Tony Williams' later Blue Note albums

[Milestones]

What kind of feelings do we have about these records? I'm sure some find them too conservative, too much in a basic post-bop mode--maybe will some say that Tony hung out with Wynton too much and carried his practices into his own music. Yet this is Tony Williams we are talking about! The group members were good, he seemed to concentrate on his own compositions, and the drumming is always there. I'm not sure if there is a bona fide classic tune after "Sister Cheryl," which anyway is better presented in the versions by Wynton (one of his great moments IMO) and the trio of Flanagan-Carter-Williams.

I do own Angel Street and Story of Neptune (slightly favor the latter), as well as the very last record: a trio, which I think was on Blue Note too.

I know Mosaic packaged up most of the material, and I've listened to some samples. Great stuff? Probably not. Good stuff? Yes.

[JSngry]

Can't say I "love" any of it in a throbbing-ish manner, but do love it in an older, more mature adult manner just because it was Tony finding a vehicle and treating it older, more mature adult manner. The career path of Tony Williams was not always rife with things treated in an older, more mature adult manner.

In other words, it's really where I'd send anybody (including myself) to look for TONY WILLIAMS, but it is part of the whole story, and a pretty nice part at that.

[Late]

[JETman]

mildred-pierce.jpg

I find it funny that OOP albums are almost always over-rated. I remember being unimpressed when this was first released, and my feelings about it haven't changed much since. But the price sure has gone up --- almost as much as the perception.

[Late]

Bill Pierce is so-so on it, but it has some of Wallace Roney's best live playing from the period. The McCartney cover is dispensable, but the rest is a good gig.

[erwbol]

mildred-pierce.jpg

I find it funny that OOP albums are almost always over-rated. I remember being unimpressed when this was first released, and my feelings about it haven't changed much since. But the price sure has gone up --- almost as much as the perception.

It's a shame there seem to be no sound samples up for Tokyo Live anywhere on the internet to deter potential buyers. I would not have spent $26 on it otherwise.

Edited February 26, 2014 by erwbol

[JohnS]

I can't say I'm particularly fond of these recordings. Listenable but dispensable. The only one I've kept is Tokyo Live.

[BFrank]

My friend's wife shot all those covers. They were friends and he specifically asked her to do them.

[paul secor]

Perhaps he just got older and lost much of his spirit. It happens.

[Milestones]

Certainly we see divided attitudes about Tokyo Live. I remember being intrigued by it when it came out, but never bought it. I've looked around and it does seem hard to find and expensive.

All told, I'm more pleased by by the work Tony did just before these years--for example, several records as part of The Great Jazz Trio, the trio record with Tommy Flanagan, and the record Etudes with Art Farmer, Bill Evans (sax), Ron Carter, and no pianist.

Edited February 27, 2014 by Milestones

[CJ Shearn]

I enjoy all 6 of those later period BN's. Very good mainstream music, Tony was one hell of a writer. "Tokyo Live" is the best of the lot and glad I found a real copy of it for $35 quite a few years back.

[etherbored]

mildred-pierce.jpg

I find it funny that OOP albums are almost always over-rated. I remember being unimpressed when this was first released, and my feelings about it haven't changed much since. But the price sure has gone up --- almost as much as the perception.

+1 (with an exclamation mark!) - i find most of it sterile and overrated in a very 80's neo-bop a la marsalis mode (but hey, that's just my mileage at this particular juncture). that after i too found the proverbial 'tokyo live' needle in the haystack of commerce.

[sidewinder]

Great stuff? Probably not. Good stuff? Yes.

That pretty well sums up my feelings about the music - bought all of these when they came out (apart from 'Tokyo Live') and have enjoyed them over the years for what they are. 'Civilisation' came out just around the time of the mid-80s hard bop comeback and brings back particularly fond memories. I saw the band at a free open-air gig in 1989 - again, fond memories (my ears took a pounding from Tony's drum kit).

Edited February 26, 2014 by sidewinder

[Gheorghe]

I must admit I really don´t know much about the albums BN made after the label was re-born. It seems that many outputs were short-lived and not as well advertised as the classic BN´s.

So I wasn´t aware Tony went back to record for BN that late.

I really love his two 1964 and 1965 albums "Lifetime" and "Spring", and the stuff he did later with Larry Young and so on. And of course the VSOP.

The last time I saw him life was with VSOP II.

I had heard that towards the end of his life he played in a more traditional manner but I didn´t really follow, there was so much looking back during that time, "New Stars" who sounded very much like the idols, trumpet players who got Miles´ sound from the 60´s , alto players who got JackieMcLean´s sound etc etc, who got record contracts, and later you wouldn´t hear very much about them.

It was the time when I slowly stopped to buy records

Edited February 27, 2014 by Gheorghe

[king ubu]

here's an old thread discussing some of these post-comeback Blue Notes, including some for the Williams ones, which I've got by way of the Select, but I'm really not all that familiar with them yet, what I know better are some of the live recordings around ... and I guess the "good not great" bottom line works for me, too ... maybe the adult love even - anyway, for those interested: