These are the same guys who decided to dump those crappy OJC CDRs on us a few years back instead of proper reissues, correct? I lost all faith in the company back then.
At first, a seemingly odd lineup with Jarrett and Mangione but it works and the results were rather pleasing! Art Blakey - Buttercorn Lady Limelight (1966) UCCM-9130 Piano – Keith Jarrett Trumpet – Chuck Mangione Alto Saxophone – Frank Mitchell Bass – Reggie Johnson Drums – Art Blakey
Listened to both a Max Roach and Abbey Lincoln profile this weekend, which prompted a spin of this fine LP. Max Roach: We Insist! Freedom Now Suite Max Roach – drums Abbey Lincoln – vocals Booker Little – trumpet Julian Priester – trombone Walter Benton – tenor saxophone " Coleman Hawkins – tenor saxophone James Schenk – bass Michael Olatunji – congas, vocals on side two Raymond Mantilla – percussion on side two Tomas du Vall – percussion on side two Recorded August 31 and September 6, 1960 at Nola Penthouse Sound Studio in NYC. This album is incredibly powerful, especially as presented on this Pure Pleasure edition. Much better than the original Candid CD issue from 89/90 which was a needle-drop, and not a very good one at that. It robbed this music of it's thrust and emotional engagement. A landmark for 1960....
When it comes to buying records I've never heard before, ECM albums never disappoint. This gem by Mike Nock is quietly awesome.
I did play side 1! Twice this week in fact. I use to have Stolen Moments in my tune book and tried to transcribe Bill Evan's piano solo at one point in my life so I needed a break from the tune. It was nice playing the record and not starting with SM going into Hoe Down to get back into it. I will say check out Ahmad Jamal's version of Stolen Moments from Impulse years for a nice trio take on the tune. NP: Oliver Nelson - Straight Ahead (purple New Jazz label vinyl) I love the way Oliver makes this work with just two Sax's but Dolphy is well Dolphy so whatever you do your not going to wind up sounding like him but it's cool the way he embraces playing the straight man here at same time playing well in his own right. This is another one I should play more often. I will look for a AP version of Screamin. EDIT: Holy crap! The way Dolphy drops that Bass Clarinet solo on the MJQ cover of Ralph's New Blues!!
Well, I'm glad we did get the 8 Sinatra SACDs that had already been done by MFSL, including the few that hadn't been released yet when Universal pulled the plug - MFSL did get permission to put those out, but not the ones that were scheduled but not ready for release yet.
Thats a good one. Oddly I think its his only ECM record. Not sure if he even did any session work for them. I alway though him and Richard Beirach should have gotten more work with ECM. At least Beirach did a couple trio led sessions and work with Abercrombie on ECM.
Wadada Leo Smith - America's National Parks Wadada Leo Smith – trumpet, director of the ensemble Anthony Davis – piano Ashley Walters – cello John Lindberg – bass Pheeroan akLaff – drums
Pat Martino - Strings! (1968) Original '68 Prestige 7547 stereo LP (navy blue labels, Bell Sound stampers) Pat Martino - electric guitar Joe Farrell - tenor sax & flute Cedar Walton - acoustic piano Ben Tucker - bass Walter Perkins - drums Dave Levin & Ray Appleton - misc. percussion One of those albums where the cover artwork tends to give a false impression of the music within. Looks like a polite guy with a guitar; perhaps he's going to serenade you to sleep with soft and sultry tones. Nope, this date's on fire, with each of the players pushing the momentum forward.
Jimmy Smith - Back at the Chicken Shack Analogue Productions SACD Jimmy Smith, organ Stanley Turrentine, tenor sax Kenny Burrell, guitar Donald Bailey, drums
Denys Baptiste - The Late Trane Denys Baptiste, tenor and soprano saxophones Nikki Yeoh, piano and keyboards Steve Williamson, tenor saxophone Neil Charles, bass and electric bass Gary Crosby, bass Rod Youngs, drums and percussion
Kenny Burrell: Midnight Blue Kenny Burrell – guitar Stanley Turrentine – tenor saxophone Major Holley – bass Bill English – drums Ray Barretto – conga Recorded at Rudy's on January 8, 1963, another one of those 'overplayed' titles that include the likes of 'Blues And The Abstract Truth", "Kind Of Blue", "Take Five" and "Soul Station"....until you put it on and you're reminded just how sweet this is. I did so yesterday afternoon, a day of blazing sunshine and deep blue (but not midnight0 skies and thought: "Yeah, what a fine album this is for a sunny day." Then I had to leave and couldn't finish it. So when I got home last night I put it back on and thought: "Yeah, what a fine album this is for a dark, quiet night." Then this morning it was raining and grey and overcast and I played it again and thought: "Yeah, what a fine album this is for a grey, rainy day." You get the idea.... Add to that the superb sonics of both the MM 33 and AP SACD and the fact that it's pone of Rudy's finer recordings (oh those congas, Rudy seemed to get those right frequently) and you've got the answer to it's prominence. Oh, and let's not forget the sublime beauty and sweetness of the solo piece "Soul Lament" Hey Stan, lay out on this one wouldya?
I believe I've got 10 MoFi Sinatras but that may include the earlier "Only The Lonely" and the Basie "Before Sinatra", which I have filed with the rest of the titles.
Les McCann & Eddie Harris ~ Swiss Movement Recorded Live at the Montreux Jazz Festival Atlantic, 1969
That always seemed like more of a chicken coop to me rather than a chicken shack, but he was from Philly so what does he know from chicken shacks? The most important thing was that it was greasy.
Those earlier MFSL discs were CD only if I'm not mistaken. The 8 I mentioned were all hybrid SACDs and the only ones they were allowed to release of the planned series.
Correct, I just checked my "Only The Lonely" and it's a Gold disc, packaged like the current issues. IIRC there may have been a few that made it out on LP but not SACD from that series?"Swing Along With Me" is one I believe, which I wanted but is now selling for 3-4x the original retail.
The Cannonball Adderley Quintet ~ Country Preacher "Live" at Operation Breadbasket, Chicago Capitol, 1969
From quieting ti disquieting (in a good way) a superb live date from the infamous Brotzmann > Parker > Drake trio, sometimes thought of as the Die Like A Dog Trio. There's some of that prayerful Ayler-esque playing here for sure, and it's ferocious at times...then not. Brotzmann is 75 here (now 76) and he's at times pushing his younger cohorts to play even more wholly. Amazing stuff....to hear the maturity and grasp of the instrument and the relentless energy and think: A 75 year old musician cannot be playing this! And then you realize that only a 75 year old musician could be playing this. The third, longest and closing track is a Pan-Nubian-Sufi-Jazz cum Congo Square stunner with Hamid starting out for some time solo on his resonant and throaty Frame Drum and a vocal chant that mesmerizes when Brotzm enters on Tarogato, charming the snake, soon joined by Parker on his Guembri, and they trod a groove across Mozambique that is awe inspiring, especially at volume. Parker then enters on his Shakuhachi and suddenly we're in the Himalayas. These comments are based on the CD version, the vinyl is up next and despite looking identical and having the same title they contain different material from the same gig at Cafe Oto. The short of it is: get it if you like this kind of thing and if you don't it just may make you like this kind of thing. Cover art by Brotzmann, as is typical for most of his releases.
