Pim Posted May 20 Report Share Posted May 20 So I was spinning 5X Monk 5X Lacy by Steve Lacy and Evan Parkers 'Snake Decides' and saw Joe McPhee's Tenor up for a reissue. It's probably an acquired taste and I have to be in a certain mood for it but if I am: I really like a solo saxophone record. My question to you guys: how do you feel about solo saxophone records and If you had to name that one favorite, what would it be. I'd give the ones who have difficulties picking one an expansion to a maximum of three records Thread is nog intented as a name as much as you know but trying to find out which ones everyone would pick if they really had to choose. For some inspiration the Free Jazz Collective made a nice list https://www.freejazzblog.org/2008/01/solo-sax_15.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clifford_thornton Posted May 20 Report Share Posted May 20 McPhee's "Tenor" would be near or at the top of the heap. I am a fan of solo saxophone recordings overall and if a saxophonist I like makes a solo record, I'll check it out. Beyond Lacy, Parker, Braxton, Mitchell, and Abe, who are the pantheon, I'd recommend Marion Brown's "Recollections," which I think is even better than his solo on Sweet Earth. The two volumes of David S. Ware solos on AUM Fidelity are quite beautiful as well. Brötzmann's 14 Love Poems is another choice disc. Dickie Landry's Fifteen Saxophones (15 delayed/looped horns) is a favorite; it also includes one alto flute piece and an out-of-this-world solo tenor piece ("Kitchen Solos"). I wrote the notes for its reissue many years ago. Rob Brown's Oceanic on RogueArt is one I need to pick up -- ordered one from a US seller and they sent me a different Rob Brown CD by mistake (which I didn't have either, so I didn't stress the issue). Apparently it is unreal. That free jazz blog list is useful. Butcher, definitely. I like Lol a lot but admit to having spent much more time with his group music. This is also worth checking out... I wish it included *all* of Frippe's Bird Notes recordings but that would've been far too costly to produce and an even more niche interest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colinmce Posted May 20 Report Share Posted May 20 Second Clifford on Tenor, in my opinion it's the greatest of them all. I'm glad it's getting a reissue, hopefully it will get some attention, though I'm going to assume that Black Magic Man will be the one people want to talk about most. Variations On A Blue Line and Graphics are two other excellent early McPhee solos on Hat Hut. As Serious As Your Life is incredible, but it's not strictly saxophone. That FJB list is pretty thorough but I would especially call out Lone-Lee as an essential listen, particularly in its unedited CD form. This one just really gets my mind humming. I like Ken Vandermark's solo music quite a bit. Furniture Music might be the place to start, but A Knife In The Water and The Field Within A Line are strong as well. Charles Gayle's Unto I Am is mostly sax/reeds and is great. Seymour Wright's Seymour Writes Back is a masterpiece Kang Tae Hwan – Live At Café Amores and Makoto Kawashima – Homo Sacer are both fascinating Ab Baars has a few very good solo albums (Verderame, Time To Do My Lions, And She Speaks) Haven't listened to too much solo Mats but Torturing The Saxophone is a blast. The Steve Lacy tribute is also deep. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stonewall15 Posted May 20 Report Share Posted May 20 Gerry Mulligan 1951 "Mulligan's Too" is a seventeen minute baritone sax wonder. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clifford_thornton Posted May 20 Report Share Posted May 20 Oh yes, Kang is fantastic. Have several of his LPs/CDs. Used to have Lone-Lee on vinyl but let it go in a cull... should probably get it back at some point. some of these others I haven't heard... dig KV and remember when Furniture Music came out, but for whatever reason I just never picked it/those up. Baars, again, only had his ensemble music on disc, though I could imagine the solo work would be worth hearing. I've seen him duo with Ig and in various groups within and outside the ICP orbit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted May 20 Report Share Posted May 20 It starts here: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clifford_thornton Posted May 20 Report Share Posted May 20 indeed! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted May 20 Report Share Posted May 20 The Sonny Rollins solo album is inconsistent (surprise!!!) but the high points are quite high. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clifford_thornton Posted May 20 Report Share Posted May 20 That was my impression, too (heard but never owned). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted May 20 Report Share Posted May 20 I think that my overall favorite in the idiom is Steve Lacy. I like them all, but my favorite might be Hocus Pocus—Book 'H' of "Practitioners Their beginning as etudes and Lacy's expansion of them really highlights the unpredictable inevitability that is imo the core of Lacy's art. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clifford_thornton Posted May 20 Report Share Posted May 20 yeah, I need to get that Practitioners material. Solo Lacy is my favorite, too. The Japanese soli are probably the apex for me but that said, there are certainly some Lacy soli that I haven't heard or spent enough time with (especially later). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeweil Posted May 20 Report Share Posted May 20 John Klemmer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjazzg Posted May 20 Report Share Posted May 20 My choices have been covered already I think. Brotzmann (every solo album), Parker (soprano and tenor albums), McPhee (I like the run he did on Roaratorio). As we're nearly all disregarding @Pim's limit of three I'll throw in these as well, I have a fondness for Hamiet Bluiett's 'Birthright' and Hemphill's 'Blue Boye' Evan Parker's 'Zanzou' took a while to track down and was definitely worth the effort. There's more recent examples too I'm sure but they're not coming to mind right now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clifford_thornton Posted May 20 Report Share Posted May 20 Birthright, yes! Thank you for the reminder. Oliver Lake's Passing Thru is a favorite as well. The Hemphill solo sets are fascinating, though I'll admit I haven't dug them out in quite some time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazztrain Posted May 20 Report Share Posted May 20 There's a new solo release by James Carter on baritone saxophone: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
optatio Posted May 20 Report Share Posted May 20 The favorite in my collection: Marion Brown: Solo Saxophone. Sweet Earth Records SER 1001 [1977] On July 1, 1990, Marion and I listened to the record and I took a photo: At the end of the record, Marion murmured, "Strong!" It's a shame that the records from the small Sweet Earth Catalog haven't been re-released to this day. See: https://www.discogs.com/de/label/48031-Sweet-Earth-Records Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soulpope Posted May 20 Report Share Posted May 20 18 minutes ago, optatio said: The favorite in my collection: Marion Brown: Solo Saxophone. Sweet Earth Records SER 1001 [1977] On July 1, 1990, Marion and I listened to the record and I took a photo: At the end of the record, Marion murmured, "Strong!" It's a shame that the records from the small Sweet Earth Catalog haven't been re-released to this day. See: https://www.discogs.com/de/label/48031-Sweet-Earth-Records 😍👍 .... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
optatio Posted May 20 Report Share Posted May 20 In addition see thread “The art of the solo on wind instruments”, 2015 -17! https://www.organissimo.org/forum/topic/77288-the-art-of-the-solo-on-wind-instruments/ Unfortunately, not all scans are available anymore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clifford_thornton Posted May 20 Report Share Posted May 20 28 minutes ago, optatio said: The favorite in my collection: Marion Brown: Solo Saxophone. Sweet Earth Records SER 1001 [1977] On July 1, 1990, Marion and I listened to the record and I took a photo: At the end of the record, Marion murmured, "Strong!" It's a shame that the records from the small Sweet Earth Catalog haven't been re-released to this day. See: https://www.discogs.com/de/label/48031-Sweet-Earth-Records Too bad the Ed Blackwell LP on Sweet Earth never got released. Maybe there's a chance some intrepid label will put the tapes out on CD... Great photo of Marion, by the way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Д.Д. Posted May 20 Report Share Posted May 20 My favorite ones are early John Butcher solo records - "13 Friendly Numbers", "Invisible Ear" and "Fixations (14)". These are the solo saxophone records I return to most often. I don't like solo Lacy that much, I definitely prefer Lol Coxhill when it comes to soprano saxophone. With Lacy I get a feeling that rhythm section is missing - particularly when he plays Monk tunes. With Coxhill it's all harmoniously complete. One excellent solo record that I think was not mentioned is Mototeru Takagi "Love Dance". This is some really lyrical stuff. https://www.discogs.com/release/22195261-高木元輝-Love-Dance-Solo-Live-At-Galerie-De-Café-伝-Tokyo-1987-1997 And Ellery Eskelin has a very nice solo record: I see Urs Leimgruber just released a new solo soprano album, I bet it's good: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted May 20 Report Share Posted May 20 Lacy develops motifs, so bring the changes to the table with you if that's what you need. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clifford_thornton Posted May 20 Report Share Posted May 20 Agree, that Takagi is superb and very of a piece with solo Joe McPhee. Shoji Ukaji (baritone player) also has an excellent solo CD that is rare but worth hearing or seeking out: https://www.discogs.com/release/1037274-Ukaji-Shoji-Vision Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Д.Д. Posted May 20 Report Share Posted May 20 12 minutes ago, JSngry said: Lacy develops motifs, so bring the changes to the table with you if that's what you need. What an insightful advice! Now I know how to listen to the music the right way. Here are couple more excellent albums: Joachim Gies "Whispering Blue" (Leo) and Hermann Bühler "Alto Solo" (Dreamscape). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted May 20 Report Share Posted May 20 Glad to help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John L Posted May 20 Report Share Posted May 20 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_forumlogo.png.a607ef20a6e0c299ab2aa6443aa1f32e.png)
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.