James Spaulding

[Tom 1960]

A guy I'm digging more and more these days is James Spaulding. Besides his fine alto work, he sure plays some nice flute. I already have some of his sessions with Freddie Hubbard. Probably a few other albums in my collection which don't come immediately to mind. What are some other recordings worth considering?

[kh1958]

The Smile of the Snake, on High Note.

[Dan Gould]

A guy I'm digging more and more these days is James Spaulding. Besides his fine alto work, he sure plays some nice flute. I already have some of his sessions with Freddie Hubbard. Probably a few other albums in my collection which don't come immediately to mind. What are some other recordings worth considering?

While I am not as much of a Spaulding fan as many people (not big on flutes, and not big on that mix of hard bop/slightly out styles, there is a Muse release called Blues Nexus that is quite enjoyable. An excellent setlist includes a couple of Hank Mobley tunes and other hard bop and bop standards. A quick search on Amazon shows that there are plenty of copies available through Amazon Marketplace starting at under $3. Hard to go wrong for that price ...

[brownie]

I'm rather fond of Spaulding's latest opus 'Down With It' on Marge

It was recorded in July 2006 live at the Sunset Club in Paris.

Well worth looking for!

[Patrick]

While I do not listen to it that often, I enjoy Brilliant Corners (Muse, 1988). Your mileage may vary.

Edited August 11, 2007 by Patrick

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

I have what I think was his first recorded appearance, in 1961, on "Wild" by Larry "Wild" Wrice - PJ24. Spaulding plays alto, tenor and flute. Wrice is the drummer. The others are Bobby Bryant (tp) and the almost entirely unheralded Bobby Blivins on organ. It's a very nice, straight ahead session.

MG

[Guy Berger]

I have what I think was his first recorded appearance, in 1961, on "Wild" by Larry "Wild" Wrice - PJ24. Spaulding plays alto, tenor and flute. Wrice is the drummer. The others are Bobby Bryant (tp) and the almost entirely unheralded Bobby Blivins on organ. It's a very nice, straight ahead session.

Spaulding is on several Sun Ra recordings from 1958, including the classic Jazz in Silhouette. I do not know if he has earlier recorded appearances, or whether he recorded anything between his Sun Ra tenure and the 1961 date you mention.

Guy

[kh1958]

Wayne Shorter's Schizophrenia.

The last time I was able to see him live, a couple of years ago, he was playing with Wallace Roney. I'm not too enthralled with Wallace Roney or his brother Antoine, but Spaulding and Geri Allen were very compelling soloists.

[sal]

I don't dislike Spaulding, but I've never been particularly moved by anything I've heard from him. He's fine, but I'm indifferent.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

I have what I think was his first recorded appearance, in 1961, on "Wild" by Larry "Wild" Wrice - PJ24. Spaulding plays alto, tenor and flute. Wrice is the drummer. The others are Bobby Bryant (tp) and the almost entirely unheralded Bobby Blivins on organ. It's a very nice, straight ahead session.

Spaulding is on several Sun Ra recordings from 1958, including the classic Jazz in Silhouette. I do not know if he has earlier recorded appearances, or whether he recorded anything between his Sun Ra tenure and the 1961 date you mention.

Guy

Aha! Thanks Guy.

MG

[mikeweil]

I've always liked Spaulding's alto, especially when he played those soaring lines where others were busy running scales and licks. I've always thought that he should have got his own date as a leader for Blue Note in the mid to late 1960's and that he didn't get as much credit for his work as he deserved - he had it all down, from straight hard bop to boogaloo dates and free form stuff.

Hubbard never gave him a chance to really show what he could do. He was great in Hutcherson's quintet - this date and the Sam Rivers Involution are my favourite Blue Notes with him.

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

james spaulding is sooooooooooooooo bad ass: i cant believe i dont have his solo lps: so the earliest ones are on Muse, is that right? i cant believe i dont have them: what mobley songs does he cover on that one you mentioned? i asw him once @ yoshis w/ bobby h. and his all-stars, it was awesome. blue note sucks for refusing to give him his own solo contact

[mikeweil]

IIRC Spaulding's first as a leader was an Ellington tribute on Storyville. It somehow disappointed me because it was a relatively conservative outing, so I sold it.

I kept checking his later LPs but nothing really knocked me out as much as some of his solos on his Blue Note sideman dates.

[Big Al]

Wayne Shorter's Schizophrenia.

That and All-Seeing Eye, but bear in mind I'm no fan of Spaulding and this, along with Freddie's Hub-Tones, is about all I can stand of his playing.

[Dan Gould]

james spaulding is sooooooooooooooo bad ass: i cant believe i dont have his solo lps: so the earliest ones are on Muse, is that right? i cant believe i dont have them: what mobley songs does he cover on that one you mentioned?

"Hipsippy Blues" and "Soul Station".

And the liners mention that there are plans for an all-Mobley date, too bad it never came to fruition.

[Stereojack]

blue note sucks for refusing to give him his own solo contact

He was offered a Blue Note date, but it was to have been one of those Lou Donaldson-styled funky sessions, and he turned it down.

I think he smokes on Hubbard's "Breaking Point" and on Max Roach's "Drums Unlimited". I saw the Roach band at the time, and they kicked some serious ass.

[JSngry]

the James Spaulding Myth is just that: if he had more to give it woulda gotten out there a l-o-n-g time ago. the idea he's some overlooked giant or even mini-giant is too generous a listening to a very modest talent, slightly better technician & THAT's where it's at... there a A LOT of others in the same bag.

Although not substantially disagreeing with the gist of what you're saying, "A LOT of others" is perhaps overstating the case.

I mean, relative to who all's gone to NYC and made a few (or more) sides, yeah. But relative to the # of people, good, bad, indifferent, and all points in-between & beyond, he deserves a little more proppage than that.

That's kind of an "insider's secret" about this music - even Spaulding's level of...distinctive & often pleasant competency is a bitch to achieve. "Medocrity" in the grand scheme of things it certainly is, but it's a very rarified level of mediocrity, if you know what I mean.I don't really expect "civilians" (or in yer case, EDC, honorary-by-means-of-earning-it backstagers) to appreciate that, much less give a rat's ass. I mean, they got no need to. But still, familial pride compels me to point out that Spaulding is a little bit more than some assembly line hack who's there to be a cog in the machine and nothing more. Or even when he is, it's usually a pretty hig-level cog and a pretty high-level machine. You wanna put, say, J-Mac on Schizophrenia and see what happens? Something, I'm sure, but would it have worked the way everybody wanted/needed for it to to be what everybody wanted/needed for it to to be? Unlikely, which you can mae a pro and/or con case for is that a good thing or not, but the deal remains - Spaulding came in and did it the way it was wanted/needed for it to be done, for better or worse or what difitmake. Can't just everybody DO that, doncha' know?

No neeed for love, but at least let's recognize, that's all I'm saying.

Edited August 11, 2007 by JSngry

[Chuck Nessa]

I'm with Clem on this.

[Guest donald petersen]

i could look this up i guess and know before i speak but was spaulding indisposed during much of the 70s?

he would have done well in that decade, i imagine. he could have played on some strata-east stuff and mentally owned it. oh he did. he was on impact.

i guess he was teaching? seems like he got old/washed up quickly...went into less-adventerous competent playing monk tunes with ben riley mode earlier than some others.

but how can you shit on this man's dignity? he was on many of my favorite blue note sessions...off the top of my head, i am very glad he was on "the jody grind" "wahoo!" "solid" "of love and peace" for instance-though it is probably foolish to assume that his blue note session would have been spectacular. it is also foolish to expect him to do anything spectacular these days. he was like the derrick mckey of jazz.

[Guest donald petersen]

i guess no one is dumping on his dignity actually-the point is he was what he was and we should judge on the evidence we can see and hear and not pretend that if other evidence existed it would be the bomb dumpity and spaulding would be thought of an echelon higher than he is now.

[montg]

Reading through this thread, I never realized how many sessions Spaulding is on that I count among my favorites. I'd add 'SLice of the top' to the Blue Notes. Clem alluded to David Murray--I really like "Octet Plays Trane'.

[freeform83]

Don't forget Bobby Hutcherson's Components.

[Kyo]

A guy I'm digging more and more these days is James Spaulding. Besides his fine alto work, he sure plays some nice flute. I already have some of his sessions with Freddie Hubbard. Probably a few other albums in my collection which don't come immediately to mind. What are some other recordings worth considering?

Aside from the Hubbard albums he's on quite a number of mid-to-late 60s Blue Note sessions:

Bobby Hutcherson - Components

Duke Pearson - The Right Touch

Duke Pearson - Wahoo!

Grant Green - Solid

Hank Mobley - A Slice of the Top

Hank Mobley - Third Season

Horace Silver - The Jody Grind

Larry Young - Of Love and Peace

Sam Rivers - Extensions & Dimensions

Wayne Shorter - The All Seeing Eye

Wayne Shorter - Schizophrenia

Wayne Shorter - The Soothsayer

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

surely he could of done a funky title track and then get down to bussiness on the rest of the album.......

[Larry Kart]

or, to put it more bluntly, James Spaudling has had almost 50 years (but at least 40) to give us HIS Out To Lunch, Unit Structures, Sound etc etc etc... uh, so... where the fuck is it?

Maybe it's not a perfect parallel, but where is Pete Brown's "Day Dream" or "Relaxin' at Camarillo"? Some distinctive players have a nice run for a while, and then, for any number of reasons, that's about it. In that respect, and also because there are stylistic similarities, I'd lump Spaulding in with, say, Frank Strozier and Bunky Green. Green I've always found fairly boring -- that aggressive harmonic system! -- though there is one album where it came together for him IMO (on Vanguard with Randy Brecker); Strozier had his own thing but eventually gave up the alto for the piano, then I believe left music entirely; and Spaulding is Spaulding. I'm feeling kind of tired myself.