify! Quit reading my brain like this! I’ve heard this record, I own this record -- but I can’t trace it. Probably Don Byron on clarinet, Ralph Peterson or maybe Tain on drums. Please help me get this one out of my head! 6 Something from a Frisell-Byron collaboration, I think. But I’m probably walking into your trap here. 7 It’s klezmerific. Lots of writing here, and not much improvisation. Something Paul Schoenfeld cooked up? Or something Zorn cooked up on a day when he wished he was Paul Schoenfeld? I envy the clarinetist’s control, and the violinist and tubist ain’t to be sneezed at either. The writing is in the shadow of Stravinsky’s “Histoire du Soldat.” 10:15 8 OK, I’ll mambo. Great stuff from the Land of Extreme Stereo Separation. As someone said, “Mono was like the sound escaping from a closet. Early stereo was two closets.” No guesses other than the usual Tito P., Machito, Tito Rodriguez. 9 Electronically re-processed for stereo. And that sucks some life out of it. I should know the tune but I don’t. Every one of the solos escapes the feeling of routine. I’ll guess Fletcher, because the trumpet reminds me of Red Allen, and the tenor does a fine Ben Webster. 10 Do not adjust your set. Some really, deeply, profoundly beautiful drumming in there – I hope it isn’t a sample. A nice tenor burst. The tenorist keeps reminding me of Sam Rivers, no kidding. I have no idea what it is. I kinda like. 11 After about three minutes, it settles loosely into “Summertime.” Maybe a certain Badger bassist whom you sometimes talk about, HP? More to come. I haven’t listened to those last three tunes yet.

This is probably the CD Issued in UK on Ace. http://www.acerecords.co.uk/content.php?pa...amp;release=897 The blurb on site suggests that this might, indeed, be the Basie band. MG There's a full personnel on the Crown LP. I counted nine guys from the Basie band, incl. Foster and Wess and Payne but not Freddie Green. Other chairs filled by studio people.