Guy Berger Posted June 17, 2004 Report Share Posted June 17, 2004 I was listening to KCSM today and an unfamiliar track comes on. Pretty quickly I realize the composer is Mingus. The altoist is very distinctive, incorporating wild jumps in register. It's not Dolphy, but this saxophonist has obviously been doing his ED homework. My guess is that this is either a Mingus performance from the 70s, or maybe a recent Mingus Big Band recording. Anyway, the DJ announces that this was "Alice in Wonderland", from a 1/59 Mingus recording with Booker Ervin and John Handy. (And if the rest of the album is as good as this, I need to get it right away.) I'd noticed the stylistic similarities before on the classic 60s JH records, and had always assumed that the flow of ideas went from Dolphy to Handy. But this 1959 Mingus recording made me think JH developed those ideas on his own; after all, wasn't Dolphy still mostly unknown at the beginning of 1959? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brownian Motion Posted June 17, 2004 Report Share Posted June 17, 2004 I loved his recording of Naima, which I enjoyed several times before my cat jumped on the the record while it was playing; that would have been around the mid-1960s. I haven't heard much of him since then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeBop Posted June 18, 2004 Report Share Posted June 18, 2004 Let's hear it for fellow McClymonds High alum, John Handy! This rather weak link between us aside, I've always enjoyed his work. Heck, I'd even have enjoyed it if he'd gone to Castlemont. Between work with Mingus, the Hard Work era and Class (three singing violinists), he showed quite a wide range of interests and talents. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris olivarez Posted June 18, 2004 Report Share Posted June 18, 2004 One of the first jazz records I ever heard was John Handy at the Monterrey Jazz Festival and it absolutely floored me!!! The group featured Handy,Michael White on violin,Jerry Hahn on guitar also Don Thompson and Terry Clarke and they were just super. I highly recommend it!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sundog Posted June 18, 2004 Report Share Posted June 18, 2004 Anyway, the DJ announces that this was "Alice in Wonderland", from a 1/59 Mingus recording with Booker Ervin and John Handy. (And if the rest of the album is as good as this, I need to get it right away.) This is a killer album. Alice in Wonderland is beautiful. On the other side of the coin Booker Ervin and John Handy do some serious blowing on No Private Income Blues. I've been listening to that song constantly for weeks trying to cop some of Booker's licks. BUY THIS ALBUM. You won't regret it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
king ubu Posted June 18, 2004 Report Share Posted June 18, 2004 "No Private Income Blues" is some of the best blues playing available on a Mingus album (and that IS something)! I love the Wonderland/Portrait however it's called album a lot. You also get to hear Richard Wyands on piano, subbing for the actual band-member Horace Parlan, and you get to hear a lot of Mingus the bass player, really good solos of him. (Then, as always on the great Mingus albums, there's Dannie Richmond, dressed to kill...) Handy/Ervin, by the way, so the saying goes, were the reason why Mingus fired Shafi Hadi & Jimmy Knepper, and the saying goes he fired them right away to get the two new fellows in his band. ubu Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clunky Posted June 18, 2004 Report Share Posted June 18, 2004 errr.....two threads...anyway do try Handy's Roulette records from late 1950s early 1960's, I've a couple on a double LP that work pretty well. As I mentioned on this threads alter ego it would make a nice select. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
randyhersom Posted June 18, 2004 Report Share Posted June 18, 2004 I've enjoyed the recent Live at Yoshi's remakes of some of the great Columbia material. It's a two CD set from 2000 or so that I downloaded from eMusic, and a reunion of the Newport quintet, I think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kh1958 Posted June 18, 2004 Report Share Posted June 18, 2004 One of the first jazz records I ever heard was John Handy at the Monterrey Jazz Festival and it absolutely floored me!!! The group featured Handy,Michael White on violin,Jerry Hahn on guitar also Don Thompson and Terry Clarke and they were just super. I highly recommend it!!!! That's one of my favorite jazz records. Actually, Wonderland is another (and I wish the record company had preserved the rest of the concert). Handy also makes a dynamic appearance on Mingus' live Right Now, on a sidelong Fables of Faubus, where he and Cliford Jordan play at an incredible level of inspiration. And Handy plays on Mingus at Carnegie Hall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guy Berger Posted June 9, 2006 Author Report Share Posted June 9, 2006 (edited) I was listening to KCSM today and an unfamiliar track comes on. Pretty quickly I realize the composer is Mingus. The altoist is very distinctive, incorporating wild jumps in register. It's not Dolphy, but this saxophonist has obviously been doing his ED homework. My guess is that this is either a Mingus performance from the 70s, or maybe a recent Mingus Big Band recording. Anyway, the DJ announces that this was "Alice in Wonderland", from a 1/59 Mingus recording with Booker Ervin and John Handy. (And if the rest of the album is as good as this, I need to get it right away.) I'd noticed the stylistic similarities before on the classic 60s JH records, and had always assumed that the flow of ideas went from Dolphy to Handy. But this 1959 Mingus recording made me think JH developed those ideas on his own; after all, wasn't Dolphy still mostly unknown at the beginning of 1959? Almost two years later I finally picked this recording up. Handy plays like an MF on this album! I don't blame Mingus for letting him go when he had Dolphy waiting in the wings, but daaaaaaaaaamn. For some reason I like Booker Ervin MUUUUUUUUCH better with Mingus than in other contexts. Guy Edited June 9, 2006 by Guy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazzbo Posted June 9, 2006 Report Share Posted June 9, 2006 Guy, I think with what I konw of your tastes you'll like all the Mingus of the late fifties through midsixties. . .it has that vibe and feel of exploration but passion passion passion throughout. I never really tie ED and Handy together at all in my listening/hearing. If there really are similarities I'd think they're pretty much spontaneous combusting rather than one of them zooming the other. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AllenLowe Posted June 9, 2006 Report Share Posted June 9, 2006 I like Handy, but I don't see any stylistic connecrtion with Dolphy - and, as Handy has indicated in interviews, he had/has little sympathy for free or tonally extended improvisation - he's a good player but a bit conventional for me, even when playing in more open contexts - Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alocispepraluger102 Posted June 10, 2006 Report Share Posted June 10, 2006 john handy was a very hot number in the bay area in the mid 1960's. his mid 60's columbia albums, live at monterey and second john handy album, have been among my favorites for many years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrjazzman Posted June 10, 2006 Report Share Posted June 10, 2006 Saw JH recently in the dressing room at Yoshi's during Benny Golson's last engagement. He looks absolutly fabulous for a guy 73 years old........................ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alocispepraluger102 Posted June 11, 2006 Report Share Posted June 11, 2006 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sheldonm Posted June 11, 2006 Report Share Posted June 11, 2006 I like Handy, but I don't see any stylistic connecrtion with Dolphy - and, as Handy has indicated in interviews, he had/has little sympathy for free or tonally extended improvisation - he's a good player but a bit conventional for me, even when playing in more open contexts - I would agree, saw Handy doing a Downbeat Blindfold test last year in Monterey and he indicated as much.....very funny guy as well. m~ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chalupa Posted June 12, 2006 Report Share Posted June 12, 2006 Anyway, the DJ announces that this was "Alice in Wonderland", from a 1/59 Mingus recording with Booker Ervin and John Handy. (And if the rest of the album is as good as this, I need to get it right away.) This is a killer album. Alice in Wonderland is beautiful. On the other side of the coin Booker Ervin and John Handy do some serious blowing on No Private Income Blues. I've been listening to that song constantly for weeks trying to cop some of Booker's licks. BUY THIS ALBUM. You won't regret it! I bought this cd after reading this post(and others in this thread) last Friday. It did not leave the cd player all weekend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave James Posted June 12, 2006 Report Share Posted June 12, 2006 Handy's Roulette material would make for a helluva a Select. Up over and out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ep1str0phy Posted June 12, 2006 Report Share Posted June 12, 2006 I just recently got a copy of Projections (w/Michael White, Mike Nock, Bruce Cale, Larry Hancock). Again, relatively 'inside' leaning post-bop (with a strong post-Coltrane/post-Mingus bent), but startlingly effective in spots. White lends the music a deeply romantic tinge--edging the music toward something slightly more esoteric (however harmonically conventional). And hey, the cats in the Concert Ensemble have creds in all manner of improv... it's nice to hear Nock reaching in for the piano strings here and there. Additional note: Larry Hancock plays beautifully here--a step or two above his work with Hutch (as far as I'm concerned). Maybe not classic, but damn good nonetheless (Penguin guide be damned). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghost of miles Posted February 3, 2008 Report Share Posted February 3, 2008 (edited) Handy turns 75 today--thought I'd up the thread and post a link to this weekend's Night Lights show, now archived: Handy With the Horn It features Handy's Roulette and Columbia sides (many thanks to Clunky and Felser for their assistance here), as well as "Alice in Wonderland" with Mingus. I interviewed Handy by phone a couple of weeks ago and have been posting it in sections on the Night Lights site. He says Mosaic is working on a project involving unreleased Columbia sessions with Michael White...I'm going to drop them a line and bring up the proposed Select configuration of EMI/Roulette material that somebody suggested elsewhere on the board. Edited December 4, 2008 by ghost of miles Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Pusey Posted February 4, 2008 Report Share Posted February 4, 2008 I have played the 4 Handy Koch reissues tonight back to back. I return to them often, so a Mosic would be very welcome up here, I would be all over it in a a heartbeat. I would also love a Jerry Hahn Brotherhood from somebody! Howabout a Mosaic single as a compliment? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shannon Dickey Posted February 5, 2008 Report Share Posted February 5, 2008 Wow! Just this Sunday my far better half returned from Phoenix. While browsing antique shops, scored me a dozen Jazz LPs, amongst them were 3 Handy Roulettes: NO COAST JAZZ, "Quote Unquote" and "In The VERNACULAR". all in NM- condition and all for around $6.00!! My question is, while I have had "NO Coast Jazz" for years, and that twofer of Roulette material. What is the story on the duplications on "IN THE VERNACULAR" and "QUOTE UNQUOTE"? I can see Quote UNQUOTE" was released later, but why the omisions and duplications? Anybody shed some light? Thanks....... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stereojack Posted February 6, 2008 Report Share Posted February 6, 2008 Wow! Just this Sunday my far better half returned from Phoenix. While browsing antique shops, scored me a dozen Jazz LPs, amongst them were 3 Handy Roulettes: NO COAST JAZZ, "Quote Unquote" and "In The VERNACULAR". all in NM- condition and all for around $6.00!! My question is, while I have had "NO Coast Jazz" for years, and that twofer of Roulette material. What is the story on the duplications on "IN THE VERNACULAR" and "QUOTE UNQUOTE"? I can see Quote UNQUOTE" was released later, but why the omisions and duplications? Anybody shed some light? Thanks....... Handy made three records for Roulette in 1959-1961. Two of them were issued at the time - "In the Vernacular" (52042) and "No Coast Jazz" (52058). After his first Columbia album ("Live at Monterey") was a hit a few years later, Roulette issued the third album "Jazz" (52121) around 1967. They later repackaged the earlier albums. I believe "Quote Unquote" is a compilation of tracks from the first two, or is a straight reissue of "In the Vernacular", which contains a track entitled "Quote Unquote". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_forumlogo.png.a607ef20a6e0c299ab2aa6443aa1f32e.png)
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.