Allen Eager Uptown

[Dave James]

Not sure how many board members took advantage of Chuck Nessa's pre-release offer on the Allen Eager Uptown, but for those who did not, here's one person's enthusiastic endorsement. Eager is a person most everyone has heard of but whose recorded output is limited in the extreme. Kudos to the folks who brought these recordings to light.

The material consists of both private recordings and live material. Players include, among others, Charlie Parker, Serge Chaloff and Buddy Rich. Sound-wise, it runs the gamut from very good to, in one case, borderline unlistenable. But, it's not just the music that makes this package so interesting. It's the booklet that's the real coup de theatre. Between the music and the supportive documentation, what you have is a window into the world of a second tier jazz musician in the halcyon days of mid-life bebop. Simply fascinating text and pictures. It puts me very much in mind of a two disc set that came out in limited edition a couple of years ago that chronicled the '50's loft-jazz scene in New York City. I think it was called David X. Young's Loft Jazz or something like that.

Anyhow, I highly recommed the Eager recording. Many thanks to Chuck and Uptown for putting it together.

Up over and out.

[pryan]

I'd like to echo Dave's comments. A release obviously well-researched and commendable both in its musical and historical content. Love the first broadcast with the Dick Twardzik trio!

[The Mule]

Wanted to bring this up and add my endorsement of this terrific cd. Presented in the same manner as the CHARLES "BARON" MINGUS, WEST COAST 1945-49 (nice slipcase containing the cd and heafty booklet), IN THE LAND OF OO-BLA-DEE may be even more signficant, historically speaking, than the Mingus because it adds so much more the the legacy Allen Eager, a musician whose recorded output is much more meager than that of Mingus.

The booklet is a fascinating read. Great notes by Ira Gitler, producer Robert E. Sunenblik, and an interview with Eager himself. Just the detailed explanation of the pitfalls of using a wire recorder makes this cd worth picking up. Anyone who complains about the sound quality of wire recordings should read this passage and you'll realize how lucky we are to have anything at all recorded with this device! Also, the snapshot of the jazz scene in those days and the impromptu parties/recording sessions at photographer Milton Greene's loft makes for very interesting and entertaining reading.

The music is meticulously restored and presented--even the wire recording of a television broadcast sounds pretty good.

Plus, you have the extra added bonus of hearing pre-take chatter between Eager and Serge Chaloff. I had never heard Chaloff's voice before.

Great music. Newly discovered recordings of Eager, Chaloff, & Bird (playing tenor on one tune). Amazing booklet. A must-buy.

Congrats to Chuck and Uptown!

[Chuck Nessa]

Plus, you have the extra added bonus of hearing pre-take chatter between Eager and Serge Chaloff. I had never heard Chaloff's voice before.

More of "talking Serge" can be heard on "Boston 1950", a dandy Chaloff Uptown release.

[The Mule]

damn...that's right. I had forgotten. I do have BOSTON 1950. Think it was the first Uptown disc I ever owned...

ALL the Uptowns are great. The Serge, the Bird, the Sonny Clark, the Dodo....

[DrJ]

I missed out on the pre-release offer, but will be picking this up as soon as it hits the stores officially. I only have a couple of Uptowns, but they are indeed excellent, the Mingus was a dream. I'm "eager" (insert groan here) to explore this new one...

[Z-Man]

Is there a website where I can get info and purchase Uptown releases?

[Chuck Nessa]

True Blue Music.

[Michael Fitzgerald]

A propos the original post, I spent two days last week listening to material from the 821 Sixth Avenue loft (seems that W. Eugene Smith should get more credit than David X. Young, from what I've been told, but others like Hall Overton and Jimmy Stevenson merit mentions as well). There's a ton of great stuff that could, and hopefully will, see issue - and that's just based on what I was able to hear in those listening sessions. I guess it will come down to negotiating with the artists or estates. This kind of recording opens up a window on the life of the musician beyond the stage or the recording studio: rehearsals, jam sessions, conversations, just fooling around. Also shows that there were quality players who were never (well, hardly ever) noted elsewhere.

Mike

[brownie]

Michael, is the material you listened different from the music that was on the double CD set David Young's Jazz Loft that came

out several years ago? I loved that one and have been waiting for more.

About Eugene Smith, there was an exhibition of his photos in Paris a couple of years ago. The photos included images taken at some of those jams

(with Jimmy Giuffre, Jim Hall and others).

Eugene Smith was also taking photos when Albert Ayler recorded the 'Spirits Rejoice' session for ESP at Judson Hall in 1965.

I don't think those photos were ever published. Too bad!

Edited August 25, 2003 by brownie

[Michael Fitzgerald]

Yes, entirely different music.

The Ayler photos were on display in Paris? I'm very interested as I'd love to include such photos in my Henry Grimes book.

Mike

[brownie]

Mike, the Ayler photos by W. Eugene Smith were not at the Paris show. I have never seen them. Would love to see them.

I shot some photos at the session. They are visible at the Albert Ayler.supanet site.

You can use the ones I took at the session.

[Vincent, Paris]

Some pictures from sessions at David X Young's loft are online, but it's unclear for me if they were shot by Eugene Smith or by Young himself : jazz pictures from David X Young

Some of those (if not all) are also visible on All About Jazz.

Edited August 25, 2003 by Vincent, Paris

[AllenLowe]

Reviving this because I just picked up the Eager, who is an old enthusiasm of mine, and wanted to comment on a few things - to my ears the earlier recordings (1947) sound better than the late recordings (1953), not surprising in view of the very weak sounding Eager from the album Handyland (1954, I think); also, the most interesting cut to me is the one on which Eager and Bird change horns - but not just for Bird's fasicnating tenor playing. Eager on this, despite struggling with the alto mouthpiece, is as Bird-like as any non-Bird alto I've ever heard - with a much stronger grasp of Brid's rhythmic conception than I would have expected, he's got some of the phrasing uncannily correct. I have heard no other alto player from this time who approximates the Bird-like feeling more accurately (except maybe Schildkraut, but he was going for something else), in spite of some technical lapses.

To add, I was at the Wein concert that Gitler mentions in which he brought Eager back for a Prez tribute (1981), and, contrary to what Gitler writes, I felt Eager played badly and was quite out of shape; I also had a bad encounter with Eager about this time, as I was dying to interview him for a magazine I was working for, and he was a complete SOB when I spoke to him on the phone, vain in the way that only an out-of-shape and sadly washed up ex-junkie can be. I had always wanted to meet him, so this was quite a letdown -but I do think he peeked in the late 1940s and than fell victim to his own junkie delusions. It's quite unfortunate, as the 1953 recordings on the Uptown, while much better than on Handyland, show the beggining of the kind of musical lethargy that would really end his career -

Edited January 4, 2005 by AllenLowe

[Larry Kart]

Interesting what you say, Allen, about Eager on alto coming closer to Bird than anyone other than Schildkraut. Another perhaps surprisingly strong candidate for coming close to Bird for me is not only another tenorman but one who probably owes a considerable debt to Eager, Richie Kamuca (on his album "Charlie"). Can't swear to the Kamuca-Eager connection from Kamuca's point of view, but this passage from Jack Kerouac's "The Subterraneans" suggests that Eager felt that there was one. Roger Beloit (a character based on Eager) is "... listening [on the radio] to Stan Kenton talk about the music of tomorrow and we hear a new young tenor man come on, Ricci Comucca, Roger Beloit says, moving back thin expressive purple lips, ‘This is the music of tomorrow?’" -- the implication clearly being that 1953 Kamuca strikes Beloit-Eager as a variant on his own 1948 self.

I heard Eager several times in-person during his '80s "comeback." The first time he was pretty feeble, like Rip Van Winkle awaking from his long nap; the second time, with Al Cohn as his frontline partner, he was still a bit wispy in terms of technique but otherwise much more together. On the other hand, Al not only was in fantastic form but also seemed determined (and I don't think this was my imagination) to crush Allen into a powder with the sheer strength of his playing. If so, I thought this might have gone back to episodes from the Eager's '40s heyday; I've heard that he could behave with insufferable arrogance (especially toward fellow young tenormen) at that time, and Al might have been on the receiving end of some of that shit back then. Another thought that came to mind was that Al might have been playing at Allen like that (if, in fact, he was) as a way of semi-angrily saying to him, "Wake up, man -- you've pissed away your gift."

[jazzbo]

Interesting. . . I've heard some very strong (in my opinion, others may vary) playing from Eager from England in the seventies, but I would have to revisit them to definitively say they pale in comparison to his forties playing, but that is my inclination to say from memory!

[Dan Gould]

As far as Eager's playing in his "comeback," anyone hear Pete Minger's Spinnster date, Taking Sides? Minger, Phil Urso and Eager, with Eddie Higgins. Sounds pretty solid to me.

[brownie]

As far as Eager's playing in his "comeback," anyone hear Pete Minger's Spinnster date, Taking Sides? Minger, Phil Urso and Eager, with Eddie Higgins. Sounds pretty solid to me.

Right, Dan!

And the same thing can be said about the 'Renaissance' album on Uptown.

[Pete B]

And the same thing can be said about the 'Renaissance' album on Uptown

Brownie, I certainly respect your opinion, so I'll have to have another listen. I remember being very disappointed with that album.

On the other hand, I've heard some tapes of live performance later that year during Eager's "comeback" and some of the are very fine indeed. I seem to remember a burning rendition of "Equinox" from somewhere in England, among others.

[AllenLowe]

I have the Kamuca plays Bird LP, and it is wonderful,and his playing certainly evokes Bird, but in a different way - the 1947 sides with Eager and Bird are quite astonishing to me - he really apes Bird's phrasing in a way that is very difficult to do, even including the little rhythmic asides that seem to characterize Bird - I actually had to listen a few times because I wondered if the liner notes were incorrect and if Bird was playing - however, the solo has some embouchure sloppiness that indeed proves it is Eager, unaccustomed to the smaller horn - one interesting footnote, the word on Eager is that he had a bad ear - this was said by some of his peers, apparently, and told to me by Bob Mover - it could mean he was a little slower to pick up on tunes than his fellow players - or, maybe, that they simply did not like him - of course, when your peers are Stan Getz, Serge Chaloff, and Al Cohn, having a "good ear" may quite relative -

Edited January 4, 2005 by AllenLowe

[Chuck Nessa]

I'm not a fan of Eager's comeback/Uptown release but do think Allen underestimates the Boston gig with Twardzik - not the same player he was 5 years earlier, but..........

[AllenLowe]

I don't think he plays badly, but there is a certain buoyancy missing, as there is on the 1954 recordings with George Handy - he certainly plays MUCH better on the Uptown than on Handyland, it just seems that some of the life has gone out of his playing - and hey Chuck, where that's Town Hall Charlie Parker?

Edited January 5, 2005 by AllenLowe

[ghost of miles]

I wish somebody would get around to re-issuing Eager's Savoy sides--C. Classics, if Savoy themselves won't do it.

[jazzbo]

David, how many sides are there? I know there is one track (Churchmouse) on "The Savoy Story" three cd set. I love his sideman appearances on the Winding and Moore cuts on the "In the Beginning Bop" Savoy/Denon cd.

[JSngry]

A few good Eager solos on cuts from the Sittin' In With label, last(?) domestically released on Mainstream...

Edited January 15, 2005 by JSngry