I snapped up a very cheap double compilation album which consisted of artists signed to Delmark records over the course of 50 years the other week which much rank as amongst the most incongruous jazz album ever. It has the feel of two editions of Jazz Record Requests compiled simply with the intention of celebrating jazz from Chicago plus a smattering of older records from a label called Apollo the rights to which Delmark acquired at some point. This accounts for the odd appearance of players like Coleman Hawkins, Sonny Stitt and Dinah Washington who , as far as I am aware, were never part of the Chicago jazz scene.
I can remember back on the early 1990s there was a Radio 3 documentary (I think it was one of Alyn's) that looked at the jazz scene in Chicago and I can remember thinking how alien the music sounded, both in respect of AACM stuff and the unfamiliarity of this music.) This CD reinforces this impression and I am finding that the kind of jazz afforded on this compilation is what really appeals to me now whereas, 25 years ago, I thought that ECM was where the music was really happening. A recent review on "All about Jazz" regarding the new Jason Stein album suggested that Delmark has it's own "house style" which is as potent as ECM but the reality of any supposed common identity amongst Delmark's releases simply stems from the fact that their output is unpolished by studio production and is more akin to what labels like Prestige might have put out on the 1950's. In comparison with other labels like Blue Note (which are owned by bigger companies) the music Delmark put out is totally unadorned.
This compilation includes about three of "Revivalist" groups one of which featured Franz Jackson, a former tenor saxophonist with Earl Hines' big band I the 1930s. There is also a solo piano track by Art Hodes, a rough and tumble stride pianist plus a trio by the late Sir Charles Thompson. The album is suffused with unfamiliar and under the radar music. Unheralded Hard Bop musicians like multi-instrumentalist Ira Sullivan and Zayne Massey jostle with players with a more avant garde reputation such as Fred Anderson, Roscoe Mitchell and Muhal Richard Abrams without there being a great deal of difference in the approachability of the music. A Roy Campbell waltz proves to be very catchy before the first disc closes with Von Freeman and the unknown Lin Halliday leading a terrific two-tenor front line group. Big bands are presented by Malachai Thompson's brass ensemble on a This is also an early Sun Ra track - his best period, I feel. More contemporary jazz is reflected by a very young Eric Alexander, a guitar trio led by Jeff Parker that sounds like an intellectualised Grant Green and a Ken Vandermark track with two drummers. Only the Rob Mazurek track seems a bit challenging but I find that is often the case with his music.
I wondered exactly who this compilation would appeal to because the mixture of vocalists, big bands, bop, Trad and avant garde is unlikely to have many fans who enjoy all this kind of music. The compilation is pretty entertaining just for the shear range of styles and the honesty with which the music is delivered is probably the over-riding factor. The staggering thing is that most of the musicians on the set are pretty unknown or have "small" reputations. I always thought that Jimmy Forrest was a bar-room honker but his version of "Laura" is surprisingly good - somewhere in the Gene Ammons style of things, I suppose.
I am a recent convert to Delmark and would have to admit that I have become such an adherent to this label that I buy stuff by artists I know nothing about simply because I have confidence that the record label does not disrespect it's core audience. I believe that they are similarly revered by blues fans. What is amazing to me is that this compilation includes swathes of sidemen whose names are totally unfamiliar and soloists like Lin Halliday who I have never heard of yet the quality is staggeringly good.
For me, Chicago jazz means one of four things. I immediately think about Eddie Condon and his coterie of musician and then am put in mind of Earl Hines' terrific big band which hailed from this city. After this, the most celebrated jazz is the AACM which can encompass great bands like the AEoC, music which I find unlistenable such as Anthony Braxton and jazz which is right in the tradition like Kahil El-Zabar (represented on this compilation in a quartet with Archie Shepp with another esteemed Chicago tenor man, Ari Brown, playing piano!) Finally, Chicago's current scene with players like Berman, Vandermark, Roebke, Adasiewizc, Jeb Bishop, etc,etc are amongst the musicians I revere the most at this point in time. What you don't associate Chicago with is some of the surprisingly good , straight ahead bop that you find on these discs.
If you look at the new issues put out by many of today's labels, Delmark's approach does seem a bit homespun and I would concede that it lacks a lot of the slickness of New York based players or the sunniness of jazz musicians working on the West Coast, The jazz in Chicago does seem to have a harder edge and is less keen to please but this compilation serves as a timely reminder at the wealth of different styles of jazz from that city a good proportion of which is unfamiliar (Halliday, Zayne Massey, Francine Griffin) or under-represented. Nice also to hear underrated musicians like Tab Smith take centre stage.
I can remember back on the early 1990s there was a Radio 3 documentary (I think it was one of Alyn's) that looked at the jazz scene in Chicago and I can remember thinking how alien the music sounded, both in respect of AACM stuff and the unfamiliarity of this music.) This CD reinforces this impression and I am finding that the kind of jazz afforded on this compilation is what really appeals to me now whereas, 25 years ago, I thought that ECM was where the music was really happening. A recent review on "All about Jazz" regarding the new Jason Stein album suggested that Delmark has it's own "house style" which is as potent as ECM but the reality of any supposed common identity amongst Delmark's releases simply stems from the fact that their output is unpolished by studio production and is more akin to what labels like Prestige might have put out on the 1950's. In comparison with other labels like Blue Note (which are owned by bigger companies) the music Delmark put out is totally unadorned.
This compilation includes about three of "Revivalist" groups one of which featured Franz Jackson, a former tenor saxophonist with Earl Hines' big band I the 1930s. There is also a solo piano track by Art Hodes, a rough and tumble stride pianist plus a trio by the late Sir Charles Thompson. The album is suffused with unfamiliar and under the radar music. Unheralded Hard Bop musicians like multi-instrumentalist Ira Sullivan and Zayne Massey jostle with players with a more avant garde reputation such as Fred Anderson, Roscoe Mitchell and Muhal Richard Abrams without there being a great deal of difference in the approachability of the music. A Roy Campbell waltz proves to be very catchy before the first disc closes with Von Freeman and the unknown Lin Halliday leading a terrific two-tenor front line group. Big bands are presented by Malachai Thompson's brass ensemble on a This is also an early Sun Ra track - his best period, I feel. More contemporary jazz is reflected by a very young Eric Alexander, a guitar trio led by Jeff Parker that sounds like an intellectualised Grant Green and a Ken Vandermark track with two drummers. Only the Rob Mazurek track seems a bit challenging but I find that is often the case with his music.
I wondered exactly who this compilation would appeal to because the mixture of vocalists, big bands, bop, Trad and avant garde is unlikely to have many fans who enjoy all this kind of music. The compilation is pretty entertaining just for the shear range of styles and the honesty with which the music is delivered is probably the over-riding factor. The staggering thing is that most of the musicians on the set are pretty unknown or have "small" reputations. I always thought that Jimmy Forrest was a bar-room honker but his version of "Laura" is surprisingly good - somewhere in the Gene Ammons style of things, I suppose.
I am a recent convert to Delmark and would have to admit that I have become such an adherent to this label that I buy stuff by artists I know nothing about simply because I have confidence that the record label does not disrespect it's core audience. I believe that they are similarly revered by blues fans. What is amazing to me is that this compilation includes swathes of sidemen whose names are totally unfamiliar and soloists like Lin Halliday who I have never heard of yet the quality is staggeringly good.
For me, Chicago jazz means one of four things. I immediately think about Eddie Condon and his coterie of musician and then am put in mind of Earl Hines' terrific big band which hailed from this city. After this, the most celebrated jazz is the AACM which can encompass great bands like the AEoC, music which I find unlistenable such as Anthony Braxton and jazz which is right in the tradition like Kahil El-Zabar (represented on this compilation in a quartet with Archie Shepp with another esteemed Chicago tenor man, Ari Brown, playing piano!) Finally, Chicago's current scene with players like Berman, Vandermark, Roebke, Adasiewizc, Jeb Bishop, etc,etc are amongst the musicians I revere the most at this point in time. What you don't associate Chicago with is some of the surprisingly good , straight ahead bop that you find on these discs.
If you look at the new issues put out by many of today's labels, Delmark's approach does seem a bit homespun and I would concede that it lacks a lot of the slickness of New York based players or the sunniness of jazz musicians working on the West Coast, The jazz in Chicago does seem to have a harder edge and is less keen to please but this compilation serves as a timely reminder at the wealth of different styles of jazz from that city a good proportion of which is unfamiliar (Halliday, Zayne Massey, Francine Griffin) or under-represented. Nice also to hear underrated musicians like Tab Smith take centre stage.
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