six string Posted August 9, 2012 Report Share Posted August 9, 2012 LOUIS HAYES GROUP - Variety is the Spice How is that album? I saw a copy at a local store recently and wondered if I should pick it up. NP Dear John C. - Elvin Jones (Impulse!) stereo "van gelder" pressing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazzbo Posted August 9, 2012 Report Share Posted August 9, 2012 Spinning this again today. Love the sound! Mine's a promo copy. Love this music. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted August 9, 2012 Report Share Posted August 9, 2012 Nine eyes on the cover (ten if you count the back - and did you know that records sound better on Columbia phonographs? I didn't!)...twelve on the label (if you count both sides)...there's two loose eyes rolling around somewhere, so be careful where you step. Or maybe somebody already wasn't, maybe those two spare eyeballs done got squished. That would explain the facial expressions, at least partially. Clark Burroughs looks too delighted for there to be a random eye-squishing involved. Then again, Clark Burroughs was a freak. As far as the music...in spite of this being a "commercially-oriented" album, there is some incredible vocal writing on this, especially on ballads like "Heather On The Hill" and "There's No You". Gene Perling was also a freak, and I mean that in the very best way. White-bread androgyny be damned, harmony is harmony, and at harmony, Gene Puerling was a baaaaaadddddd man. Just keep your spare eyeballs in your head when that Clark Burroughs comes around. I don't think I'd trust him like that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Magnificent Goldberg Posted August 9, 2012 Report Share Posted August 9, 2012 Oil Hines - Tour de force - Black Lion GOTTITTTT! MG PS - Did he wear that NAFF wig all the time in the seventies, or was it just for the album photo? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted August 9, 2012 Report Share Posted August 9, 2012 The toupee was a fixture! But I guess when you have three hands and/or two brains, a little eccentricity is to be expected. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Magnificent Goldberg Posted August 9, 2012 Report Share Posted August 9, 2012 The toupee was a fixture! But I guess when you have three hands and/or two brains, a little eccentricity is to be expected. So now we know. The album is still on and is an effin' delight! I'm gaspin' for a cuppa, but can't go downstairs until it's finished. MG Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted August 9, 2012 Report Share Posted August 9, 2012 The cover is this: But i pull the LP out, and it's actually this: Shoulda checked the label in the store, I guess, but I'm not complaining...Rabbit w/Billy Gardner, Jimmy Ponder, Ron Carter, & Freddie Waits? Works for me, especially for $3.99. I wonder if Clark Burroughs ever worked at that store... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Stryker Posted August 9, 2012 Report Share Posted August 9, 2012 (edited) LOUIS HAYES GROUP - Variety is the Spice How is that album? I saw a copy at a local store recently and wondered if I should pick it up. NP Dear John C. - Elvin Jones (Impulse!) stereo "van gelder" pressing. BUY IT!!!!!!! Some of Frank Strozier's greatest playing is on this album, especially "Stardust," which he delivers with incredible soul and sophistication (the arrangment, which is probably either by Harold Mabern or Frank, includes Coltrane-derived "Countdown" subsitutions and other harmonic felicities. "Invitation" burns too. Actually, all of the album is really strong. The rhythm section is splashy in a '70s McCoy Tynerish kind of way. I even like the Leon Thomas vocals too ("Little Sunflower" and "Nisha"). Samples on youtube. Search "Louis Hayes" and "Stardust" and that will lead to the rest of the album too. Edited August 9, 2012 by Mark Stryker Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted August 9, 2012 Report Share Posted August 9, 2012 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomatamot Posted August 10, 2012 Report Share Posted August 10, 2012 (edited) LOUIS HAYES GROUP - Variety is the Spice How is that album? I saw a copy at a local store recently and wondered if I should pick it up. BUY IT!!!!!!! Some of Frank Strozier's greatest playing is on this album, especially "Stardust," which he delivers with incredible soul and sophistication (the arrangment, which is probably either by Harold Mabern or Frank, includes Coltrane-derived "Countdown" subsitutions and other harmonic felicities. "Invitation" burns too. Actually, all of the album is really strong. The rhythm section is splashy in a '70s McCoy Tynerish kind of way. I even like the Leon Thomas vocals too ("Little Sunflower" and "Nisha"). Samples on youtube. Search "Louis Hayes" and "Stardust" and that will lead to the rest of the album too. I agree on your opinion. Ordered this album for the presence of Frank Strozier. It`s one of my today`s arrivals. So, go for it! Edited August 10, 2012 by tomatamot Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brownie Posted August 10, 2012 Report Share Posted August 10, 2012 Gigi Gryce 'Saying Somethin'!' (NewJazz) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomatamot Posted August 10, 2012 Report Share Posted August 10, 2012 Bobby Watson - Appointment In Milano Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Tapscott Posted August 10, 2012 Report Share Posted August 10, 2012 Great album! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patricia Posted August 10, 2012 Report Share Posted August 10, 2012 You're right, Patricia, but what's going to stick with me from your post is the juxtaposition of my last sentence and your first sentence: I was an idiot. Certainly agree with your last paragraph. Thanks a lot! Well, occasionally being accused of being an idiot about a specific thing offsets your perfect good looks and sly sense of humour, making you bearable. ...seems to have been attacked by wild dogs and is in elegant tatters. Ah, Sunday sunrises...I remember them well. Indeed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted August 10, 2012 Report Share Posted August 10, 2012 Getting to LP 2 of this one today...what a great session...the material is wholly predictable and formulaic, as are many of the solos, but the feeling and conviction are so pervasive and...convincing that none of that matters. Bootie Wood is a treat as well (although I'm not sure that wood booty would be, but whatever). It's stuff like this that shows the difference between "native tongue" and "learned language". A story is never better told than in its native tongue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted August 10, 2012 Report Share Posted August 10, 2012 I've always liked this record, but the more realistic about life I become, the more I like it. Everybody had jobs to do, and everybody did them as well as could be done, with pride and excellence. And most importantly, the results aimed for and achieved the high end of possibility instead of cynically settling for the middle ground - or lower. The fact that the concept had a built-in ceiling is rendered irrelevant at some point, just as is the fact that that ceiling was finally reached at as high a level as it could be. My life lesson about this one is this - no matter what you do, don't bullshit with how you do it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted August 10, 2012 Report Share Posted August 10, 2012 And speaking of no bullshit... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clifford_thornton Posted August 10, 2012 Report Share Posted August 10, 2012 I dig the pre-downtown guitar skronk/turntablism William Hooker LPs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted August 10, 2012 Report Share Posted August 10, 2012 There's energy aplenty, that's for sure! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted August 10, 2012 Report Share Posted August 10, 2012 Booker T. gets into a zone on Side 2 of the Hooker thing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted August 10, 2012 Report Share Posted August 10, 2012 Some really plowed flea-market "New York USA" copy that I only paid a buck or two for. The first side has so many needle-stickings that it's not funny, but Side Two is actually listenable. In spite of all the noise, both sides sound so much better than the CD (and my already-owned "black b" copy) in terms of presence and visceral OOOMPH that it only reinforces my notions that the outright dissing of these sessions that is afoot in some quarters is something about which I must file a formal protest with the commoner's office. That Volume 1, though, that's hard to find, always has been. Maybe it's the color scheme. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clifford_thornton Posted August 10, 2012 Report Share Posted August 10, 2012 Booker T. gets into a zone on Side 2 of the Hooker thing! Indeedy! He's also on a Denis Charles LP on Silkheart, which I still need to get. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted August 10, 2012 Report Share Posted August 10, 2012 Better for dancing than for listening. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vinyltim Posted August 11, 2012 Report Share Posted August 11, 2012 (edited) Don Wilkerson "The Texas Twister" - Riverside RLP 332 - original 1960 release Cool record--I'd like to hear his Blue Note sessions too... http://www.timenjoysrecords.com/records/don-wilkerson-the-texas-twister Edited August 11, 2012 by vinyltim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clifford_thornton Posted August 11, 2012 Report Share Posted August 11, 2012 The BNs are tight soul-jazz, quite airplay-ready, with Wilkerson as the only horn. That said, I like them, though they are quite different from the Riverside date (which I only have on CD). Seems like you scored a nice copy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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