Grachan Moncur III - "Exploration" (2004!!)

[jlhoots]

Played this twice today.

I like it.

[dsgtrane]

Played it yesterday. Greatly enjoyed it. Strong arrangments, my favorite of which was the updated "New Africa". Moncur's soloing sounds a bit tentative but still still sounds fine to my ears. Glad I picked this up.

[Rooster_Ties]

By the way, here's the cover. Glad to hear people are enjoying this one. Still available from my buddy, before you can get it anywhere else (see first post in this thread).

[relyles]

  dsgtrane said:

Played it yesterday. Greatly enjoyed it. Strong arrangments, my favorite of which was the updated "New Africa". Moncur's soloing sounds a bit tentative but still still sounds fine to my ears. Glad I picked this up.

Ditto

[dsgtrane]

  relyles said:

  dsgtrane said:

Played it yesterday.  Greatly enjoyed it.  Strong arrangments, my favorite of which was the updated "New Africa".  Moncur's soloing sounds a bit tentative but still still sounds fine to my ears.  Glad I picked this up.

Ditto

You're a funny guy Ronald!

[relyles]

To be a little more serious, I listened to this disc two times in a row the other night while doing some work on the computer and immediately liked it. I had not heard any of Moncur's work outside of his Blue Note stuff, but the three songs from New Africa inspired me to immediately investigate obtaining a copy of the original recording.

[dsgtrane]

  relyles said:

To be a little more serious, I listened to this disc two times in a row the other night while doing some work on the computer and immediately liked it. I had not heard any of Moncur's work outside of his Blue Note stuff, but the three songs from New Africa inspired me to immediately investigate obtaining a copy of the original recording.

It's available as a twofer along with his other BYG album. Just picked it up the other day after having it only as a burn of a mint condition LP. Have to check again but I believe the LP burn sounds better as I'm not all that thrilled with the sound on the CD.

Sound aside, it's a great session.

[Rooster_Ties]

Just saw this link in another Moncur thread, and thought I'd post it here -- since this entire thread is about Moncur's new release.

Grachan Moncur III Octet - "Exploration" (AAJ review)

[Rooster_Ties]

More press about this release, from another thread just started...

  kulu se mama said:

for anyone who is interested, here is a tidbit from the ICE website concerning the forthcoming grachan moncur disc.

  Quote

Jazz lore is full of comeback stories from musical legends who toiled away in obscurity for years before finally seeing their dues paid. Like last year’s heralded re-emergence of renowned bassist Henry Grimes (who played with everyone from Sonny Rollins to Cecil Taylor, then disappeared for some 30 years), this coming January will bring trombonist Grachan Moncur III back to the scene.

After the 2003 release of the Mosaic Select three-disc box set compiling his classic but hard-to-find mid-’60s Blue Note work, Moncur was spurred to play on his first album as a leader since 1983’s Soul Connection. The January 25th release of Exploration culls together new arrangements of the trombonist’s compositions, most of which were originally recorded on albums of his such as New Africa, Evolution and Some Other Stuff.

Band members making an appearance on the new cuts include drummer Andrew Cyrille (who played on the original 1969 Africa), alto saxophonist Gary Bartz and tenor player Billy Harper, among others. The Capri Records collection features a mix of post-bop arrangements and modern free-form sensibilities, with Moncur’s signature burnished tone and creatively spacious phrasing.

The track list:

"Exploration"   

"Monk In Wonderland"   

"Love And Hate"   

"New Africa"   

"When?"   

"Frankenstein"   

"Excursion"   

"Sonny's Back!"

[Clunky]

some how missed this thread but picked this disc up anyway.

Jazz Review (UK) had it as one of their top relases from 2005. It's very impressive and Moncur's chops sound just fine to me. Billy Harper is on fine form and I was really blown away by Gary Smulyan's baritone. Don't know any of Smulyan's own stuff but he sure sounds exciting on the big horn. Any recs?

[robviti]