Mundell Lowe RIP

[Larry Kart]

What early Riversides are you thinking of? Wasn't Riverside's earliest modern jazz album "Monk Plays Ellington"? So how could there have been any junkie-free Riverside albums that pre-date Monk (given that trad musicians were more likely to be boozers than junkies)? Or do I not understand what you're saying here?

[JSngry]

http://www.bsnpubs.com/new/riverside.pdf

Look at all those pre-Monk 10'' LPs.

I'd like to know what role Randy Weston played in getting Monk over to Riverside, since it was his 2nd LP for the label (a 10". RLP 2515 from 1955) was their real first album of "modern jazz".

And I'd like to consider how many of the first "modern" Riverside albums before 1957 (a small-ish window, but still a window) were from outside of the NYC African-American "modern" pool of players. And no, of course "African-American jazz musician" and "junkie" are not synonyms, but also look at the earlier part of Blue Note's catalog, Gil Melle was the go-to guy, not Ike Quebec. Different circles, socially and musically.

My point is just that Monk must have really shook up the Riverside team's thinking, just as he did Blue Note's. But not Prestige's. That was the "junkie label". Perhaps it was simply a convergence of contracts expiring and the sudden "popularity" of "modern jazz" of a different bent that that of the first part of the decade. But - if you draw a line from Monk to all the subsequent "modern" Riverside LPs from 1957-58, you get quite a line., just as you do with Blue Note and Horace Silver/Messengers. And after that, you get the Cannonball line, and that's a whole other thing, right? Even Bill evans, not until 1958.

I recall David Baker telling me that Blue Note was essentially a "clique label", that Riverside was far more eclectic and ultimately more important in both existence and absence. Ok, perhaps, perhaps exaggerated point based on personal bias, but geez, those guys, Grauer & Keepnews, they liked to work with who and what they knew at any given time. That's not a flaw, not by any menas, but I think it's funny as hell how Riverside could, would, and did turn on a dime, and still give you a quarter back in change!

 

[Larry Kart]

But  those 10" Riverside dates are all reissues or by trad artists, with the exception of these "modern" albums (the Sarah Vaughan was picked up from another label, I would guess):

RLP 2508 - Cole Porter in a Modern Mood - Randy Weston [1954]

RLP 2515 - Randy Weston Trio - [1955]

RLP 2517 - Counterpoint for Six Valves - Don Elliott With Rusty Dedrick [1954]

 RLP 2518 - A Woman In Love - Barbara Lea [1954]

RLP 8001 - I Love New York - Pat Northrop with Tony Burrello [1954

RLP 8002 - Polka Dots and Moonbeams, Tony Burello]

Lea, and I assume Burello, were more or less cabaret acts, which leaves us with only Weston and Don Elliott as "modern" pre-Monk artists on Riverside. Of course, Don Elliott and Rusty Dedrick were notorious junkies  ... not.

[paul secor]

3 hours ago, JSngry said:

http://www.bsnpubs.com/new/riverside.pdf

Look at all those pre-Monk 10'' LPs.

I'd like to know what role Randy Weston played in getting Monk over to Riverside, since it was his 2nd LP for the label (a 10". RLP 2515 from 1955) was their real first album of "modern jazz".

And I'd like to consider how many of the first "modern" Riverside albums before 1957 (a small-ish window, but still a window) were from outside of the NYC African-American "modern" pool of players. And no, of course "African-American jazz musician" and "junkie" are not synonyms, but also look at the earlier part of Blue Note's catalog, Gil Melle was the go-to guy, not Ike Quebec. Different circles, socially and musically.

My point is just that Monk must have really shook up the Riverside team's thinking, just as he did Blue Note's. But not Prestige's. That was the "junkie label". Perhaps it was simply a convergence of contracts expiring and the sudden "popularity" of "modern jazz" of a different bent that that of the first part of the decade. But - if you draw a line from Monk to all the subsequent "modern" Riverside LPs from 1957-58, you get quite a line., just as you do with Blue Note and Horace Silver/Messengers. And after that, you get the Cannonball line, and that's a whole other thing, right? Even Bill evans, not until 1958.

I recall David Baker telling me that Blue Note was essentially a "clique label", that Riverside was far more eclectic and ultimately more important in both existence and absence. Ok, perhaps, perhaps exaggerated point based on personal bias, but geez, those guys, Grauer & Keepnews, they liked to work with who and what they knew at any given time. That's not a flaw, not by any menas, but I think it's funny as hell how Riverside could, would, and did turn on a dime, and still give you a quarter back in change!

 

I feel that too many people give short shrift to Prestige. (I should say that I don't think that you're one of those people.) Whatever some musicians' feelings about it as a "junkie label", Prestige did record Eric Dolphy prolifically as a leader before any other label did, Prestige also recorded Steve Lacy, Don Ellis, Walt Dickerson (again, somewhat prolifically), and, just as importantly, Prestige recorded swing era veterans when no one else was doing so.  Buck Clayton, Buddy Tate, Tiny Grimes, Shorty Baker & Doc Cheatham, Claude Hopkins, Al Casey, and Taft Jordan all made very good records for Prestige. You won't find any of those names on Blue Note or Riverside.
Whatever faults there may have been, Prestige also deserves its due.
 

[JSngry]

You'll find all kinds of people on both Blue Note and Riverside, especially the latter. But Prestige did have it's "junkie label" period, mostly in the early-ish to middle-ish 1950s, and it's to their credit, I think. Nor for moral reasons, but just because no other jazz labile was willing to engage with those players and that culture to that level.

 

[JohnS]

1 hour ago, JSngry said:

You'll find all kinds of people on both Blue Note and Riverside, especially the latter. But Prestige did have it's "junkie label" period, mostly in the early-ish to middle-ish 1950s, and it's to their credit, I think. Nor for moral reasons, but just because no other jazz labile was willing to engage with those players and that culture to that level.

 

An awful lot of those sessions were  good to very good.   I like the Prestige laid back feel.

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

can you guys help me, is there an LP issue, of THIS:

 

[Teasing the Korean]

On December 3, 2017 at 11:47 PM, sgcim said:

My only contact with him was when I did an album with clarinetist Joe Dixon. Joe wanted to record my arr. of a tune of ML's from Satan In High Heels' soundtrack.

Mundell's reaction was, "What the hell do you want to do that song for?"

When I interviewed him in the 1990s, he had positive things to say about that album.

This tune is killer:

 

[mikeweil]

On 18.12.2017 at 2:48 AM, chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez said:

can you guys help me, is there an LP issue, of THIS:

 

Can't find this in the Lord disco or on discogs ....

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

there could be reel-only releases i bet, i dont know.....

Edited December 20, 2017 by chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez

[mjzee]

On 12/19/2017 at 8:55 AM, mikeweil said:

Can't find this in the Lord disco or on discogs ....

 

On 12/18/2017 at 7:48 PM, chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez said:

can you guys help me, is there an LP issue, of THIS:

 

This is cool!  I wonder what else is out there.

[JSngry]

y'all need to man up and go find a reel-to-reel player and fix it up. If you know the right guy/gal, it won't cost much at all.

Then go to all the Half-Prices and double your existing record collection for a buck or two (literally, almost)

Just remember, tape stretches if not put away correctly.

[Teasing the Korean]

 

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

i need an audiophile player dawg!!!!!!!!

[Gheorghe]

On ‎03‎.‎12‎.‎2017 at 9:32 AM, BillF said:

Mundell Lowe was on this one:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bird_Is_Free

It´s strange but it seems this one was my only encounter with Mundell Lowe. I remember I was still almost a kid when I purchased this Parker album, which was kind of an insider album in my clique. Maybe because then "new thing" and "free" was the thing. so the title seemed to attract a lot of freaks.

I remember I was impressed with the guitar on those fast tracks "Lester Leaps In" etc. and thought wow, until then I only knew Wes Montgomery  and Kenny Burrell in the pre rock guitar field. Was quite astonished that somebody else, completely unknown to me and not even mentioned in my only information source "Jazz Book" can play so much guitar along with Bird......, , but it seems it is the only thing I heard of him. Read the name many times and also in DB, but the only listening item remained the one with Bird.....

[Justin V]

I saw Mundell Lowe perform three times, each time with guitarist Mike Magnelli.  The last time I saw him perform was in 2014, when he played as a duo with Magnelli on one night and in a quartet with Magnelli and a local bassist and drummer on the other night.  I hadn't planned on going both nights, but I couldn't resist seeing Lowe twice in two days.  I'm glad I had a chance to tell him how much I enjoyed the performance and shake his hand after the second night, and I have a signed CD of his album with Lloyd Wells from my first time seeing him years before.  I'm thankful I got to hear that glorious tone in person.  Thank you for the music, Mr. Lowe, and rest in peace.

[Big Beat Steve]

17 hours ago, Teasing the Korean said:

 

As it happens this LP is on the Charlie Parker Records "The Complete Collection" box set that (of course) also features the "BIrd is Free" LP referred to above.

https://www.amazon.com/Charlie-Parker-Records-Complete-Collection/dp/B006ZUKBJ4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1513878154&sr=8-1&keywords=charlie+parker+records+the+complete+collection

(a bit overpriced there, though ...)

 

[Teasing the Korean]

On December 3, 2017 at 11:47 PM, sgcim said:

My only contact with him was when I did an album with clarinetist Joe Dixon. Joe wanted to record my arr. of a tune of ML's from Satan In High Heels' soundtrack.

Mundell's reaction was, "What the hell do you want to do that song for?"

When I interviewed Mundell, I asked him if he still has the charts from that album.  He said he kept the title tune but none of the others. 

Musicians are notoriously terrible for keeping and archiving their own music. 

[mjzee]

2 hours ago, Big Beat Steve said:

As it happens this LP is on the Charlie Parker Records "The Complete Collection" box set that (of course) also features the "BIrd is Free" LP referred to above.

https://www.amazon.com/Charlie-Parker-Records-Complete-Collection/dp/B006ZUKBJ4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1513878154&sr=8-1&keywords=charlie+parker+records+the+complete+collection

(a bit overpriced there, though ...)

 

Yeah, try not to pay more than $50 for the CP Records box.  As for "Bird Is Free," that's 9 tracks from the Rockland Palace concert.  The complete concert, in far better sound and pitch-corrected, can be found on this release:

[JSngry]

 

[paul secor]

Beyond Lee, Warne, and Lowe, it was interesting to see and hear Don Elliot take a solo on mellophone. I don't think I'd ever seen a mellophone soloist before this.
Thanks for the post for various reasons.

Edited January 6, 2018 by paul secor

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

jammin with lee & warne!

[mjzee]

He's great on this album (great album too!):