Originally posted by BLUESNIK'S REVOX
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Here's a Bo Diddley 78 on Checker from 1958:
JR
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A wonderful track, BN.
Here's a Bo Diddley 78 on Checker from 1958:
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Great stuff! I saw Bo, Jerome & the Duchess in Cardiff in 1963. Magnificent & strutting. On the same bill as Little Richard, the Everley Brothers and er...the yooful Rolling Stones. We waited around the back of the Capitol theatre car park to greet Bo but they had smartly gone off to their hotel. But, did get to meet Little Richard (brilliant show) who was flamboyantly camp! "Don't you think I'm the most gorgeous man you've ever seen?", he kept yelling at us from the window of a hired white tour Chevrolet, he still in full stage make up. We could only nod and mumble. Them was the days.Originally posted by Jazzrook View PostA wonderful track, BN.
Here's a Bo Diddley 78 on Checker from 1958:
JRComment
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I've been listening to the live recording of the "Timeless Allstars" recorded at a club in Germany in 1979. It is quite a salutary listen. The line up include Curtis Fuller, Buster Williams, Harold Land, Billy Higgins, Bobby Hutcherson and Cedar Walton. There are four lengthy tracks, each clocking in at just under 20 mins. I felt that there was a microphone issue on the opening blues which distorts the balance of the group and makes Land's tenor sound pretty distant. My initial opinion, until the piano solo by Walton, was why had this been released as a CD. It just seemed like a run-of-the-mill live session from 40 years ago. Walton's solo on the first track is pretty much the turning point on the whole disc. It effectively renders what preceded it as slightly neurotic and unfocussed but the solo neatly demonstrates what can happen on a live gig.
The opening blues predictably ended with the soloists trading fours with the drums. It is rather funny listening to this kind of approach as it really put me in mind of the kind of thing that happens on the amateur scene whereas the head-solos-head approach was something so much of the jazz in the 1980s fought against. If you like, the opening track is a typical last hurrah for bop. The remaining three tracks justify the release of the music. "My foolish heart" is a feature for Hutcherson who reaffirms the impression I got of him when I saw him perform live as something of a master craftsman. By 1979 the avant leanings had been dispensed in favour of the more mainstream but Hutcherson is a giant working like this.
I am a big fan of Curtis Fuller whereas Harold Land remains a player I have always though as being under-valued. He has a much harder tone on this record than on the music he made in the 50s and 60's whereas the Modal influence of Coltrane seems pretty absent. Land is quite impressive on this record yet everyone is completely outshone by Cedar Walton. This is probably the most exciting I have heard Walton on record and always thought of him as someone taken for granted. The comping is sensational but the solos take the music to a more focussed and exciting level. It is the main reasoning for snapping up this disc. There are a few moments where Walton slips in some crafty references to other tunes yet I felt that he seems to take the solos up a notch after each chorus. I think it was Calum who used to frequent these boards who stated that he was no fan of Cedar Walton and could never understand the appeal of this player. I have got to say that this record will convert the doubters.
The strangest thing about the record is hearing musicians more familiar from studio sessions being let loose and effectively carrying out the day job. It is pretty much of it's time insofar that this kind of hard-swinging jazz is not necessarily in fashion these days - especially as it effectively straight ahead Hard Bop. However, it is fascinating to find these musicians capable of producing magic in a live session. The drumming of Higgins is incredible and maybe indicative of an earlier era when musicians liked to play at a harder tempo. Part of the music does sound like it has now slipped back in to an earlier mainstream yet I have been listening to this disc also thinking that maybe the audience for this kind of music was much different then with other aspects of jazz being valued as opposed to those well-considered today. If for nothing else, this record is worth checking out for Cedar Walton's and Billy Higgin's contributions.Comment
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I agree about Cedar Walton - he was one of the few to emerge in the early 60s who continued to carry the banner for acoustic hard bop through the 1970s, when it was totally non-fashionable and regarded by many as superseded by Fusion and free jazz/improv, with his band Eastern Rebellion - considered by many such as Tim Richards who took it up and gave the music a more radical edge as exemplary. I've long felt hard bop to be a more flexible genre than is often given its due, capable of almost infinite expansion to take on more advanced areas of form and relative freedom.Comment
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I saw that band in 1985, in Cardiff, St David's Hall. Fan as I am of Harold Land etc, the real surprise for me was the sheer power of Billy Higgin's drums. Much more "bottom" and thick, Elvin like than his recorded sound. And with this enormous smile on his face every time someone played something he liked. It was otherwise a bit "routine" as you suggest, Hutcherson walked off stage after each of his solos, but they were on a long European tour. But Higgins was really something...
For Harold Land live with Hutcherson, the 1969 Antibes Festival recordings which are extraordinary. Land just ferocious and the added bonus of Stanley Cowell excelling on piano. That's a magical set.Comment
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I was also at that St Davids hall gig and although I loved the work of all the musicians I thought that concert was pretty awful. None of the musicians seemed very interested and Harold Land big favourite of mine was really disappointing. Part of the problem was a really dreadful sound balance from where I was sitting it sounded like they had set up in the outdoor bog at the bottom of the garden. I remember seeing Sonny Rollins there around the same time but the sound at that gig was much better and Sonny was ace. We spoke to him after the gig and I asked him for his memories of working with Elmo Hope, Sonny seemed genuinely surprised that I'd heard of Elmo but said how much he admired his work and rated him alongside Bud and Monk.Originally posted by BLUESNIK'S REVOX View Post
I will track down that "live at Onkels" album, the band as I recall was called the "Timeless allstars". An LP was issued on the Timeless label at the time which I bought but that did not make a great impression as I remember.
elmoComment
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My partner and I were right at the front and I thought the sound was OK? But it was an anticlimax as it was around my birthday and I'd been greatly looking forward to it. We also saw McCoy Tyner's trio with Louis Hayes around the same time and Hayes was stupendous. He made a big impression. If you remember Cardiff bands, the drummer with the Heavy Quartet, Jess Philips was walking out with us, shaking his head, and saying "impossible" "impossible" about Louis Hayes!Originally posted by elmo View PostComment
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I think you cannot expect musicians to be on the money night after night on a tour. The CD was intriguing for me because the first number was nothing special although I think this has a lot to do with the sound quality where the engineer got it wrong. Luckily , that problem is corrected towards the end of the track and the other three numbers are pretty good. Rather like other players from that era such as Mobley and Golson, Land's tenor seemed to sound harder even though the influence of Coltrane seems absent to my ears. He is still doing his own thing.
I concur with SA's comment about Hard Bop which I think is pretty much the bedrock of most jazz. However, there are elements of this gig such as the trading if fours which surprised me and makes the concept sound from another generation. These days, this kind of group would push pretty much outside the harmonic structure and maybe even the form yet Cedar Walton's playing stacks one idea on top of another. I had not been aware how good he was . He occupies a position somewhere between Tyner and Hancock although there is more to his playing that the quartal approach to harmony. I have read that he was also a decent composer and there are numbers like "Bolivia" which have almost become standards. This disc includes his tune "Clockwise" which is the best tune on the disc.
In recent years, this kind of jazz has been less and less apparent. I have seen a few players like Chico Freeman, Billy Harper, James Carter and Branford Marsalis push this hard in gigs and the effect is incredible. I feel that "genuine" jazz audiences have an appetite to hear players go all out and you can sense the bonding with the musicians amongst the audience when this happens. I don't feel that you always get this with younger players. Having heard musicians perform at this level of intensity, it is a matter of separating the men from the boys, in my opinion. By contrast, I have fallen asleep on the two occasions I heard Tord Gustavsen and nearly did the same during a local gig by Laura Jurd's "Dinosaur." I appreciate the latter have a wholly different approach to jazz but I just feel that I prefer the older generation of players who wear their hearts on their sleeves when they play. Sometimes it might not come off or at least not work for every band member, but it is something that drags who right in to the performance. Oddly, J-Z mentioned the young pianist Christian Sands last night and when I saw his trio perform a few years back, he was operating at this level of intensity too. Piano trios have had the tendency to be too quirky or too polite in the last 20 years but Sands' trio really swung hard.Comment
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Stan Gets/Bill Evans - Verve 1964..."Night and Day".
with Ron Carter & Elvin Jones
I was having a sort out and came upon this album which I had forgotten about. Recorded in 1964, held back for a decade. Lots of stories around it, Evans was strung out, Getz and Evans didn't get on, Getz really enjoyed Elvin's playing, Evans didn't...etc. So it's got a bad rap, but playing it this morning, I was surprised how good it is. An energised Stan Getz date, Evans OK if somewhat subdued, and Elvin enjoying himself. One to keep after all...
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Astonishing when one thinks about it... but the recording really bears this out.Originally posted by BLUESNIK'S REVOX View PostComment
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Interesting to compare Joe Henderson's classic take on "Night & Day", also with Elvin, from the standout "Inner Urge" (Bluenote) in the same year , 1964. Was Stan listening to Joe? A lot were...Originally posted by Serial_Apologist View Post
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The Ivory Hunters - Bill EvansComment
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Really sad to hear of the passing of Jimmy Heath. He was a relatively late discovery for me but someone whose playing and writing that was both admired by both my Dad and myself. He was something of an under-rated player which was principally due to the fact he was incarcerated throughout much of the 1950s for drug offences, However, upon release, he turned his life around and became the musical director for Riverside records. a particular favourite of mine is "Really big!"
As a tenor saxophonist he was a young prodigy and somewhat under-appreciated by many jazz fans where I always felt he was taken for granted, as great as he was. I would have to argue that he really nailed jazz composition and orchestration and this later manifested itself in his pioneering role in jazz education. As he got older, there was a sense that his contribution was becoming increasingly recognised by musicians and fans alike so that the material he produced from the 1970s onwards perhaps represented his finest contribution. I am particularly fond of his big band writing which, whilst squarely in the tradition, does exactly everything that is required. It always swung and I felt he defined all that is good about the jazz tradition. There is a Aebersold play-a-long record I have somewhere which includes a range of his repertoire which is immensely fun to play too and I have enjoyed rehearsing his compositions with my friends.
Several years ago I read his autobiography which crackles with amusing anecdotes and cements his reputation as perhaps jazz's finest and most amusing recontour. It was a brilliant and candid read which also included a load of observations my fellow musicians which demonstrated the love they had for the music and the man. For me, Jimmy Heath was totally solid. You can pick up anything with him on and know the results are going to be on the money. I sense that his profile has only been properly appreciated in the latter part of his career as he was taken for granted. However, I would have to say that jazz would not be anywhere near as good without his contribution as a soloists, composer and educator.Comment
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Originally posted by BLUESNIK'S REVOX View Post
Wondered if you had picked up the Getz at the Gate disc ? There seems to be a swathe of concert recordings being released from forgotten sources at the moment and this record is picking up some serious reviews. I was very tempted even though I am not necessarily a Getz fan and have found some of his stuff only marginally interesting. This record is supposed to be incredible and places Getz more within the aggressive field of jazz at that time as opposed to the Bossa stuff which was being produced at the same time. It is intriguing to find all this material surfacing and I keep thinking that the results are changing a lot of perceptions of these musicians as the live material by numerous artists sounds superior to the more familiar studio material. Getz has always struck me as being a little too polite but my tastes are changing to find live recordings of jazz musicians absolutely fascinating insofar that they challenge misconceptions. I have been enjoying the disc by Harold Land this week but have been tempted by the Getz record largely because anything live with Roy Haynes on drums is going to sound good. It would be interesting to hear any feedback as to this live performance.
The track with Getz and Evans is weird. I like Elvin Jones' playing most about this track but I have to say that Evans always seems better in a trio format and not with horns. The fact that this session was released on Verve also prejudices me slightly as a lot of the music the label releases always seems on the safe side although there are some obvious exceptions. The pairing of Getz and Evans seems inspired yet I would have been more interested to hear someone with a bit more poke on piano who could push Getz along with Jones. Got to say I would have been more interested to have heard someone like McCoy Tyner . To my ears, having someone like Elvin behind him is exactly the catalyst I would liked to have heard drumming for Getz. He seemed to prefer sharp and snappy drummers - for me, the obvious choice to counter the smoothness of the tenor and slightly unsettle the whole process?Comment
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