George Braith

[Chas]

I really don't think Musart is on the level of Braith's Bluenote output .

The title track starts out promisingly but during Braith's solo any musical narrative or development is lost . The two ballad standards don't approach anything memorable ; Laura being particularly unrewarding . The lowpoint of the album is Evelyn Anita , which tenders some pretty tired funkiness .

One track stands head and shoulders above the rest and that is Del's Theme . The wordless vocalizing is hauntingly lovely on this , and George gets into a relaxed , hypnotic groove in his solo . Splashes of Love is the next best thing on the record , but it gets an injudiciously quick fade out just as Jane Getz is getting going !

According to Lord there are six unissued tunes from the sessions that went into Musart ( one titled intriguingly ( or alarmingly ) , 'Monkey Cha Cha' ) . In addition , according to Lord , Braith did four more tunes for Prestige in the fall of '67 with John Hicks , Herbie Lewis and Roy Haynes , but there is no listing for this session in Fitzgerald's Prestige discography .

[Clunky]

Having had great success with MG’s recommendation on Johnny Lytle I picked up Braith’s Musart.  I think it’s a pretty beguiling album , quite different from just about anything else of this era that I’ve heard. Solid recommendation MG 👍

Edited April 9, 2018 by Clunky

[mjazzg]

got me tempted...

[JSngry]

the Braith Prestiges are of more interest to me than are the BNs, and I very much enjoy the BNs.

And then you get into his self-released stuff...eccentric, often, but always interesting.

[sidewinder]

2 hours ago, Clunky said:

Having had great success with MG’s recommendation on Johnny Lytle I picked up Braith’s Musart.  I think it’s a pretty beguiling album , quite different from just about anything else of this era that I’ve heard. Solid recommendation MG 👍

The nearest equivalent that comes to mind is RRK’s ‘Slightly Latin’. Both left field albums with MOR touches from about the same late 60s vintage with the vocal backing. Both are great (IMO anyway).

Dusty Groove did a nice job with the ‘Musart’ reissue.

Edited April 9, 2018 by sidewinder

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

3 hours ago, Clunky said:

Having had great success with MG’s recommendation on Johnny Lytle I picked up Braith’s Musart.  I think it’s a pretty beguiling album , quite different from just about anything else of this era that I’ve heard. Solid recommendation MG 👍

Glad you like it.

Is it now on CD?

MG

[Clunky]

3 minutes ago, The Magnificent Goldberg said:

Glad you like it.

Is it now on CD?

MG

2013 reissue on Real Gone Music, under license from Concord. It's the same label as reissued as Lytle's  The Soulful Rebel/ People & Love. I enjoyed that one a lot so went looking to see what else RGM had reissued. Musart had your recommendation on some thread IIRC when I went searching.

Edited April 9, 2018 by Clunky

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

1 minute ago, Clunky said:

2013 reissue on Real Gone Music

Oh, is that the complete George Braith 1963-67? I have the feeling that label does that kind of thing.

MG

[Clunky]

3 minutes ago, The Magnificent Goldberg said:

Oh, is that the complete George Braith 1963-67? I have the feeling that label does that kind of thing.

MG

No it's just Musart, I don't think they've reissued the other Braith 

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

32 minutes ago, Clunky said:

No it's just Musart, I don't think they've reissued the other Braith 

Oh. But it's got to be a CD?

MG

[sidewinder]

It was a Real Gone Music/Dusty Groove Issue.

They also put out a Prestige CD by Stan Hunter and Sonny Fortune (his first session).

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

10 hours ago, sidewinder said:

It was a Real Gone Music/Dusty Groove Issue.

They also put out a Prestige CD by Stan Hunter and Sonny Fortune (his first session).

Yes, I've got the LP of that, too. A nice-ish cut or two but a bit on the weak side overall.

MG

[sidewinder]

I agree - it is a fairly run of the mill session.

[danasgoodstuff]

Blue John (Patton) was the first place I heard Geo. Braith, and still by far my fav although I enjoy the BNs under his name.  Given that, do I want either of the Prestige?

[JSngry]

Yes? Both?

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Both are very different; from each other and from anything else he's done. No way to tell before you hear 'em. And it took me a good while to get 'Musart' after I'd bought it. I mean over a decade.

MG

[Teasing the Korean]

On April 13, 2007 at 5:07 AM, Chas said:

One track stands head and shoulders above the rest and that is Del's Theme . The wordless vocalizing is hauntingly lovely on this , and George gets into a relaxed , hypnotic groove in his solo .

That is the money cut!

[Dave James]

About a half-a-dozen copies on eBay at a reasonable price and the entire album is on YouTube. 

[Shrdlu]

Re the sound quality on "Laughing Soul", it was recorded after the three Blue Note albums. George said that he asked Rudy to get the same sound, but Rudy flat refused to do so.

[andybleaden]

With the Laughing Soul I got it...your comments on Muzart about needing a decade..I think you are rushing it 😊

I remember picking up the late 90s early 2000s Braith material (including the John Patton late dates 😄) and the voices stuff....and then the Blue Notes and Prestige numbers made sense... except Muzart...that is linked to his late stuff...don't get it but I understand people do

[Stevie Mclean]

On 2/24/2019 at 10:50 AM, Shrdlu said:

Re the sound quality on "Laughing Soul", it was recorded after the three Blue Note albums. George said that he asked Rudy to get the same sound, but Rudy flat refused to do so.

I have always wondered why albums recorded by the same engineer sound different from label to label. I understand that they can never perfectly replicate their recordings and there will always be better and worse recordings, but based on what you said, it seems like there is conscious effort involved in changing the results. Is George's comment implying that Rudy had some sort of deal with BlueNote where they got the "signiature sound" and any other labels didn't get the highest quality sound? If that's the case, I would be pretty upset if I were paying him to record and engineer my records and he was purposefully sandbagging them. 

[JSngry]

36 minutes ago, Stevie Mclean said:

I have always wondered why albums recorded by the same engineer sound different from label to label. I understand that they can never perfectly replicate their recordings and there will always be better and worse recordings, but based on what you said, it seems like there is conscious effort involved in changing the results. Is George's comment implying that Rudy had some sort of deal with BlueNote where they got the "signiature sound" and any other labels didn't get the highest quality sound? If that's the case, I would be pretty upset if I were paying him to record and engineer my records and he was purposefully sandbagging them. 

Alfred Lion had his own set of tweakings that he had Rudy do, and I think that is was considered "proprietary" by both parties.

[Stevie Mclean]

1 hour ago, JSngry said:

Alfred Lion had his own set of tweakings that he had Rudy do, and I think that is was considered "proprietary" by both parties.

Interesting... I hadn't known that Alfred had a hand in the recording and engineering of the sessions. In that case I respect Rudy playing those cards close to his chest. I'm sure he was in no rush to fumble the BlueNote bread bag!

[colinmce]

I came across this a couple years back in a dollar bin and grabbed it. I would say it's probably of limited interest to any jazz fan, but it's fun to have:

https://www.discogs.com/release/27294612-George-Braith-Turn-Of-The-Century

Has anyone heard Double Your Pleasure - Live At The University Of The Street? It's a jazz-centric session released by Bellaphon in Germany in 1992:

[JSngry]

18 minutes ago, Stevie Mclean said:

Interesting... I hadn't known that Alfred had a hand in the recording and engineering of the sessions. In that case I respect Rudy playing those cards close to his chest. I'm sure he was in no rush to fumble the BlueNote bread bag!

I think it was in the mastering that Alfred really used his secret sauce.

8 minutes ago, colinmce said:

I came across this a couple years back in a dollar bin and grabbed it. I would say it's probably of limited interest to any jazz fan, but it's fun to have:

https://www.discogs.com/release/27294612-George-Braith-Turn-Of-The-Century

Has anyone heard Double Your Pleasure - Live At The University Of The Street? It's a jazz-centric session released by Bellaphon in Germany in 1992:

Those albums that zBraith released on his own are all worth checking out.

One of his jam session records has a track where Sonny Rollins sits in + on saxophone pads! He must fingers the note without blowing and the pads make the sound.