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paul secor
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Posts posted by paul secor
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I find this a fascinating record - Everytime I listen to it, I hear new things. A lot has already been written, so I'll just list some thoughts and hope that adds something.
When I listen to the beginning of Sonny's first solo on "Yesterdays", I tend to think that he's mimicing what Hawk has played previously. Then it seems that he's just taking what Hawk has played and going his own way with it. I get the same feeling with some of Sonny's solo on "McKies'"- he uses Hawk's solo and style to play his own thing.
I find Paul Bley more of a rhthmically interesting player than an strong rhythm pianist. I do feel that if a more conventional piano cat had been used, this recording would not be nearly as interesting. If, say, Tommy Flanagan or Barry Harris or Ray Bryant had played, I don't think I'd have enjoyed the record as much. (This is not a denigration of those gentlemen's abilities - merely to say that oftentimes less familiar is more interesting.) Sonny wasn't recording much with pianists during this time frame, so Bley, with his more spare style, was probably a good choice.
I enjoyed Coleman Hawkins' playing throughout, especially on "Lover Man" (his playing is majestic) and "McKies'". I don't have the feeling that Hawk is intimidated or feels uncomfortable with Sonny's playing. They both seem to just play their own styles without major problems. After recording with Monk, I don't think that Sonny Rollins was a problem for Hawkins.
I like the way that Sonny begins "Summertime" by playing his solo without directly stating the theme.
It's amazing that some jazz critics of the period were upset with Archie Shepp's (to give one example) playing.
What Shepp was playing wasn't much further out than what Sonny plays on much of this record.
I find it annoying that several of the tunes end on fades.
These were master musicians. They knew how to end a performance.
I'm listening to the French RCA 2 LP version. The photo of Sonny on the cover reminds me a bit of Tim Duncan of the San Antonio Spurs.
Good choice, pryan. It can't be easy to choose a record that many people have and are willing to comment on.
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When I joined the old BN board, I decided to just post under my real name - I'm not sure why. When I joined this board, I did the same. Anyway, my last name is French. My father's father's ancestors were Huguenots who emigrated sometime before the American Revolution. (Incidentally, my wife's mother, who was originally from Newfoundland, and was a teacher, told her that in the British Empire, the American Revolution is referred to as the American Rebellion - don't know if that's true now or was then. Perhaps some of our British members can let me know.) I've been told that the name was originally Secord or Secor'd, but I've never been into geneology, so I can't say for sure.
I do know that I was named Louis Paul by my mother, after her father, a fireman in Minneapolis, who died in a firetruck accident when she was very young. Both sides of my mother's family are German, and I'm not sure why he was named Louis Paul, since neither seem to be German names, especially Louis. I've always been called Paul, never Louis, Lou, or Louie, and I've sometimes wondered if I would have turned out differently if was a Lou. (I do feel a strong connection with Danny DeVito's character, Louie Di Palma, on Taxi, so perhaps I'm really a closet Louie.)
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For me, on the female side, there's Billie. She's the only one who can make me feel every word of a lyric and at the same time be as interesting and as soulful as any instrumentalist. Every other singer is either/or.
On the male side, there's Louis - one of a kind, the source of jazz instrumentals and vocals.
There are other vocalists I enjoy listening to, but I could live without them. I wouldn't want to live without Billie and Louis.
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Brad (or others),
Any other recommendations on Philology? I see Cadence has a bunch of them ...
Philology 80 is one of my favorites. It contains the Bird with the Kenton band sides and Bird being interviewed by Paul Desmond (both mentioned previously by ghost of miles).
There are quite a number of Philology cds. I don't have too many because I have a lot of the material on other cds and lps, but there are others with Bird recordings well worth having and hearing. 5/18 has 2 fine tunes recorded in Lennie Tristano's studio with Bird, Tristano, and Kenny Clarke drumming on a phone book (not surprising that Lennie didn't have a drum set in his studio). 849 has four Clyde Bernhardt jump blues sides with Jay McShann and Bird which were on broken glass based acetates and were repaired and made listenable. (These are probably more of interest to Bird fans who have almost everything else.) 853 has the 1951 concert with Woody Herman's Herd, which I like, but not as much as the Kenton sides.
Much of what's on Philology has been reissued elsewhere, so collectors with a lot of Bird recordings have to be wary of duplication, but newer collectors can find a lot of great music there.
While I'm here, I'd like to mention Sweden 1950 - Complete Bird in Sweden (Definitive) which contains some fine live Bird and a great version of "Body and Soul". Storyville has issued most, if not all, of this material on cd, and Spotlite has issued it on 2 lps (long out of print) if you have an aversion to Definitive's reissue practices.
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Okay, then - You're a good advocate.
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Happy day after, Chuck! Sorry I missed this yesterday. Hope you had a great one. And thanks for sharing so much with all of us.
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If you do this, you miss the band from 1931 to 1940. Not a little bit of the history.
You're a good salesman, Chuck - at least you made me think about this. I'll be picking up the Classics and Neatworks cds bit by bit and be able to hear the 30's Ellington recordings I don't already have and hear them now. Who knows when or if Sony will allow Mosaic to do an Ellington box?
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Then again, maybe I'll sleep on it and rethink that.
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iisI just picked up a 2-CD set (on Ember) of Bird at the Open Door, 1953, I think. Sound is not airshot quality, but is "ok" for an amature location recording, certainly better than some things that have come out (am I the only one who found Stash's BIRD SEED literally unlistenable, even for a diehard Bird bootleg buff?). It's edited to (mostly) exclude all non-Bird notage, so if that kind of thing is problematic, I'd suggest steering clear. But that's the only reason - the playing is incredible. Something about Bird's later live playing really gets me. It seems like he's "left himself" and is playing with an omnisicient detatchment, free to effortlessy go wherever he wants whenever he wants, and doesn't have to expend any physical or emotional energy in doing so.
Some pretty profound stuff, I think, and highly recommended, with the above caveats.
Amen to what Jim wrote. This is some of my favorite live Bird - in fact, I wouldn't rate any other live Bird recordings in my collection above it. Mr. Parker seems to be in great spirits here, and plays with a lot of energy. His imagination at times seems boundless, as if he could literally play on and on, and not be at a loss for ideas. As Lon comments, it all could easily fit on one cd, but in this case they could have spread it over four cds and I would have bought it and not have felt ripped off.
Philology has also released this material (on Philology 854 & 855, I believe) with additional non Open Door recordings on each. I haven't heard those and don't know if the sound is better or worse than the Ember cds.
I've only very rarely been put off by the sound quality on Bird's live recordings. The music always takes over and makes the sound quality irrelevant.
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Thanks to everyone for your input. I'll probably go for the Columbias and hope for Mosaic to do it right.
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I went with Jabbo, since he amazes me everytime I listen.
I should admit that I'm relatively unfamiliar with Muggsy Spanier and Bunny Berigan. There's always more to listen to, and perhaps enjoy and learn from.
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Yesterday afternoon & today:
Anthony Braxton: Six Compositions: Quartet
Various artists: Ruckus Juice & Chittlins Vol. 2 - The Great Jug Bands (Yazoo)
Archie Shepp: Four for Trane
Paul Gonsalves/Clark Terry: Diminuendo , Crescendo and Blues
Count Basie: The Complete Decca Recordings - disc 2
A cdr of my friend Bill Morrison and his bandmates playing at a club in Boston
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Can anyone recommend (or not) the remastering on any of the following:
Columbia C2K 46177 - The Okeh Ellington 1927-30
Columbia C2K 46995 - The Duke's Men Vol. 1
Columbia C2K 48835 - The Duke's Men Vol. 2
I have some of this material on other lps and cds and am wondering how the sound is on these.
Thanks in advance for any responses.
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It's been quite a while since I last listened to this, and when I listened today I understood why that was. I would rather listen to most of Trane's other Atlantic recordings and probably any of the Impulses before this record. It's not a bad record, but, for me, it just doesn't come off. In Ralph Gleason's liner notes, Coltrane is quoted as saying that he was looking to shorten his solos. He does that here, and, to my ears it's not a good thing. Trane needed to stretch out, and he did just that on his forthcoming Impulse sides. The horns just don't seem comfortable on this record, except on Aisha, where everyone sounds relaxed. Aisha is my favorite track on Ole.
Other than everyone's playing on Aisha, my favorite moments came from listening to the rhythm section.
A couple of sidelights - Coltrane was the second musical giant to move from Atlantic to ABC Paramount. A year earlier Ray Charles made the jump.
And the recording engineer on Ole was Phil Ramone, who later made a rep recording rock hits. Tom Dowd recorded most if not all of the other Coltrane Atlantics.
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I post both here and on AAJ (more here than there), depending on what comes up that interests me. Wingy/Deep makes some interesting points, but I can't deal with his obnoxious side. His attacks on Chuck Nessa went off the Deep end. It seemed to me that he might have resented the fact that some people see Chuck as a kind of authority figure and wanted that position for himself. Anyway, I hope that Chuck will continue to post on AAJ (selfish reasons- I enjoy what his opinions and wit), though obviously he'll do whatever he chooses to do.
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Cannon's Jug Stompers: The Complete Works 1927-30
Sam Cooke's Night Beat
Charlie Kohlhase Quintet: Dancing on My Bedpost
Miles Davis: My Funny Valentine
Sonny Clark: Oakland, 1955
Max Roach/Dollar Brand: Streams of Consciousness
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Carl Hiaasen's novels.
John Kennedy Toole's A Confederacy of Dunces.
Bukowski's novels, short stories, and poems.
Flann O'Brien's works.
And there's always Mark Twain.
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Five cds of Jimmy Lyons - YES!
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couw - Thanks for the info.
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It is my understanding most of the Revenant is from the Ayler tree cds.
A question - What are the Ayler tree cds?
Also - I heard Albert Ayler play at a concert in Buffalo, N.Y. in early 1968 (the Love Cry group with Juni Booth replacing Alan Silva). As I remember, the concert was filmed by a well known documentary filmmaker - can't remember who - D.A. Pennebaker comes to mind. If the footage still exists, it would great if we could see it, either as a separate entity or as part of the new Ayler film. A Cecil Taylor concert was also part of that arts festival and was also filmed.
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A second to Chuck Nessa's mention of Frank's Place - a great show that deserved a larger audience and a longer run. It featured great music too.
Other favorites: Taxi (Louie was my all time favorite tv character).
The Rockford Files - Anyone remember the episode where Angel's wife divorced him and got custody of his Little Walter 45's as part of the settlement?
Northern Exposure.
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Paul Gonsalves plays on Clark Terry's Duke with a Difference (Riverside/OJC) recording, which features Ellington (and Strayhorn) material performed by Ellingtonians in a relaxed small group setting. My favorite Gonsalves on this is his solo on "Cottontail".
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I heard J.R. in Albany in the '70s with Sal Maida on piano, but don't remember the name of the club. My memory is that he had a sister in Utica (where he was from), and had been relatively inactive before the Albany reappearance(s).
I heard him several times in the 70's. I remember hearing him in a small club on a snowy night with maybe 5 people in the place. He played better than the times I heard him playing for a full house. That night, he had Eddy Robinson (at least that's what my memory tells me - it's been 25 years) who recorded for Blue Note with the Donald Byrd/Pepper Adams group. Does anyone know if Eddy Robinson is still actively playing or still living?
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I have all four, but voted for Sonny Meets Hawk! mainly because I haven't listened to it in a long time and this will be a good opportunity to revisit it.
Joe McPhee-"Visatation"
in Re-issues
Posted
I have the Sackville LP and last listened to it about six months ago. Not my favorite McPhee, but still a very good listen.