_forumlogo.png.a607ef20a6e0c299ab2aa6443aa1f32e.png)
Al in NYC
-
Posts
126 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Donations
0.00 USD
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Events
Blogs
Posts posted by Al in NYC
-
-
Okay, here's the disco for you ...
Mike, thank you for that discography. It also cleared up some of the mystery surrounding this album that has sat in my father's collection for years:
Since it actually features very little Pharoah Sanders, a band that is most definitely larger than a quintet, the "direction" of the unknown Juan Amalbert, and a cover with no personnel information, the record has always been more than a little mysterious.
-
Good lord! Al, been a long, long time! What's happening, brother?
Same old same. Just with a little less time for posting on these boards (which gives me a little more time to listen to music, and foment revolution). Oh, and I think I'm still recovering from my hangover from our last meeting.
-
Tragic, absolutely tragic. Very sorry to hear this shocking news. A few years ago he was one of the main artists at the Detroit Jazz Festival, and I saw him play a wonderful, almost sweet, mostly solo set. Later I saw him interviewed and really enjoyed his intelligent and deeply knowledgeable insights on the state of jazz, on the playing of music in general, and on the state of music education.
-
Disc One
Now on disc two. The string quartet tracks are amazing.
I could listen to this set every day, particularly those tracks on disc 2. I've had them on my ipod for about 5 years now.
-
I don't post here either.
-
Years and years ago I worked at Detroit City Council as a neighborhood liason. When I saw the documentary and heard his voice again it suddenly came back to me that I had talked to him a few times back then.
Sixto Rodriguez was one of several people who called us regularly to discuss/complain about a range of issues - people with widely varying degrees of lucidity. Sixto would drone on slowly in that voice of his about one problem or another and his ideas to address them. If you bore with him though, after a while it would occur to the listenter that he actually had some serious awareness of the issues he was discussing, and that he was much smarter and made much more sense than our usual run of "cranks." However, I think his frustration with being barely tolerated and hardly listened to, with being treated as an outsider and a bit of a nut, with the practical practice of municipal politics and the serving of powerful constituencies, and with the political marginalization of Detroit's Hispanic community, finally boiled over and caused him to try to run for office himself. But Detroit's at-large system of electing its City Council meant that he, or any other Hispanic candidate from the southwest side, really had no chance at all.
I do remember well his several runs for public office. His odd hand-written campaign signs could be seen all over the southwest side of Detroit back then. It was reasonably well-known to people in the Detroit political community then that he had once been some sort of "protest" singer, but he was generally thought of (if he was thought of at all) as just one of the large number of rather generic Jose Feliciano knock-off Hispanic folksingers that were playing all over and recording back then. It's hard to remember now just how popular Feliciano was in the U.S. in the late '60s (particularly in Detroit), but my guess is that Feliciano was probably largely unknown in South Africa, Australia, etc., or at least not as huge, which may have made Rodriguez stand out theere a little more than he did here.
Anyway, it is only on listening to his recordings many years later, after the documentary, that I ever actually heard Rodriguez sing. His recorded work is impressive, but it sounds like by 1970 it may have been about a year or two out of step (in either direction) with the fast-moving U.S. pop music scene back then. And his individuality stands out now in a way it might not have in the flood of singer-songwriters 40+ years ago.
-
The other four sides you reference (Rockaway, Rainy Day, etc. ) appear to be vocals by Jackie Wilson (the label says Sonny Wilson Sings/Billy Mitchell Plays).
Those are, I believe, Jackie's first recordings. He was 17.
Rockaway Rock is mainly an R&B/early rock style sax feature for Billy Mitchell
-
Actually, the titles were recorded as singles and later compiled as 10 and 12 inch lps and cds.
Understood, but that fact doesn't make the album lineups as experienced any less iconic.
Perhaps the iconic nature depends on one's age though. My father has most of these titles as originally issued on 78s or 10" LPs, and I have them as reissued on CD with the Milt Jackson-led sessions under his own name. Neither of us has ever owned LPs of this material.
-
I remember going into our neighborhood grocery store back in the '60s and '70s, in a primarily African-American neighborhood, and picking through the bins of records with my dad while my mom was waiting in line to pay for her groceries. Picked up a bunch of Crown/Kent/United, etc. blues, R&B, and jazz discs that way. Almost without exception they sounded pretty bad, but you couldn't beat the price and the music involved (particularly blues) was usually unavailable elsewhere in those days.
It seemed to me then that these labels were primarily aimed at a middle-aged black audience who might not go to a record store for the latest hits, but would pick up a cheap record or 2 of old favorites on their way through their regular shopping. While there were also a few bargain country records from these labels available to the older mostly poor white "hillbilly" audience that remained in the neighborhood, I never realized that they put out records that were intended for more "general" audiences.
-
This is from the ABC show Music Scene hosted by David Steinberg. There's also a clip floating around from the same show featuring Marva Whitney with JB's band.
-
How totally infuriating. It's not like this was some sort of secret or unknown error. People have been calling for a correction of this title for over 20 years for just this reason!! I know CD sales are in a death spiral, but the folks at Blue Note can't be bothered to spend an hour or so to clear this up? Even after they already did it for the Mosaic? Does anyone listen to the damn music? Is ANYONE paying attention over there?
Of course this also makes it clear what I've been saying for a few years about these purported "RVG" reissues. That they sound an awful lot like to old McMaster remasterings with perhaps a couple of knobs tweaked and the levels definitely turned way up. That good ol' Rudy probably never touched them. I've had some arguments about this with wishful thinking friends of mine, but I guess the cat is well and truly out of that bag now.
-
And the clip of track four (of disc #1) sounds like "Mack The Knife" (though that's not the title given, so did this clip just happen to fall on a quote??).
Yeah, Sonny also plays that same dorky Kurt Weill/Bertolt Brecht tune on this album:
...probably one to avoid too...
-
I'm very saddened to hear this news. He was one of the real spirits of the Detroit jazz scene. One of the ones who kept the music going when things looked dark. He was one of that group of fine, creative, and mostly unheralded musicians I grew up listening to back in Detroit. The ones who made me love jazz as something more than just some records my dad played, but as a living, breathing, exciting thing. I remember Donald playing at various small bars like Cobb's back in the '70s, holding court and keeping things together at his New World Stage back in the '80s, and as a presence at several Detroit Jazz Festivals in the 90s and 00s. Always bringing up new musicians, including several friends of mine, and teaching them the ropes in his own blunt, to the point, but ultimately caring way. He will be missed, but, unlike the overly-dramatic pronouncements that attend so many deaths, he really has left a legacy behind.
-
The track list given is in error. There are only 6 tracks. There's no track entitled "Room with Skies."
And just to make it all a little weirder, here are some excerpts from the IMDB bio of second side narrator Robert Sorrels:
Grizzled, rangy, goateed, silver-haired Hollywood cowboy character actor of the 1960s and '70s who played numerous gunslinger types on film (A Man Called Gannon (1968), Ride to Hangman's Tree (1967)) and TV ("Bonanza" (1959), "Rawhide" (1959)).
A bizarre recluse who suffered from a drinking problem in later years, he walked into a Simi Valley bar on July 24, 2004, and shot two customers -- one fatally. He was caught three blocks away by police and arrested for murder.
A devotee of yogi exercise and a vegetarian, he professed to believe in non-violence until his sudden murder spree.
He was sentenced to 32 years to life in prison.
Mr. Sorrels:
-
Thad Jones - Detroit-New York Junction
Yes!!
-
I saw this film once. . . thought it was mean and depressing
Yes, but in a good way.
My father has the original Chico Hamilton album on this. Played it all the time when we were kids, as he was a big fan of both the movie and that west coast/3rd stream-y sound that CH's groups had.
-
4 of the tunes show up on this CD, which also features some sessions with Patterson & Houston Person:
While the title tune shows up on this one, which is all Patterson & Ervin from 3 LPs:
I believe both are still available.
-
That's at the San Francisco Conservatory, no?
I believe it's the Belle Isle Conservatory in Detroit. I'd really love to see Kenny's old albums back out again.
-
Ken Kersey is from just north of the little town nearest my grandparents' old house (and now my parents summer cottage) Harrow Ont. (about 20 miles or so south of Detroit), and members of the Kersey family still live there. There is a small black community in Harrow dating back to underground railroad days (although many have now intermarried). His family were big in the local AME church, and I believe his mother was the pianist there for many years. I don't know if Ken ever came back around the place though, and I think many of his family moved to Detroit or Windsor. His name was something of a legend in Detroit jazz circles, particularly since he was Billie Holliday's chosen accompanist in the area, and my father knew him peripherally in the '50's and always spoke very highly of him. When we would run into any Kersey family member in town my father would ask them about Ken, and how he was doing. "Oh, he's still in New York I think" was about all the answer he'd ever get. In later years when we were out driving around the Harrow area my dad would often point out the various Kerseys homes and tell us that Ken Kersey was "the best jazz pianist no one ever heard of."
-
I have 56, not including "Lift Every Voice," which I dumped (and I'm a huge Hill fan...).
Can't believe the stuff some of you have dumped! I would guess (hope) that you burned 'em before you let some of these go. "Some Other Stuff, " for instance, is one of my favorite sessions of its time, and quite rare even for a Conn. And I'll gladly take any copies of "Blues in Trinity" or "Basra" that someone doesn't want...
-
Wow, this guy is still around and recording? Glad to hear it. I remember him playing at Dummy George's way back as a young guy. I once saw Grant Green sit in with him, back during Grant's declining years when he was living on the West Side over on Greenlawn (I think it was...) Personally he always seemed a little "lounge-y," particularly his "singing," but he could certainly really play. Come to think of it, I think it was his set I saw the end of at Hart Plaza a few years back, before Joey D. & Houston Person came on.
-
Hank Jones is such a beautiful, elegant, and quietly accomplished player. He's one of those guys, like his fellow Michigan pianist, the late Tommy Flanagan, who IMO has made even better recordings in the latter part of his career than he did earlier on (some of which have been mentioned here -- I especially love the Haden session).
He's also a very very nice man if you catch him in the right mood. I surely remember one night a few years back at the original Iridium when my wife and I were just about the only people left in the club for the late set and he called us right down front and then, seeing how much we had been enjoying the music for the past several hours, he bought US a couple of drinks! Wonderful.
-
Even though I was not a regular poster at the BN board (I post regularly at that Brand X board on the corner run by the friendly Ms. Lois), I did check out the board's content quite often. For a fan of historic jazz styles like me there sure was a wealth of information there, particularly in now inexplicably closed fora like "Discography." What an idiotic thing they did over there, when a simple discussion or even a warning would have helped immensely. But then I am constantly amazed at how many modern-day corporations treat their customers like troublesome potential enemies who just get in the way of the smooth operation of their corporate structure. Talk about forgetting one's purpose!!
Anyway, I just stopped by here to congratulate a fellow Michigander (well, OK, I guess I'm an ex-Michigander now) and fellow Michigan Stater (class of '83 here) on a job that appears to be very well done.
All that, and he's a hell of a B-3 man too... (inheritor of a fine, if little known, Michigan jazz tradition).
What live music are you going to see tonight?
in Live Shows & Festivals
Posted
This past weekend at the Detroit Jazz Festival:
Bill Charlap & Renee Rosnes, Mack Avenue Records Suberband - with a very cool vibes/marimba duet between Gary Burton and Warren Wolf, JD Allen trio, Charles Lloyd with Bill Frisell, McCoy Tyner (with Savion Glover tapping along), Tony Monaco & Fareed Haque, 3 Baris (Gary Smulyan, Howard Johnson, Frank Basile) with Mike LeDonne, a Bill Frisell group playing John Lennon tunes, Warren Wolf quartet with Benny Green and Carl Allen, Dave Leibman and Richie Beirach (sublime), Danilo Perez & Geri Allen, James Carter playing Don Byas on Don Byas' old sax with an all-Detroit band, Karriem Riggins with Orrin Evans, The Cookers (David Weiss, Billy Harper, Eddie Henderson, George Cables, Cecil McBee, Billy Hart, with Gary Bartz added - great stuff!), U of M jazz band with Lee Konitz, Quest reunion (Dave Leibman, Richie Beirach, Ron McClure, Billy Hart - exceptional and deeply absorbing), Terrell Stafford quintet, Lee Konitz quartet with Dan Tepfer, Ray Drummond, Matt Wilson (cantankerous, in a beautiful way), Marcus Belgrave with several Detroit-raised trumpeters, a Miles Davis tribute with Wallace Roney, Rick Margitza, Larry Coryell, Ralphe Armstrong and Alphonse Mouzon.