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paul secor

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Posts posted by paul secor

  1. Art Ensemble of Chicago

    in Artists

    Posted · Edited by paul secor

    Just a short AEC anecdote: I only heard and saw them live once, in the winter of 1980 at an Albany, N.Y. college (probably RPI, but I'm not sure). It was the evening when the underdog U.S. Olympic hockey team played the Russian team for the gold medal. At one point late in the concert, one of the Art Ensemble musicians, perhaps Lester Bowie, who had gone offstage, returned and announced, "The U.S. won the gold medal!", eliciting cheers from the crowd. At the time it struck me as odd that musicians would have an interest in a sports event, but it made me realize that musicians are not just musicians, they're people with many of the same interests as the rest of us. Perhaps that's something that should be obvious, but I had a tendency to see musicians only as musicians, and not think about the lives they lived when they weren't playing music.

    The music and performance that night were great, but when I look back, the hockey announcement incident possibly had a greater affect on me than the music.

  2. Happy Birthday, paul secor!

    in Miscellaneous - Non-Political

    Posted

    Thanks for all of your kind words!

    I had a good birthday - had to work, but when I got home, my wife Joan had prepared a delicious meal, including my favorite dessert, bread pudding. She gave me a couple of books I've been wanting to read - Roger Angel's Game Time and Perry Robinson: The Traveler. Also, something useful - a gift certificate for a pair of shoes. I'd probably never bother buying them for myself.

    I'm supposed to have enough records and CDs - Joan's opinion, not mine - so I had to get those presents for myself. The Bix/Trumbauer/Teagarden Mosaic box arrived yesterday, and the Jimmy Lyons box is on the way. I'm looking forward to a Bixian Saturday morning.

    Thanks once again for sharing my birthday with me. Your thoughts and words mean a lot.

  8. Happy Birthday brownie!

    in Miscellaneous - Non-Political

    Posted · Edited by paul secor

    Enjoy your meal, the wine, the cigar, listen to some great music, enjoy the time spent with your better half - have a great birthday! :party::party:

    P.S. Thanks for all your posts. From reading them, I thought that you were a young guy, so I guess 64 is young. I'm getting close, so that makes me feel good.

  9. The Holiday Music Section

    in Miscellaneous Music

    Posted

    James Brown: Santa's Got a Brand New Bag

    Aaron Neville's Soulful Christmas

    NRBQ: Christmas Wish

    The Roches: We Three Kings

    Huey Smith and the Clowns: 'Twas the Night Before Christmas

    Swing Time Christmas (Night Train) - Lloyd Glenn, Lowell Fulson, Dexter Gordon, Big Joe Turner, Mabel Scott, Cecil Gant, Pete Johnson, & others. *

    Rhythm and Blues Christmas (Hollywood) - Hank Ballard, Charles Brown, Freddy King, Gatemouth Moore, & others. *

    Blue Christmas (Blue Moon) - Clyde McPhatters and the Drifters ("White Christmas), Nat King Cole ("The Christmas Song"), Little Esther, The Orioles, The Moonglows, Bull Moose Jackson, Julia Lee, Amos Milburn, Jimmy Liggins, Roy Milton, & others. *

    * There is some duplication of tracks on these three.

    Doo Wop Christmas (Rhino) - This is OK, but some of the best tracks are on the Blue Moon release.

    Blue Yule (Rhino) - A fine Holiday blues comp - Texas Pete Mayes, Eddie C. Campbell, Poppa Hop (Hop Wilson), Jimmy McCracklin, Lightnin Hopkins, Louis Jordan, Detroit Junior, and others.

    Hillbilly Holiday (Rhino) - If you have a taste for 50's/'60's country, this is the Holiday comp to get - George Jones, The Louvin Brothers, The Davis Sisters, Buck Owens, Hank Snow, Ernest Tubb, and from the 70's: Commander Cody: "Daddy's Drinking Up Our Christmas".

    The Best of Cool Yule (Rhino) - Ike & Tina, Jack Scott, Edward "Kookie" Burns ("Yulesville"), The Marquees ("Christmas In the Congo"), The Harmony Grits, and others.

    Soul Christmas (Rhino) - A Classic.

    Christmas Party with Eddie G. (Columbia) - Rufus Thomas, Eddie Lawrence - The Old Philosopher, Louis Prima, Augie Rios ("Donde Esta Santa Claus"), Arthur Lyman, NRBQ, and others.

    Bummed Out Christmas (Rhino) - The Youngsters ("Christmas in Jail"), Clyde Lasley & the Cadillac Baby Specials ("Santa Came Home Drunk"), Johnny & Jon ("Christmas in Viet Nam"), The Everly Brothers ("Christmas Can Kill You"). The Christmas Jug Band featuring Dan Hicks ("Somebody Stole My Santa Claus Suit"), and others. You Get the idea.

    New England Christmastide (North Star) - Fine acoustic (guitar, cello, wood flute, recorder, concertina, uillean pipes, mandolin, hurdy gurdy, etc.) renditions of Christmas classics.

    And a mention for Bukka White's "Christmas Eve Blues" on Mississippi Delta Blue Jam in Memphis Vol. 2 (Arhoolie)

    ghost of miles already mentioned Hipster's Holiday, and I'll second that choice - Babs Gonsalez, Louis, Miles, Big John Greer, Leo Watson, The Marquees, LHR, Pearl Bailey, Hamp - A Great collection.

  10. Electric Ornette

    in Recommendations

    Posted · Edited by paul secor

    I'm not sure if it's readily available, but In All Languages (originally on Caravan of Dreams, and, I believe, reissued by Verve) contains some very good electric Ornette. It has recordings by both the original quartet - Ornette, Cherry, Haden and Higgins - and Prime Time - Ornette, Denardo, Weston, Tacuma, Ellerbee, and Nix. Seven of the tunes are performed by each group, which makes for an interesting comparison.

    Sorry to dupicate kh - I was a minute late.

  13. ***Home Plate***

    in Miscellaneous - Non-Political

    Posted

    I can't add much to ghost of miles' eloquent statement. When the Marlins won the series, I thought about Muhammed Ali after losing the first Frazier fight. Some of his handlers wanted him to avoid the press. His response was something to the affect that he talked to the press when he won, and he'd talk to the press now that he'd lost. Congratulations to the Marlins. I hope that their management is able to keep that team together, and I hope that the fans in Miami will support their team now that they've come back from the depths.

    It's been a helluva season.

  16. jazz...."with strings"

    in Artists

    Posted

    Don't know how "obscure" this is, but Benny Carter recorded with strings on 2/3rds of his Cosmopolite album.

    Not obscure, but one that's put down as one of his least, is Paul Desmond's Desmond Blue LP. I happen to like it, but I like Desmond's playing a lot.

    The Vera Beths String Quartet plays with the Willem Breuker Kollektief on the Rhapsody in Blue LP. Also, there are strings on Breuker's Doodzonde LP.

    Also, a couple of ringers - probably not what you're looking for here, but what the hey: Leo Smith is accompanied by three harps on "The Burning of Stones" on his Spirit Catcher LP.

    And violin, viola (played by Jimbo Ross - how many viola players have you come across named Jimbo?), and cello comprise 3/5ths of the Buell Neidlinger quintet on Blue Chopsticks (K2B2).

  25. Blindfold Test #3 - Discussion

    in Blindfold Test

    Posted

    Guesses Part 2 -

    9 - Sounds like a West coast thing. My first reaction was "pleasant", but this has grown on me with a couple more listenings. No guess as to identities, but I enjoyed the alto most, the bari least. Why did they bother letting the pianist solo? It seemed like he was cut off almost before he began?

    10 - When this began, I thought perhaps Jimmy Raney. But it sounds like someone who's more used to playing rhythm guitar.

    11 - This sounds familiar - like someone I should know, but I'm stumped.

    12 - This came off a bit too mechanical or unrelaxed for my taste, especially the rhythm section. It sounded like a group that was brought together in the studio to do a bossa record. I imagine that if I heard these musicians under different circumstances I'd enjoy them a lot more, especially the saxophonist. I liked the guitar.

    13 - I liked hearing the guitar player improvise with Monk's melody in mind, and not just the chords. On the other hand, I felt that the guitarist's sound was somewhat anonymous - not a lot of personality in his/her playing.

    14 - The vocalist has a full strong voice. I couldn't take the lyrics - too earth mother/hippyish for me. I also enjoyed the instrumental backing. But ooh - those lyrics!

    15 - Thought I was listening to lite jazz fm. Tuned this one out early. Sorry.

    16 - No idea on the pianist. Didn't grab me, and the recording seemed pretty hard also.

    Reading this over, my comments on the second half of the disc seem pretty negative. I actually had a good time listening to what Jim put out there for us, and I'll probably pick up two or three recordings when I find out what they are. I was completely stumped on most (perhaps all?) of this, and that's one thing I like about these tests - I like to hear new things that I don't normally listen to. I also enjoy getting a sense of what other Board members listen to, beyond the monthly listening posts. Thanks for a good time, Jim. Now I'll go back and read other people's comments.

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