scott's occasional swinging old jazz thread (moldy figs to 1980)

Curtis Fuller: We have a story to tell. This is our story. Nobody’s copping the
Japanese music, nobody’s copping the Chinese music, nobody’s playing the Ton
Ton’s. We did do it in front of Cherokee years ago. (Imitates sounds of the drums).
We brought this to the table, it’s intertwined with European culture, you know? We
didn’t have the scales, the chords, or the wherewithal to make this take shape to be
enjoyed by all. You’re getting with rhythm and a few things, but even that now…As a
result of this being in America, we can shape all these sounds and chords and
things. It took all of us to do this; I don’t care what color you are. That’s what jazz is,
it’s just like a chord, it all depends on what you got in it. It’s like Bitches Brew, or
Grandma’s Stew, it depends on what you put in it. As Victor Lindlahr says, “You are
what you eat.” You eat shit? That’s what you become. That’s where I think we are
headed. We eat better, we’ll play better, we’ll think better, we’ll sleep better, we’ll
learn to—The guy says, “Can’t we all get along?” Yes we can. When the day comes,
we’ll have to. We have to! We are at that gig right now. We have to get along, or else
it will be like Rome, we’ll crumble from within. That was the greatest country at one
time. The British Empire, great! They over extended themselves; they were all down
in Australia or wherever else. It took four weeks to go to the little island, the
Falkland Islands, to fight a handful of people there in Argentina. Give me a break!
You don’t have to worry about this! There’s nothing there but seagulls. C’mon guys!
You can do better than that. (Laughs) But, this is where we are. So, why don’t we
take this and market this great art form that the Creator has given us? We’re
blessed. We are truly blessed, where we live, the location logistically on the map.
Even the Germans tried, they came right up to our shores. People didn’t even know
it, we sunk more ships right out there. We didn’t know what was happening. They’re
still finding bombs out there in San Diego and out there in places. The Japanese put
on balloons and flew there. Every once and a while, a kid will go out to play
somewhere and go and detonate one of those son of a bitches. We will survive. We
have to. It’s our nature that we can survive all those dinosaurs and pig foot, and big
foot, and all those people. We’ll be all right. The reason I know, you know Grady

http://inarow.jp/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/curtis-fuller-1963.jpg
Tate?

album of the week: Billy Harper - Soran-Bushi, B.H. - Denon - 1978

(can't get over how good this album is. not impossible to find on vinyl though it only came out in Japan. the only CD of it came out in Japan in 1982(!!!). i'll bet you didn't even know that there were CDs in 1982. well, there were. if you see it somewhere, grab it!)

I had no idea that Bernie Hamilton was Chico Hamilton's brother. Captain Dobey! And I had no idea that Bernie Hamilton had a record label called Chocolate Snowman.

http://www.starskyandhutch.info/wp-content/uploads/SH2-1-021.jpg

http://radiofreechip.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Chico-Hamilton-on-Brushes.jpg

Chocolate Snowman!

anyone else checked out the Savory Recordings that have started to come out digitally? INCREDIBLE. Coleman Hawkins stuff on Vol. 1 is out of this world.
http://www.npr.org/2016/12/08/504696831/once-the-stuff-of-jazz-legend-1930s-recordings-are-finally-out

does sound great!

don't wish to seem ungrateful, but am a tiny bit annoyed that It's not in stores or on Amazon — it's only available as an iTunes exclusive.

look forward to hearing it all the same

we can only hope that jack white makes a suitcase with a FLAC stick in it of all that stuff.

but anyway yeah it's cool that that stuff exists. but it has always amazed me how much stuff already exists between private recordings/V Discs/radio broadcasts/european recordings/etc.

http://riverwalkjazz.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/imageEDK1.jpg

someone should make bootleg CDs out of the iTunes stuff. i'd buy some.

anyone else checked out the Savory Recordings that have started to come out digitally? INCREDIBLE. Coleman Hawkins stuff on Vol. 1 is out of this world.
http://www.npr.org/2016/12/08/504696831/once-the-stuff-of-jazz-legend-1930s-recordings-are-finally-out

― tylerw

i posted about it on the rolling jazz thread but only got radio silence... and yeah, _anything_ "exclusive" is a crock.

love this interview. a year before he died. paul desmond asking a lot of questions. bird liked paul a lot. bird liked brubeck and kenton and tristano and lots of egghead stuff. paul desmond really relieved to find out how much bird used to practice. 11 to 15 hours a day when he was younger! just in case anyone thinks being a genius is easy. and then at the end to hear bird talk about how excited he is to go to paris and study with edgar varese and go to school...man, he was just getting started. he changed the world, but he was just getting started.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3W8Ff_4oFg

listening to the double-disc set of earl hines doing ellington. recorded in the early 70's at various sessions. i don't know if its common knowledge how off the hook earl hines was in the early 70's. but he really was. just endlessly inventive. can't think of TOO many people who helped invent jazz in the 20's who made records that were as good as the ones he made during the watergate era. you can find them for a buck or two at used stores.

yeah, latter day Hines is really nice. there are some 70s Teddy Wilson LPs that are pretty pleasing too.
this is from the 50s I believe, but it is just gorgeous
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Q6oNMsRsEU

I think (hope?) that the Savory stuff will get a proper physical release at some point?

Just got a disc of previously unreleased live stuff by the Three Sounds, Groovin' Hard: Live at the Penthouse 1964-1968. I feel like nobody remembers them now, but they were a really good soul-jazz/hard bop piano trio who made a bunch of albums in the 50s and 60s. Occasionally, they'd back someone up; LD + 3 is them with Lou Donaldson, Blue Hour is them with Stanley Turrentine.

well, people do remember them because they made about a zillion records on blue note. but its true they aren't exactly in fashion. the records are very enjoyable though. i like Hey There, and the one with Anita O'Day and some other ones. there are so many. a la ramsey lewis.

i've been listening to my Quartette Tres Bien records lately. does anyone remember them? a bunch of their stuff has never made it to CD for whatever reason.

i just looked. 9 albums on decca in the 60's and none on CD. must be some legal thing i don't know about. they are very cool records.

what i really love though are the 70's records that Gene Harris of the Three Sounds made. loooooove that stuff. all on blue note too. astralsignal and nexus are big favorites of mine. and cheap too as far as awesome funky 70's stuff goes. i would recommend all of the solo ones.

think the only one of those 70s gene harris LPs I've heard is the live one with a creedence cover ... which is a pretty good time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QvlYyZ3P5Y

Nexus is my fave. they are just a lot of fun.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70ROu6GoZTU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xa6uaE2oYj4&t=163s

Phil Woods:

"At 15 I said “Whoa, this is great."
And we went for a lesson one time at Mr. Tristano’s house and he said, “Are you kids going down to 52nd
street tonight?” And we said “yeah, why do you ask?” And he said, “Well, I’m opening for Charlie
Parker and I thought maybe you’d like to meet him.” And you know, to myself I said “Yeah, I’ve always
wanted to meet God,” you know. And sure enough, this time we held back on the records, we held back
on the pasta so we’d have two dollars, we could buy two coca-colas and really relish the evening, you
know. And Tristano’s trio opened up the evening’s festivities, and uh I think it was Arnold Fishkin who
was a bass player who, because Lennie was blind, somebody had to come and get us. Arnold came and
got us and took us behind the curtain. I mean 52nd street they were just speakeasies. They were just like narrow little cellars, uh there was no backstage, no dressing rooms or nothing like that. And we came
around the back of the st…the back of the bandstand which was just a little, and there was Bird sitting on
the floor, the great Charlie Parker, the man who was changing the planet, and he had a, a big cherry pie,
and he said “Hi, kids! Would you like a piece of cherry pie?” And I said, “Oh, Mr. Parker, cherry’s my
favorite flavor.” And it is! But I didn’t know what else to say! And he said, “Well you sit down
here, boy, and I’ll cut you a big slice” and he took out his switch blade bing boom bang, you know, and
handed me a big piece of cherry pie. And I said, “Oh my God, I’m in heaven.” I mean he was so kind, I
never forgot that."

fucking, amazing.

Arrgghh, you kids and your bebop, boobop---check this (if it don't show, a page of stuff by Mezzrow & Sidney Bechet & Friends: "Sendin The Viper" and whatnot)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_CEzmqAWWc&list=PLIzQd_Wf46Y100OOMNJ-bxZ5a_RjN_YC8

very much to the point!

Not sure if this is the proper place to share this; was looking for a "random old _____ you are loving" jazz equivalent. But anyway, here's an album by the band Ululation from 1987:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPKG0wVPYWA

It's kind of in a larger ensemble sort of style. Maybe a bit reminiscent of Sun Ra's swing revival period. Discogs info.

any love for the philly quartet CATALYST?

"ain't it the truth" (1972)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9i7rO1WYaA

that was their "hit"; a kind of ramsey lewis-esque soul jazz instrumental. funky as they come and always a mixtape favorite for me. the rest of their stuff was a lot more wild, but always retaining some semblance of a groove. kind of reminiscent of mwandishi/crossings era herbie hancock. all four of their albums are really good and recommended if you've never heard them.

in a similar vein, i've always really dug the two sessions buster williams led on muse in the mid 70s (pinnacle + crystal reflections) for many of the same reasons as catalyst. it's kind of weird and skronky in spots, but never full on insanity. and always funky enough to remain fairly accessible. they'd be right at home on strata east or black jazz.

here's "the hump" (1975):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CR0KRb8IC9k

Prompted by ilxor Dan Peterson, I revisited Ike Quebec's classic early 60s Blue Note run and have discovered organist Freddie Roach. I always knew him from the Quebec albums, but never knew about any of his albums as a leader. Have only gotten through the Blue Note ones so far, but this is some seriously strong stuff. He preferred to work with guitarists it seems and Mo' Greens Please (1963) features Eddie Wright and Kenny Burrell in peak soul jazz mode (though they never duet on the same track; album probably sourced from multiple sessions). Even better, Brown Sugar (1965) finds Joe Henderson sitting in and proving once again that he really could play anything and he could play it all pretty damn well. More soul jazz than all out funky, it definitely feels like one of those standard classic Blue Notes that just transcends time. Crazy that the Blue Note catalogue still has "new to me" stuff of this calibre.

Here's them riffing on Lloyd Price's "Have You Ever Had the Blues?" from Brown Sugar:

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

Freddie Roach — "Lion Down" (1962)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLpfmg-qX_w

Kenny Burrell kind of vamps for most of his solo, then right around the two minute mark just fucking blacks out. Does Freddie cut him off???!!?! The amount of mutual disrespect captured on tape lol.

I know the title track from Brown Sugar from a Blue Note organ jazz comp but had never heard the whole thing.

Thanks for keeping this vintage Scott thread alive. This is where I will put jazz things that interest me, currently the intersection of Latin and bossa nova, where it verges on easy listening. Most folks around here want to talk about Sonny Sharrock or whatever, but sometimes I just want to relax and pat my foot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcPWqO9-juU

Heh to me it sounds like Freddie Roach was coming in with backgrounds behind the guitar and meant for him to keep soloing, but instead they ended up with that little co-comping chorus.

Reminds me of a jam session I was at over the summer led by Victor Goines, where he kept coming in with backgrounds behind other soloists and they would always stop playing, because no one uses backgrounds anymore and is shocked when they hear another horn player during their solo.

(whereas in New Orleans music, it's standard practice and that's how you know you hit your last chorus)

i agree w jordan, it sounds like roach just starts comping behind him but instead of propelling burrell forward he backs off and settles into a little groove

i got the reissues of Thelonious Monk's 10-inch Prestige 'albums' btw and they are fucking glorious

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7y1nMkYeRE

Somehow only just learned about Hazel Scott (via Arthur Taylor’s Notes and Tones book of interviews. Relaxed Piano Moods with Mingus and Roach is extremely nice.

Dan, "Flame and Frost" is excellent! Very haunting theme. I really liked the guitar playing on that tune, so I looked it up and the guitarist was Joe Diorio, who just passed away a few weeks ago. Time flies. There's so much of that Argo/Cadet/Chess stuff that I've never heard so I definitely appreciate hearing it. This one's even on Spotify, so it's in the queue.

brimstead, checking out that album right now and my initial impression is that you are 100% accurate in your assessment. kind of awesome to hear mingus in such a sustained mellow mode.

Thank you again, brimstead! Have had that Hazel Scott in steady rotation ever since you posted. It really is a remarkable album. It has a very classicist kind of sound on the surface, but every so often she hits these beautiful minor phrases (minor seventh variants? Not sure about the theory aspects) that are so gorgeous. What a wonderful find.

Revisiting an old favorite today: Sahib Shihab's Jazz Sahib from 1957. The first tune is "S.M.T.W.T.F.S.S. Blues" and it's just infectious:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxPYex25G7k

So funky in that bluesy, early James Brown, chillin` in your car at a red light noddin` at your folks sort of way — just straight to the heart of cool with no effort.

It's one of those albums drawn from multiple sessions with different band members, so Bill Evans is on piano for side two. It opens with "Blu-A-Round":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxKn0mv8mJM

Can't help but be reminded of Kind of Blue by that one, especially on Bill's solo. Pretty hypnotizing stuff.

Both of the tunes are originals by Sahib. I've found that he is highly spoken of by those who know of him, but that he isn't overall that well-known. Oh well. For years, I've used his name in the credits as a guide for finding great music, regardless of which continent he was on. Love him so much.

Postscript—

Jazz Sahib is not on Spotify that I can find. It was originally a Savoy session, so it could be located under another artist.

Discogs has it for just a hair under 900 euros.

Or $10 on CD.

Also on these compilations:

https://www.discogs.com/release/1760012-Sahib-Shihab-Jazz-Sahib-Complete-Sextets-Sessions-1956-1957

https://www.discogs.com/release/8745667-Sahib-Shihab-Five-Classic-Albums-Plus-Bonus-Tracks

Checking out this Randy Weston album because of the Sahib Shihab connection and it's pretty great. Definitely inspired by Duke Ellington's long form works of the period, but kind of filtered through Dizzy's percussion-heavy "big ensemble" sound. Hall of fame cast of characters. Last track is a killer. I can't seem to find it on Spotify or YouTube, unfortunately.

Did a bit more digging. The album is listed on Spotify as part of a two-fer CD.

Of course half of the tracks are unplayable and those are the tracks from Uhuru Afrika.

Fell down a Japanese smooth funk rabbit hole and ended up with this and kind of holy shit:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lc-pIH0CBxM

Jiro Inagaki & Soul Media - "Breeze" (1975)

Because it's Sunday, why not some 80s private press spiritual goodness?

(It's on the internet jukebox, if you're so inclined.)

This is very niiice. I see the OG is currently on sale for $1000 <scream face>.

Thank the streaming gods on this one, I suppose.

(I enjoyed it, as well. Very pleasant vibe. The spirituality of later Coltrane with none of the skronk.)

Yeah, so Randy Weston was an internationalist way back there--back when some artists were sometimes promoted as "jazz ambassadors," prob with some CIA bucks in there somewhere, as tended to happen w hands-across-the-water arts projects, but wth; anyway, he followed the African diaspora back to the Motherland and forward, what with elements of highlife and Caribbean and blues and weirdo Monk as given prob more than some Gov officials liked---live LP Carnival was the only one I ever owned, and some friends said title opener sounded like naval recruitment commercial, but 7:28 or thereabouts "Tribute To Duke Ellington" was an amazing microcosm, deep into and all around solo piano---Side B is "Mystery of Love," piano, bass, drums, flute, and the moon, also all around.
Also try Blue Moses, where Creed Taylor made him play electric piano (he didn't like it, but lots of people loved it). And his albums feat. trombonist-arranger Melba Liston.

Man I miss Randy Weston, along with some people and venues associated with him.

Yeah, I wanna go to this joint!

In 1967 Weston traveled throughout Africa with a U.S. cultural delegation. The last stop of the tour was Morocco, where he decided to settle, running his African Rhythms Club in Tangier[25] for five years, from 1967 to 1972. He said in a 2015 interview: "We had everything in there from Chicago blues singers to singers from the Congo.... The whole idea was to trace African people wherever we are and what we do with music."[26]

Yes, he was such a great presence too.

Damn, this version of Black Girl (aka Where Did You Sleep Last Night)

Damn indeed so good

that Clifford Jordan record got me wondering what other jazz albums of the era had folk revival themes ... this one, "Jazz Impressions of Folk Music," is not terrible, but sounds more like "The Harold Land Quintet Plays The Kingston Trio":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvV73nA1-gg

both albums have versions of "Take This Hammer" and Land's really suffers by comparison ... "Kisses Sweeter than Wine" and lol "On Top of Old Smokey" sound better, but "Hava Nagila" sent me running to Dick Dale

fairly undistinguished and uninspired bop, but like every 1963 jazz album I've ever heard, beautifully played and recorded

hey it's the first sunday afternoon of june this year! if you need a fitting soundtrack, i recommend this trio session led by ray brown. absolutely nothing showy or explosive happens, but i can't help wanting to put it on again after every listen.

I don’t know of any bad records with Cedar Walton playing on them so I’ma check this out.

will check Clifford Jordan Plays Leadbelly, thanks. Reminds me: you might dig

Archie Shepp & Horace Parlan ‎– Goin' Home (1977) [1985 edition]
Tracklist:
01 Goin' Home 0:00
02 Nobody Knows The Troubles I've Seen 6:11
03 Go Down Moses 10:54
04 Steal Away To Jesus 15:15
05 Deep River 21:29
06 My Lord What A Morning 26:20
07 Amazing Grace 31:01
08 Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child 35:23
09 Swing Low, Sweet Chariot 40:44
10 Come Sunday 43:27

Also Shepp & Parlan's Trouble In Mind"

Back Water Blues
Trouble in Mind
Nobody Knows You When You're Down And Out Careless Love
Careless Love
How Long Blues
Blues In Third
When Things Go Wrong
Goin' Down Slow
Courthouse Blues
See See Rider
Make Me A Pallet On The Floor
St James Infirmary

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

They also did a third one, Reunion, which I haven't heard.

Listened to a long Pablo Held podcast with Joe Lovano, who has by now had a long & respectable career of playing with everyone, but his playing always kind of washes over me and I've never felt any kind of way about his records. I went back and listened to -

Trio Fascination ('97), which was worth it just because it has Elvin Jones (and Dave Holland). There's some great Elvin but I'll take Bill Frisell's trio with both of them any day.

Scolohofo - I remember liking this (Scofield/Lovano/Holland/Al Foster), and still do, but mostly for everyone else.

And I dipped into a bunch of stuff that wasn't doing much for me. But I know the trio with Frisell & Paul Motian was a big deal, and the recent Jakob Bro & Lovano tribute to Paul Motian is fantastic (honestly the first time I was really blown away by Lovano).

But the big revelation is this McCoy Tyner record 'Quartet', a live record with Jeff "Tain" Watts, Lovano, and Christian McBride that's not on streaming services aside from youtube as far as I can tell. The rhythm section really lays it down, it's heavy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcNuOdW4Z9o

John Scofield’s “Meant to Be” with Joe Lovano is a good record. Some of it is like Ornette’s more bluesy tunes.

I need to listen to that, I started with 'Hand Jive' and can't really hang with the '80s albums. But his early Blue Note albums fall into a gap for me (also learned that Sco's previous album was supposed to feature Wayne Shorter, who couldn't do the date and so Lovano stepped in).

Seeing 'young' (middle-aged) Scofield freaks me out, he's one of those guys who was meant to be a spritely old man.

Ok "Meant to Be" rules, vintage Bill Stewart. Everyone sounds great. And I thought I didn't like Marc Johnson's bass sound for some reason but he sounds heavy here (maybe just a casualty of '80s jazz recording on the stuff he's most well-known for).

Inspired by a Vinnie Sperazza post, I've been enjoying listening to what's out there by the 'American Jazz Quintet', New Orleans group from the '50s with pre-Ornette Ed Blackwell, Ellis Marsalis, Alvin Batiste, etc. Some of it's a little moldy but other bits are surprisingly modern, and Blackwell sounds great. The drums have a cool saturated quality too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhyHUFM-d8Q

Speaking of the Adderly brothers, their cohort Sonny Fortune stepped out to make a few albums. one of which a friend of mine turned me on to and onto in the late 70s I think---this was the warm valley gateway, Awakening
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3EEj0f_7kE
So I gave the follow-up to my friend for his birthday, as did his girlfriend, on my rec., which I forgot before making the same purchase (what the hell, it was a 99 cent promo), and there was big trouble---anyway, so nice it was worth getting twice, though maybe a bit too wavy dreamy, wine and weed dependent, compared to Awakening, but hey! : Waves of Dreams
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7gXqMB0Pww
(Both in insanely lavish packaging, among a line of such releases on Horizon) He made a bunch of his own more that I didn't hear, but dig:

With Nat Adderley

On the Move (Theresa, 1983)
Blue Autumn (Theresa, 1985)
Autumn Leaves (Sweet Basil, 1990 [1991])
Work Song: Live at Sweet Basil (Sweet Basil, 1990 [1993])

With Kenny Barron

Innocence (Wolf, 1978)

With Elvin Jones

Elvin Jones Jazz Machine Live at Pit Inn (Polydor (Japan), 1985)
When I Was at Aso-Mountain (Enja, 1990)
In Europe (Enja, 1991)
It Don't Mean a Thing (Enja, 1993)

With Charles Mingus

Three or Four Shades of Blues (Atlantic, 1977)

With Mal Waldron

Crowd Scene (Soul Note, 1989)
Where Are You? (Soul Note, 1989)

With Mongo Santamaría

Stone Soul (1969)

xgau on Fortune:

Long Before Our Mothers Cried [Strata-East, 1974]
Support your local jazz musicians. Fortune is a sax player whose warm-up for the Wailers at Schafer turned my head around not with its originality--Fortune is a cultivator rather than a ground-breaker--but with its commitment to plain good music, from bop to new thing. A righteous thing to do with your life, and righteous to hear. Despite even the bracing piano comps of Stanley Cowell, there's nothing compelling here. But satisfying. B+

Awakening [Horizon, 1975]
I'd better watch out or I'm gonna turn into a fan of this guy. No great innovations, as I mentioned in conjunction with his Strata-East LP (shame on A&M for calling this "his debut as a great leader"; what's the catch, the last one wasn't great?), but plenty great synthesis. Shades of hard bop and late-'50s Miles in a more modal setting, so lyrical and tough-minded that the 12-minute flute-and-congas thing (the title cut, wouldn't you know) becomes quite credible, even listenable. A-

And that's from somebody who really, as he made clear elsewhere, didn't and prob still doesn't particularly give a shit for flutes, with or without congas. Back in the box, 'gau.

Local station still plays the hell of out "Poinciana," from Ahmad Jamal's But Not For Me:Live At the Pershing (ID specified here because ilx isn't showing album cover & playlist from my links). Whole LP here too, as well it might be:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0e2G32f3IU

They're on a Holiday Top 22 Countdown---just played something from The Electrifying Eddie Harris, said to be first jazz LP to go Gold---think it was "Listen Here," but whole alb is here anyway:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2MMWxIixPE

xp I don't think it's wildly wacky take to hear "Poinciana" as a precursor to disco and house music, in terms of its blissfully repetitive four-on-the-floor chord progression--a total ahead-of-its-time classic.

It makes a really nice disco song. I love this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hq7_7yBq1rw

Oh, wow--thanks! Had no idea.

hadn't thought of it that way, thanks yall!
Other than Ahmad, I mostly know the song this way---from a fine album(if it doesn't show, it's Smokey Robinson and the Miracles live in the 60s):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ER3AdAuGbgA

Yeah, the thing that makes that "But Not For Me" arrangement of Poinciana stand out so much is the relentlessness of the drums. It's on plenty of other Ahmad Jamal releases, but it never seems to have the same immediacy.

It's just a New Orleans street bass drum beat, baby.

this shit is killing me right now. kind of hits a sweet spot between some of the sparser jimmy giuffre stuff from the late '50s/'60s and miles's "cool" nonet (which makes sense because JLP studied with lennie tristano in the late '40s)

https://i.discogs.com/9V55XOVCBTkXT55GwIDD5lwFc4krDRcpk5yGEgJam88/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:500/w:500/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTExNTY5/MDQxLTE1MTg2NjEz/MDEtODk3NC5qcGVn.jpeg
john laporta - complete debut recordings

i recognized his name from the jazz composers workshop stuff with mingus and teo macero, but had never really explored. capital stuff!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R96oSJ9h_lY

oh wow

i think i might make a thread for it. its too cool for school.

Listening to Houston Person w Emmet Cohen Trio, w "Lester Leaps In" and much more, tweaking my ears again and again,just when I think it might be about to get too polished---from several live sets, incl. EC's livestream rent party series interspersed w good comments (not too many)---whole thing is here: https://www.npr.org/2022/08/18/1118054743/pianist-emmet-cohen-hosts-a-harlem-rent-party-for-the-modern-day

Person's not in all of it, but Cohen's canny across the keys, styles, subgenres---closer: his trio w Person on what Christan Scott announces as "the soul jazz classic 'Sunny'"---Bobby Goldsboro never did it anything like this, far as I know---

Oregon w/Elvin Jones - didn't know this album existed, heard about it on an interview with Ralph Towner. Goes together like peanut butter and pickles.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EY_qW2oPsXU

haha, yeah! i like that album, if only for the novelty of who's making the music. haven't listened to it over a decade tho!

Have only heard their very early albums, which seemed pretty groovy, extending thee late night stoner FM canon into what I thought of as higher waterbed music ("Sure beats the Moody Blues," thought I).

"the soul jazz classic 'Sunny'"---Bobby Goldsboro never did it anything like this, far as I know---

it's Bobby Hebb who did "Sunny" -- Bobb G did "Honey" (lol)

other inexplicable and divisive things that just sort of happened in jazz: that talking yowl thing that nat adderley does through his horn in his solos. especially on the early 70s stuff, it seems like he does it on every solo he takes. is there any sort of context for that in jazz? idk if i've ever heard anyone else do it.

when i worked in record stores and would play those records for my pick, natxs solos would always get ridiculed because he would do that.

my thought: silly as it comes across sometimes, it beats any of the mike deasy stuff simply on the premise that it's listenable.

hat talking yowl thing that nat adderley does through his horn in his solos

Example?

nat's solo starts ~4.45 and he starts doing it ~6.20

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01nrbolthsc
cannonball adderley - "tensity" (1970)

and any of the live albums of the time find him taking off into it at least once.

btw i recommend this late 70s session if you want a pinch of classic cannonball sound: https://www.discogs.com/master/270349-Nat-Adderley-A-Little-New-York-Midtown-Music
it's not exactly the same, but the band is all cannonball group alumni, plus johnny griffin in cannonball's solo spots and ron carter being ron carter.

Oh haha, I guess he's doing the trumpet version of multiphonics, singing one note while playing another.

Sounds better on sousaphone:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DO3BwRZpZo

ahhh okay! it does have some greater context! it doesn't necessarily sound bad when nat would do it, but i agree that his cornet probably wasn't meant for that.

Listening to an Ellington album I've never heard before: The Cosmic Scene, credited to Duke Ellington's Spacemen. It's a nine-piece band instead of the full orchestra: Ellington on piano, Clark Terry on trumpet, Quentin Jackson and Britt Woodman on trombones, John Sanders on valve trombone, Jimmy Hamilton on clarinet, Paul Gonsalves on tenor saxophone, Jimmy Woode on bass, Sam Woodyard on drums.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhaAc2Hkzto

amazing record

also post script— though not strictly solo vibes, side one of bobby hutcherson's 1982 album solo/quartet is highly recommended for all appreciators and enjoyers of music. have posted this one elsewhere, but it's such a quality jam i'm gonna put it here too:

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

bobby hutcherson — "gotcha" (1982)

Just gave this a listen. Awesome.

hat talking yowl thing that nat adderley does through his horn in his solos

i was wondering -- is this what Don Ellis or somebody else is doing on the track "Tears of Joy"? or is that a synthesizer?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIaoBwL8UTU

Huh, the credits I found say he plays a 'quarter-tone trumpet' and a 'four-valve trombone' and I also see some references to effects pedals, I'm guessing it's some combination of the above? Doesn't sound like multiphonics to me, sounds more like an effect of some kind.

Dave Valentin tosses some in while playing various flutes in this sick video, Andre 3000 wishes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bY9ZU7rdb24

sorry in advance for the tangents upon tangents but you guys lit up some things...

...and yo! appreciate the dave valentin shoutout!! i love him but even i ―a very self-aware john klemmer fan― thought he was maybe a tad unhip for posting here. his smooth jazz albums are top tier barber beats and should be instant bargain bin grabs but idk where vinyl collecting stands anymore. he's super dope and a legitimate flute hero, as shown in that awesome clip...

...which reminded me about a relevant musicology/evolution thing i saw. real world records posted this clip on their youtube channel some years ago, explaining and giving an example of how to play the one-note bamboo flute. the song ―which seems to contain the blueprints for a lot of what we're talking about here― starts ~2.40. pretty fun stuff...

...and to bring this back around, john klemmer was in don ellis' band before making his own name. surely where he got at least some of the inspiration to rely so much on effects in his own playing...

...oh yeah, you guys like eddie harris, right? he was also doing weird fun horn effects that kind of mime that sound.

I looked up Dave Valentin because I remembered a killer salsa album I used to have ('90s probably?) where his solos were the highlight. But I can't remember what the album was...thinking Tito Puente, but it could have been Eddie Palmieri, or Giovanni Hidalgo, or Mongo Santamaria?

explaining and giving an example of how to play the one-note bamboo flute

i'm reading this and i'm rubbing my hands together like, yes! a pretext to share one of my favorite francis bebey videos. but of course that's what this was, lol.

you guys like eddie harris, right?

gah, of course, eddie harris! good call

Today I'm listening to Booker Ervin's records with Alan Dawson that aren't part of the "___ Book" series, Heavy!! and The Trance. Very very good so far, and that's leading me to trombonist Garnett Brown, who apparently never recorded as a leader but is on a million records.

going back to a cool modern smooth jazz record from finland this cloudy morning. all those dudes had a pretty fun scene going in the early 2000s, the ricky-tick label is goated imo. shame you can't hear five corners on north american spotify. they called their jams 'dancefloor jazz', and yeah: does what it says on the tin――
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYFCJ-xVvUI
the five corners quintet ― "unsquare bossa" (2005)

the scene gloriously went into all directions at once and ricky-tick burned out in a blast of retro big band barnstormers in just under a decade. their reissues were as solid as their new releases. the first five corners album is a personal classic and i still have to admire that undeniably cool "JAZZ FROM FINLAND" insignia. schema records still aspires to be as consistent.

not issued on ricky-tick proper, the teddy rok album is maybe the best thing to come out of the entire scene. featuring nothing but ricky-tick affiliates and members of five corners, the album is just retro enough to get by on its simmering grooves. but it's also puffed up on its own new agey post-hipsterism, so it makes something like the spiritual "spaces & echoes" fairly confident:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWEHUilDkUo
teddy rok seven ― "spaces & echoes" (2005)

it does come off as a bit of pastiche, but there's tons of vibes and flute all over it, so if you dig the sound, i can't recommend it enough.

I looked up Dave Valentin because I remembered a killer salsa album I used to have ('90s probably?) where his solos were the highlight. But I can't remember what the album was...thinking Tito Puente, but it could have been Eddie Palmieri, or Giovanni Hidalgo, or Mongo Santamaria?

I remembered! It was McCoy Tyner & the Latin All-Stars, with Giovanni Hidalgo, Ignacio Berroa, Gary Bartz, Dave Valentin, etc. Some bangers on here but the flute often steals the show.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNidWr9YJ_E

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9T-UyHZyHw