Yard

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

tried this Ian?

[Ian Thumwood]

http://www.allaboutjazz.com/force-ma...p#.VAdR95Ug_IUcalum

Not aware of that album which does look interesting. I have another Hill / Hutcherson encounter called "Dialogue" which is ok but not quite as memorable as you would have expected.

Nice to see this album reviewed on "all about jazz" as I've been enjoying this record since the beginning of June. I suppose much of the premise of the disc is quite simplistic (tunes based on one chord, free improvisations using motifs, etc) but the results are surprisingly interesting. Granted there are elements of cacophony that may make more conservative fans wary yet the music is played with a degree of swing and groove often absent in more abstract styles of jazz. The front line pairing of the brilliant Jeb Bishop and the outside sax of Mars Williams is an inspired one. I suppose you could describe it as a bridge between more outside conceptions and straight ahead contemporary jazz although there is the Chicago "hardness" about the music which marks it out as a winner. Again, Delmark coming up trumps with the goods in their recent releases although Jason Roebke's latest disc has the edge so far this year:-

[Tenor Freak]

NP: teh Herbie Hancock Mwandishi box set. Excellent.

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

plus francophile joie!!

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

this builds and builds around 7' 15" Pres and Hawk swap fours!

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

Duke solo

[Serial_Apologist]

V. much looking forward to seeing this young guitarist at my regular Tuesday tonight - not with the trio depicted but a tenor sax bass drums combo of local provenance. While Dave Preston's tone and pacing recalls the great Allan Holdsworth, by way of the younger Mancunian, Mike Walker, I am strongly reminded of two mid-70s British guitar-led groups doing similar-sounding materials, Gary Boyle's Isotope and Phil Lee's Gilgamesh:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5JpvXv7lUA

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

sweet sound they make S_A

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

when S_A and i were in nappies [Bluesnix too i should think ...]

[Ian Thumwood]

Just listening to an old favourite of mine that I haven't heard for years as the record must have worn out when I was still a teenager. Seeing that a copy of available for about £4 after postage, it was too good to resist.

I must admit that , in discovering jazz, four pianists made a huge impression on me more than any other when I was discovering the music. The first was Earl Hines, the Monk and ultimately Bill Evans who staggered me with his harmonic brilliance when I was younger. Whilst the maverick quality of Hines and Monk always appealed to me, it was Hampton Hawes' exceptional "The green leaves of summer" which struck me as being one of the hardest swinging jazz piano records of all time. The rubato intros also struck me as particularly fascinating and seemed to point towards the records that Keith Jarrett would make with his standards trio nearly twenty years later. Even on a track like "Secret Love", Hawes freedom with the sense of time sounds uncannily like Keith Jarrett's trio with Ellington really sounding like DeJohnette too.

The period between Bud Powell and Evans / Hancock can sometimes seem like the hinterland of jazz piano playing. I've always been drawn to more eccentric players like Hill, Monk, Nichols and Tristano and if you can't have eccentricity, you either need great harmony / touch or an ability to swing for the piano to become an interesting solo voice in this period. My late piano teacher always said that no one swung like Hawes and there isn't a note on "GLoS" that doesn't swing.

It's great hearing this music again. I don't quite understand the comparison's with Bud Powell as Hawes never had the former's laser intensity nor neurotic quality that makes Powell and intense yet compelling listen. Hawes sounds like he had checked out Bill Evans in some respects yet he plays far looser than Evans even if Steve Ellington's crisp and sensitive drumming recalls Paul Motian. Whatever happened to him ? Ellington's drums are a key ingredient in making this record a classic. The three minutes of "St, Thomas" represent the definitive version of this tune. This is a terrific album despite the quality of the piano not being as good as I remembered - a common fault of the time. The title track is fabulous and "Blue Skies" the best performance of this tune since Bennie Moten's classic 1932 version.

I think that this is a stupendously brilliant album and, perhaps, the greatest West Coast jazz record ever made or at least during the 50's / mid 60's heyday. Whilst it is much breezier than anything that could have been recorded on the East at the time and is far from typical of the kind of jazz being recorded elsewhere in 1964, Hawes now sounds like he was stretching out towards a more friskier approach to the piano tree that took the best of Bill Evans and merged it with the excitement of be-bop. I've not heard anything else by Hampton Hawes that matches this disc which I would consider one of the finest piano trio records of all time. Priceless.

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

indeed so Ian;

one of my favourite Hawes dates is the Trio with Mingus and Richmond [bought second hand when i was a kid and loved ever since]

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

"(Steve) Ellington went on to appear on more than 600 recordings (?) and six major labels. He played and recorded with many of the world's jazz greats,including Freddy Hubbard, Hampton Hawes, Roland Kirk, Dave Holland and Michel Petrucciani. His touring schedule took him all over the world from the 1960s through the 1990s."

He died in March 2013.

BN.

. ....and played on stage with Ray Charles when he was nine! Gifted kid.

[Ian Thumwood]

Didn't realise that Steve Ellington had had such an illustrious career. I couldn't find anything out about him on the internet.

SA might be interested to read this review of the latest Trish Clowes record. I usually find "All about jazz" reviews to be extremely positive and tending to praise anything that falls under their nose. This review is a bit indifferent:-

http://www.allaboutjazz.com/pocket-compass-trish-clowes-basho-records-review-by-bruce-lindsay.php#.VH4NZJUqXIV

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

" Steve Ellington continued his schooling. He
went on to study at the Boston Conservatory
of Music and started playing in the music
scene there and in New York. He and jazz
great Hal Galper were students together in
Boston, where they began a friendship and
musical collaboration that would last nearly
40 years.

Galper, a renowned pianist and composer
with more than 90 recordings to his credit,
recalls that Ellington was a master player
who had his own style that influenced a
generation of jazz drummers.

Galper now lives in the Catskills of New York,
said that he probably spent more time
playing with Ellington than any other
musician. But Ellington was also a dear
friend. "He was one of the most positive people I
ever met," Galper said this week. "Was never
down. Had a great, wonderful spirit that
infused his music and personality. Had a lot
of love in him, and was a very giving person."

US Today obit. Steve Ellington seems to have been a muso's muso. And was related to Duke. Great nephew or something. I have him on a Sam Rivers Bluenote date.

BN

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

Mr Ellington is on drums ...