Nice find! I have the original Straight vinyl... May be my favorite Buckley album...great blues and jazz.
This too...when Buckley entered his experimental jazz phase...brilliant and beautiful. My original 1969 Elektra vinyl is stunning to hear. Full album: Buckley's musical tastes expanded during the period that the album was written and the first track: "Strange Feelin", was directly inspired by Miles Davis' "All Blues" from Kind of Blue and the melody of the song is directly taken from the song.[1] "Buzzin' Fly" was written much earlier than the rest of the work and was originally performed with a group Buckley had during high school, the Harlequin 3, with bassist Jim Fielder and later lyricist, Larry Beckett. -wiki The third track, "Love from Room 109 at the Islander (On Pacific Coast Highway)", is a song composed of various movements and this represents the second time Buckley wrote in this manner, his previous effort being the title track of Goodbye and Hello. The segments of the song were written separately as "Danang" and "Asbury Park", as demonstrated on the later released demo sessions, The Dream Belongs to Me: Rare and Unreleased 1968 - 1973. The final version of the song is backed by an 'ocean' sound effect, however this was not originally intended to feature on the song. Buckley and the band were happy with the take of song but because of a recording problem the track had a slight electric buzzing in the background. The producer solved this by muffling the buzzing with the ocean overdub.[2] Side One "Strange Feelin'" – 7:40 "Buzzin' Fly" – 6:04 "Love from Room 109 at the Islander (On Pacific Coast Highway)" – 10:49 Side Two "Dream Letter" – 5:12 "Gypsy Woman" – 12:19 "Sing a Song for You" – 2:39 Personnel[edit] Tim Buckley – vocals, 12 string guitar Lee Underwood – guitar, keyboards John Miller – double bass Carter Collins – congas, conductor David Friedman – percussion, marimba, vibraphone Technical[edit] Zal Yanovsky – producer Jerry Yester – producer Jac Holzman – production supervisor Bruce Botnick – engineer Ed Caraeff – photography William S. Harvey – art direction Robert L. Heimall – design "Dream Letter" is as an ode and apology to his ex-wife, Mary Guibert, and his son Jeff Buckley.[1] This is the second song Buckley wrote about the pair, the first being "I Never Asked to Be Your Mountain" on his previous LP, Goodbye and Hello. In comparison to that song "Dream Letter" has a more apologetic tone, the lyrics reveal this with Buckley lamenting "Does he ever ask about me?" . It would be over five years later that Buckley would meet with his son again.[3] The name of the song would later be used for a live album: posthumous release Dream Letter: Live in London 1968. The concert features much of the same personnel from the Happy Sad. "Gypsy Woman" is a long track highlighting Buckley's vocal acrobatics and on the record has some qualities of a jam session. Buckley and his band were disappointed with its recording but the song would remain as part of Buckley's live repertoire for the following years.[1] The closer of the album, "Sing a Song For You", is more similar to Buckley's work on Goodbye and Hello than to the songs on the rest of the album. It shares the verse/chorus style and folk leanings of "Song to the Siren", which though released on Starsailor was written around the same period. Happy Sad (album) - Wikipedia
@Tribute - Thanks so much for all your Lester Young posts and anecdotes. Great to have these to read while listening to the Pres in last couple of days!
NP: Peterson & Gillespie Peterson is in fine form, seems super comfortable in this setting. Not sure how Granz directed the many Pablo sessions, but it seems freeform, and the musicians are at ease and get to explore (mostly) standards on their terms.
I have to say the Tower Records exclusive SHM-CD of Happy Sad, WQCP-923, could be described as stunning as well. Those Tower Records exclusive reissues of Happy Sad, Lorca, Blue Afternoon, Starsailor, and Greetings from L.A. from 2010/13 are probably the next best thing to original vinyl. Certainly better than any other digital reissues.
Blues & Roots Charles Mingus (1960, Atlantic) Apparently, round the very late 50s critics were beginning to say that Mingus couldn't (or wouldn't) swing. Then he dropped this. Charles Mingus – bass John Handy – alto sax Jackie McLean – alto sax Booker Ervin – tenor sax Pepper Adams – baritone sax Jimmy Knepper – trombone Willie Dennis – trombone Dannie Richmond – drums Horace Parlan – piano, except for "E's Flat Ah's Flat Too" Mal Waldron – piano on "E's Flat Ah's Flat Too"
I did a bunch ages ago. I may have posted about meeting the man who, very sadly, discovered Lester's body in 1959.
Blue Afternoon (and Starsailor as well) received nearly zero publicity when released. Very few promo copies, no push for radio play. They were both cutouts not too long after release. I knew a musician who received an advance pressing of Blue Afternoon from Tim himself long before the release date. It was an incredible experience hearing it.
It makes me happy, to know that him son feels good about Lester, and wasnt that bad stores like John lennon and Julien, for exemple. Did Lester Jr have son or daughter? And grandkids?
I have all except the eponymous debut album which was reissued so handsomely by Rhino Handmade recently. First batch released in 2010 consisted of Happy Sad (WQCP-923), Starsailor (WQCP-924), and Greetings from L.A. (WQCP-925). In 2011 Lorca (WQCP-1126) was released. In 2013 Tim Buckley (WQCP-1401), and Blue Afternoon (WQCP-1402). The 2010 and 2011 reissues are SHM-CDs. The 2013 batch regular CDs.
@Tribute do you know who are the lovely ladies in this pic you posted? ...I’m in the midst of a Lester Young binge. Thanks to you fine folk. Currently playing the Complete Verve recordings.
NP Cannonball Adderley- Something Else (Blue Note) MoFi cd An old classic. Jst got back from my grocery run. I prefer going before 9:00 a.m. to reduce my risks but shopping while still wakng up has its downsides.
Dave Grisman - Dawg '90 Jazz mandolin? Sure, why not? If Bela Fleck can become respected in jazz with his banjo, no reason Mr. Grusman can't with his folky strings. Indeed, if you dig the Flecktones, you'll probably dig this as well. Whether or not this actually qualifies as jazz may be open to debate, and Grisman bends and blends genres even harder than Fleck; in addition to swinging a little jazz into bluegrass, he also incorporates some gypsy influence a la Django for an even more diverse hybrid. There's some serious composition and quality playing on this album. In addition to Grisman getting some great sounds out of his mandolin, I really enjoyed Jim Kerwin's bass playing, but the whole ensemble is outstanding. While this is strong music, much of the time it is just serious musicians having some silly fun too. Hey, if it raises the corners of your mouth, it's all worth it.
I wish. I have Prestige blue trident label, a version that doesn't have the surrealistic artwork on the cover (it's just a photo of Dolphy in performance). I keep meaning to give Joshua Redman's stuff another listen. I saw him play at an outdoor fest in Detroit one time years and years ago - I think it was before his 2015 Jazz Fest appearance with The Bad Plus. Kinda wish I would have caught that one, though, given this recording:
Yeah I actually like to hear when band members get so taken away they show up on the live mics. Blakey does that a lot, too.