NP: Lee Konitz Meets Jimmy Giuffre (1979 reissue of a 1959 Verve LP) Lee Konitz (as), Hal McKusik (as), Warne Marsh (ts), Tec Brown (ts), Jimmy Giuffre (bari), Bill Evans (p), Buddy Clark (b), Ronny Free (d) Giuffre's arrangements for five saxophones suit Konitz very well. Giuffre provides either some of the lushest sparse arrangements or some of the sparsest lush arrangements I know. Konitz is obviously the main soloist on this set but Marsh gets his moments as well. Last but not least, Evans gets to play some short but effective & enjoyable solos too - so this is also recommended listening for fans of his 1959 playing.
Greg Cohen - Moment To Moment (DIW). Great band - Teddy Edwards, sax; Gerry Wiggins, piano; Greg Cohen, bass; Donald Bailey, drums.
It's just unfortunate that both performances of "Buzzin' Fly" have tape cuts. I was disappointed that the sets didn't stack up better against Dream Letter: Live in London 1968, still the definitive live Buckley from the period. And I'm sure that Tim took his share of drugs, but "acid king"? Hmm.
I hear ya, @frightwigwam ...but I believe the "Acid King" reference would be a musical reference to Tim's utterly unique cross pollinating of genres, not his drug of choice: Tim being the uncontested "King" of Acid-Folk-Rock or Freak-Folk, Jazz-folk-rock, then Acid-Jazz, avant garde Acid Jazz ... all quite fitting as to where Tim took us on his musical trip.
Dave Flexingbergstein, J*sm Magazine: "Excuse me, Mr. Bowie, is jazz, as we know it, dead yet?" Lester Bowie: "Well, I guess that all depends on what you know."
A Love Supreme/John Coltrane (Impulse!) 2CD CD1 - Bass – Jimmy Garrison / Drums – Elvin Jones / Piano – McCoy Tyner / Tenor Saxophone – John Coltrane CD2 - on tracks 8 & 9 only add Archie Shepp (Tenor Sax) & Art Davis (drums) Recording dates 1964 & 1965. DELUXE CD edition issued 2002 with 2CDs presented in 4 fold digipak with 32 page booklet included. All tracks on CD1 and tracks 6 and 7 on CD2 recorded December 9, 1964 at Van Gelder Recording Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. CD2 tracks 1-5 recorded July 26, 1965 at the Festival Mondial du Jazz Antibes, Juan-les-Pins, France CD2 tracks 8 and 9 recorded December 10, 1964 at Van Gelder Recording Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. Getting hold of the additional material on Disc 2 was a big attraction here for me.
Lovely anecdote @Tribute - it speaks to the conflict I feel in enjoying decluttering my living environment but also appreciating items with sentimental value. Everything I balance I suppose. The Charlie Mariano is an original pressing. Cool cover. Thanks for the additional context. He's new to me, or at least not an artist I've been paying attention to. Thanks @Lonson - Agreed that the material is perhaps not as extraordinary as the John Coltrane albums, but glad your sense is the remasters are a sonic improvement. NP: The Arrival of Bobby Jones (Cobblestone 1972) After hearing Bobby Jones album on Enja Records (Hill Country Suite, 1974), I was intrigued enough to seek out this distinctive sax stylist's other recordings. The line-up is impressive, though McPherson's soul-jazz sax overshadows on occasion what grabbed me about Jones in a smaller ensemble. Alto Saxophone – Charles McPherson Bass – Richard Davis (2) Drums – Mickey Roker Electric Piano – Bob Dorough (tracks: A3, B3) Percussion – Sue Evans (tracks: A3, B3, B4) Piano – Jaki Byard Tenor Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone, Clarinet – Bobby Jones (2) Yesterday was a record shopping marathon. Morning at the record fair in rain, which stopped eventually. Three of the dealers had jazz LPs I was glad to find. And one was priced like it was 2017 (before the recent inflation). It was fun to be back at a fair, outdoors with masks, feels more normal. Then two local stores. Then a long trip along country roads to a store that where I've been allowed to scope the warehouse crates. It is a privilege. Found out King Crimson will be playing locally in August, but was 'disciplined' and passed on near front row seats as I think I may be on the road (sigh). I caught them live just pre-COVID, but its rare that interesting artists tour locally, so was tempting. As is often the case with these hauls, the most fun are the dollar records and seeing how they restore (particularly any covers with white backgrounds). So last night was cover restoration while listening to great-grandma-in-law's jazz CDs. After a long work day I have the house to myself. I suspect it'll get old in a week or so, but for now, glad to have the peace and quiet and time to play jazz without limits (apart from eventually getting tired).
NP: The Lee Konitz Nonet (Roulette 1977) Konitz lived in a parallel universe or so it seems to me as I get deeper into his 70 years of recording. It has been little more than a year since he died of COVID complications, and I can't fathom why he wasn't more commercially successful in his lifetime. He was at the forefront of so many movements (Birth of the Cool, free jazz, etc.). He seems to have just done his thing on his own terms. Which is remarkable in itself. This session includes material from Miles Davis (Nefertiti) and Chick Corea (Times Lie), remaking them both. This nonet session wasn't his last. Konitz recorded with a different nonet in 2017 (!) forty years later. Alto Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone – Lee Konitz Baritone Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone – Kenny Berger Bass – Rufus Reid Bass Trombone – Sam Burtis Drums – Billy Hart Piano, Electric Piano, Synth – Andy Laverne Trombone – Jimmy Knepper Trumpet, Flugelhorn – John Eckert Trumpet, Flugelhorn, Piccolo Trumpet – Burt Collins
Things of "sentimental value" (I would rather say spiritual value) are not clutter in my world. Clutter is the stuff with no value at all, including spiritual value. Music is not clutter. I found the military metal ID bracelet that my father wore in WWII, as he turned over the remains of countless soldiers in order to identify them. He had engraved my mother's name on the reverse side. I draped it over the last picture that I took of him at age 94.
I have the aluminum disc "dog tag" of my great uncle (who I'm named after) from his service in the Army during and after our brief involvement in WWI. It's a very cool thing to have. I carried it in my wallet a long long time til 911 and all the metal detectors. It was a pain to have to pull it from my wallet time and again to "show and tell". . . .
I had my uncle's baseball glove from the 1920's. It was a classic. But I thought that one of his kid's would find some spiritual value in it, so I sent it out there after asking if they wanted it. They sold it in a garage sale. I should have kept it!
Finally got my hands on the first Sylvie Courvoisier Trio album, Double Windsor, from 2014 on Tzadik. What a great band. May not be quite the album that D'Agala is, but it's wonderful (as is Free Hoops). I was hoping this band would be playing at a scheduled Couvoisier residency at The Stone this October but it looks like all The Stone's shows through then have been cancelled. Frankly, I'm not sure I would have gone. Breakthrough infections of fully vaxxed folks around here are happing pretty routinely. I know of five such cases in my personal circle in the last six weeks. But I was hoping to be able to. Oh well. The records will have to do for now.
Julius Hemphill Jah Band, Saalfelden Austria jazz festival 9/21/84. A SBD, great sound, almost pro quality. JH is joined by the Cline twins on guitar and drums, bassist Steuart Biglie and Juma Santos on percussion. Journeys to the border via myriad routes which venture far and never return the same way. Nels Cline shines, brother Alex is a revelation here, explosive with the taste not to overplay his hand.
On the turntable, "Contours - Sam Rivers" on Blue Note. Tone Poet reissue. Sam Rivers - tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone, flute Freddie Hubbard - trumpet Herbie Hancock - piano Ron Carter - bass Joe Chambers - drums "Point of Many Returns" - 9:20 "Dance of the Tripedal" - 10:07 "Euterpe" - 11:43 "Mellifluous Cacophony" - 8:58
Baby Face’s second album. Sadly, there would be only two more, both on Argo. This is a great article on Baby Face, probably the best there is. Behind the 8 ball: The story of jazz organist Baby Face Willette
