Jazz Beat (Part 37)

Dewey Redman & Ed Blackwell - Red and Black in Willisau

 

WP Bobby Hutcherson - Color Schemes (Landmark)

NP Sonny Criss - Intermission Riff (Pablo)

The Criss album is probably for fanatics only. It is an early live recording that has some unfortunate dropouts on the tape but it is of historical significance and the musicians are fab.
Sonny - as
Bennie Green - tb
Joe Newman - t
Eddie Davis - ts
Bobby Tucker - p
Tommy Potter- b
Kenny Clarke - d

Recorded at the Shrine Auditorium in 1951 as part of the JATP shows and mastered by George Horn so t is probably as good as it can be. The recording is clear though so it's not a poor recording, I've heard much worse. While it wouldn't be on anyone's list of essential Sonny Criss recordings it might be interesting for fans who want to follow his development.
I've passed on this lp many times but decided to give it a listen as it was only a couple of dollars.

 

Shout out to Dave Rempis, a saxophonist first coming to the attention of folks due to his assocaition with Ken Vandermark, which continues to this day. His own label has been putting out some great recordings (http://aerophonicrecords.com/). Here is one of my favorites:

 

Giving this one another audition...



"Prodigies and little geniuses alike are normally easily scared and refuse outright to crack a smile. A Bu is young – not just really young, but really, really young – yet his talent is already astounding. How young exactly? 14! To release an album as accomplished as 88 Tones of Black and White at such a tender age is somewhat unsettling. Supported by bassist Ma Kai and drummer Shaq Ha Ha, the Chinese pianist plays A Night In Tunisia, Round Midnight, Impression, All The Things You Are and Giant Steps, offering his own interpretation to these much-played jazz standards. As he enters the realm of Latin jazz, A Bucontinues to intrigue in a way which is decisively his own. Starting at the Beijing Conservatoire at just 9 years old, he has the good sense to not mess around too much with his technique (which is incredible enough as it is). A Bu is particularly moving on Very Early by Bill Evans, as with September 2nd by Michel Petrucciani. This release is genuinely astonishing, and this recording by the German label Sennheiser has an exceptionally good sound quality. "

 

SHM-CD

 

Ben Webster - Gentle Ben (APO hybrid SACD)

Repeatedly hearing Ben Webster on my uncle's LP collection as a child was my introduction to jazz. I still love Ben.

 

If I'm not mistaken I believe this album is a milestone. First time Byrd incorporated an electric piano into one of his albums. Duke Pearson sounds great on this one.

 

This sounds interesting but tbh I have rarely "fallen" for one of these young geniuses that show up every ten years or so.
They seem to lack an emotional connection with me and I don't know if it my fault or theirs.

I found something that looks like it was issued last year, Red Garland Trio Swingin' On The Korner live at Keystone Korner. It's another board tape from Todd Barkin, the owner of Keystone who has released other recordings from his well respected SF Bay Area club. This has Leroy Vinnegar and Philly Joe Jones with him, a trio that only existed for the weekend this was recorded in 1977. I haven't heard it yet but will be spinning it later and will report on the SQ. I'm a big fan of Red Garland so I will probably really enjoy it. It's on the Elemental Music label, made in the EU.

 

David Murray Big Band - South of the Border (DIW)

 

I think you're right, would have to check but it's not that important to me. I really like the arrangements.

 

NP Red Garland Trio Swingin' On the Korner live at Keystone w/Leroy Vinnegar and Philly Joe Jones.
The sound is good and the bass is very prominent in the mix. The three instruments are pretty equal in volume or presence. Considering it is a board tape I am pleased so far. The drums sound a little box-like and I'm not sure how I feel about Leroy's tone on this recording but the music is really good. It's nice to have some "new" Red Garland, especially a live set.

Here's a link to the label's page. http://www.elemental-music.com/

 

Gerry Hemingway - Johnny's Corner Song

• Bass – Mark Dresser
• Drums, Engineer, Producer – Gerry Hemingway
• Tenor Saxophone – Ellery Eskelin
• Trombone – Robin Eubanks

 

Stuff - More Stuff

 

TGIF!!


Hampton Hawes ~ Spanish Steps

with Jimmy Woods, bass; Arthur Taylor, drums

Black Lion, 1968

 

This will be my first time hearing this one. Upon further investigation, this is Sco's 2nd lp after "East Meets West" in '77. I was lucky enough to see him with the Billy Cobham / George Duke Band in Oct. of '76 which had Alphonso Johnson on bass.


John Scofield ~ Live

Munich, November 4th, 1977

Inner City

 

Miles Davis - Agharta

 

I'm now nearing the end of the Red Garland Trio at Keystone Korner I mentioned upstream. SQ is very good, especially since the source was cassettes. The sound seems better on disc two for the drums and bass. The piano sounds fine all the way and even my criticism should be taken as a simple caveat that this isn't demo quality but it is not some funky bootleg and sounds pretty similar to other offerings from Todd Barkan's stash. The performances are fab. The tracks were chosen from five nights so that gave them plenty to pick from. The booklet is great too with essays by a bunch of the usual suspects in jazz journalism and Benny Green, the latter who brought up an interesting thing about Rudy's piano sound I had never heard before. So I started a thread about it.

Looks like a gort moved my thread to another post about Rudy's piano sound. I probably should have done a search but this was something I hadn't read before.

 

F'n' love this one.



(Philips cd which is the same material as the Verve below, but sounds better to me).

 

Keith Jarrett ~ Eyes of the Heart

with Dewey Redman, Charlie Haden and Paul Motian

ECM, 1979

 

Miles Davis - Pangaea

 

Columbia and RCA Victor Live Recordings of Louis Armstrong and the All Stars, Disc 1



Finally got my hands on this beauty! This is such special music. I love that's its all live and starts from the beginning of the All Stars. Love the book, too. Reading along while listening. It's all just fantastic. Right now, it's some long ago night way back in 1947.

 

FANTASTIC box set. An Armstrong fan's dream come true.

 

Listening to the latest Sony Japan reissue of Mingus Dynasty. The obi says it's a 2014 DSD remaster. I think it's one of the remixed version but I'm not yet sure. . . it sounds wonderful.

 

Listening to this one right now and loving it., great sounding CD.