Jimmy Giuffre

[garthsj]

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.

I agree totally about "Tangents" being a somewhat forgotten album ... it was played to death on my old Garrard turntable (with the fabulous Acos arm) when it was released in the mid-fifties. In one of the few moments when I caught him in a serious mood, Jack Sheldon told me how bewildered he was when he started to make the album, but he soon "got the feel" and loved doing it. He too feels that it should have received more attention over the years.

Giuffre made some wonderful abums as an arranger ... I am particularly fond of the Verve albums he did for Lee Konitz, and also Anita O'Day in a wonderfully "minimalist" style ... these are among the real gems in my collection, and I never tire of listening to them.

Garth.

[king ubu]

Oh yes! That 2CD set with those Konitz/Giuffre things is a marvel, and the Giuffre/Holman album for O'Day is one of the highlights of the O'Day Verve Mosaic (I didn't know much of her before... just took the plunge and was mighty impressed!)

[Big Al]

That 2CD set with those Konitz/Giuffre things is a marvel,

What CD(s) is that?

[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?

8. Two Degrees East, Three Degrees We T

9. Four Brothers

10. Princess

11. Careful

Ok, so these four pieces are from a Rome concert in June 19, 1959 with Buddy Clark on bass (and Jim Hall, as on the "7 Pieces" studio album). I have video of two tracks that came as from 1956 (June 19, too, same location given as I found googling for this one, Teatro Adriano). No clue how accurate this information is...

That 2CD set with those Konitz/Giuffre things is a marvel,

What CD(s) is that?

This one:

http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&a...10:3zftxq8gld0e

It contains: "Lee Konitz Meets Jimmy Giuffre", Lee Konitz "An Image" (Bill Russo arr., strings), Jimmy Giuffre's string album for Verve (Yanow says it's "the least interesting" of the lot, not so sure of that...), and as kind of a related bonus, Ralph Burns' 1951 ten incher "Free Forms", with Konitz on board. Great double disc!

[garthsj]

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?

8. Two Degrees East, Three Degrees We T

9. Four Brothers

10. Princess

11. Careful

Ok, so these four pieces are from a Rome concert in June 19, 1959 with Buddy Clark on bass (and Jim Hall, as on the "7 Pieces" studio album). I have video of two tracks that came as from 1956 (June 19, too, same location given as I found googling for this one, Teatro Adriano). No clue how accurate this information is...

That 2CD set with those Konitz/Giuffre things is a marvel,

What CD(s) is that?

This one:

http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&a...10:3zftxq8gld0e

It contains: "Lee Konitz Meets Jimmy Giuffre", Lee Konitz "An Image" (Bill Russo arr., strings), Jimmy Giuffre's string album for Verve (Yanow says it's "the least interesting" of the lot, not so sure of that...), and as kind of a related bonus, Ralph Burns' 1951 ten incher "Free Forms", with Konitz on board. Great double disc!

It was strange (and annoying) to me that when they did that 2-CD set, they did not include this other Konitz-Giuffre album ... It is a wonderful album ..

http://www.amazon.com/You-Lee-Konitz/dp/B0...3829&sr=1-1

[JohnS]

I'm on a Giuffre marathon right now. He's hardly been off the player this week. What an astonishing body of work, even unlikely things like Music Man are little gems. Always new things to discover. What a man!

[king ubu]

It was strange (and annoying) to me that when they did that 2-CD set, they did not include this other Konitz-Giuffre album ... It is a wonderful album ..

http://www.amazon.com/You-Lee-Konitz/dp/B0...3829&sr=1-1

I wasn't even aware of that album! A Giuffre Verve Mosaic would be so great, even if much of it has by now been readily available.

[Late]

No mention in this thread yet of Giuffre's two 70's dates on Choice Records (later reissued on Candid with different titles). These trio recordings have skyrocketed into some of my all-time favorite Giuffre. They're on eMusic (with different covers), for those that swing that way.

[Guy Berger]

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.

Yes... great album! Jimmy reminds me of Sonny Rollins on one of the tracks, but that could be just because he's playing tenor over bare-bones rhythm.

What other pre-Fusion/Thesis albums do you guys recommend?

Guy

[David Gitin]

If you can find "Lee Konitz Meets Jimmy Giuffre" (double disc on Verve) you get that album plus Konitz (and Bill Russo arr) "An Image with Strings" and Giuffre's "Tangents for Orchestra."

[Teasing the Korean]

Just yesterday I spun his Verve trio album "Fusion." My God, this sounds like the soundtrack of a 1950s European trade show film about glass production or something of the sort. I love records with that modern Twilight Zone sound. There is something beautifully artificial about them, they take me to an idealized future that never existed, as I sip red wine and lounge in moderne furniture.

[danasgoodstuff]

Still looking for sheet music for JG's "The Train and the River"...

[Late]

On 5/3/2008 at 3:47 AM, JohnS said:

I'm on a Giuffre marathon right now. He's hardly been off the player this week. What an astonishing body of work, even unlikely things like Music Man are little gems. Always new things to discover. What a man!

The new [official] Graz release has prompted me to go back through my Giuffre collection, and now I've been on a "marathon" too. (Marathons are actually fun — especially when you're not running them!) The first two discs of the Mosaic set are not to be overlooked (— I'm guilty of overlooking them in the past). Wonderful music, and Jack Sheldon is surprisingly well-matched to the music. One thing about Giuffre on clarinet: the dude's intonation is ON. Listeners take it for granted, but no. Ain't easy.

Sometimes, listening to Giuffre, I start daydreaming. Did Coltrane ever listen to Giuffre? Giuffre does some false fingering on clarinet, circa 1956, that sounds not unlike figures Coltrane would play about three or four years later. (John Gilmore's false fingerings also seem to pre-date Coltrane's recorded evidence of the same.) Thoughts?

At any rate, Giuffre is AVANT GARDE — in the best of ways. And before a lot of other musicians who boldly, and conspicuously, wore that badge. Bam!

[OliverM]

For Giuffre's 100th birthday, France musique is broadcasting a 1991 Giuffre-Bley-Swallow concert at Maison de la radio. It has solos from each musician to begin with. Two shows, 25th and 26 (upcoming).

https://www.francemusique.fr/emissions/les-legendes-du-jazz

[mjazzg]

5 hours ago, OliverM said:

For Giuffre's 100th birthday, France musique is broadcasting a 1991 Giuffre-Bley-Swallow concert at Maison de la radio. It has solos from each musician to begin with. Two shows, 25th and 26 (upcoming).

https://www.francemusique.fr/emissions/les-legendes-du-jazz

Thank you

[Late]

The Columbia album ... reissued? I wish Mr. Uehlinger had searched out some European live recordings. There's a Tübingen concert from 1961 still out there, as well as a 1965 UK performance with Don Friedman and Barre Philips. Probably some other European radio recordings as well.

[Late]

Some day, the most unheard iteration of the 3 ... Jimmy Giuffre, Don Pullen, Cecil McBee ... will be heard. This group rehearsed around 1966. There has to be a reel-to-reel somewhere! (Okay, there doesn't have to be, but Giuffre did own recording equipment.)

[colinmce]

4 hours ago, Late said:

The Columbia album ... reissued? I wish Mr. Uehlinger had searched out some European live recordings. There's a Tübingen concert from 1961 still out there, as well as a 1965 UK performance with Don Friedman and Barre Philips. Probably some other European radio recordings as well.

Feels like at the very least a missed opportunity to reissue the 1961 albums with the original Verve mixes ...

[Late]

6 hours ago, colinmce said:

Feels like at the very least a missed opportunity to reissue the 1961 albums with the original Verve mixes ...

I'm so used to the ECM mixes that I never even considered a Verve mix. Are they considerably different?

[colinmce]

1 hour ago, Late said:

I'm so used to the ECM mixes that I never even considered a Verve mix. Are they considerably different?

Not fantastically so, but definitely a bit drier and more “true”. Certainly worth hearing but I must say that I’ve only spun the original LPs a couple times each vs. many dozens of the ECM. 

[Late]

11 hours ago, colinmce said:

Not fantastically so, but definitely a bit drier and more “true."

That makes sense. Manfred likes a wet mix.  I still wonder why he cut the track "Used To Be" from that 2-disc set. If memory serves, there was enough room to include it. Regardless, that ECM reissue is desert island stuff.

[Onxidlib]

17 hours ago, Late said:

I still wonder why he cut the track "Used To Be" from that 2-disc set. If memory serves, there was enough room to include it. Regardless, that ECM reissue is desert island stuff.

Maybe it's old news here but Martin Davidson has reissued "Used To Be" (plus an alternate take of "Trudgin'") on Emanem in 2016. The double CD also includes a.o. more music from the 1961 Bremen concert.

[Late]

15 hours ago, Onxidlib said:

Maybe it's old news here but Martin Davidson has reissued "Used To Be" (plus an alternate take of "Trudgin'") on Emanem in 2016. The double CD also includes a.o. more music from the 1961 Bremen concert.

Yes. I don't have that set, but that's probably the one to have. I wonder how its sound (transfer/mix/remaster) compares to the ECM set. I've never heard those piano/bass duets from Bremen.

[Onxidlib]

On 14.5.2021 at 2:16 AM, Late said:

Yes. I don't have that set, but that's probably the one to have. I wonder how its sound (transfer/mix/remaster) compares to the ECM set. I've never heard those piano/bass duets from Bremen.

It sounds good! But Martin Davidson is not Manfred Eicher - so it sounds not so wet as an ECM release. But it is IMHO a set to get.

[Late]

8 hours ago, Onxidlib said:

Martin Davidson is not Manfred Eicher - so it sounds not so wet as an ECM release.

8 hours ago, Onxidlib said:

But it is IMHO a set to get.