BFT 134 Discussion

[Hot Ptah]

Don't know that I have much to contribute after so many good identifications, but that's never stopped me before...

1. I'll have to guess Morton, or somebody who paid close attention. Recorded no later than about 1928. The "Latin tinge" is very significant.

Yes, it is Jelly Roll Morton, from 1923.

2. You want me to guess it's some veteran swing trumpeter in a '50s recording trying to be hip with a younger rhythm section, but a momentary Bird lick makes me think the trumpeter is younger. The tenor could almost be young Gene Ammons.

It is Gene Ammons, but not when he was all that young.

3. No guess, but that organ solo is cool as anything.

4. You're bound to stick some Sun Ra in High Space Fidelity in there somewhere, and this might be the one. And might that be Hobart Dotson?

It is Sun Ra, but not Hobart Dotson on trumpet.

5. I half expected to bored with another "Caravan" but this one thrills me. Especially the pianist.

I like it too.

6. The harmony and melody scream Spain, but everything else suggests Abdullah Ibrahim. This is taking the scenic route to "Caravan."

It is Ibrahim. The album has been previously identified as "Ode to Duike Ellington".

7. At first it seems like Chick playing something reminiscent of Spain, or somebody whose playing is reminiscent of Chick playing something reminiscent of Spain if you know what I mean. But it's too thickly textured to be Chick. And a few spots are pretty weird. Maybe an offbeat choice like some relatively calm Don Pullen. I like it very much.

No one has identified this one. Interesting guesses, but it is not Don Pullen, or Chick Corea.

8. Fascinating way to back into "My Favorite Things." Is this perhaps from overseas? Then again, the pianist makes me think it might be from Saturn, though the tenor doesn't sound like the one we associate with Saturn.

It is Sun Ra with John Gilmore. The album has been previously identified as "Some Blues But Not The Kind That's Blue."

9. Lester Bowie discloses himself quickly, and the rest of the lineup suggests AECO. Famoudou and Malachi lay down an amazing groove here.

It is the Art Ensemble of Chicago. It is been previously identified as "Charlie M" from the "Full Force" album. I agree about Malachi Favors and Don Moye--they are amazing here.

10. And the award for most behind-the-beat playing goes to ... this altoist, who might be Threadgill. The group seems like Air. It's like an old rag or march tune, and I mean that in a good way.

It is Air, previously identified as a track from "Air Lore."

10. A rough beast on "What Is This Thing Called Love" changes, with an arrangement more "modern" than any of the soloists. Maybe a Charlie Ventura contraption?

This has been previously identified as an unreleased 1946 Freddie Slack track. It was first released on the Mosaic Select.

12. Sounds like an ECM, with violin. Jack DeJohnette in the back? Abercrombie?

Interesting guesses, but it is not the ECM, and DeJohnette and Abercrombie do not appear on this track.

13. Of course this was the first track to be guessed. It reminds me of something I heard a very respected jazz drummer say: "Drums make you crazy. They made Tony Williams crazy."

On past BFTs which I put together, some 1970s tracks which I thought were fairly well known went unidentified. I wondered if it was just my age and the fact that I started listening to jazz in the

1970s that made me think that the 1970s tracks were commonly known. But everyone identified this one.

A fun selection, with nothing that rubs me the wrong way. Thank you!

Thanks!

I have this CD. It is a compilation of jazz on the label Chess.

House Warmin' CD is for sale on Amazon.

That is how I have this track, on that Chess 2 CD compilation.

Edited May 26, 2015 by Hot Ptah

[jeffcrom]

I imagine just about everything has been identified by now. Haven't looked at the thread.

1. “New Orleans Joys/Blues” by Jelly Roll Morton, recorded for Gennett in 1923. This is one of my favorite of the early Jelly Roll piano solos, mostly due to the New Orleans rumba feel, so much like many of Professor Longhair records years later. And Jelly never plays “just” a blues; he’s too much of a composer for that. There are three distinct strains here, even if the second and third are marked by riffs rather than fully developed melodies. And I love the passage where his right-hand improvising is seemingly in a different, but related tempo, from the bass line.

2. “House Warmin’” by Howard McGhee and The Blazers. (Or Howard McGee, and the label of my Winley 45 says.) I love the idea of McGhee and Gene Ammons with an R & B rhythm section; they play well, and the concept works. I’m not going to dig out the 45 to see, but I believe McGhee and Ammons each get another solo on side two.

3. I don’t know – this was just okay for me. The feel was lightweight, but fun. As a soloist, the organist needed to edit himself some, and I thought that the tenor player was kind of repetitive. Enjoyed the guitarist, though – Grant Green?

4. I jokingly said that a Sun Ra track was a requirement for every BFT, and here you go. This is a nice early one, “Reflections in Blue,” from 1956. In typically confusing Ra fashion, this was issued on both the Saturn album Sun Ra Visits Planet Earth and on Delmark’s Sound of Joy. Besides excellent solos by usual suspects John Gilmore and Pat Patrick, I particularly enjoyed the trumpet solo by Art Hoyle. And the tympani and Wurlitzer piano show Ra’s interest in exploring his sound palette pretty early. Nice one.

5. Nice! I don’t know much about Latin jazz, so I have nothing intelligent to say except that this made me enjoy “Caravan,” a tune I’m kind of sick of.

6. First thought: Mal Waldron. Nope. Second thought: Abdullah Ibrahim. Yep. Third thought: I know what this is: “Impressions of a Caravan.” This piece builds to be greater than the sum of its parts. There was no single moment that I loved, but I loved the whole thing. Don’t know if that makes any sense.

7. Yeah! This is an exciting piece of music. Somebody’s got chops and imagination. No idea who it is.

8. More Ra, this time from 1977 – Some Blues But Not the Kind That’s Blue. I really like John Gilmore here. I guess the flute is Marshall Allen. I’m not too impressed with the trumpet solo by Akh Tal Ebah; it sounds like he doesn’t know what to do with the changes.

I saw this album when it first came out, in an Atlanta record store with a bunch of other Ra albums. They all had hand-decorated covers, and I was so confused about which ones to buy that I didn’t get any of them – one of my all-time stupidest moves. I had to wait years until the Atavistic CD reissue.

9. The great Art Ensemble of Chicago, playing “Charlie M” from Full Force. The solos by Lester Bowie and Malachi Favors are great, but I also like some of the subtler touches, like the use of dual bass saxophones in one section. Beautiful.

10. Another great Chicago band – Air, from Air Lore, their album of (mostly) Scott Joplin and Jelly Roll Morton compositions. I heard this version before I had ever heard an “authentic” version of Joplin’s original conception. I love the way they found a way to make this music contemporary, and found a different tempo that worked for each section.

The original sheet music contains one of favorite directions to the performer at the last strain: “The pianist will please Stamp the heel of one foot heavily upon the floor at the word “Stamp.”

11. An interesting late-1940s big band record (on “What is This Thing Called Love” changes), with just enough modern touches to be really intriguing. Is that Herbie Fields on alto?

12. Sounds like a Paul Motian group at first, but later, I don’t think so. I really have no idea about who this is, but it’s very good.

13. McCoy Tyner, playing his old boss’s “Moment’s Notice,” from the Supertrios – Ron Carter and Tony Williams are the rhythm section. Dang; Williams is killing me. In my opinion, this is an all-star ensemble that actually works; I like it a lot.

Thanks for a good one - I liked it all.

[Hot Ptah]

I imagine just about everything has been identified by now. Haven't looked at the thread.

1. “New Orleans Joys/Blues” by Jelly Roll Morton, recorded for Gennett in 1923. This is one of my favorite of the early Jelly Roll piano solos, mostly due to the New Orleans rumba feel, so much like many of Professor Longhair records years later. And Jelly never plays “just” a blues; he’s too much of a composer for that. There are three distinct strains here, even if the second and third are marked by riffs rather than fully developed melodies. And I love the passage where his right-hand improvising is seemingly in a different, but related tempo, from the bass line.

Yes! If you go back and read the previous comments in the thread, you will see that I wrote about how I heard a connection to Professor Longhair from this track. As I said earlier:

"My initial thought was, 'this song is where a lot of Professor Longhair's piano style comes from!' I really like Professor Longhair's music, from decades later. Some of Professor Longhair's signature devices can be heard in this 1923 Jelly Roll Morton recording, to my ears.

So that made me think. Did Professor Longhair actually know this 1923 Jelly Roll Morton recording, and was he greatly influenced by it? Or was this just a style of piano playing common in New Orleans as Professor Longhair was developing his style, which he heard in bars and clubs? If that is the case, was it a style common in New Orleans because of this 1923 Jelly Roll Morton recording? Was this specific 1923 Jelly Roll Morton recording the source? Or was it a common piano style in New Orleans anyway, and no one thought of this 1923 Jelly Roll Morton recording as a source for it? Or, was it a common piano style in New Orleans before Jelly Roll Morton recorded this track in 1923, and Morton was just documenting what he was hearing in the bars and clubs prior to 1923? I have no idea what the answer is.

Since Professor Longhair was a big influence on a lot of New Orleans music after him, if this 1923 Jelly Roll Morton recording was in fact the specific source for a lot of Professor Longhair's style, then this 1923 Jelly Roll Morton recording is the hugely influential source for a great deal of music in later decades".

2. “House Warmin’” by Howard McGhee and The Blazers. (Or Howard McGee, and the label of my Winley 45 says.) I love the idea of McGhee and Gene Ammons with an R & B rhythm section; they play well, and the concept works. I’m not going to dig out the 45 to see, but I believe McGhee and Ammons each get another solo on side two.

You got it! I did not take this from a 45--I took it from a Chess 2 CD collection of different artists.

3. I don’t know – this was just okay for me. The feel was lightweight, but fun. As a soloist, the organist needed to edit himself some, and I thought that the tenor player was kind of repetitive. Enjoyed the guitarist, though – Grant Green?

I really thought that someone would identify this by now. You are correct about Grant Green! That is the first identification of any type for this track.

4. I jokingly said that a Sun Ra track was a requirement for every BFT, and here you go. This is a nice early one, “Reflections in Blue,” from 1956. In typically confusing Ra fashion, this was issued on both the Saturn album Sun Ra Visits Planet Earth and on Delmark’s Sound of Joy. Besides excellent solos by usual suspects John Gilmore and Pat Patrick, I particularly enjoyed the trumpet solo by Art Hoyle. And the tympani and Wurlitzer piano show Ra’s interest in exploring his sound palette pretty early. Nice one.

I really like this track.. I like how the early Sun Ra recordings, such as this one, often combine a bluesy feeling with some unexpected aspects of instrumentation and/or arrangement.

5. Nice! I don’t know much about Latin jazz, so I have nothing intelligent to say except that this made me enjoy “Caravan,” a tune I’m kind of sick of.

I enjoy this "Caravan" too. It's early Tito Puente. The world really needs a good discography of Tito Puente--it can be maddeningly difficult to find information about the personnel on his recordings from the late 1940s through the early 1970s.

6. First thought: Mal Waldron. Nope. Second thought: Abdullah Ibrahim. Yep. Third thought: I know what this is: “Impressions of a Caravan.” This piece builds to be greater than the sum of its parts. There was no single moment that I loved, but I loved the whole thing. Don’t know if that makes any sense.

You identified it! page did so, too.

7. Yeah! This is an exciting piece of music. Somebody’s got chops and imagination. No idea who it is.

I think that everyone might be a bit surprised at who this is.

8. More Ra, this time from 1977 – Some Blues But Not the Kind That’s Blue. I really like John Gilmore here. I guess the flute is Marshall Allen. I’m not too impressed with the trumpet solo by Akh Tal Ebah; it sounds like he doesn’t know what to do with the changes.

I saw this album when it first came out, in an Atlanta record store with a bunch of other Ra albums. They all had hand-decorated covers, and I was so confused about which ones to buy that I didn’t get any of them – one of my all-time stupidest moves. I had to wait years until the Atavistic CD reissue.

Yes, that is it! I agree about the trumpet solo.

I used to see Sun Ra live and someone would be selling several albums with hand-decorated covers from the bandstand after the concerts, and I would not buy all of them. I arbitrarily bought only some and not others. Why didn't I just get them all? I did buy the hand decorated LPs of "God Is More Than Love Can Ever Be" and "A Fireside Chat With Lucifier" the one and only time I ever saw copies of them in my life. They had just been put out for sale at Kansas City's late lamented Music Exchange store, in the late 1980s. I am glad I bought them.

9. The great Art Ensemble of Chicago, playing “Charlie M” from Full Force. The solos by Lester Bowie and Malachi Favors are great, but I also like some of the subtler touches, like the use of dual bass saxophones in one section. Beautiful.

Yes, that is it. I agree, that one can point to the solos as being great, but there are so many subtle pleasures on this track as well.

10. Another great Chicago band – Air, from Air Lore, their album of (mostly) Scott Joplin and Jelly Roll Morton compositions. I heard this version before I had ever heard an “authentic” version of Joplin’s original conception. I love the way they found a way to make this music contemporary, and found a different tempo that worked for each section.

The original sheet music contains one of favorite directions to the performer at the last strain: “The pianist will please Stamp the heel of one foot heavily upon the floor at the word “Stamp.”

Yes, you got it. I love this album and loved it when it first came out. I was lucky enough to see Air within a year of its release, at the Detroit Jazz Center downtown.

Thanks for that information about the sheet music--that is wonderful.

11. An interesting late-1940s big band record (on “What is This Thing Called Love” changes), with just enough modern touches to be really intriguing. Is that Herbie Fields on alto?

It is not Herbie Fields. This track has been previously identified as an unreleased recording by Freddie Slack, recorded in 1946 and first released in 2005, when the Freddie Slack Mosaic Select was released.

12. Sounds like a Paul Motian group at first, but later, I don’t think so. I really have no idea about who this is, but it’s very good.

It is not Paul Motian, but that is an interesting guess. No one has identified anything about this track yet.

13. McCoy Tyner, playing his old boss’s “Moment’s Notice,” from the Supertrios – Ron Carter and Tony Williams are the rhythm section. Dang; Williams is killing me. In my opinion, this is an all-star ensemble that actually works; I like it a lot.

Yes, I agree. I read long ago, an interview with Tony Williams, in which he said that he felt that he did not know what to do when he played with McCoy Tyner, that he did not know how to fit in. To me, he played great with McCoy Tyner on this 1970s Milestone album and on the two live albums that this trio recorded at about the same time. I think that Tony plays in a very exciting way, and that he gets McCoy to go to a more exciting level too.

Thanks for a good one - I liked it all.

Thanks for your comments! I am glad that you liked it.

Edited May 26, 2015 by Hot Ptah

[NIS]

I've got the chance to listen to this BFT quite a bit this month. I don't have much for comments, just some preferences.

I've probably said before that I'm a sucker for solo piano, so I enjoyed all three of those tracks, track 1 probably most. The Caravan, I think, track really sounded familiar. Usually that means it is somebody I've never even heard of. Piano improv really amazes me. My folks offered to get me piano lessons when I was a kid but I just wanted to go out an play ball. Wish I could get a do-over on that one.

Track 2 is the one I am most looking forward to finding out. No point of reference here but I really like it.

I can't say that track 3 so much appeals to me but listening to it on the stationary bike at the gym, I noticed I was peddling faster. So it had some affect on me.

I'm pretty sure I know tracks 9 and 10 and they are actually my favorites of the BFT. I really got into track 9 from the start; great tune, nice group and playing, bass is really good. Second time through I payed more attention to the trumpet and well, that is Lester Bowie and of coarse AEOC. Probably one of the ECM albums. If it is Nice Guys or Full Force I'm going to listen to the whole album tonight. If something else, I guess I will try to get it.

Track 10 is the opening cut from Air Lore. Great album, band and tunes. Great bass on this one too.

Thanks a lot. Enjoyed this listen.

[Hot Ptah]

I've got the chance to listen to this BFT quite a bit this month. I don't have much for comments, just some preferences.

I've probably said before that I'm a sucker for solo piano, so I enjoyed all three of those tracks, track 1 probably most. The Caravan, I think, track really sounded familiar. Usually that means it is somebody I've never even heard of. Piano improv really amazes me. My folks offered to get me piano lessons when I was a kid but I just wanted to go out an play ball. Wish I could get a do-over on that one.

Track 2 is the one I am most looking forward to finding out. No point of reference here but I really like it.

I can't say that track 3 so much appeals to me but listening to it on the stationary bike at the gym, I noticed I was peddling faster. So it had some affect on me.

I'm pretty sure I know tracks 9 and 10 and they are actually my favorites of the BFT. I really got into track 9 from the start; great tune, nice group and playing, bass is really good. Second time through I payed more attention to the trumpet and well, that is Lester Bowie and of coarse AEOC. Probably one of the ECM albums. If it is Nice Guys or Full Force I'm going to listen to the whole album tonight. If something else, I guess I will try to get it.

Track 10 is the opening cut from Air Lore. Great album, band and tunes. Great bass on this one too.

Thanks a lot. Enjoyed this listen.

Thanks for your comments. Track 9 is from "Full Force". Track 10 is from "Air Lore". I agree, there is great bass playing on both tracks.

I am glad that you like the solo piano tracks. I do too.

Where is The Magnificent Goldberg? He could identify Track 3 in a heartbeat!

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Taken me longo time to catch up with this, Bill. Heavy reading to blame. But here we go.

1 Oh, here’s something old. Just a solo piano, but not boogie woogie. More like a rag. Oh, there’s a familiar riff in the left hand coming along about a minute into it. Knowing your taste a bit, I’m going to guess this is early Jay McShann. Nice.

2 Oh, here’s one I know. No I don’t, but the intro sounds just like one of the tracks on Gene Ammons’ Chess album ‘House warming’ with McGhee and three guys who no one's ever heard of and who might have been fellows incarcerated with them but those cuts ain’t no two minute jobs. And it isn’t Jug anyway. Though it could be… an edited and generally fucked up and speeded up 45 version?

3 I know this one, too. Kynard, another KC man. This is from the LP ‘Afro-disiac’, with Houston Person, Grant Green, Jimmy Leis and Pretty Purdie. Without comparing the tracks, I think this is the title track. If you like this Kynard, his best albums were ‘Professor soul’ and ‘Soul brotherhood’.

4 Don’t know this. Nice arrangement. Nice band. Not a top rank band, but a very nice band. The sax backgrounds to the trumpet solo are really nice to hear. I feel I should know the trumpet player, but can’t call him to mind. Baritone player had a long walk to get to the mike and had to elbow the tenor player out of the way. And what a NICE solo! Is it me or is the pianist Jay McShann again? Oh, and an electric piano solo. This must be the pianist’s recording, or the A&R manager was being unwontedly generous to him. At times he sounds like Ray Charles, but I suspect a McShann influence on Ray anyway.

What a nice record!

5 Oh, a Latin kick! ‘Caravan’. Too bad it doesn’t sound as exhausted as a caravan plodding through the Sahara ought to sound, but Messrs Ellington and Tizol didn’t think of it that way, so why should I complain? The piano solo leads me to believe this is a real Latin band, not a jazz band playing Latin music, though there are a few jazz pianists who can do that sort of stuff. So maybe it’s Tito Puente or Rodriguez.

6 Abdullah Ibrahim it sounds like to me. One I haven’t heard. Damn nice. One I suspect he recorded in South Africa for Gallo in the early seventies. The feel of those sessions is on this one too. HAH! A nice quote from ‘Caravan’ and more than a quote, this is ‘Caravan’ with a long quaint Ibrahim intro. Wish I had this.

Oh, well, I’ve got it now, haven’t I? Thanks Bill. Looking forward to finding out what LP this comes from.

7 More Latin stuff, without the percussion. Some pianist is playing TOO MUCH PIANO!!!!! I keep nearly recognising bits of tune, but then he slides off somewhere else. No idea who this is but he’s pretty modern. You kind of can’t help admiring this but, in the end, it’s not terribly entertaining; more like he’s showing off. Or do I mean she? Could be Mary Lou.

8 A ten minute cut and I’ve got it on full volume… OK, it’s very, very, modern, but I can stand it. The pianist makes me think of Zawinul, back in the days when he played real music, and made real hit records, with Cannon. Definitely something Zawinul-ish about him, as the tenor player gives the tune to us. All those Coltrane-isms and Henderson-isms from him don’t impress, because his sound is really not much to write home about. Oh, let me have trumpeters around me that are PHAT! All these horn players sound like they’ve got their bollocks caught in a mangle and can’t get loose enough to breathe properly.

Well, I don’t know if it’s Zawinul on piano or not, and don’t really care who the other guys are. This AIN’T one of my favourite things.

Break for a cuppa now.

9 OK, back again, restart! Oh right, now we do have a phat trumpeter around us. Good. What kind of effin’ tune is this though? Sounds like it’s been cobbled together from bits and pieces that didn’t fit into an unfinished Ellington composition. Once they finish playing the tune, I can DEFINITELY stand the trumpeter. Pooh gosh, yes! Thinking about some of the stuff you like, I’m going to guess at a St Louis origin for the trumpet player (Clark Terry said all St Louis trumpet players, including himself, have common facets to their style and I have the feeling I could hear something of that) and maybe the whole band. Couldn’t be bothered with the bass player. Can’t argue with him, either, though. The others are just there, though, but with nearly 3 minutes to go, I’m waiting for the sax man to come in. Well, here they are, all a bit nondescript, I think. One’s on bass clarinet, another’s on some other not quite sexy sax. Well, the trumpet player’s the draw on this; bet it AIN’T Miles Davis. Hope someone will find me something else of his that’s more enjoyable.

10 Soprano sax player. Is it necessary? Well, I suppose if playing without even an ounce of soul is all you can do, it may be, if you can’t be a professor of quantum physics. Well, I’ll keep this playing while I file a few CDs back in their shelves so, if one of the players kicks me in the goolies, I’ll notice and write some more about this one.

11 Big band in an echo chamber. Why did that piano player take off like Monk? What is THIS thing called, love? Well, it’s not ‘Mambo for Kenton’ ‘cos he wouldn’t have been recorded in an echo chamber. But it does have that brittle, unattractive, Kenton sound.

12 Now a twelve minute opus. Enter, right, doodling on a pad, from California. Lovely train rhythm section. I could grow to like this. I think I’d like even more ‘Night train’ played over this rhythm. But this is nice, so leave it be, even if they ARE playing the wrong song. The rhythm section is KILLING me! Here comes the guitarist. This has got to be seventies rubbish, but it’s SO good, can’t help liking it. And actually, the guitarist is doing the train thing wonderfully well! Goodness me, only three and a half to go so soon! But they’re slowing down as they approach Paddington. Oh no, this is only Reading. Hey, they gave the last solo to an effin’ violinist? Oh yeah, I can see why. Bloomin’ ‘eck Tucker, you should have ended the BFT with this one!

13 This had better be a blast! John Coltrane plays love and magic. OK, this tune was actually from the album ‘Blue train’ wasn’t it? Is there some association of ideas at work here, Bill, or is it a coincidence? Am I the only one who hears #12 as a train song? Well, it ain’t a blast. It’s yet another pianist playing too much piano. But I like the connection of the ideas, even if I’m the only one to think in those terms.

Well, that was pretty interesting Bill. One thing about doing this so late in the month is that I shan’t have to wait too long to find out about all this nice stuff I don’t know about, like the trumpet player on #9 and whether #12 is really a train song and who by.

Thank you and Gawd Blesher Guv.

Just time to post this before I have to take the dog out! Back tomorow for a read of this thread.

MG

[Hot Ptah]

Taken me longo time to catch up with this, Bill. Heavy reading to blame. But here we go.

1 Oh, here’s something old. Just a solo piano, but not boogie woogie. More like a rag. Oh, there’s a familiar riff in the left hand coming along about a minute into it. Knowing your taste a bit, I’m going to guess this is early Jay McShann. Nice.

I think that I have never included a Jay McShann track on any BFT! It is not him.

2 Oh, here’s one I know. No I don’t, but the intro sounds just like one of the tracks on Gene Ammons’ Chess album ‘House warming’ with McGhee and three guys who no one's ever heard of and who might have been fellows incarcerated with them but those cuts ain’t no two minute jobs. And it isn’t Jug anyway. Though it could be… an edited and generally fucked up and speeded up 45 version?

It is "House Warmin'" from a Chess compilation 2 CD set, with McGhee and Gene Ammons.

3 I know this one, too. Kynard, another KC man. This is from the LP ‘Afro-disiac’, with Houston Person, Grant Green, Jimmy Leis and Pretty Purdie. Without comparing the tracks, I think this is the title track. If you like this Kynard, his best albums were ‘Professor soul’ and ‘Soul brotherhood’.

Ahh! I just knew that you would identify this one instantly. You are the only one to even try to identify it, and you got it all correct.

4 Don’t know this. Nice arrangement. Nice band. Not a top rank band, but a very nice band. The sax backgrounds to the trumpet solo are really nice to hear. I feel I should know the trumpet player, but can’t call him to mind. Baritone player had a long walk to get to the mike and had to elbow the tenor player out of the way. And what a NICE solo! Is it me or is the pianist Jay McShann again? Oh, and an electric piano solo. This must be the pianist’s recording, or the A&R manager was being unwontedly generous to him. At times he sounds like Ray Charles, but I suspect a McShann influence on Ray anyway.

What a nice record!

As you can see from the previous comments on this thread, it is a 1956 recording by Sun Ra, "Reflections in Blue". I like how early Sun Ra recordings were often rooted in the blues.

5 Oh, a Latin kick! ‘Caravan’. Too bad it doesn’t sound as exhausted as a caravan plodding through the Sahara ought to sound, but Messrs Ellington and Tizol didn’t think of it that way, so why should I complain? The piano solo leads me to believe this is a real Latin band, not a jazz band playing Latin music, though there are a few jazz pianists who can do that sort of stuff. So maybe it’s Tito Puente or Rodriguez.

It is early Tito Puente, a real Latin band indeed.

6 Abdullah Ibrahim it sounds like to me. One I haven’t heard. Damn nice. One I suspect he recorded in South Africa for Gallo in the early seventies. The feel of those sessions is on this one too. HAH! A nice quote from ‘Caravan’ and more than a quote, this is ‘Caravan’ with a long quaint Ibrahim intro. Wish I had this.

Oh, well, I’ve got it now, haven’t I? Thanks Bill. Looking forward to finding out what LP this comes from.

It is Abdullah Ibrahim. I had this album, "Ode to Duke Ellington", on LP in the late 1970s,. It is available on CD. The entire album is quite good.

7 More Latin stuff, without the percussion. Some pianist is playing TOO MUCH PIANO!!!!! I keep nearly recognising bits of tune, but then he slides off somewhere else. No idea who this is but he’s pretty modern. You kind of can’t help admiring this but, in the end, it’s not terribly entertaining; more like he’s showing off. Or do I mean she? Could be Mary Lou.

No one has come close to guessing this one.

8 A ten minute cut and I’ve got it on full volume… OK, it’s very, very, modern, but I can stand it. The pianist makes me think of Zawinul, back in the days when he played real music, and made real hit records, with Cannon. Definitely something Zawinul-ish about him, as the tenor player gives the tune to us. All those Coltrane-isms and Henderson-isms from him don’t impress, because his sound is really not much to write home about. Oh, let me have trumpeters around me that are PHAT! All these horn players sound like they’ve got their bollocks caught in a mangle and can’t get loose enough to breathe properly.

Well, I don’t know if it’s Zawinul on piano or not, and don’t really care who the other guys are. This AIN’T one of my favourite things.

Break for a cuppa now.

It is a late 1970s Sun Ra recording. It is very interesting to me that you thought of Zawinul.

9 OK, back again, restart! Oh right, now we do have a phat trumpeter around us. Good. What kind of effin’ tune is this though? Sounds like it’s been cobbled together from bits and pieces that didn’t fit into an unfinished Ellington composition. Once they finish playing the tune, I can DEFINITELY stand the trumpeter. Pooh gosh, yes! Thinking about some of the stuff you like, I’m going to guess at a St Louis origin for the trumpet player (Clark Terry said all St Louis trumpet players, including himself, have common facets to their style and I have the feeling I could hear something of that) and maybe the whole band. Couldn’t be bothered with the bass player. Can’t argue with him, either, though. The others are just there, though, but with nearly 3 minutes to go, I’m waiting for the sax man to come in. Well, here they are, all a bit nondescript, I think. One’s on bass clarinet, another’s on some other not quite sexy sax. Well, the trumpet player’s the draw on this; bet it AIN’T Miles Davis. Hope someone will find me something else of his that’s more enjoyable.

This is Lester Bowie's tribute to the then just deceased Charles Mingus, on the Art Ensemble of Chicago's "Full Force" album from 1980.

10 Soprano sax player. Is it necessary? Well, I suppose if playing without even an ounce of soul is all you can do, it may be, if you can’t be a professor of quantum physics. Well, I’ll keep this playing while I file a few CDs back in their shelves so, if one of the players kicks me in the goolies, I’ll notice and write some more about this one.

Henry Threadgill is the saxophone player, on Air's "Air Lore" album.

11 Big band in an echo chamber. Why did that piano player take off like Monk? What is THIS thing called, love? Well, it’s not ‘Mambo for Kenton’ ‘cos he wouldn’t have been recorded in an echo chamber. But it does have that brittle, unattractive, Kenton sound.

Very interesting that you heard Monk and Kenton in this. It is an unreleased Freddie Slack track, recorded in 1946 and first released by Mosaic in 2005 with their three CD Mosaic Select of Freddie Slack.

12 Now a twelve minute opus. Enter, right, doodling on a pad, from California. Lovely train rhythm section. I could grow to like this. I think I’d like even more ‘Night train’ played over this rhythm. But this is nice, so leave it be, even if they ARE playing the wrong song. The rhythm section is KILLING me! Here comes the guitarist. This has got to be seventies rubbish, but it’s SO good, can’t help liking it. And actually, the guitarist is doing the train thing wonderfully well! Goodness me, only three and a half to go so soon! But they’re slowing down as they approach Paddington. Oh no, this is only Reading. Hey, they gave the last solo to an effin’ violinist? Oh yeah, I can see why. Bloomin’ ‘eck Tucker, you should have ended the BFT with this one!

I never thought of this as a train song, but will now go back and listen to it with that in mind. I think that the guitar player is great here.

13 This had better be a blast! John Coltrane plays love and magic. OK, this tune was actually from the album ‘Blue train’ wasn’t it? Is there some association of ideas at work here, Bill, or is it a coincidence? Am I the only one who hears #12 as a train song? Well, it ain’t a blast. It’s yet another pianist playing too much piano. But I like the connection of the ideas, even if I’m the only one to think in those terms.

It is Coltrane's "Moment's Notice", first recorded on his "Blue Train" album. This is from a 1977 McCoy Tyner album.

Well, that was pretty interesting Bill. One thing about doing this so late in the month is that I shan’t have to wait too long to find out about all this nice stuff I don’t know about, like the trumpet player on #9 and whether #12 is really a train song and who by.

Thank you and Gawd Blesher Guv.

Just time to post this before I have to take the dog out! Back tomorow for a read of this thread.

I am glad that you returned to the board to post your very interesting thoughts. I was counting on you to identify Track #3!

MG

Edited May 27, 2015 by Hot Ptah

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

I think that I have never included a Jay McShann track on any BFT! It is not him.

I don't doubt you're right, but I still know how much you like Mrs McShann's little boy.

MG

2 Oh, here’s one I know. No I don’t, but the intro sounds just like one of the tracks on Gene Ammons’ Chess album ‘House warming’ with McGhee and three guys who no one's ever heard of and who might have been fellows incarcerated with them but those cuts ain’t no two minute jobs. And it isn’t Jug anyway. Though it could be… an edited and generally fucked up and speeded up 45 version?

It is "House Warmin'" from a Chess compilation 2 CD set, with McGhee and Gene Ammons.

Yes, but it sounds very different from the LP I've got (the Upfront/Trip edition) so I doubted it. I'm guessing it's been sped up a little bit.

MG

3 I know this one, too. Kynard, another KC man. This is from the LP ‘Afro-disiac’, with Houston Person, Grant Green, Jimmy Leis and Pretty Purdie. Without comparing the tracks, I think this is the title track. If you like this Kynard, his best albums were ‘Professor soul’ and ‘Soul brotherhood’.

Ahh! I just knew that you would identify this one instantly. You are the only one to even try to identify it, and you got it all correct.

I'm very surprised Dan Gould didn't get this, as I know he's very keen on Kynard.

MG

4 Don’t know this. Nice arrangement. Nice band. Not a top rank band, but a very nice band. The sax backgrounds to the trumpet solo are really nice to hear. I feel I should know the trumpet player, but can’t call him to mind. Baritone player had a long walk to get to the mike and had to elbow the tenor player out of the way. And what a NICE solo! Is it me or is the pianist Jay McShann again? Oh, and an electric piano solo. This must be the pianist’s recording, or the A&R manager was being unwontedly generous to him. At times he sounds like Ray Charles, but I suspect a McShann influence on Ray anyway.

What a nice record!

As you can see from the previous comments on this thread, it is a 1956 recording by Sun Ra, "Reflections in Blue". I like how early Sun Ra recordings were often rooted in the blues.

I must pursue this album, when you tell us which it is. I like early Sun Ra.

MG

5 Oh, a Latin kick! ‘Caravan’. Too bad it doesn’t sound as exhausted as a caravan plodding through the Sahara ought to sound, but Messrs Ellington and Tizol didn’t think of it that way, so why should I complain? The piano solo leads me to believe this is a real Latin band, not a jazz band playing Latin music, though there are a few jazz pianists who can do that sort of stuff. So maybe it’s Tito Puente or Rodriguez.

It is early Tito Puente, a real Latin band indeed.

To judge by what page says, this is Puente from some time before he made any of the records I've heard of him. Hence my uncertainty.

MG

6 Abdullah Ibrahim it sounds like to me. One I haven’t heard. Damn nice. One I suspect he recorded in South Africa for Gallo in the early seventies. The feel of those sessions is on this one too. HAH! A nice quote from ‘Caravan’ and more than a quote, this is ‘Caravan’ with a long quaint Ibrahim intro. Wish I had this.

Oh, well, I’ve got it now, haven’t I? Thanks Bill. Looking forward to finding out what LP this comes from.

It is Abdullah Ibrahim. I had this album, "Ode to Duke Ellington", on LP in the late 1970s,. It is available on CD. The entire album is quite good.

Must get this one. Haven't bought an Ibrahim for a good few years now - not since I got the one with Buddy Tate. 'Bout time I rectified that.

MG

8 A ten minute cut and I’ve got it on full volume… OK, it’s very, very, modern, but I can stand it. The pianist makes me think of Zawinul, back in the days when he played real music, and made real hit records, with Cannon. Definitely something Zawinul-ish about him, as the tenor player gives the tune to us. All those Coltrane-isms and Henderson-isms from him don’t impress, because his sound is really not much to write home about. Oh, let me have trumpeters around me that are PHAT! All these horn players sound like they’ve got their bollocks caught in a mangle and can’t get loose enough to breathe properly.

Well, I don’t know if it’s Zawinul on piano or not, and don’t really care who the other guys are. This AIN’T one of my favourite things.

It is a late 1970s Sun Ra recording. It is very interesting to me that you thought of Zawinul.

Well, I don't like 1980 Sun Ra, so that this is 1979 and I also don't like is doesn't shock me to my bones.

MG

9 Oh right, now we do have a phat trumpeter around us. Good. What kind of effin’ tune is this though? Sounds like it’s been cobbled together from bits and pieces that didn’t fit into an unfinished Ellington composition. Once they finish playing the tune, I can DEFINITELY stand the trumpeter. Pooh gosh, yes! Thinking about some of the stuff you like, I’m going to guess at a St Louis origin for the trumpet player (Clark Terry said all St Louis trumpet players, including himself, have common facets to their style and I have the feeling I could hear something of that) and maybe the whole band. Couldn’t be bothered with the bass player. Can’t argue with him, either, though. The others are just there, though, but with nearly 3 minutes to go, I’m waiting for the sax man to come in. Well, here they are, all a bit nondescript, I think. One’s on bass clarinet, another’s on some other not quite sexy sax. Well, the trumpet player’s the draw on this; bet it AIN’T Miles Davis. Hope someone will find me something else of his that’s more enjoyable.

This is Lester Bowie's tribute to the then just deceased Charles Mingus, on the Art Ensemble of Chicago's "Full Force" album from 1980.

Ah! I believe I'm right in thinking Bowie is from St Louis. So Clark Terry seems to have been correct. And, of course, I have some of his work on a Fela Kuti LP - 'Perambulator' - so I don't need to get an AEC album, thank goodness. But I'm glad to hear this, as I've been uncertain whether to look into the AEC.

MG

11 Big band in an echo chamber. Why did that piano player take off like Monk? What is THIS thing called, love? Well, it’s not ‘Mambo for Kenton’ ‘cos he wouldn’t have been recorded in an echo chamber. But it does have that brittle, unattractive, Kenton sound.

Very interesting that you heard Monk and Kenton in this. It is an unreleased Freddie Slack track, recorded in 1946 and first released by Mosaic in 2005 with their three CD Mosaic Select of Freddie Slack.

Funny, but I've heard almost NO Freddie Slack - only a couple of tracks with Ella Mae Morse. I think I'm wishing I'd picked up the Mosaic.

MG

13 This had better be a blast! John Coltrane plays love and magic. OK, this tune was actually from the album ‘Blue train’ wasn’t it? Is there some association of ideas at work here, Bill, or is it a coincidence? Am I the only one who hears #12 as a train song? Well, it ain’t a blast. It’s yet another pianist playing too much piano. But I like the connection of the ideas, even if I’m the only one to think in those terms.

It is Coltrane's "Moment's Notice", first recorded on his "Blue Train" album. This is from a 1977 McCoy Tyner album.

Yes, I knew the tune. The quote I put in is from the lyrics to the song - by George V Johnson - on the Pharoah Sanders version of it in the LP 'Rejoice'.

MG

Well, still not clear why Dan didn't get 'Afro-disiac'. Still, we can all have off moments.

Thanks Bill, it's been good. Oh, sorry, this is going to come out gibberish. It says I've posted more than the required number of blocks, so I'm going to mess around with it, as I don't know how to turn my text green.

MG

[Hot Ptah]

MG, I will respond to you without trying to include my comments within the quotes.

2. That is odd to me that the track was sped up for this Chess CD compilation set.

4. This early Sun Ra track appears on two different albums: (1) Delmark's "Sound of Joy", which they are always selling as an active item in their catalogue, so it is readily available. I think that this album has a particularly strong set of tunes. (2) Evidence's "Visits Planet Earth", which is also quite a good album.

5. Tito Puente made a great many recordings, up to his death, and the recordings from the late 1940s through at least the early 1970s have not been comprehensively gathered together and reissued in a good way. He needs a Bear Family box set or something like that. It is ridiculous to me that one simply cannot easily find recording dates and musician information for many of his recordings in the late 1940s to early 1970s time period. If one tries to figure out who played a sax solo on a particular track, one enters a murky world of speculative and contradictory essays, book chapters with incomplete and unattributed information, and online references to what friends of Puente once said, such as a friend who inherited Puente's personal LP collection. For an artist of his stature, this seems unacceptable by now, when such an abundance of information is available about so many artists.

Years ago I picked up a 2 CD set, Carnival, on one of those possibly sketchy European labels. It has a great set of earlier Puente tracks, with absolutely no information about any of the sessions. Off and on, I have spent years trying to figure out what I really have on this set. I took this Track 5 from Carnival.

11. The Freddie Slack Mosaic Select went out of print fairly quickly. I found an overpriced copy used and bought it. I have to say that it is only somewhat interesting. There are many tracks which to me are not really that compelling. This particular track exploded off the stereo as it was so much more exciting than some of what had preceded it. Not to be too negative, I like the Ella Mae Morse songs on this set, and some of the other tracks are quite enjoyable.

Edited May 28, 2015 by Hot Ptah

[Hot Ptah]

Since I did recognize a theme straight away when I started to play your BFT this afternoon, here is just a quick guess for one song:

05. Tito Puento and his Orchestra – song: Caravan (or sometimes called Caravan Mambo on his albums) – composer : Duke Ellington and Juan Tizol (lyrics: Irving Mills, not used in this case). It is hard to find out when this recording was made, probably the one from 1949 till 1951 in New York by Tico Records. The first album I did find it on is "King of the Mambo" from 1952. It is hard since I can’t read Italian, lol. ( I did find it in Iatlian) This also says that this have been reissued on CD and can be found in compolation The Complete 78s, Volume 3. However I can find that one, but I don’t think this is true and the same recording since it sounds to me the tempo is slower there. The right track is on "Tito Puento & Machito – Kings of Mambo". I could listen to that one for a snippet, and that seems the right one. It is just called “Caravan” on that one. On youtube I did find it too and there it was called “Caravan mambo”. So this got me a bit confused about what would be the correct title.

I did recognize the theme straight away and at our big band we have played another Tito Puento tune; so I when I heard the feel of this one. I had to think of that and went looking. I think I have the artist correct, but I can't be about the recording just yet. I wanted to try anyway for now.

I've always liked this tune. This rendition is really one to my taste.

page, I have also tried to figure out when this version of "Caravan" by Tito Puente was recorded. From what I can tell, from a lot of online research and listening to many sound snippets available online, I think it is from a session in either late 1949 or 1950 for the Tropical label. I think it was released on an LP titled "Tito Puente & Friends", and later on a CD titled "At the Beginning!"

From what I can tell, "Caravan Mambo" is a different arrangement and recording altogether.

This version of "Caravan" was not on the "Complete 78s" series, the four CD set which was released on CD within the past ten years. I have that four CD set and this track is not on it.

[Hot Ptah]

I will plan to post the Reveal on Sunday, May 31.

Edited May 29, 2015 by Hot Ptah

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Damn me, I HAVE the Sun Ra! I got the LP in 1970 and am no on my THIRD copy!!!!!!

Sometimes, I must take no notice of what I'm listening to.

MG

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Since I did recognize a theme straight away when I started to play your BFT this afternoon, here is just a quick guess for one song:

05. Tito Puento and his Orchestra – song: Caravan (or sometimes called Caravan Mambo on his albums) – composer : Duke Ellington and Juan Tizol (lyrics: Irving Mills, not used in this case). It is hard to find out when this recording was made, probably the one from 1949 till 1951 in New York by Tico Records. The first album I did find it on is "King of the Mambo" from 1952. It is hard since I can’t read Italian, lol. ( I did find it in Iatlian) This also says that this have been reissued on CD and can be found in compolation The Complete 78s, Volume 3. However I can find that one, but I don’t think this is true and the same recording since it sounds to me the tempo is slower there. The right track is on "Tito Puento & Machito – Kings of Mambo". I could listen to that one for a snippet, and that seems the right one. It is just called “Caravan” on that one. On youtube I did find it too and there it was called “Caravan mambo”. So this got me a bit confused about what would be the correct title.

I did recognize the theme straight away and at our big band we have played another Tito Puento tune; so I when I heard the feel of this one. I had to think of that and went looking. I think I have the artist correct, but I can't be about the recording just yet. I wanted to try anyway for now.

I've always liked this tune. This rendition is really one to my taste.

page, I have also tried to figure out when this version of "Caravan" by Tito Puente was recorded. From what I can tell, from a lot of online research and listening to many sound snippets available online, I think it is from a session in either late 1949 or 1950 for the Tropical label. I think it was released on an LP titled "Tito Puente & Friends", and later on a CD titled "At the Beginning!"

From what I can tell, "Caravan Mambo" is a different arrangement and recording altogether.

This version of "Caravan" was not on the "Complete 78s" series, the four CD set which was released on CD within the past ten years. I have that four CD set and this track is not on it.

If you like this version of 'Caravan', page, you should try the lovely version by Norman Simmons, from his album 'In private'. I included it in one of my BFTs severl years ago. There are several tracks from that album on YouTube, but 'Caravan' is not among them. If you PM me an e-mail address, I'll send it to you, but I don't think the board's software will let me do it (and Jim might not like it, either).

MG

[Hot Ptah]

Damn me, I HAVE the Sun Ra! I got the LP in 1970 and am no on my THIRD copy!!!!!!Sometimes, I must take no notice of what I'm listening to.MG

This happens to me often.

[jeffcrom]

Before this BFT closes out tomorrow, I wanted to comment on this Hot Ptah quote:

I was listening to Allen Lowe's box set, Really The Blues? (Box 1, with the first nine of thirty six CDs which make up the entire set). This Jelly Roll Morton track was surrounded by tracks by other artists from the early 1920s. This track jumped out at me. My initial thought was, "this song is where a lot of Professor Longhair's piano style comes from!" I really like Professor Longhair's music, from decades later. Some of Professor Longhair's signature devices can be heard in this 1923 Jelly Roll Morton recording, to my ears.

So that made me think. Did Professor Longhair actually know this 1923 Jelly Roll Morton recording, and was he greatly influenced by it? Or was this just a style of piano playing common in New Orleans as Professor Longhair was developing his style, which he heard in bars and clubs? If that is the case, was it a style common in New Orleans because of this 1923 Jelly Roll Morton recording? Was this specific 1923 Jelly Roll Morton recording the source? Or was it a common piano style in New Orleans anyway, and no one thought of this 1923 Jelly Roll Morton recording as a source for it? Or, was it a common piano style in New Orleans before Jelly Roll Morton recorded this track in 1923, and Morton was just documenting what he was hearing in the bars and clubs prior to 1923? I have no idea what the answer is.

Since Professor Longhair was a big influence on a lot of New Orleans music after him, if this 1923 Jelly Roll Morton recording was in fact the specific source for a lot of Professor Longhair's style, then this 1923 Jelly Roll Morton recording is the hugely influential source for a great deal of music in later decades.

As intriguing an idea as this is, I doubt if Professor Longhair was directly influenced by Jelly Roll Morton. "New Orleans Joys" came out when Fess was five years old. Jelly had already left New Orleans, and if I remember his biography correctly, never returned to his hometown. It just seems unlikely that Fess would have known that record, which would have been out of print and tough to find well before he was ten. That Caribbean/rumba influence was just something in the air in New Orleans - Pops Foster even spoke of Buddy Bolden playing "a slow blues with a Spanish beat."

Fess's progenitors were the "junker blues" pianists like Champion Jack Dupree. I just think that he felt that style strongly, and it came out in lots of his tunes.

[page]

Hi HP,
here are my thoughts finally, no more full answers found I’m afraid, but mostly my impressions and associations.

01 unknown to me, sounds a bit like a honky tonk piano. I like the style of the pianist.

02. a simple blues which is always nice to put in a set, fun to play and to listen to; nice steady rhythm section.

03. another blues; theme sounds familiar, but I can’t come up with what it might be. Nice solo work. Fun track, invites me to dance.

04. more blues. J No clue. Nice sax solo.

05. see my previous post. At our big band we did Tito’s “Oye Come Va”. I love Latin jazz and mambo, which grew upon me when I learned to dance Latin in my teens. I did that for quite some time. Among my originals you can hear the influence too I think. The tune I wrote for Sandi, (remember?) is Latin with swing in the bridge which I felt suited the words best that way and it was sort of a wink at the song of Carmen McRae which she liked so much. Had no chance to record it yet, or I could have shown you guys. :-$

06. see previous post. I wanted to give my brother Abdullah Ibrahim’s new album at Christmas but it turned out to be a bit expensive, so I gave him another one. My brother is into classical music which has his heart. Since I wouldn’t know what he has already since he has a lot I tend to pick out jazz for him which has a bit of lyrical feel to it similar to the classical music he likes. I do still plan to get Abdullah’s album, for myself, since it is awesome. I got the chance to listen to it online when it came out.

07. sounds like one of today’s pianist. Not Abdullah Ibrahim or Ahmad Jamal. Not Bugge Wesseltoft either. Maybe Keith Jarrett?

08. song: “My Favourite Things”; composers: Rodgers and Hammerstein; jazz waltz; No clue for the artist.

09. Now this sounds a bit like the Carling family especially at the beginning and end. I haven’t been able to find it among their repertoire though. Really nice track. I’m quite a fan of Gunhild Carling who plays trombone and sings and is a composer and she is so kind to offer her music to others to play it. She has composed lovely tunes. I plan to try out some. However this probably is another artist. I love this bassplayer btw.

10. Theme sounds familiar, but again I can’t come up with the title.

11. Bigband, reminds me of Benny Goodman, but it seems it isn’t his orchestra. Like in other BFT’s I’m reminded of the movies I watched as a girl mostly on Saturday afternoons which was really my first encounter with jazz music without knowing it was that. (no jazz music was played in our household, just classical music). This always makes me smile, I loved it from the moment ‘we met’.. Thank you for this one, it has nice memories.

12. Sounds a bit ‘Gaelic’, if you know what I mean. So I’d expect this band being situated in Ireland or Scotland or something. Some folk influence. I like it. Nice theme too.

13. Theme sounds familiar. Man, a fast tune this is. I have no clue.

Thanks for your BFT, HP. I’ve really enjoyed it and was quite surprised I was able to find the two tracks so fast. Curious about what the others will turn out to be.
Kind regards, page

Edited May 31, 2015 by page

[page]

Since I did recognize a theme straight away when I started to play your BFT this afternoon, here is just a quick guess for one song:

05. Tito Puento and his Orchestra – song: Caravan (or sometimes called Caravan Mambo on his albums) – composer : Duke Ellington and Juan Tizol (lyrics: Irving Mills, not used in this case). It is hard to find out when this recording was made, probably the one from 1949 till 1951 in New York by Tico Records. The first album I did find it on is "King of the Mambo" from 1952. It is hard since I can’t read Italian, lol. ( I did find it in Iatlian) This also says that this have been reissued on CD and can be found in compolation The Complete 78s, Volume 3. However I can find that one, but I don’t think this is true and the same recording since it sounds to me the tempo is slower there. The right track is on "Tito Puento & Machito – Kings of Mambo". I could listen to that one for a snippet, and that seems the right one. It is just called “Caravan” on that one. On youtube I did find it too and there it was called “Caravan mambo”. So this got me a bit confused about what would be the correct title.

I did recognize the theme straight away and at our big band we have played another Tito Puento tune; so I when I heard the feel of this one. I had to think of that and went looking. I think I have the artist correct, but I can't be about the recording just yet. I wanted to try anyway for now.

I've always liked this tune. This rendition is really one to my taste.

page, I have also tried to figure out when this version of "Caravan" by Tito Puente was recorded. From what I can tell, from a lot of online research and listening to many sound snippets available online, I think it is from a session in either late 1949 or 1950 for the Tropical label. I think it was released on an LP titled "Tito Puente & Friends", and later on a CD titled "At the Beginning!"

From what I can tell, "Caravan Mambo" is a different arrangement and recording altogether.

This version of "Caravan" was not on the "Complete 78s" series, the four CD set which was released on CD within the past ten years. I have that four CD set and this track is not on it.

Hi H.P.

I was confused about whether it was called "Caravan' or 'Caravan Mambo' since on youtube it was called that last one and it was the same as your track. Since I could only listen to snippets on the album I wasn't sure. Thanks for the info. I love this track. I'm sorry to read there are people here who got tired of the song 'Caravan'. I guess that hasn't happened to me yet since I'm not that long into jazz altogether but I do know that sometimes a song can have too many renditions which aren't all that good and that will make you dislike a song a bit. I do think it is a nice melody. I didn't sing it, yet, although there are lyrics to it. I saw Melody Gardot perform it the first time I saw her. Her rendition was okay, not nearly as good as this one.

If you like this version of 'Caravan', page, you should try the lovely version by Norman Simmons, from his album 'In private'. I included it in one of my BFTs severl years ago. There are several tracks from that album on YouTube, but 'Caravan' is not among them. If you PM me an e-mail address, I'll send it to you, but I don't think the board's software will let me do it (and Jim might not like it, either).

MG

Aw, that is really kind, M.G. I'd love to hear that rendition. I'll send that p.m. shortly and will look for this Norman Simmons online.

Kind regards, page

[Hot Ptah]

Before this BFT closes out tomorrow, I wanted to comment on this Hot Ptah quote:

I was listening to Allen Lowe's box set, Really The Blues? (Box 1, with the first nine of thirty six CDs which make up the entire set). This Jelly Roll Morton track was surrounded by tracks by other artists from the early 1920s. This track jumped out at me. My initial thought was, "this song is where a lot of Professor Longhair's piano style comes from!" I really like Professor Longhair's music, from decades later. Some of Professor Longhair's signature devices can be heard in this 1923 Jelly Roll Morton recording, to my ears.

So that made me think. Did Professor Longhair actually know this 1923 Jelly Roll Morton recording, and was he greatly influenced by it? Or was this just a style of piano playing common in New Orleans as Professor Longhair was developing his style, which he heard in bars and clubs? If that is the case, was it a style common in New Orleans because of this 1923 Jelly Roll Morton recording? Was this specific 1923 Jelly Roll Morton recording the source? Or was it a common piano style in New Orleans anyway, and no one thought of this 1923 Jelly Roll Morton recording as a source for it? Or, was it a common piano style in New Orleans before Jelly Roll Morton recorded this track in 1923, and Morton was just documenting what he was hearing in the bars and clubs prior to 1923? I have no idea what the answer is.

Since Professor Longhair was a big influence on a lot of New Orleans music after him, if this 1923 Jelly Roll Morton recording was in fact the specific source for a lot of Professor Longhair's style, then this 1923 Jelly Roll Morton recording is the hugely influential source for a great deal of music in later decades.

As intriguing an idea as this is, I doubt if Professor Longhair was directly influenced by Jelly Roll Morton. "New Orleans Joys" came out when Fess was five years old. Jelly had already left New Orleans, and if I remember his biography correctly, never returned to his hometown. It just seems unlikely that Fess would have known that record, which would have been out of print and tough to find well before he was ten. That Caribbean/rumba influence was just something in the air in New Orleans - Pops Foster even spoke of Buddy Bolden playing "a slow blues with a Spanish beat."

Fess's progenitors were the "junker blues" pianists like Champion Jack Dupree. I just think that he felt that style strongly, and it came out in lots of his tunes.

Thanks for those comments, Jeff. What you say makes a lot of sense.

Hi HP,

here are my thoughts finally, no more full answers found I’m afraid, but mostly my impressions and associations.

01 unknown to me, sounds a bit like a honky tonk piano. I like the style of the pianist.

02. a simple blues which is always nice to put in a set, fun to play and to listen to; nice steady rhythm section.

03. another blues; theme sounds familiar, but I can’t come up with what it might be. Nice solo work. Fun track, invites me to dance.

04. more blues. J No clue. Nice sax solo.

05. see my previous post. At our big band we did Tito’s “Oye Come Va”. I love Latin jazz and mambo, which grew upon me when I learned to dance Latin in my teens. I did that for quite some time. Among my originals you can hear the influence too I think. The tune I wrote for Sandi, (remember?) is Latin with swing in the bridge which I felt suited the words best that way and it was sort of a wink at the song of Carmen McRae which she liked so much. Had no chance to record it yet, or I could have shown you guys. :-$

06. see previous post. I wanted to give my brother Abdullah Ibrahim’s new album at Christmas but it turned out to be a bit expensive, so I gave him another one. My brother is into classical music which has his heart. Since I wouldn’t know what he has already since he has a lot I tend to pick out jazz for him which has a bit of lyrical feel to it similar to the classical music he likes. I do still plan to get Abdullah’s album, for myself, since it is awesome. I got the chance to listen to it online when it came out.

07. sounds like one of today’s pianist. Not Abdullah Ibrahim or Ahmad Jamal. Not Bugge Wesseltoft either. Maybe Keith Jarrett?

It is one of today's pianists. I have now posted the Reveal so you can see that it is Uri Caine.

08. song: “My Favourite Things”; composers: Rodgers and Hammerstein; jazz waltz; No clue for the artist.

09. Now this sounds a bit like the Carling family especially at the beginning and end. I haven’t been able to find it among their repertoire though. Really nice track. I’m quite a fan of Gunhild Carling who plays trombone and sings and is a composer and she is so kind to offer her music to others to play it. She has composed lovely tunes. I plan to try out some. However this probably is another artist. I love this bassplayer btw.

I love the bass player too, especially on this track.

10. Theme sounds familiar, but again I can’t come up with the title.

11. Bigband, reminds me of Benny Goodman, but it seems it isn’t his orchestra. Like in other BFT’s I’m reminded of the movies I watched as a girl mostly on Saturday afternoons which was really my first encounter with jazz music without knowing it was that. (no jazz music was played in our household, just classical music). This always makes me smile, I loved it from the moment ‘we met’.. Thank you for this one, it has nice memories.

12. Sounds a bit ‘Gaelic’, if you know what I mean. So I’d expect this band being situated in Ireland or Scotland or something. Some folk influence. I like it. Nice theme too.

Well, it is not exactly an Irish or Scottish band. You can see who it is on the Reveal, which is now posted.

13. Theme sounds familiar. Man, a fast tune this is. I have no clue.

That is just as fast and intense as McCoy Tyner regularly played live in the 1970s. I was fortunate to see him many times in the 1975-82 period, and this is very representative of what his music was like.

Thanks for your BFT, HP. I’ve really enjoyed it and was quite surprised I was able to find the two tracks so fast. Curious about what the others will turn out to be.

Kind regards, page

Thank you for your thoughtful comments! I am glad that you enjoyed it!