tribute albums

[alocispepraluger102]

using the name of another artist to promo one's own own show or album is invariable, with few exceptions, puerile lame faire.

can we mention the few tribute albums(to musicians) that are truly tributes?

soon after trane passed, mccoy did an impassioned solo album, i forget the title, honoring him which, to me, was his finest work.

marilyn crispell, somewhat later, did a lovely tribute album, tor trane, as well.

rova saxophone quartet did a gorgeous impassioned tribute, ascension, then spoiled the whole affair with electric ascension.

Edited November 13, 2009 by alocispepraluger102

[jeffcrom]

Speaking of Rova....

How about two tributes to my hero, Steve Lacy:

Rova Saxophone Quartet - Favorite Street

Mats Gustafsson - Windows. Lacy wrote the liner notes to this, and he sounded amused, impressed, and touched.

Edited November 13, 2009 by jeffcrom

[alocispepraluger102]

Speaking of Rova....

How about two tributes to my hero, Steve Lacy:

Rova Saxophone Quartet - Favorite Street

Mats Gustafsson - Windows. Lacy wrote the liner notes to this, and he sounded amused, impressed, and touched.

thank you. i was unaware of either work.

[Christiern]

[danasgoodstuff]

I think we've been down this road before....

and while I'll be the first to say the're not 'all good', I don't think the're generally lame either...a good one whould tell you something(s) new about both parties.

Some Trib's I like:

Lefty Frizel Sings Jimmie Rodgers

To Lefty From Willie

Ray Charles Modern Sound in C&W Music (a trib to rednecks)

King Curtis Plays songs Made Famous By Sam Cooke

Sam Cooke - Night Beat (a sort of trib to Charles Brown)

Thelonious Monk Plays Due Ellington

Ellington - And His Mother Called Him Bill

Arthur Blythe - Light Blue (Monk, without piano)

Albert King - King Does the Kings Things (Elvis)

VA - Amacord Nina Rota

enough for now.

[bertrand]

Is it considered a lame rip-off every time someone records a Beethoven Symphony?

Bertrand.

[Chas]

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

I generally look for some personal connection between the musician playing and the one who's music is being played.

Funnily enough, I was listening to the King Curtis Sam Cooke material yesterday as part of the Bear Family Capitol box, and it's pretty good.

My favourites are

David Newman - I remember Brother Ray - HighNote (Ray Charles)

Houston Person - To Etta with love - HighNote (Etta Jones)

Sonny Stitt - My buddy - Muse (Jug)

Sonny Stitt - Stitt plays Bird - Atlantic

Other good ones, where there isn't a close personal connection, are

John Hicks - Music in the key of Clark - HighNote (Sonny Clark)

Jimmy Smith plays Fats Waller - BN

Hank Crawford - Mr Blues plays Lady Soul - Atlantic (Aretha Franklin)

MG

[blajay]

Is it considered a lame rip-off every time someone records a Beethoven Symphony?

Bertrand.

The difference, of course, is being able to listen directly to the composer's own recordings.

[king ubu]

here's a good one:

[bertrand]

Is it considered a lame rip-off every time someone records a Beethoven Symphony?

Bertrand.

The difference, of course, is being able to listen directly to the composer's own recordings.

In the case of the Herbie Nichols Project, just to name one, that is not an option.

There are many ill-planned tribute albums out there, and they annoy me, but there are also many fine works that sometimes do better justice to the body of a composer's work than any of the haphazardly produced recordings the composer himself may have made.

A Cal Massey 'tribute', gathering in one place all of his wonderful pieces currently scattered among various recordings by others, is long overdue. His own record hardly does justice to his talents.

BTW, when the term 'tribute' is used for a recording that is really intended as an overview of a composer's work, that already makes me nervous.

Bertrand.

[blajay]

Is it considered a lame rip-off every time someone records a Beethoven Symphony?

Bertrand.

The difference, of course, is being able to listen directly to the composer's own recordings.

In the case of the Herbie Nichols Project, just to name one, that is not an option.

There are many ill-planned tribute albums out there, and they annoy me, but there are also many fine works that sometimes do better justice to the body of a composer's work than any of the haphazardly produced recordings the composer himself may have made.

A Cal Massey 'tribute', gathering in one place all of his wonderful pieces currently scattered among various recordings by others, is long overdue. His own record hardly does justice to his talents.

BTW, when the term 'tribute' is used for a recording that is really intended as an overview of a composer's work, that already makes me nervous.

Bertrand.

Well those also aren't the "tributes" that people consider lame rip-offs.

[blajay]

Is it considered a lame rip-off every time someone records a Beethoven Symphony?

Bertrand.

The difference, of course, is being able to listen directly to the composer's own recordings.

In the case of the Herbie Nichols Project, just to name one, that is not an option.

There are many ill-planned tribute albums out there, and they annoy me, but there are also many fine works that sometimes do better justice to the body of a composer's work than any of the haphazardly produced recordings the composer himself may have made.

A Cal Massey 'tribute', gathering in one place all of his wonderful pieces currently scattered among various recordings by others, is long overdue. His own record hardly does justice to his talents.

BTW, when the term 'tribute' is used for a recording that is really intended as an overview of a composer's work, that already makes me nervous.

Bertrand.

Well those also aren't the "tributes" that people consider lame rip-offs.

For the record, I completely agree with you, just wanted to account for that. Obviously I think those are fantastic projects.

In Kelley's Monk book, he repeatedly says that Monk didn't encourage people to record his tunes. He wanted people to play their own music. That being said, I enjoy many Monk "tributes." Sometimes another artist's performance of someone else's compositions brings something new to it, even if it has been recorded before by the artist himself.

[7/4]

Is it considered a lame rip-off every time someone records a Beethoven Symphony?

Bertrand.

Yes.

[king ubu]

As for Monk tributes... yes, I like Lacy a lot, also doing Monk, with or without Mal Waldron!

Their Ellington tributes (or rather: Ellington & Strayhorn) are terrific, too! Mostly of course the album "Sempre Amore"!

And Monk's Casino are cool (they're "Die Enttäuschung", a german quartet including Axel Dörner and Rudi Mahall plus Alexander von Schlippenbach). I saw them live a couple of years after their Intakt release came out and they were terrific. I've not felt like getting the album however... I can't really imagine it working that well at home.

[king ubu]

Nat Su (alto sax) and the late Fredi Lüscher (piano) did a nice Strayhorn album, too:

(CD on demand @ amazon.com)

I can't check on www.altrisuoni.com if it's still available as the site doesn't work in Opera or Firefox (and I can't install MSIE on my computer - it tells me I have a newer version installed when I try and get the latest one from microsoft's site...)

[AndrewHill]

Would anyone consider these albums tributes (well, mostly tribute albums)?

Marion Brown-Three for Shepp

Archie Shepp-Four for Trane

[paul secor]

Would anyone consider these albums tributes (well, mostly tribute albums)?

Marion Brown-Three for Shepp

Archie Shepp-Four for Trane

Combination tribute albums & a way for the record company to introduce musicians to an audience that might not have been familiar with them.