Anything with Wynton Kelly on is worth buying. In that era, I just think he was probably the finest "band" pianist of them all and an essential ingredient in some classic sessions.
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I still have the programme for a 'Blues and Gospel Caravan' which rolled into Portsmouth Guildhall at the end of April, 1964.Originally posted by BLUESNIK'S REVOX View Post
On the bill were Muddy Waters, Otis Spann, Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Rev Gary Davis & Cousin Joe Pleasants.
It was the first opportunity I'd had to see these blues and gospel legends in the flesh and it was a very memorable and inspiring evening.
JRLast edited by Jazzrook; 03-06-19, 08:30.Comment
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I have seen so many groups who "interact" with the audience including marching in and out of the stalls. I don't think it is uncommon but I have tended to see it more with "freer" groups than more straight laced modern jazz affairs. The best "audience interaction" has probably been with the likes of Chick Corea although I think this kind of thing is more prevalent in larger, festival gigs. I saw Willem Breuker's "Kollectief back in the late 80s and they were really in to this type of set up. I took my Dad along to hear them play at Bracknell and he was underwhelmed although the gig was great fun. However, I think Breuker was very much an acquired taste as they bridged pretty full on free jazz with 1930s Dance music and Kurt Weill. All sorts of music could be performed in one of their sets and comedy did play a major part in it.
I have to say that the Blues gigs I have been too are totally different to jazz in many respects. I really liked Magic Slim who seemed pretty "authentic" but there are other lesser known acts like Little Ed & the Blues Imperials who tread a similar path that fans of the kind of music from Chess would recognise. I always feel that the blues are very "blue collar" and whilst I think the kind of narrative about floods, etc that you had in the 1920's cannot really be replicated as it reflected the era, for me the audience for blues is less demanding than jazz. Most people going to a blues gig now probably do not expect a profound political experience and just see it as a way of letting off some steam after a hard week at work. These days, the audience seems what you might expect for an undemanding type of music and they certainly buy into it. As a rule, the blues gigs I have been to are great fun and are entertaining. I think a lot of the mystique has gone from the music yet people in any blues gig you find on YouTube are always having a great time. This has been my experience of the music. There is no pretence to making great art although I think that the better artists do have a respect and admiration for the tradition which is not always welcomed within jazz. In my opinion, the respect that is accorded is admirable and if contemporary blues artists no longer seem to have the kudos of those musicians who existed between the 20's and the 60's, I don't feel that there is necessarily any diminution in the quality or integrity of the blues being produced today. There are plenty of great blues albums out there today and there are efforts by the likes of Linsey Alexander whose music I have greatly enjoyed as well as the wit within the lyrics.
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It is shocking to think of all these musicians appearing nearby on Portsmouth. I don't know of that many jazz or blues gigs being played in that city now. I think I have only ever been to a handful of gigs in the PO postcode, the last of which was Stanton Moore who played with Will Bernard in (I think) the Beresford , Stamshaw. The stage was postage stamp sized but I believe they no longer do gigs there.Originally posted by Jazzrook View Post
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The Blues and Gospel Train, Manchester, 1964:
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Donald Byrd at the Olympia, Paris in 1958 with Bobby Jaspar, Walter Davis Jr., Doug Watkins & Art Taylor:
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McCoy Tyner - The Real McCoyComment
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John Coltrane - Coltrane's SoundComment
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One name who was once a regular feature of this board was cornetist Taylor Ho Bynum but he seems to have fallen out of favour here. I have been playing his "Enter the Plustet" record which I have not really spun since I picked it up over a year ago. The line up is hugely impressive including such names as Mary Halvorson, Tomeka Reid, Nate Wooley, ngrid Laubrock, Steve Swell, Tomas Fujiwara and Jay Hoggard yet the cumulative result is more interesting as a point of debate than as something to listen to.
There are three lengthy tracks on the record but the first two are demonstrative of what happens when the avant garde loses inspiration. The first composition initially sounds like something Michael Mantler might have written in the late 60s but the dissonant blasts from the brass seem tired and uninspired. Despite the roster of great soloists, I feel that only Fujiwara's drums and the trombone of Steve Swell grab the attention and the music meanders for ages before generating in to a riff than sounds like something that might have originated from a jazz workshop for amateurs. The ensemble work does not seem particularly well played either. The second arrangement at least has a groove but the composition morphs in to the kind of blues groove Ellington would produce in the 1950s albeit without being a fraction as good.
I find this a record that I have struggled with and compared to a lot of the jazz composers I have been listening to of late, the session is a massive let down. It seems worthy of discussion to me simply because the record would not have been so well received if say Wynton Marsalis has produced the second piece. With a list of more "adventurous" musicians in it's line up, the record was never taken to task in the fashion that Marsalis might have been in similar circumstances. The writing strikes me as being especially uninspiring and is the host of extra-musical noises produced by the musicians might recall the AEoC to some, the Chicagoans were never this dry and uninspired. This is a record that falls flat on so many levels.
Challenging styles of jazz can be hugely compelling to listen to yet when the avant garde "goes wrong," I think that this can produce some pretty piss-poor music. In fact, I think in these circumstances I would much prefer to hear a contemporary band play music from the 1920s and "get it right" as opposed to something that sounds like it has been frozen in aspic since 1967 without a great deal of care and / or enthusiasm. I understand that musicians cannot be expected to put out gems every time they step in to a studio yet any fan of the musicians on this disc would have expected more than the tedium this album offers in swathes.
Given the challenging and original music composers are capable of achieving when writing for larger ensembles these days, I wonder if these large "improvising orchestras" really have much relevance now. No point allowing the soloists plenty of room to express themselves freely if they have nothing to say.Comment
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My Favorite Things: Coltrane at NewportComment
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Charles Mingus's little-known 1964 album 'Right Now' recorded live at The Jazz Workshop, San Francisco with Clifford Jordan(tenor sax); John Handy(alto sax); Jane Getz(piano) & Dannie Richmond(drums):
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This is very nice:
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Pianist Horace Tapscott's 'The Dark Tree' from his 1969 album 'The Giant Is Awakened' with Arthur Blythe(alto); David Bryant(bass); Walter Savage Jr.(bass) Everett Brown Jr.(drums):
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