jazzbo

Peter: email me at lonjazz@yahoo.com if you are still seeking this out.

Thanks for the response sir. Glad that the material was put to use!

Well, I relistened to the released session and most of the earlier unissued session. What struck me right off the bat was that I hadn't listened to this album enough in the last few years! This is one of the most enjoyable of Hill's dates, and a fun listen. I don't see it as an "unexpected" turn to soul jazz for Hill; I've thought that some of his other work (especially the Warwick as a leader and of course his sideman appearances for Blue Note) had soulful elements, and his compositions could certainly (this disc proves it) be played in a soulful manner . . . or not. My one bit of contention with this originallly released album is the choice of Ervin on tenor. I just found my mind wandering as he soloed. I enjoyed his contributions to the heads/ensembles, but his soloing rarely showed me anything interesting or new. I guess I liked him best on "Mira." Lee Morgan plays very well on this. On his more "reflective" solos it struck me that the swing/feel of his solo was quite like some tenor solos that I love of Yusef Lateef's, where Teefski slurs notes a bit and sort of slides along the melody line at his own pace . . . . And Lee's more "extroverted" solos here add some excitement to the procedings as well. Another great factor to this date is the presence of Freddie Waits. Man, I just love the SOUND of his drums here and almost everywhere he's recorded. And he works well with Hill because he has his own way of coming up with a quirky pattern that stamps his individuality. His playing on "Soul Special" for example was right there in that Lou Donaldson-with-Idris Muhammad (Leo Morris) bag, but also individually his own. And he added a lot of drama to the session with his dynamics---not calling attention to his playing, but punctuating and pacing the structure. Damned fine job by Freddie. I also really liked the comping that the Hill-Carter-Waits team produced for the soloists. Quite original in a quiet "listen closely and you will hear" sort of way. Ron Carter is a really good bassist for Hill because he roots the pulse and also puts out a lot of ideas. And Hill. . . well he plays very well on this date, making it a souljazz date but not fooling anyone into forgetting that he's a very complex writer and musical thinker with his own way of playing a line and presenting a song. "Soul Special" stands out as the heart of this session to me. . . . Hill's piano almost sounds like an organ on a Lou Donaldson date for a large part of it, and then there's that solo that you would never hear on a Donaldson date. . . . Sort of the intent of the album in miniature to my ears. The second date is good too, but not quite as fully realized as a "Hill" album to my ears. I love Jimmy Ponder, and I really love the way that he and Hill worked together to make a very different and interesting "sound" to their comping and participation in ensembles. It's a good date, but I think overall I have to give the nod to the first, though I found myself thinking by the time I was deeply into "Mira": "What if Cliff Jordan had been on this date instead of Booker?"

This poll/race has T H R E E winners!

Listening this week for the first time to the Philly band "Catalyst." Seems to me that some of this material is very influenced (or developed simultaneously unconnected, but that seems dubious) by the Weather Report of the time.

All these are solid recordings, worth getting for Gonsalves or not! I agree with Chuck et al that his best work IS with Duke. By the way, there's ten of the Private Recordings and all are worth getting even though Paul isn't all over all of them). I love the music on the Cote D'Azur box set, and one highlight is Ella scatting up against Paul's playing. . . wow.

Why do we have to marry her off, or have her become "solidly" in the jazz camp? I know this is just tongue-in-cheek stuff, but I'm so tired of Norah-bashing. . . she's a talent and doesn't deserve a lot of what I read about her on these boards, in my opinion.

Eric, thanks for the info. Guess I better gnab a copy.

My set shipped yesterday as well. I don't have the answer to your question GOM. . . . I think it's worth purchasing at the ridiculously low price. I ordered the Milton Brown set as well.

I think so too, and that is what is reported by some to be the case. It's said that Miles didn't want to be seen in the black community as the Italian-suited pure jazz artist, he wanted to be a popular artist again, cutting edge, and he wanted the concert money and high album sales that would allow him to have the very expensive edgy lifestyle he wanted or needed . . . . If this is true, he missed the mark, ESPECIALLY I think with this album. This particular blend didn't seem to reach many of his target audience (I know he hit some from personal experience, but certainly not the droves he wished to.) He did change the approach some and he did reach a number of persons in various sections of youth culture, and he seemed to have really hit target with this young man, who was back from living in Africa and trying to see a way into a small midwestern town society, and failing. For the most part in my experience this music of the time from Miles was appreciated by a motley crew of young persons who were a little bit outcast-like. . . .

Mule: let me know if you run across evidence that they referrence or mention in footnote the interview that I did with Michael Cuscuna for doobop, currently housed within All About Jazz. I have heard that it did, but have never looked at/had my hands on a copy. Thanks.

White suburban teenager's idea of what funk is? Well I don't hear it that way. I can pretty much not picture it at all as what a white suburban teenager at the time would think of as funk. Nor was it meant to be pure funk. It had a funk underbelly is how I hear it, with other pulses and currents swimming along. It was influenced by modern classical work as well, and a classical musician/composer very interested in Miles had a part in the process and performance. I think the recording was meant to be a statement of what Miles had in his head then. And Teo crafted from that something that he got Miles to stand behind as his "new direction" for the time period til the next "new direction" was released. If you were expecting it to be FUNK it won't live up to your expectation!

I liked the first one. Haven't seen this yet, but your statement makes me hopeful. I'll probably see it next weekend.

I would agree with Mr. C as well: Futuristic Sounds is a good place to start, as are either of the Delmarks, Sun Song, or Sound of Joy.

Unintentional double post.

Well, I have divided feelings. I don't feel about any of the boards the way I felt about the BNBB, and probably never will. And neither nor both the AAJ and this board are fulfilling the same need for me. NOR is that a bad thing necessarily. No sense looking back! And I've used the excessive time I spent there more wisely since it's demise. I haven't let the way the board ended color the way I feel about Blue Note music. After all, it's Alfred Lion and Francis Wolff's vision and the incredible work of the artists that I really appreciate. How is that tainted? Michael Cuscuna, reissue producer there, had little to nothing to do with the BNBB. I've become more and more interested in other music, but Blue Note music holds a great appeal for me, and recent events haven't changed my collecting tendencies in that direction. Also I enjoy a lot of Capitol, Roulette, and Pacific Jazz artists and grab those releases as before. And I confess I'll check out the new board and if it isn't dominated by Greg I might post for a bit!

I wish I could afford to hear more of the 300Bs and the 2A3s!

For me it's Feelin' the Spirit. It was one of my first Green experiences, and it just moves me. It's a sincerely deep blue album with a real spirit to it, and every one plays so well; it has some of my favorite Hancock on it. Straight shootin' and so very effectively accomplishing what I think producer and musicians wished. The JRVG is one of my prized possesions!

I've had this since it first came out. There's nothing like it, really, in some ways. . . sort of a standalone in the way that I view Filles De Kilamanjaro as being a standalone in Miles's work. . . . I keep hearing within it JAMES BROWN and some of the things that I heard in Philly on transistor radios and from car radios in my neighborhood as a kid in the first half of the sixties. Until I came to Texas I didn't realy ever know anyone else who was into it until I started to work with a slightly older fellow who came down here from Cincinnatti and had a tape of this in his Walkman one day and turns out he's nuts about this. . .says it was the one Miles album he still had; he mostly had JB and Funkadelic and Parlaiment stuff . . . but he loved On the Corner. Don't listen to it too often, but when I do spin it (have a Sony lp facimile issue now that sounds very much like the lp to me) I almost always find something new to focus on. It's dense and rich and really fertile.

I have a lot of Sun Ra, the whole Evidence label reissue output, the two ESPs, the Delmark reissues, the Savoy, the MPS, and about ten lps that aren't out on cd from the Saturn label, and a few Rounders, and a few things that were never released on lp or cd from collector tapes, videos etc.. . . . My favorite period is the Chicago period into the early NYC period. Quirky, exploratory, moving stuff. I really am not that fond of the too far out stuff that came later in NYC, Philadelphia etc. nor the later material of old swing arrangements sent into outer space, etc, though I like the later small group material quite a bit. I guess if I had to pick one or two releases as favorites it would be. . . "Sound of Joy" and "We Travel the Spaceways."

I like the 6922s the best!

Well, that's a good question. All the sessions on OJC are very good and easy to find, but his early stuff and the stuff up to the end of the forties are among my very favorites. The Louisianna Rhythm Kings on Jazz Oracle has some great Pee Wee, and any time you see Pee Wee with Condonites the chances are that there is going to be some primo Pee Wee. I also really like his Dot lp "Plays Pee Wee Russell" BUT that is not just lying around waiting to be stumbled over; wish someone would reissue this, and more Dot sides in general. The Candid cd coled by Pee Wee and Hawkins is really great. Also really nice is an Arbors by Bobby Gordon called "Pee Wee's Song: the Music of Pee Wee Russell" which is a recording from some three or four years ago I think that celebrates his music and style, quite successfully.

I had to vote for the Pee Wee, because even though it is not one of my favorite Pee Wees by a long shot, I just had to vote for the "Iron Man of Swing!"

PD, it will be interesting to hear what you feel bout Five Spot now. I think that Hawk plays excellently and isn't really a ringer. But I'd like to hear your impressions. Also, I think that Destry was probably primarily deleted because of space reasons. To keep it to three discs, probably something had to go. There are no Weston compositions on Destry, and that would be a natural choice for a composer. . . . But I really enjoy this lp and wish it could have been included, even if the set had to be expanded. It sort of makes it a forgotten step-chiled now, which it does not deserve. Quite a nice lp. Other's mileage may vary, but it tickles my fancy.

And it has the Jazz Violin Album, which is KILLLER!