Unknown and/or underrated

[michel1969]

We all have some fine records that nobody else seems to know or care for... It would be great to share informations and personnal feelings about them.

Here's one, just to start :

Rolf Kuhn "Streamline" on Vanguard, 1956. Fantastic swinging session with outstanding solos by Kuhn and Ronnell Bright.

[jbs-tom]

i think this is a great album and very often overlooked:

the freddy redd trio - san francisco suite - riverside lp

[michel1969]

i think this is a great album and very often overlooked:

the freddy redd trio - san francisco suite - riverside lp

Yes ! I agree. Nice cover, too.

[paul secor]

Vibist Al Francis is both - unknown & underrated. He made two records that I'm aware of. One as a sideman on Don Ellis' New Ideas and one as a leader - Jazz Bohemia Revisited (Lost Cosmic Unity). Jazz Bohemia Revisited is a very fine trio date with bassist John Neves and drummer Joe Hunt, and is one to pick up if you ever come across it in a used LP bin. It deserves to be reissued.

[NIS]

Vibist Al Francis is both - unknown & underrated. He made two records that I'm aware of. One as a sideman on Don Ellis' New Ideas and one as a leader - Jazz Bohemia Revisited (Lost Cosmic Unity). Jazz Bohemia Revisited is a very fine trio date with bassist John Neves and drummer Joe Hunt, and is one to pick up if you ever come across it in a used LP bin. It deserves to be reissued.

Thanks for bringing this up. I haven't played this record in a long time but I will fix that when I get home tonight.

Another vibes trio record that would fit this thread is The Haunt by Bobby Naughton. Naughton on vibes with Perry Robinson on clarinet and Leo Smith on trumpet. A little bit on the "free" side I think.

[clifford_thornton]

The Haunt is very good, spare New Haven CT improvisation. It was released on Naughton's Otic imprint, I think cat. # 1005.

Other great titles on Otic include Understanding, which was reissued by Japo, and includes Mark Whitecage and Laurence Cook (ca. '71) and Nature's Consort, which is very hard to come by.

And then there's the whole CMIF/Alacra scene, which is just as hip....

Naughton was a former dirt-track motorcycle racer and musician who found free improvisation, and showed a very impressionistic but concentrated approach by way of the AACM and Steve Lacy. He was part of the whole New Haven Creative Improvising Musicians' Forum in the '70s and into the early '80s. I've heard great stories about his homemade explosives, too. Not sure whatever became of him, though.

Edited September 20, 2006 by clifford_thornton

[clifford_thornton]

That Francis date looks interesting...

My memory is now calling up some mid-80s leader date.

Date: August 1986

Location: Air Sound, Boston, MA

Label: L.C.U. [Lost Cosmic Unity]

Al Francis (ldr), Al Francis (vib), John Neves (b), Joe Hunt (d)

a. a-01 Rogue's Dilemma - 05:19 (Al Francis)

b. a-02 D. D. L. J. - 05:59 (Jaki Byard)

c. a-03 Wha Love - 04:46 (Al Francis)

d. a-04 Albizu - 06:11 (Al Francis)

e. b-01 Blues For Booker - 04:39 (Al Francis)

f. b-02 Village Nites - 04:40 (Al Francis)

g. b-03 Sweet Beginnings - 05:21 (Al Francis)

h. b-04 Lonely Town - 05:04 (Leonard Bernstein, Betty Comden, Adolph Green)

All titles on: - L.C.U. [Lost Cosmic Unity] LP 12": LUC 0251 - Jazz Bohemia Revisited (1986)

[Chuck Nessa]

The Haunt is very good, spare New Haven CT improvisation. It was released on Naughton's Otic imprint, I think cat. # 1005.

Other great titles on Otic include Understanding, which was reissued by Japo, and includes Mark Whitecage and Laurence Cook (ca. '71) and Nature's Consort, which is very hard to come by.

And then there's the whole CMIF/Alacra scene, which is just as hip....

Naughton was a former dirt-track motorcycle racer who got into free improvisation, and showed a very impressionistic but concentrated approach by way of the AACM and Steve Lacy. I've heard great stories about his homemade explosives, too. Not sure whatever became of him, though.

I have Naughton's The Haunt, Nauxtagram and Solo Vibraphone on Otic. I have the CMIF record and Fonda's Looking For the Lake on Alcara. Can you fill me in on other titles?

[Larry Kart]

I like Al Francis's "Jazz Bohemia Revisited" a lot and reviewed it for the Chicago Tribune when it came out, which led to a friendly phone conversation with Francis. Sadly, I lost track of him.

[clifford_thornton]

Well, there are Pavone's Shodo and Digit on Alacra, the former featuring Naughton on marimba and Pheeroan Ak Laff on drums. I think Emmett Spencer might also be on it, but I'm not at home and can't look.

Tom Chapin also has an Alacra record, The Bell of the Heart. It's a bit "light" but still a nice date. Features Pavone, George Alford and, iirc, Nick Makros is on tenor. I seem to remember a solo Dwight Andrews LP on Otic as well.

Guitarist Allan Jaffe has a record called Soundscape that has a CMIF-culled lineup, I think Ak Laff is on it. It wasn't really as rewarding a spin as I'd hoped, but I do regret not buying the last copy I saw. He's in fine form on that CMIF orchestra LP.

I've got tapes of reedman Phil Buettner leading a band with Alford, Pavone, Fonda, and Yohuru Ralph Williams in 1980 at New Haven's Dwight Chapel, where I believe a lot of these CMIF activities took place. It's excellent stuff, though the influences ('70s Braxton, especially) are fairly obvious.

[Guy Berger]

i think this is a great album and very often overlooked:

the freddy redd trio - san francisco suite - riverside lp

I have this on CD, but I agree -- it's a nice album.

Guy