So here we go again... Having spent the sunny days listening to old Wolf Eyes wahoo and other assorted loud power electronics... here's...
Jon Hassell. Who sails away on 'Blues Nile.' A gag I could not resist. I'm all for cheap and easy laughs... Opens on a drone then shadowy trumpet, breathy and bending. Trumpet doubled up, a muezzin-like call across a misty landscape. The influence of his voice teacher Pandit Pran Nath comes through strongly here, it seems – a vocalised line of fragile beauty.
From his first album, 'Vernal Equinox.'
'Hassell coined the term "Fourth World" to describe his musical style, as expressed both in his trumpet playing and in his approach to composition.. This musical conception combines the philosophy and techniques of minimalism with Asian and African styles, and relies heavily on the use of electronic instruments. Critics of Hassell's style have noted its incorporation of New Age and world music styles, but have also detected the influence of Miles Davis, particularly Davis's use of electronics, modal harmony and understated lyricism . (From here...).
The comment about Miles's influence is interesting – Davis's reticence (often seen as lack of technique compared to the more flamboyant bebop trumpeters) on conventional sequences and his later jumps into the sonic unknown via electronics make him much more of a visionary than maybe is often realised. Because he could let rip when the spirit rose – check out some of the tracks with the quintet in the late sixties, where he is surrounded by young musicians and maybe wanted to lay down the odd marker. But by the time of 'Bitches Brew' and onwards, he was looking beyond 'jazz'... Hence the connection with Hassell? Who acknowledges the influence:
'After years of trying to make the case for an improvisational music which is 'not-jazz' and staying away from cliches of jazz instrumentation and style, I started to feel free enough to let more obvious elements of my respect for Miles creep in from time to time.'
(From a fascinating interview here...).
Colour and timbre – here's Jimmy Giuffre and the Modern Jazz Quartet from 1956, playing a Giuffre composition 'Fun.' I took a slight swipe at Connie Kay in a previous post but in this context you can understand his role in the MJQ. Percy Heath and Milt could carry the band with no problem – effortless swing as and when required.
Al Cohn and Bob Brookmeyer play an oblique, somewhat gruff restatement of the theme of 'Lady is a tramp.' An arrangement which, in its own quiet way, re-encapsulates the essence of how jazz deals with melody in a dynamic, elastic manner. Cohn solos first, swinging solidly. Brookmeyer next, looping nicely through the changes. Always an appealing player. They hook up for a double runthrough, a neatly arranged section taking the track out. Mainstream fun...
To a different area of emotion, experience and spirituality - Blind Joe Taggart sounds as if he is ripping chunks out of a hard reality and vocalising them through the filters of his culture and religion... 'When I stand before the King.' In 1926 '...Taggart became the first full-time guitar evangelist to cut a side [for Vocalion].' (From here).
A scuffling guitar backs up the beautifully raw vocals, Blind Joe backed by Emma Taggart (presumably his wife).
'If one ever ran into Blind Joe Taggart in a dark alley, the only possible protection would be to have Blind John Henry Arnold with you. According to the famous folk singer and blues artist Josh White, there was only one man on earth who was meaner than Taggart, and that was Arnold. White obviously knew what he was talking about, having been abused and kicked around by both men, as well as the even more famous Blind Lemon Jefferson.' (Ibid).
Given the nature of his life, perhaps one should balance up this quote with the following:
'Performers trying to survive in such a lifestyle can hardly be blamed for developing what can be best described as street-hardened personalities.' (Ibid).
As an ex street musician myself in another incarnation (albeit in much more benign circumstances) I have a little understanding of what the sentence means - especially with regard to a lot of the old boys I met down the road...
Thinking about going to Texas on my next trip to the States... here's old Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys, one of my favourite groups, playing 'Basin Street Blues.' Saxophone, steel guitar, over a rock solid rhythm section. Echoes of Big T in the Tommy Duncan vocal perhaps - or just a shared timbral inheritance. 'Aw, Basin Street, yes yes...' as Mr Wills leads it in... Interesting to remember that Bob W outdrew the Glen Miller and Bennie Goodman bands in 1945... And a great story from here, just to go out on:
'By 1945, Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys had achieved enough notoriety that they were invited to play at the prestigious home of country music a little farther east. Bob unknowingly created quite a stir at his Grand Ole Opry performance. A drum set was a natural, integral part of the Playboys' music, but it was unheard of in the world of country music back then. When the Opry staff told Bob that his drummer couldn't play, he angrily declared that he would not leave a band member out. It was all the Texas Playboys or none. Bob did agree, however, to let the drums be set up behind the curtains. That is, until time to play, when he hollered, 'Move those things out on stage!' In that moment, Bob Wills had left a permanent mark: there would forever be a beat in country music. (He and the Texas Playboys, by the way, were not invited back.) '
Jon Hassell
Jon Hassell (trumpet, Fender Rhodes (specially tuned and altered by Buchla and Arp Synthesizers))
Nana Vasconçelos (congas, shakers, ocean, talking drum, bells, tropical birds)
David Rosenboom (mbira, rattles, tabla, dumbek) Miguel Frasconi (claves, bells)
Nicolas Kilbourn (talking drum, mbira) William Winant (kanjira, rattles) Drone (Serge Synthesizer, Motorola Scalatron) Night Creatures of Altamira Perrasita—distant barking...
Blues Niles
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Jimmy Giuffre/MJQ
Jimmy Giuffre (cl) John Lewis (p) Milt Jackson (vib) Percy Heath (b) Connie Kay (d)
Fun
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Al Cohn/Bob Brookmeyer
Al Cohn (ts) Bob Brookmeyer (tr) Mose Allison (p) Teddy Kotick (b) Nick Stabulas (d)
Lady is a tramp
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Blind Joe Taggart (g, v)
When I stand before the king
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Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys
Basin Street Blues
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Showing posts with label al cohn. Show all posts
Showing posts with label al cohn. Show all posts
Friday, August 01, 2008
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Barry Altschul... Shelley Manne... Cecil Taylor... Al Cohn/Bob Brookmeyer... Sonny Terry/Brownie McGhee
Barry Altschul, from 1977, the title track of the album 'You can't name your own tune.' Starts off brisk and busy, then Muhal comes through quickly for a solo, single line and swirl, horn riffs bridging this and Lewis's trombone, borne along on a strong tide that floods most of the sonic space, not allowing Lewis much room in the mix, that ebbs slightly then dies off for Dave Holland to come through and solo. Ending on a fast walk to bring in Rivers. Interesting – more space now opening than for the other horn as the piano drops out and the drummer holds off. Ensemble return to finish. A strange track, somehow, in its combination of tight writing and free solos that do not, however, stray too far from camp. As what was not often the case in earlier recordings, the bass is very up in the mix here – which blocks the trombone perhaps, muddying things a tad here and there as the bustling hyper-hustle of the drummer covers much of the canvas. Still – you can't have everything. Fascinating stuff...
Shelley Manne was doing some interesting work in 1954... His drums open on 'Abstract No 1,' followed by tenor and trumpet, an integral part of the three lined movement through this precursor of free jazz in the melodic/sonic way he intertwines with the horns, messing up the then-accepted (although increasingly fragile) jazz givens of rhythm/melody/harmony. Giuffre switches to clarinet and his inimitable bucolic tone adds another colour to the palette – back to baritone at the end. A sure-footed step into new areas – exploring sound, colour and texture, a long ways from bebop but not as dry as much of the third stream would become.
Cecil Taylor... 'I forgot,' take one. This is early on in his recorded career and the more fascinating because of that. He first recorded in that epochal Death of Bird year, 1955 – 'Jazz Advance,' the album, but this is from the marathon Candid sessions of 1961. The young Archie Shepp, who sometimes seemed to be floundering on some tracks (understandably), here contributes well to the sombre mood of this slow, smoky performance. Two sections - Taylor thoughtful, calm, dropping occasional astringencies into the proceedings but nothing like his usual galloping energy. Neidlinger adding deep arco bass as Shepp wanders through with almost dreamlike tenor. A pause - then the drummer gives spasmodic cymbals, Taylor enters on floating, distant piano, spartan drifting figures. Charles gives restrained cymbal splashes like breaths before bass, tenor and then piano return. A sudden rush, falling away. The whole, like a slow fragmented episodic blur, riffing on the elusiveness of memory - 'I Forgot?' And similar to the Shelley Manne piece in its handling of colours and mood...
To measure the distance travelled, the spaces laid out in new mapping... A 1957 date from Al Cohn and Bob Brookmeyer, from which comes this track, 'Lazy Man Stomp.' A fast yet frothy romp – you could imagine people jiving to this. Cohn was a pretty good sax player, one of the original 'Four Brothers' in Woody Herman's Second Herd, (I think he followed Herbie Steward into the section -who is, according to the link, the only surviving member of that illustrious fraternal grouping) whose arranging/composing skills took over his career, although he kept up a long-term sporadic partnership with other Brother Zoot Sims. A Brookmeyer composition – the title might give that away, perhaps, evocative of an earlier era in jazz that the trombonist always kept a foot and a large piece of his heart in. Good solos all round - including a crystal clear Mose Allison, playing a sideman's role here, rocked along nicely by some punchy drumming from Nick Stabulas and Teddy Kotick's masterfully sprung bass. To say this is solidly swinging and satisfying would be to under-praise it (in a wreckless splash of unintentionally Miltonic sibilance - hissing 'like Medusa's head in wrath' indeed as James Russell Lowell says here... [long scroll down]). The interest for me in selecting these tracks is that, given the haphazard way I pick them, how fascinating it is to let them bounce off each other in such a spontaneous way. I can't help but compare 'Lazy Man Stomp' to the Altschul piece above, given the similar ensemble - trombone and tenor plus rhythm section - this is much clearer, oddly more space allowed for the music, much as I like the other recording. And the drumming is equally as forceful here...
Sonny and Brownie – 'Stranger Blues.' That fine-sprung bounce of Brownie's guitar leads them in after a brief spoken delineation, with Terry's harmonica running across like an effervescent hound dog in the breaks between their matched vocals, also punctuated by Sonny's high woops. By the time this was recorded in the sixties they had fine-honed their style – but it works so well. I saw them a couple of years later in London, headlining a big blues show and they were wonderful. And in Dublin on what was their last European tour together, must have been in the late seventies. They were still great...
Barry Altshul
Barry Altshul (d) Sam Rivers (ts) George Lewis (tr) Muhal Richard Abrams (p) Dave Holland (b)
You can't name your own tune
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Shelley Manne
Shelley Manne (d) Shorty Rogers (t) Jimmy Guiffre (ts, cl, bs)
Abstract No 1
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Cecil Taylor
Archie Shepp (ts) Cecil Taylor (p, cel) Buell Neidlinger (b) Denis Charles (d)
I forgot take one
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Al Cohn/Bob Brookmeyer
Al Cohn (ts) Bob Brookmeyer (tr) Mose Allison (p) Teddy Kotick (b) Nick Stabulas (d)
Lazy Man Stomp
Download
Buy
Sonny Terry (v, hca) Brownie McGhee (g, v)
Stranger Blues
Download
Buy
Shelley Manne was doing some interesting work in 1954... His drums open on 'Abstract No 1,' followed by tenor and trumpet, an integral part of the three lined movement through this precursor of free jazz in the melodic/sonic way he intertwines with the horns, messing up the then-accepted (although increasingly fragile) jazz givens of rhythm/melody/harmony. Giuffre switches to clarinet and his inimitable bucolic tone adds another colour to the palette – back to baritone at the end. A sure-footed step into new areas – exploring sound, colour and texture, a long ways from bebop but not as dry as much of the third stream would become.
Cecil Taylor... 'I forgot,' take one. This is early on in his recorded career and the more fascinating because of that. He first recorded in that epochal Death of Bird year, 1955 – 'Jazz Advance,' the album, but this is from the marathon Candid sessions of 1961. The young Archie Shepp, who sometimes seemed to be floundering on some tracks (understandably), here contributes well to the sombre mood of this slow, smoky performance. Two sections - Taylor thoughtful, calm, dropping occasional astringencies into the proceedings but nothing like his usual galloping energy. Neidlinger adding deep arco bass as Shepp wanders through with almost dreamlike tenor. A pause - then the drummer gives spasmodic cymbals, Taylor enters on floating, distant piano, spartan drifting figures. Charles gives restrained cymbal splashes like breaths before bass, tenor and then piano return. A sudden rush, falling away. The whole, like a slow fragmented episodic blur, riffing on the elusiveness of memory - 'I Forgot?' And similar to the Shelley Manne piece in its handling of colours and mood...
To measure the distance travelled, the spaces laid out in new mapping... A 1957 date from Al Cohn and Bob Brookmeyer, from which comes this track, 'Lazy Man Stomp.' A fast yet frothy romp – you could imagine people jiving to this. Cohn was a pretty good sax player, one of the original 'Four Brothers' in Woody Herman's Second Herd, (I think he followed Herbie Steward into the section -who is, according to the link, the only surviving member of that illustrious fraternal grouping) whose arranging/composing skills took over his career, although he kept up a long-term sporadic partnership with other Brother Zoot Sims. A Brookmeyer composition – the title might give that away, perhaps, evocative of an earlier era in jazz that the trombonist always kept a foot and a large piece of his heart in. Good solos all round - including a crystal clear Mose Allison, playing a sideman's role here, rocked along nicely by some punchy drumming from Nick Stabulas and Teddy Kotick's masterfully sprung bass. To say this is solidly swinging and satisfying would be to under-praise it (in a wreckless splash of unintentionally Miltonic sibilance - hissing 'like Medusa's head in wrath' indeed as James Russell Lowell says here... [long scroll down]). The interest for me in selecting these tracks is that, given the haphazard way I pick them, how fascinating it is to let them bounce off each other in such a spontaneous way. I can't help but compare 'Lazy Man Stomp' to the Altschul piece above, given the similar ensemble - trombone and tenor plus rhythm section - this is much clearer, oddly more space allowed for the music, much as I like the other recording. And the drumming is equally as forceful here...
Sonny and Brownie – 'Stranger Blues.' That fine-sprung bounce of Brownie's guitar leads them in after a brief spoken delineation, with Terry's harmonica running across like an effervescent hound dog in the breaks between their matched vocals, also punctuated by Sonny's high woops. By the time this was recorded in the sixties they had fine-honed their style – but it works so well. I saw them a couple of years later in London, headlining a big blues show and they were wonderful. And in Dublin on what was their last European tour together, must have been in the late seventies. They were still great...
Barry Altshul
Barry Altshul (d) Sam Rivers (ts) George Lewis (tr) Muhal Richard Abrams (p) Dave Holland (b)
You can't name your own tune
Buy
Shelley Manne
Shelley Manne (d) Shorty Rogers (t) Jimmy Guiffre (ts, cl, bs)
Abstract No 1
Download
Buy
Cecil Taylor
Archie Shepp (ts) Cecil Taylor (p, cel) Buell Neidlinger (b) Denis Charles (d)
I forgot take one
Download
Buy
Al Cohn/Bob Brookmeyer
Al Cohn (ts) Bob Brookmeyer (tr) Mose Allison (p) Teddy Kotick (b) Nick Stabulas (d)
Lazy Man Stomp
Download
Buy
Sonny Terry (v, hca) Brownie McGhee (g, v)
Stranger Blues
Download
Buy
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