jazzbo

Joe Pass “Intercontinental” MPS cd with Eberhard Weber and Kenny Clare

I’m resting from about an hour of shoveling. 8 inches of snow or so overnight. May get some more tonight, but likely not nearly that much. I’m chilling with a great batch of music–Basie on Roulette. He had a great band during these years (and before, and after!) and Roulette really recorded the Orchestra well–I have always enjoyed the sound of these recordings. And this 2 cd set is a very good sampling of the Roulette years. “Count Basie and Friends–100th Birthday Bash” Roulette/EMI 2 cd set, disc 2

Well that's great--we all should be able to live our lives as we please ideally, as long as they are not harmful ways. I myself no longer enjoy the night life, I'm an early to bed early to rise guy from decades of work and now it's just how I live. I lived in areas so devoid of good live jazz that I don't feel the need to see it. Don't need to be at clubs or parties. It's been something I haven't needed for over twenty years. . . really this second half of my life, thirty-five years ago when I first married my first wife it started to end. . . and it's not missed. It's no longer about money so much as it's about temperament and living methods. Certainly if I were earning money as a musician that would be different, though like you without alcohol, but my days of performing were brief enough and ended 35 years ago.

Happy New Year one and all! I stared at the 5 inches of snow we got overnight and am glad it’s too early to start shoveling yet! Thought about what my first disc of the year should be. . . and then realized I’m not into deep thought yet. So grabbed this one because I saw it’s red spine and the sound came to me and i realized I wanted to hear that sound. Mario Adnet “More Jobim Jazz” Adventure Music.

This is probably my last disc spin of the year, so I selected Ellington and this was the first one I pulled out. Duke Ellington “1939-1940” Chronogical Classics cd Great variety here including solo piano, piano-bass duets, small group sides and full Orchestra sides.

Ben Wolfe “The Whisperer” Posi-tone cd Evans is very good here.

It’s been too long since I spun this fantastic disc. It is one of my all-time favorites. A great disc to play on the final day of the year. Betty Carter “I’m Yours, You’re Mine” Verve cd. Unfortunately her last album. She was something else. A brave and brilliant artist. Betty Carter – vocals, producer Mark Shim – tenor saxophone Andre Hayward – trombone Xavier Davis – piano Curtis Lundy – double bass Matt Hughes – bass Gregory Hutchinson – drums

Gary Crosby's Nu Troop "Migrations" Dune cd I'd forgotten about this cd. Really fine playing a la Jazz Messengers in great sound,.

A busy morning. . . I spent some time shoveling last night’s snowfall as we had a plumbing inspection to be done (as part of a yearly program we have with the plumbing firm we use, who are nice people and knowledgable). All our plumbing is in excellent shape (should be as we have had a number of things corrected in the past few years) but he did find a gas leak right before our meter. So we contacted the gas company and that is taken care of, just a slight leak that required a tightening. Finally we could have lunch and relax. . . Lucinda is napping and I’m spinning Allan Lowe and the Constant Sorrow Orchestra “Louis Armstrong’s America Vol. 2”, disc 2 of the 2 cd set. Lowe is a character but a really interesting musician and this music is very entertaining and. thought-provoking.

Georghe, I confess I know NOTHING of clubs and the night life. . .35 years ago I quit smoking, and as a result had to at least temporarily stop drinking alcohol and going out at night after marrying and ceasing playing drums in bands. It worked really well, and I just continued these "bans" and they became habit, and the money I would have spent on cigarettes and alcohol and going out I spent on audio and musical instrument and equipment, and recordings. So. . . it seems that this would be a good example of a record to use, but I just don't know the audience and environment. As for Monk, he was under contract with Riverside at the time of this release and then Columbia shortly after, and I think that European tours were more lucrative for Monk (and thus the label) than work in the US available to him at the time, and so it was pursued year after year. Many were broadcast, and as there were both radio station tapes and audience recorded tapes they made the rounds of collectors and often became bootlegged. What we have been seeing in the recent past are that especially the radio station tapes or tapes being made in clubs somewhat professionally are being released on LP and cd, mostly "authorized." So now there are better quality recordings of some long bootlegged items.

Kenny Burrell “Live at the Five Spot Cafe–The Complete Recordings” Blue Note Japan SHM-SACD 500×500 70.8 KB Didn’t get a chance to hear all of this before going off to PT, so I’m listening to it again!

Kenny Burrell “Live at the Five Spot Cafe–The Complete Recordings” Blue Note Japan SHM-SACD

Cold! Big snow storm ahead for the next 48 hours or so. . . I’m saving my strength up for bouts of shoveling! Started off a listening session with Thelonious Monk “Avril 1961” Frémeaux & Associés 2 cd set, disc 1 My favorite Monk quartet with Rouse, Ore and Dunlop. 575×500 69.2 KB Followed by A Jazz Oracle cd, “Edison Hot Dance Obscurities Volume 1”

All packed up, ready to go.

Stan Getz “In Scandinavia 1959-1960” Jazztwin cd I will never get enough of Getz in this area of the world in this time frame, documented on Verve, Dragon or any other recordings. 300×300 10.2 KB

On to some old time jazz/pop: Frank Trumbauer “1929-1931” Chronogical Classics cd I really like the Trumbauer sound and feel. What is interesting here is that there’s “Popeye” voice chuckle I think done by Hoagy Carmichael on several of these tracks. . . years before there was a Popeye animated cartoon wth voice. . . curious. Good stuff!

Need some Ducal influence this morning. Duke Ellington “the Private Collection Volume 3” Kaz cd New York studio sessions, 1962

A windy warm front has blown in. We lost power for about ten minutes an hour ago. . . woke me up somehow. I tried to go back to sleep a few times but decided to do a little listening. Starting with Artemis “Arboresque” on Blue Note, their third release. Bass – Noriko Ueda Drums – Allison Miller Piano, Electric Piano [Fender Rhodes] – Renee Rosnes Tenor Saxophone – Nicole Glover Trumpet – Ingrid Jensen

Nat Pierce Orchestra “The Ballad of Jazz Street” HEP cd Pulled this one off the shelf where it has sat a while. Nice. . . Basie-esque, in great sound. Some great players in this band! Alto Saxophone – Keith Zaharia Baritone Saxophone – Marty Flax Bass – Sonny Dallas Clarinet, Alto Saxophone – Dick Meldonian Drums – Mousey Alexander Engineer [Remix] – Gerry Macdonald Guitar – Turk Van Lake Piano – Nat Pierce Tenor Saxophone – Dick Hafer, Paul Gonsalves, Paul Quinichette Trombone – Bill Elton, Eddie Bert, Jim Dahl, Jimmy Cleveland Trumpet – Burt Collins, Clark Terry, Danny Stiles, Jerry Kail

SfJazz Collective “In A Silent Way/Stand”

It's an interesting album!

“The Music of Bob Haggart under the direction of Randy Sandke, featuring his Classic Porgy and Bess Arrangements and Other Greatest Hits” Arbors cd A long title for a fantastic cd. Especially for Gershwin lovers like me. 300×251 9.9 KB Randy Sandke - leader and trumpet Jon-Erik Kellso - Puje Byron Stripling - trumpet John Allred - trombone George Masso - trombone Wycliffe Gordon - trombone Scott Robinson - tenor and baritone saxophone Jack Stuckey - baritone saxophone Ken Peplowski - clarinet Howard Alden - guitar Derek Smith - piano Ed Metz Sr. - piano Greg Cohen - bass Joe Ascione - drums Bob Haggart - bass (final track only) Tony DeNicola - drums

Listening to and watching Rodrigo & Gabriella on Austin City Limits.

A cold, quiet morning, after a very nice dinner with my two brothers and their families. It was so good to get together at last--took a lot of planning but paid off. Starting the day with "Melissa Aldana & Crash Trio," Concord cd--reminidng me a lot of Joe Henderson trio recordings.