Woody Shaw "Tokyo 1981" (Elemental Music)

[Rooster_Ties]

2 hours ago, Sydster said:

Looks like Elemental has another 80s Shaw offering coming in October:

http://www.jazzmusicarchives.com/album/woody-shaw/live-in-bremen-1983(live)

OMG, I've got a burn of this quartet show from Bremen 1983, and it's *damn* near as good as the Onkel PO material. Woody and the band play their assess off, and the copy I've had for 10-15 years sounds spectacular too.

Seriously, Bremen '83 is like my *dream* Woody Shaw release. I'm just now (moments ago) seeing for the first time that it's being issued, and I'm kind of beside myself delighted about it. Whatever they wanna to charge, it'll be worth every penny. It's a double-CD (and the burn I have is the same). About 50-55 min per disc, iirc.

Fantastic news!!!!

Edit: the burns I have place the last tune on disc #1 (as they're apparently gonna release it), as the frist tune on disc #2 instead. In any case, it's like 110 min of material, iirc. And utterly divine.

You all are gonna love this new quartet date from Bremen '83. It's like my desert island Woody Shaw release.

Edited August 20, 2018 by Rooster_Ties

[jlhoots]

12 hours ago, Rooster_Ties said:

OMG, I've got a burn of this quartet show from Bremen 1983, and it's *damn* near as good as the Onkel PO material. Woody and the band play their assess off, and the copy I've had for 10-15 years sounds spectacular too.

Seriously, Bremen '83 is like my *dream* Woody Shaw release. I'm just now (moments ago) seeing for the first time that it's being issued, and I'm kind of beside myself delighted about it. Whatever they wanna to charge, it'll be worth every penny. It's a double-CD (and the burn I have is the same). About 50-55 min per disc, iirc.

Fantastic news!!!!

Edit: the burns I have place the last tune on disc #1 (as they're apparently gonna release it), as the frist tune on disc #2 instead. In any case, it's like 110 min of material, iirc. And utterly divine.

You all are gonna love this new quartet date from Bremen '83. It's like my desert island Woody Shaw release.

Why do you think Amazon only has this listed as vinyl??

[Gheorghe]

I haven´t heard about Bremen 1983 but I saw Woody in Vienna in 1983 I think it was in january february. But he had his quintet with Steve Turre, Mulgrew Miller, Stafford James and Tony Reedus, the same like Uncle Po, or an old "Elektra Musician" LP from 1982 I have.

So, if Bremen 83 is a quartet, who is missing. Until when that steady group (Turrre, Mulgrew Miller, Stafford James Tony Reedus) did exist and when or why did Woody disband ?

[sidewinder]

I saw the Quintet in London in early 1983 too on 2 consecutive nights - very early in the year, possibly late Jan.  The group was Turre, Shaw, Miller, James and Reedus as per the Enja ‘Lotus Flower’ LP. Indeed, they played various numbers from it.

Edited August 21, 2018 by sidewinder

[soulpope]

1 hour ago, Gheorghe said:

So, if Bremen 83 is a quartet, who is missing. Until when that steady group (Turrre, Mulgrew Miller, Stafford James Tony Reedus) did exist and when or why did Woody disband ?

Turre is missing @Bremen ....

[Gheorghe]

Thank you soulpope and Sidewinder. So some of us still heard the complete group early in 1983. In my case it was quite strange, because it was not a festival, it was just an evening with 3 groups playing: First the Johnny Griffin quartet, second the Woody Shaw Quintet and third the Dexter Gordon quartet. If I understood it right, it was planned that the three leaders would get together after the separate performances for a kind of jam, but it didn´t happen.
I think, Woody Shaw, together with Dexter Gordon didn´t have their CBS contracts renewed and had to switch to the short lived Elektra Musician label. That was Bruce Lundvall´s label i think. If I remember right, Woody Shaw made 2 albums, the second was called "Night Music", and Dexter made only one album "American Classic" I think......, I think the intention was a good one, but it was only for a short time.......

[jlhoots]

2 CD Bremen set now showing up on Amazon as "currently unavailable".

[soulpope]

5 minutes ago, jlhoots said:

2 CD Bremen set now showing up on Amazon as "currently unavailable".

Release date late September 2018 ....

[mr jazz]

There's a youtube  video with Woody and Johnny Griffin from Germany but John Hicks steals the show. Decent sound and video.

[soulpope]

35 minutes ago, mr jazz said:

There's a youtube  video with Woody and Johnny Griffin from Germany but John Hicks steals the show. Decent sound and video.

And some great Reggie Johnson if I remember correctly ....

[felser]

8 hours ago, Gheorghe said:

Thank you soulpope and Sidewinder. So some of us still heard the complete group early in 1983. In my case it was quite strange, because it was not a festival, it was just an evening with 3 groups playing: First the Johnny Griffin quartet, second the Woody Shaw Quintet and third the Dexter Gordon quartet. If I understood it right, it was planned that the three leaders would get together after the separate performances for a kind of jam, but it didn´t happen.
I think, Woody Shaw, together with Dexter Gordon didn´t have their CBS contracts renewed and had to switch to the short lived Elektra Musician label. That was Bruce Lundvall´s label i think. If I remember right, Woody Shaw made 2 albums, the second was called "Night Music", and Dexter made only one album "American Classic" I think......, I think the intention was a good one, but it was only for a short time.......

The two Shaw albums were from the same session (Jazz Forum 2/25/82 - I just looked it up to confirm).  McCoy Tyner also was involved in the Columbia to Elektra Musician move.  The Gordon album was pretty ill-conceived, with Grover Washington.  But they probably couldn't just make a normal Dexter Gordon album, as his playing had deteriorated at that point.

[sidewinder]

11 hours ago, Gheorghe said:

Thank you soulpope and Sidewinder. So some of us still heard the complete group early in 1983.

In fact my memory of those gigs is still pretty good (2 nights, 4 shows). On the first night I had a ringside seat at Scotts (thank you Ronnie), right in front of the horns. They opened with an intricate harmonisation of ‘All The Things You Are’, with Turre voicing his part in impressive low register. Never seen any Shaw recording with that tune and certainly not in that arrangement (very much like the famous Parker recording).

Shaw was doing quite a bit of tai-chi at various points during both nights.

On the second night my seating was a bit further back on the ‘right wing’. Shared a table with a couple of bods from the Netherlands who had flown in especially for the gig. Again, a superb couple of sets.

First time I saw Mulgrew Miller. I was to see him again over the years with Blakey, Tony Williams and his own ‘Wingspan’ group.

Edited August 21, 2018 by sidewinder

[Gheorghe]

Thank you @felser an @sidewinder for your great infos and memories !

[JSngry]

On 8/21/2018 at 10:18 AM, felser said:

The Gordon album was pretty ill-conceived, with Grover Washington.  But they probably couldn't just make a normal Dexter Gordon album, as his playing had deteriorated at that point.

yeah, I get that. But - Shirley Scott.

And Grover doesn't diminish anything by his presence, I'll put it that way.

[felser]

34 minutes ago, JSngry said:

yeah, I get that. But - Shirley Scott.

And Grover doesn't diminish anything by his presence, I'll put it that way.

It's a fine Shirley Scott/Grover album.  What do you think of it as a Dexter Gordon album?

[JSngry]

That it is one,

[Gheorghe]

Even if Shirley Scott/Grover Washington are fine, I´d still say it´s a Dexter Gordon album. And you forgot the second side, those extended numbers with his own steady quartet (Kirk Leightsey, David Eubanks, Eddie Gladden) : Sticky Wicked and Skylark.

I remember well when I bought it right after it came out. We all were huge Dexter Gordon fans and see..... now this all is historical stuff, but then we lived from one album to the next album of our heroes who were alive and put out a new record every year.

I think I wouldn´t have noticed the album if it was under Grover´s name. As much as I remember, Grover was becoming famous for albums of a kind of music they later would call "soft jazz" or "smooth jazz" (don´t ask me, I´m not really into that stuff).

But during that time I had heard Grover´s name only once when he appeared (on soprano) together with Sonny Rollins and some critic remarked (anyway, would you like to meet Rollins on stage with a tenor sax in your hand?). I haven´t heard more about him and frankly spoken was not so interested in him.

And another point: Dexter´s "first" quartet (Cables, Reid, Gladden) was well recorded, but during that time (1982/83) that side B of "American Classic" was the only recorded document of that group.

But I must admit and I must agree with @felser that in general it´s a lesser substantial album than let´s say "As Time Goes By" or "Gotham City" . I remember I was a bit disappointed that even the two quartet numbers sounded like a tired Dexter. During the same time I heard the group with the wonderful Kirk Leightsey, young David Eubanks and the most powerful Eddy Gladden on many many occasions and they cooked and the shows always reached a high level and powerful music with long extended solos, great drumwork. A long set of Dexter Gordon Quarted really was a big show and a great musical experience. He was out idol, we tried to imitate his announcements..... everything

[JSngry]

Historical context for that record...there weren't any Shirley Scott records coming out at that time. So I was willing to put up with an album of severely compromised Dexter to get one side of really good Shirley Scott. At that time, you didn't know if there would be any more Shirley Scott records or not. Figured there would probably be more Dexter, although in retrospect, it should have been the other way around.

[dougcrates]

https://www.amazon.com/Live-Bremen-1983-2-CD/dp/B07FYHTSG1?keywords=woody+shaw&qid=1539170007&s=Music&sr=1-1&ref=sr_1_1

[felser]

3 hours ago, dougcrates said:

https://www.amazon.com/Live-Bremen-1983-2-CD/dp/B07FYHTSG1?keywords=woody+shaw&qid=1539170007&s=Music&sr=1-1&ref=sr_1_1

Thx for info.  Will hope for the best, but this sentence from the description may be a caveat emptor as far as sound quality,  especially considering the reports on the Tokyo sound quality on the release from the same company (and they put that one out first):  " The band lasted only until July 1983, so every newly discovered recorded performance by them is a gem to be savored." 

[Rooster_Ties]

31 minutes ago, felser said:

Thx for info.  Will hope for the best, but this sentence from the description may be a caveat emptor as far as sound quality,  especially considering the reports on the Tokyo sound quality on the release from the same company (and they put that one out first):  " The band lasted only until July 1983, so every newly discovered recorded performance by them is a gem to be savored." 

I've had that Bremen '83 show on CD-R for a dozen years, and it sounds phenomenal. You could release the copy I've had all this time, bit-for-bit, and there would be few if any complaints.

One of the best, and best-sounding Woody live documents I've ever heard, in over 20 years. Noticeably better than most (all?) of the Highnote releases (vols 1-4), for instance.

SQ should be top drawer.

Edited October 10, 2018 by Rooster_Ties

[felser]

3 hours ago, Rooster_Ties said:

I've had that Bremen '83 show on CD-R for a dozen years, and it sounds phenomenal. You could release the copy I've had all this time, bit-for-bit, and there would be few if any complaints.

One of the best, and best-sounding Woody live documents I've ever heard, in over 20 years. Noticeably better than most (all?) of the Highnote releases (vols 1-4), for instance.

SQ should be top drawer.

Great to hear,  I'm certainly in!  I  went back and read your previous posts in this thread.  We'll hope they don't add gratuitous reverb (in case that's what they did with Tokyo).   

[Rooster_Ties]

3 hours ago, felser said:

Great to hear,  I'm certainly in!  I  went back and read your previous posts in this thread.  We'll hope they don't add gratuitous reverb (in case that's what they did with Tokyo).   

I'm pretty certain that the Tokyo reverb is inherent in the recording (and/or a byproduct of the venue where it was recorded).

I can't imagine that it was added later, artificially.  I suppose it's possible, but unfathomable.

[felser]

On 10/10/2018 at 2:48 PM, felser said:

Great to hear,  I'm certainly in!  I  went back and read your previous posts in this thread.  We'll hope they don't add gratuitous reverb (in case that's what they did with Tokyo).   

Bremen set showed up at my door an hour ago via Amazon Prime.  Listening now.  Music and sound both utterly outstanding!

[sidewinder]

21 hours ago, felser said:

Bremen set showed up at my door an hour ago via Amazon Prime.  Listening now.  Music and sound both utterly outstanding!

Noted - will probably pick up a copy of this one over the next few days.

Edited October 27, 2018 by sidewinder