mjzee

Is this the same Rick Laird who later played in the Mahavishnu Orchestra?

One of my favorite albums is a Joe Turner date for Pablo, "The Midnight Special." One side is him singing standards, and the other side is two long blues. The band on the date is just excellent, playing energetic jazz blues and sympathetically comping behind him. But I haven't heard of any of them. I was wondering if someone knows about them: were they some city's local favorites, did they play together often, etc? The album was recorded May 27, 1976. The band: Jake Porter, trumpet Roy Brewster, baritone sax (probably alto, too) Curtis Kirk, harmonica Sylvester Scott, piano Cal Green, guitar Bobby Haynes, bass Washington Rucker, drums

On the general topic of '60's soul singles, I can heartily recommend the "Beg, Scream and Shout" box on Rhino. In many cases, they went back to the original singles - either the original mono single masters or the actual singles. It sounds great.

I liked Moondog as a person. I'd chat with him when I worked a few summers during my teens in Manhattan. If you're referring to the Columbia CD "Moondog," it actually has both his LP's on it. I've always loved "Moondog 2" (the last 26 tracks on the CD, those short rounds). I still listen to it. He styled himself as a classical composer, and Columbia marketed him that way (the LPs were on Masterworks). His classical tracks sound more like fragments to me, but you can hear the bebop influence. You might also like his final CD, "Sax Pax for a Sax" (Atlantic).

Another test.

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How does the average sound quality compare to that of a CD? I understand that it won't be as good, but is it almost as good?

Guy, thanks for that exerpt from the Paul Tingen book; it was very interesting. In terms of the sonic quality of Rated X (and pretty much the entire "Get Up With It" lp), I think a lot has to do with the technical limitations of vinyl. Each side of "Get Up With It" approaches or exceeds 30 minutes, which is way beyond what was generally thought to be the maximum time to put on a side to preserve sonic excellence (Frank Zappa thought it was 18 minutes a side). Once you start exceeding 22 minutes or so, you have to start making compromises (unless there are enough quiet passages on the side so that the grooves can be thinner there, allowing more space for the louder passages, which isn't the case on "Get Up With It"). I kinda thought that Miles and Teo were perversely pushing the envelope, and actually degrading the sound quality, whether with compression or whatever, to contribute to the overall impact of the music. In short, I think one reason "Rated X" has such an impact is because of the murky sound quality - it really makes you strain your ears, asking "What's going on in there?" Other examples of these sonic games on "GUWI" include odd uses of echo (why so much echo on the organ, for example?) and extreme tape hiss (think of the break between the first and second sections of "Maiysha"). There were other such interesting sonic experiments with vinyl going on at that time. One example that jumps out is Lou Reed's "Metal Machine Music." Each side was exactly 16:01 (why?), except for side 4 which had no lead-out groove so it was either 16:01 or infinity, and the sound was extremely impenetrable, which made it sort of enjoyable.

I always liked "Rated X." I've only heard it on vinyl. It sounds mysterious, with the organ on top and murk underneath...and then it just stops, as if the background tape keeps getting shut off and on. Also, there's a lot of rhythm going on, but no beat. I think the Chambers book calls this musique concrete and points to the influence of Stockhausen, and I can see that. It's fun, but there's certainly more than enough music on the album if you'd prefer to ignore this track.

Good find, Aggie. Although I like Bill Stewart, I actually think Adam Nussbaum was a more supportive drummer, and a little more propulsive. Stewart's a little more decorative.

So there's no way to get album covers or liner notes?

Thanks for the tip, Chuck. I'll definitely look for the book the next time I'm at Borders or B&N. Amazon has the book, but I couldn't read much of it. I find business interesting, and the business of selling music has an interesting twist to it. That's why I expanded my musings to include label owners associated with other sorts of music, such as Asch and Holzman (although both Folkways and Elektra released some jazz, too). Some of the artists overlapped, too -- James P. Johnson recorded for both Blue Note and Folkways (or whatever it was called then). As an aside, there's an interesting mini-interview with Herbie Hancock in this month's issue of Playboy (p. 36 - a one-column Q & A). See if this doesn't sound like someone recognizable: PLAYBOY: What is wrong with music these days? HANCOCK: It seems so money-driven and not creation-driven. It hasn't always been like that. When I first came on the scene, there were people in the industry who were passionate about the music. They wanted to sell records, of course, but it wasn't the be-all and end-all. Music is supposed to serve a function, and that function isn't to put money in someone's pocket. That's what you get after you serve the function. The function is to serve humanity.

New York in the '40's and '50's was a hotbed of independent record labels. They were all small operations, so you have to assume the owners knew each other. Just curious: is there any indication whether Alfred Lion socialized with people like Moses Asch, Maynard Solomon, Jac Holzman, Bob Weinstock, etc., to discuss business or individual performers, or just to shoot the breeze? Seems to me these record label owners were all interesting people, and they definitely had a lot in common.

Doug Raney - Check out "You Go To My Head" (Steeplechase). Oh yeah, his father was pretty good, too.

There was a long discussion of this package on the old BNBB. Most people loved it. I found it really tedious; as I recall, there was a preponderance of novelty songs. I haven't listened to it in years.

May I nominate John Fahey?

Whew!! I'm glad you guys are just talking about some CDs. Whenever I see a topic like this resurface, I get scared that the guy's dying.

A lot of great mentions so far. How about Ron Affif? Some very nice dates on Pablo. Eddie Lang - there's a good collection on Yazoo. For a good overview of jazz guitar through 1950, see the Proper box "Hittin' On All Six." Finally, I gotta mention a guitarist I see gigging in the Grand Central Station IRT mezzanine. He's Japanese, I don't know his name, but the guy can play! He's obviously digested Grant Green, but plays bluisier and faster. He's definitely worth a buck every now and then when I pass by.

I'd be very curious about the Blakey. Every copy I've heard has sounded distorted to me, except for the MFSL. Wonder what the sound quality on this one will be like.

Try to find "The First Day" by Albert Ammons and Meade Lux Lewis, which was the material recorded at Blue Note's first session. I am mightily impressed by Albert Ammons.

I'm impressed by Pat Metheny...I think he has a great deal of musical integrity. He's managed to walk that fine line between artistry and commerce, has never really sold out, has championed music for its own sake, and still manages to sell tons of records. He's a fine exemplar. My favorites are his work with Gary Burton (see "Passengers"), PMG from '78, the disk with Jim Hall, the disk with Scofield (by the way, it's really great that Metheny doesn't mind supporting other artists, doesn't mind taking second billing; that's why I think that, for him, the music's first, and learning from other musicians)...and the one time I heard it, I even liked "No Tolerance for Silence." Good banging-your-head-against-the-wall music. As an aside, I worked in a jazz record store when the '78 PMG disk came out. When it came in, we just thought "ok, another ECM release," came in with prob. 5 other ECM titles released the same day. And it started flying out of the store! It sold out so quickly, and we had to reorder...and reorder... soon we ordered in box lots. The word was definitely out, and there was an electricity around this record. Interestingly, you know that LP's jacket was white; in the initial release, there was also a fine vertical texture to the jacket (ECM was always into those sorts of details). Once they had to mass-produce the album, the texture got lost, and it became a plain white cover.

Thanks! I think that's really it. A standard is a recognizable tune, but it's also a great tool for understanding the artist's concept. I was listening to Groove Holmes' "Groove's Groove" (32 Jazz) and heard him tear into "Where Or When." Man, was that smokin'! But knowing the song also helped me relate to how HE did it; and, because of his personality, it was very different than how others would perform the same song. Well, that's exactly it. Listening to Mike Ledonne's "Smokin' Out Loud," I got a real kick out of hearing handle The Carpenters' "Close To You." Another example: On Charlie Hunter's "Bing, Bing, Bing!" he does a version of Nirvana's "Come As You Are." My wife perked up when she heard that. Yet, in all of these examples, the performer's personality and concept shone through.

Funny that you mention "On Green Dolphin Street" and "Stella By Starlight," since those are two standards that I have never heard sung! Does anyone know good vocal versions of these?

Some thoughts: 1) Every artist should include at least two standards on every CD. Consider it a touchpost: a listener can better understand an artist's concept through a familiar song. And it fosters a sense of community. 2) Tonality is better than atonality or a personal conception of tonality. Listening to someone honk a Coltrane or play outside the chords a la Ornette, a listener says "anyone can do that." It's like the artist saying "boundaries and discipline don't apply to me." 3) Jazz needs the comeback of the producer. It's the producer that balances what he hears the artist playing with the needs of the listeners. It's like a writer needs an editor and a publisher. The producer should also be forceful and opinionated. Criss Cross, for example, has a producer (Gerry Teekens), but he lets far too much mediocre jazz get released on his label; it's almost like he's afraid to say no to his musicians.

In my opinion, you can skip: 1) The Helen Merrill sides 2) The Sarah Vaughan material - listen to it if you like Sarah, but the focus is on her, not on Brownie 3) Clifford Brown All Stars (sides 3 & 4, esp. side 3): long, pointless jams Better, but still of lesser value: 4) With Strings - this sort of material is not to everybody's tastes (look at the controversy the Bird With Strings sides still provoke) Much of the rest is wonderful (my personal favorite is side 9), but try to burn a copy containing only the master takes - when you're acclimating yourself to the material, there's no need to listen to four takes of Flossie Lou in succession. P.S. You do have the Brownie Blue Note sides, don't you?