king ubu

Nice new little sale... (9 € per disc, quite good for swiss prizes, but if you see *what* I got at this prize...): Yesterday: - both Vogue "Bebop in Paris" volumes - "Two Argentinians in Paris" Vogue disc - Martial Solal "Ni tambour ni trompetter" (RCA Gold Series) - Guy Lafitte "Sugar and Spice" (RCA Gold Series) - Bill Evans "The Piano Player" (Sony/Legacy) Today: - Martial Solal Vogue Vol. 4 - Gary Burton "A Genuine Tong Funeral" ("old" French RCA)

The McGhee sides are nice, some nice Jimmy Heath there. Fit in with the McGhee sides on the "Bebop" disc that was released as part of the Jazz in Paris series (pictured above). The Ernie Royal sides came as quite a surprise to me! Very nice to hear this trumpet player stretch out! Ted Kelly, whom I otherwise only know from some Prez dates (where he is very much in Lester's shadow - but who wouldn't be...) is fine, too, and James Moody is, well, James Moody. The bass-drum team is a Ducal one, Wendell Marshall and Butch Ballard, the later pulling some cool tricks now and then. Raymond Fol is on piano. Then the Moody sides - best part of this disc! Moody is smokin'! Check him out on "Lover Come Back to Me" - very impressive! Guérin is trying hard to keep the tempo there, and frankly does not succeed, really... however, he adds a few nice touches here and there. Fol again is on piano, Michelot on bass, and Pierre Lemarchand on drums. Minor goof: Moody plays alto throughout. This disc fits right in with the three Clifford Brown volumes. More great Gryce arrangements and tunes (plus a couple of really nice Quincy Jones tunes, too), and great playing by Gryce, Farmer, Anthony Ortega, Jimmy Cleveland... Highlights include "Evening in Paris", a haunting Jones theme played by Gryce with Jimmy Gourley and Quincy on piano, Gryce's flute feature, "I Can't Get Started", a great Cleveland performance on "Purple Shades" (the other Quincy tune), and a couple of great Ortega solos on two takes of "Strike up the Band" (these two plus "Serenate to Sonny", an Ortega tune, are the three cuts by Farmer, the other seven are by Gryce). Other minor goof: the second take of "Strike up the Band" is not a quartet cut, but also features Ortega and Clifford Solomon (both in ensemble and solo). The solo order is different from the first take (which also has a Cleveland solo) - I am not sure if Cleveland is playing in the ensemble, but I think I cannot hear him... I am aware of brownie's post above mourning the lack of alternates, but I tell you: for me who has never before heard these recordings, that's not a big problem, even at only 36 or 37 minutes, this disc is full with prime music, and Gryce's bittersweet sound and his great arranging are enough to make me happy!

Sounds great, thanks for letting us know, brownie! But let me ask: is this really part of the series, with that colourful cover? Very much unlike all the others! ← Alright, lucky me stumbled over three of these fine discs today in a sale! First a few thoughts about this one: carefully packaged, extensive new liners, plus original (French) liners, plus facsimile of front and back of both original LPs... very nice! This one, btw, is not dedicated to Renaud - maybe this is sort of a "hors série" release? Whatever, about the music: the Schiffrin (his frenchified name back then) is a nice latin piano album, with Michelot barely audible on bass (and actually I don't care, Schifrin's left hand is strong enough!), and drums and latin percussion. Very nice one! They do "Mon homme", a "Mambop" that resembles... what was it again, "Misterioso"? And my favourite cut is "Pigalle". The Piazzolla sides are indeed tango sides, nothing jazz there, even with Martial Solal on piano (the rest of the band - mostly strings - remain anonymous). This is a beautiful early glimpse of Piazzolla. I am not at all an expert, but I've not heard any Piazzolla in such a big line-up (other, more traditional tango, yes, but Piazzolla only in small groups, so far). These sides are a lot to my liking, though! Probably the whole disc is a bit on the light side, buth wtf! Spin it, smile, and enjoy life for 45 minutes

Went with "Sun Ship" - that was maybe the first ever "free jazz" disc I "got", and I still love it today! What a beautiful album!

you know when that guy tried to get cute and all and follow some nice accordion with some more accordion and then some silly film music and then some more B3 accordion. i vote for the fifty minute blindfold test from now on! just stop that #7 after #14 is all. can't wait for the revised second edition. or maybe he'll send out a second disc or at least the outer ring of one that you can glue down onto the other. ← Please be sure you add some explanation like these here: http://www.hepcatwilly.com/index.php?id=806

I don't know that much about the history of Montreux, but the liners to the McCann/Harris disc talk about the early years, when it was just a weekend in summer... now it has turned into a huge (and very commercial) event that spans a month or so, has two main stages plus numerous small venues, is sponsored by Heineken, thus you're not allowed to drink any beer there (unless Heineken fits your idea of "beer" ). Jazz is being played a bit more again, nowadays, but I remember that often during the last ten or so years, there were only three or four nights of jazz in the programme, all else world, funk, soul, rock/pop, whatever brought in the crowds... "jazz" in the title is but a selling argument ("jazz" is sexy, you know? Even YSL came to that conclusion...). I never bothered to go there, but I assume that back in the day (sixties, maybe into the late seventies?) it must have been a great venue to check out mainstream jazz of all kinds. Of course the Evans and Carter discs are favourites, too, and there's a great RRK disc, too:

Not every track features this vocalist. In my opinion, the entire album is very interesting and I would highly recommend you give it a listen. ← Guy, it's a very good disc! One of those that for me impersonates the recent wave of "mediterranean" music (be it "jazz" or not...). There's a fine gang of musicians on the disc, Favre, Garcia-Fons, Matinier, Godard, Trovesi, the singers, and Pino (who is all over the place at least on the more "prestigious" of these kinds of projects, it seems... the Enja ones, instead of those on really "small" labels). You really should give at least this disc and some (no matther which, all that I've heard are great) Instabile disc a chance! (I would recommend the "Instabile Festival" 2CD release on Leo that features many bands-within-the-band, from trumpet and trombone duos to trios, quartets and quintets in various line-ups). What was that about BFT#7, dear Man-Sir?

Don't have Funny Rat and Daredevil - is the later this one? She's good in the looks department, but I'd never treat me to such stupid films... I did enjoy "Alias" though (confession fits nostalgia -_- )

Hehehehe... nostalgic rats, us! Btw: the Guy was recorded again in studio (I think in Germany - maybe that's why they did not have Pfister or Pearson). Pearson probably did the Zurich set, but I can't say for sure. Maybe they indeed found the live recordings to be lacking *on record*, in some respect? An interesting case, for sure, that shows how much a live concert can differ from a mere "phonographic print" of it...

This is the music that blew David and me away, when we heard/saw it performed live. Weird enough - I konw I promised to transfer the sets long time ago... - the recordings (both of the Zurich concert we saw, and the Basel concert the day before) do not have nearly as much of an impact at me. And interestingly I met someone else who was blown away by the live performance and caught the radio broadcast later, but didn't even recognize it, until when it was over the announcer said what it was. Strange! YESSIR! The dried rat dog is a terrific disc, indeed! Highly recommended, and in its own way a perfect successor to the other-worldly "Insterstellar Space" album of Coltrane/Rashied!

Uh... not to take my earlier statement back, but: what I mean is: Drake is being hailed as drummer's messiah or whatever, and that he is not. That's what I meant. He is simply a good drummer, among many others, not the best of them all and so sensationally great! See what I mean? That said, I like most of the recordings (and live sets) I have with him!

Thanks for the reminder! I know I should check out some Gratkowski... in fact that goes back to when I first met David - he played some in the car, on the way to hear the awesome Barry Guy New Orchestra and after that... the Gratkowski quartet, of course (which was rather bland, though I liked the partial broadcast of the concert a bit better than the actual concert... may have to do with the fact that following up Guy's gang that night was an incredibly hard task!)

Happy Birthday!

To add a bit to the Henry Grimes saga... Just finished a first listen to Grimes set from the 2004 Tampere festival in Finland, with Khan Jamal, Jemel Moondoc, and Hamid Drake. Very good set, not as free as the Crispell-Grimes-Cyrille trio, but all the better so! Jamal is great, Moondoc, too, and Drake - wtf, is that man a funk drummer or what? Fits in nicely here, but he does indeed very often play generic funk and fusion beats (you know, like the hi-hat stuff that Tony does on "In A Silent Way", just - of course... it's Drake - more intricate). Well, whatever Drake is (not that great a drummer as he seems to be, from what one hears about him, but that's just my opinion), this set is quite good! A nice blend of sound, too, with as-vib-b-d, and Grimes is mixed normally, not so ridiculously loud as he was when I saw the trio. Also he is playing more walking stuff and does not try to do flashy stuff that may (or may not) end up in boring fumbling and fuzzy sounds.

Don't have this release, but I have the French LP package of the Columbia recordings, as well as the respective Masters of Jazz discs... Columbia just doesn't get it right, of late... not even with Duke. This disc - while certainly a good collection, and probably a *great* listen, if they managed to pick out those tracks from the Columbia years that are terrific (I assume the really good ones should all fit onto one CD, but then you'd have to leave out many good ones...). However, this release should just be the teaser, and then ther should be a 3CD set collecting all of it... (dream on)

RIP - have to spin some of those Tristano sides again soon! And "Plectrist", too - a great musician!

Just gave this little puppy a first spin: I really like it! Got it thanks to gnhrtg and the pay-it-forward thread (and David's - you know, the fella who wrote 25% of the posts in this thread - recommendation pushed me over the edge to ask for it in that thread). Puschnig and Dickbauer on various reeds (plus flute by Puschnig and little instruments by both) make a great match, Godard goes all over his feghing tuba - that guy is mad, I tell you! Herbert Joos adds some nice touches on trumpet, too. Funny to hear this kind of songs being interpreted in a "jazzy" way, with improvisation, ostinati, grooves, funny stuff etc. These songs are rather similar to some swiss folk songs and traditional songs, so somehow there is always some kind of natural reluctancy to deal with this (most of the folk music in Switzerland and Germany and Austria being nothing but an ugly, television-compatible, sell-out that has nothing to do with folk traditions, but everything with how to make big $$ with the stupidity of backwards-minded people with little brains...). However, this disc just blows all these potential drawbacks away within the first couple of bars...

another on the Guyvoronski / Petrova - I recently posted about it, after finally giving it a spin. A very nice disc! About Piazolla - man! You're in for a treat, I tell you! I'm far from being knowledgeable, myself, but the couple of live sets I have I love! Both have those de Lempicka tasteless sell-out covers, but the music is great!

I'm really having a hard time finding answers to all the refined questions Allen asked. This site may help him answer the question about what is the capital of Montana. Then, here's a sample of Hoagy's "Stardust" - nice chance to train your ears a bit again, and find out about them changes yourself! Here, then, is a website about professors (they should know, shouldn't they?) trying to work out why birds sing: http://www.physorg.com/news3849.html. This book may also be helpful, however only in respect to a very special and man-made species (but aren't all taxonomies man-made, in the end?): That's how far I've come by now... if I have a few more glasses of guinness, I may or may not fine a few more answers. Oh, I forgot one: the monkey/language question is highly debatable one - maybe Allen knows the answer but just doesn't want us to know?

Tony, give this one a try: One of my favourite recent discs! Nate mentioned the new Saluzzi being good, but I haven't yet checked it out. Then there's the italians... Trovesi made a couple of duo discs with Gianni Coscia, but I only have one so far (on Egea), plus a live set. Also Gabriele Mirabassi plays with the fisa player Luciano Biondini (I got a live set of them with Michel Godard - fantastic stuff!). Check out the Galliano first, it's a treat!

← well well well well well... this image was actually the first I wanted to post, but somehow I found the fishy one more fitting this afternoon... not, past midnight here, this is definitely the better: You know, google image search is a funny thing when you're at work and bored

You can listen when you follow my link - extremely crappy of-its-time music in the worst sense! I only have that Blue Note Pell disc (with the added Fagerquist session), and I would like to hear a few more! Will have to save some money, I assume... ← How does Dave Pell sounds to you, like Lester? These recordings I own from undocumented compilation has that reed player all the way, and he is very good while doing that emulation of Pres... ←

Maybe he was hoping for that light-brown patina? ← Please! When it costs an extra $30, we call the color sepia. ← sorry, I don't understand:

Maybe he was hoping for that light-brown patina?