Jazz Beat (Part 33)

John Lewis - Evolution. (Atlantic)
One of the nicest sounding piano albums I own on cd. Atlantic isn't known for high quality sound but something happened here.

I too am a huge Szabo fan and haven't seen that one before. He can get a little too pop for me but when he's on I love it.

 

Mabumi Yamaguchi - Mabumi



Man, I have to wonder if this cat ever made a bad album! This is simply fantastic and boasts an amazing lineup:

Mabumi Yamaguchi - Tenor & Soprano Sax
Kenny Kirkland - Keyboard
Miroslav Vitous - Bass
Tony Williams - Drums

 

NP Bobby Hutcherson - Color Schemes (Landmark)
A solid album from Bobby. The musicians seem to play his music politely but I don't hear much in the way of a challenge from them. Am I alone with this opinion? When I saw Bobby with Herbie Hancock's Quartet around the start of this century he and they were fantastic and there were sparks-a-plenty.

 

That looks like a fun project.

 

I can share your opinion there. It's solid but not that rousing. I was listening to Bobby yesterday on Duke Pearson's "The Phantom" and even blurted out "DAMN" a few times. That was Bobby being kicked in the rear and kicking it out himself.

Right now

 

Fun remixes of Monday's "Brazilified" cd. Some jazz in here. Nice sound!

 

It was part of a live tribute performance put on at Columbia University (while I was there, mostly oblivious to jazz at the time) in 1981 as part of the Live From Soundscape series produced by Verna Gillis. All 4 sets were released here as a 4 CD set:



and here by Koch as 2 double CD sets later on:

Volume 1 -



Volume 2 -

 

Sun Ra - Live In Rome

 

Yeah, I was looking at the artists participating on that Monk tribute and thought that would have been fun attending.
Tbh, I wasn't quite the jazz head I would become either so it might have got a miss from me too.

WP Sonny Stitt w/ Don Patterson - Shangri-La (Prestige) dark blue mono pressing
NP RRK - Domino (Mercury) black label, mono pressing

3 in 1 Without The Oil - greatest song title ever!

I'm off in a few minutes for Nebraska Mondays. Ross said there is a young Japanese guitarist tonight who is not to be missed. Tell you all about it later!

 

It's good stuff worth hearing, although not as good as the source. Fwiw, my favorite set is the one with Anthony Davis.

 

Freddie Redd Quintet - Shades Of Redd (Blue Note) Japanese RVG remaster. No obi, bought used so I don't know the year of the remaster, if it even matters. I've had a funny relationship with this one. This is is my third copy. I had a U.S. connoisseur series cd, then an lp whose provenance I can't recall and now this cd. I've never "got" this album though I like everyone who plays on it. I keep trying and I keep missing it. Maybe third time is a charm, as they say.

It sounds pastoral compared to the music I just witnessed at Nebraska Mondays. The opening group was a straight up hard bop unit. It was guitar, baritone sax, acoustic bass and drums. Everyone looked 30YO or less but they had good command of their instruments, communicated with each other well and played with a lot of energy. The drummer was amazing imo. He played at appropriate volumes, had good brush skills and could pull a good Art Blakey when it was called for. It was a nice set of tunes by the masters, Monk, Duke, Strayhorn and Lee Morgan. If you like Blue Note you would have loved this band. They ticked off all boxes.
During the last song a Japanese man with waist length dreadlocks ambled in with a bag of records that were obviously from a successful hunt. Ah, I thought, this must be Suzuki Junzo our Japanese guitarist headliner. Turns out he's quite the vinyl junkie too, big surprise, I know. He told me he has shipped three boxes of records back to Tokyo already.
I asked about his music and he said it would be loud and that he was playing solo. If you are hip to Acid Temple Mothers you will get an idea of what he sounded like. I've never heard MBV but I'm willing to bet they would be similar.
I bought an lp of his most current music and I bought a cd he recorded with a trio with the drummer from Acid Temple Mother as a tribute to 60s garage/psychedelic music. I listened to a few minutes in the car on the way home. It reminds me of NY and Crazy Horse. Cool! I listened to a few seconds of the lp and it sounded like what he played tonight which wouldn't be appropriate when your spouse has gone to bed and I don't want to listen with headphones so that needs to wait until tomorrow.

Has anyone here heard of Suzuki Junzo? This was my introduction. He's traveling with one of those Steinberger style "headless" plastic guitars and his effect peddles, no amp. He just has the club provide or he borrows from another artist I guess. He tours the U.S. solo but plays in bands in Tokyo. He's played guitar for 25 years and this is his twentieth year touring the U.S. That's about all I could glean in my short time talking with him. I think my ears are still ringing a bit.
I found myself modifying my ears' reception of his guitar signal. I didn't bring protection as it has never been necessary
for this program. He only played thirty or forty minutes, which is just about as much of that music I can take in one sitting. I respect the effort it takes to play the music but it's not really my cuppa. It will be interesting listening to the lp tomorrow. Hehe.

 

Wadada Leo Smith - Kulture Jazz
Wadada Leo Smith: trumpet, flugelhorn, mbira, harmonica, bamboo notch flute,
percussion & vocal.

 

Still Warm - John Scofield (Gramavision /Rykodisc)

 

Miroslav Vitous - Infinite Search

Bass – Miroslav Vitous
Guitar – John McLaughlin
Piano – Herbie Hancock
Tenor Sax – Joe Henderson
Drums – Jack DeJohnette / Joe Chambers

A very nice reissue from Japan.

 

you can trust that of all his pop records, 'wind, sky and diamonds' was his poppiest....

 

Katy Roberts Septet – The Vibe (KR)
— With Salim Washington, Ku-Umba Frank Lacy, Rasul Siddik, Ronnie Burrage, Radu Olahu Ben Judah / Sara Morrow, Dominigue Lemerle, John Betsch, Sa Davis

 

I like Szabo a lot. For some reason, I can't connect as well with his Hungarian compadre, Attila Zoller.

 

You're right, I would probably run the other way. Some of his pop stuff like The Beat Goes On, Stormy, etc. some of them were either produced in a way I didn't care for or the song itself had a melody I didn't care about. With all the good work he did with and without Charles Lloyd and Chico Hamilton, I give him a free pass.

While I have your attention, have you've heard of Suzuki Junzu?

Forgot to add NP Marian McPartland - From This Moment On (Concord)

 

Yes, he sounds very good on that clip.

I nearly decided to include this in my latest batch from CDJapan... I see the delivery has gone out to 2-4 weeks now, so I guess it won't be available for much longer.

 

NP: Sonny Rollings - Moving Out




Mint OJC vinyl from the early 80’s, all analog goodness.
I always thought this was one of Sonny’s most underrated albums. With Art Blakey, Elmo Hope and Kenny Dorham, what more do you need! A great snap shot of hard bop of the time.

The whole album is a great listen there is however one song that stands above the rest which was from a different session that features Monk playing beautifully on the ballad More Than You Will Ever Know.

Its the equivalent of going to a non a list tourist museum or church in Italy and coming across an unexpected Caravaggio painting. One of my all time favorite Monk solos.

 

Marc Ribot / Ceramic Dog – Party Intellectuals (Pi Recordings)
— With Ches Smith, Shahzad Ismaily

 

(it's en vogue to state 'shm-cd', so....)