What Jazz are you listening to now?

[Joseph K]

Allan Holdsworth - IOU

Truly a beautiful album.

[Ian Thumwood]

For what it's "worth", from the last Cook/Morton Jazz on CD..."Allen was officially guest soloist with the veteran Haden/Motian trio but hogged the praise for "Etudes" so completely that she was officially inducted into the freemasonry, immediately losing the freshness and spontaneity that had made that record so striking." And later, "she plays standards as if she understands the chords but has only recently heard the melody for the first time". I find a lot of that book facile and often more concerned with s knowing (and cheap) crack. But I think, like a lot of good musicians Geri Allen was much influenced by the strength of company she played with. Grant Green was another who was a classic case to me in that regard.

I am more inclined to use to my ears to make my own judgement - much of the Penguin Guide is a spill-over from the kind of snobby criticism in the "Wire" and was not always accurate. If Geri Allen was so bad, why did her passing generate so much warm feeling towards her music, especially from a younger generation of musicians who benefited under her tutelage. I have a copy of her own albums which are pretty decent. The piano trio has been subject to all kinds of horrors over the last 10-15 years whether it is EST, Tord Gustaveson, Go-go Penguin or someone like Neil Cowley with a consequence that it has become one of the dullest formats in jazz. Even complete maestros like Brad Mehldau can be infuriating sometimes but Geri Allen always seemed totally connected to the music in a way that has not been fashionable in the 2000s. It is amazing to think just how much the jazz trio has changed since the 1980s when the likes of Chick Corea, Keith Jarrett, Paul Bley, John Taylor and Geri Allen were producing memorable albums and players such as Andrew Hill and Don Pullen were get re-discovered.

Geri Allen was one of the good guys in jazz and one of the most significant musicians to emerge in the 1980s. It seems funny now that players like Allen and Kenny Garrett were once the young up and coming soloists whereas they are now seem to have far more in common with jazz's heritage than a lot of the younger players. In the near future, the 1980s will likely been seen as one of the strongest decades in the history of jazz. So many great players emerged in this decade and it is worthwhile noting that someone like Geri Allen was indicative of a generation of players who sat between the ideals of the New Neos and rebellious Downtown musicians who represent the polar extremes of jazz at the time. Players like Geri Allen produced a decent body of credible jazz which eschewed modishness in exchange for a style of jazz which made more sense as to what could follow the freer, acoustic jazz of the 1960s. Lets not forget she also cut two discs with Ornette Coleman and was, I believe, the first pianist he had worked with since Walter Davis.

As for Iverson, I think he blogs are more interesting in his playing. I have an aversion for The Bad Plus but must admit that the trio's collaboration with Joshua Redman that I caught many years ago was surprisingly good and exceeded expectations. Current pianist Orrin Evans is another pianist more familiar within the contemporary mainstream including the Captain Black Big Band which sounds pretty akin to the kind of bands led by the likes of Charles Tolliver. His appointment in TBP was a shock and, by contrast, the latest Iverson record with Tom Harrell is getting some good reviews.

I can never understand why Tom Harrell never gets much credit on this board either -especially given the enthusiasm expressed for Kenny Wheeler whose music is not a million miles away. I much prefer genuine jazz musicians like Harrell than the more gimmicky stuff that is often fashionable these days.

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

Another very fine one, Geri with Ron Carter & Tony Williams, perhaps making my point about her thriving in fast company. "Feed the Fire"from her 1994 Bluenote album "21". Steel fingers here...

http://youtu.be/f6qS05TZmME

[elmo]

Strangely enough, I pulled this record out of the drawer beneath my bookcase to play when I drove up to Wokingham on Wednesday. It was an album that hugely impressed me when I first bought it about 5 years ago but listening to it again for the first time in ages, I think that it is clear why this record was not released at the time. It seems almost like an experiment which didn't quite work out but produced results which are not uninteresting. There are two other tracks from another session with Herbie Hancock and the underwhelming Donald Byrd on my copy too which includes a rather uninspired modal number. I must admit that I find Byrd's trumpet a tad over ripe in tone and these tracks add nothing to the album as a whole. The biggest drawback of the record is the lack of quality writing other than the ballad which wasn't written by Mobley! I don't think any of the melodies by Mobley are in the same league as things like "This I dig of you."

It is interesting that Elmo has singled out PJJ and Mobley on this disc because I feel that there are moments when the drumming in the breaks is inaccurate and the tenor playing is not as in the zone at Mobley's better work. Adding Andrew Hill on piano was an interesting choice and whilst not the pianist's best work in the studio, he contrasts quite nicely with Mobley's smooth tenor sound. I like Hill's comping behind the horns. Some of the writing is a bit pedestrian although I like the title track and Morgan's "Carolyn" is the principle reason for acquiring this record. In fact, I feel that Morgan is the star performer on this record even if there are a few dodgy quotes in some of his solos including the Ziggy Elman feature "And the angels sing" and a longer one later on from "Blues in the night." In some respects it is a bit like "Roll call" insofar that Mobley is upstaged by his front line partner although thankfully the piano is in tune on "No room for squares." "Roll call" also suffers from Mobley's uninspired writing with "original" sounding remarkedly like other tunes. I was wondering whether PJJ had played with Andrew Hill on another record.

"No Room" was, as I understand, not released until the 1980s and you can understand why this kind of release would have acquired a reputation in that decade which, with the passage of time, you can now sense it does not fully deserve. The music contained on it was worthy of release but I feel Mobley is much better on "Soul Station" and "Workout." Mobley is a curious musician who was exceptional in a pre-Coltrane /Shorter / Henderson school but sometimes coasted through recording sessions where he sounds totally uninterested. The best example of this is the Donald Byrd album with the choir ("New Directions", I think) which I feel is a decidedly average Hard Bop session with a choir bolted on for whom the arranger has no idea of how to write. You seem to find that Mobley plays best with musicians like Wynton Kelly who made everyone sound good and also where he was inspired by the writing such as "Whistle stop" where Kenny Dorham's compositions contributes to what I think is HM's best performance on record that I have heard. When listening to "No room" I can't help but thinking that Alfred Lions drafted Andrew Hill in to challenge Mobley but maybe didn't quite get the result he had anticipated. I wonder how much better the disc would have been had Hill been given the task of writing the music? "No Room" always seems like a lost opportunity to me and only a qualified success.

I don't think the hagiographical treatment of Mobley by many fans is justified and I feel he is one of the musicians rather like Keith Jarrett who has been over-recorded and not always to the greatest advantage even though at best the results can be incredible. Mobley's reliance on drugs had a dampening effect in the studio but albums like "Soul Station", "Work out" and "Whistle stop" are the bedrock as to why Blue Note had such a great reputation.

Ian I fully accept that your opinion of this album is as valid as mine but I can assure you that my appreciation of Hank goes back to the time I first heard him in the mid sixties. This album was considered highly when it came out in the mid sixties ( not the 80's) and the people who appreciate his work do not assume a "hagiographical" attitude to the music. It certainly does not apply to JR, Bluesnik or me. Hank's status as a prime mover in the Hard Bop school has risen over the years simply because he was bloody good, I have to admit something of a blind spot for Zoot Sims but I put that down to my lacking not Zoot. Zoot was a very fine tenor player and I shall continue to listen to him to try and get the same pleasure from his work that I am sure many on this bored get.

elmo

[Serial_Apologist]

Another very fine one, Geri with Ron Carter & Tony Williams, perhaps making my point about her thriving in fast company. "Feed the Fire"from her 1994 Bluenote album "21". Steel fingers here...
http://youtu.be/f6qS05TZmME

That recording got my older cousin back into contemporary jazz after several decades languishing in the past - he who had introduced me to Bird and Diz at age 14 - and he did me a cassette of it, plus late 80s stuff with Haden and various members of M-Base. I still have a C90 of the broadcast of the Outside-In Festival duo set with Courtney Pine, which was brilliant at the time - huge presence - and also brought out the best in CP.

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

Ian I fully accept that your opinion of this album is as valid as mine but I can assure you that my appreciation of Hank goes back to the time I first heard him in the mid sixties. This album was considered highly when it came out in the mid sixties ( not the 80's) and the people who appreciate his work do not assume a "hagiographical" attitude to the music. It certainly does not apply to JR, Bluesnik or me. Hank's status as a prime mover in the Hard Bop school has risen over the years simply because he was bloody good, I have to admit something of a blind spot for Zoot Sims but I put that down to my lacking not Zoot. Zoot was a very fine tenor player and I shall continue to listen to him to try and get the same pleasure from his work that I am sure many on this bored get.

elmo

Agree totally with that. And this, "I should care" from Hank's "Another Workout" is bloody gorgeous. He wasn't know as a ballad player in the way that say Dexter was, but he could really cut it...

http://youtu.be/s9MnXTFHOU0

[Ian Thumwood]

Ian I fully accept that your opinion of this album is as valid as mine but I can assure you that my appreciation of Hank goes back to the time I first heard him in the mid sixties. This album was considered highly when it came out in the mid sixties ( not the 80's) and the people who appreciate his work do not assume a "hagiographical" attitude to the music. It certainly does not apply to JR, Bluesnik or me. Hank's status as a prime mover in the Hard Bop school has risen over the years simply because he was bloody good, I have to admit something of a blind spot for Zoot Sims but I put that down to my lacking not Zoot. Zoot was a very fine tenor player and I shall continue to listen to him to try and get the same pleasure from his work that I am sure many on this bored get.

elmo

I enjoy hooking out my Blue Note CDs and giving them a spin. It is interesting to read reviews on line and assessment other's opinions of these records as well as to find that your own opinions can change over time. I think that the problem with Blue Note albums from the 50s and 60s is that they can acquire a "cult status" that they probably would not acquire if the music was recorded on another label. Don't get me wrong, I like Hank Mobley despite initially being very under-whelmed. He is a musician it took me a long while to appreciate and the same can be said for Horace Silver where I can now appreciate where he was coming from. I have a whole drawer full of Blue Note CDs and feel there are some artists on the label who are more dependable than others. I would single out Andrew Hill, Wayne Shorter, Kenny Dorham, Joe Henderson, Herbie Hancock and Bobby Hutcherson in particular. On the other hand, I am starting to feel that there are other artists which are not entirely essential such as Donald Byrd and Lou Donaldson. The biggest concern of mine about the label is that a lot of the writing and criticism has not always been accurate and a wealth of unfamiliar albums on Blue Note are staggeringly under-valued. A good example would be the two quartet sessions led by Hutcherson with Herbie on piano. I appreciate that Mobley has a strong fan base but I personally think that Joe Henderson and Wayne Shorter remain the "main" tenor players on the label. Henderson's work on Blue Note is of a consistently high quality. You also get the same kind of sense of purpose with Freddie Hubbard whose albums like "Hubtones" and " Ready for Freddie" don't seem to have the same clout amongst fans as someone such as Mobley yet these albums sound better with age. Hubbard's ballad playing must be one of the most under-appreciated elements in recorded jazz - I find him exceptional in this respect. It is also fascinating how good some infrequently recorded artists were such as Freddie Redd where something like "Shades of Redd" attempt to re-invent stereotypical Hard Bop with a two sax front line and some very good writing. It always struck me as odd that someone like Tina Brooks did not receive equal veneration to Mobley as they are quite similar in many aspects.

I think that a point will be reached whereby Blue Note sessions will need to get re-appraised and maybe there will be a balancing out with some albums that have been singled out for praise in the past being superseded by those less obvious discs that have been crying out for attention. I feel that Mobley has been looked at uncritically by fans more than any other Blue Note artist and maybe gets cut more slack than he merits. I am not saying that he was incapable of reaching the heights as that is clearly was not the case but I would exchange some of his records for artists like Herbie Nichols who was under-recorded by the label. Like Elmo's assessment of Zoot Sims (that I would tend to share) , I feel there are times when Mobley is disappointing.

On a change of note, I was quite interested to hear a track on the radio from the recently rediscovered Getz gig which sounds like a marked improvement on his studio recordings and maybe more of what he was about. This track really exceeded my expectations of an artist I have never had any time for. (Almos the tenor equivalent of someone like Oscar Peterson?) Interesting to hear Getz playing real jazz as opposed to more popular Bossa stuff which I always felt was a precursor to Smooth Jazz and maybe the antecedent of players like Kenny G. I have never given Getz much time and only ever had one record by him with Brookmeyer and Elvin Jones on which I felt was a bit dull. I could never understand why Getz generated such a following and felt it was a generation thing. However, maybe this live disc will help people like me reconsider Getz's playing?

[Jazzrook]

Freddie Hubbard's 'The Hub Of Hubbard' recorded in Villingen, Germany 50 years ago on December 9, 1969 with Eddie Daniels, Roland Hanna, Richard Davis & Louis Hayes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dP4myfyBkH4

JR

[Stanfordian]

‘Blue Train’ - John Coltrane
John Coltrane with Lee Morgan, Curtis Fuller, Kenny Drew, Paul Chambers & Philly Joe Jones
Blue Note (1958)

[Joseph K]

‘Blue Train’ - John Coltrane
John Coltrane with Lee Morgan, Curtis Fuller, Kenny Drew, Paul Chambers & Philly Joe Jones
Blue Note (1958)

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

(Quoted on University Challenge last night, and correctly identified by at least two of the young contestants - as was Davis' So What: there is hope for the future! )

[Ian Thumwood]

I have been playing Hampton Hawes' "All night session" which is pretty incredible. Hawes is another of those pianists in jazz whose reputation is probably not as high as it should be yet once discovered, it is impossible to resist the appeal of his playing. The Avid set has his debut trio LP added which is fine as a debut but not equal to his other work. The quartet with Jim Hall is an incredible session - the guitarist managing to unfurl his tasty phrasing in the same manner as his work with Guiffre and also sounding quite contemporary at the same time. It is an odd sensation hearing Hall perform as early as the mid fifties when he has always seemed to be a contemporary player to my ears. Hawes is tremendous on the "session" set whereas Hall surprisingly warrants an extra star for the way he compliments the pianist's work.

The "Green Leaves of Summer" still remains my favourite Hampton Hawes record. I find his playing on this record to be much freer rhythmically and stretching the possibilities of Charlie Parker's concept as a result. When I took piano lessons, my teacher was a huge fan of Hawes' playing . I find that a lot of West Coast jazz can sound breezy and lightweight. By contrast, I think that Hawes was the ultimate pianist to follow in Bud Powell's wake. The attack and swing of Powell is there but the edgy and almost neurotic approach of Powell is replaced by a far more relaxed style. Mid fifties piano trios can be a minefield as the musicians tried to grabble with the stark options posed by Be-bop which swept away the more mature styles of jazz piano that had emerged up until the late 1930s. Sometimes there is a tendency to sound too much like Cocktail pianists so that the "better" and more interesting pianists of this era seemed to come from the Dissident school such as Tristano, Monk, Hope and Nichols. The incisive playing of Bud Powell was a really difficult act to follow and it is not surprising that players like Al Haig, Dodo Marmarosa , etc have fallen in to obscurity in contrast. However, of those pianists who followed in Powell's footsteps, I think it is hard to find any pianist who swung harder than Hawes at least until the arrival of McCoy Tyner. Hawes is well overdue for more credit in my opinion. Probably the most significant and hard cutting soloist from the West Coast school after Art Pepper?

[Jazzrook]

Art Pepper's intensely moving 1975 album 'Living Legend' with Hampton Hawes, Charlie Haden & Shelly Manne:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XH-6Yc2sCro

JR

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

Art Pepper's intensely moving 1975 album 'Living Legend' with Hampton Hawes, Charlie Haden & Shelly Manne:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XH-6Yc2sCro

JR

An absolute gem, Hawes solo on "Here's that Rainy Day". I'd vote for THAT.

[Stanfordian]

‘Someday My Prince Will Come’ - Miles Davis
Miles Davis with John Coltrane, Hank Mobley, Wynton Kelly, Paul Chambers, Jimmy Cobb & Philly Joe Jones
Columbia (rec. 1961)