I love this album but the bass on side two throes my soundstage off by alternating between left and right channels....Oscar always sounds right in the same place.....were there two bass players or what.....
This one again. This is a stereo system demonstration piece cd in the International Phonography cd reissue. Damn!
Continuing with the British bandleaders... Michael Gibbs - "Michael Gibbs" (1970) / "Tanglewood 63" (1971) Two classic albums brought together and probably the finest display of Gibbs' composing and arranging skills with the stellar cast of British jazzmen. As indispensable as the Graham Collier's three album set posted two pages ago.
NP Duke Pearson - Prairie Dog (Atlantic) Japanese cd Coincidently my Music Matters package arrived with Pearson's Wahoo which I have but wanted their version, one or f their last reissues. I sent Ron an email thanking him and the rest for their stellar work and wished them success in their future endeavors, even if it was sitting on a beach in Hawaii. I got a nice reply as well. A class organization. Wish it could have lasted longer but it was a nice run. Looking forward to relaxing with these beauties later after I finish my chores.....
I really dig that album too and yes, that cd is stellar sounding. I don't play it unless I am ready for the energy level. It's not so aggressive but it's a mover and a shaker imo.
Work is done so I decided to jump into my new records. Wahoo - Duke Pearson (Blue Note) Music Matters 33.3 stereo pressing. Wohoo for Wahoo! I didn't start paying attention to Duke Pearson's albums until about fifteen years ago when a friend brought Sweet Honey Bee over for a blindfold test. I loved it but it took a few more years before I started digging deeper in his discography. His playing isn't angular or virtuosic really and his albums can appear to be pretty safe for most people's ears but I when I started listening to the musicians playing with him I found gold. For instance, Wahoo has Joe Hemderson and James Spaulding, two well known and utilized artists on Blue Note at the time. Joe never gives anything but his best on his recordings and this one is no different. His muscular style pares well with the lightness of Spaulding's style to cover all the bases from ballads to uptempo tunes. A good example of this is side one's Bedouin. Edit: I forgot to mention the other front line player Donald Byrd.
Duke was a supple player and arranger, his work sophisticated and accessible. Quite an interesting composer as well, and he took over from Ike Quebec as Blue Note's "A&R" man in '63 and between then and '70 produced a number of Blue Note sessions. When a sideman on a session he often supplied compositions and arrangements. I really enjoy his albums as a leader (and especially like his introduction of Brazilian music and musicians to Blue Note, and his lesser known trio LPs for Blue Note, "Profile" and "Tender Feelings.") He was also able to record for Atlantic during this period, an interesting situation not many musicians shared. I really like his work in the piano chair with the Byrd-Adams Quintet as well, he was an important part of that group until he was replaced by Herbie Hancock. Duke left Blue Note in '70 to pursue teaching and occasional leader and accompanist dates, and was diagnosed with MS in '73 and died far too soon in '80. I wonder sometimes what he might have brought to the 'eighties if he had lived and returned to music-making full-time. The genre could have used him!
i agree, his real strength is his writng and arranging. I guess what I meant is that in one's youth speed and aggression is sometimes preferred over arrangements and compositions. Hard blowing rules. As I have gained more listening experience my appreciation for arranging has risen. Age has its positive attributes. NP Dizzy Reece - Star Bright (Blue Note) Music Matters Stereo 45 RPM Pressing Recorded with a U.S. grou, this Jamaican trumpeter turned some heads with this album. Originally released on n 1959. I'm guessing originals, especially in nm condition are considerably north of $50. Hank Mobley - ts Wynton Kelly - p Paul Chambers - b Art Taylor - d Dizzy - t
I heard that Lester and Billie reconnected while doing their song recorded here. On the sound of jazz. Apparently it was very emotional between the two of them and of course tragically ....not long after they would both be gone.
Bought this quite a while ago but I don't recall ever having listened to it: Elvin Jones - Time Capsule
I'm not sure I've seen that cover before. I'm almost certain at this point. Ok, I had some Belgian style ale earlier but still, I think it's a new one for me. Good? NP Jim Hall (Pacific Jazz) black mono label with Carl Perkins on piano! Plus Red Mitchell another lesser known artist who was fantastic and the great Larry Bunker who played with many people over the years including a stent with Bill Evans. This is a sec d or third pressing, I'm not sure at the moment but from the 1960s. It was Jom Hall's first solo album I thnk so he got to pick the players, the songs, arrangements, etc. In other words, it sounds like a Jim Hall album.
I just heard. Blythe was a central figure for me in my early years of fascination with jazz. I got to hear each of those amazing Columbia Records albums as they came out, starting with Lenox Avenue Breakdown. Here's a shining moment from my favorite of those albums, and still one of my favorite jazz LPs, Illusions: L.
I'm sorry I forgot to mention Arthur Blythe's passing as well. I only have Lenox Avenue Breakdown but I really dig it. It always makes me sad when I hear a musician develops a physical ailment that takes their playing ability away from them. It has to be do difficult, especially of that is their profession and how they earn a living. Still, to take away an artist's ability to express themselves in the manner in which they were used to. Life can be hard sometimes.
Does anyone here listen to contemporary Nordic jazz? Bugge Wesseltoft's label Jazzland is absolutely killing it at the moment with their vinyl releases - super quality 45rpm LPs for the anniversary edition of Bugge's New Conception of Jazz and the latest Beady Belle album.
Roy Haynes - "Live At The Riverbop" (rec. 1979) What a wonderful leg-shaking synth-free fusion date harking back to the 60s soul-bop served with a Spanish tinge!
Hank Mobley – Hank Mobley (BLP 1568) [(F) from The Complete Blue Note Fifties Sessions] (Blue Note – Mosaic) — Hank Mobley - tenor saxophone; Bill Hardman - trumpet; Curtis Porter [Shafi Hadi] - alto & tenor saxophones; Sonny Clark - piano; Paul Chambers - bass; Art Taylor - drums
Wes Montgomery - Bumpin' So, I do not disdain Montgomery's more commercial efforts. Not at all. I love Tequila and Road Song more than this one, though. IDK. This is nice morning music for working in the kitchen. This remaster sounds decent enough to me. Is the original mastering really any better?
I am not familiar with Iiro Rantala (pianist), but he plays "One More Waltz For Michel Petrucciani" on this post from a blogger in Poland that I follow on Tumblr. Beautiful, moving. LINK
