Mark Stryker

I appreciate your appreciation of Jackie, which I share, but the statement I put in bold above just strikes me as a vast overstatement. Revisionism is fine, I suppose, but at a certain point, it can be carried too far. I think it does a disservice to the many undeniably great albums he did record. Just my 2 cents. I don't think of my opinion as revisionism (as in trying to rewrite conventional wisdom or adopt a willfully contrarian stance.) "Dynasty" to me truly is as great in its way as anything else in Jackie's career, which is not to say I would rank it higher than "Let Freedom Ring" or "One Step Beyond" or other earlier peaks or that I would necessarily call it as "essential." If my praise seems overstated, well, I'm willing to own it. I've spent a lot of time with "Dynasty" -- as I have with the rest of Jackie's catalog (see my post in the BN thread) -- and I find the playing incredibly inspired and moving. I don't hear it as less personal or less urgent than his earlier work, even if that urgency speaks of a different kind of intensity and expression. Moreover, there is a quality of majesty in Jackie's best late work that simply isn't present before. I find that thrilling to hear in the context of the trajectory of his life. It's a remarkable, hard-won victory. Another quality here is that just in terms of sheer command of the saxophone, Jackie's late work is stronger than ever -- his intonation is more consistent, his breath support is better, his execution more on the button and less hesitant. I wonder if this added degree of polish is what others are responding to negatively. Though it should be noted we're still talking about Jackie McLean and it ain't never gonna sound like a studio cat or Phil Woods or whomever, and I'm in no way suggesting that "cleaner" equates to "better." Coda: Everyone listens with their own ears, history, preferences and biases and I would not deny any experienced listener on this board their own reaction. I will note that the early/later dichotomy is always slippery terrain, and it's worth noting that when it comes to another alto player, Art Pepper, that some folks find his early work preferable for its balance and poise and his late work mannered in its groping expressionism -- just the opposite from the views being expressed about Jackie, the only constant being that its the earlier version of each saxophonist that ends up being preferable. For what its worth, I'll take post 1975 Art Pepper any day over the early stuff. Coda 2: It's not on youtube or I'd link to it, but I'd put "A House is Not a Home" on "Dynasty" up against anything from the old days. It's magisterial without mortgaging all of Jackie's rawness (even if it's not AS raw as it would have been 30 years prior, but then it wouldn't have been as soaring either. And that's just the record, I heard Jackie play it two nights in a row in Chicago in the mid 90s and he just destroyed the room.)

OK, so this LP gets shit on a lot, and I get it ... it's of its time and parts are pretty awful. Still, I remember an interview with Jackie at the time this came out in Down Beat in which he's very frank about trying to aim for commercial airplay. So it is what it is.But I have to say, I always found this track quite emotionally affecting -- the narration is heartfelt, Jackie's horn sounds like Jackie's horn, and I even like the background vocals. Your mileage may vary (and probably does), but this track means something to me -- I'm not even quite sure what exactly it means or why it gets to me, but I hear the poignancy and am glad to have been moved. Maybe it's partly a meta-thing: Like Jackie McLean reaching middle age and living in a culture with ears of stone and having to make a commercial record because America doesn't get it and won't reward the "real" Jackie McLean -- I mean, that's some sad, damning shit right there. But even on a fundamental musical level I dig this cut as is, the modernist cultural critiques aside.

From Dynasty:

Strongly recommend you find a copy of "Dynasty" (Amazon has used copies from $2.33). If it doesn't force a revision of opinion, I'll personally refund your money. From there you might try "Jackie Mac Attack," a live quartet performance whose intensity combined with the sound-board recording gives it an especially raw urgency.

Might as well finish out the story, right? After the SteepleChase years comes lots of stuff for lots of labels domestic and foreign, ranging from pick-up studio dates with peers, reunions, concert performances, working bands with mostly young cats. Generally, Jackie's chops are much stronger during these years, and there's a marked increase in his authority both technically and conceptually, especially in the late 80s and 90s on Triloka and Birdology. "Dynasty" (Triloka) is as great as anything Jackie ever recorded, a real synthesis of all the ideas and styles (bebop, modal, inside-out expressionism, multi-horn front lines, compositions and arrangements) he was associated with throughout his career. The follow-up on Triloka, "Rites of Passage," isn't quite on the same level but it's still strong. I also really like the Birdology discs, especially "Rhythm of the Earth" but also "Fire and Love" and "The Jackie Mac Attack Live" -- all of which conceptually descend from "Dynasty." Going back to the late '70s, I've always been fond of the bebop/standards date with the Great Jazz Trio (reunion with Tony Williams). Interested to hear other folks opinions, especially of the harder to find Japanese things and any bootlegs that might be out there....

We should probably take this into a Byrd forum for more discussion but for me "Royal Flush" is Byrd's best all-around BN, even though his chops had definitely begun to slide by the fall of 1961 when it was recorded. But between the playing of everyone, the quality and diversity of Byrd's compositions, the formal debut of Herbie Hancock and the Warren/Higgins beat I like it best Reasonable people can certainly disagree ...

Off topic: The cat who really shines on "Byrd in Flight" -- besides the leader -- is Hank Mobley. The tracks with him were recorded in early 1960, right at the start of his great 2-year run that gave us "Soul Station," "Roll Call," "Workout" and "Another Workout." This is a quintessential Blue Note hard bop track with a particularly great, note-perfect Mobley solo. So fluid rhythmically and melodically. So poised.

Don't forget Lee-Way with Jackie's slashing solo on These Are Soulful Days! And "Cornbread."

Almost no music has been more important to me than these records. I bought "Hipnosis" when I was 16 and that was IT. When I was in college I transcribed for my own band almost all the songs from the quintet side with KD & Sonny Clark, including "Marilyn's Dilemma," "Iddy Bitty" ("'Snuff" in its later modal version) "The Three Minors," ("Vernestune"),"Blues in a Jiff" and "The Way I Feel." We also played "Capuchin Swing," "Blue Fable," Walter Davis' "Formidable," the arrangement of "I Love You" (on SSS, which I adore top to bottom) and "I Hear a Rhapsody" (nutty chart from "Action"). I used "Blue Rondo" as a break tune ... you get the idea. There are certainly sides I like more than others and a few I could live without. ("Bout Soul,"Tippin' the Scales," perhaps surprisingly "New and Old Gospel"). Haven't seen "Right Now!" mentioned in this discussion -- that's killin' -- rewarding compositions, especially Tolliver's title track, quartet setting, Jackie's chops and pitch are in good shape -- not always the case in these years. (The alto-arco bass intonation on "Poor Eric" is pretty slippery, but expressively so, and besides what do expect? This ain't no jingle date.) The stuff with Moncour/Hutcherson, of course, exists in its own special category.) but the hard bop dates are wonderful, "Demon's Dance" is fantastic, a place where you ca hear the seeds of his later work in which he balances his inside/outside ideas. There's magic everywhere. Jackie's wild rides on "Bluesnik," "Action," "Floogeh," etc. His beautifully constructed solo on "My Old Flame." The drama of "Ghost Town." The incredible urgency of expression on "Let Freedom Ring" I could stay at this all day. When he died I wrote this: ----- There was nothing in jazz like the sugar-free sound of alto saxophonist Jackie McLean, who died last week at his home in Hartford, Conn., at age 74. McLean produced a searing, anguished wail that rode the sharp side of the pitch like a cowboy trying to tame a wild steer. Even those of us who worship McLean recognize that his acidic tone and slippery tuning are not to everyone's taste. But for true believers, McLean's bittersweet sound remains one of the most soulful cries in American music, and the hot-blooded intensity of his style manifests the same urgent quest for self-expression that made us fall in love with jazz in the first place. McLean's music was rarely pretty by conventional standards, but it was profoundly honest. In a society that rewards prepackaged stars and false emotion, McLean was the real deal: a beacon for truth, justice, individuality and the blues. McLean was also a cultural warrior who inspired cult devotion. Acolytes packed his performances, their mouths agape at the gale force of his attack. I once drove hundreds of miles to hear him in Chicago, where I happened to meet Detroit pianist Kenn Cox outside the club. I was first in line; Cox was second. Part of McLean's allure was his pedigree. He was one of the last direct links to the mid-20th Century bebop innovators, his mentors defining geniuses of the age -- alto saxophonist Charlie Parker, pianists Bud Powell and Thelonious Monk, and trumpeter Miles Davis. Harlem-born, McLean was given an alto for his 15th birthday. Soon he was studying with Powell, working small jobs with Monk and sharing the bandstand with Parker. At age 20 he was working and recording with Davis. In the mid '50s there were stints with bassist Charles Mingus and drummer Art Blakey, though McLean was still so enthralled with Parker's style that Mingus often challenged him: "Jackie, you have your own sound. Now why don't you look for your own ideas." McLean soon found them, absorbing Parker's rhythmic phrasing and fervor into his own angular phrasing and tart melodic vocabulary. A string of Blue Note LPs starting in 1959 document his early maturity -- "Jackie's Bag," "Swing, Swang, Swingin'," "A Fickle Sonance" and "Bluesnik." Then the story takes a surprising twist. While many of his contemporaries turned a cold shoulder to the avant-garde in the '60s, McLean, in a firm act of artistic bravery, embraced it. He reinvented himself, grafting searching modal forms onto his bop roots, expanding his compositional palette and forming bands around young vanguard musicians. "The new breed has inspired me all over again," McLean wrote in 1962. The titles of his LPs reflect the exploratory spirit of the space age and the heat of the civil rights era: "Let Freedom Ring," "One Step Beyond," "Destination Out," "It's Time," "Right Now." That McLean was able to reshape his destiny is remarkable given that he was still struggling with heroin addiction, which he had picked up as a teenager. McLean eventually kicked his habit and in 1970 began a long teaching career at the University of Hartford. He and his wife, Dollie, became community leaders, founding the Artists Collective, a Hartford cultural center for city youth. When McLean resumed performing in earnest around 1990, his playing had progressed again -- his technique was suppler, his sound richer and the sweep of his conception registered a newfound majesty. You can hear it on the brilliant "Dynasty" (Triloka), which includes an impassioned reading of "A House is Not a Home," a saccharine Burt Bacharach ballad McLean transforms into a transcendent anthem. If there is a lot of hurt still in McLean's sound, there is an equal amount of triumph. His solo is about overcoming adversity. The struggle is audible. Stuttering phrases explode in delirious bursts of lyricism. McLean was never sentimental, but he was a romantic. McLean's sound hit me like a bolt of lightning when I was a kid studying the alto. Just as he once wanted to be Charlie Parker, I wanted to be Jackie McLean. My bands played his tunes, a fact that delighted McLean when I met him that night in Chicago when I was first in line. I spoke with him several times over the years, and his warmth, integrity and humanity always moved me. Like most McLean freaks, I have a hard time relating to those who don't get him. Years ago a saxophonist told me someone said his sound resembled McLean. He didn't know McLean's music, so he borrowed a record from the library. Turned out he didn't dig it. All I could say was, "I'm sorry." _

Is there a vaccine for that? I hesitated to post, actually, because I'm not necessarily sure I want folks posting my own 35 year old reviews, though, in fairness, I was only 16 in 1979 (smile)

This is a really solid 1979 piece here from Larry, though I think he's too hard on Torme/Murphy, judging them not by their best work but their worst excesses. Still, I know what he's getting at .... I would have really liked to hear D'Rone at this point in his life. There are recordings from this period, right? http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1979/07/06/page/40/article/drone-a-truly-mature-vocalist/index.html (Use the "+" button to increase the size of the print and drag the cursor down the text to scroll)

Yes, but if you look closely during the various long shots you can see that even before the brunette's big smile she's very coolly snapping on 2 & 4. She's in there from the start, and that demeanor tells you not only is she hip, she don't need to be the center of attention. So, tell you what: I can spot Trouble a mile away, so good luck with the blonde on the bench, Now, if you'll excuse me .. "Hey, baby, is this seat taken? Let me buy you a drink."

Nothing to add to the original question posed but would like to make this observation: These were recorded within 12 months: Night Dreamer, JuJu, Speak No Evil, The Soothsayer These were recorded within 24 months: Night Dreamer, JuJu, Speak No Evil, The Soothsayer, Etcetera, The All Seeing Eye, Adam's Apple I mean, DAMN!

Stumbled across two dynamite segments of Hef's "Playboy's Penthouse" that feature Frank D'Rone circa 1960. At times he sounds like a cross between Sinatra and Nat Cole, leaning toward the former on ballads and the latter on the swingers. The improvisation in his 2nd chorus on "I'll Remember April" is frequently thrilling, especially the bridge ad the soaring leap up to sing and stretch the word "autumn" in the line "I'm not afraid of auuuu-tumn and her sorrows." at the 7 minute mark. The camera at the moment is on one of the women whose reaction -- that smile! -- is just perfect. She gets it. I was born to attend a party like this.

Here's how Mel remembers Miles sitting in that summer. http://books.google.com/books?id=q94ZBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA209&lpg=PA209&dq=miles+davis+and+mel+lewis+1981&source=bl&ots=W_zuWO3IWk&sig=y9EUiE5CBqRn1gd35XCp29LNb8U&hl=en&sa=X&ei=KyhiVPbuC8uXNvyrhJgN&ved=0CCEQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q&f=false There is a bootleg tape floating around ...

A LOT to say about Thad's playing and writing but saving it for the chapter I've written about him for my book. However, re: instruments. He had a lifelong preference for the cornet but he played both cornet and trumpet up until the mid 60s and then both cornet and flugelhorn. What's tricky is that cornet he played was a Conn Constellation 28A -- a long cornet that unless you're a trumpet geek, looks like a trumpet. Some of the BN albums with pictures of him playing what you would think is a trumpet is actually the Conn Constellation. As for the '78 accident, it was in Yugoslavia: A bystander shoved his hand through a taxi window in which Thad was riding and the glass cut his lip. It took multiple surgeries to repair. Thad always blamed the act on random violence of a drunk; but Thad also had a history of situations/altercations, particularly when it came to racial slights real or perceived. All of which is to say there's a good chance words were exchanged before the punch. There are some rumors floating but nothing I've been able to definitively nail down.

Anyone interested in George Walker should be aware of Ethan Iverson's multipart exploration of Walker's music, including an essay, interview, plus as a coda a series of reviews and related pieces that I've written over the years that touch on Walker. http://dothemath.typepad.com/dtm/interview-with-george-walker.html Last week Iverson also posted an update. http://dothemath.typepad.com/dtm/2014/10/george-walker-update.html

Lovers no more, indeed.

Two footnotes: 1) I was interviewed for this broadcast re: Detroit jazz and the festival (audio and video). 2) Wayne's music is incredible. I wrote this about this set: Trumpeter Wallace Roney's "To Miles, From Wayne," offered rare Wayne Shorter compositions written (but never played) in the late '60s for the Miles Davis Quintet and chamber orchestra. Shorter recently entrusted the long-lost scores to Roney, who teamed Sunday night with a 20-plus member ensemble drawn largely from the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and anchored by the A-list bass-and-drum team of Buster Williams and Lenny White. New Yorker Bob Belden conducted the well-prepared ensemble. The pieces — "The Legend," "Twin Dragons," "Universe" — were astounding in their formal detail, imaginative vision and emotional depth. Shorter's distinctive melodic fragments and harmonic shifts spread like ink in water through the woodwinds and brass. Roney weaved in and out of the textures like a boxer. The Hart Plaza amphitheater is not ideal for music of this delicacy, and nuances of the scoring were lost. But the huge audience was extraordinarily attentive — I've heard louder audiences at Orchestra Hall. It was a shame that rain washed out the last 15 minutes of the program (two compositions). But bless Roney for championing this historic music and festival artistic director Chris Collins for having the vision to bring it to Detroit. ((Coda: The title of one of the works has been reported variously as "Twin Dragon" or "Twin Dragons." Bertrand/David: Do either of you know which is actually correct?))

My hazy recollection from a single conversation with Bob some years ago at the Detroit Jazz Festival is that he's tackling the big picture (including many of specifics mentioned above) and that the post-war blues and R&B playlist for the book will be akin to the music he featured on his longtime radio program, "Portraits in Blue."

Speaking of "Satin Doll," Michael Weiss posted in another thread a while back about the time he, Barry Harris and I went to hear to the late Detroit pianist Johnny Allen play with a trio including saxophonist George Benson and bassist Will Austin at a brunch gig in suburban Detroit. They played "Satin Doll" with these changes: D-7 G7/D-7 G7/E-7 A7/ E-7 A7/F6(!)/F#maj7(!)/C

Is D-flat the original key for "Satin Doll"? Don't think I ever heard or played it in anything other than C.

Christian McBride tells me that Roy remembers the rest of the band for that gig with Wayne as being McCoy Tyner and Cecil McBee. Man, what I wouldn't give to hear a tape of that gig. August 1967, apparently.

Check out the Slugs' ad at the top of the page. Anybody know the month/year? Roy Haynes Quartet -- with Wayne Shorter (!!). No LPs with Roy and Wayne together, right? http://jazztimes.com/articles/138276-must-hear-recordings-made-at-slugs-saloon

Benson's recently published autobiography is really entertaining -- great stories, self-aware (if not always 100% candid on personal matters) and worth your time. http://www.amazon.com/Benson-The-Autobiography-George/dp/0306822296