No football today, the one day I have nothing to do LP4 from Thelonious Monk Complete at the It Club (Mosaic). Really great set, music and sound quality wise.
I have the original stereo black label, what a killer album. I might even say my overall favorite Contemporary album.
Carmell Jones - The Remarkable Carmell Jones (1960) featuring Harold Land (tenor sax), with Frank Strazzeri (piano), Gary Peacock (bass), Leon Pettis (drums). (Pacific Jazz/EMI Japan CD 2003).
Jessica Williams, ORGONOMIC MUSIC (Clean Cuts, recorded 1979). This was pianist Williams' fourth album, going back a ways, and it is a beauty. While Williams has generally focused on solo and trio work as her career progressed, this early one features some tracks with a larger group including trumpet, sax, and guitar. The players were all living in the SF Bay Area at the time and include the great Eddie Henderson on trumpet and flugelhorn in what would have been, for that period, a fairly rare straight ahead performance (at that time his leader output consisted of funkified crossover efforts for Capitol). The other musicians are much lesser known but, on the showings here, outstanding: tenor saxophonist Jim Grantham (BIG sound), guitarist Henry Robinett (who later was based on my neck of the woods, Sacramento), dual bassists Kim Stone and Richard Saunders (not sure which one is playing fretless electric on some cuts, but both contribute hugely), and drummer Dave Tucker. Except for a killer solo piano excursion on Coltrane's "Dear Lord," the program is all Williams originals (apparently inspired by the writings of Wilhelm Reich who I'm not familiar with but seems to have had some considerable influence on a number of performing musicians; see: Wilhelm Reich Today http://orgonomist.blogspot.com: When Reich Was Cool and Jazz Was Hot »), and the tunes are very memorable and interesting. Gotta say that while I do truly enjoy all of the Williams recordings I've heard, this one is quickly becoming my favorite, and makes me wish she would make a bit more time for some work playing off talented and committed larger ensembles like this one. I am listening to a NM original LP pressing I found for $5 (to my knowledge it hasn't been out on CD though is available for download at CDBaby for 10 bucks, well worth it). The vinyl sounds great and was cut by none other than Bob Ludwig.
On the TT. Original Mono pressing on the Prestige label. Booker makes his sax cry in the most beautiful way.
Dewey Redman, EAR OF THE BEHEARER (Impulse! recorded 1973). This is the late 1990s digipak CD reissue. A wonderful disc, gathering the whole of BEHEARER and 4 of the 7 tracks from Redman's other Impulse! album COINCIDE. The playing is by turns ferocious, joyous (particularly the cuts from COINCIDE which have an almost calypso a la Sonny Rollins feel), funky, and pensive. Redman plays alto on much of BEHEARER but also tenor and musette. The interesting line up includes Ted Daniel on bugle and trumpet, Leroy Jenkins violin, Jane Robertson cello, Sirone on bass (and he is HUGE throughout, a very dominant role), and Eddie Moore drums and percussion. Someday I'd like to hear the rest of COINCIDE, plus there is an alternate of the opener "Interconnection" that was also left off this CD due to time limitations (but appeared on an old Impulse! sampler LP apparently NO ENERGY CRISIS (Impulse 9267). Really a shame they couldn't have just issued his complete Impulse! recordings on a 2-disc set, this came out at around the peak of the jazz reissue boom and CD sales were great then, plus Michael Cuscuna was the producer and normally is pretty on top of this kind of stuff - so, really no excuse for the omissions.
Complete Commodore & Decca Eddie Condon & Bud Freeman Sessions, Disc 3 Hot jazz, Saturday night! ...the sound on this set is most excellent.
Recorded '67 - '70 at Rudy's It's going to be a long, busy night at work. Enjoying the cacophony of horns grounded by Andrew on piano. Good news is I'll have enough time to listen to the whole 3-disc set!
Nice! I have yet to catch up with this set (on my list for sure). I do have all the Commodore material already though in the older Mosaic Complete Commodore Recordings LP sets. Always puts a smile on my face. Favorite quote by Eddie: " We don't flat our fifths, we drink 'em."
Steve Lacy, THE GAP (originally an America LP, recorded in Paris in 1972, this is the Universal France numbered limited edition CD from 2004 - part of a series that reissued the entire America label's scant output). Must be one of the earliest Lacy match-ups with long-time collaborators Steve Potts (soprano and alto sax), Irene Aebi (here sticking to cello, no vocalisms), with Kent Carter on bass and drummer Noel McGhie rounding the group out. They hadn't fully gelled yet, that came a few years later (with Bobby Few added on piano to make it a sextet, and Jean-Jacques Avenel eventually replacing Carter and John Betsch or Oliver Johnson eventually replacing McGhie) - this one sounds a bit tight and tentative in spots. But it's all still quite enjoyable and typically challenging material, very nicely recorded and remastered. Lacy's tart yet full-bodied soprano sound comes across well. The original LP cover is pictured below:
AIR - Air Time (1978) Henry Threadgill (alto sax, tenor sax, bass flute), Fred Hopkins (bass), Steve McCall (drums & percussion) (Nessa Records CD)
Got this at a sale today. I have the first six albums of this series, but as later Capitol Jazz CD reissues instead of as Landmark/Fantasy reissues like this one. The story is that ownership of these albums went to Cannonball when Riverside went under & became part of his deal with Capitol. With Nat Adderley, Yusef Lateef, Joe Zawinul, Sam Jones & Louis Hayes. Recorded at a jazz festival at Comblain-La-Tour, Belgium, 8/5/62. Engineer: Rudie Van Lieshout. Original & reissue producer: Orrin Keepnews. Digital transfers by Danny Kopelson, 1986. Digital remastering by George Horn, 1988. Reissued by courtesy of Capitol Records.
