Just back from a Saturday at Monterey Jazz Festival....lots of great performances today, but a new to me great was Blue Note artist Joel Ross (vibes) and band. Smokin set tonight.
It's the only live album owned by myself credited purely to Herbie Hancock. I have other live stuff where he is a member of SGQ or live compilations by various artists and one of the two albums recorded with Corea, that as far as I know are only live: Ron Carter, Herbie Hancock, Joe Henderson, Freddie Hubbard, Bobby Hutcherson, James Newton, Tony Williams - Town Hall Concert Various - Conrad Silvert Presents Jazz At The Opera House Corea / Hancock - An Evening With Chick Corea And Herbie Hancock I like to hear live recordings. I live in Italy and I have not had many opportunities to see live these great jazz musicians and unfortunately many of them have passed away in the meantime.
In looking for more on the Grubbs brother, I ran into this very interesting interview with pianist Alfie Pollitt, whom I'd never heard of before, although I'm quite familiar with many of his associates, as many here would be I'd guess. ‘A Musical Journey Through the Byways of Life’: An Interview with Alfie Pollitt Part 2: Spiritual Pilgrimage to Philadelphia (1960s) ‘A Musical Journey Through the Byways of Life’: An Interview with Alfie Pollitt
Lately, I haven't had a lot of time to listen to music (at least not to listen to it closely & by myself). One of the reasons was a trip to London, which did have a musical highlight as well: last Friday I ended up at the second day of the 2-day Julius Eastman Project residency at Cafe OTO, which I enjoyed a lot! The ensemble performed quite rocking takes on two long-form Eastman compositions. As a souvenir of the evening at OTO, I bought two CDs released on Another Timbre: Luiz Henrique Yudo's Chamber Works by Apartment House and James Weeks Summer by Explore Ensemble. Reccently, AT albums have become harder to get (or at least quite a bit more expensive) in continental Europe, so this seems like a prudent souvenir! I was planning to listen to these new albums once I got home, but on my way back I read about Pharoah's passing. Therefore, I am now listening to the first Pharoah album I ever bought and heard about 15 years ago: Elevation (Impulse, 2005 CD re-issue of a 1974 LP). I love how the rolling waves of sound of the title track remind me of McCoy Tyner - and how I almost feel that that makes sense when it is followed by 'Greeting To Saud (Brother McCoy Tyner)'. And of course there's more to love here!
Apart from Tauhid which was pretty much the only Impulse around, my entry point into Pharoah was the Impulse reissues of the late 1990s - up until then they had become really difficult to find, and I just picked up everything they were issuing on CD. My go-to rarities shop, Intoxica, had others on vinyl - Live At The East, Village of the Pharoahs, Wisdom Through Music, and Love In Us All. This one on India Navigation, however, was almost impossible to find until I was at a Sun Ra Arkestra gig at Cafe Oto and I spotted it up on the wall. I had to leave before the end of the gig to catch the last train...and when I went next, it had gone. A friend tipped me off about Juno having copies and I snapped one up before they all disappeared again. Copies on Discogs start at £80... But I'd heard part of "Harvest Time" before as The Underwolves used a sample on their remix on Bum Sherman's It Must Be A Dream of "Can I Be Free From Crying" - one of those "Wait. Where have I heard that before?" when I finally heard "Harvest Time" - took me a while to figure it out. Bass – Steve Neil Drums – Greg Bandy (tracks: B1, B2) Guitar – Munoz* Organ – Jiggs Chase* (tracks: B1, B2) Percussion – Lawrence Killian Tenor Saxophone, Percussion, Vocals, Composed By – Pharoah Sanders
Heavy rain early this morning so I brewed ( no 2 filter) a mug of coffee sat down and listened to an episode of this fabulous podcast out of the U.K. a friend had been raving about it for a year and when I finally tried it out earlier this year I was immediately hooked. I resisted because I thought I knew most of this history , but this really digs deep and the detail is remarkable. It starts with a Benny Goodman tune which seemed a less likely beginning of rock music. Do start at episode 1 as he links the storyline throughout the episodes. The host writer has a wonderful voice and a quirky personality which also adds to the show. I cannot rate this highly enough , if you think you know this topic think again. I have only got to 1959 so far.
Someone on another thread was asking for Henry Threadgill starter recommendations, which led me to go back an listen to a couple of the great sextett albums from the 1980s, really classics of their era. Threadgill's so interesting, in the Zooid and post-Zooid era he writes so differently -- not that you can't hear the continuity of his personality and in a lot of the sonorities in the music, but going back and listening to the Sextett albums does seem very different to me. This morning's listening -- Slip Easily Into Another World and Just the Facts and Pass the Bucket.
Used to have that, but haven't had or heard it since the late '70s. I'd love to see the India Navigation catalog back in print in toto...
Boy, I wish someone would bring the India Navigation catalog back into print, even if it was just for streaming and download.
I bought almost every one that I saw around here back when they were still in business, but there were some that apparently never made it this far into the hinterlands.
Had the same thought at the same time, actually, I've had that thought a lot over the years. Bob Cummins died in 2000, I don't know what happened to either the tapes or the legal rights. He was a lawyer so I presume he made some kind of provisions for them. I have a handful of the titles from back in the day, but there are a bunch of others I'd love to be able to listen to less expensively and without having to resort to used vinyl.
BTW, speaking of Threadgill, I didn't know this but I see he has a memoir arriving in May. Exciting news. He has amazing stories to tell and is a very engaging storyteller, if you've ever heard him interviewed -- https://www.amazon.com/Easily-Slip-...swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1664108034&sr=1-1
