BFT 45 discussion

[Man with the Golden Arm]

I've put up some old and recent favorites ... mostly found thru the beauty of virtual crate-digging, friendly tips 'n turn-ons and hints from the Bastids.

Nothing heavy hitting here in the essence of blindfold tests past - just a quick stream of consciousness run at the vault that now takes up much of a hard drive.

A single disk shot here. Plus a download-able bonus track 25 cuts in all and many not clocking over the four minute mark.

Cheers.

arright, then! tracks weren't properly tagged,

dagnabbit! i even downloaded some fancy drop in thing to get rid of all the remnant tags and put my own on. looks like it did not work, er, i did not work it properly.

the segue of the tracks is more important than themselves.

so .... here is a hint list ... but i see many have been flushed like fat pheasants. please line it up according to the times ... feghers!

1) 2:35 intro with moniker.

2) 2:43 "james"

3) 2:36 "co-mann home baby"

4) 3:17 vibes and saxomopho

5) 2:37 twistalian

6) 4:19 vibarimba with piano

7) 3:51 big band kitschoogaloo

8) 2:24 piano intro to brass w/ organ

9) 2:33 big band latin

10) 3:05 again

11) 4:30 snakey-esque

12) 5:52

13) 3:13 latin tip

14) 2:50 flute

15) 2:37 vocaleeze

16) 4:36 flute

17) 3:18 flute descarga

18) 4:44 chime and flute intro

19) 1:34 BONGOS

20) 4:00 vibarimba

21) 2:40 bass intro to big band swank

22) 3:28 HELL YEAH!

23) 3:22 hide the dog

24) 2:33 don't let him out till the baris

Edited March 1, 2007 by Man with the Golden Arm

[king ubu]

arright, then! tracks weren't properly tagged, so I hope I have them in the correct order on my ipod, here's few first ones:

#1 "Comin' Home Baby" (Ben Tucker). Very nice opener! Barisax is very cool at the bottom! All together a flimsy little thingie

#3 Ha! Wazzat? Some film soundtrack à la "Sweet Smell of Success" (or "Man with the Golder Arm"? g: )? Oh, wait, what the fuck... a pastiche of all-too familiar licks, Peter Gunn? Stoopid little funny ditty! Nice trumpet bits, more nice barisax! I like this one! The timpany things are a bit roughly edited, though...

#3 This sounds slightly more serious now... tenor is pretty nice, I assume I should be able to pin it down?

#4 Helen Merrill doing "Arcangeli Twist"? Great fun! Not what Merrill did that often, I think... her italian accent is pretty weird -- how old/young was she when she went to the US? SOme words sound pretty proper, but much of it sounds like some yankee attempting to sing in a serious kind of language... ha!

nice cover, too:

#5 Them doorbells are pretty prominent so far, aren't they? Nice little groove tune, this wouldn't be out of place on a "serious" jazz album, but it's plenty of fun, too, with them congas and all! This doesn't happen to be that Jerzy chap?

#6 Ha! Corny boogie stuff à la late 60s Blue Note... some kind of pop song from those years, I assume? Would make a nice film soundtrack for something like Elliot Gould's private eye flick by the late great Altman...

Stanley T on tenor? Sure reminds me of some of his later BN albums... never my favourite kind of stuff, but occasionally I still play some of it. Definitely not bad for what it is!

#7 Similar stuff, corny guitar, feeping flute and organ... just like I imagine what it sounds like in MWTG's house!

#8 Hm, sounds familiar, the opening piano lick is of course stolen from Herbie...

#9 Sort of a rip-off of Mogie's "Sidewinder", groove-wise? Not bad, no sir! Very nice speech-like trombone solo! Very nice track! Tenor sounds familiar, but it's not Joe Hen, I think... or is this from the Julian Priester date on "Sonic Boom"? That would make George Coleman on tenor... doesn't fit with the timings on AMG, though.

Edited March 1, 2007 by king ubu

[sidewinder]

Track 17 is a piece of cake. A classic of 60s Brit-jazz by this fine altoist/flautist and available on this one !

Track 4

[sidewinder]

First impressions half-way in on disk A is that there is a definite 'Dusty' influence to this compilation !

[sidewinder]

Track 12 is Track 6 of This One. A fine trumpeter who sadly passed away only quite recently and this was the only recording under his own name. The tenorist is a certain 'rotund' individual..

I wonder if this is track 9 on Ubu's Ipod?

Edited March 1, 2007 by sidewinder

[sidewinder]

Track 15 is The 4th Track from this fabulous compilation !

[Man with the Golden Arm]

arright, then! tracks weren't properly tagged,

dagnabbit! i even downloaded some fancy drop in thing to get rid of all the remnant tags and put my own on. looks like it did not work, er, i did not work it properly.

the segue of the tracks is more important than themselves.

so .... here is a hint list ... but i see many have been flushed like fat pheasants. please line it up according to the times ... feghers!

1) 2:35 intro with moniker.

2) 2:43 "james"

3) 2:36 "co-mann home baby"

4) 3:17 vibes and saxomopho

5) 2:37 twistalian

6) 4:19 vibarimba with piano

7) 3:51 big band kitschoogaloo

8) 2:24 piano intro to brass w/ organ

9) 2:33 big band latin

10) 3:05 again

11) 4:30 snakey-esque

12) 5:52

13) 3:13 latin tip

14) 2:50 flute

15) 2:37 vocaleeze

16) 4:36 flute

17) 3:18 flute descarga

18) 4:44 chime and flute intro

19) 1:34 BONGOS

20) 4:00 vibarimba

21) 2:40 bass intro to big band swank

22) 3:28 HELL YEAH!

23) 3:22 hide the dog

24) 2:33 don't let him out till the baris

Edited March 1, 2007 by Man with the Golden Arm

[Man with the Golden Arm]

bingo!

but

Track 17 is a piece of cake. A classic of 60s Brit-jazz by this fine altoist/flautist and available on this one !

Track 4

this one should be track 16

Track 12 is Track 6 of This One. A fine trumpeter who sadly passed away only quite recently and this was the only recording under his own name. The tenorist is a certain 'rotund' individual..

I wonder if this is track 9 on Ubu's Ipod?

this one should be track 11

Track 15 is The 4th Track from this fabulous compilation !

this one should be track 14

but you are right on all counts!

Edited March 1, 2007 by Man with the Golden Arm

[sidewinder]

[king ubu]

sorry, my order above then is mixed-up... I'll re-order the tags and then the post, later - haven't been able to listen to more than I posted about... and of course I haven't read any posts here, yet...

[Man with the Golden Arm]

#9 Sort of a rip-off of Mogie's "Sidewinder", groove-wise? Not bad, no sir! Very nice speech-like trombone solo! Very nice track! Tenor sounds familiar, but it's not Joe Hen, I think... or is this from the Julian Priester date on "Sonic Boom"? That would make George Coleman on tenor... doesn't fit with the timings on AMG, though.

funny thing is I think your talking about track # 11 on my list here and why oh why do I remember these things but I know you have this.

[Man with the Golden Arm]

#1 "Comin' Home Baby" (Ben Tucker). Very nice opener! Barisax is very cool at the bottom! All together a flimsy little thingie

yes, especially if your'e envisioning a go-go dancer in the all together except for a flimsy little thingy. (and this should be #3)

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Well, earwig oh!

1 Yay! “The man with the golden arm”! How else to start? Wonderful! Would this be Ray Anthony’s version? It’s a very fun version and swings a treat!

2 The “James Bond Monkey”! Oh YEAHHHHH! So who’s this lot? Oh WMP is telling me it’s someone I’ve never heard of. Well, I wouldn’t have guessed. Perry & the Harmonics – who knew?

3 OK – now I’ve got my word processor covering up WMP, so no more clues. And this is a very, very nice version of “Comin’ home baby”. Another band I don’t know. Well, maybe I do. This is very reminiscent of the Mar-Keys. But it ain’t, cos they never recorded this. And it ain’t the Bo-Keys, either, cos their version is slower. So, this could be the Packers. Dunno, cos I ain’t got the Packers LP. Just listened to it twice over, it’s so nice!

4 Here’s a tenor player I ought to recognise. Phoof! Shades of Plas Johnson! Drums and conga are so right together in this! And that odd piano/celeste player. I think I need a few more listens before a name comes out of the woodwork. Nice stuff, too.

5 Very strange Latinish groove to this one. Kinda lounge, kinda funky. Oh a singer! Singing in what sounds like nonsense Spanish. Ah, it’s a twist! Well! Waddayaknow!

This is a real fun set Vint!

6 Very groovy piano & vibes with bongos in the rhythm section keeping that groove goin’ nicely. So much going on it’s hard to hear it all in one go. Is this vibist the guy who played a live gig with Jimmy Smith a couple of years before he died? Torres or something? Or maybe this is something by Cal Tjader – which I wouldn’t be likely to recognise.

7 A funky big band – playing very loud! I recognise these changes but not the tune. Very ‘60s type of material. Love the tenor player – very straight-ahead in the manner of Rusty Bryant, but different. And the alto man has a proper lead sound. Actually this reminds me of some of those cheap albums they used to produce in those days with great studio musicians let a little bit loose!

8 I get a strong Henry Mancini feeling about this track. Well, not sure about whether he’d have a guitarist playing like that. Can’t pin this down at all. Very Booker T influenced organist. Hmmm.

9 I think I know this one. No I don’t. Lovely piano player. Could this be from one of Ray Bryant’s Cadet albums? Or maybe it’s Ramsey? It’s got that Cadet feel about it.

10 More funk! I seem to recognise the sound here. Two trumpet players? Very nice stuff! Oh, here comes the tenor player. Another one I ought to know. Yes get it! Wooooo!

11 There’s so much stuff in this that I feel familiar with, but I’m really not! This sounds like it OUGHT to be Blue Mitchell and Harold Vick, but isn’t. The rhythm section’s not quite right for them.

12 Oh, a nice bit of 6/8 with a lot of Timmons feeling in it. Can’t think who these players are, but I do like them all.

13 Latin groove, par excellence. Oh then we’re off to the races! Oh what an effin’ groove! And to get all this in 3:12! Phew!

14 Tenor and flute playing games with the pianist. Don’t know who these guys are. Like it.

15 Big band with scat singer really wailin’ away! Is (s)he playing along on guitar? Wow! Very interesting.

16 I keep thinking I recognise these intros, then I don’t. Another glorious bit of 6/8 featuring a flute player. I’m not very good at flute players but this guy sounds as if he’s listened very carefully to some West African players. Ah, could it be Rahsaan? It’s a gas! Pianist indeed reminds me of Randy Weston. But I doubt the two have ever recorded together. A lovely thing indeed!

17 More flute. Latin groove. This reminds me of Herbie Mann. But not the band. Seems strange to have a bass solo in such a short track.

18 Another flute player. What’s that strange drum-type thing? “Taboo” – a very funky version, as well. It wouldn’t surprise me if this weren’t one of Cal Tjader’s ‘60s cuts. Equally, it could be a track from the Afro-Blues Quintet Plus 1 that I don’t have. I really like that funny drum thing. I think it’s the A-B Q + 1.

19 Wow! A delicate killer! Actually sounds like soundtrack music from a chase scene. Phew! (again)

20 “Under Paris skies”/”Peter Gunn” What a combination! And how funky! I’m tempted to say a lot of this sounds like lounge music, but it’s much too good for that. Or, my view of lounge music is unwontedly deprecating.

21 This is more stuff that I NEaRLY recognise. These bands are so just off to one side. I luv M!

22 I’ve just gotta shake my head at this stuff. There are nice soloists. Here’s a lovely alto player. And really competent musicians and arrangers generally. But they’re making all these short little tracks. What for? This one is a bit Basie-like. But it’s not really like his style – too fast but, in particular, too short.

23 And here’s another one that sounds like a bunch of European sidemen hired to make some kind of cheapo LP in the ‘60s – but for what market? A market that actually doesn’t listen to the music? I can’t work it out. Oh no, that’s Ben Webster there, surely? No, it’s someone very influenced by him.

Were some of these albums intended for the hifi/stereo/32 track recording demonstration trade?

24 And here, amid another of these big bands, is a very nice bit of Jimmy Smith style organ playing. And a slightly rocky guitarist.

Bonus track So delightful! That organist has a great bass line. I get an impression of an early 70s British fusion band – Oblivion Express or one like that. But I don’t think it’s anything like as obvious as that. Fuckin’ ELL!

I just don’t believe this stuff Vint. OH MY GODDD (to paraphrase Chewy).

What a ride! On reflection over a ciggy, I suspect a lot of the funk and Latin band stuff comes off compilations that SouStation1 has got you all worked up about in the last few months. And the big band stuff comes from Command and other similar labels engaged in the hifi business.

Thanks.

Thanks.

Thanks.

MG

[Man with the Golden Arm]

(The Magnificent Goldberg @ Mar 3 2007, 03:11 PM)

Well, earwig oh!

glad you dug it!!! yay! and some quick comments:

4 Here’s a tenor player I ought to recognise. Phoof! Shades of Plas Johnson! Drums and conga are so right together in this! And that odd piano/celeste player. I think I need a few more listens before a name comes out of the woodwork. Nice stuff, too.

bingo!

11 There’s so much stuff in this that I feel familiar with, but I’m really not! This sounds like it OUGHT to be Blue Mitchell and Harold Vick, but isn’t. The rhythm section’s not quite right for them.

15 Big band with scat singer really wailin’ away! Is (s)he playing along on guitar? Wow! Very interesting.

less melanine on 11 and ... these two cuts you should and will know!

18 Another flute player. What’s that strange drum-type thing? “Taboo” – a very funky version, as well. It wouldn’t surprise me if this weren’t one of Cal Tjader’s ‘60s cuts. Equally, it could be a track from the Afro-Blues Quintet Plus 1 that I don’t have. I really like that funny drum thing. I think it’s the A-B Q + 1.

got the tilte of that exotika and funnily enuf I had a cut from the Afro Blues Qntt on this during my prepping!!

19 Wow! A delicate killer! Actually sounds like soundtrack music from a chase scene. Phew! (again)

rhymes with...

20 “Under Paris skies”/”Peter Gunn” What a combination! And how funky! I’m tempted to say a lot of this sounds like lounge music, but it’s much too good for that. Or, my view of lounge music is unwontedly deprecating.

nice comparison there! HA!

23 And here’s another one that sounds like a bunch of European sidemen hired to make some kind of cheapo LP in the ‘60s – but for what market? A market that actually doesn’t listen to the music? I can’t work it out. Oh no, that’s Ben Webster there, surely? No, it’s someone very influenced by him.

damn, howda ya'll do it.

Were some of these albums intended for the hifi/stereo/32 track recording demonstration trade?

dunno. only one cut in here is "library music" but many are probably put out to appeal to that post juke-box short attention span that my parents evidently had.

Bonus track So delightful! That organist has a great bass line. I get an impression of an early 70s British fusion band – Oblivion Express or one like that. But I don’t think it’s anything like as obvious as that. Fuckin’ ELL!

ELL YEAH!

I suspect a lot of the funk and Latin band stuff comes off compilations that SouStation1 has got you all worked up about in the last few months.

No, that SS1 stuff seems more modern based Funk with a load of geri curl. Most of this Funk is combed over.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

(The Magnificent Goldberg @ Mar 3 2007, 03:11 PM)

19 Wow! A delicate killer! Actually sounds like soundtrack music from a chase scene. Phew! (again)

rhymes with...

Mitch Miller

No, 'ang on a tick...

Gertrude Stein

Still not right...

Slide Hampton

(needs more thought)

MG

Edited March 3, 2007 by The Magnificent Goldberg

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

No, that SS1 stuff seems more modern based Funk with a load of geri curl. Most of this Funk is combed over.

Eh?

(Two nations divided by a single language)

MG

[Man with the Golden Arm]

No, that SS1 stuff seems more modern based Funk with a load of geri curl. Most of this Funk is combed over.

Eh?

(Two nations divided by a single language)

MG

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

No, that SS1 stuff seems more modern based Funk with a load of geri curl. Most of this Funk is combed over.

Eh?

(Two nations divided by a single language)

MG

I THINK I see what you mean.

MG

[Man with the Golden Arm]

1 Yay! “The man with the golden arm”! How else to start? Wonderful! Would this be Ray Anthony’s version? It’s a very fun version and swings a treat!

nope, not Ray Anthony. I've actually only heard of a couple of guys on this somewhat West Coast grab bag.

one on here plays "mostly" flute and the trumpeter fronted Jimmy Smith's Verve drummer five nights a week over here. percussion has a vibist that is the west coast version of that Brit export who played much with the tenorist from track 11.

[Durium]

Thanks MvtGA for this compilation - A lot of funky music and to be honest - I'm not an expert to that kind of music, but a quick learner ( I hope !! )

1. This is a great opener.

2 - 3. Both rather funky tunes and not really my piece of cake.

6. I tought about James Spaulding playing the flute !!

8. There are a lot of flute players around in this compilation. Is this Sam Most?

13. I like the vibes

17. My first thoughts were Ted Jones - Mel Lewis or the Gil Evans orchestra.

I'll give it a second spin later this week and maybe new thoughts will pop up !!

Survey | Keep swinging

Durium

[JSngry]

Late to the party, again. Sorry, time's been quite crowded here.

The usual thanks and disclaimers firmly in place, here we go...

TRACK ONE - Soundtrack music? Seems like this has been on a BFT before... Really interesting recording quality, very dry, w/some parts right in your face, others pulled back in the mix to varying degrees...Sounds a little like some Alex North thing... "jazzy" and all that. Not much to say other than it's played well.

TRACK TWO - Almost sounds like Sammy Davis, Jr on the intro...Kinda hip, kinda cheesy bar music. Fun stuff, and the tenor player sure ain't no poser.

TRACK THREE - "Comin' Home Baby", obviously. Short, airplay ready. The 9th in the first bar of the guitarist's solo gives him away as a possible azz player, and the rest of the solo adds credence tot hat suspicion. AMG show a Howard roberts version of this tune that's this exact length, so that's my guess. Probably form one of theose Capitol sides. Pleasantly functional, and the high level of musicianship by everybody involved is belied in spite of the "blatantly" commercial intent of the production.

TRACK FOUR - Sounds like the old Columbia studio...Tenor player has some disntictive qualities I might have reconized back when I was obsessive about such things...could be Plas Johnson, but I'm not used to hearing him recorded like this. It's ok, but I'm left with a feeling of hearing more of a "project" or "experiment" than anything else, which is ok, but...

TRACK FIVE - A TV theme? Wow, this one's weird...obviously badass players playing obviously cheesy music, and nobody's even trying to reconcile those opposites. Oh, it's foreign, that explains everything!

TRACK SIX - Lots of bongos/congas on this BFT... Good bass/drum hookup underneath it all. Sounds like really-good-but-not-too-deep players having a high quality good time, and that's ok by me. And I do like the drummer, in this context anyway. Vibist sounds like he/she might be able to go deeper than this under the rigth conditions.

TRACK SEVEN - Ok, this one I have. Woody on Cadet, "Here I Am Baby" from the Light My Fire album. Ya' know, this stuff sounds pretty cheesy on the first few 1-1000 listens, and I suppose it is, but if you take it on its own terms, it's got it's own integrity. Not at all a bad piece of writing (Richard Evans), and the longer it goes on, the groovier it gets, even if the mix is waaaay weird (as it was on all three of the Herman/Cadet sides). Coming immediately out of tenor solo hits a seriously badass groove, even if its over almost as soon as it begins. The biggest hangup is the sax section phrasing on the main melody, with Woody playing lead. God bless him, he just wasn't as funky as this chart called for (and it's written/played perhaps a little too literally for its own good). But when the section switches from unison to harmony, following the lead player becomes slightly less important (insider secret here, folks ), and you can hear the soul factor go up a notch or two as the sction boosts him. That's one of the kicks about big-band listening/playing, the whole individual-inside-the-section thing,

That's Frank Vicari on tenor, and he sounds nice & comfortable playing in this groove. No bullshit, no flash, he just rides the groove and plays with a lot of feeling. No problems here. Sounds like he's heard, dug, and understood Maceo, and hey, more power to that. Also in the band are ringers Phil Upchurch & Morris Jennings. The next Herman Cadet side (Heavy Exposure) added Donny Hathaway on organ & is the keeper of the bunch imo, but Light My Fire has a few moments of its own, and Vicari's solo and the ensemble afterwards are among them.

I imagine this cut will draw a lot of snide "old guys trying to sound hip" type comments, and not without some justification, but there's more going on here than just that. Woody's band at this time was full of younger cats (John Hicks is on here, btw, & a fresh-out-of-NTSU Ed Soph on drums seems to be enjoying himself behind Vicari), and if there's a not complete assimilation of what's being gone for, by no means is there a total lack of same either. I can here the lack of condescencion just as much as I can the lack of total "authenticity", so the glass is either half-full or half-empty, depending on what you want to see and who you want to dis. Far, far worse was done during the time by others trying to do somewhat the same thing, so hey. Shortcomings and all, this is a cut which I'm actually pretty fond of, which doesn't mean that I "love", or even "like" it, just that it doesn't piss me off and that it actually makes me smile and sorat want to dance (and during Vicari's solo, dammit, I do dance. So in this case, fuck "hipness", real or sought after. A smile and a dance gets the job done here.

TRACK EIGHT - Like I said, far worse things were done...

The band is totally useless on this (trumpet voicings worthy of the early 40s Harry James band do not fit here...), but the rhythm section cops a nice little groove, and piccolo, hey, you gotta love piccolo (or not...). Guitar solo is stupid, but that keyboard thing is wackycool/stoopidfunkyfresh. And a modulation...9.99999 time out of 10, modulations piss me off, and this one is no exception.

Ultimately a "novelty", but not without elements of interest.

TRACK NINE - Oh, for the days when budgets had room for a roomfull of percussionists! Not too fond of this one, but I bet it's by a writer I usually respect. That weird little quasi-"Spanish" thing on the V-IV progression tells me that it's somebody trying to be "different" in a blatantly commercial ba, but, hey, so what?

And compare the stiffass trumpet solo here to the looseness of Vicari's looseness on the Herman thing. Not all cheese is created equal!

TRACK TEN - Oh god, Leslies run amock. In the name of Lloyd Bridges, HELP ME DEAR GOD!!!!

Gotta be Clark Terry, maybe on that Impulse! side he did w/Chico O'Farrill, but I hope not. Both men desrve better (or maybe not, if they volunteered for this). But no, I don't think so. Maybe that Mainstream album Angyumaluma Bongliddleany Nannyany Awhan Yi!, which would mean Jerome Richardson on tenor iirc, and that sounds plausible. This ain't bad so much as it is...ok, it's bad. Fun, and not stupid or clueless, but still bad. Sorry.

That Woody cut sounds better and better.

TRACK ELEVEN - LOUDER, PLEASE!

Now, the head sounds really good (that opening phrase reminds me of a pop tune from the mid-late 1960s, and it's driving me crazy that I can't remember which one...), what about the rest of it. Trumpet ain't bad at all, tenor's got a great tone, if a little "lick-y", hey hold it right there - I hear VanGelder reverb, and that tenor reminds me of late-60s Frank Foster, and I do believe that's Garnett Brown on trombone, so no more calls, we have a guess - an edited (nothing onthe LP clocks in at anything resembling 4:30) cut from Manhattan Fever. Own it, never listen to it. I'd like to hear more from the players involved, but again, worse has been done in the name of this type bag. It don't suck.

But I don't hear any editing, so the 4:30 thing is kinda And come to think of it, that's not really Rudy's piano sound (although at this volume it's har to really tell...). I'm stumped.

TRACK TWELVE - Sorta sounds like on of those Clarke-Bolan Euro/American hybrid offshoots that were so hip back in the day. Nivce tenor playing, a little Harold Land-inflected. Trumpet is thoughtful, but not really projecting a lot of personality to me. Piano's recorded pretty harshly, bass sounds like there's a bit of direct involved, and drums have a certain brittleness to them that says mid/late-70s recording. Good, but in a style that was maybe already on the verge of being played out even then. But not at all bad.

TRACK THIRTEEN - I think I'm getting listening fatigue, so this is probably better than it's hitting me. Tenorist has personality, though. That much comes through. Somewhat "west coast" in tone and feel, he is. Overall though, the piece comes off as a little "generic". sorry.

TRACK FOURTEEN - Interesting mix...Drums waaaay on top. Doesn't really gel for me, but I can hear what they're trying to do...I like it, and would be interested in finding out who it is.

TRACK FIFTEEN - HEAVY reverb, reminiscent of what Creed Taylor did at Verve. And there is a Van Gelder studio sound to the whole thing, so yeah, some Verve thing maybe. Sounds like Kenny Burrell on guitar, but that doesn't really narrow anything down, does it... Kinda "show bizzy", but that's the intent, no coubt. No idea, but I bet the roster is impressive all the way around.

TRACK SIXTEEN - Almost sounds like Rahsaan, almost sounds like Elvin...Pretty good stuff, and not almost.

TRACK SEVENTEEN - Hmmmmm....interesting....there's a Dolphy-esque quality to the flute tone in the solo, but that ain't Eric. Suggestive of Eddie Palmieri, but....Don't know, but am interested!

TRACK EIGHTEEN - Oh my! Again, don't know, but am interested! I forget what those drums are called, but to hear them played by a real Latin conguero is an ear-opener!

TRACK NINETEEN - Detective Show Jazz. Not a fan of the idiom as a rule, and this is no exception. Sorry. But I bet that altoist is a "name"... Art Pepper?

TRACK TWENTY - Marimba fusion? Who knew? And then vibes swing. That I knew about.

The Jackal?

TRACK TWENTY-ONE - More Detective Show Jazz...Still not a fan, but that organ sure sounds nasty, so ok.

TRACK TWENTY-TWO - Great section playing! Not a particularly great chart, but oh well. Oh, Phil woods, no wonder the sax section sounds so damn good. He's one of the great lead altoists in the history of big band music. Clark Terry too. Oh really now... Geez, those guys made so many dates, some great, some average. This one sounds like an average one, but you get players like this and they can create the impression of great writing where merely good exists, and this is such a case. Kudos to professionalism!

TRACK TWENTY-THREE - Wasn't this on your last BFT? Or was that Big Al's? Whatever I said then, I repeat now. Hey, Ben Webster, and all that implies.

TRACK TWENTY-FOUR - Son of "Odd Couple"? Good writing, good playing. Some of those voicings would go reaaaaaaaly bad if not played just so. Is that Jimmy smith? Yeah, I know, this is an organ board and I could get banned for not knowing, but them's the chances you take in today's fast-pased world of diesel mechanics...

Not a bad cut, probably a 45 done for airplay back in the day. Works for me as such.

BONUS TRACK - Oh GOD, this is GREAT! Is this Cozy Cole from the "Topsy" sessions or thereabouts? YEAH! That is such a goofyass nuttygroove, and they play the shit out of it! Grooves like a MO-fukkin-FO! I can see a shimmy dancer driving horny men (and horny women) crazy over this thing, and I can see a whole lot more, only some of which involves sexual arousal (but the stuff that doesn't is a lot more weird than the stuff that does, trust me...). That guitar player probably didn't ever fuck anybody who disn't fall in live with them for life by the time it was over.

When I die, I will be happy and feel blessed that I got to hear (and now, have) this cut. What more can you ask for out of a piece of music.

Thanks, Vint!

[catesta]

Bummer, I missed a Vinty Fresh BFT!

[Man with the Golden Arm]

JSngry date='Mar 12 2007, 05:47 AM

You are welcome and thanks for the great commentary, Jim! late to the party myself ... rather seems more of an afternoon tea from the looks of it.

TRACK THREE - "Comin' Home Baby", obviously. Short, airplay ready. The 9th in the first bar of the guitarist's solo gives him away as a possible azz player, and the rest of the solo adds credence tot hat suspicion. AMG show a Howard Roberts version of this tune that's this exact length, so that's my guess. Probably form one of theose Capitol sides. Pleasantly functional, and the high level of musicianship by everybody involved is belied in spite of the "blatantly" commercial intent of the production.

This one is under the saxophonist's name. While I don't know who is on guitar here all I can say is that the leader's main gig was his score to a rather "klaustrophobic war movie".

TRACK FOUR - Sounds like the old Columbia studio...Tenor player has some disntictive qualities I might have reconized back when I was obsessive about such things...could be Plas Johnson, but I'm not used to hearing him recorded like this. It's ok, but I'm left with a feeling of hearing more of a "project" or "experiment" than anything else, which is ok, but...

as Felix would say:"righteo!"

TRACK FIVE - A TV theme? Wow, this one's weird...obviously badass players playing obviously cheesy music, and nobody's even trying to reconcile those opposites. Oh, it's foreign, that explains everything!

TRACK SEVEN - Ok, this one I have. Woody on Cadet, "Here I Am Baby" from the Light My Fire album. Ya' know, this stuff sounds pretty cheesy on the first few 1-1000 listens, and I suppose it is, but if you take it on its own terms, it's got it's own integrity. Not at all a bad piece of writing (Richard Evans), and the longer it goes on, the groovier it gets, even if the mix is waaaay weird (as it was on all three of the Herman/Cadet sides). Coming immediately out of tenor solo hits a seriously badass groove, even if its over almost as soon as it begins. The biggest hangup is the sax section phrasing on the main melody, with Woody playing lead. God bless him, he just wasn't as funky as this chart called for (and it's written/played perhaps a little too literally for its own good). But when the section switches from unison to harmony, following the lead player becomes slightly less important (insider secret here, folks ), and you can hear the soul factor go up a notch or two as the sction boosts him. That's one of the kicks about big-band listening/playing, the whole individual-inside-the-section thing,

That's Frank Vicari on tenor, and he sounds nice & comfortable playing in this groove. No bullshit, no flash, he just rides the groove and plays with a lot of feeling. No problems here. Sounds like he's heard, dug, and understood Maceo, and hey, more power to that. Also in the band are ringers Phil Upchurch & Morris Jennings. The next Herman Cadet side (Heavy Exposure) added Donny Hathaway on organ & is the keeper of the bunch imo, but Light My Fire has a few moments of its own, and Vicari's solo and the ensemble afterwards are among them.

I imagine this cut will draw a lot of snide "old guys trying to sound hip" type comments, and not without some justification, but there's more going on here than just that. Woody's band at this time was full of younger cats (John Hicks is on here, btw, & a fresh-out-of-NTSU Ed Soph on drums seems to be enjoying himself behind Vicari), and if there's a not complete assimilation of what's being gone for, by no means is there a total lack of same either. I can here the lack of condescencion just as much as I can the lack of total "authenticity", so the glass is either half-full or half-empty, depending on what you want to see and who you want to dis. Far, far worse was done during the time by others trying to do somewhat the same thing, so hey. Shortcomings and all, this is a cut which I'm actually pretty fond of, which doesn't mean that I "love", or even "like" it, just that it doesn't piss me off and that it actually makes me smile and sorat want to dance (and during Vicari's solo, dammit, I do dance. So in this case, fuck "hipness", real or sought after. A smile and a dance gets the job done here.

Bingo and thanks for the waxing ... I agree that this is one stoopid cut that just shows how great it can be when played by folks who aren't!

TRACK EIGHT - Like I said, far worse things were done...

The band is totally useless on this (trumpet voicings worthy of the early 40s Harry James band do not fit here...), but the rhythm section cops a nice little groove, and piccolo, hey, you gotta love piccolo (or not...). Guitar solo is stupid, but that keyboard thing is wackycool/stoopidfunkyfresh. And a modulation...9.99999 time out of 10, modulations piss me off, and this one is no exception.

now we now what raised hackles be made of!

TRACK NINE - Oh, for the days when budgets had room for a roomfull of percussionists! Not too fond of this one, but I bet it's by a writer I usually respect. That weird little quasi-"Spanish" thing on the V-IV progression tells me that it's somebody trying to be "different" in a blatantly commercial ba, but, hey, so what?

And compare the stiffass trumpet solo here to the looseness of Vicari's looseness on the Herman thing. Not all cheese is created equal!

I'm certain the leader eats only...

TRACK TEN - Oh god, Leslies run amock. In the name of Lloyd Bridges, HELP ME DEAR GOD!!!!

Gotta be Clark Terry, maybe on that Impulse! side he did w/Chico O'Farrill, but I hope not. Both men desrve better (or maybe not, if they volunteered for this). But no, I don't think so. Maybe that Mainstream album Angyumaluma Bongliddleany Nannyany Awhan Yi!, which would mean Jerome Richardson on tenor iirc, and that sounds plausible. This ain't bad so much as it is...ok, it's bad. Fun, and not stupid or clueless, but still bad. Sorry.

That Woody cut sounds better and better.

Bingo again!!!

TRACK ELEVEN - LOUDER, PLEASE!

Now, the head sounds really good (that opening phrase reminds me of a pop tune from the mid-late 1960s, and it's driving me crazy that I can't remember which one...), what about the rest of it. Trumpet ain't bad at all, tenor's got a great tone, if a little "lick-y", hey hold it right there - I hear VanGelder reverb, and that tenor reminds me of late-60s Frank Foster, and I do believe that's Garnett Brown on trombone, so no more calls, we have a guess - an edited (nothing onthe LP clocks in at anything resembling 4:30) cut from Manhattan Fever. Own it, never listen to it. I'd like to hear more from the players involved, but again, worse has been done in the name of this type bag. It don't suck.

But I don't hear any editing, so the 4:30 thing is kinda And come to think of it, that's not really Rudy's piano sound (although at this volume it's har to really tell...). I'm stumped.

Dang dats good sleuthwork, but no cigar for Peter Faulk. Only the English know for sure.

TRACK THIRTEEN - I think I'm getting listening fatigue, so this is probably better than it's hitting me. Tenorist has personality, though. That much comes through. Somewhat "west coast" in tone and feel, he is. Overall though, the piece comes off as a little "generic". sorry.

west coast being Cinque Terre. Listen again w/ Frosted Flakes in the morning ... it's grrreat!

TRACK SEVENTEEN - Hmmmmm....interesting....there's a Dolphy-esque quality to the flute tone in the solo, but that ain't Eric. Suggestive of Eddie Palmieri, but....Don't know, but am interested!

This certainly could have been from that latin Jazz Quintet w/ Dolphy but nope... an "in person" Dusty find that they were playing in-store of a band that plays nuyorican synthetic seventies boogaloo mostly ... this cut to me is a sound they should have stuck with!

TRACK NINETEEN - Detective Show Jazz. Not a fan of the idiom as a rule, and this is no exception. Sorry. But I bet that altoist is a "name"... Art Pepper?

close as in west coast again ... the altoist is a "name" - for a beer.

TRACK TWENTY-TWO - Great section playing! Not a particularly great chart, but oh well. Oh, Phil woods, no wonder the sax section sounds so damn good. He's one of the great lead altoists in the history of big band music. Clark Terry too. Oh really now... Geez, those guys made so many dates, some great, some average. This one sounds like an average one, but you get players like this and they can create the impression of great writing where merely good exists, and this is such a case. Kudos to professionalism!

Man, it just get's me everytime that you folks nail stuff like this! from one of my recent faves ... the swank of that chorus and the snapping solos are one I'll toss on to get the joint jumpin' ... my guests, however, are usually not quite so moved ... hence, why I hang out here.

TRACK TWENTY-THREE - Wasn't this on your last BFT? Or was that Big Al's? Whatever I said then, I repeat now. Hey, Ben Webster, and all that implies.

Not on mine nor on Al's... I don't think ... but Webster is correct!

TRACK TWENTY-FOUR - Son of "Odd Couple"? Good writing, good playing. Some of those voicings would go reaaaaaaaly bad if not played just so. Is that Jimmy smith? Yeah, I know, this is an organ board and I could get banned for not knowing, but them's the chances you take in today's fast-pased world of diesel mechanics...

Not a bad cut, probably a 45 done for airplay back in the day. Works for me as such.

Whilst I was compiling I almost put on a cut from 'Neil Hefti does Gotham' that to me IS the "son of the odd couple". Not Jimmy Smith on organ but some guy I'd never heard of.

BONUS TRACK - Oh GOD, this is GREAT! Is this Cozy Cole from the "Topsy" sessions or thereabouts? YEAH! That is such a goofyass nuttygroove, and they play the shit out of it! Grooves like a MO-fukkin-FO! I can see a shimmy dancer driving horny men (and horny women) crazy over this thing, and I can see a whole lot more, only some of which involves sexual arousal (but the stuff that doesn't is a lot more weird than the stuff that does, trust me...). That guitar player probably didn't ever fuck anybody who disn't fall in live with them for life by the time it was over.

When I die, I will be happy and feel blessed that I got to hear (and now, have) this cut. What more can you ask for out of a piece of music.

Wow!

Glad you dug this one and happy that couw talked me into including it as a bonus cut - I had this on a second BFT disc (but stuck to a single) and sandwiched it between Eddy Louis' "Bohemia After Dark" and The Merced Blue Notes' "Bad. Bad Whiskey" followed up with Googie Rene's "The Slide" ... it worked as hard as that drummer as for seguelisciousness!!!.

BTW This has John's fingerprints all over it as he de-clicked and re-spiffed up this MP3 sharity. He even broadcast it on the board here for everyone to run and download. Fantastic ain't it! Sounds much older than it really is - lively cut that is really reminiscent of a scene like that of the recently hipped by you "Wooden Glass" date. Probably cut in the same kind of joint yet more west than mid.

Edited March 15, 2007 by Man with the Golden Arm

[Man with the Golden Arm]

why da frik can't i get this thing to "quote" properly!!!! do i need more dexter gordon?

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

why da frik can't i get this thing to "quote" properly!!!! do i need more dexter gordon?

This has been a problem before on BFTs; it seem to have something to do with the number of quotes you have - successively, not nested. It was solved by responding to half the preceding post in on post and the rest in the next. Or words to that effect.

MG