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Post by alunsevern on Dec 4, 2022 10:17:07 GMT
We welcome your increased participation and wish you a long, happy and fulfilling life [...] Thank you, DG. The latest Peppers I have are TODAY (1978) and STRAIGHT LIFE (1979), both Galaxy, I think, and both fine records.
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Post by alunsevern on Dec 6, 2022 11:18:25 GMT
Writing about the Misha Mengelberg's and Roswell Rudd's reinterpretations of Monk and Herbie Nichols (Change of Season and Regeneration) the other day made me think of other reinterpretations of Monk's work and I wondered how many I could think of.
I came up with:
Reflections: Steve Lacy Light Blue: Arthur Blythe Six Compositions Monk: Anthony Braxton, Mal Waldron etc Gaslini Plays Monk: Giorgio Gaslini
And:
Rumba Para Monk: Jerry Gonzalez (CD only) Thelonious: Fred Hersch Plays Monk (CD only) Esbjorn Svensson Trio Plays Monk (CD only) -- and probably the weakest of the bunch, from memory
There must be many more.
Arthur Blythe! My God, I don't remember the last time I played this -- but oddly I remember perfectly when and where I bought it. It was 2002 and it was amongst the used records act a tiny and very old-fashioned record shop on the outskirts of Birmingham city centre called The Jazz & Swing Centre. It was three or four quid. Virtually all the used records were three or four quid. The shop is long gone but I still have many of the records I bought there. The line-up is: Arthur Blythe - alto saxophone; Abdul Wadud - cello; Kelvyn Bell - guitar; Bob Stewart - tuba; Bobby Battle - drums.
And it works! This is the extraordinary thing about Monk's music: there seems no wrong way to play it; it can accommodate almost every style, every method -- including Giorgio Gasoline's curious solo endeavours with clockwork toys on the keyboard and coughing, which has its own weird charm.
Oh, and there are some I know of but don't have, such as the huge undertaking by Alexander von Schlippenbach, Monk's Casino, his attempt to reinterpret all of Monk's compositions -- 3 CDs, almost 60 tracks. Much as I love Schlippenbach, I have never heard this nor been tempted to buy it. It seems a gargantuan undertaking that somehow runs counter to Monk's modesty and minimalism.
Yesterday's listening included more Herbie Hancock -- especially The Prisoner again and one of his other lesser known (or less well recognised) LPs, Speak Like a Child, which is marvellous. I was reminded when I checked that it was this record that Cook and Morton refer to as having "slithery, almost abstract melodies", not The Prisoner, although I think to some degree it is true of both. Rather like Miles's records in the late-60s with the second quintet (E.S.P, Miles Smiles, Sorcerer, Nefertiti and Miles in the Sky), Speak Like a Child also sounds like music that is poised ready for an electric current to pass through it: it is very easy to imagine it with the splashes of colour and textures of electric keyboards, for instance.
But this morning began with side one of Cecil Taylor's magnificent Conquistador! What an extraordinary record (and an extraordinary Blue Note!) this is. Even now, after all these years, it is still dark, mysterious, enigmatic and unlike anything else on Blue Note (except, I suppose, Taylor's own Unit Structures). It's one of those records that I don't play all that often, but when I do I am thrilled again to find that it is nowhere near as hard to listen to nor as dense -- nor as 'noisy' -- as popular opinion has it. But after that I'm having a rest...
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dg
Full Member
Posts: 128
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Post by dg on Dec 6, 2022 16:12:34 GMT
Writing about the Misha Mengelberg's and Roswell Rudd's reinterpretations of Monk and Herbie Nichols ( Change of Season and Regeneration) the other day made me think of other reinterpretations of Monk's work and I wondered how many I could think of.................But this morning began with side one of Cecil Taylor's magnificent Conquistador! What an extraordinary record (and an extraordinary Blue Note!) this is. Even now, after all these years, it is still dark, mysterious, enigmatic and unlike anything else on Blue Note (except, I suppose, Taylor's own Unit Structures). It's one of those records that I don't play all that often, but when I do I am thrilled again to find that it is nowhere near as hard to listen to nor as dense -- nor as 'noisy' -- as popular opinion has it. But after that I'm having a rest... Many of the finest jazz musicians have been inspired by Monk's compositions. I recently finished the expanded version of Robin Kelley's incisive study of Monk's life and music "Thelonious Monk: the Life and Times of an American Original," which often points out the interest his playing and compositions stimulated in other players.... From my Cecil Taylor collection (which includes Taylor on Inner City, Taylor on Arista, Taylor on New World Records and even on the 3 record Swiss Hat Hut set ONE TOO MANY, SALTY SWIFT AND NOT GOODBYE), CONQUISTADOR! is my definite favorite. The excellent band includes the dual basses of Henry Grimes and Alan Silva, Andrew Cyrille on drums and two seriously underrated horn players in Bill Dixon and Jimmy Lyons on trumpet and alto sax, respectively. If someone complains that they just don’t “get” Taylor, this is the album to send them to. I’m happy to have an original of this Van Gelder recorded Blue Note gem.
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Post by jazzhead on Dec 7, 2022 0:28:40 GMT
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Post by alunsevern on Dec 7, 2022 10:03:09 GMT
That does seem an extraordinary bargain, jazzhead. Do let us know what you make of it. I know Schlippenbach to some extent from his solo piano work but mainly from his wonderful decades-long history as part of European free improv music in various line-ups, including his own trio with Evan Parker and Paul Lovens. The great Pakistani Pomade and more recent recordings such as those on Intakt Records (only CD and download) -- Bauhaus Dessau, Gold is Where You Find It, Features, and Warsaw Concert are all great stuff if you like free improv. Frank Kimbrough is a new name to me, so do tell more when you've had a proper listen...
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Post by alunsevern on Dec 8, 2022 12:17:47 GMT
This morning's music has included Lee Morgan's marvellous SEARCH FOR A NEW LAND, to my mind the single best thing he ever recorded. There is an excellent article about it and him in The Wire magazine (Derek Walmsley, 2014): www.thewire.co.uk/in-writing/essays/derek-walmsley_jazz-searches-for-the-new-land. Yet again I am reminded of the obscene prices that scarcity plus the internet seem to be driving secondhand records up to. My 1987 DMM remastered LP is virtually mint. I bought it in 2014, I see, and I would be surprised if I paid more than £12. I see copies on Discogs -- VG, visible scratches, plays with surface noise throughout but no skips -- starting at $50. I know the clock can't be turned back and all that, but even so, there *was* a time when record dealers simply looked for a fair price for a record given all the various factors determining that price. Now there seems only one approach: how much will the market stand? I also played side one of Oliver Nelson's THE BLUES AND THE ABSTRACT TRUTH, probably one of my favourite jazz records. The mid tempo noir-ish Stolen Moments still raises the hair on the back of my neck. I remember vividly when I first heard this. It was 1973, at a friend's flat in Sheffield. We were sat on the floor listening to what I remember being a small portable Dansette-style record player. The LP was on loan from the university library where my friend was studying. A lecturer had recommended it along with three or four other titles. I remember how alien and unfamiliar everything about it was -- the musicians, the title, the music. But it was like a secret introduction to another world, all the more powerful (I regret to admit) because the recommendation had come from an 'academic'...
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Post by Doom Girl on Dec 13, 2022 18:34:15 GMT
............I also played side one of Oliver Nelson's THE BLUES AND THE ABSTRACT TRUTH, probably one of my favourite jazz records. The mid tempo noir-ish Stolen Moments still raises the hair on the back of my neck. I remember vividly when I first heard this. It was 1973, at a friend's flat in Sheffield. We were sat on the floor listening to what I remember being a small portable Dansette-style record player. The LP was on loan from the university library where my friend was studying. A lecturer had recommended it along with three or four other titles. I remember how alien and unfamiliar everything about it was -- the musicians, the title, the music. But it was like a secret introduction to another world, all the more powerful (I regret to admit) because the recommendation had come from an 'academic'... THE BLUES AND THE ABSTRACT TRUTH -- one of my favorites also. I came to this album rather late in my jazz listening career, already having a great familiarity with all of the musicians on the date (save for Barrow), and yet was blown away by all their contributions, especially by Dolphy, Hubbard and perhaps especially, Nelson himself. - from one of my previous posts, which had a focus on Bill Evans' contribution to this outstanding album: "In 1961, Bill Evans appeared on the sessions for the classic THE BLUES AND THE ABSTRACT TRUTH (Impulse A-5), Oliver Nelson’s exceptional Van Gelder-engineered album with a three-man saxophone section – Nelson, Eric Dolphy and George Barrow – with Freddie Hubbard on trumpet, and Evans, Paul Chambers and Roy Hanes manning the rhythm section. Evans is outstanding throughout, in playing the tunes, in solos and while backing the horn solos. His solo on “Stolen Moments,” with long melodic lines and a strong left hand, nicely follows the preceding tenor sax solo. He is in top form on “Cascades,” where he seems literally propelled by Chamber’s strong bass and plays some unique patterns as the tune fades out. He opens “Yearnin” with just bass and drums, sets a Basie-like mood, ably supports Hubbard and Dolphy, and plays one of his most “bluesy” solos. On the boppish “Butch and Butch,” Bill seems energized by Dolphy’s solo and follows with some unusual patterns of his own. I get the impression he is having fun behind the dual altos of Nelson and Dolphy on “Teenie’s Blues” and follows with a nice solo of his own. His contributions to the album clearly show that Bill is still growing as an artist and highly sensitive to his fellow musicians, being especially responsive to the excellence of Chambers’ bass and the challenge of Dolphy’s unusual conceptions."
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Post by bassman on Dec 13, 2022 19:28:52 GMT
"The Blues and the Abstract Truth" is one of those rare moments in jazz history, not quite the "grand fluke" type of thing that KoB is - simply because Oliver Nelson put all his arranging skills into it - but very close to it.
Beyond the music itself, what strikes me is the sound. If it is true that RVG did not start monitoring in stereo until the late sixties, I wonder how he was able to achieve such results. Stereo results, that is.
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Post by alunsevern on Dec 14, 2022 10:56:51 GMT
[...] Beyond the music itself, what strikes me is the sound. If it is true that RVG did not start monitoring in stereo until the late sixties, I wonder how he was able to achieve such results. Stereo results, that is. My copy is an Impulse reissue from 1976 on the "rainbow box" label. It has what was obviously a cost-saving cover in that it is gatefold but the front flap is single-ply, if you see what I mean -- ie not a pocket, like the rear flap. But I have always thought it sounds marvellous. And even if it didn't, it is a copy I feel deeply attached to...
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Post by bassman on Dec 15, 2022 9:31:16 GMT
[...] Beyond the music itself, what strikes me is the sound. If it is true that RVG did not start monitoring in stereo until the late sixties, I wonder how he was able to achieve such results. Stereo results, that is. My copy is an Impulse reissue from 1976 on the "rainbow box" label. It has what was obviously a cost-saving cover in that it is gatefold but the front flap is single-ply, if you see what I mean -- ie not a pocket, like the rear flap. But I have always thought it sounds marvellous. And even if it didn't, it is a copy I feel deeply attached to... Alun, I don't own the "original" vinyl either (which was issued in both mono and stereo right from the start, it seems). My vinyl is a 1978 Dedication Series twofer (abc-Imp. IA-9335/2) including all of "Abstract Truth" and the 1966 quartet recordings with Steve Kuhn, Ron Carter, and Grady Tate, where Oliver Nelson plays his newly acquired soprano sax. The sound is good but far from perfect, so I prefer listening to the CD reissue.
P.S. Interesting to note that many of the reissues have the 1961 "repress" album art, which I, too, find more appealing than the earlier, "original" cover.
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Post by alunsevern on Dec 20, 2022 11:29:15 GMT
I haven't played anything for days. Somehow, the mood hasn't taken me or hasn't been right.
But this morning I'm listening to a Joe Henderson I rarely play: OUR THING. I'm not really a great fan of Kenny Dorham on trumpet -- I think he's too busy, too boppish -- but Henderson is in great form and I always forget that Andrew Hill is on this LP and that he is in superlative form. It's the mid-temp tracks I play this LP for -- especially Back Road and Escapade on Side 2.
My copy is nothing special -- an EMI France DMM remaster from 1985. But even this seems a scarce record.
The last reissue I see listed is Music Matters' 45rpm pressing from 2010, and copies of that on Discogs start at over £100. It will be sixty years old in September of the new year and yet it is as fresh and beguiling as the day the band stood in Rudy's studio and played. And Hill's knotty, lyrical, enigmatically swinging piano is still a unique voice.
I enjoyed that so much that I'm flipping it back to Side 1 for a repeat listen.
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Post by alunsevern on Dec 21, 2022 10:55:43 GMT
Easing in to the morning with Joe Harley's reissue of Duke Pearson's THE PHANTOM. This is a beautifully detailed recording, especially if you like percussion. It makes headphone listening especially rewarding. Bobby Hutcherson is in great form, his heavily damped strikes on the vibes and marimba adding to the overall mix of latin percussion.
Taken overall I suppose it isn't really all that much more than sophisticated and well-recorded easy listening, but it's an immensely enjoyable record.
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Post by bassman on Dec 21, 2022 15:28:58 GMT
Just one more thought on the Oliver Nelson record and the "mid tempo noir-ish Stolen Moments [that] still raises the hair on the back of my neck" (Alun). Lalo Schifrin might have had this tune in mind when he wrote "Nitetime Street" (recorded in 1963 as part of Stan Getz's "Reflections", though I have no idea as to when he wrote it) - a tune no less noir-ish but with a somewhat commercial touch. I still love it, partly because of Kenny Burrell's funky guitar.
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Post by alunsevern on Dec 26, 2022 12:11:41 GMT
Just one more thought on the Oliver Nelson record and the "mid tempo noir-ish Stolen Moments [that] still raises the hair on the back of my neck" (Alun). Lalo Schifrin might have had this tune in mind when he wrote "Nitetime Street" (recorded in 1963 as part of Stan Getz's "Reflections", though I have no idea as to when he wrote it) - a tune no less noir-ish but with a somewhat commercial touch. I still love it, partly because of Kenny Burrell's funky guitar.
That ws new to me, bassman -- very enjoyable. Yes, I do hear slight echoes of Stolen Moments, but perhaps only just...
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Post by alunsevern on Dec 26, 2022 12:23:36 GMT
Good morning all and happy Christmas or whatever you do or don't celebrate. Needless to say, Christmas somewhat interferes with proper listening but I have managed a little. I had a copy of CAPE COD COTTAGE as a gift. You may have seen coverage of this. It's a sort of lounge-jazz concept album, ostensibly the found music of a retired dentist Edward Blankman who in the late-70s was living in a saltbox cottage on Cape Cod as he can to terms with retirement and the death of his wife. All of this is a confection, a device -- the painting of the cottage that graces the LP cover, the pictures of Blankman, even the session pictures from the 1979 recording, all are part of the invention. But the whole thing is so beautifully done and the music so gently melancholy and so gorgeously recorded that I find it irresistible. You can read more about it here. My copy is what seems to be #100/100 of a 100-copy limited repress on blue vinyl, done under license by Worried Song Records. I think the first pressing was on brown vinyl; I have also seen reference to a standard black vinyl issue but have never seen this. Anyway, it is lovely -- breezy, gentle, autumnal, graceful, melancholy. I don't think there is anything over three minutes, so overall it has the feeling of a collection of themed miniatures. At times it has echoes of Erik Satie in its minimalist elegance. The sound of the Wurlitzer electric keyboard is a genuinely gorgeous, slightly clunky pleasure.
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