This week's JRR

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

I read an interview with JS that when they cut the Evans album they were all high as kites and couldn't believe how well it later sounded.

BN.

[antongould]

This tune was titled "The Song My Lady Sings" when Lloyd recorded it with Gabor Szabo, Ron Carter and Tony Williams on "Of Course, Of Course" back in 1966 - one of my favourite ballad tracks of all time on a great album I bought when it first came out. I wonder if they subsequently fell out... great band that 1993 line-up, though.

Wonderful stuff and new to me....

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

[Ian Thumwood]

There were some terrific requests on JRR last night but I was staggered by the trombone playing on the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra piece. McNeely seems to strike a really good balance between traditional big band writing and pushing the music towards more strident areas. Of all the selections last night, this was the most adventurous and ambitious piece of jazz selected by a country mile but it didn't sound out of place with the more "traditional" styles of jazz. Would have to say that the Steig request was pretty tremendous too and packed a punch that matched the fiery Basie track that preceded it. It was difficult not to think of Thomas Chapin when hearing this track both for the use of flute and the energy.

I also loved to hear the Woody Herman track "Goosey Gander" again. This was a favourite of mine when I first discovered jazz and it still feels like great fun whenever you hear it. The bass playing was fabulous and it is odd that Chubby Jackson isn't quite as lauded on this board as the likes of Oscar Pettiford, Jimmy Blanton, Paul Chambers, etc. Jackson's bass playing was instrumental to the success of this track even though the writing is highly entertaining. I think Calum made some point last year about Herman's band not convincing him yet this track reminded me just how ahead of the curve Herman's bands were in the late 50's. Few bands could match Herman's in my opinion and the clarinettist's groups were at the forefront of modern jazz around this time. There is a freshness about Herman's First and Second Herds which transcends the era and I suppose only Basie's orchestra seems equally timeless - Ellington obviously transcending any form of categorisation.