What vinyl are you spinning right now??

[jeffcrom]

Albert Mangelsdorff - Now, Jazz Ramwong (PJ stereo). Prompted by King Ubu's recent blindfold test. I've had this record for years, but didn't realize until today that the Pacific Jazz version actually consists of three tracks from the German CBS Now Jazz Ramwong and four tracks from Tension.

James Blood Ulmer - Are You Glad to Be in America (Artists House). Jazz is the teacher; funk is the preacher.

[jeffcrom]

I'm winding up a 10" LP on Angel - a collection of German jazz from 1954 - with one of the worst album titles ever: The Cats and Jammer Kids. It's got the Hans Koller Quintet with Albert Mangelsdorff (Jutta Hipp had already left), the Johannes Rediske Quartet, the Paul Kuhn Quartet, and the Fatty George Combo.

Another spin of this, inspired by Ubu's all-German blindfold test. A year later, I still can't find a picture of the cover online. The two tracks with Mangelsdorff are among his earliest issued recordings.

And the title still hurts....

[jeffcrom]

Herb Geller Plays (EmArcy). A fairly battered copy, but it still sounds pretty good with a mono cartridge.

[jeffcrom]

George Lewis at Home (Dan). One of those fantastic Japanese Dan LPs from the 1970's which featured previously unreleased American Music recordings. There are several tracks which still have not appeared in the AM CD reissue series, including a couple of takes of George's unaccompanied clarinet renditions of the spiritual "My Life Will Be Sweeter Some Day," an unaccompanied flute solo, and a great quartet version of "Closer Walk" with Jim Robinson on trombone.

Edited to say that it still amazes me that, 47 years later, I heard one of the musicians on these 1943/44 sessions on my first visit to New Orleans - the great bassist Chester Zardis. I had never heard of him, but was mightily impressed with his strong playing in 1990. I later found that he played with the legendary Buddy Petit by 1920; he died a few months after I heard him.

Edited May 1, 2012 by jeffcrom

[brownie]

Bobby Hutcherson 'Cirrus' (BN, blue label)

[jeffcrom]

Erroll Garner - Campus Concert (MGM mono). I don't feel the need to hear Erroll Garner very often, but when I'm in the mood, he sure sounds good. I woke up wanting to hear this album.

[clifford_thornton]

Albert Mangelsdorff - Now, Jazz Ramwong (PJ stereo). Prompted by King Ubu's recent blindfold test. I've had this record for years, but didn't realize until today that the Pacific Jazz version actually consists of three tracks from the German CBS Now Jazz Ramwong and four tracks from Tension.

And IIRC, some of Gunter Kronberg's solos were edited down or out on the PJ issue.

[JSngry]

Ah, the joys of Alamac!

[JSngry]

A very...interesting album, and a favorite as well. One of the less hackneyed "horn with strings" album thanks to Oliver Nelson's scoring, which takes just enough left turns at just enough critical junctures to subvert the hell out of the format.

[JSngry]

Actually a quartet, but hey, Morris Levy, funny numbers, etc.

It's a good side, but not Jaws at his Jawiest by any means. You can leave the room without taking a shower and head straight home.

[JSngry]

Needed this one to complete the set...not particularly memorable (a pretty good, if short, Herbie Mann/Fathead jam is about it, really), but now the set is complete. In a task-driven reward system, I feel like freakin' king of the world now.

Oh shit, just remembered...there was a box set of all these sessions that I still don't have.

So much for the king of the world thing...

Edited May 1, 2012 by JSngry

[Clunky]

Chico Hamilton Quintet – Gongs East! (Warner Bro WEP 6005) UK 4 track EP

[ghost of miles]

[paul secor]

Art Pepper: Intensity (Contemporary yellow label)

[clifford_thornton]

Michael Yonkers - Grimwood - (MY)

[jeffcrom]

Sidney Bechet - Recorded at the Brussels Fair, 1958 (Columbia 6-eye mono)

[brownie]

Louis Bellson 'Let's Call It Swing' (Verve, mono, dg, trumpet label)

Nice arrangements by Ernie Wilkins and Don Redman!

[JSngry]

Well, uh...vocalists recorded with splendid clarity, and, uh...yeah, that!

[JSngry]

You know how back before porn got kinda mainstream, and you'd know this guy who had the cheap stuff, the little 4mm reels where the guy was flabby and disinterested & the chick was like old and tired but still trying to look pretty and turned on and both of them really, really should have been doing something else with their life by this point, not just them, but the crew, the owner of the motel where they rented the room, everybody, but life does what it does, people choose how they choose, and if the scratches on this record = the fact that you and I all know what I'm talking about, there is still a market, and ultimately, the onus is as much on us as it is them to do something else, yet here we are. Nevertheless, here we are. You know how all that stuff just is?

Well, there you have it.

[clifford_thornton]

[Stefan Wood]

You know how back before porn got kinda mainstream, and you'd know this guy who had the cheap stuff, the little 4mm reels where the guy was flabby and disinterested & the chick was like old and tired but still trying to look pretty and turned on and both of them really, really should have been doing something else with their life by this point, not just them, but the crew, the owner of the motel where they rented the room, everybody, but life does what it does, people choose how they choose, and if the scratches on this record = the fact that you and I all know what I'm talking about, there is still a market, and ultimately, the onus is as much on us as it is them to do something else, yet here we are. Nevertheless, here we are. You know how all that stuff just is?

Well, there you have it.

Blood on the saddle, indeed.

Post of the year.

[JSngry]

[paul secor]

Sir Douglas Quintet: Mendocino (Smash)

[jeffcrom]

I'm in a weird mood, so I'm listening to a strange one:

Roz Croney (Queen of the Limbo) - How Low Can You Go? (Dauntless mono)

This record was produced by Tom Wilson; Ed Bland was the arranger/musical director. Wilson hired veteran guitarist Lawrence Lucie and rock guitarist Snags Allen, along with several members of the Sun Ra Arkestra - John Gilmore, Marshall Allen, Pat Patrick, and Ra himself. It's a silly little album, but there are several solos by the Arkestreans - my favorite is John Gilmore's bass clarinet on "It's Limbo Time." I found Bland's recollections of this date online and posted them below. I think he's wrong about "What Makes the Limbo Rock" - it sounds like Gilmore on tenor, not an alto.

This is my recollection of a recording that Sun Ra and various members of his band participated in with me. It was done on Audio Fidelity Records or Dauntless Records (Dauntless was a subsidiary of Audio Fidelity). Tom Wilson was the producer. Curly Williams who wrote "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin On" was a participant along with Wilson.

"The Limbo Queen—How Low Can You Go?"—Roz Croney, The Limbo Queen. I conducted and arranged, may have written a song. Circa 1963.

Side one: (solos noted and by whom as best I can remember)

1. It's Limbo Time (bass clarinet). Gilmore played it.

2. Limbo Like Me (guitar, steel drum, flute). Guitar Snaggs Allen, if it was a rock or R & B solo. If it was a Carribean type solo, it would've been Larry Lucie. I don't recall a steel drum or a steel drum player.

3. Bagpipe Limbo (flute, guitar). Flute probably Pat Patrick, guitar Lucie or Snaggs Allen

4. Doggie In The Window Limbo (Gilmore's soprano)

5. The Limbo Queen (guitar, flute). Flute probably Pat Patrick, guitar Lucie or Snaggs Allen

6. Everyday Limbo (piano, guitar). Piano Sun Ra, guitar Lucie or Snaggs Allen

Side two:

1. Kachink Limbo (guitar, flute). Flute probably Pat Patrick, guitar Lucie or Snaggs Allen

2. Loop De Loop Limbo (piano, soprano sax, guitar). Guitar Lucie or Snaggs Allen, Sun Ra piano, Gilmore soprano.

3. Bossa Nova Limbo (guitar, organ). Guitar Lucie or Snaggs Allen, Sun Ra organ.

4. How Low Does Lulu Limbo (guitar). Lucie or Snaggs Allen.

5. What Makes The Limbo Rock (alto sax). Maybe Marshall Allen. I don't remember Marshall for his soloistic ability during that time

6. Whole Lot Of Shaking Going On (organ, guitar). Guitar Lucie or Snaggs Allen, Sun Ra organ.

Earl Williams was the drummer. He was the son of Paul Williams who wrote "The Huckebuck." I'm quite sure Ronnie Boykins was on Bass. The backup vocals were by Joe Lewis, George Tipton, Joli Gonsalves, and possibly others. The sessions took place at Mastertone Studios on 42nd Street between 6th and 7th Avenue.

[sidewinder]

'Miles In St Louis' (VGM)