king ubu

where is the best (easiest) place to buy? Probably Amazon - TCB says on their website that they're distributed by Amazon (they also mention Borders and Tower... not sure if Tower is still around and no clue who/what Borders is...)

Yes I attended that Paris concert by the Max Roach quintet and the Sonny Rollins trio. It was held at the Salle Pleyel. I was also busy that night making sure that Cecil Taylor would be able to get into the Salle Pleyel. He wanted to hear Rollins very bad. Plus Albert Ayler who would play next at Salle Pleyel had problems at his hotel (lost luggage). The musicians with Roach were staying at he same hotel and I remember that Hubbard was complaining that the the stars of the show (that included Roach but neither Hubbard or Ayler!) were staying at a better hotel! Seemed that a lot of worthy people were in Paris at the same time Oh man, I wish I'd been there, too! You better start writing your book now and digging up all the photos, too - a photo book with some shorter and longer stories in between, how great that woud be! (That's one for the "books I'd read if they'd exist" thread...)

Now playing Members, Don't Git Weary - and guess what, this (and also Lift Every Voice) is where for me - unintentionally - the focus while listening shifts away more and more from Max, towards the other musicians. Tolliver is great, Bartz also contributes a few nice solos (and his composition "Libra"), and Stanley Cowell is great to have on any album from that period... I'd have preferred Merritt on double bass, though... his sound on "Nommo" (Drums Unlimited) is so fat and boomy, he'd have had a better groove than on electric bass... and about Roach, I guess this is where the stuff happened, or started to happen, that the grown-ups have talked of at length, above... let me just say with respect to that discussion, that I'm quite clearly on Allen's side... now this doesn't mean "Members" is a bad album, not even a mediocre one, there's plenty of good music on it, but Max' own playing ain't quite so exciting any longer... (even though - I doubt I could, though - some may hear it's Max within one bar from any of the tunes...) edit: Merritt is partly on double bass (for instance on the title track) - but I'd wished he'd be on it on the funky opening number, for instance!

The Graz concert was the one where Hubbard got arrested on stage... Ha, that's funny! Have you heard his outbursts? It's all pretty pathetic... they should have just put a dumbass hat on his head for a few days instead of arresting him....

They have inverted the musicians' list. The group with Priester, Boswell and the Turrentine brothers plays only on the wrongly titled Kardouba and Stop Motion (AKA Juliano and La Villa). All the other tracks are played by the quartet w/ Jordan and Perkinson, plus Abbey Lincoln. "Long As You're Living" is wrong as well. It's "Lonesome Lover". The 1960 concert with the Turrentines and Priester was at the Alhambra theater on February 6. The Paris concert with Abbey Lincoln, Clifford Jordan, etc... was at the Théatre des Champs-Elysées if I remember right. Exact date was January 18, 1964. I was a delighted listener at both concerts! Thanks for clearing the Affinity info! Is any of that Paris material available on CD right now? I'd love to have seen Roach with any of these great bands... how about the 1966 tour with Hubbard/Spaulding/Mathews/Merrit (double bill with Sonny Rollin's trio), brownie - did they also stop by in Paris (I have parts of Graz and Stockholm concerts). I am happy enough to have seen Max live twice, once in that weird duo with Ibrahim (I mentioned it several times, won't repeat here), and once in quite a far-out setting, his Beijng Trio - I remember being impressed very much by that concert, back in 2001, by Max' open-mindedness, by the mere fact that he jumped into such territory (freely improvised, all or most of it), and even more so by the good outcome!

Drums Unlimited - Very nice one! The short solos are terrific, and the groove hit by Jymie Merritt and Ronnie Mathews (he sounds a lot like Bobby Timmons here) on "Nommo" is terrific! Freddie Hubbard is at his aggressive best - I quite like him as a sideman on most album's I've heard him (he appears on so many important albums!), while I don't like his leader dates that much... or I rather listen to them for the bands, not for him. Anyway, he's serious here! There's also the live date from the band's tour in late '66 where Hubbard asks the (white, of course) audience in Graz, Austria, to kiss his black ass... I'll have to play that again soon! Lift Every Voice and Sing - A collection of spirituals (except for #2 by one Patricia Curtis and Max Roach), arranged for choir and the Roach group, at that stage (1971) including Cecil Bridgewater and the great Billy Harper who does some apeshit soloing here - great! George Cables is on electric piano. I like this one a lot. It's more of its time and less a great piece of art than "It's Time", I think, but it has a lot going on, there's a certain aggressiveness in the music that reaches out and grabs me!

Don't miss "Land's End" and "Delilah"!

You won't regret it, you being such an Evans fan! I haven't made my way through all of it yet (I plan to, soon - but I've interrupted the Verve box halfway through the Trident dates to play some Roach today... so it will take me a while on my chronological Evans trip...)

Your Bremen tape looks like the one that came out on LP as "Max Roach Again" (Affinity). The mysterious "Ceciliana" should be a"Siciliana" by Bach or Handel... quite so indeed, from the setlist, but the band given here is pretty different A1 This Night Mountain A2 Ceciliana B1 Mop Mop B2 Jordu B3 Sophisticated Lady C1 Who Will Buy? C2 Love For Sale C3 Long As You're Living D1 Kardouba D2 Stop Motion Bass - Bob Boswell (tracks: A1 to B3) , Eddie Kahn (tracks: C1 to D2) Drums - Max Roach Piano - Coleridge Parkinson* (tracks: C1 to D2) Saxophone [Tenor] - Clifford Jordan (tracks: C1 to D2) , Stanley Turrentine (tracks: A1 to B3) Trombone - Julian Priester (tracks: A1 to B3) Trumpet - Tommy Turrentine (tracks: A1 to B3) Vocals - Abbey Lincoln (tracks: C1 to C3) Tracks A1 to B3: Concert - Paris , February 1960 Tracks C1 to D2: Concert - Unknown location , circa 1961 Source: http://www.discogs.com/release/698455

I like *that*, now!

You mean the one that can be seen on the Coltrane-Dolphy video? They had those cool abstract movable walls or wall decorations, b/w graphics (maybe they were in colour, but tv was b/w then...) I have some video material from Roach around that time but I don't have it logged to my files, hence I'd have to dig it up first... pretty cool, though, with Clifford Jordan in prime form (the Bremen is audio only, just in case).

Most reviews are negative about "Speak, Brother, Speak?" The only negative review I have ever seen is the bullshit entry in the Penguin Guide to Recorded Jazz. I have always really loved this album. Not downright negative - check AMG for an example - more like "the outcome is nice but inessential" and crap like that...

Bringing this back up as I'm listening to more of my Roach CDs right now... Some more impressions: Percussion Bitter Suite - that plaintive Booker Little solo on the opening "Garvey's Ghost" is a highlight! Julian Priester gets more and more away from just playing with a stunningly beautiful sound as he did in the Turrentines band. He gets more of that vocal quality that I like very much on the trombone. Dolphy's presence is much felt, in a good way, I'd say. His alto solo on "Mendacity" is stunning, another highlight of the album! It's Time - one of the best of those chorus albums. Max stands out here, his playing is so poised - awesome! Jordan has many fine spots and so has Richard Williams - too bad he wasn't getting more exposure, a very fine musician in any context I've heard him in (Jones/Lewis big band, Gigi Gryce, Mingus, his sole leader album on Candid, Lateef...) Speak, Brother, Speak! - Much better than most reviews want us to think! Jordan is on fire, Waldron does his long meandering lines. And Eddie Khan holds his own with a much earthier sound and delivery than Art Davis, more a felt bass player, but very much there, all of the time! And again Roach is doing great! This is a fairly simple, blowing album (though the two long numbers, or at least the first 25 minute long title track, are some kind of suites with various parts in changing tempos), other than the music preceeding it - the last Mercury albums, the Candid and the two Impulses all had larger line-ups and/or more thorough concepts and arrangements. Here they just blow, and it's good to hear them doing that! And the music is earthy and soulful, and yes, it swings!

under closer scrutiny - aren't we all assassins, with our luxury problems and fat cd collections.... sorry, but this thread title bothers me and I have not one disc by Wynton, never cared for what he did, am of the opinion that the whole ideological thing he does isn't good in any way - but this thread is just as ideologically one-sided, I think.

seems now it works again regularly - very weird... Anyway, MG, the album's a classic, really. And it's one of Roach's very, very best (I'd say together with the Brown/Roach material, if I'd had to select one, "Study In Brown", and "Percussion Bitter Suite" - those three might be the ones I'd pick if I had to). Hawkins' solo on "Driva Man" alone is worth the prize of admission! But be warned that the UK Candid version is a needle drop... not utterly bad quality, but Candid never had decent quality CDs, it seems...

I can't use the reply-function and post as usual, I get to a page that allows me to edit this poll... There's also this CD, which I have (I wonder if the dates are correct, or maybe it is the Berendt material?): Max Roach/Abbey Lincoln - Max Roach Live In Europe: Freedom Now Suite (Magnetic MRCD 110) Clifford Jordan (ts) Coleridge Perkinson (p) Eddie Khan (b) Max Roach (d) Abbey Lincoln (vo) "Old Fellows", Copenhagen, Denmark, January 14, 1964 Driva' Man Tears For Johannesburg Triptych: Prayer / Protest / Peace All Africa Freedom Day same personnel live in Stockholm, Sweden, January, 1964 Who Will Buy? Driva' Man Tears For Johannesburg I have this one, from Bremen - I guess neither of these are the JEB recordings (those would be from Freiburg, Baden-Baden or Stuttgart, I assume): Max Roach Bremen (DE), Radio Bremen, Grosser Sendesaal February 12, 1964 Clifford Jordon - tenor sax Coldridge Perkinson - piano Eddie Khan - bass Max Roach - drums Abbey Lincoln - vocals (#6-8) 1. The Highest Mountain (Clifford Jordan) 17:53 2. unknown (Ceciliana?) 7:05 [piano solo] 3. For Big Sid (Max Roach) 5:13 [drum solo, also known as "Mop Mop"] 4. Jordu (Duke Jordan) 7:04 [bass solo, acc. by piano & drums] 5. Sophisticated Lady (Duke Ellington) 6:09 6. Who Will Buy (Lionel Bart) 2:38 [omit ts] 7. Love for sale (Cole Porter) 4:06 [omit ts] 8. Lonesome Lover (Roach-Lincoln) 4:16 [inc] TT: 54:29 Sound: A- or A-/B+ Lineage: FM>7" tape reel>cass>CDR>EAC>HD

The Candid disc I just bought a couple of weeks ago from UK amazon also is a needle drop - sucks! I have the Columbia LP (the one with the sweet photo of Max, instead of the great original cover photograph) already but wanted the CD as I rarely play any LPs... About Lincoln, as I said (I guess several times), I'm not a big fan, really... she's at her best to my ears, right on this LP, most other things I've heard haven't really convinced me.

That list misses "Sonny Rollins Plays for Bird" (Prestige, 1956) - it's the only recording of the Roach quintet (some tracks minus KD, just quartet) in the version with the fine Wade Legge on piano. Rollins of course already used the full Roach Quintet for his own "Plus Four" album earlier on Prestige, too, but that was with Brownie still around, hence before the time-frame of this discussion, while the "Plays for Bird" fits right in with the first Mercury sessions with the same frontline of Rollins/KD and as usual George Morrow on bass.

Into the first lenghty live session(s) now - just started disc 5 (the date begins on disc 4 and goes on until disc 7) This is the Israels/Bunker trio - mighty fine!

Disc 3 now, quickly approaching the end of the fine Peacock/Motian trio date

I was posting this while elsewhere this other thread got started: They took Max Sad news Thanks for all the great music, Max Roach!

some background reading: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/aaohtml/aopart9.html the cover - one of my favourites: Since this is sarting halfway into the week only, I still hope some will be able to give this classic album a spin and post some thoughts. I haven't actually prepared anything on such short notice, but I'll try and spin it again soon. So for now, just a couple of impressions: Coleman Hawkins' tenor solo on "Driva Man" smokes! It's one of the strongest statements ever committed to record by Hawkins, in my opinion. It's full of raw emotion, once he even squeaks, but doing a re-take was no option (I think they offered it to him but he didn0t want to do it again). Also how Max stresses the first beat in this 5/4 number, so as the old Hawk doesn't get lost is creating a great kind of groove, kind of a stop and go feel which I love. Then there's Abbey Lincoln... I never liked her, the one two/third of her Riverside albums and the Candid album are just so-so, I think. But hell, that was a long way from the bar singing stuff she did, looking cute and singing nicely, to the extremely emotional "Tryptich" on this album! That track is still now hard to take for me, it's just too much, actually, too much emotion, too much screaming... but it's real. One last thought for now: the afro stuff on the second half fits in with the general black movement and all in all this album is one of the highwatermarks of politically engaged jazz, for me. But then it's so good on a musical level, it could be about any kind of crap... but probably if it had been, it wouldn't have ended up being so good on musical terms... anyway, there's the Rollins Freedom Suite and a few other things from the era that I love, most notably the 1960 Randy Weston album "Uhuru Afrika" (Roulette, reissued on the Weston Mosaic Select). That Weston album should be much better known and be part of the "canon" together with the Rollins and Roach Freedom Suites, in my opinion!

disc 2 now, once again leaving out the McFarland - don't feel like more than a trio right now... Go ahead, put me out of my misery. The McFarland session is one of the tops in terms of my favorite Evans session. Oh yes, I know... I left it out last time I made an attempt to dig into the Verve box and you (and also some others, I think) told me not to neglect it... anyway, I want to play the main beef and I'm in for some piano music, so it's the trios (plus solos / overdubs, will also play "Intermodulation"), but I'll leave the larger bands and the Zetterlund session for now. At this moment I'm into "Trio '64" and like it a lot more than last time!

disc 2 now, once again leaving out the McFarland - don't feel like more than a trio right now... and at this moment it's "Round Midnight", the opening number of "Conversations with Myself".

I've heard her on two radio broadcasts - she's great, in my opinion: A 32 ans, « Uncaged » marque pour Sophie Alour une étape décisive et audacieuse de son itinéraire. Si elle apprend la clarinette dès l’âge de 13 ans dans une école municipale de Quimper, ce n’est toutefois qu’à 19 ans qu’elle découvre le saxophone, et décide de s’y consacrer. Quelques incursions dans des écoles de jazz comme le CIM ou l’IACP sont des entorses à une formation avant tout autodidacte. Ces années d’apprentissage se concluent en 2000 par un passage à l’acte ambitieux, puisqu’elle participe à création du désormais légendaire Vintage Orchestra au sein duquel elle côtoiera entre autres Thomas Savy, Fabien Mary, Jerry Edwards et Yoann Loustalot. L’année suivante, Sophie Alour crée un sextet avec Stéphane Belmondo, et, toujours en 2001, joue aux côtés d’Olivier Zanot dans la formation Manita de Jean-Daniel Botta, avant d’intégrer d’un même élan le big-band de Christophe Dal Sasso et des frères Belmondo. Au sein de cette formation, elle enregistrera l’album « Ouverture » et se produira à Marciac, au Parc Floral, ainsi qu’une fois par mois au Sunset pendant plusieurs années. Une nouvelle étape est franchie quand Rhoda Scott l’engage pour former en 2004 son quartet, au sein duquel elle va prochainement enregistrer. Lorsqu’elle ouvre, aux côtés de l’ambassadrice de l’orgue Hammond, le Festival de Vienne 2004 sur la grande scène, Sophie Alour commence à s’affirmer comme l’une des plus voix les plus prometteuses de sa génération. Elle remporte ainsi la même année le Tremplin Jazz de Vannes, joue dans le big-band de Wynton Marsalis, et participe au projet chanté d’Aldo Romano. L’année 2004 se conclut par l’enregistrement avec le guitariste Huggo Lippi d’une maquette qui, écoutée par le label Nocturne, aboutit à la production de son premier album en leader, « Insulaire », publié en 2005. L’accueil enthousiaste que la critique lui réserve en tant qu’instru- mentiste ne doit pas faire oublier que huit titres sur dix sont des compositions originales, et qu’Insulaire marque aussi l’avènement d’une brillante compositrice de thèmes inspirés et évocateurs. Sophie Alour n’en continue pas moins son exploration de toutes les facettes du jazz actuel, et on la retrouve aussi bien sur le disque d’Alexandre Saada « Be where you are », que dans le Pepper Pils, le big-band électro de Benjamin Roy avec lequel elle enregistre l’album « DJ Killer ». Tandis que ses prestations en club se multiplient devant un public toujours plus nombreux à la découvrir ou à la suivre de près, elle invite un soir des musiciens à jouer à ses côtés : Laurent Coq (piano), Karl Jannuska (batterie) et Yoni Zelnik (basse). Ce soir-là, une rare alchimie se produit : une cohésion fusionnelle soude le groupe auquel il ne manque plus qu’un ingrédient iconoclaste pour expliquer la genèse d’Uncaged. Cet ingrédient, c’est le guitariste Sébastien Martel qui va l’apporter de la scène rock. Autant d’incitations à ne pas démêler ce qui, dans ce deuxième album relève encore de l’improvisation plutôt que de l’écriture. De la déclaration de guerre ou du récit de paix. Derrière le parfum sulfureux de dissidence contre des formes trop explorées, on décèle dans Uncaged une Sophie Alour aguerrie, tenant les promesses de son passé, et décuplant celles de son avenir. ("biography" taken from her website)