Jazz Beat (Part 30)

(CD Atlantic Koch Jazz KOC-CD 8356)

 

My copy of Sweetnighter is a Japanese cd. The red framed reissues are generally looked down on here but I haven't heard that version of Sweetnighter. There may be a cd issue prior to that, I'm not sure. FYI, I Sing The Body Electric includes a side two taken from the Live In Tokyo album. It is less commercial sounding than most of WR albums, up there with the complete Live In Japan album but patience is rewarded for perseverance. It had a shocking effect when I first heard it but 40 years on it probably doesn't sound quite as exotic today.

 

I can find something worth enjoying on all WR albums -- even the later ones. Shorter's playing on "Db Waltz" on Domino, for instance, is not only a shocker (because it's on tenor after several years of noodling mainly on soprano), but is top notch. That being said, although I believe that the earlier albums are my favorites, the groove-oriented mid/later ones are easier listens when one just doesn't feel like "thinking".

 

Stan Getz – At Large – CD 1 (Music Moods)
— With Jan Johansson (p) Dan Jordan (b) and William Schiøpffe (dr); (same as the Storyville & Verve releases)

 

Company, ONCE (Incus Records, recorded 1987). Interesting variety of live recordings, with shifting lineups from track to track - one sextet, one duo, two trios and a quartet - featuring excellent improvisers such as Lee Konitz, Richard Teitelbaum, Barre Phillips, Carlos Zingaro, and Tristan Honsinger.

 

let's make sure lucidae understands that 'sweetnighter' and certainly 'live in tokyo' are *nothing* like 'heavy weather'....

 

Gilmore and Hutch never bad, am I right? (especially on a typically Autumn-like New York day):

 

I do have their eponymous first album as well and it does sound very different, but I enjoy both equally.

 

then you have to have these two, that's for sure. 'sweetnighter' shouldn't be too hard to source... 'live' was an elusive title i chased for years and it showed up in a reissue series (in japan) so i bought the whole catalog.

 

Another one from the vault - unplayed for a couple of decades I reckon. Sides 3/4 from June 1968.

 

Hell, what are ya waiting for? Buy 'em all Eleven of the 15 albums proper exist in 2 relatively cheap popmarket sets that sound good (enough) with mastering done by Mark Wilder. You can get the last 4 for cheap as well, if I'm not mistaken.

 

I just picked up this one a couple weeks ago on original vinyl and have been digging it, Ervin is heavily featured - to the point I saw one reissue that credited it to Ervin "with Patterson" rather than to Patterson, the actual leader:

Beyond being a very enjoyable album, recorded in 1964, this is one of my favorite LP covers from the era.

 

As I've been trying to ask all along: Jimmy who?

 

Indeed. Smith deserves props for being such a pioneer, but there are many organists I enjoy more and Patterson is right at the top.

 

Yurp. Young, Patterson, everybody else

 

The only organ player I can more or less stand is Larry Young

 

Ah well! Different strokes and all that.

 

Correct. I have a deep-seated aversion to organ, especially in jazz.

 

The pre-bop style Mosaic journey continues - now listening to: The Complete Verve Johnny Hodges Small-Group Sessions 1956-1961 - 6 CDs, Mosaic; disc 1

 

Keeping with the Gilmore theme:

 

Original vinyl on Ampex. Also goes by the name of Blues in Orbit reissued on Enja.

Allmusic make themselves look really stupid on this one since they give the Enja reissue 4 1/2 stars but the Ampex original only 2...but without reviewing it.

 

So far this one's much better than I remembered, though it does have a few duds. Probably one to keep.

 

Yes, that Hodges Mosaic is a good set. I have a partial set of the Django box which I don't think I finished listening to. I may not hold on to that one.

Now playing:
Dick Berk & The Jazz Adoption Agency – East Coast Stroll (Reservoir Music)
— With John Hicks, Jay Collins, Ray Drummond, Dan Faehnle

 

I like it, but really wish they would have released the first Hodges box on CD as well.

 

I agree, but someone at Mosaic told me years ago that Verve only allowed them to release an LP-set; apparently Verve wanted to do a CD-set themselves, but it never materialized. A certain Spanish (or is it Andorran?) public-domain label released the earlier Hodges material on CD.