BFT 64 Disc 1 Answers

[Dan Gould]

Thanks to everyone who managed to post their reactions to the disc, and thanks especially for not tearing me a new one for some of my less "jazz" tracks. As you'll see, most of them have obvious jazz connections, and three in particular are exceptionally rare recordings.

1. Betty Hall Jones – This Joints Too Hip For Me

Los Angeles Rhythm & Blues 1944-1954 (Acrobat)

Sidemen not listed

Some liked it, some didn’t but I wanted to start things off with this tune for two reasons:

• Sometimes I think this joint (Organissimo) is too hip for me with some of the musical discussion (yes, there really is some musical discussion here occasionally).

• I figured an R&B number that name-checks so many jazz greats would be a good way to segue into the section of tunes that ranged a bit away from the usual jazz found on a BFT. Hell, most of it wasn’t even jazz at all.

Fwiw, Jones was in Roy Milton’s band before her solo career, and this Acrobat release is quite good, with a nice mix of the obscure and the not-so-obscure. Definitely recommend it as an LA R&B comp.

2. Billy Higgins, Me and My Lover (Pacific Jazz 45)

With the Teddy Edwards Quartet

Higgins, drums and vocals

It was easy to realize why so many people guessed Dr. John on this one, but its Smilin’ Billy Higgins in one of the very rarest recordings in the EMI archives. Stereo Jack sent this to me a while back and I knew I had to work it into my BFT. No idea if the Dr John influence is real or only coincidental.

3. Baby Face Willette, Can’t Keep From Loving You (Roosevelt Willet) Vee Jay 45

Baby Face Willette, organ, Red Holloway, tenor sax

From one guy you don’t expect to do the vocals to another. Soul Stream knew this one, especially since I sent him an MP3 after I found this on eBay. Its too bad MG couldn’t participate in this BFT, as he was able to recognize that this early 45 was re-recorded without vocals as “Chances Are Few” on Stop and Listen. And if you’re confused by the writing credit, that’s how Vee Jay spelled his name on the label. It was hard making a decision on which track of his four Vee Jay 45 sides to use - the flip of this one features Baby Face on piano, and I received a copy of his other 45 from a reel-to-reel from Dick Shurman, I believe. But I went with the organ track with the BN connection. Hope it was pretty cool for most folks to hear Baby Face in his original R&B sound.

4. Don Wilkerson, “Sticks and Stones”

Live at the Show Biz, Houston Texas, 1963

Private Recording

Wilkerson, vocals and tenor sax, others unknown

Some thought of Brother Ray, and there certainly was a connection.

This is one of my favorite super rare recordings. Back when Blue Note put out the Wilkerson two-fer I started searching for other recordings and one day a Google search took me to a website advertising this recording. Turned out it was the son of a guy who had recorded a lot of shows off the soundboard at the Show Biz in Houston. At the time he hadn’t even taken the 35 year old reels and made sure they were playable, but I paid him $20 and he baked up the reels and sent me this document of what Jim Sangrey told me was a typical club show of the era – you had modern R&B like this tune and “Lonely Avenue” as well as a girl singer doing standards like “Bye Bye Blackbird” and also some modern jazz tunes like “Nica’s Dream” - in other words a wide variety of styles to satisfy an audience with wide-ranging tastes/expectations. If I’d ever figure out Bit-Torrent, this is the one recording I’d offer on Dime someday (don’t ask, the website is long gone and so far as anyone can say, I could very well be the only paying customer he had for this recording). I am attaching two photos the guy sent me from his Dad's archives of these gigs for your enjoyment.

There might be some question as to whether Wilkerson is on vocals but the fact that the voice and the tenor share a mic makes me pretty certain. To my ears, the give away comes right at the start of the tenor solo – I could swear the same opening is used on one of his solos on one of those BN recordings.

5. B.B. King – Don’t Get Around Much Anymore (Ellington)

with Duke Ellington Orchestra – Compositions of Duke Ellington and Others (Crown)

Soloists:

Jewel Grant – alto sax

Jake Porter – cornet

Bill Hood, baritone sax

I don’t know which is more surprising – that Jim Sangrey didn’t know about this recording or that Ace failed to include it in their extended reissue of The Wailing B.B. King which did include B.B.’s guest vocal spots on the Count Basie tribute (I almost used “Every Day I Have The Blues” instead) and the Jimmy Dorsey tribute but not this one. I think it would have fit but this seems like an orphan B.B. track that is way cool. B.B. singing Duke – does it get any better?

6. Johnny Adams “One Foot In The Blues”

One Foot In The Blues (Rounder)

Dr Lonnie Smith, Jimmy Ponder guitar, Ed Peterson tenor, Shannon Powell drums

I’m a relatively recent discoverer of the remarkable voice of Johnny Adams and when I picked up this CD and saw the “jazz” guys on it, I knew it was fair game for a BFT. A lot of people knew it, and a lot of people enjoyed it. Everyone should dig Johnny Adams.

7. Freddie Roach, Next Time You See Me

Brown Sugar (Blue Note)

Roach, organ, Joe Henderson, tenor sax, Eddie Wright, guitar, Clarence Johnston, drums

Prior to my discovery of Johnny Adams, my previous favorite “new artist” was Junior Parker. Imagine my surprise when I pulled out this Freddie Roach BN recording and recognized one of Junior’s biggest hits. Boy was I surprised when Jim S. didn’t recognize Joe Henderson. A fine track and most people dug it, but I really only programmed it to give myself an excuse to segue into …

8. Junior Parker, Next Time You See Me (Duke 45)

As I said, Junior Parker became a huge favorite of mine so I wanted to find a way to slip one of his recordings in. I came close to choosing a different tune that better shows off his voice but I felt I was pushing the boundaries enough, better to simply program the tune that inspired Freddie Roach to record it (he said it was a tune he wanted to record after hearing it on the juke box at some club).

9. Otis Rush, Watermelon Man (Hancock)

Joe’s Place – WBCN FM Broadcast – 4-5-73

Otis Rush. guitar

Little Bo tenor sax

Bob Richards: drums

Ernest Gatewood: bass

Keyboard player not identified

We wrap up the non-jazz (or mostly non-jazz) section of the BFT with a track that I thought would be a fine change of pace – a blues guy playing a familiar hard bop melody. I’d noticed this tune on some other live blues recordings but rarely as an extended performance. Kudos to Jim R. for recognizing Otis Rush – I had to pick a guitar track for Jim to chew on, and he nailed it.

10. Nat Simpkins – Shake (Cooke)

Crescent City (Blue Jay)

Simpkins, tenor

Kermit Ruffins trumpet

Tuba Fats tuba

Peter Martin piano

Roland Guerin bass

Cecil Brooks III drums

This one got mixed reviews but I am a big fan of Nat Simpkins and find this a great infectious take on the Sam Cooke standard. Some agreed, some didn’t – but now you know who the tuba player is.

11. The Tenor Trio – Strollin’ (Silver) (JMI)

Ernie Watts, Pete Christlieb, Rickey Woodard, tenor saxophones

Gerry Wiggins, piano, Chuck Berghofer, bass, Frank Capp drummer

Lead tenor: Christlieb; Second: Rickey; Third: Ernie

Arrangement by Pete Christlieb

Solos: Christlieb, Woodard, Watts

Another track with mixed reviews – my reason for bringing this one in was the mix of three different tenors on a fairly recognizable Horace Silver composition. I surely don’t hate this CD the way Thom Keith does.

12. Claude Tissendier Quintet with Teddy Edwards, “Midnight Creeper” (Edwards)

Three Tenor Session (DJAZZ)

Edwards, Tissendier & Claude Braud, tenors

Phillipe Milanta, piano

Pierre-Yves Sorin, bass

Vincent Cordelette, drums

Keeping with the tenor trio concept for a moment, this was included as a nod to our European friends, but not very many participated. I found out about this recording when looking for a Bubba Brooks recording that was missing from my collection and since Teddy sounded great at the end of his life, I had to grab this one too. There’s a Muse recording with this as the title track, its also a good one. Thom Keith got Teddy Edwards, unfortunately there’s no info on solo orders in the notes. But it’s a cool CD with three solid tenors handling a program of Edwards’ compositions.

13. Spike Robinson – Sweets Edison, “Just a Bit O’ Blues”

Just a Bit O’ Blues Volume 2 (Capri)

Robinson, tenor sax, Sweets, trumpet, Ross Tompkins piano, Monty Budwig, bass, Paul Humphrey, drums

This was one that I figured a lot of people would at least recognize Sweets, but not as many as I thought. And I picked a track with Spike Robinson because to my ears, I was certain a lot of people would say “Zoot and Sweets” and be surprised. Oh well, I learned long ago never to assume on a BFT. It’s a nice mainstream CD, and Robinson doesn’t have a lot of recordings to his credit afaik.

14. Jim Snidero, “Twilight Waltz” (Walton)

Standards Plus (Doubletime)

Snidero, alto sax, Mike LeDonne, Dennis Irwin, Kenny Washington

Kudos to Thom for puzzling this one out. Most people liked it, I enjoyed the entire CD ever since I first got it.

15. Wynton Marsalis, Levee Low Moan (Marsalis)

Levee Low Moan – Soul Gestures in Southern Blue Volume 3 (Columbia)

Marsalis, trumpet, Wes Anderson, alto, Todd Williams, tenor sax, Marcus Roberts, piano, Reginald Veal, bass, Herlin Riley, drums

Let the record show that Jim Sangrey said

Expository! I think I like it. I sure don't dislike it! Ambien's kicking in, will need to revisit again, but sure sounds ok now!

Whereas thedwork said

wynton? i'm not a big fan of his but this sounds like it may be him for a few reasons: fine technique, tone, trying to be real bluesy and not always pulling it off, lots of classic jazz 'mannerisms' and phrases but playing i could generally take or leave, and some very nice arranging. yeah, i'm getting to the end of this one now and it's making me think wynton 'cuz of the arranging. warm daddy? very nice writing. hope i don't get flamed for bringing up the guy's . name curious...

Guess this is one of those rare Wynton performances Jim approves of …or else the Ambien was really kicking in.

Interesting too that Soul Stream ID’d the players as “older” … as for me, I am a sucker for this kind of slow mood-invoking blues, and as these quotes show, hearing a Wynton performance without knowing who it is can sometimes lead to surprising reactions. And kudos to thedwork for recognizing Wynton and Warm Daddy Anderson!

[papsrus]

Thanks Dan. Gonna run, not walk, to find that BB King-Ellington. And will look into a few of the others, notably Simpkins. Really enjoyed it.

[Dan Gould]

Thanks Dan. Gonna run, not walk, to find that BB King-Ellington. And will look into a few of the others, notably Simpkins. Really enjoyed it.

Before you run too fast, James, I want to make sure you understand that B.B. only guested on this one track. The rest of the record is a pretty straight tribute to other original Ellington recordings. Nicely played, no doubt, but hardly earth-shattering. So if you're interest was in more B.B. singing with a jazz big band, you got the track already.

[tkeith]

2) Jesus... Billy Higgins is so obvious, now. And there's Teddy. I'm such an ass.

4) Guess it's time to build up my Don Wilkerson collection.

11) I get a lot of that, Dan.

This was a good BFT because it was interesting throughout (even that which I didn't care for), which made it worth listening to, even where it kicked my ass.

[Big Al]

7. Freddie Roach, Next Time You See Me

Brown Sugar (Blue Note)

Roach, organ, Joe Henderson, tenor sax, Eddie Wright, guitar, Clarence Johnston, drums

It's official: I now have more CDs/LPs than I remember listening to. Sorry I never posted my guesses; I really did have guesses typed up for this disc, but never posted them. I recall writing that this one sounded vaguely familiar for some reason. Now I know why!

[Dan Gould]

Would it be too much trouble to pull that up and post your comments? I honestly feel quite deprived of so much of the fun of putting these together. Bad timing, too many people with too much other stuff going on, I know how life can be - but I put together an interesting BFT with a decent level of expected participation, and I barely got anything out of it in terms of feedback and reaction.

I said it was my last, and it most assuredly is - I have no urge to put together another one.

[WorldB3]

Hey Dan,

Sorry I didn't get to post my answers, it was a combination of too much work at work, too much new music which I haven't been able to get to and other life stuff (putting aside time for just listing has been tough the last few weeks) so I didn't get to post my usual "I have no clue, but it reminds me of" which usually winds up not even being close. I did have notes going when I was able to listen to this and while I had no clue of the song or album I did guess correctly that it was Baby Face Willette on Track 3 (I recognized his organ touch instantly) and Freddie Roach on track #7 which I own. I was really hopping you would put up the Baby Face Willette song that you had mentioned before so I am grateful that I got to hear it and get to own it, at least in mp3 form. I also loved the Otis Rush and Junior Parker tracks but guessed completely wrong. How could I miss Otis Rush?

I know its not the point of the BFT but if its a small consolation looking at the list of tracks I am even more interested in giving its deserved attention, again it was more bad timing on my part then that there was anything wrong with your BFT.

Edited May 3, 2009 by WorldB3

[Dan Gould]

Thanks Derek. Glad you did find tunes of interest. Should have gone with your instinct on Baby Face - only Soul Stream got that one and gave a little clue for everyone else.

[Jim R]

Well, the Higgins and the Willette vocals really took me by surprise. I never would have come up with those.

I think I may need to check Snidero out a little further. Really dug that track.

Thanks again, DG.

[thedwork]

Thanks to everyone who managed to post their reactions to the disc, and thanks especially for not tearing me a new one for some of my less "jazz" tracks. As you'll see, most of them have obvious jazz connections, and three in particular are exceptionally rare recordings.

1. Betty Hall Jones – This Joints Too Hip For Me

Los Angeles Rhythm & Blues 1944-1954 (Acrobat)

Sidemen not listed

Some liked it, some didn’t but I wanted to start things off with this tune for two reasons:

• Sometimes I think this joint (Organissimo) is too hip for me with some of the musical discussion (yes, there really is some musical discussion here occasionally).

• I figured an R&B number that name-checks so many jazz greats would be a good way to segue into the section of tunes that ranged a bit away from the usual jazz found on a BFT. Hell, most of it wasn’t even jazz at all.

Fwiw, Jones was in Roy Milton’s band before her solo career, and this Acrobat release is quite good, with a nice mix of the obscure and the not-so-obscure. Definitely recommend it as an LA R&B comp.

2. Billy Higgins, Me and My Lover (Pacific Jazz 45)

With the Teddy Edwards Quartet

Higgins, drums and vocals

It was easy to realize why so many people guessed Dr. John on this one, but its Smilin’ Billy Higgins in one of the very rarest recordings in the EMI archives. Stereo Jack sent this to me a while back and I knew I had to work it into my BFT. No idea if the Dr John influence is real or only coincidental.

3. Baby Face Willette, Can’t Keep From Loving You (Roosevelt Willet) Vee Jay 45

Baby Face Willette, organ, Red Holloway, tenor sax

From one guy you don’t expect to do the vocals to another. Soul Stream knew this one, especially since I sent him an MP3 after I found this on eBay. Its too bad MG couldn’t participate in this BFT, as he was able to recognize that this early 45 was re-recorded without vocals as “Chances Are Few” on Stop and Listen. And if you’re confused by the writing credit, that’s how Vee Jay spelled his name on the label. It was hard making a decision on which track of his four Vee Jay 45 sides to use - the flip of this one features Baby Face on piano, and I received a copy of his other 45 from a reel-to-reel from Dick Shurman, I believe. But I went with the organ track with the BN connection. Hope it was pretty cool for most folks to hear Baby Face in his original R&B sound.

4. Don Wilkerson, “Sticks and Stones”

Live at the Show Biz, Houston Texas, 1963

Private Recording

Wilkerson, vocals and tenor sax, others unknown

Some thought of Brother Ray, and there certainly was a connection.

This is one of my favorite super rare recordings. Back when Blue Note put out the Wilkerson two-fer I started searching for other recordings and one day a Google search took me to a website advertising this recording. Turned out it was the son of a guy who had recorded a lot of shows off the soundboard at the Show Biz in Houston. At the time he hadn’t even taken the 35 year old reels and made sure they were playable, but I paid him $20 and he baked up the reels and sent me this document of what Jim Sangrey told me was a typical club show of the era – you had modern R&B like this tune and “Lonely Avenue” as well as a girl singer doing standards like “Bye Bye Blackbird” and also some modern jazz tunes like “Nica’s Dream” - in other words a wide variety of styles to satisfy an audience with wide-ranging tastes/expectations. If I’d ever figure out Bit-Torrent, this is the one recording I’d offer on Dime someday (don’t ask, the website is long gone and so far as anyone can say, I could very well be the only paying customer he had for this recording). I am attaching two photos the guy sent me from his Dad's archives of these gigs for your enjoyment.

There might be some question as to whether Wilkerson is on vocals but the fact that the voice and the tenor share a mic makes me pretty certain. To my ears, the give away comes right at the start of the tenor solo – I could swear the same opening is used on one of his solos on one of those BN recordings.

5. B.B. King – Don’t Get Around Much Anymore (Ellington)

with Duke Ellington Orchestra – Compositions of Duke Ellington and Others (Crown)

Soloists:

Jewel Grant – alto sax

Jake Porter – cornet

Bill Hood, baritone sax

I don’t know which is more surprising – that Jim Sangrey didn’t know about this recording or that Ace failed to include it in their extended reissue of The Wailing B.B. King which did include B.B.’s guest vocal spots on the Count Basie tribute (I almost used “Every Day I Have The Blues” instead) and the Jimmy Dorsey tribute but not this one. I think it would have fit but this seems like an orphan B.B. track that is way cool. B.B. singing Duke – does it get any better?

6. Johnny Adams “One Foot In The Blues”

One Foot In The Blues (Rounder)

Dr Lonnie Smith, Jimmy Ponder guitar, Ed Peterson tenor, Shannon Powell drums

I’m a relatively recent discoverer of the remarkable voice of Johnny Adams and when I picked up this CD and saw the “jazz” guys on it, I knew it was fair game for a BFT. A lot of people knew it, and a lot of people enjoyed it. Everyone should dig Johnny Adams.

7. Freddie Roach, Next Time You See Me

Brown Sugar (Blue Note)

Roach, organ, Joe Henderson, tenor sax, Eddie Wright, guitar, Clarence Johnston, drums

Prior to my discovery of Johnny Adams, my previous favorite “new artist” was Junior Parker. Imagine my surprise when I pulled out this Freddie Roach BN recording and recognized one of Junior’s biggest hits. Boy was I surprised when Jim S. didn’t recognize Joe Henderson. A fine track and most people dug it, but I really only programmed it to give myself an excuse to segue into …

8. Junior Parker, Next Time You See Me (Duke 45)

As I said, Junior Parker became a huge favorite of mine so I wanted to find a way to slip one of his recordings in. I came close to choosing a different tune that better shows off his voice but I felt I was pushing the boundaries enough, better to simply program the tune that inspired Freddie Roach to record it (he said it was a tune he wanted to record after hearing it on the juke box at some club).

9. Otis Rush, Watermelon Man (Hancock)

Joe’s Place – WBCN FM Broadcast – 4-5-73

Otis Rush. guitar

Little Bo tenor sax

Bob Richards: drums

Ernest Gatewood: bass

Keyboard player not identified

We wrap up the non-jazz (or mostly non-jazz) section of the BFT with a track that I thought would be a fine change of pace – a blues guy playing a familiar hard bop melody. I’d noticed this tune on some other live blues recordings but rarely as an extended performance. Kudos to Jim R. for recognizing Otis Rush – I had to pick a guitar track for Jim to chew on, and he nailed it.

10. Nat Simpkins – Shake (Cooke)

Crescent City (Blue Jay)

Simpkins, tenor

Kermit Ruffins trumpet

Tuba Fats tuba

Peter Martin piano

Roland Guerin bass

Cecil Brooks III drums

This one got mixed reviews but I am a big fan of Nat Simpkins and find this a great infectious take on the Sam Cooke standard. Some agreed, some didn’t – but now you know who the tuba player is.

11. The Tenor Trio – Strollin’ (Silver) (JMI)

Ernie Watts, Pete Christlieb, Rickey Woodard, tenor saxophones

Gerry Wiggins, piano, Chuck Berghofer, bass, Frank Capp drummer

Lead tenor: Christlieb; Second: Rickey; Third: Ernie

Arrangement by Pete Christlieb

Solos: Christlieb, Woodard, Watts

Another track with mixed reviews – my reason for bringing this one in was the mix of three different tenors on a fairly recognizable Horace Silver composition. I surely don’t hate this CD the way Thom Keith does.

12. Claude Tissendier Quintet with Teddy Edwards, “Midnight Creeper” (Edwards)

Three Tenor Session (DJAZZ)

Edwards, Tissendier & Claude Braud, tenors

Phillipe Milanta, piano

Pierre-Yves Sorin, bass

Vincent Cordelette, drums

Keeping with the tenor trio concept for a moment, this was included as a nod to our European friends, but not very many participated. I found out about this recording when looking for a Bubba Brooks recording that was missing from my collection and since Teddy sounded great at the end of his life, I had to grab this one too. There’s a Muse recording with this as the title track, its also a good one. Thom Keith got Teddy Edwards, unfortunately there’s no info on solo orders in the notes. But it’s a cool CD with three solid tenors handling a program of Edwards’ compositions.

13. Spike Robinson – Sweets Edison, “Just a Bit O’ Blues”

Just a Bit O’ Blues Volume 2 (Capri)

Robinson, tenor sax, Sweets, trumpet, Ross Tompkins piano, Monty Budwig, bass, Paul Humphrey, drums

This was one that I figured a lot of people would at least recognize Sweets, but not as many as I thought. And I picked a track with Spike Robinson because to my ears, I was certain a lot of people would say “Zoot and Sweets” and be surprised. Oh well, I learned long ago never to assume on a BFT. It’s a nice mainstream CD, and Robinson doesn’t have a lot of recordings to his credit afaik.

14. Jim Snidero, “Twilight Waltz” (Walton)

Standards Plus (Doubletime)

Snidero, alto sax, Mike LeDonne, Dennis Irwin, Kenny Washington

Kudos to Thom for puzzling this one out. Most people liked it, I enjoyed the entire CD ever since I first got it.

15. Wynton Marsalis, Levee Low Moan (Marsalis)

Levee Low Moan – Soul Gestures in Southern Blue Volume 3 (Columbia)

Marsalis, trumpet, Wes Anderson, alto, Todd Williams, tenor sax, Marcus Roberts, piano, Reginald Veal, bass, Herlin Riley, drums

Let the record show that Jim Sangrey said

Expository! I think I like it. I sure don't dislike it! Ambien's kicking in, will need to revisit again, but sure sounds ok now!

Whereas thedwork said

wynton? i'm not a big fan of his but this sounds like it may be him for a few reasons: fine technique, tone, trying to be real bluesy and not always pulling it off, lots of classic jazz 'mannerisms' and phrases but playing i could generally take or leave, and some very nice arranging. yeah, i'm getting to the end of this one now and it's making me think wynton 'cuz of the arranging. warm daddy? very nice writing. hope i don't get flamed for bringing up the guy's . name curious...

Guess this is one of those rare Wynton performances Jim approves of …or else the Ambien was really kicking in.

Interesting too that Soul Stream ID’d the players as “older” … as for me, I am a sucker for this kind of slow mood-invoking blues, and as these quotes show, hearing a Wynton performance without knowing who it is can sometimes lead to surprising reactions. And kudos to thedwork for recognizing Wynton and Warm Daddy Anderson!

thanks for the kudos dan. these BFTs are fun. enjoyed/enjoying the current one (Bill's) too.

1. Betty Hall Jones. never heard of her before. put me down as one who liked this track. it cracked me up, and i thought the sidemen, whoever they were, all sound great.

2. Love this track and i never woulda guessed billy higgins. but unlike others here, i also never woulda guessed Dr. John. i didn't even know Higgins sang. am i reading your post correctly?: he's drumming and singing at the same time on this track? that's fucking unbelievable. i know lots o' guys do that (levon helm, guy from Pillars & Tongues, etc...) but this is really something man...

3. for some reason this track doesn't do anything for me.

4. Don Wilkerson. never heard of him before this BFT. killer. does nobody else here his screams at 2:22 - 2:34 sound like pre-James Brown? anyone know if Brown checked out Wilkerson? nice track.

5. Beyond beautiful.

6. Major discovery for me this one. Thanks a lot for this one Dan. "Everyone should dig Johnny Adams." damn right.

9. I've got one Otis Rush CD and have heard stuff here and there and have always liked him. didn't care for this track.

10. yeah - didn't really care for this track. but man, that piano player really reminded of Goldings.

12. Love Edwards. for some reason didn't get turned on by this track.

14. Sweet! i knew i was gonna kick myself for not gettin' some of this rhythm section. Dennis Irwin was the man! what a great musician/guy he was. sorely missed. looks like i was probably right about it being a 'NYC' recording? don't know why i wrote that, just feels like it to me... and i've never heard LeDonne on piano before. he's a killin' organ player.

15. yup - wynton, warm daddy and co. nice arranging. that chord at 5:40 - that shit is nasty! nice...

thanks Dan!

will be checking out the answers on disc 2 tomorrow...

[Guest Bill Barton]

"10. Nat Simpkins – Shake (Cooke)

Crescent City (Blue Jay)

Simpkins, tenor

Kermit Ruffins trumpet

Tuba Fats tuba

Peter Martin piano

Roland Guerin bass

Cecil Brooks III drums

This one got mixed reviews but I am a big fan of Nat Simpkins and find this a great infectious take on the Sam Cooke standard. Some agreed, some didn’t – but now you know who the tuba player is."

Gotta get me some Tuba Fats! And love that name... This is a killer track, one of my favorites on the first disc of this BFT. Thanks, Dan! I'd never heard nor heard of Nat Simpkins before

[Big Al]

Would it be too much trouble to pull that up and post your comments? I honestly feel quite deprived of so much of the fun of putting these together. Bad timing, too many people with too much other stuff going on, I know how life can be - but I put together an interesting BFT with a decent level of expected participation, and I barely got anything out of it in terms of feedback and reaction.

I said it was my last, and it most assuredly is - I have no urge to put together another one.

Happy to oblige!