Jazz Beat (Part 28)

Been listening to George Adams/Don Pullen Quartet a lot lately. Once I start, I don't want to hear much else for awhile.

 

Indeed. And I expect that the LP isn't too common either; I bought my copy about 30 years ago. (Isn't Jordi Pujol i Soley the disgraced former President of Catalonia?)

One of the websites described it as "hard bop played with a west coast sensibility" or something to that effect.

 

I don't think they're same person. As far as I know "Jordi" and "Pujol" are quite common names in Catalonia, or, as they prefer to call it, Catalunya Maybe one of the Spanish members here can shed some light on this.

 

Now: Bob Brookmeyer - self-titled Mosaic Select, 3 CDs; listening to CD 1, which includes the albums The Bob Brookmeyer Quartet and The Street Swingers. I wish this set had been mastered a tad less loud by Ron McMaster.

 

MILT JACKSON / GOODBYE / CTI / 1973 / KING RECORDS 24K GOLD CD

Personnel: Milt Jackson (v), Hubert Laws (f), Herbie Hancock (p, only on "SKJ"), Cedar Walton (p), Ron Carter (b), Billy Cobham (d, only on "SKJ"), Steve Gadd (d), Freddie Hubbard (t, only on "SKJ")




A pleasant record with nothing all too new or surprising on it, but certainly nice interplay. Sound is good, maybe a bit constricted and a tad muffled, but the louder you turn it up, the better it sounds.
This edition is one the the rare King Records 24k Gold CDs, I think they covered not even a handful CTI recordings and that's that. Is this the same King Records record company famous for reissuing Blue Note Records in audiophile in the 70's?

 

Now: Chuck Wayne - String Fever - Euphoria/Vik. A 1957 sextet/big-band date. The mastering on this CD reissue was done by Bob Irwin and it's a bit too loud and at times too harsh to my taste.

 

Mal Waldron Sextets – Mal/2 [ in Coltrane Side Steps box] (Prestige Records)
— With Bill Hardman, Jackie McLean, John Coltrane, Mal Waldron, Julian Euell, Art Taylor // Idrees Sulieman, Sahib Shihab, John Coltrane, Mal Waldron, Julian Euell, Ed Thigpen



Two sessions from Apr/May 1957 issued as Prestige 7111 in 1957 plus 1/2 of The Dealers (Status 8316) in 1965.

 

Now: Bud Shank/Lou Levy - Jazz in Hollywood Series - Original Jazz Classics/Nocturne. 2 1954 dates: 6 tracks by the Bud Shank Quintet, with Shorty Rogers (flugelhorn), Bud Shank (alto saxophone, alto flute), Jimmy Rowles (piano), Harry Babasin (bass) and Roy Harte (drums), and 8 tracks by the Lou Levy Trio, with Lou Levy (piano), Harry Babasin (bass) and Larry Bunker (drums).

 

Funny I was just listening again to this one this week. Very enjoyable. "On a Misty Night" is such a wonderful piece.

 

Now listening to older stuff: Gene Ammons - The Gene Ammons Story: The 78 Era - Prestige. Unfortunately, this CD is drenched in noise reduction - as is proudly stated on the back... (i.e., the No-Noise logo is printed on the back insert). The CD is missing a few tracks that appeared on the earlier 2LP-set.

 

Gabe Baltazar Quartet, GABE (Nancy Productions, recorded 1997). Baltazar alto sax, Mike Wofford piano, Richard Simon bass, and Sherman Ferguson (a veteran of Kenny Burrell's band among others) on drums.

Please IGNORE the utterly inadequate, (badly) home made, hideous cover art - 'cause this is a terrific little bop recording by a strong quartet. Alto saxophonist Baltazar of course was a featured soloist back in the day with the Stan Kenton Orchestra, and is a virtuoso, a true master of the instrument. Seriously, maybe not quite Parker level skills, but way up there on the list for sheer alto chops. Born in Hawaii, the son of Japanese and Filipino immigrant parents, unusual for a jazz musician of his era, he was born in 1929; so that would have made him 68 years old when this CD was released in 1997. He hadn't lost a step, absolutely tearing through the up tempo numbers (and there are several), and singing sweetly on the ballads, with a nice tone and lots of ideas. His ability to play fluidly through the full range of the horn is remarkable, and he even incorporates some post-bop techniques very organically into his playing, including some Coltrane-esque screeches. He continued to have a very open musical mind and ears as he aged.

The other cool thing about this CD is the amount of thought that clearly went into the arrangements - although many of the tunes are familiar, there are no rote, by-the-numbers approaches to them. For example on "Just You, Just Me" he halves the length of the first part of the melody, which is startling and effective; on "Europa," he starts off playing it straight a la the original Santana version, but then goes into a churning double time latin jazz beat through a series of solos culminating in the drum solo, which then winds back to the original tempo for the close. The disc is chock full of these kinds of touches, and they work, elevating this from the usual "old master gets together with a pick up group and blows." They spent a little time thinking about this one, but didn't over-conceptualize it either, thankfully. There's even a humorous homage to his Hawaiian birthplace which, rest assured, is anything but hokey in these hands.

I was truly surprised at how good this CD is. I bought it mainly because I had heard a bit about Baltazar being excellent, and because the used copy of the CD I found was signed by him, and cost just a few bucks - figured, how can I lose? But the disc turned out to be way better than I'd anticipated. It appears to me that Baltazar's relative obscurity nowadays must solely due to the fact that a lot of the work in his prime was from the pre-bop era (which gets little attention among current jazz fans, I've observed), and because his recording opportunities after that era were few and far between. But now I plan to seek those he did make out.

I'll close with a quote from Stan Kenton, writing in the liners for the LP STAN KENTON PRESENTS GABE BALTAZAR (the last of the Kenton Presents series of albums, recorded and released on Creative World Records, 1979): "To say a musician is 'legendary' is to compound a cliche. But ask any jazz musician about Gabe Baltazar. He is a legend. Gabe was a joy to me all the years he was a member of my band. He is a master of his instrument, a great guy and a great artist. I am so proud to present him on the Creative World label. Listen and you'll see why it's all right to use the word 'legendary' once in a while."

And here's a link to some more about Baltazar, from a fine piece about him on NPR. After hearing this CD, I just feel compelled to "spread the word": http://www.npr.org/2013/09/28/224473301/if-it-swings-an-asian-american-jazzmans-pioneering-career The article itself is great but reading some of the comments on it at the web link (scroll down below the article) is just as illuminating.

 

On the way into work this morning, I was able to listen to both of these. Although they are relatively short, traffic was predictably bad -- an unfortunate consequence of NY life Two horn men who rarely get mentioned around these parts:



Dave and Elvin make for a predictably fantastic team here.



Veteran of the later Mingus bands. Here he adds clarinet to his arsenal. Aided by the capable dad of the current day first call drummer Nasheet and the bassist formerly known as Jiri.

Two great, overlooked items from the Enja catalog!

 

I have a couple of classical LPs on Urania. Didn't realize they issued any jazz. Did the recordings originate with the label?

 

I believe so.

 

Paul Flaherty & Marc Edwards – Kaivalya Volume 2 (Cadence Jazz Records) — sax/drums duo

 

My favorite Ornette Coleman record. The 24 bit remaster from Warner Japan. Sounds stunning today.

 

Wadada Leo Smith & Thomas Mapfumo – Dreams and Secrets (Anonym Records)

 

On to one of my favorite Miles Davis sessions. This is the Blu-Spec 2 stereo version (I also have this in mono, Blu-Spec 2, I like them both, a LOT).

 

How does it compare to the "Beauty is a rare thing" box? (sound quality)

 

Yeh, thats a hep scene alrooty tooty. Sounds & looks like my kinda jazz groove scene, daddy-o. Especially the hot dame with an ankle chain.

 

John Scofield ‎– Grace Under Pressure




Electric Guitar, John Scofield, Bill Frisell
Flugelhorn – Randy Brecker
French Horn – John Clark
Trombone – Jim Pugh
Bass – Charlie Haden
Drums – Joey Baron

 

I prefer it to the box set sound. Others may not. It's a bit louder.

 

Thx