Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me... etc... Wouldn't have thought to make 61, to be honest. But every day is a blessing... Some music, then...
Cecil of course, on this day... From the infamous Victoriaville concert in 2002 – with Tony Oxley and Bill Dixon. This is 'T/CxB.' Nate Dorward, whose criticism reflected many others, hated Dixon's contribution: 'the trumpeter’s playing solipsistic, even weirdly infantile, in its regression to the sounds of gurgling, breathing and farting, its indifference to line, shape or direction, and its inability to enter into meaningful dialogue.' It's certainly a little different... Mind you, I thought Dixon was fascinating at the London concert a couple of years back, sculpting sound from his electronics... Not many shared my enthusiasm, it has to be said... à chacun son goût...
Two giants of the tenor saxophone playing 'It never entered my mind,' led in carefully by Oscar Peterson. Ben Webster swooshing through, master of the ballad, sprung on a tight rhythm section. Tenor as sonic painting rather than pyrotechnics – Webster reminds me of a deeper version of Johnny Hodges – whom he sat next to in the Ellington sax section in earlier years. To bounce off something Albert Ayler once said, this isn't about the notes – its about the sound and emotions. Hawk – a harder edge, the fountainhead of jazz tenor saxophone. Timeless.
Annette Peacock does Elvis – 'Love me tender.' From her record, 'I'm the one.' Elvis never a favourite singer of mine -I was always a Jerry Lee man... This is much better... IMHO...
Rickie Lee Jones I have always liked... This is the last track from her album 'Sermon on Exposition Boulevard,' 'I was there.'
Charles Gayle partnered up with John Tchicai for this 1988 date – from which I've taken the last cut, 'Then offer all.' One of the highspots of last year was seeing Gayle live in the U.K. twice and he's one of my totally favourite musicians. Nothing abstract about these truths...
Happy birthday to me... Onwards - Berlin in ten days! But today - lunch with my tribe... guess who's paying...
Cecil Taylor (p) Bill Dixon (t, bugle) Tony Oxley (d)
T/CxB
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Coleman Hawkins/Ben Webster
Coleman Hawkins, Ben Webster (ts) Oscar Peterson (p) Herb Ellis (g) Ray Brown (b) Alvin Stoller (d)
It never entered my mind
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Annette Peacock
Tom Cosgrove (g) Stu Woods (b) Rick Morotta (d) Barry Altschul, Airto Moreira, Orestes Vilato, Domun Romao (perc) Annette Peacock - composer (music & words), arranger, producer, singer, electric vocals, pianos (acoustic & electric), synthesizers, electric vibraphone)
Love me tender
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Rickie Lee Jones
Rickie Lee Jones (v, g, dul, keys, Moog syn, xyl, b- g, perc) Peter Atanasoff (g, oud, background v) Bernie Larsen (gr, d); Pete Thomas, Rob Schnapf (ac- g) Joey Maramba (b-g) Jay Bellerose (d) Lee Cantelon (background v)
I was there
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Charles Gayle
Charles Gayle (ts) John Tchicai (ts, ss) Sirone (b) Reggie Nicholson (d)
Then offer all
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6 comments:
Solipsism has its place (speaking of which, here's a song title that I made up: "Slippin' into Solipsism Again"; now all I have to write is the rest of it), but I think the word is more applicable to a certain pianist. Dixon's playing may not me technically impressive there, but he's clearly listening and responding to the piano. I find it odd to single this out as particularly objectionable, considering all the honking and screaming that appears on so many Taylor albums, from which Dixon differs mainly in his restrain - unsurprisingly, since I recall an interview in which he said that he refused to succumb to the "fireworks" that typify Taylor's sidemen (he also said that he didn't care for Taylor's post-'60s musical direction, but I think this interview was in the '70s or '80s, and I don't know how Dixon feels about Taylor's more recent work, which honestly I'm not too familiar with).
Oh, and, pace Jerry Seinfeld, happy birthday.
... thanks for birthday wishes... just been out celebrating with an old friend who has a birthday today... a double aries hit for the mystically inclined... for which I will no doubt suffer later... re the Bill Dixon thing - I have a feeling that people approach him from the old jazz/free jazz critical end of the spectrum and don't hear what he is actually trying to do now - it's not about chops in that sense... certainly stirs up debate even still...
OK, I just read Dorward's review. I imagine it's possible I might share some of his feelings if I heard the whole recording, but that little excerpt sounds fine to me. By the way, my favorite version of "Love Me Tender" is Carmen McRae's from her wonderful late album "Any Old Time."
Happy belated...
re Carmen - must check that out - not listened to her for a long time... and thanks to HIB for birthday greetings! Belated blogging at the moment - off to Berlin for a week and things hectic before leaving!
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