connoisseur series500 Posted June 28, 2006 Report Posted June 28, 2006 (edited) Man, this is a killer album. Track 3, "Call of the Wild and Peaceful Heart" is awesome! Great work by Virgil Jones and Billy H. on that one. Joe Bonner is a great addition. Get this cd if you don't already have it!! Edited June 29, 2006 by connoisseur series500 Quote
sheldonm Posted June 28, 2006 Report Posted June 28, 2006 Man, this is a killer album. Track 3, "Call of the Wild and Peaceful Heart" is awesome! Great work by Virgin Jones and Billy H. on that one. Joe Bonner is a great addition. Get this cd if you don't already have it!! Virgil's an Indy guy....very good player, not well known! m~ Quote
Guest akanalog Posted June 28, 2006 Report Posted June 28, 2006 there is something i don't like about the composition of the long final track on this album. i think i just find the rhythmic um suspension? gets tedious. and harper's cowbell doesn't help! i love the song croquet ballet, though. but i think because of harper's intense style, the final track just gets wearying. not because no one can play, but just the composition itself doesn't lend itself to much good. which i hate to say because harper, jones and bonner make an intriguing combo-and dave friesen, who i dont' know from much else (many of his albums look uninteresting to me), sounds great on this one. he plays some soulful fills. i say this a lot, but i think my problem is the drumming on this one...the guy doesn't bring the heat or mix it up enough, maybe. Quote
ghost of miles Posted June 29, 2006 Report Posted June 29, 2006 Man, this is a killer album. Track 3, "Call of the Wild and Peaceful Heart" is awesome! Great work by Virgin Jones and Billy H. on that one. Joe Bonner is a great addition. Get this cd if you don't already have it!! Virgil's an Indy guy....very good player, not well known! m~ He's also on tenor saxophonist David Young's s/t 1975 Mainstream LP--was just playing most of that on the air today, as a matter of fact. Jones sounds very good there as well. Quote
JSngry Posted June 29, 2006 Report Posted June 29, 2006 Virgil Jones pops up on a lot of Bob Porter-produced Prestige dates from the late-60s/early-70s. Quote
BFrank Posted June 29, 2006 Report Posted June 29, 2006 there is something i don't like about the composition of the long final track on this album. i think i just find the rhythmic um suspension? gets tedious. and harper's cowbell doesn't help! i love the song croquet ballet, though. but i think because of harper's intense style, the final track just gets wearying. not because no one can play, but just the composition itself doesn't lend itself to much good. which i hate to say because harper, jones and bonner make an intriguing combo-and dave friesen, who i dont' know from much else (many of his albums look uninteresting to me), sounds great on this one. he plays some soulful fills. i say this a lot, but i think my problem is the drumming on this one...the guy doesn't bring the heat or mix it up enough, maybe. Let's see.......you don't like "Call of the Wild ..." (over 1/2 the album, time-wise) or the cowbell or Billy's "intense style", and you don't like the drumming. Doesn't leave much. Maybe you would be better off with Lee Morgan's final album. It has "Croquet Ballet" on it. Quote
B. Goren. Posted June 29, 2006 Report Posted June 29, 2006 (edited) Man, this is a killer album. Track 3, "Call of the Wild and Peaceful Heart" is awesome! Great work by Virgil Jones and Billy H. on that one. Joe Bonner is a great addition. Get this cd if you don't already have it!! This is a very good album but definitely not Harper's best recording. I prefer his later recordings like this one: Edited June 29, 2006 by B. Goren. Quote
connoisseur series500 Posted June 29, 2006 Author Report Posted June 29, 2006 Man, this is a killer album. Track 3, "Call of the Wild and Peaceful Heart" is awesome! Great work by Virgil Jones and Billy H. on that one. Joe Bonner is a great addition. Get this cd if you don't already have it!! This is a very good album but definitely not Harper's best recording. I prefer his later recordings like this one: Well, "Somalia" happens to be my personal favorite as well, but "Black Saint" isn't far behind. Quote
BFrank Posted June 30, 2006 Report Posted June 30, 2006 This one happens to be quite spectacular, as well. Quote
Guest akanalog Posted June 30, 2006 Report Posted June 30, 2006 Let's see.......you don't like "Call of the Wild ..." (over 1/2 the album, time-wise) or the cowbell or Billy's "intense style", and you don't like the drumming. Doesn't leave much. Maybe you would be better off with Lee Morgan's final album. It has "Croquet Ballet" on it. i do like the final lee morgan album a lot. and i like that version of croquet ballet. however i do like harper's cowbell on the black saint version. it is just the last track really, that i don't enjoy. Quote
Guest akanalog Posted June 30, 2006 Report Posted June 30, 2006 and i do like harper's style. just not over that third track's rhythm. Quote
JSngry Posted June 30, 2006 Report Posted June 30, 2006 Billy on record is great. Billy live is beyond great. The "flaws" that may exist on records are swept away by the sheer physical & spiritual energy of him & his group. Don't miss it if you ever get a chance to hear him. Quote
sheldonm Posted June 30, 2006 Report Posted June 30, 2006 Billy on record is great. Billy live is beyond great. The "flaws" that may exist on records are swept away by the sheer physical & spiritual energy of him & his group. Don't miss it if you ever get a chance to hear him. ...saw him with the McCoy Tyner Big Band a few years ago.........nice! m~ Quote
Rooster_Ties Posted June 30, 2006 Report Posted June 30, 2006 (edited) Billy on record is great. Billy live is beyond great. The "flaws" that may exist on records are swept away by the sheer physical & spiritual energy of him & his group. Don't miss it if you ever get a chance to hear him. I've never heard a Billy Harper album that I didn't like, nor one that didn't grow on me more and more deeply over time. I can't understand why he isn't better known, or why he doesn't have a contract with a more high-profile label (BN - I'm looking at you). Or if not BN, then at least something with better distribution than what he's had over the years. He ought to have placed somewhere in the top five in the jazz polls every year for the last 20 (or 25), and his discs ought not be rare as hens' teeth either. Edited June 30, 2006 by Rooster_Ties Quote
Chalupa Posted June 30, 2006 Report Posted June 30, 2006 Wasn't this album the first release on the Black Saint label???? I've seen Billy twice. Once w/ his own band about 15 years ago and again last month when he was part of the Malachi Thompson Freebop band. Great player. Wish he would come to town more often Quote
BFrank Posted July 1, 2006 Report Posted July 1, 2006 Yes. Black Saint WAS the first Black Saint release. I would love to see Max Roach's 1977 album "The Loadstar" w/ Billy, Cecil Bridgewater & Reggie Workman released on CD (hel-looooooo Mosaic!). It's a killer album. Besides having it re-mastered, it would be great to have the each tune that comprises this 2 LP set (there are only 2) joined rather than divided over 2 sides of each disk. Quote
ep1str0phy Posted July 1, 2006 Report Posted July 1, 2006 This one happens to be quite spectacular, as well. He did a killer version of the title track at Yoshi's a couple of months back... my girlfriend was thrilled (even proclaimed, walking back to a late BART train, "I think I'm starting to get it!"--jazz, that is. This one may last...). Quote
BFrank Posted July 1, 2006 Report Posted July 1, 2006 This one happens to be quite spectacular, as well. He did a killer version of the title track at Yoshi's a couple of months back... my girlfriend was thrilled (even proclaimed, walking back to a late BART train, "I think I'm starting to get it!"--jazz, that is. This one may last...). I saw one of those shows, too. They were really ON that week. Quote
Late Posted June 11, 2015 Report Posted June 11, 2015 Been spinning this one (and Black Saint) all morning. The track "Priestess," for some reason, feels like a memorial track today. Quote
soulpope Posted June 11, 2015 Report Posted June 11, 2015 Been spinning this one (and Black Saint) all morning. The track "Priestess," for some reason, feels like a memorial track today. !! Quote
clifford_thornton Posted June 12, 2015 Report Posted June 12, 2015 This one happens to be quite spectacular, as well. He did a killer version of the title track at Yoshi's a couple of months back... my girlfriend was thrilled (even proclaimed, walking back to a late BART train, "I think I'm starting to get it!"--jazz, that is. This one may last...). Seems like it has, Karl. Seems like it has. Quote
felser Posted June 12, 2015 Report Posted June 12, 2015 His best stuff has always been on a whole other plane of existence to me. Saw him live at the Painted Bride Art Center in Philly in the early 90's, was fantastic experience. Still remember the chills from "Capra Black". The DVD of the concert in Poland has some breath taking moments, especially on the 30 minute "Cry of Hunger", an unparalleled experience. Quote
sidewinder Posted June 12, 2015 Report Posted June 12, 2015 (edited) Billy Harper was in the Strata-East lineup that played London recently with Charles Tolliver. Predictably good - always a pleasure to hear him play. Virgil Jones also appears on RRK's 'Slightly Latin' on Limelight, I think. Edited June 12, 2015 by sidewinder Quote
kh1958 Posted June 12, 2015 Report Posted June 12, 2015 I'd really like to hear him in person as a leader--all my experiences have been excellent but always as a sideman. Quote
JSngry Posted June 12, 2015 Report Posted June 12, 2015 He brought his group with Francesca Tanksley (and whatever happened to her?) and, iirc, Louie Spears & Malcolm Hinson to the DMA "Jazz Under The Stars" somewhere in the early 90(?). The opening act was a James Clay group featuring a just-happened-to-be-in-town Bobby Bradford, and Clay was so late for his own gig that they started without him. Those were the days. Billy killed it though (as did Tanksley). And really, is one of the nicest guy to talk to I've ever encountered. Quote
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