Paul Gonsalves

[Peter Friedman]

Not long ago the British Vocalion label reissued on CD a session by Paul Gonsalves titled HUMMING BIRD. This one has Paul with Kenny Wheeler, David Horler(tb),Stan Tracey on piano, and other British musicians. It is an unusual date for Gonsalves.

I don't recall that the Paul Gonsalves-Ray Nance recording - JUST A SITTIN' AND A ROCKIN' on Black Lion has been mentioned. It's a good one.

[montg]

Doon't have as much Ellington or Gonsalves as I should but the sickest Paul for me is the solo he takes on A Train--the 1952 version with Betty Roche, on Ellington Uptown. That ballad interlude (to say nothing of the subsequent burning section or the overall arrangement) is gorgeous!

I just gave this a spin ..thanks for the reminder! Some great PG

[CJ Shearn]

funny this thread came up because I was listening to Mex's famous D&C solo too. I love his tone, playing and ideas. Gonna have to grab some of these leader dates myself.

[Guest Bill Barton]

Recently I was watching

There is some smokin' great Gonsalves on this concert and the absolutely priceless image of him fast asleep on the bandstand, horn in mouth, fingers on keys, through two full numbers.

[Niko]

i've been wondering about this item here...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Three-Tenors-Don-B...6128&sr=8-2

is it a compilation? is anything complete on it, like one complete album plus other stuff, or...?

thanks in advance!

[Chuck Nessa]

It is a collection of titles from the Black Lion catalog.

[Niko]

It is a collection of titles from the Black Lion catalog.

titles that are available elsewhere in their complete context? (looking at the track list, the final ben webster titles seem to be part of a Black Lion album i have, There is no greater love...)

... should i get it?

[king ubu]

Can't help you on that compilation, but these Jazz Colours CDs generally seem to be compilations with music taken from earlier Black Lion (maybe also Freedom?) releases. They're cheap and no info is up online usually... I didn't by any of them so far, but I dimly remember there was one by Dudu Pukwana... as many Black Lion titles are OOP, these Jazz Colours may not be that bad a thing, in some cases.

[Niko]

i only have two of them, "Kenny Dorham's" Soul Support, which contains the Rocky Boyd album and the Dave Bailey album that features KD minus one track, Osmosis, (but including the trio tracks without KD)... so a bunch of excellent music for the money, though, of course, i'd have preferred two cds with alternate takes... and the Charles Tolliver Loorsdrecht album, no complaints about that one (except that the sound sucks on both cds, but that may have been the case already on the black lion releases; and that they look ugly and that the liner notes would have been better if i'd written them and that means something...)

[makpjazz57]

All these are solid recordings, worth getting for Gonsalves or not! I agree with Chuck et al that his best work IS with Duke. By the way, there's ten of the Private Recordings and all are worth getting even though Paul isn't all over all of them).

I love the music on the Cote D'Azur box set, and one highlight is Ella scatting up against Paul's playing. . . wow.d

My cousin is doing publicity for a company that will be releasing a DVD of the Duke/Ella Cote D'Azur concert. I have a copy of this from European TV, but look forward to purchasing the DVD when available (I think in mid-March). Ella and Duke at the Cote D'Azur is one of my all-time favorite recordings. I still have my father's original 2-LP set (scratchy, but playable). I did, of course, also purchase the CD version of this recording.

Marla

Edited January 14, 2008 by makpjazz57

[jazzbo]

Marla, thanks for letting us know of this forthcoming dvd!

[makpjazz57]

Marla, thanks for letting us know of this forthcoming dvd!

You are quite welcome! Besides the satisfaction of purchasing/supporting the release, I'll be happy to have a better quality copy of this video. If I find out any add'l info, I'll post here.

Marla

[makpjazz57]

Almost forgot to mention...Paul Gonsalves' cousin lives in the New Bedford area of Massachusetts and is not in the best of health. A teacher friend of mine visits him every once in a while and tells me the videos I've given him of the Ellington orchestra w/Gonsalves have changed his life - he didn't have much if any enthusiasm for life anymore and having some Ellington treasures with his cousin has been a real blessing.

[clifford_thornton]

Not long ago the British Vocalion label reissued on CD a session by Paul Gonsalves titled HUMMING BIRD. This one has Paul with Kenny Wheeler, David Horler(tb),Stan Tracey on piano, and other British musicians. It is an unusual date for Gonsalves.

Curious about that one as well.

[sidewinder]

Not long ago the British Vocalion label reissued on CD a session by Paul Gonsalves titled HUMMING BIRD. This one has Paul with Kenny Wheeler, David Horler(tb),Stan Tracey on piano, and other British musicians. It is an unusual date for Gonsalves.

Curious about that one as well.

Very nice date - it was done for Deram.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

The first time I heard Paul Gonsalves' playing, and still for me one of the greatest sax solos of all time, was his solo on Ray Charles' version of Percy Mayfield's "Two years of torture", on the LP "The genius of Ray Charles". Gonsalves' slithery, slidy, filthy, greasy solo really grabbed me by the balls in 1960.

I got "Duke Ellington at the Alhambra" yesterday. Gonsalves was great on that but still, nothing to compare with that short solo.

MG

[thomastreichler]

If you want to hear him do Body and Soul.. the afore mentioned Wonderful World of Jazz by John Lewis is the place to go.

His solo on a 15 minute plus "Body and Soul" (also featuring Herb Pomeroy, John Lewis, Jim Hall, George Duvivier and Connie Kay) is superb!

[Jazzjet]

The only Gonsalves as a leader (well, co-leader anyway) that I have is his Impulse! date with Sonny Stitt entitled, SALT AND PEPPER. Nothing too earth-shattering but a nice date nonetheless with Hank Jones in the piano chair. 'Perdido' and 'Stardust' are the only tunes that I can recall at the moment. If you buy the 1997 re-issue (I think that's the year), you also get an added Stitt quartet session, NOW!, also with the aforementioned Jones. It's a nice bonus date.

My favourite track from Salt and Pepper is a groovy little number called Lord Of The Flies. I'm not sure whether it was a treatment of a theme used in the film of the same name or just 'inspired by' the film.

[John L]

The first time I heard Paul Gonsalves' playing, and still for me one of the greatest sax solos of all time, was his solo on Ray Charles' version of Percy Mayfield's "Two years of torture", on the LP "The genius of Ray Charles". Gonsalves' slithery, slidy, filthy, greasy solo really grabbed me by the balls in 1960.

I got "Duke Ellington at the Alhambra" yesterday. Gonsalves was great on that but still, nothing to compare with that short solo.

MG

After reading this post, I had nightmares all night about something slithery, slidy, filthy, and greasy grabbing me by the balls.

Edited July 23, 2008 by John L

[Teasing the Korean]

I almost never buy LPs anymore, but today at an antique mall for a dollar I found a very clean mono copy of Tell It the Way It Is on impulse!. Never heard it before; looking forward to spinning it this weekend!

[JSngry]

That's a good record! 

[Teasing the Korean]

6 minutes ago, JSngry said:

That's a good record! 

I figured it almost had to be, given the lineup.  It is in queue to get a scrub on the ol' Nitty Gritty machine, and then will be enjoyed this weekend!

[Bluesnik]

On 7/23/2008 at 11:46 AM, Jazzjet said:

Lord Of The Flies. I'm not sure whether it was a treatment of a theme used in the film of the same name or just 'inspired by' the film.

Or the book, which was before the movie, you might say.

[hopkins]

Here's a track most of you probably have not heard:

I "ripped" it, so the sound quality is not optimal, but who cares?

https://www.discogs.com/release/10060386-Phil-Barboza-and-his-Latin-American-Music-Featuring-Vicki-Vierra-Paul-Gonsalves-Só-Sabe

Actually, I just found that the whole album can be listened to on the Internet Archive:

https://archive.org/details/lp_so-sabe_phil-barboza-latin-american-music-vicki

Long live the Internet Archive!

Probably recorded in 1962. This song is credited to Gonsalves.

There is another Barboza album featuring Gonsalves, made at the same time?

https://www.discogs.com/release/10100507-Phil-Barboza-And-His-Latin-American-Music-Phil-Barboza-And-His-Latin-American-Music

The music is on YouTube!

https://youtu.be/omW9sc-hDMo?si=TkiYsDf49iCAreIy

The last track, starting at 9:40, features Gonsalves.

Edited December 15, 2023 by hopkins