Overlooked/Ignored/Neglected

[paul secor]

Perhaps I was just a bit bored today, but I started thinking about how many very good to great recordings pass under the general radar and under the radar of each of us. I decided that it might be interesting if members posted lists of 5 or less (to keep things under control) overlooked recordings that they feel should be heard.

The recordings can be from any genre. Personally, I hope that some of our classical devotees will include some from that genre.

I'll start it off:

Sonny Simmons Trio: Live in Paris (Arhoolie) - Arhoolie doesn't issue many jazz recordings, but I'm very happy they put this one out. Inspired, exuberant blowing from Sonny Simmons in a trio setting. And don't be scared away by the fact that it's Sonny Simmons. Nothing too far out here - just some very fine freebop blowing.

Junior Wells: Blues Hit Big Town (Delmark) - Starting in the mid-sixties, Junior Wells made a fair number of albums. All of them pale in comparison with this one - a collection of his first recordings, recorded as a teenager, backed by the Jukes/Aces, with special guests Elmore James, Little Johnny Jones, Muddy Waters, and Otis Spann. If you only have one Junior Wells record in your collection, it should be this one.

Etoile de Dakar: Xalis (Popular African Music) - Etoile de Dakar was the band that Yousou N'dour sang with before he formed Super Etoile de Dakar and became a star. These recordings from 1978 have a quiet and gentle quality to them, and are generally less pop oriented than what was to come.

Gene O'Quinn: Boogie Woogie Fever (Bear Family) - Fine honky tonk music that almost makes Hank Williams sound citified - I did say "almost".

Roscoe Mitchell: Solo 3 (Mutable Music) - Fascinating solo music - though overdubs are used. I have the sense that I could listen to these three discs for years and not come close to absorbing all of what's there. It's music that demands attention, but once attention is given, I don't think that it's "difficult". Interesting and helpful liner notes by John Litweiler.

I hope that others join in and post their neglected favorites.

Edited May 12, 2012 by paul secor

[papsrus]

Not sure if this fits, and I'm guessing it's not unknown or overlooked by any means, but I recently was delighted to listen for the first time to a performance of Darius Milhaud's "La Creation du Monde" by, I believe, the Royal Philharmonic on NPR.

Not stunning, powerful or massively significant in any way, just really, really pleasing for how Milhaud incorporated elements of early jazz into a classical piece from the early 20th Century without seeming gratuitous or compromising to either form.

Milhaud, whom I was not familiar with prior, was a French composer who was struck by New Orleans jazz in particular, and one result (there may be more in his work) is this 1923 composition for ballet.

Here, the University of Manchester Chamber Orchestra takes a run at it. It's about the 4 minute mark when things start to get interesting. Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFBwmGB55G8&feature=related

Edited May 12, 2012 by papsrus

[David Ayers]

Thanks for mentioning that piece. Slightly creaky version!

My guess is that it has been very influential.

[Stefan Wood]

I don't know if these qualify for being "under the radar," but I think all in their way expands on one's listening experience:

Post 1950 classical music that was unlike anything else of its time.

Excellent 70s afrobeat music; overshadowed only by Fela.

Probably not overlooked in the Latin music community, but should be better known to anyone interested in 60s boogaloo and 70s salsa. One of the masters.

Excellent European contemporary jazz.

[Brad]

Jazz by Gee (Riverside Records). I know that not everybody is a huge fan but this is a great date by the trombonist, with some fine support: Ernie Henry, Frank Foster, Art Taylor, among others.

Junior's Cookin'. One of my favorite discs. Quintessential hardtop with Junior Cook, Blue Mitchell, Ronnie Matthews, Dolo Coker, gene Taylor and Roy Brooks. Not an essential disc but very enjoyable.

Edited May 12, 2012 by Brad

[BillF]

The McLean, Hardman, Dockery Jazz Messengers made a lot of records, but are very under the radar compared to other Blakey groups. These are my favorites:

Edited May 12, 2012 by BillF

[Larry Kart]

Oliver Nelson's "Afro-American Sketches" doesn't seem to get the credit it deserves, aside from an enthusiastic LeRoi Jones (or was it A.B. Spellman?) review in Kulchur when it first came out. Substantial soulful compositions, strong solos, stunning work by the ensemble.

[BillF]

Oliver Nelson's "Afro-American Sketches" doesn't seem to get the credit it deserves, aside from an enthusiastic LeRoi Jones (or was it A.B. Spellman?) review in Kulchur when it first came out. Substantial soulful compositions, strong solos, stunning work by the ensemble.

Yes, a great album, which I have had on Prestige vinyl since the 60s:

[Don Brown]

Tadd Dameron's A Study in Dameronia, originally a ten-inch Prestige LP. However, the four long pieces by Dameron nearly always get reissued under Clifford Brown's name. This was one of Brown's earliest record dates, and he's simply marvelous on it, but people tend to overlook the fact that it was Dameron's date, Dameron's music and arrangements, and one of Dameron's finest recording sessions. Sadly, Tadd Dameron pretty much gets overlooked these days. The man who "brought beauty to bebop" deserves much better.

Edited May 12, 2012 by Don Brown

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Junior Wells: Blues Hit Big Town (Delmark) - Starting in the mid-sixties, Junior Wells made a fair number of albums. All of them pale in comparison with this one - a collection of his first recordings, recorded as a teenager, backed by the Jukes/Aces, with special guests Elmore James, Little Johnny Jones, Muddy Waters, and Otis Spann. If you only have one Junior Wells record in your collection, it should be this one.

Thaks for this Paul. I've got a couple of his albums (Hoodoo & It's my life) and I've been vaguely thinking I'd like more.

Etoile de Dakar: Xalis (Popular African Music) - Etoile de Dakar was the band that Yousou N'dour sang with before he formed Super Etoile de Dakar and became a star. These recordings from 1978 have a quiet and gentle quality to them, and are generally less pop oriented than what was to come.

This is very nice - and very short. I should think it's hard to get, too, since Gunther Gretz gave up the business several years ago. An e-mail direct to him might get a result. I had a few direct from him at one time or another.

The two great unknowns I'm particularly interested in at the moment are Gnonnas Pedro and Laba Sosseh.

Gnonnas Pedro was from Benin and led a band from the early 70s until his death a few years ago. A lot of Latin stuff - like the Star Band/Etoile de Dakar - but with some interesting 6/8 Latin rhythms that came from his own village. Quite a few compilation albums are available, but it's not clear which tracks are duplicates.

Laba Sosseh was from The Gambia. Founder member (with Dexter Johnson) of the Star Band, which eventually, after more personnel changes than the Coasters, morphed into Etoile de Dakar. After Dexter's death in the sixties, he moved to Miami and became about the only African musician to make a career for himself living in America. Returned to the Gambia in 1997 or so and made 2 more albums before he died, also a few years ago. I bet Dan Gould can find Laba's albums in the 25c bins in Miami

Sterns have new compilations by both artists issued last month and I've just ordered them.

MG

[GA Russell]

My first thought was Roy Orbison - The Sun Years.

Orbison's reputation is based almost entirely upon his Monument recordings. These Sun recordings, his earliest, don't sound like them. I suspect that Orbison would be held in awe if he had died after making these but before making his Monuments.

http://www.amazon.com/Sun-Years-Roy-Orbison/dp/B0000032QW/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1336846063&sr=1-1

[John L]

Junior Wells: Blues Hit Big Town (Delmark) - Starting in the mid-sixties, Junior Wells made a fair number of albums. All of them pale in comparison with this one - a collection of his first recordings, recorded as a teenager, backed by the Jukes/Aces, with special guests Elmore James, Little Johnny Jones, Muddy Waters, and Otis Spann. If you only have one Junior Wells record in your collection, it should be this one.

Thaks for this Paul. I've got a couple of his albums (Hoodoo & It's my life) and I've been vaguely thinking I'd like more.

Hoodoo Man and It's My Life are the other two essential Junior Wells albums. It's My Life is more uneven, but the high points are really there. I don't really agree that those two albums pale by comparison to the music on Blues Hit Big Town. They are quite different, a different vintage. But I do share the enthusiasm expressed about Big Town - stone classic early-mid 50s Southside Chicago Blues, and music doesn't get much better than that.

Edited May 12, 2012 by John L

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Junior Wells: Blues Hit Big Town (Delmark) - Starting in the mid-sixties, Junior Wells made a fair number of albums. All of them pale in comparison with this one - a collection of his first recordings, recorded as a teenager, backed by the Jukes/Aces, with special guests Elmore James, Little Johnny Jones, Muddy Waters, and Otis Spann. If you only have one Junior Wells record in your collection, it should be this one.

Thaks for this Paul. I've got a couple of his albums (Hoodoo & It's my life) and I've been vaguely thinking I'd like more.

Hoodoo Man and It's My Life are the other two essential Junior Wells albums. It's My Life is more uneven, but the high points are really there. I don't really agree that those two albums pale by comparison to the music on Blues Hit Big Town. They are quite different, a different vintage. But I do share the enthusiasm expressed about Big Town - stone classic early-mid 50s Southside Chicago Blues, and music doesn't get much better than that.

Two recommendations fro the price of one! Oh wow!!!

MG

[paul secor]

My first thought was Roy Orbison - The Sun Years.

Orbison's reputation is based almost entirely upon his Monument recordings. These Sun recordings, his earliest, don't sound like them. I suspect that Orbison would be held in awe if he had died after making these but before making his Monuments.

http://www.amazon.com/Sun-Years-Roy-Orbison/dp/B0000032QW/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1336846063&sr=1-1

I have his Sun recordings along with a few extras on a 2 LP Charly set:

Then there's this one, recorded before he found his way to Sun:

A lot of people don't realize that he was a good guitar player in addition to his singing and songwriting talents.

[BillF]

Tadd Dameron's A Study in Dameronia, originally a ten-inch Prestige LP. However, the four long pieces by Dameron nearly always get reissued under Clifford Brown's name. This was one of Brown's earliest record dates, and he's simply marvelous on it, but people tend to overlook the fact that it was Dameron's date, Dameron's music and arrangements, and one of Dameron's finest recording sessions. Sadly, Tadd Dameron pretty much gets overlooked these days. The man who "brought beauty to bebop" deserves much better.

Lovely album! I've had it on a 10" Esquire British version of the Prestige album since the 60s. Those 4 tracks make a perfect disc! Yes, Tadd's star was long in decline and his sessions tended to be issued under the names of Clifford or Fats - or not at all if under his name - but now I'm hopeful as there are lots of covers of his stuff by today's musicians - the first to come to mind are Hod O'Brien in the U.S. and Steve Waterman over here.

[BillF]

I always think the music of the Gerry Mulligan Sextet of 1955-56 doesn't get as much recognition as it deserves and, compared with the Quartet with Chet Baker and the Concert Jazz Band, is somewhat ignored. I'd even go so far as saying these tracks are important in the history of jazz as a whole, providing another version of a collectively improvising group to compare with those of Jelly Roll Morton and Charles Mingus. I have this album

but this collection is probably the one to get nowadays:

[Joe]

Blues singer (though he could shout, too) Al Smith recorded 2 LPs for Prestige / Bluesville, one with backing from the Lockjaw / Shirley Scott group, but neither seems to have received much recognition. But there's much to like about both recordings.

Perhaps because its never been all that easy to find, THE RETURN OF HOWARD MCGHEE (Bethlehem, 1955), strikes me as being a relatively overlooked date. In fact, just about all of McGhee's Bethlehem dates (DUSTY BLUE, LIFE IS A JUST A BOWL OF CHERRIES) are worth more attention.

Finally, (acoustic) guitarist James Emery, a founding member of the String Trio of NY, but a fine composer and band-leader himself. Both of his late-90s Enja dates -- STANDING ON A WHALE FISHING FOR MINNOWS and SPECTRAL DOMAINS -- while rather different from one another, are superb.

Edited May 12, 2012 by Joe

[paul secor]

Junior Wells: Blues Hit Big Town (Delmark) - Starting in the mid-sixties, Junior Wells made a fair number of albums. All of them pale in comparison with this one - a collection of his first recordings, recorded as a teenager, backed by the Jukes/Aces, with special guests Elmore James, Little Johnny Jones, Muddy Waters, and Otis Spann. If you only have one Junior Wells record in your collection, it should be this one.

Thaks for this Paul. I've got a couple of his albums (Hoodoo & It's my life) and I've been vaguely thinking I'd like more.

Etoile de Dakar: Xalis (Popular African Music) - Etoile de Dakar was the band that Yousou N'dour sang with before he formed Super Etoile de Dakar and became a star. These recordings from 1978 have a quiet and gentle quality to them, and are generally less pop oriented than what was to come.

This is very nice - and very short. I should think it's hard to get, too, since Gunther Gretz gave up the business several years ago. An e-mail direct to him might get a result. I had a few direct from him at one time or another.

The two great unknowns I'm particularly interested in at the moment are Gnonnas Pedro and Laba Sosseh.

Gnonnas Pedro was from Benin and led a band from the early 70s until his death a few years ago. A lot of Latin stuff - like the Star Band/Etoile de Dakar - but with some interesting 6/8 Latin rhythms that came from his own village. Quite a few compilation albums are available, but it's not clear which tracks are duplicates.

Laba Sosseh was from The Gambia. Founder member (with Dexter Johnson) of the Star Band, which eventually, after more personnel changes than the Coasters, morphed into Etoile de Dakar. After Dexter's death in the sixties, he moved to Miami and became about the only African musician to make a career for himself living in America. Returned to the Gambia in 1997 or so and made 2 more albums before he died, also a few years ago. I bet Dan Gould can find Laba's albums in the 25c bins in Miami

Sterns have new compilations by both artists issued last month and I've just ordered them.

MG

I have these two Gnonnas Pedro compilations on Ledoux, purchased from John Storm Roberts when he was doing mail order in the early/mid 1990s. (I miss Mr. Roberts. He introduced me to a lot of great music.) Fine music on these two, but they're probably all I want or need, since I'm not a specialist/aficionado in the field of African music like yourself.

[Dave James]

Walter Benton - Out Of This World

Flavio Ambroscetti (alto sax - father of Franco) - Anniversary

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Junior Wells: Blues Hit Big Town (Delmark) - Starting in the mid-sixties, Junior Wells made a fair number of albums. All of them pale in comparison with this one - a collection of his first recordings, recorded as a teenager, backed by the Jukes/Aces, with special guests Elmore James, Little Johnny Jones, Muddy Waters, and Otis Spann. If you only have one Junior Wells record in your collection, it should be this one.

Thaks for this Paul. I've got a couple of his albums (Hoodoo & It's my life) and I've been vaguely thinking I'd like more.

Etoile de Dakar: Xalis (Popular African Music) - Etoile de Dakar was the band that Yousou N'dour sang with before he formed Super Etoile de Dakar and became a star. These recordings from 1978 have a quiet and gentle quality to them, and are generally less pop oriented than what was to come.

This is very nice - and very short. I should think it's hard to get, too, since Gunther Gretz gave up the business several years ago. An e-mail direct to him might get a result. I had a few direct from him at one time or another.

The two great unknowns I'm particularly interested in at the moment are Gnonnas Pedro and Laba Sosseh.

Gnonnas Pedro was from Benin and led a band from the early 70s until his death a few years ago. A lot of Latin stuff - like the Star Band/Etoile de Dakar - but with some interesting 6/8 Latin rhythms that came from his own village. Quite a few compilation albums are available, but it's not clear which tracks are duplicates.

Laba Sosseh was from The Gambia. Founder member (with Dexter Johnson) of the Star Band, which eventually, after more personnel changes than the Coasters, morphed into Etoile de Dakar. After Dexter's death in the sixties, he moved to Miami and became about the only African musician to make a career for himself living in America. Returned to the Gambia in 1997 or so and made 2 more albums before he died, also a few years ago. I bet Dan Gould can find Laba's albums in the 25c bins in Miami

Sterns have new compilations by both artists issued last month and I've just ordered them.

MG

I have these two Gnonnas Pedro compilations on Ledoux, purchased from John Storm Roberts when he was doing mail order in the early/mid 1990s. (I miss Mr. Roberts. He introduced me to a lot of great music.) Fine music on these two, but they're probably all I want or need, since I'm not a specialist/aficionado in the field of African music like yourself.

I don't have either of those Gnonnas Pedros !!

MG

Walter Benton - Out Of This World

Nice album. Must dig it out. Whenever I play it i think, 'must play this more often', but I don't. Probably because it's the onl;y Benton I've got.

Thanks for the reminder.

MG

[mikeweil]

The late Carla White - a real jaz singer, not only because she was great at scat, but because she let all her life experience flow into her music. I miss her quite a lot ...

[shaft]

Lenny McBrowne Eastern Lights is very overlooked terrific swingin melodic hardbop!

[kh1958]

Eric Kloss--Life Force (Prestige). As good as in the Land of the Giants, but not on CD.

[Dave James]

Lenny McBrowne Eastern Lights is very overlooked terrific swingin melodic hardbop!

I was checking out the availability of the Lenny McBrowne album when I noticed that Don Sleet is part of one of his bands. That reminded me of Sleet's All Members and what an overlooked gem it is. Here's a link to a website where you can listen to Eastern Lights. My link

Edited May 14, 2012 by Dave James

[jeffcrom]

I've been thinking about this thread since Paul started it. I think I'm making it more difficult than it really is - I've been trying to distinguish between what's an overlooked classic and what's just obscure. But here are some of my choices:

Dick Grove - Little Bird Suite (Pacific Jazz). I included a track on my last blindfold test, and it's actually been discussed a little around here recently, but it hasn't been reissued, and not many folks have heard it. If you think Grove is just a Gil Evans imitator, keep listening.

Harlan Leonard and His Rockets - 1940 (Classics). (Or any other good Harlan Leonard collection.) Great, rough-around-the-edges Kansas City big band that recorded 23 sides for Victor in 1940. Not many big names on board, although Tadd Dameron wrote some of the charts, and Kansas City jazz aficionados will know Fred Beckett, Henry Bridges, and Jesse Price.

Louis Armstrong - Disney Songs the Satchmo Way (Vista). I see a bunch of folks out there rolling their eyes, but this is one of Armstrong's last great albums, in spite of the material and the arrangements. He sings like he means it, but more importantly, improvises brilliantly on trumpet. This one has been reissued on CD by the Disney folks.

MEV - United Patchwork (Horo). Okay, this one might just be too obscure to include. In the periodic discussions of the Horo label, I don't remember United Patchwork being mentioned. But it's excellent - it features the three core members of Musica Elettronica Viva (Richard Teitelbaum, Frederic Rzewski, and Alvin Curran) along with Steve Lacy, Karl Berger, and Garrett List. The play in different combinations, and cover a lot of ground. Maybe not an absolutely classic album, but it certainly deserves to be better known.

Lee Konitz - Satori (Milestone). Maybe this is not neglected, but I don't remember it being mentioned around here very often, if at all. It features Konitz at his most adventurous, interacting with the great Martial Solal and one of the great rhythm teams of jazz: Dave Holland and Jack DeJohnette. Apologies if everyone already knows this one.

Fun idea for a thread, Paul!