Herbie Nichols ~ Reissue of the year?

[Jazzrook]

Roswell Rudd once said of Herbie Nichols' piano playing: "What a beautiful sense of space! What incredible lyricism! What soulfulness! What grace! What an expansive palette of sonorities!"
Thankfully, his hard-to-find trio albums on BLUE NOTE & BETHLEHEM have recently been reissued by AVID on a bargain 2-CD set:

https://www.avidgroup.co.uk/acatalog/info_AMSC1209.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyyGaIf7wPg

JR

[Serial_Apologist]

Roswell Rudd once said of Herbie Nichols' piano playing: "What a beautiful sense of space! What incredible lyricism! What soulfulness! What grace! What an expansive palette of sonorities!"
Thankfully, his hard-to-find trio albums on BLUE NOTE & BETHLEHEM have recently been reissued by AVID on a bargain 2-CD set:

https://www.avidgroup.co.uk/acatalog/info_AMSC1209.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyyGaIf7wPg

JR

I've got some of those tracks on a C90 a friend kindly compiled for me from his "extensive" collection. Oddly enough I didn't first even know of Herbie Nichols until someone must have recommended Roswell Rudd's 1983 Soul Note album "Regeneration" - Rudd, Steve Lacy, Misha Mengelberg, Kent Carter and Han Bennink - one side of Nichols tunes - "Blue Chopsticks", "2300 Skiddoo", "Twelve Bars" - presented by the kinds of free jazz players Nichols' would probably have felt to have realised his music in ways only the lessons of the 1960s and '70s could have effected, though doubtless some may disagree - and the other of Monk tunes: "Monk's Mood", "Friday the Thirteenth" and "Epistrophe". A record which never seems to wear out.

[Ian Thumwood]

I've got some of those tracks on a C90 a friend kindly compiled for me from his "extensive" collection. Oddly enough I didn't first even know of Herbie Nichols until someone must have recommended Roswell Rudd's 1983 Soul Note album "Regeneration" - Rudd, Steve Lacy, Misha Mengelberg, Kent Carter and Han Bennink - one side of Nichols tunes - "Blue Chopsticks", "2300 Skiddoo", "Twelve Bars" - presented by the kinds of free jazz players Nichols' would probably have felt to have realised his music in ways only the lessons of the 1960s and '70s could have effected, though doubtless some may disagree - and the other of Monk tunes: "Monk's Mood", "Friday the Thirteenth" and "Epistrophe". A record which never seems to wear out.

I have ben after the Bethlehem record for years and already have the Blue Note sect includes the alternative takes and the excellent booklet that accompanies the disc. I can under SA's view and am familiar with the aforementioned Lacy group that, with a few changes, performed as "Dutch Masters." Rudd was a student of Nichols. Nichols was ahead of his time and, in fact, probably still is. I have often mentioned Rudd's book of Nichol's lead sheets which is the best way of understanding his complex music. For me, I don't really see Nichols as having much bearing on free playing and I believe that he actually started working as a musician in the late 1930's. He is just a one off. The real genius of Nichols is as a composer who experimented tirelessly with both form and an informed understanding of harmony which took it's cues from the likes of Bartok, Prokokief and others of that ilk. His pieces generally avoid conventional harmony and the II-V-I patterns, chromatic ideas and even use of contra-facts are largely absent. As much as I love Monk, Nichols was far, far more sophisticated and, I would argue, the most advanced jazz composer for small groups until Wayne Shorter - you could argue that he was even more radical.

Improvising on Nichol's music is a real challenge and putting in substitutions practically impossible for an amateur. In many ways, his ideas go beyond free playing as his music always goes against whatever is intuitive. That is the real appeal of his music, I think. The tunes are devils to play but the music is enjoyable and pushes you outside of your comfort zone unlike anyone else. It is gutting that he never recorded with horns as that would have maybe aided in making the advanced nature of his music easier to grasp.

With that said, I think I will now get my Herbie Nichols book out.....