BFT 110 Discussion

[jeffcrom]

There's not one selection here I failed to enjoy. Copied below my listening notes, very warty. I tried not to agonize too much over identifying musicians and to concentrate instead on my manners of habits of listening. Greatly looking forward to the reveal.

Heck, it's all pretty much been revealed by now, except for track 8. Everyone plays this game differently - some presenters keep things close to the vest until the reveal. I enjoy the discussion so much that I give away lots of stuff to keep it going, with the result that there won't be many secrets left at the end of the month. That's okay, though - I like my way of doing it, and I've saved some stories for the reveal.

1 -- The conception feels familiar, but the trumpet player's voice does not.. the occasional rasp, the use of vibrato here and there as a filigree, almost Mogie-like (mid-60's Morgan, after he started relying more and more on tricky lipping and vocal effects, some of which I swear he adapted from Kenny Dorham)… there's a nice, dark center to this player's tone as well, one that almost makes me think this is a flugelhorn… the bass sound says 70s / early 80s… (Whoa, did not see that guitar coming!) This player does want for technique. Really like the tumbling quality of some of the phrases in the fours with the drummer. Could very well be a player of an generation older than Morgan, or Hubbard, or Charles Sullivan. Could this be Idrees Sulieman or Howard McGhee? Maybe even Louis Smith? Has to be someone who could burn like Smith could.

You know by now that's it's Ira Sullivan. Chuck has given me the go-ahead to tell the story of the guitarist, which I will save for the end of the month.

2 -- Monk's Mood, but not Monk. Monk would never play the middle phrase of the melody quite like that… not that this pianist rushes it, but he or she definitely is moving to a different pulse. And the bridge feel "classed up" to me, that is, played with a kind of classical pianist's sense of organization and dynamics… I mean, the solo is kind of far out in that respect… Something in the articulation says Bud Powell to me, but I don't think so. And what is the second theme? Not a performance with which I'm familiar, but I'm certainly intrigued.

See above.

3 -- One thing I love about really good early jazz is how otherworldly it can feel. And when the clarinet player here solos… what an amazingly elastic, electric sound. Sound might even find it grotesque. With that in mind, is this Johnny Dodds? Love the way, too, ensembles emerge, break apart, and recombine in performances like this.

You nailed Dodds - and I enjoyed your comments about this.

4 -- Feels like the trombonist's band, by virtue, perhaps, of the way in which the performances has been recorded. Even though the clarinet takes the first solo, which does stray into some Pee Wee Russell-esque territory there in the final bars. Would like to hear more from the pianist… the left hand more than than the right!

Not the trombonist's band, nor anyone else's, except maybe the producer's. You know by now that I love the clarinetist, Harry Shields. You are the first listener to mention the pianist, Armand Hug - a New Orleanian who never wanted to leave home, content to play his jazz and happy hour gigs. He is, in a mild way, a favorite of mine - influenced more by Jess Stacy than by Jelly Roll Morton.

5 -- The guitarist's palette and and the Middle Eastern-isms of this intro make we wonder if we are not within John Zorn's orbit. And with the entry of the clarinet and rhythm, I feel we must be. But there's no kitsch leavening this intensity, at least not to my ears. I wonder now about the relationship between the 3 clarinets in tracks 3, 4 and 5. If 3 is Johnny Dodds, could 4 be Bob Wilber (or someone of his generation)? Whoever this clarinet player is, obviously, jazz provides only one frame of reference; I like his (or her) ears. My real interest, though, lies in whoever is playing accordion.

Hot Ptah just figured out the clarinetist and album. Come to think of it, I have an earlier album by David Krakauer's Klezmer Madness on Tzadik.

6 -- Not a groove that can be easily replicated, maybe because no one uses percussionists quite like this anymore. Tenor player has real "snap" to his notes / phrases, even when he runs off a Coltrane lick. Is he coming back? Trumpet solo seems a bit weak, not as in the pocket as it could be. I like the little organ interlude before the guitar solo… so this is a bandleader willing to vary the formula. With that in mind, I'm going to guess Charles Earland. Also, there's some Larry Young in his solo, so it almost certainly has to be Earland. Or Leon Spencer. But I don't know of any live Spencer recordings. Anyway, the rest of the band? (Tight, BTW.) Wait, this organ solo has entered some pretty strange territory. I like it: counter-intuitive, if what you want is a capital S Solo, but still funky. More about shapes than lines, if that makes any sense. And given the tools with which he or she is working, why not?

I'm impressed with all y'all. I don't know whether or not I would have been able it ID Charles Earland if I didn't already know the track. Interesting comments about Grover.

7 -- OK, I had to listen to that intro several times over… Monk-ish, right, or am I just kidding myself? Which makes the vocal that follows all the more, uh, surprising. Modern in its harmonies and outlook, intelligent, elegant yet oblique at times (the band's punctuation of the vocal melody), but not "modern jazz" in that its beholden to bebop. Is that Lee Konitz? Sounds a bit like Konitz on a cough syrup jag (not a bad thing at all)? Could be the Thornhill band, whose repertoire I don't know as well as I should. Bu the more I listen, the more I hear evidence of Gil Evans… those closing chords…

Nice work!

8 -- The alto player has me stumped, though I really like his / her tone, approach, the whole package. Both the pianist and trumpet player (gets a little fussy, though, yes?) are wise, I think, to let the alto be the dominate voice. The tune's structure almost couldn't be simpler, and yet the drummer especially finds all sorts of ways to generate material of new interest. As original as the alto player is -- I want to say Oliver Lake, but I know its not -- the drummer might be the MVP of this performance.

No more hints on this one, I think, since it's the only track that's still got folks stumped.

9 -- Under all the embellishment, a tune I feel like I should know. And the tenor reminds me why: "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes." So there is a kind of Monk theme to this BFT. Let's hear that intro again… very nice, and reminds me of Don Friedman in his approach to standard material. Tenor sounds very, very, very indebted to Coltrane. Dave Liebman? Steve Grossman? More emotional heft, IMO, than either of those players. Wow, this pianist really sounds like Don Friedman, but I know its not. The lines are quite the same; this player does more to vary line lengths, and the long lines don;t have quite the same logic as Friedman's. I like this little disappearing act he or she tries to pull around the 5 minute mark… and now, all of a sudden, whoever it is sounds very much like Keith Jarrett. Hmmmm… As much as this is the pianist's performance, I bet he or she isn't the leader here. Ditto the tenor player.

Thanks for the window into your thought processes.

10 -- Soprano sax, guitar and organ? This has to be Sidney Bechet, yes? Or a master of Bechet's caliber. My favorite vibrato, period. Lovely performance, oddly forlorn, or like an unused romantic interlude from a M. Hulot film (I'm erring now on the side of this being Bechet with a French group.) Beyond that, I know nothing.

Wrong about Bechet, as you know now. But not that far out in left field, in my opinion.

11 -- The theme feels very Ornette, but the performance itself is something else. A real sour quality to the saxophonist's tone. My first thought was that this is Marion Brown. Tone (just that little bit of extra air), phrasing, conception all say Marion Brown to me. But the drummer is throwing me off. Said trappist is either a moonlighting Keith Moon or Han Bennink… or someone else equally interested in provocation. If this is Brown and Bennink, then I am guessing this is from PORTO NOVO, a record I have not listened to in a long, long time, in part because I found the recording quality too harsh and an impediment to my enjoyment. I may need to correct myself.

Got it. Except for the Keith Moon part.

12 -- Rock and roll! I mean, the real stuff. Who's kicking all those marching saints in the ass with his (or her) baritone sax? For once in my life, I feel like I am, indeed, among the many embraced in the term "everybody."

13 -- Pops! (So, in think for connections back to the previous track… could that be Danny Barker on vocals? I only know his late 80's SAVE THE BONES, but I know he made tons of recordings over the years). Ah, but what era of Pops. And who is in the All-Stars at this time? Very nice… a little buttoned-down (so surely this is later Pops) but he still does some marvelous stuff in delivering this lyric… I like the hint of lasciviousness on the bridge… This tune ends up getting more than it deserves, right?

Good work with the Danny Barker connection - and with your comment on the bridge.

14 -- Jonathan and Darlene Edwards / Paul Weston and Jo Stafford. Genius. Its hard to appreciate at first, but it is extremely difficult to play this stuff so thoroughly wrong (quotation marks around wrong optional). I mean, if not for the instantly recognizable lyrics, couldn't this be a completely new composition.

I like the way that Darlene sings the shape of the melody correctly, but starts on the wrong note (the tonic instead of the third), and so destroys its character. Genius indeed.

And now I'm able to go back and finally read everyone else's observations and guesses.

Thanks for listening, and for sharing your insightful comments.

[Hot Ptah]

Yep - Marion Brown, Porto Novo, recorded in Holland in 1967.

Wow, this really shows what can happen with these Blindfold Tests. I purchased "Porto Novo" in the 1970s, but for some reason just did not warm to it. I have not heard it in many years.

Then when I heard this cut #11 on this Blindfold Test, I thought, what a great cut, with an Ornette influence but not Ornette, clearly--who IS that? I really liked it immediately upon hearing it. I probably would have never played "Porto Novo" again, but now I am going to give it another chance.

Edited May 29, 2013 by Hot Ptah

[jeffcrom]

Yep - Marion Brown, Porto Novo, recorded in Holland in 1967.

Wow, this really shows what can happen with these Blindfold Tests. I purchased "Porto Novo" in the 1970s, but for some reason just did not warm to it. I have not heard it in many years.

Then when I heard this cut #11 on this Blindfold Test, I thought, what a great cut, with an Ornette influence but not Ornette, clearly--who IS that? I really liked it immediately upon hearing it. I probably would have never played "Porto Novo" again, but now I am going to give it another chance.

That kind of thing happens to me all the time. Sometimes you're just not ready for certain music; later it floors you, and you think, "What was my problem?"

Edited May 29, 2013 by jeffcrom

[webbcity]

Yep - Marion Brown, Porto Novo, recorded in Holland in 1967.

Wow, this really shows what can happen with these Blindfold Tests. I purchased "Porto Novo" in the 1970s, but for some reason just did not warm to it. I have not heard it in many years.

Then when I heard this cut #11 on this Blindfold Test, I thought, what a great cut, with an Ornette influence but not Ornette, clearly--who IS that? I really liked it immediately upon hearing it. I probably would have never played "Porto Novo" again, but now I am going to give it another chance.

That kind of thing happens to me all the time. Sometimes you're just not ready for certain music; later it floors you, and you think, "What was my problem?"

Same here...I seem to remember not digging Ornette's Free Jazz or Song X at all when I first listened to them. Some of my favorite albums now are albums that I really disliked at a previous point in time.