Charles Tolliver Big Band - "With Love" (due Jan. 16th)

[Spontooneous]

Ratliff calls Tolliver "a brilliant lead trumpeter." He plays his own leads? Or is Ratliff getting sloppy again?

Edited January 30, 2007 by Spontooneous

[JSngry]

Tolliver's in no way a big band lead trumpeter. That's a whole 'nother set of skills, specific skills, right there.

[.:.impossible]

Well, where I'm from, "I reckon" is as common as "hemmin' and hawin'". I glazed right over that one. I reckon I hear it once a day and don't even realize it.

[sidewinder]

Up for this thread, just listening to the CDs. Man, those trumpeters play high and loud ! Takes a couple of listens to really get into it (Tolliver has a truly unique arranging style - this sounds like no-one else) but once you do, this disk is happening. I agree that the bass is a bit under-recorded (looks like Malcolm Addey did the honours).

First time I ever saw a Mosaic for sale too in my local store.

[alocispepraluger102]

I caught a couple of tunes in performance at the IAJE conference last weekend, and yes, they were moving some air! In addition to that, I think the sound man had been mixing concerts all day (this was about 11:30pm) and had gradually gotten the levels louder and louder. So, even though the volume was at times physically painful, the band was playing that challenging music with great spirit, and a good time was being had by most (including me)!

was that david sanford and the pittsburgh collective?

[Larry Kart]

Purchased today and just started to listen. Oodles of energy here; also, while this band has its own sound, it reminds me of Dizzy's '40s band, that "Let's all jump off a cliff" thing. Fascinating to hear how Tolliver himself has developed over the years. I might want to hear McBee more strongly/clearly, but from what I can tell he's playing his ass off, as is Victor Lewis, who does come through strong and clear.

[Chuck Nessa]

Heard two track on the car stereo yesterday. My ears are still bleeding.

[DukeCity]

I caught a couple of tunes in performance at the IAJE conference last weekend...

was that david sanford and the pittsburgh collective?

Sorry for the late reply. No, it was Tolliver and his band. I was just doing some spring cleaning in my home office and came upon my still-sealed copy of the CD. I'll have to give it a spin tonite...

[DukeCity]

Heard two track on the car stereo yesterday. My ears are still bleeding.

No kidding! I just gave a listen to the whole disc, and I feel like I been beat up! It's just full throttle, non-stop (even the ballads, like "'Round Midnight").

Afterward, I put on Jimmy Heath's Turn Up The Heath to cleanse the palate. Swingin', ballsy writing and playing, but not nearly as rough around the edges as Tolliver's thing.

Edited March 13, 2007 by DukeCity

[Larry Kart]

Heard two track on the car stereo yesterday. My ears are still bleeding.

No kidding! I just gave a listen to the whole disc, and I feel like I been beat up! It's just full throttle, non-stop (even the ballads, like "'Round Midnight").

Afterward, I put on Jimmy Heath's Turn Up The Heath to cleanse the palate. Swingin', ballsy writing and playing, but not nearly as rough around the edges as Tolliver's thing.

About bleeding ears, I moved on yesterday to "'Round Midnight" and the next track, and suddenly felt (though this may be nuts on my part) that the harsh way this is recorded (and the harshness is in Tolliver's writing as well) is the perfect analogue to how angry I feel when I read the newspapers these days. It's like an "Ode To Rove and Gonzales."

[DukeCity]

Heard two track on the car stereo yesterday. My ears are still bleeding.

No kidding! I just gave a listen to the whole disc, and I feel like I been beat up! It's just full throttle, non-stop (even the ballads, like "'Round Midnight").

Afterward, I put on Jimmy Heath's Turn Up The Heath to cleanse the palate. Swingin', ballsy writing and playing, but not nearly as rough around the edges as Tolliver's thing.

About bleeding ears, I moved on yesterday to "'Round Midnight" and the next track, and suddenly felt (though this may be nuts on my part) that the harsh way this is recorded (and the harshness is in Tolliver's writing as well) is the perfect analogue to how angry I feel when I read the newspapers these days. It's like an "Ode To Rove and Gonzales."

Hey, that could be quite the marketing strategy: "Charles Tolliver and his Big Band: The Soundtrack to our Lives!"

Could be even better for BlueNote's bottom line than that whole Norah Jones thing!

[JSngry]

Hmmmm....

I have this album and very much enjoy it, but however "edgy" the playing by any and all concerned may or may not be, I can't help but feel that it's an edge whose impact (no pun intended) has been somewhat dulled by the passage of time. All these cats (including Billy Harper, who is - is - one of my True Tenor Heroes) had more "edge" in the 70s individually and collectively.

It's still fine, worthy music, but it hardly stirs the "militant" in me like the older Strata-East stuff did (and still does on a good day). That inner militant still exists, but this ain't the stuff to stir it. What it does stir is a rememberance of militancies past, which is all well and good (and certainly welcome), but it's certainly nothing to get the job done on today's terms in today's world. Truthfully, it wasn't enough to get the job done back then either, because here we are, right?

But hey - Billy Harper is a Voice Of God no matter what.

[bertrand]

I think a lot of contemporary recordings just sound dull and lifeless in general, regardless of how vibrant the performers may sound live. Are they just using too much compression?

For the Tolliver CD (haven't heard it yet), I have a really stupid question: is this 'bleeding ears' effect less pronounced if you turn down the volume, or does it require the listener to turn down the volume so much that the music can't really be heard properly?

Bertrand.

[Larry Kart]

I think a lot of contemporary recordings just sound dull and lifeless in general, regardless of how vibrant the performers may sound live. Are they just using too much compression?

For the Tolliver CD (haven't heard it yet), I have a really stupid question: is this 'bleeding ears' effect less pronounced if you turn down the volume, or does it require the listener to turn down the volume so much that the music can't really be heard properly?

Bertrand.

I haven't fiddled around with the settings too much, but my impression is that if you adjust the volume to the point where the softer passages (such as they are) sound at all realistic/lively, the louder passages will come close to making your ears bleed, while you can't really adjust the volume downwards so that the loudest passages sound normally loud. It's like almost all the sonic information is packed into a fairly narrow band in the high-volume level range. It's also a "blunt" sound -- highs are certainly there but without much air around them. On the other hand, all this may be in tune with the way the band actually plays -- exciting/intense and bashing -- though it's also hard to take for more than a few tracks at a time. In fact, now that I think of it, it may also be in tune with the Tolliver himself plays the trumpet -- blunt and intense.

[montg]

Larry, your description of the sonic aspects of the recording are exactly how I would have articulated it if I wasn's so inarticulate spot on, as they say.

A new Billy Harper interview at aaj.

billy harper

[Tjazz]

I wonder if we should assume that Mosaic's involvement will preclude BMG/Your Music getting ahold of this.

Since this is not a Limited Edition, I'm guessing BMG/Yourmusic will sell it eventually.

[John Tapscott]

I'm late to the game on this one. I listened to it a couple of times after I got it, but kind of held off on it. But this weekend, I have given it 5 listens in a row. It's so intense that your brain needs a couple spins to get used to it and to sort out all that's going on, but once this happens, watch out!! I think it's a very fine CD, and very nearly a great one, which not only gets easier to listen to which each spin but reveals more and more with each spin too. And man, the trumpet section. I've never heard anything quite like it. Usually one or two guys may be way up there, but in this case, the four seem to be way up there all the time, with a very narrow spread from top to bottom. This is the kind of strong music I really need to hear once in a while. Makes a lot of other jazz (and much of today's big band jazz) seem rather tame by comparison.

[sidewinder]

Heads up, the Tolliver Big Band are appearing on the Friday night in the Hudson Room at NorthSea this July.

Details (per website):

CHARLES TOLLIVER BIG BAND

Genre: Bigband/Swing

Performance on North Sea Jazz:

> Friday, July 13, 2007 | Hudson | 18:45 - 20:00

Line-up:

Charles Tolliver (trumpet); Todd Bayshore, Craig Handy (alto sax); Billy Harper, Bill Saxton (tenor sax); Howard Johnson (baritone sax); Chris Albert, David Guy, Keyon Harrold, David Weiss (trumpet); Clark Gayton, Stafford Hunter, Jason Jackson, Aaron Johnson (trombone); George George Cables (piano); Cecil McBee (bass); Victor Lewis (drums).

[sidewinder]

"George George Cables (piano); "

Any relation to George Cables, perchance?

[felser]

Now available on yourmusic.com for $6.99 (free shipping).

[david weiss]

Heads up, the Tolliver Big Band are appearing on the Friday night in the Hudson Room at NorthSea this July.

Details (per website):

CHARLES TOLLIVER BIG BAND

Genre: Bigband/Swing

Performance on North Sea Jazz:

> Friday, July 13, 2007 | Hudson | 18:45 - 20:00

Line-up:

Charles Tolliver (trumpet); Todd Bayshore, Craig Handy (alto sax); Billy Harper, Bill Saxton (tenor sax); Howard Johnson (baritone sax); Chris Albert, David Guy, Keyon Harrold, David Weiss (trumpet); Clark Gayton, Stafford Hunter, Jason Jackson, Aaron Johnson (trombone); George George Cables (piano); Cecil McBee (bass); Victor Lewis (drums).

We'll also be a the Blue Note Festival in Ghent, Belgium, Jazz a Vienne, Umbria and Pescara among others this Summer. Hope some of you can make it out to one of these places.

[bertrand]

Are you anywhere in France from 8/8 to 8/23?

Bertrand.

[david weiss]

Are you anywhere in France from 8/8 to 8/23?

Bertrand.

Nothing in August

I think Vienne is July 9 and Paris July 10

[sidewinder]

Up again with this thread for the forthcoming Charles Tolliver Big Band appearance at the London Jazz Festival, November 19th.

Charles will also be featured in conversation with Kevin le Gendre just before the show. Looks unmissable !

Wonder who will be in the band lineup for this appearance?

Edited November 8, 2007 by sidewinder

[btownsurvivor]

Surprised to hear people describe this session as "strident" "harsh" "blunt" "bleeding ears" etc.

This is a phenomenal big band album that captures what a brass session should sound like unleashed playing material they dig.

Most of the great big bands I've seen live in the past 25 years (Toshiko, Ellis, Maynard, Buddy, Bellson) could would and were supposed to send you to the floor with your hands over your ears. Ok, maybe we shouldn't have always sat in the first row, but nonetheless, that's half the reason we went.

I like the lead trumpet Charles Guy a lot. Never heard of him before and there's absolutely nothing about him on the web.

To my ears, Tolliver's horn is deliberately in contrast to the brass section. He's not accentuating the punch (or providing the uber-punch, a la Ellis or Maynard) , he's aiding and abetting the melodic and thematic development.

I haven't heard the Strata East stuff yet (just ordered the Mosaic) but I do find this music militant. Not politically militant, but "wake up, this is your life clock that's running" militant. A personal wake-up call of sorts.