So, What Are You Listening To NOW?

[JSngry]

Slow. Shirley Horn-type slow. The slower the better for hearing the inner parts and the bass/tuba interaction.

Let's talk about how the absence of vibrato is a really effective way to change the perception of time, how vibrato is usually almost always faster than the tempo, so when yoiu take it away, you have fewer anticipation points of where the next beat goes. Let's also talk about how the tenisons that result from a really tight voicing can create an illusion of vibrato, and how natural overtone bumpings are NOT vibrato, and then let's talk about being a smart enough writer to realize that, and then to get the band to play it just so. And let's also talk about how high brass is definitely a color to paint with, was is vibrato and all sorts of other things.

And really, I don't think that much of either "Stan Kenton" OR Stan Kenton, but writers, that's something else entirely, and give a dog his bone on the day it's due for him to have it, this piece of Made-For-MOR tickles me pink the way it fuses  Ahmad Jamal, clockmaking, Gepetto-like will-imposition, and an overall sense of story arc with some pretty lightweight source material...darkness where there should be light, BIGHT BLINDING FUTURE LIGHT, to sell the record and/or the image.

Is it neurotic? Oh hell yeah, but it's a neurosis that is happy within itself and makes no attempt to overcompensate. Would that all Stan Kenton music was this way, and there is enough "Stan Kenton" music from various writers over the years that I'm no longer going to be the blatant reflexively RUN AWAY! NOW! that I was for a good long while. I have done the work, listened to the music (a damn whole lot of it, a few years ago, had to do it just to get closure) and have realized that although Stan Kenton was pretty much a guru for a cult that had to create itself, he sure couldn't do it just by himself,. within "Stan Kenton" (I refuse to say The Creative World Of Stan Kenton, that's part of the deal, non-negotiable), there is enough (some days more than enough) delightful music to be found, sometimes in spite of itself, sometimes, as with Willie Maiden, just because that was where that greatness was living at the time) hey, I'll take it and like it.

And sometimes, the goofiness is too rich to ignore!

 

1941 Kenton, the guy crtainly sounds like he means business, as does his band. Howard Rumsey on bass, iirc, and he was playing amped iirc. However much Kenton had to go to other writers to create the tree, I think it's fair to say that the notion of faster/louder/higher, nos a stunt, but as a real expression of whatever it was he had going on inside himself, that was Kenton, and damned if it still doesn't get my attention for willing to be that much....that.

 

[JSngry]

Impositional!

[duaneiac]

[duaneiac]

 

[paul secor]

Bennie Moten's Kansas City Orchestra Volume 1 - "Justrite" (Frog)

[duaneiac]

[HutchFan]

Earlier tonight on the way home from work:

Jerry Gonzalez - Ya Yo Me Curé (Sunnyside, originally issued on American Clavé)
Includes a brilliant version of Monk's "Evidence." 

 

NP:

Randy Weston - S/T (PAUSA)
Solo recital recorded in Italy in '76. Typically great Weston playing & compositions.

 

 

Edited August 22, 2017 by HutchFan

[paul secor]

Brew Moore: Zonky

[soulpope]

5 hours ago, HutchFan said:

Earlier tonight on the way home from work:

Jerry Gonzalez - Ya Yo Me Curé (Sunnyside, originally issued on American Clavé)
Includes a brilliant version of Monk's "Evidence." 

Simply superb ....

[BillF]

11 hours ago, Cyril said:

8 hours ago, duaneiac said:

 

[soulpope]

[EKE BBB]

Paul Gonsalves/Willie Cook/Enrique Villegas - Encuentro (Trova/FSR, 1968)

[soulpope]

[Berthold]

Georgie Auld "Jump, Georgie, Jump" comming from HEP Records

[kinuta]

[Buddha the Magnificent]

Natsuko Sugao Group - Sakura (Whatabout Music, 2014).  Natsuko Sugao - trumpet, flugelhorn; Gonzalo Levin - tenor sax, flute; Darío García - trombone; Ivan Gonzalez - French horn; Enric Peinado - guitar; Marc Cuevas - bass; Joasema Martín - drums, perc.

[JohnS]

[soulpope]

[John Tapscott]

Kenny Clarke-Francy Boland Big Band -  CDR of a one hour radio broadcast - July 1968, Stuttgart. 1968 seems like it was the peak year for this excellent band.

 

[EKE BBB]

JR Monterose - The Message (Jaro/FSR, 1959)

[soulpope]

1 hour ago, John Tapscott said:

Kenny Clarke-Francy Boland Big Band -  CDR of a one hour radio broadcast - July 1968, Stuttgart. 1968 seems like it was the peak year for this excellent band.

 

Excellent performance - but also the year thereafter they were still in best shape  .... :

[Buddha the Magnificent]

Nik Bärtsch's Ronin - Holon (ECM 2049, 2007).  Nik Bärtsch - piano; Sha - bass & contrabass clarinets, alto sax; Björn Meyer - bass; Kaspar Rast - drums; Andi Pupato - percussion.

[Berthold]

Fred Hersch: In Amsterdam

[alankin]

Joey Baron + Barondown – Crackshot (Avant)
— Joey Baron - drums; Ellery Eskelin - tenor sax; Steve Swell - trombone

Terry Gibbs – Dream Band Vol. 2 — The Sundown Sessions (Contemporary Records)

 

Personnel:
John Audino, Conte Candoli, Frank Higgins, Stu Williamson (trumpet) Bobby Burgess, Vern Friley, Bill Smiley (trombone) Charlie Kennedy, Joe Maini (alto sax) Med Flory, Bill Perkins (tenor sax) Jack Schwartz (baritone sax) Terry Gibbs (vibes) Lou Levy (piano) Buddy Clark (bass) Mel Lewis (drums) Manny Albam, Al Cohn, Bill Holman, Lennie Niehaus, Marty Paich (arrangers)

Includes one CD bonus track. Recorded live at the Sundown, Hollywood in 1959.

Edited August 22, 2017 by alankin

[John Tapscott]

from the Mosaic set