king ubu

Hal added tenor late in his (second) life. When drummer Hal attended university he discovered they didn't give certificates/diplomas for percussion so he switched to trumpet. He loved Trane's Interstellar Space and was really impressed when I introduced him to Evan Parker (on record). He is, pardon, was, an absolutely fascinating figure! I love his tenor playing on "The Hal Russell Story". Thanks for sharing your insight!

Because I don't really know Robert all that well, and also because he seems to be sort of the swiss issue of Phil Woods... highly competent, but the incarnation of hardbop/modern mainstream... He played the French "Jazz à Ramatuelle" festival in '04 with his co-led group with Kenny Barron, and indeed they did well together, but it's just not the kind of music that really interests me all that much... standards your heard a hundred times, coupled with a few good (but not outstanding) originals by Robert. He sure is an important figure as an educator, being a fonder-member of the first jazz school in Switzerland, "Swiss Jazz School" in Berne. There are more interesting sax players here, though. Omri Ziegele (though I can't always take his "badlyrics" stuff), Nat Su (cameroonian origin, but as far as I know he's actually swiss, grew up here etc - he has been mentioned, by the way) are the first two that come to mind. Gianluigi Trovesi is an incredible alto player, by the way (not sure he's been mentioned, I tend to consider him a clarinetist, but each time I hear his alto I know the clarinets are not all he is about). Kippie Moeketsi Dudu Pukwana Robbie Jansen (all three ZA cats, Garth will know...) Alban Darche - a french sax player (ts,as,ss, I think), who leads a big band called "Le gros cube". Very nice!

I suppose they've all been mentioned, but here's a couple of personal favorites: Joe Diorio (his Wes hommage album on some italian label is a treat, his sound is so beautiful) Sacha Distel (get the 2CD "hors série" Jazz in Paris release!) Jimmy Gourley (get his album with Barney Wilen!) Barry Galbraith (love his playing on all those dates with the George Russell people in the late fifties!)

Hey Al, of course that Bethlehem session is on one of my discs, too, and while I love the horns, I have never really warmed to the whole thing, thus never got to know it too well anyway. (I've got it on the strangely titled complete Bethlehem Coltrane release, which mostly consists of the Art Blakey's Bethlehem sessions.) Now Philly Joe... what was his problem? Was he stoned too much to play on, or why is Ed Thigpen on the rest of the date? Also who did the arranging there, because that IS nice! At least I saw that I'm not alone, with Sangrey finding Philly Joe boring, too...

Garth, I finally sorted things out for the Camden "Jazz in Africa Vol. 1: The Jazz Epistles" CD. The only thing is: #1 (Delilah) and #14 (Cosmic Ray) are from neither the Jazz Epistles' "Verse 1" nor the John Menegan-led "Jazz in Africa" albums. Do you have any idea where they're coming from?

it should, you bought the disk last month if I remember correctly... (okay, it was in november...) Well, I did badly anyway... I have the Fantasy twofer with that Cliff Jordan/KD track, and I have Along Came John... and I suppose some more, but I'm offline again in a few minutes if I can't get the f###ing dial-up working rigth, had to re-start my computer to even post my guesses... holy crap! Not my day, not at all.

So finally it's time for the royal poster's uninformed mumblings... First just let me say thank you to Big Al! I enjoyed the disc quite some! #2 - This band has a latin feel going on all throughout. Nice doorbells, very nice alto. Vibist the leader here? Wild guess (I haven't heard any of his discs yet except for the Verve LPR): Terry Gibbs? #3 - Very nice arrangement here! The melody sounds familiar but I can't pin it. Nicehow the trumpetand also go in and out of the ensemble. Love the smooth trombone sound a lot. Alto is ok, too, but at this point the rhythm section starts to bother me, with that old-school Freddie Green-styled guitar strumming, and mostly bothering: the drummer doing these generic fills, repetitive & boring, way too traditional to fit in with the alto. Trumpet is nice, but the rhythm section doesn't stop bothering me till it's over... #4 - More relaxed ensemble, big band this time. Like the trombone writing following the opening. Very nice preaching tenor, sounds like he could do the screaming and shouting of an Illinois Jacquet if he wasn't having a lazy day... really nice! Very nice drummer here (sigh of relief!). SOme nice writing touches, good piano bit. Like this one! #5 - Duke? Terrific piano player he was. This is "Kinda Dukish/Rockin' in Rhythm" from PIANO IN THE BACKGROUND. A great album, one of my favourite Ellingtons, in fact! Sam Woodyard makes the difference! What a great big band drummer he was! #6 - Basie territory here... is this from Paul Quinichette's Emarcy/VEE disc? Don't have it here to check, but could be. Know the tune, but again can't name it. Freddie Green here, right in place... #7 - Another one that sounds familiar from the outset... Still Basie-like stuff, another Prez-influenced tenor, playing an awesome solo, very quick. Harry Edison on trumpet? Now what about the piano? Is that a bad Basie-imitator? Sounds like Basie on a Tom Waits "piano has been drinking"-trip... Somehow this whole track irritates me... guess if I wasn't too lazy and the weekend almost over, I'd have to search through all my Basie discs... #8 - This isn't Don Rubén, is it? Nice line up that is, piano, bass, and latin rhythm section! #9 - This goes down a bit too easy for me, though I do like the doorbellist and the drummer. The tune again sounds slightly familiar... #10 - Great tenor. Out of Rollins a bit? Nice writing too. This is the most laid-back BFT so far, love this cut! #11 - Nice one! Nice arrangement with flute on top and barisax on the low end! #12 - Not my favorite cut... There's a touch of that song from "Un homme et une femme" in there somewhere. #13 - Again, not a favorite. Don't like this organist too much, and the guitar sounds a bit, well, non-descript? Don't like his sound, somehow. Maybe that's just the mood I'm in, though, and the fact that I had quite some Lou Donaldson (with Lonnie Smith and Idris Muhammad, the late sixties stuff) this weekend. #14 - Like this one better, nice tenor! #15 - This one's a bit more on teh easy side, sounds slightly familiar... #16 - Now this one definitely sounds familiar. Like it a lot. Guess that is one I should have known? Too lazy to find out.. #17 - A very nice closer! Sounds like some early sixties BN recording. Billy Higgins on drums? A Duke Pearson arranged affair? I suppose I have this on some BN disc or in some Mosaic... Enjoyed this disc a lot, Al, many thanks again! ubu

George Russell - drums & piano

the Yusef Lateef group also played things like balloons... And Hal Russell played a mean tenor (if he wanted), just to add to the above listing.

not exactly jazz, but... PRINCE!!!

Abdullah Ibrahim - piano & soprano sax

Bennie Maupin - tenor, soprano, bass clarinet, piano Rahsaan - tenor, stritch, manzello, flute, oboe, clarinet Brother Yusef - tenor, flute, oboe, bassoon Ken McIntyre - alto, soprano, oboe, bassoon, [edit] and flute, of course [/edit] Eddie Costa - piano & vibes

If so, you'd be the first I would tell!

All I know is that I own that one, and the the store where I got it has re-stocked it, too, thus there must be two that were pressed, at least... ubu

Happy Birthday Nate!

Shouldn't this be: MERDRE! Merde alors! Yep, but what's that - saying "merd®e" brings luck? But only if you don't say anything after someone said "merd®e"? At least that's what that Saigner (or is it Seigner?) lady says in "Frantic", right? de par ma chandelle verte! ubu

holy shit!

Mike, please count me in, too! You did already, I suppose, or are there any other strange swiss people who love jazz? ubu

This reminds me it's high time for me to listen to the BN box again! Has been way too long since I had any Nichols playing... Happy birthday! ubu

That was the shittiest job of the VEE series! That whole Cats meets Chick album would/should/could have fitted onto the Terry disc... No info on Norma Carson for me, but poppin' this up! ubu

Brandon, why not try the link brownie posted above (http://www.universalmusic.fr/servlet/Front...d=227476&page=2) Maybe there's some feedback-link hidden somewhere? ubu

Not the biggest of fan, but I have one CD (I think it's "Blame it on my Youth"). I saw here live a few years ago at a festival (she was the free-admission act between main concerts - not a bad thing, the Goldings-Bernstein-Stewart trio was there for free as well), and she was quite good live. ubu

Happy Birthday!

I cannot understand people picking on Leo Wright's intonation, where Jackie McLean's is worse much of the time ... He's totally okay to these ears on the Richard Williams Candid - Wright played in the Berlin RIAS big band, which would not have happened with intonation problems. Some prejudices die hard. (Edited for typo.) You're absolutely right of course, Mike! That was not my opinion, in that last post of mine. ubu

Big fan of Richard Williams here! (And couw will pop in, too, once he'll be back from the seemingly www-lacking Netherlands...) I think his Candid album is at least ok or good. Seems many people don't like Leo Wright (intonation, mainly, is the problem, I think). He's one of the reasons, it seems, why Blue Note didn't want to release the first Blue Mitchell album (the other and hopefully main reason being that soon after it was in the can Blue had taken over the Horace Silver group as his own working unit, thus the first album would have been somehow dated on the moment of its release, already). The two "Live at Pep's" Impulse! discs by Yusef Lateef are among my favourites, and Williams is smoking on them, as is Brother Yusef and the rhythm section (with Mike Nock on piano). Williams can be heard on some Birdland broadcasts of Mingus' 1961 band. Seems Mingus liked him a lot - what a pity that there is no small group Mingus album with Williams featured! ubu