felser Posted October 23, 2006 Report Share Posted October 23, 2006 'Live At The Berliner Jazztage' is certainly my favorite Woody Shaw recording, and a work I appreciate as much as any work in all of music. The group that for that performance was billed as the Woody Shaw Concert Ensemble. The Shaw/Hayes working quintet (Woody Shaw, Rene McLean, Ronnie Mathews, Stafford James, Louis Hayes - to me, this was the group that best realized Shaw's music) was joined by two heavyweights - Slide Hampton and Frank Foster. But what resulted was not the expected all-star blowing session, but rather Hampton and Foster were carefully integrated into a series of beautifully arranged compositions. The set starts off with a monumental 17 minute version of 'Hello To The Wind', the great Eugene McDaniels song. This cut, as does the entire set, combines the fire and the dignity of jazz at a level rarely encountered. Scott Yanow writes in AMG that "The obscure originals are given lengthy treatment (Joe Chambers's "Hello to the Wind" is nearly 17 minutes long) and yet there are no slow moments. The solos are uniformly creative and often quite explorative." Shaw is quoted in the original liner notes as saying that the group was "quite proud of each other that night". Excellent performances of Larry Young's "Obsequious" and Mathews' "Jean Marie" are followed by the amazing set closer, Rene McLean's incendiary "In The Land of the Blacks(Bilad As Sudan)". The ensemble and the soloists are blazing. The occasion was momentous, and what makes this session so transcendent has not faded at all in the intervening 30 years. This session is available on the 32Jazz Shaw release 'Two More Pieces of the Puzzle', and you bypass it at your own risk. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B. Clugston Posted October 23, 2006 Report Share Posted October 23, 2006 I’m glad you picked this. Live At The Berliner Jazztage doesn’t get talked about much, but it’s an incredible album. I like much more than Stepping Stones. Slide Hampton and Frank Foster were great recruits for this band. What distinguishes this album are the arrangements and a well-rehearsed band. It’s incredibly intense. “Hello to the Wind” was written by Joe Chambers (Eugene McDaniels wrote the lyrics, though you will have to visit Bobby Hutcherson’s Now to hear). A variant on this song, featuring Woody, appears on Chamber’s The Almoravid. I believe Chambers did the arrangement for the Berlin concert. It’s an incredibly beautiful arrangement and the soloists are great. Larry Young’s “Obsequious” boils with intensity as well, especially when the hornmen trade fours. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rooster_Ties Posted October 23, 2006 Report Share Posted October 23, 2006 Maybe my all-time favorite Woody Shaw album. 5-stars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
felser Posted October 23, 2006 Author Report Share Posted October 23, 2006 “Hello to the Wind” was written by Joe Chambers (Eugene McDaniels wrote the lyrics, though you will have to visit Bobby Hutcherson’s Now to hear). My bad. 'Now' was where I first heard "Hello To The Wind", and I had always just thought of it, "Slow Change", and "Now" as being McDaniels songs without even checking. 'Now' is another album I've been thinking of for AOTW - it's a unique experience with the Hutcherson/Land group, the McDaniels lyrics and vocals, and the great writing on "Hello To The Wind" and "Slow Change". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ep1str0phy Posted October 23, 2006 Report Share Posted October 23, 2006 I love this one--turned me on to Rene McLean. I sense less gloss on this one than on some of the other live Woody albums--perhaps it's the ensemble, but there's just something 'rougher' about this album. Regardless, the arrangements are terrific, and there's some killer blowing. Interesting to compare this version of "Hello to the Wind" with the one on Bobby Hutcherson's Now--totally different approaches. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeweil Posted October 23, 2006 Report Share Posted October 23, 2006 I remember the praise this concert got once it had taken place - and I wonder why so few of the Berliner Jazztage concerts, practically all of which were recorded by the local broadcast stations (many of them on videotape!), made it to vinyl or CD. I think it was still Joachim Berendt who invited Shaw, and was willing to pay for the extended ensemble (I saw the quintet or sextet around that time in Frankfurt). Anyway, it was some international credit to that festival when the LP on Muse was released. I get the impression from his music that this was one period of relative stability and musical satisfaction in Shaw's life. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B. Clugston Posted October 23, 2006 Report Share Posted October 23, 2006 Were any other songs played (and recorded) at the concert? IIRC, one of the songs begins with a fade. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluesman Posted October 23, 2006 Report Share Posted October 23, 2006 It looks like the 32Jazz is OOP. However, Pony Canyon reissued it a few years ago in Japan and it may still be available. I've put in an order and look forward to hearing this if it turns up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marcello Posted October 23, 2006 Report Share Posted October 23, 2006 “Hello to the Wind” was written by Joe Chambers (Eugene McDaniels wrote the lyrics, though you will have to visit Bobby Hutcherson’s Now to hear). My bad. 'Now' was where I first heard "Hello To The Wind", and I had always just thought of it, "Slow Change", and "Now" as being McDaniels songs without even checking. 'Now' is another album I've been thinking of for AOTW - it's a unique experience with the Hutcherson/Land group, the McDaniels lyrics and vocals, and the great writing on "Hello To The Wind" and "Slow Change". Joe Locke has recorded Hello to the Wind on his State Of Soul cd with Mark Ledford on vocals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Nessa Posted October 23, 2006 Report Share Posted October 23, 2006 Most of my favorite Shaw performances are as sideman. His "leader" dates always disappointed with the one exception of "Stepping Stones". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnS Posted October 25, 2006 Report Share Posted October 25, 2006 I was just playing this the other day. Certainly one I'd overlooked. It could easily become my favourite Woody Shaw album. Definitely a five star album. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidewinder Posted October 25, 2006 Report Share Posted October 25, 2006 (edited) The 32Jazz 2CD set with this one combined with the 'Iron Men' session is one of my favourites of Shaw with a very well balanced mid-sized group. Read somewhere that they didn't have much time to rehearse the arrangements at the Berlin performance and - if that is the case - it's an outstanding achievement. The 'Iron Men' session is pretty great too, with Muhal Richard Abrams. Edited October 25, 2006 by sidewinder Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted October 25, 2006 Report Share Posted October 25, 2006 Still remember finding a promo copy of this on a rainy afternoon @ a HalfPrice before it had made it into the stores, going home, firing up, and the buzz getting just right at the same time that "Obsequious" started. Woody's dead now, and no more firing up for me. But that's a sweet memory. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B. Clugston Posted October 26, 2006 Report Share Posted October 26, 2006 Read somewhere that they didn't have much time to rehearse the arrangements at the Berlin performance and - if that is the case - it's an outstanding achievement. The liner notes indicate that Woody rehearsed the band a lot in Berlin, yet also say it was all-new material and Frank Foster was a late addition. Slide Hampton also met the band in Berlin. The rest were part of Woody's quintet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyo Posted October 29, 2006 Report Share Posted October 29, 2006 Thanks for the recommendation, sounds interesting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest the mommy Posted November 2, 2006 Report Share Posted November 2, 2006 i think this is a good woody shaw disc. certainly better than stepping stones, imo. very good disc, actually. i wish someone like joe chambers was on drums rather than louis hayes, though. i have to say hayes sounds pretty good on this one, despite my misgivings. have you heard the swiss radio days woody shaw live CD from 1977? it is with hayes and matthews and rene mclean and stafford james on bass-i don't really like what hayes does to the music. no room for everyone to breath. and do you like the hayes lead stuff on muse from around this time with shaw? i like the real thing a lot. i would like to hear breath of life. but considering i don't really like hayes, this is a good disc and shaw sounds good. but the AOW disc is definitely a good one, especially when paired with the iron men. i really enjoy this version of "hello to the wind". it's nice shaw could bring in older school guys like foster and hampton (and even hayes) and have them adjust to his thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
felser Posted November 3, 2006 Author Report Share Posted November 3, 2006 i think this is a good woody shaw disc. certainly better than stepping stones, imo. very good disc, actually. i wish someone like joe chambers was on drums rather than louis hayes, though. i have to say hayes sounds pretty good on this one, despite my misgivings. have you heard the swiss radio days woody shaw live CD from 1977? it is with hayes and matthews and rene mclean and stafford james on bass-i don't really like what hayes does to the music. no room for everyone to breath. and do you like the hayes lead stuff on muse from around this time with shaw? i like the real thing a lot. i would like to hear breath of life. but considering i don't really like hayes, this is a good disc and shaw sounds good. but the AOW disc is definitely a good one, especially when paired with the iron men. i really enjoy this version of "hello to the wind". it's nice shaw could bring in older school guys like foster and hampton (and even hayes) and have them adjust to his thing. I like 'The Real Thing' and the Swiss Radio Days CD's a lot. 'Breath of Life' has much weaker personnel, and it affects the music, both the playing and the writing. Tex Allen and Gerald Hayes rather than Woody Shaw and Rene McLean. I like Hayes as a drummer much better than you do, but have never found him to be a strong leader on the sessions apart from the ones he co-led with Shaw. I know that Shaw expressed displeasure with the McLean/Mathews/James/Hayes group when he went to Columbia and had the group with Victor Lewis, et al, but I still think McLean/Mathews/James/Hayes was the best group he ever worked with, and that the 70's Muse sides are much stronger on balance than the Columbia's that came right after. The dissing of the Hayes et al group may have been publicity oriented, or may have had financial reasons. The 80's Muse sides I found a great disappointment, much too safe. I do like the live CD's on High Note quite a bit, and am still waiting for the excellent Elektra Musician sides to hit CD (anyone have any knowledge on why they still aren't out on CD? Or did I miss them somehow?). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest the mommy Posted November 3, 2006 Report Share Posted November 3, 2006 i have heard some live bootleg stuff with junior cook in as the tenor player and i generally find him to be a pretty rote and boring player, but this stuff is pretty good. i wonder if hayes felt more comfortbale with cook.... i remember in the liner notes to little red's fantasy, shaw sort of disses hayes and cook. so was cook after mclean? doesn't matter, i guess. in general anyone has to give hayes credit for taking part in this musical partnership with shaw as on the surface, they seem like an odd couple. but it worked out pretty well and hayes was obviously trying some fresh things and not sticking with what he came up with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
felser Posted November 3, 2006 Author Report Share Posted November 3, 2006 i have heard some live bootleg stuff with junior cook in as the tenor player and i generally find him to be a pretty rote and boring player, but this stuff is pretty good. i wonder if hayes felt more comfortbale with cook.... i remember in the liner notes to little red's fantasy, shaw sort of disses hayes and cook. so was cook after mclean? doesn't matter, i guess. in general anyone has to give hayes credit for taking part in this musical Cook came before McLean. The way I think it worked was: Cook and Hayes co-led a group together, Shaw joined that group (the CD Ichi-Ban has that group), Cook left and was replaced by McLean, with Shaw becoming co-leader with Hayes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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