Tyrone Washington -- "Do Right" (circa 1974)

[JSngry]

I'd buy the motherfukkah. It's Tyrone Washington, and there's a story there, one of which you (and others, including myself) find fascinating. This is part of it.

Of course, you already got a burn, so then the question becomes one of "object" vs. "meat". You got the meat, but in buying the object, you might be helping Heiner Stadler, which means that the Brains On Fire stuff might come out sooner. Or not. That's a crap shoot.

[Guest akanalog]

i own the CD via dustygroove.

i would say it is a real toss up.

i don't really understand why this album polarizes you so much.

it seems all cut from the same cloth to me. is it just the vocals?

i mean i don't like the second to last tune because it is sort of a blues-ey shuffle and the last song maybe could be a little shorter in the middle section, but yeah i am confused why this album tears you apart so much.

[Rooster_Ties]

Jim, was Stadler involved in any way with "Do Right"? I forget. I should know this stuff.

It's "Roots" that's on Perception, and "Do Right" on Blue Labor. And I guess maybe Blue Labor was Stadler's thing (now that I'm thinking about it).

But either way, if there's any chance for "Roots" coming out on CD (now THERE's a MF'n Tyrone Washington date that NEEDS to be available), then I probably ought to buy "Do Right".

Edited April 4, 2006 by Rooster_Ties

[Rooster_Ties]

i don't really understand why this album polarizes you so much.

it seems all cut from the same cloth to me. is it just the vocals?

i mean i don't like the second to last tune because it is sort of a blues-ey shuffle and the last song maybe could be a little shorter in the middle section, but yeah i am confused why this album tears you apart so much.

It's not the vocals, per se.

It's true, I don't like vocals in jazz (and I really don't like traditional vocal jazz, that's for damn sure). But I really LOVE plenty of jazz albums from the 70's (and really late 60's) that do happen to have vocals ("Lift Every Voice", "Now", "Black Renaissance", Doug Carn’s Black Jazz dates with Jean Carn – I love all that stuff)

It's just that Tyrone's singing is just SO bad.

I mean, I get weirder looks from my wife when I have "Do Right" on, than I would from "Free Jazz" or "Ascension" - or any Sun Ra.

(Not that weird looks from my wife is the arbiter of my taste. )

Edited April 4, 2006 by Rooster_Ties

[Guest akanalog]

well i definitely think "do right" is a more enjoyable album than "black renaissance" and "lift every voice"....

just my opinion.

[jlhoots]

FWIW (after all, I'm not Jim), I bought the damn thing too from DG. Glad I did.

BTW, my wife hates much of it too.

I'd get Roots too the minute it appeared.

[Rooster_Ties]

I'd get Roots too the minute it appeared.

Fuck yeah!! I'd pay $25 for THAT date in a heartbeat.

If anybody reads this thread a few years from now, and "Roots" has since been released on CD - get that MF as quick as you can.

It's a monster!!!

Edited April 4, 2006 by Rooster_Ties

[JSngry]

It's just that Tyrone's singing is just SO bad.

Indeed it is.

Yet he does it so...enthusiastically. As if he's compelled to do it, no matter how bad it is.

And that is part of the story.

[Rooster_Ties]

'tis true. And it may just be that very enthusiasm that has me so torn. I mean, if it were just bad vocals -- I'd hate the date, and be done with it.

But I have NEVER heard anyone sell something (and something so god damn awful) as utterly convincingly as Tyrone does here.

THAT'S probably what's got me so conflicted.

For those of you that don't know the back story of my prior relationship with "Do Right" -- after I first discovered the thing on eBay about 6 years ago (and then seeing copies of it go for $100 or more in something like three different auctions over two years) -- about 4 or 5 years ago I finally won a copy of my own for about $50 or $60. Sangry first mentioned it years ago on the old BNBB, saying he only vaguely remembered maybe just once seeing some mysterious third Tyrone leader date. And he wasn’t even sure it ever really existed, or if he was just dreaming it.

But I didn't fall in love with it at first spin. It just didn't seem anything like what a real Tyrone Washington album ought to be (like "Natural Essence" or "Roots"). So I decided to live with a burn of it – and I promptly sent my LP of it to Sangry about a week after I first got it (totally free of charge too, I might add). As much as I loved Tyrone, I figured Sangry loved Tyrone even more than I did - and probably more than anyone I'd ever know. (I still wanted it, sure -- but I figured Jim NEEDED it.)

I've only spun my burn of "Do Right" about once a year since then, but I still failed to connect with it very deeply.

BUT, in trying to decide whether to drop $25 more on it (on CD - which I really prefer over LP's, by the way), I've spun the thing like 20 or 30 times since I first started this thread. And damn, if it isn't finally starting to grow on me. And, weird as it is, I think it does somehow fit in the Tyrone cannon. I could never explain it (or at least not as well as Jim probably can), but there is some really freaky kind of conceptual continuity to all of Tyrone’s work –- and yes, even "Do Right".

Edited April 4, 2006 by Rooster_Ties

[Peter Johnson]

Buy the goddamn thing already. If you don't like it, I'll buy it from you!

[Rooster_Ties]

Buy the goddamn thing already. If you don't like it, I'll buy it from you!

Well, why didn't you just say that before??

I guess I've got myself mostly convinced to get it.

[Guest akanalog]

yeah i am listening to this album as i write and i just don't see how the vocals would keep you away.

i was listening to, for instance, a doug carn album today, and i would much rather listen to mr. washington than jean carn and company.

the singing goes with the feel of the music. he doesn't have a good voice, but i mean it is just part of the goofy soulful sound.

[Rooster_Ties]

FWIW, I pulled the trigger on my Dusty order today, and I got "Do Right". It'll be here within a week.

I'll regret the $25 spent (a little), but I'm betting I would have REALLY regretted it if I had not gotten one when I had the chance.

It'll be a fun to play for my jazz buddies that already think I'm wacked in the head about liking strange jazz .

Edited April 11, 2006 by Rooster_Ties

[Rooster_Ties]

Got it today.

[RDK]

Ah, found a more appropriate thread. Anyway, this album just turned up on emusic. If nothing else, it's much cheaper this way than $25 at DG.

[EKE BBB]

Could anyone who owns a copy confirm that release date for the original Blue Labor LP is 1974 (recording date is April 17 & 18, 1974)?

Thanks in advance!

[Eric]

Ah, found a more appropriate thread. Anyway, this album just turned up on emusic. If nothing else, it's much cheaper this way than $25 at DG.

Yes, iTunes has it for $7.92.

[T.D.]

Just noticed this is back at Dusty Groove.

I listened to a couple of tunes on Youtube, thought they weren't that bad but am not going to pay $22.99 for a CD.