Billy Hart – Amethyst (Arabesque Records) — Billy Hart (drums), John Stubblefield (tenor & soprano saxes), Mark Feldman (violin), David Kokoski (piano), David Fiuczynski (guitar), Santi Debriano (bass) and Marc Copand (keyboards on two tracks); dedicated to the memory of Ed Blackwell.
Wayne Horvitz & Zony Mash – Cold Spell (Knitting Factory Records) — With Wayne Horvitz - Hammond B-3 organ; Timothy Young - guitar; Fred Chalenor - electric bass; Andy Roth - drums
Abdullah Ibrahim - Duke's Memories Abdullah Ibrahim, piano; Carlos Ward, alto sax, soprano sax & flute; Rachim Ausar Sahu, bass; Andrei Strobert, drums.
it's actually mostly not alternates, only 3/9 are alternates, the rest are previously unissued outtakes or from v. rare singles. Delightful just the same.
I think Gerry may have inhaled on the Stan Getz album when they had the idea to switch horns. Still a good album but not sure if those tracks work.
Ricardo Gallo’s Tierra de Nadie – The Great Fine Line (Clean Feed Records) — Dan Blake (soprano & tenor sax), Mark Helias (bass), Ray Anderson (trombone), Ricardo Gallo (piano), Satoshi Takeishi (drums & percussion), Pheeroan Aklaff (drums)
I stand corrected! After looking at this more closely, I was misled by the fact that some of these tracks were issued on other Blue Note CDs at some point (for example "It's Your Thing" by Grant Green was added to the ALIVE! reissue, and Reuben Wilson's "Hold On I'm Comin" was added to the LOVE BUG reissue). Without doing direct comparisons I had assumed they must be alternates to the versions of those other CDs. But I now see you are right, they are not, thanks for clarifying.
Now: Charlie Parker - Bird-The Complete Original Master Takes; The Savoy Recordings - 2 CDs, Savoy ZDS 8801 (1988). Mastered from the original acetates by Jack Towers. Personnel: Dizzy Gillespie (trumpet, piano), Miles Davis (trumpet), Charlie Parker (alto saxophone), Clyde Hart (piano), Sadik Hakim (Argonne Thornton, piano), Bud Powell (piano), John Lewis (piano), Duke Jordan (piano), Tiny Grimes (guitar, vocal), Jimmy Butts (bass, vocal), Curly Russell (bass), Tommy Potter (bass), Nelson Boyd (bass), Harold "Doc" West (drums), Max Roach (drums). 1944-1945 and 1947-1948 recordings.
Art Farmer Quintet featuring Gig Gryce (Prestige Records / ZYX Music - Germany) — Art Farmer – trumpet Gigi Gryce – alto saxophone Duke Jordan – piano Addison Farmer – bass Philly Joe Jones – drums; five tune by Gryce and one by Jordan; remastered by Phil De Lancie.
Now: Meet Milt Jackson - Savoy SV-0172 (Japan). Collective personnel: Bill Massey (trumpet), Henry Coker (trombone), Julius Watkins (French horn), Frank Morgan (alto saxophone), Lucky Thompson (tenor saxophone), Frank Wess (tenor saxophone, flute), Walter Benton (tenor saxophone), Billy Mitchell (tenor saxophone), Charlie Fowlkes (baritone saxophone), Milt Jackson (vibraphone), Wade Legge (piano), Gerald Wiggins (piano), Walter Bishop (piano), Wendell Marshall (bass), Eddie Jones (bass), Percy Heath (bass), Nelson Boyd (bass), Kenny Clarke (drums), Roy Haynes (drums). 1949 and 1954-1956 recordings; the 1949 date is included in the Mosaic Classic Savoy Be-Bop Sessions 1945-1949 set.
The Spontaneous Music Ensemble: Karyobin Evan Parker: Soprano Saxophone Kenny Wheeler: Trumpet and Flugelhorn Derek Bailey: Guitar Dave Holland: Double Bass John Stevens: Drums Could this (and the SME's previous debut recording) be the strangest and most 'out' title in Eddie Kramer's massive engineering discography? It also features some of the earliest work of Dave Holland on record, I believe documenting only his third appearance on record and roughly 6 months before he would make his recorded debut with Miles Davis in a completely different musical setting with "Filles de Kilimanjaro". This also sheds light on how broad the talents of Kenny Wheeler were as I'd assume that most are familiar with his more elegiac work with ECM. Of course Stevens, Parker and Bailey were (Parker still is being the only living member aside from Holland) would go on to be titans of this sort of music, literally creating an entire genre (sub?) of "Jazz", including new methods of playing their instruments. It's a fascinating listen with the suite "Karyobin" presented in 2 parts of ~22' each. Recorded at Olympic Sound Studios 2/18/68. If you've dug Holland's "Conference Of The Birds" (note the thematic connection to "Karyobin") this is a good bit different, but not.....do give it an ear.
As the story goes (IIRC) Miles had flown in to San Francisco expecting to have some version of Euro sports car waiting for him. He was driving his Mercedes 190SL at the time and, not being a fan of American Iron, had asked his manager to book him something appropriate. When he got to the rental counter he was informed that there were no more cars of this type available, despite his reservation. Expecting a dust-up with the moody trumpeter his handler quickly made arrangements for the car depicted in the image....unfortunately, all that was available was.....'murican 'arn. When asked if he would like to purchase insurance on the car he replied in that mysterious, gravely whisper: "Yeah, you'd better give me the insurance because I'm gonna beat the hell outta this thing". Or, maybe that was a Seinfeld episode? Good eye nonetheless
"Gypsy Jazz" / Herbie goes back to his roots... Eastern European Roots - Herbie Mann & Sona Terra (Lightyear) Recorded 2002
Here's another tidbit from Tyner: "I didn't see myself making any contribution to that music... All I could hear was a lot of noise. I didn't have any feeling for the music, and when I don't have feelings, I don't play". It's also interesting to look at what Tyner and Jones were putting out as leaders around this time, specifically "...Plays Ellington" for Tyner and "Dear John C" in the case of Jones, both rather 'conventional' (yet enjoyable) sessions. I often wonder if Jones' "Dear John C" was a plea for Coltrane to return to the music they were playing just a year or so earlier. Sun Ship is some fine Coltrane, an amazing quartet session. I assume you have the Mosaic? I've been passing on it because every time I think I should get it I look at the track sequencing Iandsee a series of "breakdowns", "false starts" and "incomplete" takes in succession. Nowhere do they actually present the album as it was originally issued. I think it would have been a more enjoyable (and possibly insightful) listening experience if they had at least concluded or started the set with the LP as originally released and kept the breakdowns and false starts separate for when you wanted to really dig into the artistic and tracking process. Yes?
I do indeed have the Mosaic set. The music is so compelling, I just let it spin, without regard to whether what I'm listening to at any given moment is a breakdown, insert, alternate or master take, etc. The sound is crystal clear, and the performances, when complete, are unedited. I think it's well worth getting and on a par with Crescent or A Love Supreme, even if presented as studio sessions.
This is a great album and I'm glad you posted this version as I have the original issue with only 9 tracks, I see this expands it to 20! Is the sound pretty decent? Coincidentally I just listened to this over the weekend while sloggin it out on the ellip: Sarah Vaughan: Vocal Virtuosity
True, I just wish there'd be an "as released" finale. So tempting at ~$75 right now though.......not to mention that I'm missing #3005 in the lineup.
