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Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Wayne Shorter - Village Vanguard 1965 (with Herbie Hancock)

There was a request for this set in a recent Sonny Rollins set I put up, where Hancock was among the sidemen. This, alas, is no pleasure to listen to, sound is really bad. But of course it's still worth trying... probably a good way is to play one or two songs, and then once your ears got used to the sound, start anew again.

So what do we get here? A pure classic show by Wayne Shorter, recorded at the Village Vanguard with Herbie Hancock, Gary Peacock and Tony Williams - if this was in prime sound, it might as well be a favorite, but as it is, it's more a curiosity of historical value.
This seems to come from the midst of a period of inactivity of Miles' band - Peacock was one of the bass players who subbed occasionally when Carter was unavailable (others were Richard Davis and Al Stinson). Coincidentally, Miles' return to the scene took place at the Village Vanguard and with Peacock as well, in late 1965 (see here).



Wayne Shorter Quartet
New York City (USA), Village Vanguard
August 1, 1965


Wayne Shorter - tenor sax
Herbie Hancock - piano
Gary Peacock - bass
Tony Williams - drums

1. The Eye of the Hurricane (10:15)
2. Just in Time (9:35)
3. Oriental Folk Song (12:02)
4. Virgo (7:09)
5. Fran-Dance (6:06)

TT: 45:09

Sound: B
Lineage: aud? > tape > cd-r > EAC(secure mode) > wav > flac(7)(asb)
Edited by ubu, ripped today from CDR (w/EAC, secure, log) > TLH > FLAC (8)

21 comments:

ubu said...

FLAC + info, here & here

sasha said...

Many thanks ubu..Inspite of all lousy sound issues there is something so precious bout sessions like these..I've heard talk of a left bank (Baltimore) recording from this period that features Sam Rivers alongside Herbie Hancock and others..I don't know if it exists but again its a session anyone remotely interested in these musicians work would wanna hear(rather like the present offereing)..As you point out in your preamble '65 was a quiet year for the Miles quintet due to M Davis's health..Of course the plugged nickel sets changed all that!

sasha said...

'This, alas, is no pleasure to listen to, sound is really bad'...Hey ubu having heard 'Eye Of The Hurricane' from this session I gotta take issue with your statement above..Actually folks this is very listenable!!! And it is pleasurable!! O.k people you know what you're gonna get with this: An audience bootleg that has passed thru several generations before its reached your ears..That said this is hands down pure gold-dust!!!!

Nick said...

I await with bated breath... THANK YOU, ubu!

ubu said...

Glad you enjoy this so much - it's indeed a classic, but I just have trouble getting adjusted... even more so as Shorter has one of the most rich-in-nuance tones on tenor, and it's sad not to hear any of that!

SlimStew said...

Thank you!--we're like archaeologist poring over tattered old papyrus scrolls, but we can still get the message.

sasha said...

Hey ubu..Of course you are right when it comes to the capturing of tone on a recording as poor as this..The nuances in everyones playing suffers in that respect..Still what does come through is the complete mastery of collective improvisation on form that these musicians pioneered in this golden period of acoustic jazz..'Oriental Folk Song' is a great example..After Peacock's solo Shorter completely re-invents the head in order to accomodate the change in mood the bass solo produced..Awesome!!!

Nick said...

I concur -- the sound sure ain't pristine, but for what it is, it ain't bad, either. It certainly warrants some close attention on headphones! Thank you again, ubu.

JC said...

Thanks a lot for this one ubu. We'll wrap our ears around it one way or another...

SlimStew said...

This is fabulous music! Young masters at a super high point in their game. There's enough sonic information here for my imagination to fill in where the sound quality come up short. Btw, as a bassist, I must say the Peacock sounds huge--what a sound, let alone the great content.

ubu said...

There seem to be quite some bassists queuing up here to listen to my sets these days :-)

Peacock back in those days was awesome! He did so much great music on record as well... from Bud Shank right to Albert Ayler! One of the most listening bass players ever, I guess!

sasha said...

'Peacock back in those days was awesome!' Yea totally agree with you there ubu..Not quite sure why but I don't hear any of that sound and conception in his more recent work (K Jarrett trio etc)..But one quality hasn't changed: His sensitivity to listening..I remember reading how scared he was initially to play with A Ayler..He felt completely unprepared for the challenge..His playing on this live recording is, as Slim points out, well worth paying attention to..I've also gotta put a plug in for his playing on T Williams '65 Blue Note date 'Spring'..Its quite awesome and utterly unique and unpredictable.

Unknown said...

NOT Gary Peacock. NOT Art Davis. Albert Stinson?

ubu said...

Care to elaborate, Robert?

Jesse Simpson said...

Any chance I could get this from anyone? Been looking for a while and of course when I find this it's already gone. Email is jsjazz@gmail.com Thanks!

Anonymous said...

This is not from the Vanguard. Listings from that week have Sonny Rollins and Cecil Taylor there. Also not from slugs (source is Village Voice listings for that week.) Must be from another date, my guess is the Miles date at the vanguard that happened in November...

Anonymous said...

Also, some credit Art Davis on bass for this. That is based on the same group with Richard Davis playing the Vanguard in May. Not the first time someone has screwed up the Davis'. Peacock was at the Vanguard with Miles in November (Not August) and reports Miles missed at least one night. I'm convinced now it is Peacock and that was the gig recorded.

ubu said...

Robert, I wanted to thank your for your first comment already, but it went under amongst the many things going on ... anyway, this sounds very reasonable. There's a note on Losin's site in the Plugged Nickel entry that the MD Quartet (the quintet sans Miles) were most likely also doing Sunday Matinees at the Plugged Nickel ... makes this even more likely.

Here's the comment:

"The Davis Quintet was booked for two weeks at the Plugged Nickel, from December 21 until January 2: they played December 21-23 (Tuesday-Thursday), were off on the 24th, played December 26-27 (Saturday-Sunday), were off on 27th and 28th, and played December 29-January 2 (Wednesday-Sunday). The "Miles Davis Quartet" -- presumably the Quintet without Davis -- played Sunday matinees. They returned to New York in January, and were booked at the Village Vanguard for Friday-through-Sunday shows for much of January (January 7-9, 14-16, 21-23, and 28-30, also February 4-6)."

source:
http://plosin.com/milesahead/Sessions.aspx?s=651222


Furthermore, for summer 1965, Losin has a note attached to the final Columbia studio date entry of Jan. 1965 (in April and August, Miles had his hip replacement operations, and obviously needed plenty of recovery time).

"Several live dates were scheduled for the summer and fall, but most were canceled. For instance, the Quintet was booked at The Plugged Nickel Club in Chicago in July, August, and October -- all canceled. The Quintet was also booked at the Newport Jazz Festival in July, and the Down Beat Jazz Festival later in the summer. They were canceled as well. As far as I can tell, the Quintet's first live dates after Davis's recovery were: Showboat, Philadelphia (Monday-Sunday, November 8-14); Grand Bar, Detroit (Tuesday-Sunday, November 16-21); Village Vanguard, New York (Wednesday-Sunday, November 24-28); Bohemian Caverns, Washington (Monday-Saturday, November 29-December 4). According to a Down Beat review and Gary Peacock's recollections, Carter was replaced by Peacock in Philadelphia, and by Reggie Workman in Detroit, New York, and Washington. There do not seem to be any live dates between the Bohemian Caverns and the extended stay at Chicago's Plugged Nickel Club (December 21-January 2)."

Source:
http://plosin.com/milesahead/Sessions.aspx?s=650122


I gather you're a bass player and going by ear regarding who's playing on this recording? Obviously it's lo-fi ... but I'll take your word for it!

Would be nice to pin down a more exact date, for sure! And to be sure about the provenance (as quoted above, Peacock remembers him having done the Philly gig, Workman the one in Detroit ... so if this one's from the Vanguard, it might just as well be Ron Carter? Guess we'll never know from sure, alas!

ROFLMAOnoob said...

Hello everybody is there somebody who could put this up once again ? The link is not working. I d love to hear this. Thanks in advance

Unknown said...

Thank you for all of this! I'm still working on this, my latest thought is it comes from 1964, as Gary seems to think it likely if it was the Vanguard and most of the tunes they are playing come from that year. The problem is Wayne didn't start until September, and Gary was in Europe with Ayler. Either way I think this date is suspect. I do think it's Gary though, I don't know what I was thinking. Wayne apparently says it was Art Davis but there is no way. Somebody who was around then must know!

dbass51 said...

the solo definitely reminds me of bass solos on the Bill Evans Trio 64 sessions with Peacock.