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Nathan Davis

romualdo

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romualdo Rising Star

romualdo

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Received the 4th Jazz Icons Box as a Christmas present this year & have just finished watching the Blakey Live in '65 disc & what a bonus seeing live footage of Nathan Davis & Jaki Byard.

This version of the Messengers (part of George Wein's Newport In Europe package) was put together at short notice (Freddie Hubbard, Nathan Davis, Jaki Byard, Reggie Workman & AB) & only existed for the 11 concerts they played.

The recording was made near the end of the tour & the band are tight, hot & cookin'. AB actually offered Nathan a position in the Messengers after the tour but he declined due to the recent birth of his daughter in Paris.

Highly recommended for Nathan Davis fans (don't think there is much live ND material circulating).

Edited by romualdo
Caravan Newbie

Caravan

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Saw them in Amsterdam in 1965. In fact, the group wasn't announced as the Jazz Messengers, but as "Art Blakey and his New Jazzmen". George Tucker was supposed to play bass, but he died shortly before the tour and was replaced by Workman.

romualdo Rising Star

romualdo

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Saw them in Amsterdam in 1965. In fact, the group wasn't announced as the Jazz Messengers, but as "Art Blakey and his New Jazzmen". George Tucker was supposed to play bass, but he died shortly before the tour and was replaced by Workman.

What did you think of Nathan - was he well known in Europe at the time?

Caravan Newbie

Caravan

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Saw them in Amsterdam in 1965. In fact, the group wasn't announced as the Jazz Messengers, but as "Art Blakey and his New Jazzmen". George Tucker was supposed to play bass, but he died shortly before the tour and was replaced by Workman.

What did you think of Nathan - was he well known in Europe at the time?

No, I don't think he was well known at all. Perhaps people in Paris knew him - I for one had never heard of him at the time. Don't have a clear recollection of his playing, although I remember he was very active and energetic.

Rooster_Ties Proficient

Rooster_Ties

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From that 4th Jazz Icons set, what is the line-up on both the Jimmy Smith disc (France '69), and also the Jimmy Smith segment on the bonus disc (Denmark '69). I'm curious who the guitar-players were. Also curious about the line-up on the Art Farmer disc.

Thanks!

brownie Rookie

brownie

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was he well known in Europe at the time?

Nathan Davis did not make it big as a jazz musician in Paris or in Europe. He managed to make appearances in clubs and recorded several albums but none sold well.

Heard him several times in Left Bank clubs (once with Larry Young on piano) in the mid-60s. Good musician as he was, he nonetheless remained essentially a figure on the periphery of the local jazz scene here.

Edited by brownie
romualdo Rising Star

romualdo

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was he well known in Europe at the time?

Nathan Davis did not make it big as a jazz musician in Paris or in Europe. He managed to make appearances in clubs and recorded several albums but none sold well.

Heard him several times in Left Bank clubs (once with Larry Young on piano) in the mid-60s. Good musician as he was, he nonetheless remained essentially a figure on the periphery of the local jazz scene here.

That's interesting - I always thought he was much bigger/better known in europe than the US

That's probably why his records (& CD's) command such high prices today

I've been trying to get his MPS twofer Happy Girl/Hip Walk for quite a few years now - always goes for big bucks (Amazon, Ebay) - I still remember it sitting on the shelf of one of our music shops here in Brisbane in the early 2000's

Edited by romualdo
romualdo Rising Star

romualdo

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Never seen the twofer of these titles, just separate LPs. Quite enjoyable music though I have yet to score originals.

It's actually the CD I was referring to - both LP's on 1 CD released by MPS Germany in the late 90's

romualdo Rising Star

romualdo

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From that 4th Jazz Icons set, what is the line-up on both the Jimmy Smith disc (France '69), and also the Jimmy Smith segment on the bonus disc (Denmark '69). I'm curious who the guitar-players were. Also curious about the line-up on the Art Farmer disc.

Thanks!

Jimmy Smith Live in '69 - Dec 1, 1969 - live Salle Pleyel, Paris - Trio - Eddie McFadden guitar & Charlie Crosby drums (2 sets, 90 minutes in total)

Jimmy Smith Bonus Disc - November 1968 - live Copenhagen - Trio - Nathan Page guitar & Charlie Crosby drums (1 set, 28 minutes)

Havn't watched either of these yet

Art Farmer Live in '64 - June 6, 1964 - live BBC studio, London?, UK - Quartet - Jim Hall guitar, Steve Swallow bass & Pete La Roca drums

watched this last night - both the music & visuals are excellent - lots of close ups of Jim Hall working his fretboard

Interesting to see how young a large percentage of the studio audience is (& the sartorial styles of the time)

Rooster_Ties Proficient

Rooster_Ties

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Jimmy Smith Bonus Disc - November 1968 - live Copenhagen - Trio - Nathan Page guitar & Charlie Crosby drums (1 set, 28 minutes)

Wow! That's what I was looking for. Nathan Page is a particular favorite of mine (though he's fairly obscure).

jlhoots Veteran

jlhoots

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Never seen the twofer of these titles, just separate LPs. Quite enjoyable music though I have yet to score originals.

It's actually the CD I was referring to - both LP's on 1 CD released by MPS Germany in the late 90's

I'm lucky enough to own that CD.

John Tapscott Mentor

John Tapscott

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I have this Blakey DVD and I have mixed feelings about it. The video quality is significantly below most Jazz Icons DVD's; it's pretty grainy, kind of inexcusable for 1965 I would think. Yes, there is some hot playing, and it's interesting enough, but I just find the solos too long, even for players of this calibre. Freddie Hubbard blows high, hard, and long, and it is no surprise that later on he would blow out his chops. I also find it curious that Hubbard and Nathan Davis have such long solos but Jaki Byard's are relatively short. This one is good to see, but the earlier Blakey Jazz Icons DVD (Morgan, Golson, Timmons, Meritt) is much better, IMHO.

OTOH the Art Farmer w Jim Hall DVD mentioned above is an absolute joy, one of the highlights of the Jazz Icons series, IMO.

Edited by John Tapscott
Rooster_Ties Proficient

Rooster_Ties

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Never seen the twofer of these titles, just separate LPs. Quite enjoyable music though I have yet to score originals.

It's actually the CD I was referring to - both LP's on 1 CD released by MPS Germany in the late 90's

I'm lucky enough to own that CD.

Me too.

Prime (and rare) Woody Shaw on the first date (including the first recorded version of "Zoltan", titled here as "Theme from Zoltan"), and Carmell Jones on the second. There are two or three modal groovers on the date with Shaw that are highly recommended.

EDIT: to add that Larry Young plays piano on the session with Woody Shaw.

Edited by Rooster_Ties
romualdo Rising Star

romualdo

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I have this Blakey DVD and I have mixed feelings about it. The video quality is significantly below most Jazz Icons DVD's; it's pretty grainy, kind of inexcusable for 1965 I would think.

I'd have to agree with that - one of the poorer quality DVD's from the series (though not music wise)

sidewinder Mentor

sidewinder

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Never seen the twofer of these titles, just separate LPs. Quite enjoyable music though I have yet to score originals.

It's actually the CD I was referring to - both LP's on 1 CD released by MPS Germany in the late 90's

I'm lucky enough to own that CD.

Same here. I picked up a copy in Canada many years ago. Time to dig it out !

Nice little booklet that came with that one too, I recall.

Edited by sidewinder
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Rooster_Ties Proficient

Rooster_Ties

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Posted (edited)

Jimmy Smith Bonus Disc - November 1968 - live Copenhagen - Trio - Nathan Page guitar & Charlie Crosby drums (1 set, 28 minutes)

Wow! That's what I was looking for. Nathan Page is a particular favorite of mine (though he's fairly obscure).

I think this is probably the footage (best as I can tell, that's Nathen Page on guitar)...

Edited by Rooster_Ties
Michael Weiss Explorer

Michael Weiss

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Great to see these clips. I played on one of (maybe his last?) Nathen's last records, "The Other Page," with Ben Riley and David Williams, if I remember correctly. Nice guy.

Edited by Michael Weiss

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