Home-town heroes and under-the-radar talent

[Tom Storer]

I don't know if there's already a thread somewhere with this basic theme, but I couldn't find it any in a cursory search.

I'm inspired to start this because a few weeks ago I was perusing a recent blindfold test answers thread--one I hadn't participated in, but I had a look for the hell of it. One of the tunes was by tenor saxophonist Shelley Carrol, from an album called "Shelley Carrol with Members of the Duke Ellington Orchestra." Jim Sangrey was so enthusiastic in his praise of Carrol that I figured I'd give the album a whirl, even though I hadn't actually heard the piece.

It arrived yesterday and it's more than I had hoped for. I had never heard of Carrol before, and if I had read about this album--a tenor/trumpet/rhythm quintet, all alumni of the Duke Ellington orchestra (all but one well post-Duke) playing mostly Ellington tunes--I would have bet it was a piece of Wyntonian orthodoxy, workmanlike and earnest and probably forgettable. But no! Carrol is great, well rooted in the mainstream tenor tradition, but with the edge and fire and gripping sound that one doesn't get enough of these days. This stuff is revivifying, believe me.

The album is on Leaning House Records, which stopped producing records in 1999. I picked it up second-hand from Amazon.

One of the tunes features Marchel Ivery on tenor sax--another good one I'd never heard of. He also recorded for Leaning House. I'll be looking into those, too.

All this got me thinking about the category of home-town heroes--the ones who don't go to New York and make it, but who are good enough that they could have. Let this thread be a place for us to tip one another off on all the fine players who for whatever reason labor in undeserved obscurity. Name names!

[king ubu]

Christophe Schweizer - not sure if he qualifies, but I just heard another live broadcast of his band "Normal Garden", all NY pros, among them Dave Binney, Eric Rasmussen, Jacob Sacks. He also had Billy Hart as his drummer a few years ago, plus has a very good album out on TCB with Jason Moran and George Colligan sharing organ (yup, organ!) duties, Billy Hart on drums and Ohad Talmor (another artist deserving mention here?) on tenor & soprano. Here's the cover of that disc:

I am not sure what he's up to, but he is playing over here now and then, and he's great. And I can't remember ever having seen his name here, so he sure is "under the radar"!

[Larry Kart]

I'm a big fan of Schweizer. He's really on to something -- as a player, composer, and bandleader. He's got one still in the can I believe -- "Pure Reason," with Dave Binney, Jacob Sacks, Hans Glawishnig, and Dan Weiss -- that's a killer. Of his available work, I'd suggest "Physique" (Omnitone) over the Full Circle Rainbow disc.

[king ubu]

Wow, I'm quite astonished you know him, Larry! I'll be watching out for other discs of his, thanks for the "Physique" recommendation!

[mrjazzman]

Buck Hill on tenor sax, the Wash. D.C. Postman gets my vote...............................

[king ubu]

Oh yes, Buck Hill is great! I have just found another of his Muse albums in a sale a week ago, with him on clarinet for half of the tunes. Beautiful, and I was caught totally off guard... had no idea he was playing the clarinet, too!

[Allan Songer]

My favorite player was the late, great Teddy Edwards--if there ever was an underappreciated "hometown hero" is was Teddy.

Some of my local favorites who don't get much (if any) national attention are Rickey Woodard, Benn Clatworthy, Jon Mayer (piano), and Justo Almario.

[kh1958]

I don't know if there's already a thread somewhere with this basic theme, but I couldn't find it any in a cursory search.

I'm inspired to start this because a few weeks ago I was perusing a recent blindfold test answers thread--one I hadn't participated in, but I had a look for the hell of it. One of the tunes was by tenor saxophonist Shelley Carrol, from an album called "Shelley Carrol with Members of the Duke Ellington Orchestra." Jim Sangrey was so enthusiastic in his praise of Carrol that I figured I'd give the album a whirl, even though I hadn't actually heard the piece.

It arrived yesterday and it's more than I had hoped for. I had never heard of Carrol before, and if I had read about this album--a tenor/trumpet/rhythm quintet, all alumni of the Duke Ellington orchestra (all but one well post-Duke) playing mostly Ellington tunes--I would have bet it was a piece of Wyntonian orthodoxy, workmanlike and earnest and probably forgettable. But no! Carrol is great, well rooted in the mainstream tenor tradition, but with the edge and fire and gripping sound that one doesn't get enough of these days. This stuff is revivifying, believe me.

The album is on Leaning House Records, which stopped producing records in 1999. I picked it up second-hand from Amazon.

One of the tunes features Marchel Ivery on tenor sax--another good one I'd never heard of. He also recorded for Leaning House. I'll be looking into those, too.

All this got me thinking about the category of home-town heroes--the ones who don't go to New York and make it, but who are good enough that they could have. Let this thread be a place for us to tip one another off on all the fine players who for whatever reason labor in undeserved obscurity. Name names!

Marchel Ivery's three CDs on Leaning House are all worthwhile.

http://www.amazon.com/Marchel-Ivery/artist...6554364-5032618

Edited September 6, 2006 by kh1958

[relyles]

Christophe Schweizer sounds interesting. I just ordered a used copy of Physique from Amazon.

[Larry Kart]

King Ubu -- I knew Schweizer from his American released or distributed stuff; the first one was "Normal Garden" on Mons, rec. 1994. At one point I wrote a lengthy, detailed e-mail to Schweizer about how much I dug his work, and he responded at length himself. At one point, I recall, he was going to ask me to modify what I'd said so he could use it as a recommendation for an academic musical position he was going to apply for, but then I didn't hear from him again. It was in the course of that e-mail exchange that he sent me a copy of "Pure Reason," that fantastic disc with Dave Binney et al. It's similar in feel to "Portas" (MGB), with Eric Rasmussen on alto, and both discs include the excellent pianist Jacob Sacks, but the bass-drum team on "Pure Reason" is remarkably locked in and inventive.

[Larry Kart]

Bad typing. The bassist on Schweizer's "Pure Reason" is Hans Glawischnig, admittedly not the easiest thing to type.

[Lazaro Vega]

Organissimo.

Drummer Tim Froncek.

Hometown heroes.

[Hot Ptah]

He is not exactly unknown, but for his talent compared to the attention he gets (little), I would argue that he is a Kansas City home town hero and under-the-radar talent: Jay McShann.

[relyles]

King Ubu -- I knew Schweizer from his American released or distributed stuff; the first one was "Normal Garden" on Mons, rec. 1994. At one point I wrote a lengthy, detailed e-mail to Schweizer about how much I dug his work, and he responded at length himself. At one point, I recall, he was going to ask me to modify what I'd said so he could use it as a recommendation for an academic musical position he was going to apply for, but then I didn't hear from him again.

The following quote is credited to Larry Kart, former deputy editor-in-chief of Down Beat Magazine, in the press kit available on Schweizer's web site.

"Thank you for the music. You are a very important musician for at least three reasons: because the music itself is new, intense, and fascinating, because it's being made of personal organic necessity, and because other gifted musicians obviously find it fascinating to play."

Edited September 6, 2006 by relyles

[Larry Kart]

Everyone knows about Von Freeman now, but he was under the radar for a LONG time. Nessa's two superb Freeman recordings from 1975 (when Von was already 53 years old) were a big step in changing that -- all that preceded them, I believe, was the Atlantic Freeman LP from about five years before.

[paul secor]

Guitarist Eddie Diehl - a Poughkeepsie, N.Y. hometown hero

Edited September 6, 2006 by paul secor

[sal]

Everyone knows about Von Freeman now, but he was under the radar for a LONG time. Nessa's two superb Freeman recordings from 1975 (when Von was already 53 years old) were a big step in changing that -- all that preceded them, I believe, was the Atlantic Freeman LP from about five years before.

I still think Vonski qualifies, as does Fred Anderson. True heroes of Chicago!

[sheldonm]

Everyone knows about Von Freeman now, but he was under the radar for a LONG time. Nessa's two superb Freeman recordings from 1975 (when Von was already 53 years old) were a big step in changing that -- all that preceded them, I believe, was the Atlantic Freeman LP from about five years before.

I still think Vonski qualifies, as does Fred Anderson. True heroes of Chicago!

...as well as Robert Shy and Willie Pickens.

[king ubu]

Thanks for the follow-up on Schweizer, Larry! I was reminded of him recently when I found the disc with his organ band in the sales bins and then again by a Normal Garden broadcast on swiss radio... his tunes, arrangements, indeed his ideas are special, yes!

Of course Von Freeman and Fred Anderson!

Irene Schweizer was a similar case. Until the Intakt label had been founded 20 years ago, she had some releases here and there (most notably on FMP), but she never quite "made it" and had day jobs etc. Great that Intakt is so dedicated to documenting her musical development! Her most recent solo disc, "First Choice: Piano Solo KKL Luzern" (Intakt CD 108) is great, and so is her "Chicago Piano Solo". As with Freeman or Anderson, she got rather well known over the course of the last two decades, so she is a bit beyond this thread...

Recently deceased Fredi Luescher, and before him also Urs Voerkel (he died a few years ago) would have qualified. A gifted pianist Luescher, and Voerkel some sort of father figure for the Zurich free scene.

[montg]

Earma Thompson from Chicago. Sirens Records has recorded her. I heard her live last spring, she has an Earl Hines type of thing going.

sirens records

[skeith]

Ernie Krivda, tenor saxophonist, Cleveland, OH

[jlhoots]

Ernie Krivda, tenor saxophonist, Cleveland, OH

That made me think of Dominick Farinacci (trumpet) who plays on Krivda's CJR & CIMP CDs & has his own series of CDs only released in Japan.

[HolyStitt]

My home-town favorites are: Bill Carrothers, Phil Hey, Anthony Cox, and Bob Pope.

The first three are pretty well known around town, but the last is very obscure.

Bob started playing drums locally in the late 1940's. His influences were Swing and BeBop. In the day, Bob worked as a Hennepin County social worker, but at night he played in pick up bands for touring musicians. Just some of the name players he played with were: Sonny Stitt, Warne Marsh, Johnny Griffin, Chet Baker, etc.

Sadly, Bob passed away a few years back from diabetic induced health problems.

[flat5]

Allan Praskin (1949) grew up in North Hollywood, Ca.

He learned to play Trad, Bebop, Free all before the age of 17.

On alto and clarinet. He could play fast through ANY set of changes at that age.

His first record was Zitro on ESP. I think he was 16 then. Made a few records in Japan while with the NORAD

band. Then Germany. A few records with Gunter Hampel. Since the late 1970s he has mostly played the hell out of bebop. He has been teaching in Lentz, Austria since the 1970s. He is one of the finest bebop alto players in the world.

http://shopping.yahoo.com/p:Allan%20Praskin:1927173127

Does anyone here have anything to say about him?

Edited September 7, 2006 by flat5

[Alexander Hawkins]

Pat Thomas (piano, electronics) from Oxford.