Jim R Posted May 30, 2004 Report Posted May 30, 2004 (edited) "Forgotten" in the sense that they haven't seen the light of day for so long, that is. Anyway, some props for one of the greats... Jimmy Raney is among the elite in the history of guitarists in jazz. A seminal bebopper, he was a major figure from the late 40's onward, and a big influence on important players like Rene Thomas, Grant Green, and countless others. While much of his work has been available on CD over the years (especially his work with Getz and Norvo, and his Xanadu and Criss Cross recordings), it's not always easy to find, and there's still some important material that seems to have been all but forgotten. One somewhat disappointing thing to me is the fact that some of his early recordings for Prestige weren't collected and issued under his own name. His 1953 quintet with Getz was reissued on "Early Stan"; and his1954 quintet session with Phil Woods was reissued under Woods' name ("Early Quintets"). There ought to be a boxed set of all those New Jazz and Prestige 10-inchers, with the name JIMMY RANEY on the front! Here's a selected list of some Raney recordings that (to my knowledge) have not yet been issued on CD. Please correct me where necessary, or add some titles... 1954- Jimmy Raney In Sweden (Prestige 10" LP 179) later issued on Swingin' In Sweden (combined with some George Wallington material on the 12" Emarcy 36121). Only two of the four tracks were issued on the Xanadu CD "Jimmy Raney & Sonny Clark / Together" 1956- Jimmy Raney & Bob Brookmeyer (ABC Paramount) 1956- In Three Attitudes (ABC Paramount) w/ Bob Brookmeyer,Al Cohn,John Williams,Hall Overton,Red Mitchell,Osie Johnson 1957- The Street Swingers* (Pacific Jazz) w/ Brookmeyer and Jim Hall [*On CD as part of B. Brookmeyer Mosaic select set] 1957,69- Strings And Swings (Muse) 1974- Special Brew (Spotlite) w/ Al Haig,Wilbur Little,Frank Gant 1974- Momentum (PAUSA / MPS) w/ Richard Davis, Alan Dawson. Fantastic playing. 1975- Strings Attached (Choice) w/ Al Haig,Jamil Nasser,Frank Gant Edited May 31, 2004 by Jim R Quote
brownie Posted May 30, 2004 Report Posted May 30, 2004 Couple more: 'The Fourmost Guitars'. Raney has four tracks on this UA LP (with John Wilson on trumpet, Hal Overton and Teddy Guitar). The three other featured guitar players on that album are Chuck Wayne, Joe Puma and Dick Garcia. - Jimmy Raney-Martial Solal 'The Date', a 1981 release on the French Stil label. Excellent disc! Quote
Joe Posted May 30, 2004 Report Posted May 30, 2004 WISTERIA on Criss Cross with Tommy Flanagan and George Mraz. Quote
jazzbo Posted May 30, 2004 Report Posted May 30, 2004 Street Swingers is out as part of a Mosaic Select. Quote
Jim R Posted May 31, 2004 Author Report Posted May 31, 2004 (edited) WISTERIA on Criss Cross with Tommy Flanagan and George Mraz. I love WISTERIA, but since it's among the Raney titles that's been out on CD, it wasn't what I was aiming at for this thread. FWIW, here's a list of Raney on CD: 1954- Jimmy Raney Visits Paris (Dawn) 1954- Jimmy Raney & Sonny Clark / Together! (Xanadu) 1954- Jimmy Raney Visits Paris, Vol. 1 & 2 BMG (Vogue) 1954, 1955- "A" (Prestige) 1954; 1959- Early Quintets ("Jimmy Raney Ensemble" / Dick Hyman Session) (Prestige) 1957- Two Guitars (w/Burrell) (Prestige) 1964- Two Jims And Zoot (Mobile Fidelity (Mainstream)) 1975- The Influence (Prevue (Xanadu)) 1976- Tokyo 1976* (Prevue (Xanadu)) (* leader is Barry Harris) 1976- Live In Tokyo (Prevue (Xanadu)) 1976- Solo (Prevue (Xanadu)) 1979- Stolen Moments (w/Doug Raney) (Steeplechase) 1980- Duets (w/Doug Raney) (Steeplechase) 1980- Here's That Raney Day (Black & Blue) 1981- Raney '81 (Criss Cross) 1983- Nardis (w/Doug Raney) (Steeplechase) 1983- The Master (Criss Cross) 1985- Good Company (w/Ted Brown) (Criss Cross) 1985- Wisteria (Criss Cross) 1990- But Beautiful (Criss Cross) ===== Lon, thanks for the heads up Edited June 1, 2004 by Jim R Quote
jazzbo Posted May 31, 2004 Report Posted May 31, 2004 Oh you're welcome; it's within the Bob Brookmeyer Select, a very good Select! I thought for a few minutes that Three Views was also on cd as I was sure I had it on a cd, but in fact I do have it on a cdr made by Kevin B from the lp! Quote
Jim R Posted May 31, 2004 Author Report Posted May 31, 2004 I thought for a few minutes that Three Views was also on cd as I was sure I had it on a cd, but in fact I do have it on a cdr made by Kevin B from the lp! Me too... "The Bob VanLangen Collection, Vol. 4". B) Quote
Shawn Posted May 31, 2004 Report Posted May 31, 2004 Man, those look like some great sessions that deserve to see the light of day. I actually just picked up "A" recently, can't believe it took me so long to finally nab a copy of that! Very underrated player indeed. Quote
Jim R Posted May 31, 2004 Author Report Posted May 31, 2004 Couple more: 'The Fourmost Guitars'. Raney has four tracks on this UA LP (with John Wilson on trumpet, Hal Overton and Teddy Guitar). The three other featured guitar players on that album are Chuck Wayne, Joe Puma and Dick Garcia. - Jimmy Raney-Martial Solal 'The Date', a 1981 release on the French Stil label. Excellent disc! Good call on the FOURMOST GUITARS, brownie. I had the LP years ago, but it's one that got away from me. I don't recall ever hearing about that LP with Solal. Sounds like a definite winner! Any way you could post a cover image of that? Speaking of cover images, I'd be much obliged if anybody could post any for some of those I listed in my first post (I think the only one I've seen online is STREET SWINGERS). ===== Shawn, yeah, thank goodness for the Fantasy catalog. "A" would probably be a fading memory by now if not for them. Quote
brownie Posted May 31, 2004 Report Posted May 31, 2004 There's also a Music Minus One 'Take A Chorus' LP that Jimmy Raney recorded with George Duvivier and Ed Shaughnessy plus a tenor saxophonist player who used the alias Stu Berry but went usually by the name of Stan Getz! Jim, am not able yet to post a cover image of the Stil LP. Some day... That Stil LP cover is a gatefold job with a sketch of Raney and Solal playing together. Quote
paul secor Posted May 31, 2004 Report Posted May 31, 2004 I have a duo album by Jimmy Raney and Attila Zoller - Jim & I: Live at Quasimodo (L&R 40.018) - a very good record. According to the liner notes, there are two other duo records on L&R by Raney and Zoller - one is studio recording (40.006) & one was recorded live at the 17th German Jazz Festival 17 (40.013). I haven't heard either one of those. I don't know if any or all of the three have been reissued on CD. Quote
Larry Kart Posted May 31, 2004 Report Posted May 31, 2004 I have a 1983 JA Records (Jamey Aebersold) album "Play Duets with Jimmy Raney." To quote the liner notes: "The right channel contains the melody and improvised choruses. The left channel contains the melody and comping choruses.... You can play either part by turning off the appropriate channel or enjoy the complete recording in stereo." So it's Raney improvising and comping for himself, and its top notch -- all Raney originals too. Maybe it's still available through Aebersold. BTW, while agreeing that Raney is a great guitarist, I also think of him as one of the greatest improvisers in jazz regardless of instrument. Quote
Michael Fitzgerald Posted May 31, 2004 Report Posted May 31, 2004 See the Attila Zoller discography on my site for info on the 3 duet sessions with Raney. The answer is yes, all on one CD set on L+R. Mike Quote
tooter Posted May 31, 2004 Report Posted May 31, 2004 Speaking of cover images, I'd be much obliged if anybody could post any for some of those I listed in my first post (I think the only one I've seen online is STREET SWINGERS). Jim - I had [special Brew] and [in Three Attitudes] cover pix but lost them when my hard drive went phut. However, I'm asking a friend to post so I hope you will see them soon. Quote
jazzman4133 Posted May 31, 2004 Report Posted May 31, 2004 (edited) Jimmy Raney In Three Attitudes. You can thank the all powerful, all seeing sage of jazz, Tooter, as he called this to my attention. Edited May 31, 2004 by jazzman4133 Quote
jazzman4133 Posted May 31, 2004 Report Posted May 31, 2004 Jimmy Raney Special Brew......had to search for this as I had it listed under Al Haig. Quote
tooter Posted May 31, 2004 Report Posted May 31, 2004 Jimmy Raney In Three Attitudes. You can thank the all powerful, all seeing sage of jazz, Tooter, as he called this to my attention. Aw, shucks! Quote
7/4 Posted June 1, 2004 Report Posted June 1, 2004 Great thread. I have a lot of this, I have to dig into the library to see what I'm missing. Raney is a big favorite from the bop era. Quote
JohnS Posted June 1, 2004 Report Posted June 1, 2004 Great thread. I have a lot of this, I have to dig into the library to see what I'm missing. Raney is a big favorite from the bop era. Me too. Raney is always worth listening to. I especially like Raney's 50s recordings, paticularly the Prestige and ABC dates. Definitely an unjustly overlooked artist at the moment-or maybe just unfashionable. Quote
JSngry Posted June 1, 2004 Report Posted June 1, 2004 There's also a Music Minus One 'Take A Chorus' LP that Jimmy Raney recorded with George Duvivier and Ed Shaughnessy plus a tenor saxophonist player who used the alias Stu Berry but went usually by the name of Stan Getz! Quote
Jim R Posted June 1, 2004 Author Report Posted June 1, 2004 There's also a Music Minus One 'Take A Chorus' LP that Jimmy Raney recorded with George Duvivier and Ed Shaughnessy plus a tenor saxophonist player who used the alias Stu Berry but went usually by the name of Stan Getz! I had that one for awhile... never got into it too much. The JA LP Larry Kart describes sounds pretty interesting (the grass is always greener... ). Quote
Larry Kart Posted June 1, 2004 Report Posted June 1, 2004 Listened again to the JA record. It's a lot like the Steeplechase duet album with Doug R. -- high-intensity improvising, and Raney's comping for himself (that track actually was laid down first) is far from vanilla. Fans of earlier Raney will be pleased to know that two of the pieces here are "The Flag Is Up" and "Action." "Blues Andante" makes clear, as much as Raney recording I can think of, how much Grant Green dug him. Also, the exposed format highlights one of Raney's key virtues IMO: As much as any player, the swing of his lines lies not so much in the attack/accent realm but in the progression of pitches, the way (like a lot of Bach) each note tugs against the harmonic gravity/rhythm this way or that and reshapes expectations of what's coming next. Quote
brownie Posted June 1, 2004 Report Posted June 1, 2004 Another forgotten Jimmy Raney album (it's out on CD though) is the 'Two Guitars' session for Prestige with Kenny Burrell. Donald Byrd, Jackie McLean, Mal Waldron, Doug Watkins and Art Taylor are also on the date. Nice Burrell/Raney duets on 'Little Melonae'. Raney has a 'Out Of Nowhere' solo feature. Quote
Jim R Posted June 1, 2004 Author Report Posted June 1, 2004 ...the exposed format highlights one of Raney's key virtues IMO: As much as any player, the swing of his lines lies not so much in the attack/accent realm but in the progression of pitches, the way (like a lot of Bach) each note tugs against the harmonic gravity/rhythm this way or that and reshapes expectations of what's coming next. Now that is some skillful use of the english language. I've never seen an analysis of Raney's unique style phrased that way... and now I'm eager to go listen to some Raney with that in mind! Thanks Larry. BTW, I know that "the flag is up" comes from the ABC Paramount session with Brookmeyer, but I'm drawing a blank as to an early recording of "action". I know he recorded it with Doug much later on DUETS, but what early recording are you referring to? Quote
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