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Brit-jazz anorak question

RogerF

By RogerF
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RogerF

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I discovered on my "Ronnie Scott and the Band Live at Ronnie Scott's" CD reissue (Song BMG 2007 - 88697072392) one of four bonus tracks entitled "May Day" (attributed to Ronnie himself). This buzzed around in my head for a week or so until I realised I had heard it before and fished out my CD of "Acropolis" by Ian Hamer. Sure enough the first track on CD 2 is "Mayday!" (sic) attributed to Ian Hamer. But essentially, apart from a different brief intro on the Hamer recording, they are the same tune. Does anyone know anything about the provenance of this track? Are there any other recordings of it? I should point out that it's an extremely insistent track which will imprint itself quite ruthlessly in one's mind, so beware! I should also mention that both these albums are excellent and I consider essential for any British jazz fans. Ronnie's one benefiting from the likes of John Surman and Tony Oxley whilst Ian Hamer's has the fire-power of Tubby Hayes and both albums feature the magnificent bass work of Ron Mathewson. Can someone add anything to this? Help! Mayday! :rolleyes:

Edited by RogerF
sidewinder Mentor

sidewinder

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Pass !

That tune has a very familiar sound to it. Sounds like a tune that might have been on a 1960s Blue Note session by the likes of Joe Henderson. Or (probably more likely) I'm channeling distant memories of hearing Ronnie's quintet playing it at the club !

Damn. Can't get it out of my brain now.. :lol:

Edited by sidewinder
BillF Mentor

BillF

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I thought of Joe Henderson, too. And it would fit knowing Ronnie's liking for Joe (picked him for Desert Island Discs!) but I find no trace of a "May Day" by him. Spotify has an endless number of tunes called "May Day", but the only one with any jazz connections is on a Jaco Pastorius album and it's not the same. Sorry!

sidewinder Mentor

sidewinder

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  On 8/17/2014 at 8:39 PM, BillF said:

I thought of Joe Henderson, too. And it would fit knowing Ronnie's liking for Joe (picked him for Desert Island Discs!) but I find no trace of a "May Day" by him. Spotify has an endless number of tunes called "May Day", but the only one with any jazz connections is on a Jaco Pastorius album and it's not the same. Sorry!

Pretty well every time I caught him and his quintet they would do at least one Joe Henderson tune. Often 'Recorda-Me' or 'Blue Bossa'.

That tune is so damn familiar that my hunch is that it is a Scott original that he must have played on gigs - either that or he borrowed it from Ian Hamer. In fact come to think of it it did already seem familiar when I first heard it on 'Acropolis'.

Edited by sidewinder
  • 3 months later...
SimonSpill Newbie

SimonSpill

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  On 8/17/2014 at 5:24 PM, RogerF said:

I discovered on my "Ronnie Scott and the Band Live at Ronnie Scott's" CD reissue (Song BMG 2007 - 88697072392) one of four bonus tracks entitled "May Day" (attributed to Ronnie himself). This buzzed around in my head for a week or so until I realised I had heard it before and fished out my CD of "Acropolis" by Ian Hamer. Sure enough the first track on CD 2 is "Mayday!" (sic) attributed to Ian Hamer. But essentially, apart from a different brief intro on the Hamer recording, they are the same tune. Does anyone know anything about the provenance of this track? Are there any other recordings of it? I should point out that it's an extremely insistent track which will imprint itself quite ruthlessly in one's mind, so beware! I should also mention that both these albums are excellent and I consider essential for any British jazz fans. Ronnie's one benefiting from the likes of John Surman and Tony Oxley whilst Ian Hamer's has the fire-power of Tubby Hayes and both albums feature the magnificent bass work of Ron Mathewson. Can someone add anything to this? Help! Mayday! :rolleyes:

Ian's tune. It got retitled several times (as did the majority of Ian's compositions). Sadly, he didn't live long enough to hear the CD release of Ronnie's recording.

RogerF Rookie

RogerF

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  On 12/15/2014 at 3:47 PM, clifford_thornton said:

only have the Scott record on LP - would be curious to hear these extra tracks!

Clifford, not sure if iTunes "translates" globally (as doesn't Amazon) but on my iTunes store there are two versions of this album, one with the four bonus tracks and one with only the original seven tracks. You have to type in "Ronnie Scott and the Band" rather than merely "Ronnie Scott" to find them. Also, you could just download the four bonus tracks and they are very good. As Simon has confirmed, Mayday was Ian Hamer's tune and he wrote some good ones as evidenced by his Acropolis album.

RogerF Rookie

RogerF

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  On 12/16/2014 at 12:03 AM, sidewinder said:

The extra tracks are most definitely up to the standard of the original LP tracks. Essential !

Including a very rare reading of a Kenny Wheeler number from Windmill Tilter, Sweet Dulcinea Blue.

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