BFT #174--Reveal

[Milestones]

Blindfold 174: Reveal

 

 

It has been fun, but here is the “reveal.”

 

Four of the thirteen tracks were not identified in any way—those by Styrker/Slagle, Duke Pearson, Jane Ira Bloom, and Tom Harrell.

 

1. (“Hartland” from Latest Outlook—2007):   No one identified this track by Dave Stryker/Steve Slagle.  It’s a fine collaboration between the two, who have worked together quite a bit—and sometimes are joined by Joe Lovano.  Their stuff is fairly mainstream, but sometimes with an edge—maybe a notch below artists like Lovano and Dave Douglas.

 

2. (“Cold Irons Bound” from Ships with Tattooed Sails—2007):   The trio is Michael Moore, Lindsay Horner, and Michael Vatcher (with Bill Frisell on some cuts, but not this one).  Dylan may not seem like a natural for jazz artists, but these guys do his music really well from first track to last. 

 

3. (“Speak Easy” from Open Land—1999):  In my opinion, this is one of Abercrombie’s finest albums.  He was transitioning from the organ group to the violin group—and this particular track features Kenny Wheeler, who always had a magical connection with John.  I find Abercrombie way up there as a guitarist and musician in general—and a good composer too.  He’s very distinctive, he put together interesting groups, and none of us should ever forget the fabulous work of Gateway.

 

4. (“Lifeline” from With These Hands—1956):  Randy Weston with Cecil Payne, playing an original on an album of mostly standards.  The late Randy Weston is one of my all-time favorite jazz figures, and this shows his superb work even at this early point in time.  Payne and Weston had a special connection, and Cecil was on several of the early albums; it’s too bad he didn’t reappear on the records from Weston’s renaissance in the 1990’s. 

 

5.(“After the Rain” from Sweet Honey Bee—1966):  I’m surprised no one got this piece by Duke Pearson: pianist, composer, arranger, producer, Blue Note stalwart.  I find this to be one of his greatest compositions, and it curiously has the same title as one of Coltrane’s greatest pieces.  James Spaulding provides the sterling flute work.  

 

6. (“Sidewalk Meeting”: title track—2001):  A rather interesting piece (and album) by multi-reedist Ted Nash, who plays all kinds of saxes and clarinets.  The great trombone work is by Wycliffe Gordon.

 

7. (“Opus 1.5”from Ron Carter's Great Big Band—2011):  The legendary Ron Carter, who has done just about everything; and here he is in late career leading his own big band.  

 

8.  (“Monk’s Rec Room” from The Red Quartets—1999):  One of the few players who performs only on soprano, Jane Ira Bloom, to my mind, is the greatest living soprano saxophonist.  She has a great feeling for Monk, whether his tunes or a tribute like this track. 

 

9.  (“Baroque Steps” from Paradise—2001):  I’m surprised no one got this, but it took me quite a while to catch on to Tom Harrell.  He is a very skilled and creative player.  As jazz with strings albums go, this one is way up there.

 

10. (“War Orphans” from Tribute—1974):  The highly inventive Paul Motian, with the great Charlie Haden on bass and Sam Brown on guitar.  The track comes from one of his earliest dates as a leader. 

 

11. (“Sound Off” from Time is of the Essence—1999):  Michael Brecker was identified very quickly—no surprise. Perhaps he devoted too much of his life to being a session player, but he offered up quite a few leader dates playing bona fide jazz with giants of the field.  This is my favorite of his records; it includes Pat Metheny on guitar and Larry Goldings on organ.

 

12.  (“Aqua Blue” from Aquarius—2013):  This track by Nicole Mitchell was identified, but some pointed out that it sounds a lot like James Newton and Jay Hoggard.  Since we never hear from those guys anymore, this is the next best thing.  I don’t have a lot of Mitchell’s work, but she seems like a pretty amazing player and composer.

 

13.  (“Simple Things” from Dialogues—1995):  Quite interesting date by Jim Hall, although the tracks are generally not duets in the usual sense.  Hall has influenced so many guitarists, including Bill Frisell.  This may be my favorite track from a great record.

 

I tried including images of the album covers, but it would not work for me.

 

 

Edited October 1, 2018 by Milestones

[Hot Ptah]

On ‎10‎/‎1‎/‎2018 at 0:58 PM, Milestones said:

Blindfold 174: Reveal

 

My comments are in red.

It has been fun, but here is the “reveal.”

 

Four of the thirteen tracks were not identified in any way—those by Styrker/Slagle, Duke Pearson, Jane Ira Bloom, and Tom Harrell.

 

1. (“Hartland” from Latest Outlook—2007):   No one identified this track by Dave Stryker/Steve Slagle.  It’s a fine collaboration between the two, who have worked together quite a bit—and sometimes are joined by Joe Lovano.  Their stuff is fairly mainstream, but sometimes with an edge—maybe a notch below artists like Lovano and Dave Douglas.

Shoot, I have several Dave Stryker albums, and at least one or two with Steve Slagle. But I could not identify this track! I really like both musicians and find them unique and distinctive.

2. (“Cold Irons Bound” from Ships with Tattooed Sails—2007):   The trio is Michael Moore, Lindsay Horner, and Michael Vatcher (with Bill Frisell on some cuts, but not this one).  Dylan may not seem like a natural for jazz artists, but these guys do his music really well from first track to last. 

I did not know about this group and their Dylan recordings. Thanks for introducing this to me.

3. (“Speak Easy” from Open Land—1999):  In my opinion, this is one of Abercrombie’s finest albums.  He was transitioning from the organ group to the violin group—and this particular track features Kenny Wheeler, who always had a magical connection with John.  I find Abercrombie way up there as a guitarist and musician in general—and a good composer too.  He’s very distinctive, he put together interesting groups, and none of us should ever forget the fabulous work of Gateway.

I like this track a lot. Abercrombie released many albums and I lost track of his work after a while. I need to listen to this entire album.

4. (“Lifeline” from With These Hands—1956):  Randy Weston with Cecil Payne, playing an original on an album of mostly standards.  The late Randy Weston is one of my all-time favorite jazz figures, and this shows his superb work even at this early point in time.  Payne and Weston had a special connection, and Cecil was on several of the early albums; it’s too bad he didn’t reappear on the records from Weston’s renaissance in the 1990’s. 

I need to get this. I am a big Randy Weston fan but don't have enough of his earliest work.

5.(“After the Rain” from Sweet Honey Bee—1966):  I’m surprised no one got this piece by Duke Pearson: pianist, composer, arranger, producer, Blue Note stalwart.  I find this to be one of his greatest compositions, and it curiously has the same title as one of Coltrane’s greatest pieces.  James Spaulding provides the sterling flute work.  

Oh wow, Duke Pearson and Sweet Honey Bee! I have this album. It is one of my favorite Duke Pearson albums. I have not listened to it in a long time, which I will have to remedy now.

6. (“Sidewalk Meeting”: title track—2001):  A rather interesting piece (and album) by multi-reedist Ted Nash, who plays all kinds of saxes and clarinets.  The great trombone work is by Wycliffe Gordon.

I have seen Gordon and Nash live, but did not recognize them here. When I saw Gordon live, he did not play like this!

7. (“Opus 1.5”from Ron Carter's Great Big Band—2011):  The legendary Ron Carter, who has done just about everything; and here he is in late career leading his own big band.  

I did not know that Ron Carter ever was the leader of a big band album. This is very interesting!

8.  (“Monk’s Rec Room” from The Red Quartets—1999):  One of the few players who performs only on soprano, Jane Ira Bloom, to my mind, is the greatest living soprano saxophonist.  She has a great feeling for Monk, whether his tunes or a tribute like this track. 

I have this album, have not heard it in a long time, and did not recognize it! I may have too many albums.

9.  (“Baroque Steps” from Paradise—2001):  I’m surprised no one got this, but it took me quite a while to catch on to Tom Harrell.  He is a very skilled and creative player.  As jazz with strings albums go, this one is way up there.

I like Tom Harrell's work. I don't have this album, and the strings threw me off. This is a fine track though.

10. (“War Orphans” from Tribute—1974):  The highly inventive Paul Motian, with the great Charlie Haden on bass and Sam Brown on guitar.  The track comes from one of his earliest dates as a leader. 

I bought this album in the 1970s, when I was trying to own every ECM album. When I was trying to do that, there were not that many ECM albums! I forgot about this album. Time to listen to it again!

11. (“Sound Off” from Time is of the Essence—1999):  Michael Brecker was identified very quickly—no surprise. Perhaps he devoted too much of his life to being a session player, but he offered up quite a few leader dates playing bona fide jazz with giants of the field.  This is my favorite of his records; it includes Pat Metheny on guitar and Larry Goldings on organ.

I have this album and have always liked it. I saw Michael Brecker perform shortly before his death, and it was the best live performance by him I ever witnessed. It was a real tragedy that he passed away.

12.  (“Aqua Blue” from Aquarius—2013):  This track by Nicole Mitchell was identified, but some pointed out that it sounds a lot like James Newton and Jay Hoggard.  Since we never hear from those guys anymore, this is the next best thing.  I don’t have a lot of Mitchell’s work, but she seems like a pretty amazing player and composer.

I have this album, but did not remember this track. A familiar refrain for me on this BFT! I really like Nicole Mitchell's playing.

13.  (“Simple Things” from Dialogues—1995):  Quite interesting date by Jim Hall, although the tracks are generally not duets in the usual sense.  Hall has influenced so many guitarists, including Bill Frisell.  This may be my favorite track from a great record.

Jim Hall! I knew there was a second guitarist other than Bill Frisell, but did not imagine it was Jim Hall. That is really interesting.

I tried including images of the album covers, but it would not work for me.

I can help you with the album covers. It is not very difficult. Great BFT! Thanks for putting it together. I really enjoyed it.

 

On ‎10‎/‎1‎/‎2018 at 0:58 PM, Milestones said:

 

 

[Milestones]

Thanks, it was very fun to do, and I'm glad that you will be exploring more stuff due to this test.  It's also interesting that several of these are in your collection, but you could not ID them.  Well, we all own plenty, plenty records--even when they are often not records as we used to think of them.

I had pasted in the album covers, yet when I pasted in the whole file they would not appear.