A real powerhouse recording. Made 12/19/57, Nola Studios, NYC. Stitt sticks to tenor and the rhythm section is Ray Bryant (p), Tommy Bryant (b) & Charlie Persip (d). Producer: Norman Granz. 1986 CD reissue prepared by Richard Seidel & Donald Elfman. Remastered by Dennis Drake at PolyGram Studios, USA. In the late 60s I had one track from this ("I Know That You Know") on a Dizzy compilation ('The Essential Dizzy Gillespie'). It really blew my socks off.
This record was mentioned a few pages back and I have been listening to it a bit lately. Its a curious one. ...... Its a reworking of a larger symphonic / jazz work that he wrote in the 40s and performed only once to mixed reviews ( yeah you got it...“oh my he overreached, “jazz aint grand enough to be on a classical scale ” ya da ya da ya da with the usual bias). I have not heard the original masterwork and im not even sure it was even recorded but this late 1950s reworking is a flawed gem (for me personally) and well work seeking out ( my copy is the pure pleasure release from a few years ago and its reslly well put together) Duke simplifies it and centers it around the melody in the key song Come Sunday which is one of the most beautiful and over whelmingly powerful and moving songs in the Duke canon (that I know) yet restrained and dignified at tge same time. This song is also sung by Mahalia Jackson at the start of side 2 and she really nails it , toning down her power and fury to reveal a delicacy perfect here. In short the Dukes approach is perfect for the raw subject matter which the title alludes to. This release includes a second lp of out takes and for once a piece of great magic is here. An accapella version of Come Sunday by Mahalia that the Duke just sprung on her at the last minute. After cursing him she performs a beautiful rendition that ends with her humming quietly to herself in a deeply personal way ( to my ears). Literally divine. That should have closed the album out to make it perfect .....
And now another chapter in my on going love affair with the little label that could - Candid.. With the following fairly large and unusual lineup of players and instruments... Yusaf shines as per usual but the rest but on a really good show too Highly recommended release from 1960
Thanks for posting. 99 times out of 100 i skip alternate takes once i've listened to them once and i haven't listened to this albums alternates probably since my first spin. Currently having my mind blown by the a cappella version of Come Sunday. Wowsers! Time to listen to the whole album...
Paul Chambers with a great band,Kenny Burrell,Hank Jones and Art Taylor..from 1957.Paul gets the bow out on a few tunes here to.
The one comment on this record that sticks with me is this: The all star group performing on this record were so humbled at the quality of the original Rodrigo composition thatvtheyvfelt they had to play it straight to be respectful. You definately here that hommage in the playing style. Passionate but reinforcement of the basic melody is key here. No showboating. Its my favorite too Jason
That Murray Ballads for Bass Clarinet is da bomb. You played it a while ago which put me onto it. Where should i go next with him Les?
I’d put it top 10. My personal favorite Miles album, regardless of how much eye rolling it gets, would be Miles in the Sky.
I'd like to chime in on Murray...since I've heard maybe about 2/3 of his albums -- no small feat since he has a couple of hundred dates -- and since I saw him a lot in the '80s and '90s when I was seeing a lot of live music and he was playing a lot around NYC. I think pretty much all Murray's octet albums are kind of his "major" works. You can't go wrong with Ming and Home especially, but also Murray's Steps, New Life, Hopescope and Picasso in particular among the octet records. I also think the David Murray Big Band Conducted by Butch Morris is a special record. Ballads for Bass Clarinet is a little big different than most Murray records -- it's kind of a sweet and mellow album, which is not so characteristic of all his other work. But if you like that one, and I like it a lot too, you might like Death of a Sideman which is actually a cycle of Bobby Bradford compositions and Bradford plays on it. The records he did with the World Saxophone Quartet are great. I especially like Revue and Live at BAM, the later of which is also one of the best, most realistic sounding recordings I know. But this discussion is going to get me to go back and listen to a lot of the gazillion Murray dates he made during that era.
Yeah this might have to come on a desert island voyage with me just for Come Sunday. Love it. The Carnegie Hall, January 1943 Concerts album has a fuller version of Black, Brown, Beige. Sound quality isn't great (but the music is).
Great music. As Moebius notes it was not performed and/or recorded only once after being written. I have an original LP of the studio recording with Ms Jackson that sounds amazing.
They did send a list out of the stuff and were allowing telephone orders. Most of their archive of CD/LP sets is long gone, but they do have graphics. If you want graphic art, contact scott at Mosaic to see what may be left.
For those wanting to hear Mahalia's alternate take, and who don't want to track down the vinyl, it is on the CD edition. That alternate take was a holy grail wish list item for a commercial release for many years. Duke had mentioned it in his writings, but no copy was available.
I must’ve deleted the email containing the list without noticing it as I get the Mosaic emails. The number 1 item I was hoping they’d have was the Bobby Hutcherson Select, but I probably would’ve ended up getting a bunch of stuff I didn’t know I wanted, so it’s for the best... I suppose.
Thanks for your comments @chervokas . You saved my skin as I'm not really that knowledgeable about Murray's oeuvre. I only have a few titles besides a couple titles by the WSQ. One is titled Ballads on DIW with him playing tenor sax in a quartet that I really like that is similar in style as the Ballads For B.C. The other I have is also on DIW, Special Quartet with McCoy Tyner, Fred Hopkins and Elvin Jones that is less about ballads but still in the more traditional style, less "out." One other title I have is a Bobby Battle cd on Mapleshade with him as a sideman which I really like. As far as his edgier stuff I am of little help and his discography as you probably know is massive to the point of iintimidation. Hopefully Chervokas and others will chime in more and give you some more rec's. Imight have a few others wih him guesting but drawing a blank at this time of the morning. WP Walt Dickerson (New Jazz) OJC vinyl NP Walt Dickerson - To My Queen (New Jazz) reissue pre OJC
“Tower Records exclusive: 5 SACDs of John Coltrane on Impulse!” タワーレコード限定企画！ジョン・コルトレーン（John Coltrane）インパルス期の傑作5タイトルをSA-CDハイブリッド化 - TOWER RECORDS ONLINE 'New mastering at a NY Studio using the 2018 new DSD masters which were made directly from the best survived USA analog master tapes for the release for the first time in the world. The mastering engineer is Kevin Reeves （Universal Music Mastering, New York, NY）.'
I was just listening to the Special Quartet album on my way to work this morning because of this thread and thinking about relatively easy to enter Murray quartet dates, and that's a good one. There are some more outisde colllaborations, but really I always thought of Murray as an inside/outside guy. His solos can be fiery and his arrangements can be busy, but he's also so deeply traditional. Like the highlight of the Conducted by Butch Morris big band record is an orchestration of Paul Gonsalves' famous solo with Ellington at Newport. And of course he's cut funk stuff and worked with Bob Weir and evem did an octet album of Dead tunes.
The dreaded harpsichord! I happen to like harpsichords. One of my fondest memories of my early adult life was a day spent with two craftsmen who were building a harpsichord. They also had the best audio system I had ever heard up to that point. "Bach Flute Sonatas" Stephen Preston (flute), Trevor Pinnock (harpsichord), Jordi Savall (viola da Gamba). Disc 1
