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paul secor
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Posts posted by paul secor
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I recently discovered a half dozen of those concert posters in my basement.
Funny how these things happen. Last Friday, I was cleaning out our garage (boss' orders) and I found a flyer from the late 70's for Chuck's old friend J.R. Monterose, who was appearing at a club called Justin McNeils in Albany, N.Y. Nice photo of J.R. on the flyer. It brought back some good memories of the times when I heard him play back then.
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Various artists: Drop Down Mama (Chess)
Jenkins, Jordan and Timmons (It's always great to hear Wilbur Ware and get an aural reminder of what a great musician he was - the heartbeat of jazz.)
Various artists: Jump 'n' Shout (Delmark)
Various artists: Memphis Blues Singers Volume 2 (Frog)
Harold Burrage: Messed Up!
Miles Davis and Milt Jackson: Quintet/Sextet
Various artists: Jazz the World Forgot Volume 1 (Yazoo)
Charles Gayle/William Parker/Rashied Ali: Touchin' On Trane
Various artists: The Jazz Scene (Verve)
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Very sorry to read this. My favorite Earl King recordings were the things he did for Ace, but he was able to keep his music fresh through the years, something that isn't always true of musicians in the popular music genre. Glazed, the album he recorded with Roomful of Blues, done thirty years after his first records, is a fine one. "Love Rent" is a personal favorite from that record.
Soul Stream - It must have been cool to have played a gig with Earl King and to have hung out with him afterward.
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This morning I was listening to a cd of Jackie McLean's New Soil (Blue Note), which contains one previously unissued tune, Walter Davis Jr.'s "Formidable". The tune sounded familiar, and I realized that an Art Taylor group had recorded it a month later on Taylor's Tenors (New Jazz), but the title was changed to "Cape Millie". It's a fine tune, but I wonder why the change of title? My guess would be that perhaps both record labels wanted publishing rights and Walter Davis Jr. changed the title so he could record it for New Jazz. Could he have known only a month after the New Soil session that Blue Note wasn't going to issue "Formidable"? My cds don't contain publishing information so I don't know if my theory is possible.
Any ideas?
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Thought I'd add my thoughts before this topic ends. I bought this record shortly after it was released and still have my old mono copy after all these years. I also have the 20 bit cd issue which I've listened to in my car a couple of time this week. I've probably listened to Mingus x 5 at least 50 times over the years and it still moves me and I still hear new things when I listen to it. I guess that's as high a recommendation as I can give to any record. This is music of high passions and strong feelings. To me, that's what music is supposed to be.
Further thoughts:
This is definitely a bassist's record. Mingus' bass is recorded to the forefront - not realistic, but musically sucessful in this case. "Bull fiddle" is perhaps a perjorative term, but that's what comes to my mind when I hear Mingus driving the band during the ensembles and solos. Mingus' solo on "Mood Indigo" is one of my favorite bass solos - his bass sings.
"I X Love" - I particularly enjoy the voicings during the section where what sounds like an oboe (though there's none listed in the liner personnel) comes to the fore. It brings to mind numerous Ellington recordings where I find myself wondering how he got that sound. I wonder what part of this in Mingus, and what part Bob Hammer? I love the way Charlie Mariano manages to bring forth some of the spirit and sound of both Johnny Hodges and Bird without mimicking either.
Walter Perkins plays some nice cymbal sounds on this tune, and his drumming is a pleasure throughout the record.
Thanks to a post on the Booker Ervin thread by Mr. Nessa, I'm more aware of Booker Ervin's shortcomings than I once was. However, I also find myself more aware of his strengths. The intensity of his solo on "Theme for Lester Young" captures the feeling of loss and sorrow that Pres' death must have brought to Mingus.
I agree with impossible. In all the times I've listened to this record, I never once compared these performances with previous or later ones. For me, this is where Mingus was in 1963, and that's all that matters.
By the way, impossible, you should have gotten the job just for recommending this record to the interviewer. Too bad life doesn't work that way.
"Hora Decubitus" - Eric Dolphy!
I've always enjoyed and learned from Mingus' liner notes. Among jazz musicians, Ornette's liner notes are probably the only ones I enjoy more. Here, speaking of Lester Young, "If I had to use one word to describe him, it would be sensitivity. He towered over most other musicians, but he didn't do it as a gorilla."
Mingus the historian - "...the Savoy Sultans, though a small combo, 'used to outswing most big bands, by just building on riff patterns. Here I wanted to do the same thing - to swing hard!'" How many jazz critics were writing about the Savoy Sultans in 1963?
The cd issue adds "Freedom" to the original lp. To me, the lp was fine as it was. More doesn't always mean better. It's the last track though, so I can just skip it if I want.
I hope the above makes it obvious that I love this record.
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In the current New York magazine:
100 People Who Changed New York:
Wynton Marsalis, trumpeter, Lincoln Center jazz artistic director.
Charlie Parker never raised $128 mil for a jazz joint.
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If I can add a favorite that's not on the list:
Curtis Fuller: Two Bones w. Slide Hampton, Sonny Clark, George Tucker, and Al Harewood.
Of those listed, I voted for Hank's Thinking of Home.
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Over the weekend:
Jelly Roll Morton: Great Original Performances 1926-1934
Masahiko Togashi & Steve Lacy: Twilight
Don Cherry: Multikulti
Count Basie: Complete Decca Recordings - disc 1
Sonny Boy Williamson: Talk that Talk - Sonny Boy at the Chess Studio 1957-61
Rev. Claude Jeter: What Is This
Lorraine Ellison: Stay with Me
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Ouch! What do you have against Ratliff?
Nothing personal. I just feel that he's in a position of some importance and does nothing worthwhile with that position.
The jazz critic of the New York Times should do more than write critical pablum.
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My local paper, the Poughkeepsie Journal, which I read at work, completely ignores jazz. The New York Times, which I read at home, features jazz coverage by Ben Ratliff. Of the two, the Poughkeepsie Journal has better jazz reporting.
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Over the past couple of months I've listened to a number of records which Jo Jones plays on - most recently Illinois Jacquet's Swing's the Thing (Verve) and Illinois Jacquet (Epic/Classic), along with several of Jo Jones' albums on Pablo and Denon. I'd heard Jo Jones for many years, but until recently I hadn't truly listened and heard what he was saying. What a wonderful musician! He was able be fiery and subtle at the same time. I'm especially impressed with the way that he varied his accompaniment on the same tune, depending on who was soloing - a quality lacking in many drummers.
I'm sorry for myself that I took his playing for granted for all those years, but I'm happy to be hearing him now. That's one of the great things about music - no matter how long you've been listening, there's always something new to listen to and learn from.
If anyone has any thoughts, anecdotes, favorite recordings, whatever - I'd be happy to read them and I'm sure that others would too.
P.S. Before writing this, I reread Nat Hentoff's memories of Jo Jones, "Mr. Jonathan David Samuel Jones", in his book, Listen to the Stories - a most worthy tribute. I'd like to sign off with a quote from that chapter attributed to Max Roach: "For every three beats a drummer plays, he owes Jo five."
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Or maybe... just a thought... we can not worry about 50 year old recordings and start buying new music!!
Amen. My feelings exactly. I buy reissues and support the labels that recorded the music originally as long as they reissue the music properly, but I'm more concerned with supporting the labels that are recording and documenting contemporary music.
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I don't mean this in a negative way, but why does the album of the week seem to be so Blue Note oriented? I don't like to focus on record labels - the artists are the ones who created the music - but there are a lot of other record companies other than Blue Note - OJC (Riverside, Prestige, Contemporary, Pablo), Black Saint/Soul Note, Columbia, Nessa, the Verve labels, ESP, Steeplechase, Delmark, CIMP, Okkadisk, DIW, HighNote, Black Lion, etc.
I was glad to see The Mingus Impulse recording chosen for future discussion, but most of the mentions as suggestions for the future seem to be Blue Note recordings.
Also, how about considering more recent recordings?
On a positive note, I found the posts on Donald Byrd's Byrd in Hand to be enlightening and entertaining, and I'm looking forward to writing and reading comments on future records.
I'm only one person and very probably in the minority, but I just wanted to make my voice heard.
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Two of my favorite Clifford Jordan recordings are Cliff Craft and his collaboration with Ran Blake, Masters from Different Worlds, on Mapleshade - a fascinating record.
Here's a Clifford Jordan anecdote. I heard him play a concert in Poughkeepsie in the early to mid eighties. He was playing with a local drummer and pianist who were non professionals, and with a young bassist he brought with him from NY. During the concert, they played a standard (can't remember what, but it was something well known.)
The pianist and the bassist were unfamiliar with the tune and were playing from sheet music or a fake book which the bassist was looking at over top of the piano. After they had finished the tune, Clifford announced to the audience that he told the bass player to stop looking at the music and just play - "I told him he can hear better than he can read upside down."
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Geez, I haven't thought of the Fat Man record for at least 10 years. Bravo, Paul.
I actually hadn't played it in five years. It sounded as good as I had remembered it.
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I find Devil May Care an enjoyable record - actually my favorite moment is not her singing (which I do like), but Earl Warren's solo introducing "Dancing in the Dark". It always sounds a little off the wall to me, but I thoroughly enjoy it every time I hear it.
Somewhere in the Night has been reissued. Cadence just reviewed it in their current (April) issue, and they carry it (along with several other Dauntless reissues) in their center sale section.
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On a windy day here in NY:
John Patton: Soul Connection
Teddy Wilson: Traces
Dave (Fat Man) Williams: I Ate Up the Apple Tree
David Holland/Barre Phillips: Music from Two Basses
Quartet Out: Live at the Meat House
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In an r&b vein, King Curtis: Night Train (Prestige PRCD-24153) includes It's Party Time with King Curtis, most of which is tenor duets with Sam "The Man" Taylor. A lot of it is too searching for a rock n roll/r & b hit oriented for my taste, but it has its moments when I'm in the right mood.
Good to see Lawrence Kart here!
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g.o.m. -
There's at least one other Roy Campell fan here. I have a couple of his recordings - New Kingdom (Delmark) and Pyramid (Silkheart) - which I've enjoyed. I had the pleasure of hearing him play live with a Thurman Barker group about eight years ago, and he played some beautiful solos. Also had the opportunity to speak with him after the concert and he came across as a very nice guy.
Hope you have a great time at the concert.
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He has a great personal tone and 2 solos. One is fast and one is slow. The musicians around him camoflage this.
I was going to start this with a wiseass remark - If that's so, then I guess I like both of them.
However, I do have to agree with Chuck to a great degree. I find that I don't listen to a lot of Booker Ervin, mainly because his solos can sound samey and his tone, although it cuts deep, can become nagging to my ears after a while.
That said, when Booker is at his best, for example, on That's It! (Candid), or Mingus Ah Um, or Mingus, Mingus, Mingus, Mingus, Mingus, he's magnificent. Of course, on the Mingus sessions Booker is forced to take shorter solos which to my ears, is for the best.
In the end, though, I love the best of Booker Ervin's playing (my favorites are listed above) and for me those recordings stand with anything else in my collection.
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I've only had this recording for a short time, but here are some initial thoughts:
I"ve never been a big Donald Byrd fan. I'm sure this stems from hearing a Buffalo, N.Y. dj play "Christo Redentor" many, many times on his weekly jazz radio show when I was in college. I hated that record from the first time I heard it. Since then, I have come to enjoy Byrd's playing on some Blakey Columbia sides and on his own LP, The Cat Walk.
So far, I'm finding Byrd In Hand to be a good record which has its moments. Some of them:
"Here Am I" - I'm not usually a big fan of vamp tunes, but this one is a fine one. Byrd takes a good solo, as does Charlie Rouse. I enjoy Rouse's woody sound whenever I hear it.
"Witchcraft" - Another good Byrd solo and Pepper Adams has his moments here too.
"Bronze Dance" - Rouse does a nice job of playing out of Pepper's solo without missing a beat.
Sam Jones' playing throughout is as unnoticeable and as irreplaceble as a heartbeat.
A.T. plays some accents that grabbed my attention while the heads were being played. Otherwise he keeps the flow going, which is fine with me.
"The Injuns" - This tune sounds corny to me. Why not just do "Cherokee"? - Not hip enough or maybe a way for Byrd to pick up some royalties? Byrd takes an ok solo, but Bob Blumenthal's liner note comparison with Clifford's 1953 "Cherokee" solo is a bad one, IMO. Byrd's solo can stand alone as a decent one, but don't put it up next to Brownie's.
This thread is a great idea. I'm looking forward to future participations.
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Besides jazz -
Blues (from the 20's through the 60's - occasionally later if it's good.) Gospel (again, not much after the 60's - we old guys have our limitations.) Country (mostly honky tonk and the people who came out of that, some bluegrass, some Western swing, some early country.) Music from other cultures (mostly African and Latin, some reggae, some klezmer, some Cajun, etc.) Folk (for the most part, oddball people like Michael Hurley, the Holy Modal Rounders, Fahey, Patrick Sky, early Buffy Sainte-Marie. Hope they aren't offended by being called oddballs - not the usual folk suspects is what I mean.) Older r&b and rock 'n' roll. Some soul (not much into funk, other than JB and Sly.) When I listen to music other than jazz, I'm usually listening for singers with beautiful and/or distinctive voices. I've been starting to listen to some classical music, but so far I've had a tough time getting into that. I'm sure it will come around eventually.
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If it were possible for you to go back in time and attend recording sessions - club, concert, or studio - which ones would you choose?
My choices:
Club sessions - Dolphy, Little, Waldron, Davis, and Blackwell at the Five Spot, 1961.
Ornette's Trio at the Golden Circle, 1965.
Trane's sextet at the Penthouse - Seattle, 1965. (Perhaps an unusual choice, but there's something disturbing and even a little frightening about this recording when I listen to it, and I've wondered what it was like to have been there.
Studio sessions - King Oliver's Jazz Band - June 22 or 23, 1923. I'd love to hear how that band really sounded.
Teddy Wilson with Billie Holiday - January 25, 1937. To be there and hear Pres play his solo on "I Must Have that Man".
Charlie Parker's November 26, 1945 Savoy date. "Koko", "Now's the Time", Billie's Bounce".
And a final choice - Steve Lacy's 1961 Evidence date. So I could find out if Carl Brown is Carl Brown or a pseudonym.
Hope I haven't grabbed too many good ones. There are a lot more out there - make your choices.
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Today:
Charlie Parker: Bird's Eyes Vol. 8 - Kenton sides
Eric Dolphy: Here and There
Sir Douglas Quintet: Mendocino
Von Freeman: Live at the Dakota
Mal Waldron & Steve Lacy
in Re-issues
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