Jimmy Giuffre

[B. Clugston]

There's still a lot of Verve recordings out of print, such as Ad Lib, Seven Pieces and the Jimmy Giuffre Quartet in Person. Don't know if they've ever been released on CD. Lonehill or someone will soon take care of that.

For those who missed out on the Mosaic set, almost all of the music is now available one way (Collectables) or the other (from the Andorran hills). The one session I haven't seen yet is the music that became Travellin' Light, with Jim Atlas on bass instead of Bob Brookmeyer.

[(BB)]

The one session I haven't seen yet is the music that became Travellin' Light, with Jim Atlas on bass instead of Bob Brookmeyer.

Trav'lin' Light, Atlantic 1282 is Giuffre, Hall and Brookmeyer ~ no Atlas.

I believe the Original Trio release has some Atlas tracks. I have about 95% vinyl, so I don't really pay attention to cd re-issues.

[garthsj]

There's still a lot of Verve recordings out of print, such as Ad Lib, Seven Pieces and the Jimmy Giuffre Quartet in Person. Don't know if they've ever been released on CD. Lonehill or someone will soon take care of that.

For those who missed out on the Mosaic set, almost all of the music is now available one way (Collectables) or the other (from the Andorran hills). The one session I haven't seen yet is the music that became Travellin' Light, with Jim Atlas on bass instead of Bob Brookmeyer.

Once. long ago, in a vinyl world that I no longer occupy, I had all of these albums, and I believe that they were reissued in Europe on German Verve in the 1980s ... they are still around ... check here:

http://www.gemm.com/c/search.pl?field=ARTI...16&Go%21=Search

[B. Clugston]

The one session I haven't seen yet is the music that became Travellin' Light, with Jim Atlas on bass instead of Bob Brookmeyer.

Trav'lin' Light, Atlantic 1282 is Giuffre, Hall and Brookmeyer ~ no Atlas.

I believe the Original Trio release has some Atlas tracks. I have about 95% vinyl, so I don't really pay attention to cd re-issues.

He cut the same tunes with Atlas and Hall shortly before re-recording them for the album with Hall and Brookmeyer. Two were on the Atlantic CD reissue of The Jimmy Giuffre Trio, the whole shebang is on Mosaic.

[Tjazz]

If you don't have the Mosaic, there are some cheap European CD re-issues of Four Brothers and Tangents In Jazz.

[paul secor]

Not good news regarding Jimmy's current health status. Jimmy and his wife Juanita live in W. Stockbridge, Massachusetts, in the Berkshires, an area he fell in love with while Lenox School of Jazz was happening. Jimmy used to commute into Boston to teach at NE Conservatory.

I recieved this reply from Jimmy's former bass player Bob Nieske.

Jimmy is still hanging in there, unfortunately I guess.

I spoke with Juanita a couple weeks ago trying to plan a visit with Jimmy and George Russell later this month.

Jimmy is basically in a wheel chair and can't talk. I think he's been like that for a few years now.

Makes me think national health care is a great idea. Juanita needs help but they can't afford.

She also doesn't trust nursing homes even if they could afford one.

Is there an address we can send donations to and help out?

[king ubu]

I thought I'd rather pull this thread back to life than post about the music in the r.i.p.-thread.

Played some of the Mosaic again, after reading about Giuffre's death. The second of the Capitol album is astonishing! The first, "Four Brothers", is a bit of a mixed bag, but the last of its three sessions already has the band of the second album, "Tangents in Jazz", in place: Jack Sheldon, Ralph Pena and Artie Anton (never heard of that guy other than his appearance here).

For all those who missed out on the Mosaic (it was one of the first I got!), this album's available on Membran's cheapo "Original Longplay Albums" series, as is the very first one:

Detailed info here (select "Original Longplay" under the respective title, then "Labelcopy" to get the discography of the albums).

Now I also just played Giuffre's astonishing first Atlantic album, "The Jimmy Giuffre Clarinet", but then that one is well known as a cornerstone, it seems, while "Tangents" isn't mentioned very often, alas.

[Bright Moments]

thanks ubu for bringing up this thread!

i just spun ellis meets giuffre - good stuff!

[JSngry]

Jimmy Giuffre THE EASY WAY (Verve) has been re-issued recently on CD. It might be available on yourmusic for $6.

That album...you talk about an iron fist in a velvet glove, this is it. Nothing "easy" going on here...sort of an unheralded masterpiece, I think.

[GregK]

Jimmy Giuffre THE EASY WAY (Verve) has been re-issued recently on CD. It might be available on yourmusic for $6.

Still is. I got it from BMG about 2 weeks ago.

What about the Life of a Trio discs? How different did the Giuffre trio sound in the early 90s compared to the 60s?

[JSngry]

I thnk they sounded more confident, and maybe less "wondrous" in that their improvisations weren't quite as...holistically improvised as they were the first time around. How could they be?

Don't get me wrong though - wonderful music, highly recommended

And Swallow on electric...that changes the center of gravity ever-so-slightly yet noticeably. But not in a bad way.

Edited April 27, 2008 by JSngry

[AllenLowe]

years ago (mid 1970s) I saw an ad in the Village Voice, "Jimmy Giuffre at Jimmy Ryan's" - now Ryan's was a trad joint in midtown NYC, though that's also where Roy Eldridge did some of his last work - Giuffre was on early, maybe 4-5 PM and it turns out he was playing with a a swing-style rhythm section, can't remember who, but Herb Hall was on clarinet and Giuffre played tenor. Strange afternoon, given my expectations, but Giuffre fit right in -

Edited April 27, 2008 by AllenLowe

[king ubu]

Giuffre's "7 Pieces" has been reissued on CD on one of those new Spanish (?) operations (Jazz Track, Jazz something) - it contains some bonus tracks, where are they from?

Here's the info for that session (from jazzdisco.org):

Jimmy Giuffre Trio

Jimmy Giuffre (cl, ts, bars) Jim Hall (g) Red Mitchell (b)

Los Angeles, CA, February 23 & 25, March 2, 1959

25057-28 The Happy Man Verve MGV 8307

25058-16 Princess -

25059-13 Song Of The Wing -

25060-6 Lovely Willow -

25061-2 The Little Melody -

25062-1 The Story -

25063-5 Time Machine -

* The Jimmy Giuffre 3 - Seven Pieces (Verve MGV 8307, MGVS 6039)

and here's the setlist of the CD (from Amazon):

1. Happy Man

2. Princess

3. Song Of The Wind

4. Lovely Willow

5. The Little Melody

6. The Story

7. Time Machine

8. Two Degrees East, Three Degrees We T

9. Four Brothers

10. Princess

11. Careful

[BillF]

years ago (mid 1970s) I saw an ad in the Village Voice, "Jimmy Giuffre at Jimmy Ryan's" - now Ryan's was a trad joint in midtown NYC, though that's also where Roy Eldridge did some of his last work - Giuffre was on early, maybe 4-5 PM and it turns out he was playing with a a swing-style rhythm section, can't remember who, but Herb Hall was on clarinet and Giuffre played tenor. Strange afternoon, given my expectations, but Giuffre fit right in -

Jimmy played a lot of straight ahead tenor, as can be heard on many records under the leadership of Shorty Rogers.

[king ubu]

Yeah, but "trad" means dixieland... and that's what Eldridge often played in his late years...

I guess Giuffre was in his way just as "adaptable" as his colleague Pee Wee Russell (I just played their long blues from the Mosaic, marvellous).

[BillF]

Yeah, but "trad" means dixieland... and that's what Eldridge often played in his late years...

I guess Giuffre was in his way just as "adaptable" as his colleague Pee Wee Russell (I just played their long blues from the Mosaic, marvellous).

You're right about "adaptable". Have you heard Giuffre playing outrageous rock 'n roll tenor on "Block Buster" and "Dynamite" by a Shorty Rogers group that called itself "Boots Brown & his Blockbusters"? It's a hoot!

[clifford_thornton]

Jimmy Giuffre THE EASY WAY (Verve) has been re-issued recently on CD. It might be available on yourmusic for $6.

Still is. I got it from BMG about 2 weeks ago.

It's an amazing, awesome record. I never thought much about Ray Brown before getting this, amazingly.

[king ubu]

Yeah, but "trad" means dixieland... and that's what Eldridge often played in his late years...

I guess Giuffre was in his way just as "adaptable" as his colleague Pee Wee Russell (I just played their long blues from the Mosaic, marvellous).

You're right about "adaptable". Have you heard Giuffre playing outrageous rock 'n roll tenor on "Block Buster" and "Dynamite" by a Shorty Rogers group that called itself "Boots Brown & his Blockbusters"? It's a hoot!

Incidentally I just read about those recordings today and wondered... I assume I shall have to look for those early sessions some day...

[Larry Kart]

Video of two Hungarian fiddlers playing "Four Brothers" with a tasty, relaxed big band:

The above via Doug Ramsey's "Rifftides." The female fiddler is Katica Illenyi.

[JSngry]

Relaxed?

Is that some Branson gig or something?

[Larry Kart]

Relaxed?

Is that some Branson gig or something?

The band's performance sounds pretty "in there" rhythmically to me.

[JSngry]

In where?

I mean, it's "tight", it's "together", but they play the chart the way that all of "those type" bands play it. Years of forced exposure to this type of "lab band"-ish interpretation has ;left me permanently wounded, I guess.

And the way the violins seem to...lunge into every ensemble hole is kinda...comically unsettling to me. I've seen seats on a bus contested with more finesse.

Sex with anybody who feels music like this seems to me like it would be like a bad acid trip - you start out thinking it's gonna be fun, but pretty soon you realize that not only is it not going to be fun, it's gonna be sheer hell, and the fact that there literally is no end in sight for what at the moment seems equally literally like all eternity is enough to make you wonder if life really is worth living.

Edited April 28, 2008 by JSngry

[garthsj]

Yeah, but "trad" means dixieland... and that's what Eldridge often played in his late years...

I guess Giuffre was in his way just as "adaptable" as his colleague Pee Wee Russell (I just played their long blues from the Mosaic, marvellous).

You're right about "adaptable". Have you heard Giuffre playing outrageous rock 'n roll tenor on "Block Buster" and "Dynamite" by a Shorty Rogers group that called itself "Boots Brown & his Blockbusters"? It's a hoot!

Incidentally I just read about those recordings today and wondered... I assume I shall have to look for those early sessions some day...

Ubu,

These two cuts are available in the Shorty Rogers Proper Box Set ... I know that this considered heresy by some, but while I have all of these cuts on the original albums (except these two you are seeking) , these "boxes" are cheap and useful for long distance car travel ... I don't now how many times I have listened to the "Be-Bop Spoken Here" box while traveling, and it converted my son into being a lover of be-bop ..

[Larry Kart]

Sex with anybody who feels music like this seems to me like it would be like a bad acid trip...

But did you check out the cover of Katya's album? Or maybe you did.

[JSngry]

Yeah...

One of many reasons why I try to stay home as much as possible these days...