kenny weir

Ha - Go Socceroos! Go Socceroos? Kenny's fall-back position: Go you freaking Kiwis! (Kenny, NZ passport holder/citizen, who's been too lazy to take out Oz citizenship despite living here for 20+ years ...) I just like drama and upsets and underdogs upsetting apple carts! Maybe by the end of the weekend it'll all be clearer. But at the moment, what to we have? France in dis-array, Spain beaten by the Swiss, Germany losing in the group stage for the first time since Lord knows when, England drawing with the US ... Bring it on!

Sweet! France thumped by a team wearing a strip virtually identical to that of ... Ireland.

Duh!

Kiwis! Geez that's a bit harsh, ain't it? I know - let's restrict the WC to soccer royalty, that should fix things up. Just Italy, Argentina, Spain, Brazil, etc etc. No underdogs, no upsets, no drama. Reminds me of when Australia had to play Uruguay to get there last time. When the South Americans missed out, some were miffed that previous WC winners were gone. That was what? Half a century ago? Go the underdogs!

Inspired by this thread, this is what I've been digging over the past coupla days: Bunks' Brass Band (American Music). As already assessed here, just fantastic! The band tracks are great, too, with better sound than some of the other Bunk/Lewis outings. The Dirty Dozen Brass Band Plays Jelly Roll Morton (Columbia). They've never really done it for me, but I automatically picked this up on release because of the Jelly theme. This was at the time they were moving away from a purer BB sound, using a drum kit and so on. I don't have a problem with that, but this still sounds wooden to me. Although I do like George French's vocal on Milenberg (sic) Joys. Narration by Danny Barker. Maceo Parker - Southern Exposure (Novus). On two cuts - Mercy, Mercy, Mercy and Walking Home Together - Maceo is backed by a sizzling ReBirth. On the rest he's good, too, with his regular team of the time (Larry Goldings, Rodney Jones, Bill Stewart, Pee Wee Ellis, Fred Wesley) on board. ReBirth Brass Band - Rollin', Kickin' It Live, Take It To The Street (all Rounder). Given that almost all my jazz/blues/country listening in recent years has been of the vintage variety, with po/rock from the '60s/'70s, it's no surprise that with BBs I prefer the older stuff! They'll keep 'til the time is right. Danny Barker - Save The Bones (Orleans). Not brass band but notable anyway. The guru/mentor/inspiration for the BB revival plays standards - just vocal and guitar. Sweet! Baby Dodds - Talking And Drum Solos (Atavistic Unheard Music Series). The Dodds component is of minimal interest to me. But the second half of the disc - 20 tracks - features 1954 recordings of what are referred to as "country brass bands". Some cursory Googling didn't turn up the location of the Laneville-Johnson Union Brass Band or the Lapsey Band. Maybe Mississippi or Alabama? In any case, this is some wild stuff. And for all the shared repertoire with New Orleans bands (Precious Lord, Sing On, Gloryland and so on), the difference is stark. You know that sound of buzzing mozzies that is driving everyone watching the World Cup mad? That's what these dudes sound like - except maybe they're a little more tuneful. But only a little! But taken in small doses, and amazing insight into a non-NO aspect of the BB tradition. I suspect an anorak like Jeff has this tucked away somewhere! And in my shopping basket at cdconnection are: Eureka Brass Band - New Orleans Funeral And Parade Olympia Brass Band Of New Orleans - Olympia Brass Band Of New Orleans Young Tuxedo Brass Band - Jazz Begins-Sounds Of New Orleans Streets: Funeral I'm also thinking about ordering this on Rounder: I had this on vinyl back in the day when I was hot for this stuff. I recall it as being a beaut compilation featuring the ReBirth, DDBB, the Chosen Few Brass Band and Dejan's Olympia Brass Band

Oh BS - this what we're all here for! I'll check this out later - I'm on World Cup duty right now. Seriously, thanks for this all Jeff - I guess I was looking for a new tangent to (re)pursue, so it was fun today dusting off albums such as ReBirth's Rollin'. And I put various albums, including the New Birth and the Young Tuxedo Brass Band on my cdconnection wishlist today as well. Keep 'em coming!

Hey Jeff, I for one would really like you to do a round-up of the best/funkiest/quirkiest/wildest NO BB albums from the past decade or so. I've lost touch with that scene since my last trip there (in 2000, for a friend's wedding). I thrash my 9-y-o son on a weekly basis to compensate for my financial inabability to return to my second home! One thing I dig about the younger BBs is the whacked-out cover versions! And the funk/reggae influences.

Doesn't look all that likely @ 75 minutes.

Why do you say this? Seriously - I'm very interested. Is there some technical and/or stylistic marker that makes brass bands NOT jazz, even per se? Because, especially considering some bands at some times, jazz was only part of what they did. (Disclaimer: I'm not really interested in defining what jazz is and isn't - that has never seemed like an important question to me.) Take the Eureka BB's New Orleans Funeral and Parade album - of the 30 minutes of music on the original issue (there's a lot more on the CD), less than 10 minutes would sound like jazz to most people. The rest of the music consists of slow funeral marches, mostly played from written music. And when I say I don't really think of N.O. brass band music as jazz per se, that's not meant to be a value judgment, like it's "less than jazz," or "too fun to be jazz" or "too funky to be jazz" or anything like that. The more you live with this music, the more it seems like its own music, with its own conventions and traditions. If anyone wants to think of it as Jazz with a capitol J, that's fine with me, though. If it helps to know where I'm coming from, I just did a quick count - I've got over 50 CDs of New Orleans brass band music. I'm not going to count my vinyl, because it's mixed in with my other jazz. (How's that for a contradiction? See how seriously I take my position?) But I have a lot, including the Dirty Dozen's first two singles, which came out before the Concord album and which have never been reissued. And seeline, I've spent a lot of time in New Orleans, and I really think most of the musicians in that wonderful city don't think about whether it's jazz or not. I think they just play music. Jeff, I'm not in any great hurry to pinpoint what is and isn't jazz, either. And I know for sure you didn't mean any dissing in your comment. It's a reasonably common attitude. But nevertheless, I find this an interesting thing to discuss. AFAIK, jazz can be - and is - funky. And AFAIK, jazz can be other things at the same time as it is still being still jazz. Likwise, I bet nobody'd come right out and say funeral marches are not jazz, nor ever will be. Written music. Blimey - that covers heaps of jazz. When I listen to the likes of the ReBirth - live or on record - for me, what I am hearing is pretty much what I consider the purest of jazz: It swings, it's improvised, what more does anyone want? At risk of sounding like an old fogey - which, BTW, I don't mind at all - it all sure as hell sounds a whole helluva lot more like jazz than plenty of other stuff that is routinely discussed by the Penguins. Maybe I should restrict my puzzlement on this issue to them. Do I have a chip on my shoulder about them? Yes - based on their remarkably high-handed, condescending and (frankly) disgusting attitude towards Australian music. That this is a meaningless conversation from the viewpoint of any NO musician/resident/second-liner is a significant part of what makes me love the city so! Which restaurant?

I suspect that - in the case of the ReBirth and the like, and in at least a few quarters - the fact this music is created with the sole purpose of having fun disqualifies it.

Cool idea for a thread! I have this one: ... and a whole bunch of ReBirth CDs. For quite a while there, I was hot into this stuff. Saw the ReBirth at the Maple Leaf and other sites, including the NO fairgrounds, on numerous occasions, as well as many of the other younger outfits. Good times! Going by your interesting essay, Jeff, there's maybe some earlier stuff that I have yet to hear that may push my buttons, too. I also have this one: ... but I know I am not alone in thinking that clarinetist Michael White makes every disc he plays on unlistenable. Why do you say this? Seriously - I'm very interested. Is there some technical and/or stylistic marker that makes brass bands NOT jazz, even per se? For mine, at the right time and right place, brass bands can be the very personification of jazz. Is the fact you can dance to it - often times, MUST dance to it - used against it? Well, the swing era full of dat, too. And it's always puzzled me that the Penguins, for instance, have never given space to the ReBirth. Although they have covered the Bunk record in his listing s.

. I'd say that the Chicago guys (and those associated with them) were playing small-band jazz as they felt it, not looking back to New Orleans. In practice, the rhythm sections were closer to what we would call swing style; the ensembles were loose (no arrangements!), and they definitely liked four beats to the bar. The West Coast bands tried to stay "truer" to the New Orleans gospel, somewhat naively, in my opinion. That's not to say that they didn't create some good music (I kind of like Turk Murphy, for example), but they were sometimes pointlessly archaic. A lot of Dixieland bands who think they sound like New Orleans bands really sound like their West Coast "echoes." The New Orleans musicians who recorded starting in the 1940s - that's a whole 'nother thing. I'm fascinated by how the ensemble style of the New Orleans recordings from the forties, fifties, and early sixties differs so much from the "classic" New Orleans style of 1920s records by King Oliver, Jelly Roll Morton, etc. In those early records, the instrumental roles are pretty clearly defined - the trumpet (or cornet) played the lead; if there was a second trumpet, it harmonized with the first; the clarinet played high countermelodies and bridged the gaps between the trumpet phrases; the trombone played spare, quasi-bass countermelodies. In the "revival" recordings, there is a much more complex and subtle sharing of roles. At the beginning and end of a piece, the trumpet usually has the lead, but otherwise, any one of the front-line instruments can be playing a first, second, or third part. And they change roles spontaneously between choruses. It's really amazing, and in my opinion demonstrates as well as any other body of recordings how jazz can be populist music and art at the same time. You can really hear this in the long "Midnight Blues" from the Bunk Johnson album you got. And there's an album from the 60's that is on G.H.B. - Kid Howard at the San Jacinto Hall - that just kills me. There's hardly a solo on the entire record - it's all ensemble, and almost every chorus has a different relationship of lead, second and third parts among the trumpet, clarinet, and trombone. And you know nobody talked about it beforehand - they just played. Yes, I am fascinated by this changing dynamic, too. And remember, there were folks - such as Jim Robinson who were in involved in both. Allen, Chuck, Chris, others may have more well-founded views ... but I wonder if the difference comes with the revival-era records often deliberately seeking a looser, jammier feel. As compared to, say, the more formal feel of the Oliver and Morgan sides - just to name two. In other words, I wonder if the revival-era funky ensemble sound had actually been around for some time - but simply not recorded. At times, it certainly sounds archaic enough - whether by nature or by design, I care not!

oh man, happy days!

Just jumping into some more of this stuff now Kenny. Thanks for the recommendations. Also wandering over to West Coast revivalist stuff -- Turk Murphy, Lu Watters, etc. Hey Paps, I'm curious to know what specific albums of this kinda stuff you've picked up????

Good ones! I certainly agree with the Patsy Clines - her singing got a lot better, more than sufficiently so to counter the countrypolitan backings.

I've been enjoying this for a week or so now. Lovely release, great music, but ... I'm a fan of this era's jazz, but I'm hardly an anorak for it. Yet, without even going to the racks and perusing That Devilin' Tune, the four-volume From Ragtime To Jazz series on Timeless and a few other comps, I already know that I have at least 15 or so of the 40 tracks, so I wonder a bit about who they're aiming this at. I didn't quick comparisons of the Halfway House and Parenti tracks with the Jazz Oracle and Frog CDs, respectively; like the new release versions better but there wasn't a lot in it, and I didn't feel I was missing anything with the earlier reissues. Have just listened to the Ory instrumentals, and they DO sound great - so maybe the Halfway House/Parenti tunes are pretty good on my earlier purchases. Hadn't heard the Hightower tracks before, so they really stand out. I also liked the Billy & Mary Mack cuts with Punch Miller. Not normally the sort of thing I enjoy, but these are a gas. I dig the Johnny De Troit cuts a bunch, too. The spoken word cuts are nice first and second time 'round, but now I'm simply skipping them.

Yeah, but guess which one has been listened to a whole bunch more in the years since!

There's folks - not necessarily myself - who rate the slightly big band renditions of the likes of Mahogany Hall Stomp and Struttin' With Some Barbecue as better than those done Oliver and/or the Hot5/7. And personally, I prefer the live Great Society versions of White Rabbit and Somebody To Love to any subsequent Airplane versions, though I suspect I'm pretty much alone on that. Different band, too, but same singer.

Australia looks like a sad sack case. Too bad! I'll be barracking for the US against England!

I was in a deep soul groove last night, so played this: Gosh, it's brilliant! The original Muscle Shoals recordings are cool, but for mine these ARE better. Soul purists no doubt get a bit sniffy, especially I'd guess with the big drum sound. But with the likes of original culprits Dan Pen, Spooner Oldham and Donnie Frits and more on board, this is simply masterly and gorgeous, imbued with the sort of ease of master musicians at the top of their game. The warmth, pathos and soulfulness of tunes such as Really Got To Be This Way and In The Middle Of It All is majestic in outcome. Once I started thinking along these lines, the first that came to mind was this: This was an early release on the Alligator label, and as such quite out of step with the Hound Dog Taylor, Son Seals and Walter Horton stuff they were doing at the time. I loved and played it to death - along with Live At The Regal, it was IIRC my introduction to sophisticated horn-laden blues. I subsequently realised that Robinson had earlier recorded virtually every track on the album as singles for various labels. Through set sales and auction I gradually tracked them all down. They were good, but not as good as the album - and, for obvious reason, certainly not as cohesive as a whole. ********** So what else? Van recently did Astral Weeks. It got a heap of praise - but I don't recall anyone saying it was better. Just different ... Duke continually reworked his material - IIRC The Popular Duke Ellington is particularly highly regarded. But, again, no one claims the later recordings are superior. Country guys like Ernest Tubb also redid stuff over and over - usually in tandem with label changes. Quality varies greatly! Same with Bob Wills. Bobby Fuller's Mustang sides are markedly more polished and exciting than the demo/live stuff released by Norton. IMO. Does Brian Wilson's Smile qualify? Muddy Waters' albums with Johnny Winter made a big noise at the time, and continue to have their adherents. But I suspect a lot of the initial acclaim had more to do with the very mixed bag that was Muddy's previous couple of decades' output. Sonny Boy Williamson redid several songs for Chess that he'd already cut for Trumpet - but I don't know that "better" would be quite the right word. For some folks - I'm thinking particularly of Monk, Professor Longhair, the Grateful Dead, earlier Allmans and (to some extent) Sun Ra - the constant reworking of a repertoire is pretty much what they do, so that doesn't seem to count. Had a buddy 'round last night to watch football and tennis, and even given we were somewhat distracted, we didn't come with too many names to add to the Superior Remake list.

Apologies for offence where none was intended. I was agreeing with you. I have spent countless thousands of dollars and months at a time paying homage to your culture over multiple trips to South Louisiana. I have spent much again on South Louisiana records over the past four decades, playing many of them on a weekly radio show here in Melbourne. Insignificant? Not in my world. Maybe it'd be cool if it was otherwise, but I figure the idea Johnson has an international footprint far beyond that of Iry is self-evident. Stating so is not any way meant to be a comment on their respective merit or worthiness or genius. I have the first two of those - and I agree.

I hear you - I am quite familiar with his music. But there's a difference: It'd be hard to argue that Iry hold the same sort of mythical status in cajun, IMO, as RJ does in blues. Or that cajun is any way comparable to delta blues in the context of this sort of multinational myth-making. I LOVE tradition-based but ever-evolving music - these days I really don't listen to much else. But for many, RJ is perceived as The Beginning, The Big Bang. Check out the reviews for the box set at Amazon, for instance.

This was the very nub of my initial barf. However, had the blogger linked at the start displayed the same sort of big ears as have become obvious on this thread, I may have been a bit more sanguine! So I'm hip with RJ's achievement, no matter how realised. In fact, I'm happy to consider it even more laudable for the chutzpah and brilliance of it. But I am interested in this: Leaving the 78s alone as a sort of stand-alone prize, did he have any or much influence on the future course of the delta blues and blues in general? My guess is "no", or at least no more than any other individual participating in what seems like a sort of collective tradition.

This is all very interesting. But regardless, I'm sure there's one thing we can just about all agree upon - the jewel case is the stupidest creation, evah, of mankind.

Me, too - but fundamentally prefer Patton. This is the thing - the RJ phenom seems to stand alone, a sort of tunnel vision. When people like this guy says he's the "best", I wonder just who - if anyone - they're comparing him to. Absolutely! But like Muddy, he was part of a tradition. In fact, given how he transformed that tradition, it could be argued Muddy's the far more significant artist.