For German readers: some thoughts and notes and quotes on the music I'm listening - to be found
on my new blog:
ubus-notizen.blogspot.com

Also check out the great new, independent magazine get happy!?, reporting on music, movies and more:
gethappymag.de

Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Dave Brubeck - Portland 1959

Continuing the drummer theme, here's a great show featuring Joe Morello! The drum solo ending this partial concert recording is quite amazing!

Brubeck may not be everyone's cup of tea, but there's always Paul Desmond to listen to, one of the few original alto players in modern jazz that has a sound and conception quite unlike Charlie Parker and all his followers (of course Lee Konitz comes to mind, and Charlie Mariano as well - both of them still alive and kicking!)

This is the last post of 2008. It wasn't that great a year here, and it looks like 2009 won't be much better either (much work, trouble with jobs etc etc), and the upcoming financial crisis (it seems it has barely even started yet) won't help making things easier.

Either way, I wish all of you out there a happy new year and all the best for 2009!


The Brubeck Quartet in 1959 (during the "Time Out" sessions)
from left to right: Morello, Desmond, Brubeck, Wright


: . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . :. : . : . : . : . :

Dave Brubeck Quartet
Portland, OR (USA)
April 1959


Paul Desmond - alto sax
Dave Brubeck - piano
Gene Wright - bass
Joe Morello - drums

1. Two Part Contention (13:15)
2. The Lonesome Road (8:17)
3. Take the "A"-Train (15:17)
4. When the Saints Go Marching In (7:22)
5. I'm In a Dancing Mood > Pause Announcement DB (3:47)
6. Someday My Prince Will Come (10:09)
7. drum improvsation (11:00)

TT: 69:07

Sound: A-
Source: SBD>unknown recording equipment>trade>CDR>EAC Secure Rip>Flac Frontend, level 6
Additional lineage: WAV > Cool Edit Pro > FLAC (8,asb,verify)

::ubu edits::
fixed all marks
deleted some small gaps

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Max Roach & Sonny Rollins - Live 1966 (r.i.p. Freddie Hubbard)

As promised, here's a post that includes Freddie Hubbard... showing his less nice side during the Graz portion, where he tell the all-white audience to kiss his black ass...

The music though is great. Roach's work of that era (roughly I'd say from the 1964 trio album with Hasaan to "Lift Every Voice and Sing" from 1971) and even more particularly this quintet with Freddie Hubbard, James Spaulding, Ronnie Mathews (another recently passed) and Jymie Merritt had a certain "on the edge" quality that I enjoy a lot. Check out the smoking, almost never-ending "Nommo" from the first of the concerts!

The Rollins trio titles are sheer glory! It's been decades that Rollins played with sidemen that were his equals, yet here he is, getting together with Max Roach again after years - Roach played on Rollins' great "Freedom Suite", Rollins was a member of the great Max Roach/Clifford Brown quintet (albums on EmArcy and one under Rollins' name on Prestige, "Sonny Rollins Plus Four"), and they also worked together on Monk's landmark album "Brilliant Corners". Too bad Rollins, who to this day continues to play extremely well, has not used to opportunity to play with Roach again as long as there still was time...

Photo credits:
Max Roach in Unna 1979, by Karlheinz Klüter (website)
Sonny Rollins at Monterey Jazz Festival 1972, by Paul Slaughter (website)

: . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . :. : . : . : . : . :

Sonny Rollins & Max Roach

prob. Newport in Europe Tour - November 1966


** Max Roach Quintet **
Freddie Hubbard (t), James Spaulding (as), Ronnie Mathews (p)
Jymie Merritt (b), Max Roach (d)

** Sonny Rollins Trio **
Sonny Rollins (ts), Jymie Merritt (b), Max Roach (d)


CD1/54:42 - November 10, 1966
Stockholm (SE), Konserthuset


*** Roach ***
1. Nommo (Jymie Merritt) 35:14 [beginning slightly cut]

*** Rollins ***
2. Introduction (prob. George Wein) 0:23
3. There Will Never Be Another You (Warren-Gordon) 19:03


CD2/59:05 - November 12, 1966
Stefaniensaal, Graz (AT)


*** Roach ***
1. banter > Nommo (Merritt) [partial drop out at 2:50-3:39]
> Kissing Hubbard's Black Ass > unknown [opening bars only] (8:21) //
2. drum solo (3:57)

*** Rollins ***
3. Announcement (prob. George Wein) 0:27
4. Love Walked In (Gershwin) 9:53
5. Lover (Rodgers-Hart) > Ann (prob. GW) 18:43
6. Poinciana (Bernier-Simon) 17:41

TT: 113:48

Sound: A- (CD1), A-/B+ (CD2 - has some digi- or tape-clicks)
Source: SBD (?)
No lineage/source info


** Note from seeder on dime (bluenote2005) (first seed) **
Track 1 and 2 opening act. Sorry no idea who they are. I wish I did.
You will know what I mean when you listen. An argument breaks out between the audience and the musicians. It is very racist in nature. The term jive mother fucker is used a lot.
If you're offended, but download.

** Note from hamhen on dime (second seed) **
This is not from the Graz concert but from a concert that took place at the "Konserthuset" in Stockholm on November 10, 1966. There is also one track missing here (a 15 min-version of Hubbard's "For B.P." and George Wein's opening announcements).
The first track on this torrent is Merritt's "Nommo".
It may be of interest that Roach's group shared the bill with Albert Ayler on this European tour.

** My Notes **
There's a cut between #1 and #2, but there seems to be not cut between #2 and #3.
Prob. this was part of a George Wein Newport tour package.
There's a cut in the applause between #3 and #4.
After #4 the announcer (Wein?) announces a ten-minute break, stating that after the break the concert will continue with Rollins/Roach.
Probably the music comes from several sets, probably each of them featuring both bands - thus the two conflicting announcements during the Rollins/Roach trio segment. I decided to re-group the music as done above, myself.

Edits:
- added fade-in at beginning of CD1#2
- deleted applause (18.5sec), added fade-in at beginning of CD2#3
- separated CD2#1 from CD2#2 and CD2#3 from CD2#4
- moved mark CD2#4/#5 +1.6sec, added fade-out at end of CD2#4
- deleted silence at beginning of CD2#5 (3.5sec), added fade-in
- moved mark CD2#5/#6 +22.3sec, added fade-out at end of CD2#5
- deleted silence at beginning of CD2#6 (2.8sec), added fade-in
- added fade-out at end of CD2#6

r.i.p. Freddie Hubbard

Freddie Hubbard died yesterday. Thanks for all the music! We'll kiss your black ass!

Incredible to think about all the great albums he turns up:
Herbie Hancock (Empyrean Isles, Maiden Voyage)
Eric Dolphy (Out to Lunch, Outward Bound)
John Coltrane (Olé Coltrae, Ascension)
Ornette Coleman (Free Jazz)
Art Blakey (Free for All is a favourite here, but he's on many others, too)
as well as albums by Andrew Hill, Tina Brooks, Kenny Drew, Curtis Fuller, Dexter Gordon, Bill Evans, Benny Golson, Jimmy Heath, Sam Rivers, Wayne Shorter, Bobby Hutcherson, Max Roach, Duke Pearson, Stanley Turrentine, Randy Weston, Quincy Jones, and even Count Basie!

An incredible discography!

On top of that, he made some fine albums as a leader, including early ones for Blue Note, such as Open Sesame (with Tina Brooks), Goin' Up (with Hank Mobley & McCoy Tyner), Here to Stay (with Wayne Shorter), Hub Cap (with a sextet for once, including Julian Priester and his longtime sidekick James Spaulding), and the marvellous Ready for Freddie (with Shorter, Tyner, Art Davis, Elvin Jones, and Bernard McKinney on the euphonium). In between his Blue Note albums (Hub-Tones, Breaking Point and Blue Spirits were to follow, the first two quintets with Spaulding, the later adding Joe Henderson and others), Hubbard put down three albums for Impulse (including The Body and The Soul, a showcase where he's backed by larger bands, including strings on some titles, and Dolphy on a few as well).
In 1965, he collaborated with Lee Morgan, recording the infamous two-volume Night of the Cookers for Blue Note (I know it's not everybody's favourite, but I just love it!). In the late sixties, Hubbard recorded for Atlantic, the label of his then employer, Max Roach (Freddie plays on Roach's great Drums Unlimited album, Spaulding was part of that band, too, as well as former Blakey bassist and composer of the great "Nommo", Jymie Merritt).
From 1970 on, Hubbard was signed to CTI. The style of music he made had changed by that time. Red Clay and Straight Life though - even if they're somewhat bound to their time - are definitely among his finest albums. They feature sidemen such as Herbie Hancock, Joe Henderson, Ron Carter, Lenny White, George Benson or Jack DeJohnette. Hubbard also started working regularly with tenor saxophonist Stanley Turrentine. By the second half of the seventies, a decline was obvious, though, with Hubbard recording drab albums including disco rhythms. Though that's not the end of the story yet...
Around 1980, Hubbard got his act together again, recording fine straight jazz once more, for instance on Outpost, where he's the lone horn, backed by Kenny Barron. In the mid eighties, he also collaborated with Woody Shaw for two albums on the revived Blue Note label. A last album that garnered fine reviews in the jazz press was 2001's New Colors, which found Hubbard in the company of the New Jazz Composers Octet.



Here's the obit from the LATimes (source):

Freddie Hubbard, jazz trumpeter, dies at 70
By Don Heckman
December 30, 2008


Freddie Hubbard, widely regarded as the most gifted jazz trumpeter of the post-bebop '60s and '70s, died Monday at Sherman Oaks Hospital in Los Angeles. He was 70.

The cause of death was attributed to complications from a heart attack he suffered Nov. 26, according to Dave Weiss, his longtime manager.

From the beginning, Hubbard's playing was characterized by its strength and assurance, its capacity to roam confidently across the trumpet's entire range, and his gift for spontaneous melodic invention.

He was barely out of his teens in the late 1950s and working with such established jazz figures as drummer Philly Joe Jones, trombonist Slide Hampton, saxophonist Sonny Rollins and composer/arranger Quincy Jones. His identification as an important new arrival gained him a Down Beat Critics Poll Award when he was in his early 20s.

Hubbard was capable of quickly grasping the subtleties as well as the specific elements of a startlingly wide range of stylistic areas, from the hard bop of his work with Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers to the most avant-garde music of the decade.

Seemingly the first choice for artists of every stripe, he was present on many of the most significant jazz albums of the '60s, among them Ornette Coleman's "Free Jazz," John Coltrane's "Ascension," Eric Dolphy's "Out To Lunch," Oliver Nelson's "Blues and the Abstract Truth," Wayne Shorter's "Speak No Evil" and Herbie Hancock's "Maiden Voyage."

"Hubbard," wrote Joachim Berendt in "The Jazz Book: From New Orleans to Rock and Free Jazz," "is the most brilliant trumpeter of a generation of musicians who stand with one foot in 'tonal' jazz and with the other in the atonal camp."

Although his playing, especially in the earliest years, reflected the influence of Clifford Brown, Miles Davis and others, he said saxophonists were most influential in his development, often specifically mentioning Coltrane's "sheets of sound" as an important source.

"I always practice with saxophone players," he told Julie Coryell and Laura Friedman in their book, "Jazz-Rock Fusion: The People, the Music." "I find when you get around trumpet players, you get into competitive playing -- who can play the loudest and the highest. After you develop your own style, you don't want to get into that."

Like many players in his generation, Hubbard was drawn to pop and rock interests in the '70s and '80s. In 1977 he toured with Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Ron Carter and Tony Williams in the quasi-Miles Davis ensemble V.S.O.P. And he released a series of rock- and pop-oriented albums on the CTI label.

"Red Clay," "First Light" and "Straight Life" received good reviews, and "First Light" was awarded a Grammy in 1972 for best jazz performance by a group. Later CTI albums received generally negative criticism.

In the early '90s, the intensity with which Hubbard had always approached his trumpet caught up with him. After splitting his lip in 1992, he ignored the injury, continuing to play on a European tour. The lip became badly infected, and his physician insisted on a biopsy. No cancer was found, but Hubbard spent the next few years struggling to regain his early ability to articulate his instrument.

His playing over the last decade was uneven, at best. In his most recent local appearance, at Catalina Bar & Grill in April, he performed with The New Jazz Composers Octet, an ensemble organized by Weiss, who was Hubbard's arranger and producer.

Although he performed on fluegelhorn, a more forgiving instrument than the trumpet for players with lip problems, Hubbard did brief solo segments, revealing only traces of the player who Weiss said "played faster, longer, higher and with more energy than any other trumpeter of his era."

Hubbard was born Frederick DeWayne Hubbard in Indianapolis on April 7, 1938. He was the youngest of six children in a musical household and first played the tonette and then the mellophone.

"I had a sister who played classical piano and sang spirituals," he told Coryell and Friedman. "My mother played the piano by ear and I had a brother who played the bass and tenor. So the music was hot and heavy. You'd hear somebody singing, somebody playing the piano, and always a record playing."

He took up the trumpet in junior high school, and also played fluegelhorn, piano, French horn, sousaphone and tuba.

Moving to New York City in 1958, when he was 20, Hubbard quickly became known as one of the important new jazz arrivals. In the early '70s, his career well-established, he moved to Los Angeles, settling in the San Fernando Valley.

He received a Jazz Masters Award from the National Endowment for the Arts in 2006.

Hubbard is survived by his wife, Briggie, and his son, Duane.

Funeral services are pending. A memorial tribute in New York will be planned in the new year.

Heckman is a freelance jazz writer.

Sunday, December 28, 2008

Elvin Jones - Boston 1973

We've had several drummer-led bands up here already:
Art Blakey (with Tony Williams!) > here
Max Roach (with the Max Roach-Clifford Brown Quintet) > here
Louis Moholo > here
(also with Chris McGregor's Brotherhood of Breath)
Daniel Humair with the project Tryptich > here
Anne Paceo > here
Kahil El'Zabar > here

Also, Kenny Clarke was heard with Roland Kirk, Joe Hunt with Bill Evans, Paul Lytton & Paul Lovens with the Radio Jazz Group Stuttgart, Han Bennink twice with that same outfit, Phil Wilson with Carla Bley, Andrew Cyrille with Carla Bley and Trio 3, Art Taylor twice with Johnny Griffin, Aldo Romano with Pork Pie, and Sunny Murray in duo with Sonny Simmons (part of last year's x-mas special).

So I thought there'd be room for some more great drummers... Roy Haynes can so far only be heard on a few sides of the Lester Young series, I don't have anything handy right now, but I think I have a seventies show with Frank Strozier somewhere. For now though, next up will be Joe Chambers, Joe Morello (with a classic Brubeck Quartet show), and right here and now, the great Elvin Jones!

Hope you'll enjoy!

: . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . :. : . : . : . : . :

Elvin Jones Quartet
Boston, Mass (USA), Jazz Workshop
January 16, 1973


Steve Grossman - soprano & tenor sax
Dave Liebman - tenor sax & flute
Gene Perla - bass
Elvin Jones - drums

1. Sambra (Gene Perla) 18:41 [cut]
2. New Moon (Steve Grossman) 15:21 [beginning slightly cut]
3. I'm a Fool to Want You (10:34) [short FM announcement at end]
4. Children's Merry-Go-Round (Keiko Jones) 7:45 [FM announcement at end]
5. Announcement EJ (1:06)

TT: 53:29

Sound: A-
Source: FM BDC (WBCN)>?>CDR
Lineage: CDR from trade>EAC>TLH>FLAC
Additional lineage: FLAC > WAV > Cool Edit Pro > FLAC (8,asb,verify)

Notes:
-This is a real nice set - the normal quintet of the era was 1 short this night.
-Excellent sound "A-" IMO. I'd be surprised if this wasn't on DIME before, but it's not now, and I can't recall it ever being here before.
-seeded by Matt23

::ubu's edits::
- deleted silence at end of #1
- removed radio intro preceeding #1/added fade-in and following #5/added fade-out
- fixed marks #2/#3 and #3/#4

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Lucky Thompson - Europe 1968/69

Here's this year's x-mas special - a post dedicated to the great Eli "Lucky" Thompson. His story is one of the saddest in the annals of jazz - re-reading his story brings tears to my eyes.


Billy Eckstine's band, Pittsburgh 1944, l. to r.: Thompson, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Eckstine
Photo from the Frank Driggs Collection


Born in Columbia, SC, on June 16, 1924 and active from the forties to the sixties, Thompson was one of the tenors bridging the gap between swing and bop.

Mr. Thompson connected the swing era to the more cerebral and complex bebop style. His sophisticated, harmonically abstract approach to the tenor saxophone built off that of Don Byas and Coleman Hawkins; he played with beboppers, but resisted Charlie Parker's pervasive influence.
(from Ben Ratliff's obituary in the NYTimes - link)


Eli Thompson's lifelong nickname -- the byproduct of a jersey, given him by his father, with the word "lucky" stitched across the chest -- would prove bitterly inappropriate: when he was five, his mother died, and the remainder of his childhood, spent largely in Detroit, was devoted to helping raise his younger siblings. Thompson loved music, but without hope of acquiring an instrument of his own, he ran errands to earn enough money to purchase an instructional book on the saxophone, complete with fingering chart. He then carved imitation lines and keys into a broom handle, teaching himself to read music years before he ever played an actual sax. According to legend, Thompson finally received his own saxophone by accident -- a delivery company mistakenly dropped one off at his home along with some furniture, and after graduating high school and working briefly as a barber, he signed on with Erskine Hawkins' 'Bama State Collegians, touring with the group until 1943, when he joined Lionel Hampton and settled in New York City.
(from Jason Ankeny's biography on allmusic.com - link)


Upon his arrival in New York City, Thompson quickly was respected by fellow musicians, playing the street, joining Billy Eckstine's short-lived big band (with Dizzy, Bird and Art Blakey). In late 1944 he became a member of Count Basie's big band, remaining up to 1945 or 1946. In that year he joined Dizzy as a temporary replacement for Charlie Parker and he recorded on one of Bird's west coast dates for Dial. By 1947, Thompson was back in New York, leading his own band at the Savoy Ballroom. In 1948 he made his European debut in Nice. In the years to come, he played with bands as different as Charlie Parker's, Fletcher Henderson's orchestra, again with Count Basie, and in 1952 he participated in one of Thelonious Monk's great Blue Note recording sessions.

"Lucky had that same thing that Paul Gonsalves had, that melodic smoothness. He wasn't rough like Ben Webster, and he didn't play in the Lester Young style. He was a beautiful balladeer. But he played with all the modernists."
(Johnny Griffin, quoted by Ratliff, see link above)


In 1953, Thompson made his recording debut as a leader (for Decca), and in April 1954 he took part in the great session with J.J. Johnson, Horace Silver, Percy Heath, Kenny Clarke and Miles Davis', ending up on the later's "Walkin'" (Prestige). Thompson made few recordings as a leader, but he continued recording with Dizzy Gillespie, Clark Terry, Jimmy Cleveland, Jo Jones, John Lewis and others, and beginning in early 1956, he made a series of fine sessions with Milt Jackson (mostly on Savoy, some on Atlantic). Also in January 1956, his own "Tricotism" was committed to disc - parts of the album featuring a highly unusual instrumentation of tenor sax, guitar (Skeeter Best) and bass (Oscar Pettiford). (Read a review on bagatellen.com - link)
By February 1956, Thompson was in Paris, where he recorded a string of great sessions with Henri Renaud, Martial Solal, Kenny Clarke and others. For one date, he teamed up with French sax great, Guy Lafitte.

"I fought against being a stereotype"
(Lucky Thompson)


Then he joined Stan Kenton while the later was on tour in Europe and short of a baritone saxophonist... Thompson had never played the baritone before. He remained with Kenton long enough to take part in the recording of "Cuban Fire" (Capitol). Upon returning to the US with Kenton, Thompson was blacklisted by Joe Glaser, Louis Armstrong's manager, after a pointless row. Out of work, he still continued to appear on records - among them some marvellous dates with Oscar Pettiford, a marathon session led by Lionel Hampton and also featuring Ray Copeland, Cleveland, Pettiford, Gus Johnson, and pianist Oscar Dennard (Jazztone, now complete on a 2CD set by Freshsound Records), Quincy Jones' "This Is How I Feel About Jazz" (possibly Q's masterpiece), and in December 1956 and early 1957 he took part in some sessions by the Louis Armstrong All Stars.

By mid 1957, Thompson was back in Europe recording dance sessions with Eddie Barclay and jazz with Martial Solal and Kenny Clarke, as well as an album with singer/pianist Sammy Price. Then in 1958 Thompson bought a farm in Michigan where he lived with his wife and two children. Leaving them behind, he went to France again, staying until 1962, where work was never short. Around that time, Thompson took up the soprano and it quickly became clear that he was one of the first modern jazz musicians to fully master the bitchy straight horn. He continued appearing with Martial Solal and others, taking part in several NDR Jazz Workshops and concerts with expats (including his old collaborator Oscar Pettiford) and European musicians such as Hans Koller, Dusko Goykovich, Michael Naura, Barney Wilen, and the late Swedish singer, Monica Zetterlund.

In spring 1961, Thompson recorded a date with Solal, Peter Trunk (bass) and Kenny Clarke that eventually was released as "Lord, Lord, Am I Ever Gonna Know" (Candid). The album is another highlight of his recorded output. It included a spoken introduction recorded in 1968 from which the following quote is taken:

"I feel I have only scratched the surface of what I know I am capable of doing."
(Lucky Thompson)


Then Thompson went back to the US. He recorded a few albums for Prestige and other labels, with sidemen such as Hank Jones, Richard Davis, and Tommy Flanagan, including another one of his finest outings, "Lucky Strikes" (1964). Then in 1965 Thompson seems to have disappeared again, after the death of his wife.
In 1968 he turns up again, living in Lausanne, Switzerland until 1970, and touring Europe. That's the period the recordings offered here are from. In March 1969 he made another album as a leader, featuring René Thomas, the great Belgian guitar player, as well as Fats Sadi, Ingfried Hoffmann, Eberhard Weber and Stu Martin. Thompson appeared with Johnny Griffin, the Danish Radio Big Band, and in 1970 he played on Tete Montoliu's "Soul's Nite Out" (Ensayo).

By 1971, Thompson was back in in the US again, teaching music at Dartmouth University for a short time. In 1972 and 1973, he made his final recordings for Groove Merchant, then Thompson vanished from the scene. It seems he spent several years living on Ontario's Manitoulin Island before relocating to Savannah, GA, trading his saxophones in exchange for dental work. By the early 90's he was in Seattle, mostly living in the woods or in shelter offered by friends. He did not own a saxophone.

After a long period of homelessness Thompson checked into Seattle's Columbia City Assisted Living Center in 1994. He was hospitalized a number of times in 1994, and finally entered the Washington Center for Comprehensive Rehabilitation. Thompson remained in assisted care until his death in Seattle, on July 30, 2005.


Discography (by Noal Cohen):
http://www.attictoys.com/jazz/LT_intro.html

Sources:
Ben Ratliff: Lucky Thompson, Jazz Saxophonist, Is Dead at 81, www.nytimes.com, August 5, 2005 (link)
Steve Voce: Lucky Thompson, www.independent.co.uk, August 5, 2005 (link)
Jason Ankeny: Lucky Thompson, Biography, www.allmusic.com (link)



Photo: Herman Leonard

Lucky Thompson - 1968/1969 Radio Broadcasts


CD1 / Rotterdam '68 & Rome '69 / 68:02

[A] November 22, 1968 - Rotterdam (NL), B14 Club

Lucky Thompson, soprano sax (#1-4) & tenor sax (#3); Rob Madna, piano; Ruud Jacobs, bass; Eric Ineke, drums
1. On Green Dolphin Street (Bronislau Kaper, Ned Washington) 6:35
2. Street Of Dreams (Victor Young, Sam M. Lewis) 7:02
3. Cherokee (Ray Noble) 8:56
4. unknown (7:20)
TT: 29:54 / Sound: A- / Source: radio broadcast


[B] February 28, 1969 - Rome (Italy)

Lucky Thompson, soprano sax (#1-4) & tenor sax (#4); George Arvanitas, piano; Jacky Samson, bass; Charles Saudrais, drums
1. The World Awakes (Lucky Thompson) 9:14
2. Street of Dreams (Young-Lewis) 8:22
3. Have You Met Miss Jones (Rodgers-Hart) 11:20
4. Cherokee (Ray Noble) 9:09
TT: 38:07 / Sound: B+ / Source: radio broadcast (RAI)


CD2 / Warsaw '69 / 37:17

[C] ca. October 1969 - Warsaw (Poland)

Lucky Thompson, soprano sax (#1,2) & tenor sax (#3,4); Adam Makowicz, piano; Janusz Kozlowski, bass; Anrzej Dabrowski, drums
1. The World Awakes (Lucky Thompson) 9:11
2. Body and Soul (Heyman-Sour-Eyton-Green) 8:44
3. Now's the Time (Charlie Parker) 9:20
4. Cherokee (Ray Noble) 9:57
TT: 37:13 / Sound: A-/B+ / Source: radio broadcast


TT: 105:17


Note on the Rome session (from http://www.jazzdiscography.com/):

"This a private recording of a radio broadcast on RAI. It appears that recordings of tracks a-d have circulated among collectors with another track, "The Song Is You" included. However, aural evidence clearly indicates that the tenor saxophonist on this additional track is Stan Getz and NOT Lucky Thompson. When and where this live Getz quartet performance was recorded and how it became attached to the 1969 Rome Thompson concert are unanswered questions."

Two items from the Rome broadcast are missing: "Why Weep?" (Thompson) 13:26 and unknown 9:29

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Stan Getz & Kenny Barron - Copenhagen 1991

This is a companion set to the great official released called "People Time" (buy it cheaply at CDUniverse).

I've received these tracks from dime as part of a huge package that contained various duplicates as well as some officially released tracks. I'm positive that the music on the two full CDs I'm offering here is all unreleased. This is some of Getz' most intimate playing, Barron proofs a very good foil and musical partner. Getz was dead soon after, so this is kind of a swan song. Touching music, as was virtually all of Getz' music - at least his saxophone playing always has a haunting quality, sometimes it get's incredibly beautiful, all through his career, from early recordings up to these Copenhagen sessions.

There are two tunes I don't know. CD2#1 was unidentified by the time I tagged these files (that was done before the dime upload, which by the way can be found here), so the file is wrongly tagged. CD2#8 has been shared originally as "Stablemates" by Benny Golson, but to me it doesn't sound like that... if anyone can help identifying it or CD2#5, for which none of those who commented my seed on dime had any propositions, please post a comment below!

Take this as an early x-mas special, there's going to be a second one coming in time, both here and on dime... more tenor sax, which is my favourite axe. Bad rhyhes, I admit, but they weren't writ to be rhymes.

: . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . :. : . : . : . : . :

Stan Getz & Kenny Barron
Copenhagen (DK), Café Montmartre
March 3-6, 1991


Stan Getz - tenor sax
Kenny Barron - piano

CD1/66:11
1. Whisper Not (Benny Golson) 7:22
2. You Stepped Out Of a Dream (Brown-Kahn) 8:20
3. I Wish You Love [Que reste-t-il de nos amours] (Chauliac-Trenet-Beach) 7:22
4. Bouncing With Bud (Bud Powell) 8:57
5. Soul Eyes (Mal Waldron) 6:48
6. I'm Okay (Eddie Del Barrio) 5:31
7. You Don't Know What Love Is (Raye-De Paul) 8:59
8. You Stepped Out of a Dream (Brown-Kahn) 8:43
9. Gone With the Wind (Magidson-Wrubel) 6:03

CD2/75:44
1. First Song (for Ruth) (Charlie Haden) 11:05
2. Night and Day (Cole Porter) 8:46
3. Autumn Leaves (Kosma-Prevert-Mercer) 9:42
4. The End of a Love Affair (Edward Redding) 8:45
5. unknown (8:06)
6. I Wish You Love [Que reste-t-il de nos amours] (Chauliac-Trenet-Beach) 8:11 [cuts in]
7. People Time (Benny Carter) 6:05
8. unknown (7:52) (Benny Golson's "Stablemates"?)
9. Soul Eyes (Mal Waldron) 7:09

TT: 141:55

Sound: A- (some parts better, some worse)
Source: radio broadcasts (Danish Radio)
Lineage: RB > ? > dime > FLAC > WAV > Cool Edit Pro > FLAC (8,asb,verify)

Friday, December 19, 2008

Carla Bley - Paris 1980

Aller guten Dinge sind drei... so here's the third Carla Bley show, the last one for the moment. The earlier two are Chateauvallon 1977 and Austin 1978 - both among my favourites!
I got all three from dime originally, but did some edits (fixing marks, deleting radio announcers and such). This one here seems to be sourced from three radio broadcasts on French radio.
The band here is more like the "usual" gang: Mantler, Swallow, Dagradi, Earl McIntyre, and there's D. Sharpe, as well as the great Gary Valente!

: . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . :. : . : . : . : . :

Carla Bley
Festival de Jazz de Paris
Paris (FR), Théâtre de la Ville
November 6, 1980


Michael Mantler - trumpet
Gary Valente - trombone
Earl McIntyre - euphonium
Joe Daley - tuba
Courtney Winter - soprano & alto sax, clarinet
Tony Dagradi - tenor sax
Carla Bley - piano, organ & vocals
Arturo O'Farrill - piano & organ
Steve Swallow - electric bass
D. Sharpe - drums

1. 8 1/2 (4:12) [slightly cut at beginning]
2. Utviklingssang (7:58)
3. I Can’t Get My Motor To Start (3:36) [cuts in]
4. I Want You To Love Me, But You Hate Me (2:40) [CB,DS-voc]
5. Very Very Simple (6:38) [AOF-voc]
6. Murder (4:29) [band & CB-voc]
7. Reactionary Tango (in three parts) (7:06) [cut]
8. Musique Mecanique (7:04)
9. Copyright Royalties (7:13)
10. Hot River (6:12) [GV-voc] [inc, fades]

TT: 57:13

Sound: A-
Lineage: FM > tapes > CD R > EAC > WAV > FLAC

Notes:
Bob Stewart was given on tuba, but the announcer mentions Daley in the announcement following #2, Steve Slagle was given as alto saxist instead of Courtney Winter, and O'Farrill & McIntyre were not listed originally.

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Carla Bley - Chateauvallon 1977

Roller-rinkey organs, fervent soulful hymns by the horns... well, Carla Bley's band and songs, of course! With Gary Windo going apeshit, Hugh Hopper thudding on bass, Andrew Cyrille beating them drums, Mike Mantler blowing the trumpet, Roswell Rudd, John Clark and Bob Stewart completing the brass, the late great Elton Dean on alto, Terry Adams on piano... as well as an unknown guitar player soloing rather prominently on several of the songs included. Tempted? Well yeah! Some great Carla Bley here, once more, this time by a rather unusual band as you've seen!

Check out my earlier Carla Bley post: Austin 1978

If anyone has a clue who the guitar player might be, please comment! I googled up and down, but it seems everybody has the same info as me, and no one noticed a guitar player so far...
Edit: it's John Clark, thanks a lot for the info!

An addition to the great minor version of the US anthem is over on my musings page.

: . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . :. : . : . : . :

Carla Bley Band
Chateauvallon (France), Festival de Jazz
August 24, 1977


Mike Mantler - trumpet
Roswell Rudd - trombone
John Clark - french horn & guitar
Bob Stewart - tuba
Elton Dean - alto sax
Gary Windo - tenor sax
Carla Bley - piano, organ, composer, arranger, conductor
Terry Adams - piano
Hugh Hopper - bass
Andrew Cyrille - drums

1. Song Sung Long (9:09)
2. Dreams So Real (4:50)
3. Drinking Music (6:22)
4. Wrong Key Donkey (10:35) [fm voiceover at end, fades]
5. Spangled Banner Minor and Other Patriotic Songs (24:52)

TT: 55:50

Sound: A-/B+ (#1-3), A- (#4,5)
Lineage: TWO FM sources > tapes > CD R > EAC > WAV > FLAC
Additional lineage: FLAC > WAV > CoolEditPro > FLAC (8,asb,verify)

Notes:
guitar is heard at least on #3
prob. 3 sources (#1-3, #4, #5)

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Art Blakey / Tony Williams Group - Munich 1972

Here's a delightful funky little show starring both Art Blakey and Tony Williams! On keys there's the great George Cables (back to work after serious illness - all the best, George!) and on flute, there's Jeremy Steig.

This is stylistically another bit of a departure, and a foray into funky late 60s/early 70s territory (before jazz rock and so-called "fusion" got all formulas and all the creativity dried up). I hope you'll enjoy it!

Thanks go to the seeder on dime, I performed a couple of small edits only in this case - a very fine recording!


Art Blakey @ Monterey Jazz Festival 1972
Photo by Paul Slaughter


Art Blakey - Tony Williams - Group
Jazz Now Festival
München (Germany)
August 18, 1972


Jeremy Steig - flute
George Cables - piano, electric piano
Stanley Clarke - bass
Art Blakey - drums, voice
Tony Williams - drums
Ray Mantilla - timbales, congas, bongos
Buck Clarke - gong, bells, congas, african drums

1. Announcement AB (2:32)
2. Swamp Carol (Steig-Hammer) > Announcement AB (13:54)
3. Rita (George Cables) > Announcement AB (10:01)
4. Virginia (George Cables) > Announcement AB (13:24)
5. Cubano Chant (Ray Bryant) 23:13
6. unknown (9:25) [inc]

TT: 72:34

Sound: A
Source: SBD
No lineage info
Additional lineage #5/6: FLAC > WAV > Cool Edit Pro (fixed mark, deleted silence, added fade-out at end of #5) > FLAC (8,asb,verify)

::ubu's edits::
mark 5/6 was too early, following a bit of silence
> fixed mark, added fade-out at end of #5
the last 21 seconds of #6 were silent
> deleted

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Swing Them Jingle Bells

While I'm generally not a big fan of x-mas music, here's a delightful little compilation sent to me several years ago by a dear friend. This is the one and only x-mas disc I spin now and then (right now I have Frank Haynes blowing on that great Dave Bailey session better known as Kenny Dorham's "Osmosis" - his solo on "Grand Street" is indeed grand - and dandy!). Anyway, I hope some of you will enjoy this compilation!

: . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . :. : . : . : . :

Swing Them Jingle Bells

01 - Fats Waller & His Rhythm - Ring Them Jingle Bells
02 - BBC Dance Orchestra - Santa Claus Express
03 - Putney Dandridge - Santa Claus Came in the Spring
04 - New Mayfair Orchestra - Savoy Christmas Medley
05 - Duke Ellington - Santa Claus, Bring My Man Back
06 - Red Nichols & His Five Pennies - Parade of the Wooden Soldiers
07 - Sam Manning and the Melodettes with the Felix Crazy Cats - Lookin' for My Santa Claus
08 - Lew Stone - Winter Wonderland
09 - Bob Crosby - Skater's Waltz in Swingtime
10 - Gene Ammons - Swingin' for Christmas
11 - Big John Greer - Mambo Santa Claus
12 - Bob Wills & His Playboys - Swingin' Around the Christmas Tree
13 - Mel Blanc - The Hat I Got for Christmas Is Too Big
14 - Lloyd Glenn - Sleigh Ride
15 - Tommy Dorsey - Santa Claus Is Coming to Town
16 - Guy Lombardo - He'll Be Coming Down the Chimney
17 - Louis Armstrong - Christmastime in Harlem
18 - Charlie Parker - White Christmas
19 - Mabel Scott - Boogie Woogie Santa Claus
20 - Lionel Hampton - Merry Christmas Baby
21 - Louis Armstrong - Have a Cool Yule
22 - Duke Ellington - Jingle Bells
23 - Pete Johnson - Pete's Holiday Boogie
24 - Louis Armstrong - Is That You, Santa?
25 - Bing Crosby - White Christmas (original version)

Playing Time: 72:48

Friday, December 05, 2008

Clifford Brown/Max Roach Quintet - NYC 1956 (FLAC)

Here's a pair of short shows by the great Brown/Roach-Quintet. The second show doesn't feature Max Roach, but it's still that band.

This, like the Kirk show of a few days back, was fixed by the good PervFesser goody, and it was thanks to him that I got this at all! It was originally on dime, but for whatever reason (certainly *not* for Lonehill actually being a legit label!) it was banned there before I even saw it!

Read Barbara Gardener's article on Brownie's legacy (DownBeat, October 21, 1961) here. More about Brown and other trumpet players in jazz here.

: . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . :. : . : . : . :

Clifford Brown & Max Roach Quintet
New York, NY (USA), Basin Street Club, 1956


Clifford Brown - trumpet
Sonny Rollins - tenor saxophone
Richie Powell - piano
George Morrow - bass
Max Roach (#1-2) / Willie Jones (#3-5) - drums

April 28, 1956
1. Valse Hot (Rollins) 8:08
2. I Feel a Song Comin' On (Fields/McHugh/Oppenheimer) 5:32

May 6, 1956
3. Sweet Clifford (Brown) 5:52
4. What's New? (Haggart/Burke) 3:30
5. Daahoud (Brown) 5:41

TT: 28:47

Sound: A-/B+
Lineage: Bootleg CD > EAC > FLAC >
goody: Nero Audio Editor > TLH

Notes from seeder on dime (this was banned there):
Source is a Spanish bootleg from Lone Hill Jazz; they date all the tracks above as April 28, but discographies for Rollins and Brown state otherwise. Additionally, different dates makes more sense as Roach is not the drummer on the May date. This material has also appeared on an Italian bootleg:
Max Roach - Clifford Brown Quintet Live At Basin Street, April, 1956 (Ingo [It] two)

goody's notes:
Pitch of 1, 2 was approx. 82 cents sharp. Pitch of 3 - 5 was approx. 97 cents sharp.
Corrected and FLACed. 2008-11-04