Arthur Blythe - Illusions

[Bright Moments]

I am recommending this fine Arthur Blythe Album! John Hicks on piano and James Blood Ulmer on guitar! Plus one of the tracks is titled "My Son Ra"!!

oh - and there is even a tuba!

carpe diem!

Edited December 30, 2010 by Bright Moments

[JSngry]

The entirety of Blythe's Columbia output is worthy of hearing, this being one of the better ones.

[Guy Berger]

Are any of these guys in print (or readily available) on CD? Seems like a good project for Mosaic.

[jeffcrom]

I've seen the first Blythe Columbia album, Lenox Avenue Breakdown, and Basic Blythe, the "strings" album, on CD, but I don't think any of the other Columbias came out in CD format. Could be wrong about that, though.

I mostly agree with Jim - I've got all of Blythe's Columbias, and this is my favorite. But beware of Put Sunshine In It, a pop/funk album that doesn't even sound like a Blythe album. The follow-up, Da-Da, uses some funk touches, but they're more integrated into Blythe's world; I like that one.

Edited December 30, 2010 by jeffcrom

[Dave James]

The Columbias are not readily available. I bought five of them at one time on vinyl from a seller on eBay. They are uniformly good. He had a substantial budget to work with when he was with the label (I think they might have thought they had another Miles on their hands) and the results reflect that. I agree that it would be a great project Cuscuna Wenzel et al. It's not like Mosaic hasn't dipped into the Columbia vaults before.

Although this isn't one of his Columbia recordings, I like this one:

[Joe]

There was a CD issue of ILLUSIONS back in the heyday of that format ('98 or '99), courtesy Koch Jazz. Shame they never got around to IN THE TRADITION.

[jeffcrom]

Although this isn't one of his Columbia recordings, I like this one:

That one is on Columbia, actually.

[Eric]

The Arthur Blythe and the James Blood Ulmer Columbia LPs would be an awesome Mosaic project!

Edited December 30, 2010 by Eric

[David Ayers]

Those LPs are quite easy to find, in fact. A lot of them were cutouts! There are some good efforts on Enja CD as well. I disliked the funk ones mentioned. Maybe Light Blue deserves another lease of life: Lenox Avenue Breakdown had it but vanished as quickly as the original LP.

[sidewinder]

'Lennox Avenue Breakdown' is great. One of the very best releases of the early 1980s. I agree that the Blythe Columbias would make a mighty fine Mosaic Select.

Will dig out that CD for an overdue re-spin !

Edited December 30, 2010 by sidewinder

[brownie]

Tuba player on 'Illusions' is Bob Stewart who plays beautifully as when he played with the Gil Evans Orchestra.

Cover photo (back cover also) is by the great Duane Michals! Don't think Michals was commissioned to illustrate many cover albums.

[JSngry]

Put Sunshine In It, a pop/funk album that doesn't even sound like a Blythe album.

Agreed that it's atypical, perhaps even "dreadful" in places, but...I like to hear how different players of different ilks go about presenting what they think is a "pop" (I'll not say "commercial", because although it seems that some folks don't care about how to seel their records, does anybody ever make a record that they don't want to be bought?) project. Even if it's a total producer's project where all the player does is show up and role-play, there's still a lot of different ways to go about that. I think Blythe that Blythe does indeed "put sunshine in it", although what the "it" is that he is putting sunshine in might well be something from a place where the sun never shines, or is ever able to.

All in all, stuff like this just makes me appreciate how musically involved Miles' later bands were. Pop on the outside, meaty on the inside, a salty-sweet snack that you could eat as a meal if you had to. Yum!

[relyles]

Does anyone know what is going on with Blythe these days? I don't think he has had any recordings released in the past few years and I have not seen anything about any live performances.

[brownie]

Arthur Blythe is scheduled to perform on July 11 at the Montreal Jazz Festival.

Blythe concert

[relyles]

Good to know he is still out there.

[jeffcrom]

Put Sunshine In It, a pop/funk album that doesn't even sound like a Blythe album.

Agreed that it's atypical, perhaps even "dreadful" in places, but...I like to hear how different players of different ilks go about presenting what they think is a "pop" (I'll not say "commercial", because although it seems that some folks don't care about how to seel their records, does anybody ever make a record that they don't want to be bought?) project. Even if it's a total producer's project where all the player does is show up and role-play, there's still a lot of different ways to go about that. I think Blythe that Blythe does indeed "put sunshine in it", although what the "it" is that he is putting sunshine in might well be something from a place where the sun never shines, or is ever able to.

All in all, stuff like this just makes me appreciate how musically involved Miles' later bands were. Pop on the outside, meaty on the inside, a salty-sweet snack that you could eat as a meal if you had to. Yum!

Jim has facilitated a small miracle: his comments were interesting enough that I pulled Put Sunshine In It off my shelf and am halfway through side two. And I've got to say that this music hurts me in an almost physical way. The tunes are so bland and lacking in that mysterious spark that makes music the amazing force it is that it's painful.

That being said, I hear (I think) what you're saying. Blythe plays very well over the pap. That's part of the problem, in a strange way - his sound has so much life in it that it doesn't fit the setting at all. A smooth-jazz guy with a pretty, vacuous sound would have worked better, in the sense of a unified "product."

I bought this album about 7 or 8 years ago strictly to complete my run of Arthur Blythe Columbia albums. I think this was only the third time I've spun it, and it will probably be at least five years before I'm tempted again.

[JSngry]

I hear (I think) what you're saying. Blythe plays very well over the pap. That's part of the problem, in a strange way - his sound has so much life in it that it doesn't fit the setting at all. A smooth-jazz guy with a pretty, vacuous sound would have worked better, in the sense of a unified "product."

Or even better, an artist/producer who realized that you can do this type thing in a way that doesn't painfully suck.

I don't know if such things result from ignorance, cynicism, condescension, a genuine lack of simpatico with "the popular impulse", too much trusting of an insecure artist in a bad producer, or what, but it interests me to hear how many ways people go about it and how widely varied the results are. Blythe failed here, but got it (more) right the next time. I wonder what he learned to be able to do so.

[BruceH]

The entirety of Blythe's Columbia output is worthy of hearing, this being one of the better ones.

Yep.

Always considered the worst thing about it to be the cover.

[colinmce]

Also worth looking for is Blythe Spirit, which has a great combination of groupings: a tuba/guitar/cello/drums quintet, trios with tuba and cello or organ and, perhaps best of all, a straight ahead quartet with John Hicks, Fred Hopkins and Steve McCall.

[Bright Moments]

hicks is excellent on illusions

[fomafomic65]

I am recommending this fine Arthur Blythe Album! John Hicks on piano and James Blood Ulmer on guitar! Plus one of the tracks is titled "My Son Ra"!!

oh - and there is even a tuba!

carpe diem!

Wellcome aboard... It's a great record, really on the level of Lenox Avenue Breakdown. As said ALL Blythe's Columbias I know have great music, strangely overlooked. I love them, and I am insanely fond of these japan cd edition. If only they had produced In The Tradition too!

Edited January 9, 2011 by ArmandoPeraza

[imeanyou]

Although this isn't one of his Columbia recordings, I like this one:

That one is on Columbia, actually.

Blythe playing Monk, I didn't know about this one. I shall be scouring the Tokyo record stores, it may prove a challenge to locate and be priced accordingly.