BFT256 THE REVEAL

[tkeith]

Get Happy (Harold Arlen) - Mal Waldron - Mal/4 (1958)

Mal Waldron - piano; Addison Farmer - bass; Kenny Dennis - drum

I love Mal like I love oxygen.  This one came on in my car and knocked me spinning.  Nothing earth shattering, nothing avant, just Mal being Mal.  To quote Nathan Breedlove:  “Love!  Love!”

 

Silk ’n’ Satin (Sonny Rollins) - Sonny Rollins - Movin’ Out (1954)

Sonny Rollins - tenor saxophone; Kenny Dorham - trumpet; Elmo Hope - piano; Percy Heath - bass; Art Blakey - drums

I mean, Newk being Newk.  Not looking to fool anyone, but you can’t go wrong with an early Rollins ballad, you just can’t.  

 

Alpha (Hank Jones) - Hank Jones - The Trio (1955)

Jerome Richardson - flute; Hank Jones - piano; Wendell Marshall - bass; Kenny Clarke - drums

Hank Jones does not get nearly enough love.  Again, came up on the rotation in the car and just made me happy.  Love everything about this.  

 

Blue Greens ’n’ Beans (Mal Waldron) - Mal Waldron trio w/Ed Xiques - Music Minus One: The Blues Minus You (1959)

Ed Xiques - soprano saxophone; Mal Waldron - piano; Wendell Marshall - bass; Charles Perry - drums

Couldn’t resist including another cut from this hidden album.  When they released this play-along on CD, they included the original full tracks with Ed Xiques, and it’s absolutely killin’.  I only knew him from his work with the Jazz Orchestra when I got this.  Man, another guy nobody really knows who is a full-on beast.  And, hell… Mal.

 

A Time For Love (Johnny Mandel) - Zoot Sims - Plays Johnny Mandel: Quietly There (1984)

Zoot Sims - tenor saxophone; Mike Wofford - piano; Chuck Berghofer - bass; Nick Ceroli - drums

Simple fact:  There is not enough Zoot on BFTs.  A version of this by Warne Marsh came on in the car; Marsh, of course, is great, but the version kinda stank.  It’s such a beautiful tune, though, that I went home and learned it and called it at a jam session the next week.  The house band has since added it to their repertoire, which is a good feeling.  Speaking of good feelings, if Zoot doesn’t touch your happy button, you’re probably dead.

 

West Side (aka MIA) (Carl Perkins) - Carl Perkins - Introducing (1956)

Carl Perkins - piano; Leroy Vinnegar - bass; Lawrence Marable - drums

As you may have surmised, I’ve been on a bit of a retro kick over the last year, trying to dig into some of the lesser tapped areas of my collection.  This one just grabbed me (and probably Leroy gets the credit for that).  Again, nothing earth shattering, just well played, enjoyable, soulful Jazz. 

 

Comin’ Up (Bud Powell) - Bud Powell - The Scene Changes (vol. 5) (1958)

Bud Powell - piano; Paul Chambers - bass; Art Taylor - drums

I mean, what’s not to love?  Catchy head, bad ass trio, no bullshit, straight to the point.  You can hear the stable of pianists influenced by Bud that really doesn’t get talked about (talking about you, Randy Weston!).  Another of those, if you don’t get the feels, you dead, Jack.  

It Only Happens Every Time (Thad Jones) - Thad Jones/Mel Lewis & The Jazz Orchestra - Consummation (1970)

Not listing full personnel, but worth checking out, here:  https://www.discogs.com/master/276264-Thad-Jones-Mel-Lewis-Consummation

And here, we shift.  This one really grabbed me when I heard it.  Thad is certainly one of the under-appreciated geniuses of the genre.  While this is not my standard fare, to my ear, this is the best of this sort of thing from the period (along with Clarke/Boland).  This just works, on all levels.

Hello To The Wind (Joe Chambers/Gene McDaniels) - Bobby Hutcherson - Now! (1969)

Gene McDaniels - vocals; Alertine Robinson, Hilda Harris, Christine Spencer - backing vocals; Bobby Hutcherson - vibes; Harold Land - tenor saxophone; Kenny Barron - piano; Wally Richardson - guitar; Herbie Lewis - bass; Joe Chambers - drums; Candido Camero - congas

I could swear this has been on a previous BFT, but a search did not uncover it.  I’ve always loved, well, everything about this.  Gene McDaniels vocals are in a class by themselves.  Got to meet him (turns out he lived in my town) and he signed my copy of this.  Absolute gentleman, and an absolute MF.  You can’t go wrong with Harold Land in my world, and the exchange they have is one of the most epic things I’ve ever heard.  The night I got to meet Gene, I fan-boyed him with this info.  When I handed him the album, his eyes got huge and he said with degree of incredulity, “Where did you get this!?  **I** don’t have this!”  Then he took to the stage to sit in with the house band, and in his scat solo did this very thing.  As he returned to the table, he nodded to me and tapped his chest.  I could have died a very happy man in that moment.  Again, epic.  Also, while programming, I knew this was the track that would make Dan kick his speaker. 

 

Bewtiched (Rodgers/Hart) - Claudia Acuña - Wind From The South (2000)

Claudia Acuña - vocals; Jason Lindner - piano; Avishai Cohen - bass; Jeff Ballard - drums

A drummer on a gig I was on backing up a vocalist turned me on to this recording.  It’s a good record if you like that Flora Purim style.  Claudia has her own thing, but this tune is the class of the set for me.  Not a bad band behind her, either.  Again, I feel positive I’ve put this on a BFT before, but a search of the forum did not uncover that as truth.  This is about as far into the “young lions” set as I go, but this one works for me.

Bari’ed Treasure (Jack Walrath) - Hamiet Bluiett - Young Warrior, Old Warrior (1995)

Jack Walrath - trumpet; Mark Shim - tenor saxophone; Hamiet Bluiett - baritone saxophone; Larry Willis - piano; Keter Betts - bass; Jimmy Cobb - drums

Bluiett doesn’t always hit for me.  This certainly does.  It’s a great feel, Larry Willis (why is he not talked about more!?), that decent drummer, a lot here for me.  The Bluiett relationship with Maple Shade always struck me as an oddity, but it really resulted in some interesting music.  Shim is also a beast.  Much to love here, for me.

 

Track 08 (I don’t know the real title — that’s where Sangry comes in! [edit: actually ID'd as Guinea by @Milestones]) - Old And New Dreams - (live bootleg, no date)
Don Cherry - trumpet; Dewey Redman - tenor saxophone; ??? - piano; Charlie Haden - bass; Ed Blackwell - drums

This is a complete bootleg.  Not even sure from whence it came, but as I was driving home from seeing David Murray and Kahil El’Zabar last month, this came on in the car, and Dewey FLOORED me.  Cherry, too, but Dewey is dripping soul at Mal Waldron levels on this.  No surprises, nothing completely new, just REAL.  Sound sucks, but I could listen to a WHOLE lot of this.  Any help filling in the gaps greatly appreciated!

 

There Is A Time For Love (Dick Griffin) - Dick Griffin - A Dream For Rahsaan (1985)

Dick Griffin - trombone; Gary Bartz - alto saxophone; Stanley Cowell - piano; Cecil McBee - bass; Idris Muhammad - drums

I LOVE Dick Griffin.  More to the point, I LOVE this entire band.  Figured ending on a nice, happy note would be a good touch.  Also, more people need to know about Dick Griffin.  He’s still with us, and still making real music.  

Hopefully there was a little something here for everybody.  

[Dub Modal]

Awesome man. Thanks for putting this together and for managing the entire BFT system here. Great tunes that were a fun and educational listen. 

[JSngry]

I've flirted with putting an MMO track on a BFT for years now!

[mikeweil]

Oh my .... I have six of these tracks and didn't get them. My temporary jazz abstinence takes its toll. At least I was (partly) close in two cases. 

I will have to re-listen to the Zoot Sims track - I always liked him before that one. The Claudia Acuna goes to my wish list - actually I like her more than Flora Purim.

Thanks ....... for showing me my limits.

[Dan Gould]

2 hours ago, tkeith said:

  Also, while programming, I knew this was the track that would make Dan kick his speaker. 

 

 

Unfortunately Dan has been off the BFT trail for a couple of months.

And unfortunate for me as I surely would have enjoyed the tracks prior to that apparent abomination.

[T.D.]

Thanks. This was a great program and fun BFT. Sorry I didn't have a lot of time to devote this month.

I own 4 of the albums but only managed to ID the Bud and Carl Perkins.

I initially swore I owned #1, but running down the list of candidates realized I don't. I'd never heard Mal 4 and couldn't imagine the pianist was Mal! In recent years I've listened to oodles of his later recordings and no longer associate him with bop.

Lots of listening ideas.

[tkeith]

Later Mal is time well spent.  Hell, ALL Mal is time well spent, but as he aged, he truly was like a fine wine.

[Milestones]

You made a lot of wonderful choices--Mal, Hank Jones, Zoot, Bobby Hutcherson

 

[tkeith]

I didn't choose them -- they chose me.  Seriously, that's typically how I build them.  Throughout the year, I'll make a note of anything that really grabs me.  It's been a good listening year. 

[felser]

Great BFT, thanks.  Glad to report I own a lot of these, a fair # of which I did not ID.  Eight of the 13, do need to keep an eye out for the Bluiett and Griffin discs.  The others I don't have are the Blues Minus You, the Zoot, and the mysterious Old and New Dreams audience tape, and wouldn't mind having any of those either, though the Zoot is the only one which may happen in my lifetime.  I remember liking Claudia Acuna, but placed it on my secondary shelves, and need to go back and revisit it!

[webbcity]

Holy smokes this was good. I seriously regret that it took me so long to get to it. Definitely need to seek out a few of these.

Regarding Dick Griffin, since Thom is too modest to shamelessly self-promote, I'll do it. We did a couple of gigs with Eddie Gale and Dick Griffin almost 20 years ago now (!) and here is some of the evidence. (note: don't bother trying the links in the bottom left of the video, they no longer exist)