BFT 232, The Reveal

[tkeith]

The REAL, reveal, not Jim's homemade one! 🤪

BFT232:  The Reveal

track 01 -
Radio Citizen            Test Me (feat. Ursula Rucker)    (2010) Hope And Despair
Ursula Rucker - vocals

My wife and I went out to dinner at a chic gastro pub in nearby Amesbury, MA, one night.  We were greeted by a host in a Euro-cut suit who, while polite, still managed to be a snooty douche.  After we were seated, I looked around and said to her, "We're not nearly young enough, nor pretty enough to be in here."  The food was pretty epic, so we stayed.  This disc was spinning and I asked what it was, because it was way more interesting than the faux chic ambience of the place.  The host informed me, as though we were both super-hip enough to know the recording, that it was Radio Citizen.  I wrote it down and looked it up when I got home.  It's not heavy listening, but I do enjoy it when it pops up in the rotation.  The gastropub is long since out of business, which, no doubt, has impacted sales at The Men's Warehouse.

track 02 -
Dizzy Gillespie    Serenade to Sweeden (Duke Ellington)    (1960) Portrait of Duke Ellington

Dizzy Gillespie - trumpet; Bennie Green - trombone; Robert de Dominica - flute; Stan Webb, Paul Richie, John Murtaugh, Erenst Bright - woodwinds; Richard Berg, Ray Alonge, Joe Singer - french horns; John McAllister - tuba; George Devens - vibes; Hank Jones - piano; George Duvivier - bass; Charlie Persip - drums

This one came on in the car and spoke to me enough to write it down for inclusion.  Nothing superlative, just a solid cut from a master.  Fun to see the bassist and drummer unwittingly make double appearances (yet no John Hicks!).

track 03 -
Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers    Sleeping Dancer Sleep On    (Wayne Shorter)    (1960) Like Someone In Love

Lee Morgan - trumpet; Wayne Shorter - tenor saxophone; Bobby Timmons - piano; Jymie Merritt - bass; Art Blakey - drums

We all know Shorter's significance as a composer, but forgetting the hype, this is just a beautiful tune by a Hall of Fame band.  

track 04 -
Blue Mitchell        Heads Up!  Feet Down (Jimmy Heath)        (1968) Heads Up!

Blue Mitchell, Burt Collins - trumpet; Jerry Dodgion - alto saxophone, flute; Junior Cook - tenor saxophone; Pepper Adams - baritone saxophone; McCoy Tyner - piano; Gene Taylor - bass; Al Foster - drums

This one came on in the car, and made an instant impression as a booty shaker.  Looking at the personnel, pretty easy to see why.  I know there's always a bit of smirk when discussing the Liberty era of Blue Note, but never mind that -- this is a damned fun ride.

track 05 -
Richard Pryor    Nobody Loves You When You're Down And Out        From the Kraft Summer Music Hall w/John Davidson

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AiP5rGCm9pE

 

Richard is my all-time favorite comedian, an absolute genius.  When I saw this, my head literally exploded.  He's not Johnny Hartman, but he means it, just like he did with his stand-up.  Guy belongs on the Mt. Rushmore of the entertainment world, and this just serves to line his image in platinum.

track 06 -
Arnett Cobb        All I Do Is Dream Of You (Arthur Freed/Herb N. Brown)    (1960) Movin' Right Along

Arnett Cobb - tenor saxophone; Bobby Timmons - piano; Sam Jones - bass; Art Taylor - drums; Buck Clarke - congas

I figured this for a Dan-approved cut.  What's not to love?  Cobb's brash, ballsy tenor smoking through a nothing tune somehow injecting it with meaning and a heavy dose of soul.  Dig!

track 07 -
The Budd Johnson Quintet        Uptown Manhattan (Budd Johnson)    (1960) Let's Swing!

Keg Johnson - trombone; Budd Johnson - tenor saxophone; Tommy Flanagan - piano; George Duvivier - bass; Charlie Persip - drums

Budd Johnson is an underappreciated beast.  He fits into his own pocket within the history of the music and pretty much stays there, but always brings a good feeling when I hear him.  

track 08 -
Hank Mobley        Avila and Tequila (Hank Mobley)    (1955) Hank Mobley Quartet

Hank Mobley - tenor saxophone; Horace Silver - piano; Doug Watkins - bass; Art Blakey - drums

Early Mobley?  Yes, please.  The Latin-flavor of this BFT was totally coincidental, and probably a little too heavy, but how was I going to cut a track like this?

track 09 -
Dizzy Gillespie    Kush (Dizzy Gillespie)    (1961) An Electrifying Evening with the Dizzy Gilespie Quintet

Dizzy Gillespie - trumpet; Leo Wright - alto saxophone, flute; Lalo Schifrin - piano; Bob Cunningham - bass; Chuck Lampkin - drums

This was one of the albums I got in my first couple of years of building my collection.  Somehow, I went about 35 years without playing it and this showed up in the rotation in the car.  I was a damned fool for 35 years, because this is killin'!  #MissionImpressive

track 10 -
Count Basie        Amoroso (Benny Carter)    (1961) The Legend

Al Aarons, Sonny Cohn, Thad Jones, Snooky Young - trumpet; Henry Coker, Quentin Jackson, Benny Powell - trombone; Benny Carter (arranger), Frank Wess - alto saxophone; Frank Foster, Budd Johnson - tenor saxophone; Charlie Fowlkes - baritone saxophone; Sam Herman - guitar; Count Basie - piano; Eddie Jones - bass; Sonny Payne - drums

I've always been an Ellington-over-Basie guy, but my Dad had this on an early CD, and it's always spoken to me.  To find out it was penned by Benny Carter, man, it just keeps getting better.  Completely unique in the realm of what this band did, but they did it with aplomb!

track 11 -
Terri Lyne Carrington    La Bonita (Terri Lyne Carrington)    (1981) TLC and Friends

George Coleman - tenor saxophone; Kenny Barron - piano; Buster Williams - bass; Terri Lyne Carrington - drums

Never released stateside, I got this through the magic (and perhaps ill-gotten gains) of the web.  I'd heard a few cuts when the album was released, and saw her with George, James Williams and John Lockwood on my first visit to a Jazz club back in 1982.  I'd seen Art Farmer play at a local high school, and the Air Force Band, but this was the first time I got to see live Jazz in its natural setting.  Terri Lyne was 16 at the time, and her Dad was talking with a group that included my Dad, and he told them that Harry Belafonté had offered $900/week to bring her on tour for the summer.  Her father turned him down, saying, "It's good money, but it won't help develop her drumming."  I've only seen her on TV since, but back then, she was studying with Alan Dawson, and coming straight out of Tony Williams.  In her solos, she'd get this Michael Jordan thing going with her tongue hanging out, and I'm not stretching to tell you she was completely bad-ass!  I think the music that night was a tick above this recording, but I'm glad to finally have this in the collection.  Bob Mover sat in later that night as they played Maiden Voyage (with house manager Bob Merrill on trumpet).  

track 12 -
Azar Lawrence    Bridge Into The New Age (Azar Lawrence)    (1974) Bridge Into The New Age

Jean Carn - voice; Woody Shaw - trumpet; Azar Lawrence - tenor saxophone; Woody Murray - vibes; Clint Houston - bass; Billy Hart - drums; Guillerme Franco - percussion

No hiding anything in this one, but I've really been on a Doug Carn kick the past 2-3 years, and Jean *kills* it on this.  Not a desert island record, but this cut will always be on my playlist of this sub-genre.

track 13 -
Radio Citizen            Mondlicht                (2006) Berlin Serengeti

Niko Schabel - woodwinds, keyboards, percussion; Wolfgang Schlick - woodwinds, percussion; Klaus Janek, Thomas Myland - bass; Julian Waiblinger - drums

Why 2 from these guys?  Well, they were short, and it shows a bit of the range of what they do.  

track  14 -
Frank Lowe    Some Do, Some Don't (Frank Lowe)    (1981) Skizoke

Butch Morris - cornet; Frank Lowe - tenor saxophone; Damon Choice - vibes; Larry Simon - guitar; Wilbur Morris - bass; Tim Pleasant - drums

The world will never have enough Frank Lowe, and this track is everything that is good about music, to me.  Bad sound, rough edges, a bit of anger -- just like life.  Frank's perspective has served to open my mind about how to approach music.  I think he's one of the most thoughtful players I've ever heard, and I'm always here for this kind of stuff.

Thanks to all that participated and hopefully something tickled your belly!

 

Edited July 31, 2023 by tkeith
trying to get YT video to preview

[Dan Gould]

My older brother, who has been gone for six and a half years, would have been fascinated to see that Richard Pryor clip.

 

Thanks Thom.

[JSngry]

Richard Pryor?!?!?!?! 

[webbcity]

Some great stuff here to dig into. As always, you outdo yourself! Many highlights here but I loved the Gillespies, the Lowe, Azar Lawrence...well, pretty much everything. Can't believe that was Richard Pryor. Definitely gotta go back and play that one again...

[Dub Modal]

Damn Pryor is shocking. Nice set! 

[JSngry]

And being introduced by John Davidson to boot!

Love that Basie cut too.

Also need to get the Radio Citizen/Rucker record, don't have that on yet. 

[felser]

Great BFT, thanks so much!  How did a 16 year old TLC recording her first album on a small label come to lead a session with George Coleman, Kenny Barron, and Buster Williams?  Will need to pick that up, as it has just been released on a Candid CD.  Wish that Lowe were available on CD, it's a gem.  Would be nice to come across that Basie and that Budd Johnson some time.  Thankfully, I already have the Dizzy's, Blakey, Mitchell, Mobley and Lawrence! 

[tkeith]

Thanks for the heads up on TLC!  As for how the session came to be, I think of the sessions Christopher Hollyday had back when he was the young gun. Also, Kenny & Buster did a LOT of one-off dates (Buck Hill (2, technically), Les Arbuckle for example) around that time.

[Big Al]

On one hand, I regret not participating because I love so many of these tracks and have many of them in some form in my collection. At the same time, I would've likely beat my brains out trying to remember where I'd heard the bulk of these and would be uber-embarrassed at the potential for missing so many of these. Maybe I dodged a bullet after all! LOL But I'm definitely gonna download it and give it a listen!