What Jazz are you listening to now?

[Stanfordian]

Bobby Hutcherson with Sam Rivers, Freddie Hubbard,
Andrew Hill, Richard Davis & Joe Chambers
‘Dialogue’
Blue Note (rec. 1965)

[Beef Oven!]

That's right. May 27th, 28th and 29th. Couldn't make any of them, so perhaps Eddie assumed from my absence that it was not my bag. Getting to and from Café OTO gigs is no easy matter for me. Just glad I could make AMM's last Saturday night.

The CDs themselves will have to wait. The 2011 BFI Blu-ray/DVD cleaned up high definition transfers of The Bed Sitting Room have just dropped onto the doormat. It's too many years since I last watched it.

I wanted to go but didn't - I can't remember why I didn't go.

I first saw The Bed Sitting Room when I was about 11 - I'm sure most of it went over my head!!

[Serial_Apologist]

The Don Rendell Five featuring Barbara Thompson: "Just Music" (1974)

With a line-up of Don and Barbara on their various instruments, Pete Lemer on pianos acoustic and electric, Steve Cook on what sounds like just acoustic bass, and a possibly near-forgotten Laurie Allan, drums, this is an unusual issue for its time in this country in neither being free nor jazz rock, but pretty much straight-ahead post-bop in that slightly eccentric way one had come to expect of Don Rendell, and before Barbara had formed Paraphernalia, thus raising her own profile. This was one of her last two copies, so I guess Jon is just gonna have to burn her another one!

John won't I guess mind me advising that they're intending re-recording "Local Colour", the Paul Bleyish local effort so badly recorded on ESP of 1966 with Pete Lemer, George (Nisar Ahmet) Khan, John Surman, Tony Reeves and Mr Hiseman hisself, in the new year.

Oh and BTW this month's issue of The Wire magazine does contain one interesting item: an interview with Annette Peacock.

[Ian Thumwood]

I dug out an early album by Gerald Clayton' trio called "Two shade." When I bought this CD I was hugely impressed and have kept an eye out for him since. The album is strange in that it is pretty mainstream in many respects but Clayton has put a contemporary spin on the music so that the drumming really belongs to the 2000's even if Clayton's piano has that lightness and precision of players from the 1950's. A subsequent album cut with some pretty heavyweight horn players on Concord is a massive disappointment in comparison yet having seen this piano trio perform live I remain a big fan. Granted that he comes from a "jazz family" and this gives him a head start, the album "Two shade" is a really good listen. This is another record that I would strongly recommend to Bluesnik.

I would have to say that the piano trio in the 2000's became probably the most boring jazz format around. Brad Mehldau seemed to prompt a wealth of imitators and groups like EST seemed to take the format backwards despite playing the populist card. What I like about Clayton is the clean, contemporary sound that eschews any attempt to be too trendy. "Two shade" could have been made an any time in the 1950's had it not been for the style of drumming and I would suggest that this record would merit more attention he seems to attract. I am at a loss as to why Clayton seems the pianist of choice in so many groups yet hasn't quite made the same impression with fans that it's reinvigorated mainstream approach deserves.

[Ian Thumwood]

Just discovered this on Youtube - something that is very much my cup of tea at the moment. Weird that Keefe Jackson's solo would seem to quote Tadd Dameron's "Hot House" on a couple of occasions. The rest of the ensemble is something that will please some of the posters on this board I am sure.

[Ian Thumwood]

Bobby Hutcherson with Sam Rivers, Freddie Hubbard,
Andrew Hill, Richard Davis & Joe Chambers
‘Dialogue’
Blue Note (rec. 1965)

I dug my copy out and have it a play today. I haven't listened to this record for ages as it didn't immediately appeal. I remember buying it in a sale in HMV in Oxford Street and being a little underwhelmed when I played it. It is funny to return to it again and find it to be far better than I imagined although I am a bit ambivalent about Sam Rivers' playing. Several things really stand out on this record. One is that Hutcherson constantly fires off virtuoso double-tempo phrases with the kind of aggression that is totally absent from his playing these days. It isn't one of Andrew Hill's most memorable sessions as he is completely out-staged by Freddie Hubbard and the drumming of Joe Chambers which I thought was Tony Williams when I out in on my player without checking the cover. For my money, Chambers must be one of the most under-rated drummers of that generation. Usually I find that Andrew Hill dominates everything that he is on and there aren't many more pianists that fascinate me quite as much as him. However, Chambers is instrumental to everything that is good about this record and he is the glue that binds it all together even more than the bassist Richard Davis. I think that the other factor in this record's favour is that Freddie Hubbard is completely at ease in this free-form format. He usually get slated for his outside work and most critics only seem to rate his sterling hard bop sessions. This really under-plays what Hubbard is about and his appearance on some of the seminal advanced records of this period demonstrate that he could hold his own in this format.

The only downside of the disc is the lack of really memorable tunes but I now much refer it more than I did when I initially bought my copy. It isn't of the calibre of "Happenings" but it is probably one of the most adventurous records Blue Note produced. I quite like more "outside" kinds of jazz these days yet the virtuoso ability of many of today's players seems to mean that the freer jazz stuff being produced now is often far better than a lot that was recorded in the 1960's. The technical abilities of many players working in this field nowadays makes the range of possibilities more open-ended and more compelling than a lot of earlier stuff. "Dialogue" is, in my opinion, an early effort where the prowess of the musicians edges this record several notches above some of the "New jazz" recorded on labels like Impulse. In it's way, I think it is much more radical than anything produced by Coltrane's angry brood and probably sounds better 50 years on than a lot of that stuff too. There is a musical intelligence about this most strident of Blue Note records that transcends the years. Thanks for reminding me of it, Stanfordian.

[Stanfordian]

I dug my copy out and have it a play today. I haven't listened to this record for ages as it didn't immediately appeal. I remember buying it in a sale in HMV in Oxford Street and being a little underwhelmed when I played it. It is funny to return to it again and find it to be far better than I imagined although I am a bit ambivalent about Sam Rivers' playing. Several things really stand out on this record. One is that Hutcherson constantly fires off virtuoso double-tempo phrases with the kind of aggression that is totally absent from his playing these days. It isn't one of Andrew Hill's most memorable sessions as he is completely out-staged by Freddie Hubbard and the drumming of Joe Chambers which I thought was Tony Williams when I out in on my player without checking the cover. For my money, Chambers must be one of the most under-rated drummers of that generation. Usually I find that Andrew Hill dominates everything that he is on and there aren't many more pianists that fascinate me quite as much as him. However, Chambers is instrumental to everything that is good about this record and he is the glue that binds it all together even more than the bassist Richard Davis. I think that the other factor in this record's favour is that Freddie Hubbard is completely at ease in this free-form format. He usually get slated for his outside work and most critics only seem to rate his sterling hard bop sessions. This really under-plays what Hubbard is about and his appearance on some of the seminal advanced records of this period demonstrate that he could hold his own in this format.

The only downside of the disc is the lack of really memorable tunes but I now much refer it more than I did when I initially bought my copy. It isn't of the calibre of "Happenings" but it is probably one of the most adventurous records Blue Note produced. I quite like more "outside" kinds of jazz these days yet the virtuoso ability of many of today's players seems to mean that the freer jazz stuff being produced now is often far better than a lot that was recorded in the 1960's. The technical abilities of many players working in this field nowadays makes the range of possibilities more open-ended and more compelling than a lot of earlier stuff. "Dialogue" is, in my opinion, an early effort where the prowess of the musicians edges this record several notches above some of the "New jazz" recorded on labels like Impulse. In it's way, I think it is much more radical than anything produced by Coltrane's angry brood and probably sounds better 50 years on than a lot of that stuff too. There is a musical intelligence about this most strident of Blue Note records that transcends the years. Thanks for reminding me of it, Stanfordian.

Hiya Ian,

Yes, every day I choose a mainly Blue Note CD from my collection. From a distance Bobby Hutcherson can sound rather like 1960s/70s cocktail bar music. It needs a good listen/concentration before it reveals its treasures. In my Jazz I prefer the colours that a sax or trumpet can provide such as in the afore mentioned 'Dialogue' but his other highly rated albums 'Happenings' and 'Oblique' are without brass.

There is something special about the Blue Note releases from the 1950s & 60s with its predominately African/American performers in the way that Tamla Motown has an unique sound, that Tom Bell and his Philly Sound and Phil Spector's Wall of Sound; distinctive sounds all down I reckon to their particular record producers. At the Blue Note label there was the continuity of Alfred Lion and Francis Wolff and of course those iconic album covers.

[Serial_Apologist]

Just discovered this on Youtube - something that is very much my cup of tea at the moment. Weird that Keefe Jackson's solo would seem to quote Tadd Dameron's "Hot House" on a couple of occasions. The rest of the ensemble is something that will please some of the posters on this board I am sure.

Finally catching up and listening to this, I was caught out in thinking it to be an obscure mid to late-60s offshoot, maybe, of the New York Art Quartet, an impression reinforced by the photo shots of the guys there, until I looked up Mr Lonberg-Holm's Wiki entry and realised he could have been scarcely out of diapers by then! Interesting stuff there, Ian.

[Ian Thumwood]

SA

Glad you were enthusiastic about the Lonberg-Holm group although the Fast Citizens actually has a rotating leadership. This group features a number of players I've really enthused about over the last 12 months lie Josh Berman, Frank Rosaly and Aram Shelton. Until a couple of years ago, I was totally ignorant that this kind of stuff existed but I think you can pretty much pick up anything wit these musicians on (and add Adasiewizc and Jeb Bishop to the list) and come up with the kind of music that reflects the attitude of jazz around the mid 1960s that still not only sounds relevant but, in my opinion, almost seems like the right way to go with jazz at the moment. Rosaly's "Cicada music" has been a favourite this month - a kind of Out to Lunch experience with three clarinets / bass clarinets reflecting upon Dolphy's vision but perhaps producing something more expansive. I think I have posted this before - shame the track "Babies" isn;t on Youtube:-

[Jazzrook]

Have been listening to the Max Roach Quartet's 1962 live album 'Speak, Brother, Speak'. The two lengthy numbers were "created to mirror the street rallies and meetings that exist today in the ghetto areas of the large cities in the U.S.A."
Exhilarating and heartfelt music with some especially fine tenor playing from Clifford Jordan plus pianist Mal Waldron & bassist Eddie Khan. A criminally overlooked album.

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzrS4pkOF2c

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1uwSZlXu5w

[Ian Thumwood]

This year I have been listening to Kenny Dorham and contemporary Chicago jazz more than anything else. The Avid 4 CDs in one features some crcking live perfomances with Jackie McLean and a very polished set called "Quiet Kenny" with the track "Lotus Blossom" sounding amazingly contemporary. The opening CD is one where KD sings and this tends to make you think favourably of Chet Baker. I find KD's singing really flat and the music tends towards muzack. As far as the remaining 75% of the double CD is concerned, I don't think it is as good as his finest Blue Note work (the pairing with Joe Henderson is probably the strongest trumpet / tenor front line the label came up with) but it is amazing how consistent Dorham was when captured live. He was a total craftsman and, for my money, probably the next most interesting trumpeter of that generation after Miles Davis. His use of the instrument is radically different from anyone else and is as is he had factored elements of Gillespie's approach in to something that opened the door towards more advanced jazz in the 1960's. Surprised to see an early draft of "una Mas" being performed under the title of "Us" but, aside from the increasingly out of tune piano, this disc shows that Dorham was well ahead of his time.

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

This year I have been listening to Kenny Dorham and contemporary Chicago jazz more than anything else. The Avid 4 CDs in one features some crcking live perfomances with Jackie McLean and a very polished set called "Quiet Kenny" with the track "Lotus Blossom" sounding amazingly contemporary. The opening CD is one where KD sings and this tends to make you think favourably of Chet Baker. I find KD's singing really flat and the music tends towards muzack. As far as the remaining 75% of the double CD is concerned, I don't think it is as good as his finest Blue Note work (the pairing with Joe Henderson is probably the strongest trumpet / tenor front line the label came up with) but it is amazing how consistent Dorham was when captured live. He was a total craftsman and, for my money, probably the next most interesting trumpeter of that generation after Miles Davis. His use of the instrument is radically different from anyone else and is as is he had factored elements of Gillespie's approach in to something that opened the door towards more advanced jazz in the 1960's. Surprised to see an early draft of "una Mas" being performed under the title of "Us" but, aside from the increasingly out of tune piano, this disc shows that Dorham was well ahead of his time.

Quiet Kenny is a grower. Can also recommend the date he cut with the mysterious Rocky Boyd and his guesting on Walton's "Cedar' from 67. And just about anything inc. the late Scandinavian stuff and the live bootleg with Henderson. My favourite trumpet player and more.

BN.

[Ian Thumwood]

Amazed to find this on Youtube. An album from my youth that I must have worn out at the time. Why is her music so difficult to get hold of ? Always loved this track and SA will dig too:-

[Ian Thumwood]

This is even better!!!

[Serial_Apologist]

There's an interview with Annette in this month's Wire mag, coincidentally - the 1 thing worth forking out the £4.50 for. Seems she hasn't been well - doesn't specify what.