Freedom Jazz Dance - Agitate, Educate, Mobleyise!

[Serial_Apologist]

Sat 14 Jan
4.00 Jazz Record Requests
Alyn Shipton's selection includes music by the Alison Rayner Quartet*, currently on tour with guitarist Deirdre Cartwright, and Ellingtonia played by Chris Barber and Bob Hunt

* -

http://www.alynshipton.co.uk/blog

5.00 Jazz Line-Up

Claire Martin and Kevin Le Gendre review new releases, and look forward to 2017's jazz highlights.

But unless they're God, how do they know what they are going to be??

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b088j2lz

12.00 Geoffrey Smith's Jazz
A key presence on the iconic Blue Note label, saxophonist and composer Hank Mobley (1930-1986) was a hard bop star in the 1960s. Geoffrey Smith surveys his work with Art Blakey, Miles Davis, and his own ensembles.

Georgie Fame to Geno Washington: "What key?" Geno: "Key, man? What do you mean by key?"

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b088j3cw

Mon 16 Jan
11.00 Jazz Now
Soweto Kinch with a Miles Davis special, featuring Gary Crosby's quintet re-exploring Kind of Blue, the trumpeter's groundbreaking 1959 album. Plus Al Ryan reviews newly issued work by the Miles Davis Quintet, including Freedom Jazz Dance - the latest in an official bootleg series.

For all the respect in which I hold Gary Crosby - and his contribution to Britjazz has been inestimable - I have to ask myself how much more yet another makeover on Kind of Blue can contribute to the sum total of human knowledge. Does anyone else feel similar? The presumably previously unreleased Miles Davis stuff sounds interesting, however - one has to ask just how official are these bootlegs?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b088jc35

Thassall, folks!

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

A. Dexter Gordon used to call Hank Mobley "Hankenstein" (monster player). Yes, I know I've posted that before but it still makes me smile. A bit.

B. Miles bootlegs. I've heard all of this as it was up on Spotify asap. OK, and of some interest as to how they worked stuff up and Miles, at home, asking Wayne if he wants a hamburger and then minutes later, "or a steak". "Then why you fkg with my hamburger"? Miles, the chirpy host.

C. Why indeed " Kind of Blue" for God's sake. Why those knowing makeovers of A Love Supreme and Ascension? Don't arrrrsk me as jazz eats itself like a binned Miles beefburger...."ironically and iconically "....and with 60s Wimpey mustard.

D. "Hankenstein"....

BN.

In slight contradiction to the above, I've just remembered that on the night that Miles died, I was in the Four Bars club/jazz /pub in Cardiff watching John Taylor, Henry Lowther, Stan S, etc playing a quintet tribute to his work. All of us unaware that he had passed. They were very good playing in the Kind of Blue zone, so it can be done. Shame Miles didn't hear it....

[Ian Thumwood]

As good as "Kind if Blue " is , there isn't really much to analyse. Little to be learned other than the Gil Evans written intro to "So what" and the use of scales to improvise. It is one of the few Davis record I don't have on CD because I am already too familiar with it. Surely there are other MD records more deserving of exploration but I find the whole Real Book repertoire stuff a drag, to be honest.

Not tempted by the latest MD Bootleg volume 4. Studio out takes from "Miles smiles" which I had hitherto understood to consist of first takes. The first volume was excellent but it is strange that the live material from the 60's features such a small range of material. For me, this first volume is essential and perhaps better than the studio recordings but there are sessions made with a big band that remain to be issued so outtakes seem way down on the list of MD material to snap up.

[Alyn_Shipton]

Always good to see you reviewing the programmes before they go out Ian. Maybe Al and Ian Smith have some interesting insights into Miles Smiles - might be worth a listen. And unbilled, but also - possibly - worth hearing in Monday's Jazz Now is Gwen Thompkins from US public radio discussing New Orleans and the way the jazz tradition has survived there post Katrina...
And if you simply can't wait for Geoffrey on Hank Mobley then there's always my chat with Mr Gelly on the subject, streamable here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00g3qcm

[Manupstairs]

As good as "Kind if Blue " is , there isn't really much to analyse. Little to be learned other than the Gil Evans written intro to "So what" and the use of scales to improvise. It is one of the few Davis record I don't have on CD because I am already too familiar with it. Surely there are other MD records more deserving of exploration but I find the whole Real Book repertoire stuff a drag, to be honest.

Not tempted by the latest MD Bootleg volume 4. Studio out takes from "Miles smiles" which I had hitherto understood to consist of first takes. The first volume was excellent but it is strange that the live material from the 60's features such a small range of material. For me, this first volume is essential and perhaps better than the studio recordings but there are sessions made with a big band that remain to be issued so outtakes seem way down on the list of MD material to snap up.

Agree on the first volume of the series, which is one of the best of his recordings. I bought a couple of the later ones and they were progressively less interesting.

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

Always good to see you reviewing the programmes before they go out Ian. Maybe Al and Ian Smith have some interesting insights into Miles Smiles - might be worth a listen. And unbilled, but also - possibly - worth hearing in Monday's Jazz Now is Gwen Thompkins from US public radio discussing New Orleans and the way the jazz tradition has survived there post Katrina...
And if you simply can't wait for Geoffrey on Hank Mobley then there's always my chat with Mr Gelly on the subject, streamable here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00g3qcm

The Mobley Jazz Library was very good. Didn't agree with all, but I'm a Hankophile. There was an earlier Jazz Legends with Julian Joseph and Jean Toussaint, a lot of insight, including a thought that Shorter's sound etc owed a tad to him.

BN.

[CGR]

" the whole Real Book repertoire stuff a drag, "

That's the life blood of jazz at the grassroots level !!!

[Ian Thumwood]

" the whole Real Book repertoire stuff a drag, "

That's the life blood of jazz at the grassroots level !!!

I agree which is why it is so boring.

I rarely play the piano these days as time does not permit but when I get the chance I usually rehearse with a couple of friends and we tend to look at other material which is now readily available. Most people have some Aebersold books but you can get all sorts of repertoire either as books or even through various musician's websites. A lot of this is too difficult yet some are surprisingly accessible. The last time I played at a jam session someone called "The girl from Ipanema" and I felt compelled to kill him.

[CGR]

I agree which is why it is so boring.

I rarely play the piano these days as time does not permit but when I get the chance I usually rehearse with a couple of friends and we tend to look at other material which is now readily available. Most people have some Aebersold books but you can get all sorts of repertoire either as books or even through various musician's websites. A lot of this is too difficult yet some are surprisingly accessible. The last time I played at a jam session someone called "The girl from Ipanema" and I felt compelled to kill him.

Boring to you.

Jam sessions alway seem to come alive when Tenor Madness or Oleo or something similar are called.

[Serial_Apologist]

Boring to you.

Jam sessions alway seem to come alive when Tenor Madness or Oleo or something similar are called.

Kenny Wheeler's Everybody's Song But My Own??

[Ian Thumwood]

Boring to you.

Jam sessions alway seem to come alive when Tenor Madness or Oleo or something similar are called.

CBR

I am not sure just how many 100's of tunes are in the original Real Book but I would guess than no more than about 25% ever get performed in jam sessions. When I first stumbled across these books in the late 80's it was a revelation at any kind of repertoire had previously been really difficult to acquire. The "official" Real Book always seemed far superior to the more famous " unofficial" one which was initially illegal albeit the copy I bought was bought through a music company who were selling their wares at Wavendon.

When I used to play the piano, my teacher was always really hostile to The Real Book. He had a list of repertoire that he kept in a small note book that solely consisted of the titles of tunes. There was no actual music within it but he knew this repertoire inside out. It seemed quite impressive at the time, especially as so many of the "standards" were pretty obscure and unfamiliar. My teacher's pet hate was "My funny valentine" and I suppose that perspective of being aware of more interesting, unexplored territory has always chimed with me. The other problem is that there are quite a few people like my teacher who held the Real Book in contempt because it encouraged you to learn chord changes by rote. In effect, it reduced jazz to parrot-like repetition and stopped you looking at employing alternative harmonies to the music. This was always a struggle for me and I was taught to use by ears and pick out the components of the alternative chords my teacher would apply to tunes like "Satin Doll", "Sophisticated Lady" and "Round midnight." It was a process that made me think and you did appreciate why a tune like "Body & soul" was so impressive. For my teacher, the Monk ballad was a kind of ultimate. I find it funny that you cite the Sonny Rollins tunes as making jam sessions come alive yet I think that he isn't a particularly original or interesting composer even if one of the very greatest of improvisers. However, it is a point worth noting that Sonny Rollins is one of those jazz musicians who was always looking outside of the traditional repertoire and his own concept would mean that The Real Book is an anathema to what he is about. "Oleo" is probably one of the least interesting "I got rhythm " contrafacts. Why don't you try something like Monk's "Rhythmanin''" or Ornette's "Rejoicing" instead? "Tenor madness" is just an ordinary blues and far less sophisticated than the kind of blues someone like Charlie Parker would knock out.

Regardless of the merits or otherwise of playing jam sessions ( the adversarial nature of it is something that I hate) , the problem with the Real Book is that it encourages bad habits. Effectively it reduces jazz to the unthinking "going around the block" mentality which is dull enough with the kind of bop than manifested itself so much in the mid 1950s but a massive turn off with amateur players. With so much available on line , through websites or composers own books, there is really no need to rely on a 40 year old publication of which only a fraction is of any practical use. There is a lot of far more interesting material out there which is readily obtainable that it has made the kind of "common" / "easy" material that crops up in The Rea Book a bit redundant. A good proportion of the repertoire relies on II-V-I patterns , AABA forms and music that is really of its time that I have never replaced my copy that fell into pieces.

As I have said, I play the piano for about 2 hours each month. It is something that I find increasingly tedious to do as these days I much prefer to go and watch football in my spare time than play an instrument but if I do play something, it will usually be from a book of Monk, Nichols, Ornette or Jimmy Heath compositions. I even have a book of Benny Goodman tunes which is far, far more rewarding than the Real Book and not much more difficult to play, Okay, there are books of music I snapped up by the likes of Charlie Parker , Pat Metheny and Tom Harrell which are too demanding but at least they show you how you can think differently about music. "The Real Book" , by contrast, does include a wealth of tunes that were probably contemporary when the book was compiled but I somewhat doubt how often the Eberhard Weber stuff ever gets called out on a bandstand.

[Jazzrook]

Sat 14 Jan
4.00 Jazz Record Requests
Alyn Shipton's selection includes music by the Alison Rayner Quartet*, currently on tour with guitarist Deirdre Cartwright, and Ellingtonia played by Chris Barber and Bob Hunt

* -

http://www.alynshipton.co.uk/blog

5.00 Jazz Line-Up

Claire Martin and Kevin Le Gendre review new releases, and look forward to 2017's jazz highlights.

But unless they're God, how do they know what they are going to be??

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b088j2lz

12.00 Geoffrey Smith's Jazz
A key presence on the iconic Blue Note label, saxophonist and composer Hank Mobley (1930-1986) was a hard bop star in the 1960s. Geoffrey Smith surveys his work with Art Blakey, Miles Davis, and his own ensembles.

Georgie Fame to Geno Washington: "What key?" Geno: "Key, man? What do you mean by key?"

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b088j3cw

Mon 16 Jan
11.00 Jazz Now
Soweto Kinch with a Miles Davis special, featuring Gary Crosby's quintet re-exploring Kind of Blue, the trumpeter's groundbreaking 1959 album. Plus Al Ryan reviews newly issued work by the Miles Davis Quintet, including Freedom Jazz Dance - the latest in an official bootleg series.

For all the respect in which I hold Gary Crosby - and his contribution to Britjazz has been inestimable - I have to ask myself how much more yet another makeover on Kind of Blue can contribute to the sum total of human knowledge. Does anyone else feel similar? The presumably previously unreleased Miles Davis stuff sounds interesting, however - one has to ask just how official are these bootlegs?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b088jc35

Thassall, folks!

Also, on Radio 4 this morning(17/1/17) @11.30 'Laura Mvula's Miles Davis' with Kevin Le Gendre.

JR

[Serial_Apologist]

Also, on Radio 4 this morning(17/1/17) @11.30 'Laura Mvula's Miles Davis' with Kevin Le Gendre.

JR

JR. Will have to check that out tomorrow.

[Jazzrook]

JR. Will have to check that out tomorrow.

Quite an enjoyable programme with intelligent comments from Le Gendre and the voice of the man himself:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08b7wcs

JR

[Quarky]

Mon 16 Jan
11.00 Jazz Now
Soweto Kinch with a Miles Davis special, featuring Gary Crosby's quintet re-exploring Kind of Blue, the trumpeter's groundbreaking 1959 album. Plus Al Ryan reviews newly issued work by the Miles Davis Quintet, including Freedom Jazz Dance - the latest in an official bootleg series.

For all the respect in which I hold Gary Crosby - and his contribution to Britjazz has been inestimable - I have to ask myself how much more yet another makeover on Kind of Blue can contribute to the sum total of human knowledge. Does anyone else feel similar? The presumably previously unreleased Miles Davis stuff sounds interesting, however - one has to ask just how official are these bootlegs?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b088jc35

Thassall, folks!

Yes I had a similar feeling. I found the Second Quartet discussion and excerpts fascinating. Even tempted to buy the CD collection. But Kind of Blue Makeover best consigned to Dinner Jazz.

I may be in danger of being excommunicated from the fold, but I find much of the music before the second quartet very uninteresting these days. Hank Mobley, at least as broadcast on GS's programme, too much of a soft centre for me.