Bennie Wallace

[B. Goren.]

So far, only two of his recordings in my collection: Disorder at the Border: The Music of Coleman Hawkins and Plays Monk. I find both of them very enjoyable. What else do you recommend?

[king ubu]

I'm quite a fan!

The live recording Berlin 2000 (Disorder is from Berlin 2004 or 2005) with George Cables is great (a terrific "It's Only a Paper Moon", among other good things.

http://www.enjarecords.com/cd.php?nr=ENJ-9425

Also "Big Jim's Tango", a trio with Dave Holland and Elvin Jones.

http://www.jazzrecords.com/enja/4046.htm

"Live at the Public Theater" is an early one in trio setting with Eddie Gomez and Dannie Richmond:

http://www.jazzrecords.com/enja/9127.htm

His debut "The Fourteen Bar Blues" (with Gomez & Eddie Moore) is fine but not that good, I think:

http://www.jazzrecords.com/enja/3029.htm

"Mystic Bridge", a rather unlikely encounter with Chick Corea, is pretty good (though not particularly because of Corea). It has just come out in the new Enja 24 bit series:

http://www.enjarecords.com/cd.php?nr=ENJ-2108

His Gershwin tribute, "Someone to Watch Over Me", has a very annoying cover but it's another very fine disc, with Mulgrew Miller on piano:

http://www.enjarecords.com/cd.php?nr=ENJ-9356

The other Enjas (Sweeping, Free Will, Talk of the Town and the newer Nearness of You) I don't know/have yet.

Two other fine ones are on the AudioQuest label, the better of them it just titled "Bennie Wallace" and has Tommy Flanagan on piano throughout, with a few very fine songs being done. The other one's called "Old Songs" and is partly in trio and partly with Lou Levy on piano.

He also did two albums for Blue Note in the 80s, I have "Bordertown" on LP. It's a bit of a ragbag, with changing line-ups including Scofield, Ray Anderson and I think Dr. John, too... not bad, though. Maybe a CD full of the best of the two albums would be a nice thing to have. To my knowledge, both are LP only so far and my hopes to find the other one aren't exactly high...

http://www.enjarecords.com/cd.php?nr=ENJ-2108

[JohnS]

The only ones I have are 'Sweeping Through The City' (vinyl) on Enja with Ray Anderson and John Scofield, there's a gospel group on one track, and the two Blue Notes, 'Bordertown' and 'Twilight Time'. These are good timey things with Dr John, Anderson and Sco again. Good fun. Recommended

[B. Goren.]

Thank you Flurin and John. The trio format recordings look very interesting.

Edited June 8, 2007 by B. Goren.

[king ubu]

Thank you Flurin and John. The trio format recordings look very interesting.

If you want to go one by one, get "Big Jim's Tango" next. Next trio would be the "Public Theater" recording. But first/in between I'd get one of the great quartet sets (Live in Berlin or the Gershwin or the self-titled AudioQuest if you can find that).

There are a few more albums of Bennies that I didn't mention in my post, newer ones, that means between 2000 and "Disorder" which is the latest release, I think. I kind of lost track as some have been released on small US labels that don't have any distribution over here (there's at least one, blue cover, something with "Moods..." in the title, "Moodsville"? I think it's been mentioned here but don't ask me in what thread...)

[Nate Dorward]

He did two excellent discs for Denon which are really worth seeking out: Brilliant Corners with Yosuke Yamashita, and The Art of the Improviser which features him sparring with multiple tenor-sax partners.

I put one track off Brilliant Corners on BFT 14 a few years back, actually.

I really love Wallace's sound & spirit & humour. I think I first heard him doing a blues called "Broadside" on one of those One Night with Blue Note albums. It's a great track & I wish I still owned it (my cassette copy crapped out long ago).

[Head Man]

My only recording by him is 'Big Jim's Tango'. It's excellent.

[mikeweil]

Second the recommendation on the Audioquest CDs - they sound excellent, too.

[Aggie87]

The only ones I have are 'Sweeping Through The City' (vinyl) on Enja with Ray Anderson and John Scofield, there's a gospel group on one track, and the two Blue Notes, 'Bordertown' and 'Twilight Time'. These are good timey things with Dr John, Anderson and Sco again. Good fun. Recommended

Twilight Time also has the added novelty of Stevie Ray Vaughan performing on a couple of tracks; I believe it's his only time on Blue Note.

[Peter Friedman]

These are the Bennie Wallace CD that I have. They are all good ones.

Bennie Wallace - Audioquest (with Tommy Flanagan)

The Old Songs - Audioquest (with Lou Levy)

Someone To Watch Over Me - Enja (with Mulgrew Miller)

In Berlin - Enja (with George Cables)

The Nearness Of You - Enja/Justin Time (with Kenny Barron)

Disorder At The Border: The Music Of Coleman Hawkins - Enja/Justin Time (a nonet session)

Moodsville - Groove Note SACD (with Mulgrew Miller)

I find it interesting that Bennie Wallace selected such an excellent number of piano players for these CDs.

[kh1958]

I have Twilight Time and the Free Will, both on LP. I saw him live at the Caravan of Dreams, back in 1988.

[Late]

Is Big Jim's Tango out-of-print? Amazon has used copies starting at $50. If anyone knows where I can locate an affordable copy, please PM!