king ubu

very hard to choose just one! some favorites include: Thad Jones Capitol Mobley Tristano/Konitz/Marsh Jimmy Giuffre Jackie Mac Andrew Hill Tina Brooks H.R.S. J.J. Jones/Lewis hell, I like ALL of 'em - err, that's: I like all I have so far...

I just read the Taylor chapter in Ekkehard Jost's book "Free Jazz" (from 1972 originally, it has been reissued in german last year, I think; I don't know if it has been out in english, too), and he makes some very interesting points about Taylor. Obviously he knows the story only until the late sixties (when he wrote the book), but that already makes for a very interesting read. He looks at the concepts of Taylor's music, speaks of his "energy" thing that replaces what "swing" used to be in jazz before him, talks about the drummers and Taylor's problems with them - and this IS a problem, in my opinion, too: Dennis Charles is just too stiff, too metronomic. Sunny Murray really made a huge change! (and as I just re-listened to that short free improvised trio track with Neidlinger/Higgins from one of the Candid dates, I think playing free Higgins was very good, too, while on O.P. he is similarly awkward as Charles, just playing in another style, of course). Don't get me wrong, however! There are many things I like about the early Taylor records, and I think up to the Nefertiti I got all of it (with the exeption of the Newport Verve mini-LP which I still have to get). Jost makes a thorough analysis of the title track of Unit Structures and correlates it with Taylor's construction scheme (he did replace the theme-solos-theme scheme with some more complex concepts, he used three termini to talk about it, the first one being some sort of a prologue, the others called "Area", and "Plain"). What Jost writes seems highly plausible to me, and very very interesting, too. Good help in trying to understand the structural side of Cecil's music, which you often do not get right from the start. The music is so complex you need more than one listen, and knowing Taylor a little bit sure helps, too. ubu

Here is a nice review of the Dixon/Shepp disc: http://www.jazzweekly.com/reviews/bdixon_savoy.htm They do NOT appear together, by the way, in case this was misunderstood. First side is Bill Dixon (with Ken McIntyre, George Barrow, Howard Johnson a.o.), second side is Archie Shepp (with Don Cherry or Ted Curson). The CD has some good liners, too. Then I did a casual in the background listen again to the Attica Blues Big Band live 2CD set, and this one is BAAD! It really blew me! Alright, some of the vocals are not really necessary, but there's much fine work, much groove, maybe Shepp's most fully successful mix of Great Black Music. Funky, groovy, soulful, free vibes... a real winner! Nice Cal Massey tunes, a good take on one of Randy Weston's most famous compositions (Hi-Fly), good solos from the likes of Eddie Preston, Charles Greenlee, Shepp himself. Then Avery Sharpe (often on electric bass) and Clifford Jarvis make a great rhythm team, Art Mathews on piano is cool, too... Here comes the AMG review: (It's five stars, by the way, as if you didn't guess that after reading...) Grab this baby when you get a chance! ubu

Thanks Chuck, I think the guy I'm doing the feature with has the New Worlds on LP. I check them out! ubu

Have a gander at this site and scroll down. now this record would be a cool one to have! ubu It is. OH HELL! SOMEONE SEND ME SOME $$$ AND I'LL GONNA PICK UP ALMOST EVERY ALBUM FROM YOU F#?&ING BLINDFOLD TEST! I'm heading directly for bankruptcy! ubu

thanks, brownie and Joe, I will keep my eyes open for these! ubu

Holy shit, no Kenny G included?!? Can't be any good then!

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Sounds good! Gotta check it out! Hey, have you heard "One Upmanship" One of my favorite jazz albums of its decade! ubu

uh, so that's the thing you got to take away first when you get, err, a kimono (or a tocj...) ubu B)

Thanks Mike! Appreciated. I only could identify Silver, but none of the sidemen. I don't have any of the Silveto albums (though I sure would like to hear Eddie who with Horace!). Ralph Moore I have heard, but not enough to recognise him. And I do indeed hope the man on trumpet is NOT Woody Shaw! The sound would just not be at all like him, in my opinion (though it's been some time since I last listened to any record with Woody). ubu

Reviving this one... I'm looking for recommendations on *essential* CT records after "Nefertiti". What I do have: - the BN (UA, Transition) CDs (Jazz Advance, Love for Sale, the one with Trane) - the five Candid CDs - Mixed (Impulse) - Nefertiti (Revenant 2CDs) - Unit Structures & Conquistador - Jazz View CD of Town Hall concert (see details below) - the recent HatOLOGY disc (It Is In The Brewing Luminous) - the 10CD Codanza Feel Trio Box - the Willisau Concert (Intakt) - Embraced (with Mary Lou Williams) - the Enja CD called "Dark To Themselves" - the new Taylor/Instabile disc (enja) What I'd like to find: the concert recordings with Lyons AND Sam Rivers, maybe some important solo discs. Keep some recommendations coming, please! Spring of Two Blue-J's: I will do a radio show on Taylor on Dec.21, and we might begin with some early stuff (up to the Nefertiti recording), and then continue with some late sixties and seventies stuff. What I don't know, and did not explore more thoroughly yet, are the years from around 1966 onwards. And please don't tell me I have to buy all the FMP stuff - I cannot afford that stuff now! thanks, ubu

I've got the two CDs in a cheap cardboard box, subtitled "the complete RCA Victor recording". It has both "Barney" (with additional material), and the "More From Barney..." CDs. Both clock in at more than 70 minutes, and it's a fantastic set! I love Wilen, and Dorham and Duke Jordan turn in some good solos, too. Daniel Humair was (and still is!) one of Europe's foremost drummers. (He is swiss, ain't he? Or am I mixing something up?) (Mike, as we've got an open exchange, tell me if you'd like to get a copy. Has anything arrived yet, by the way?) ubu

More interesting comments on Disc 1 track 1 - Horace Silver seems to be the one... could well be, I think, I don't know any of his seventies or later stuff. Anyone has a guess what recording/tune it could be? ubu

Have a gander at this site and scroll down. now this record would be a cool one to have! ubu

on my last post: there were two albums holding the Shepp/Roach material. EKE, I read a little fast through your list, and did not see you missed some of the early Impulse material. All of them have been mentioned already, now, but I like to stress how good they are: Fire Music, Live In San Francisco, and The Way Ahead. Chris, I did mention Steam - a beautiful record indeed! Paul, I tried to get the Contemporary 5 disc you mention recently, and did not find one... seems to be OOP! However I got the Savoy Dixon/Shepp CD JohnS mentioned, and this is a keeper! Although I even like the Dixon stuff better, the three Shepp/Contemporary 5 tracks are good, too! Then I also recently found the Attica Blues Big Band 2CD set. AMG gives it a rave review. I like it, but it's sort of a bag full of several, stylistically very different, things. What's others opinion on this? Joe, could you elaborate on the recent Waldron/Shepp CD? I thought about picking it up, but did not do so yet. ubu

Love these two! ubu

As if I didn't know! Seriously, I'm working to change to red wine, this being one of the reasons... and as a French expat in Poland, this is also a question of style! ubu

shit, you had me laughing out loud, John! But it's the other way round: since march, I've gained weight, and the picture you see as my avatar is actually the goal... You know, I want to have a belly as big that my tenor looks as small in front of it as Cannonball's alto looked in front of his belly (I mean, he might be the better saxophone player, no doubt about that, but belly-wise, he was a mere beginner ) ubu

Cool choice! I LOVE this! It's the greatest Dolphy album, and one of the best albums of them all, in my opinion! However, I do not know if I can say in words what exactly it is that makes me love it like I do. I'll try if I find the time to listen to it. ubu

and another one, same night. I play with the bass player since we were at high school together.

I found some pics in some forgotten corner of my harddisk, and as I did make stupid comments here already, I'll post them... That's me and my lady:

continuing... Disc 2 8. this does irritate me! I don't know early/prime Basie at all, but this is at least basie-ite, yet I don't think it's Prez... 9. Dexterity, Sonny Rollins. Probably with Henry Grimes and Pete La Roca, live in 1959 or in the early sixties. GREAT! Absolutely love it! Never heard it before. Maybe my personal highlight of these two discs, together with Disc 1 #12. 10. Never heard, no idea, but like it very much! 11. again no idea. Cool groove! ubu

continuing my thoughts: Disc 2 2. Cool! Very cool! These instruments sound very good together! Like it a lot! 3. Again, not much to say on this one, but I do like it. 4. Very laid back, chill out stuff, very groovy! Like this a lot. 5. First thought: some hot jazz on Blue Note 40ies stuff - but sound's much too clean for that. Whatever this is, me likee! 6. Solid big band, good solos, no idea... 7. Similar... Jones-Lewis? Pepper Adams? Like it! But then, who could be the alto soloist? getting tired, comments getting shorter... I will need another listen to this one, but I do really enjoy it, Jim! ubu