Thelonious Monk/Miles Davis/Doc Watson/Delmore Brothers/Max Roach

The bloody World Cup is here again so I am in need of (much) distraction, although not having a television helps to a certain extent... But, despite the fact that football bores the bejasus out of me, it would be churlish not to wish for the best in South Africa – a big moment for them.

And I am off to Devon tomorrow for a few days r and r and some biz. So:

The curse of the blogger of course, is to make rash statements: 'Apologies for being away but now I'm back etc' – to then disappear again. I have not posted any mp3s for some time and reviews have dried up somewhat as I have been busy on an ongoing project that has taken much time and energy. But I like to think that I can still roll one or two out here and there... Some jazz, some folk blues, some bluegrass, eclecticism rules as ever...

I posted Jimmy Guiffre's version of this sometime back – so here is the original, a recording of 'Blue Monk' made by the composer in 1954 with a trio, himself on piano, Percy Heath on bass and the redoubtable Art Blakey on drums. Over seven minutes long, giving them a chance to stretch out. Monk takes this at a sprightly tempo – he always plays this tune a fraction faster, I think, than you realise at first, the brain seems to say that it's a slower drag blues. He leaves plenty of space, floating phrases then suddenly doubling back, clenched repeating figures that suddenly spring out in an unexpected direction. Solid bass springs the track and Blakey knows when to push with quick cymbal spats and those trademark rolls, the battering triplets. Giuffre's version caught the pull of the time-line in the theme – at once archaic and modern and Monk of course, even more so now at this distance, proves this even deeper. Heath takes a fluent solo over Blakey backbeat hi-hat cymbal clips that continue into his own solo. Some hint of parade ground cadence that swings off sideways. Monk still in his springtime, on the cusp of greater recognition. And still fresh.

Miles from 1966: 'Dolores' a track on 'Miles Smiles.' Certain people regard this album as the last TRUE JAZZ acoustic Davis recording. Each to their own. What you do have is Miles coming to terms with the new wave and rock, both of which inflect on this album. Davis's Fifties Quintet was seen as a pinnacle of his art and certainly the rhythm section of that band took some beating – Philly Joe, Red Garland and Paul Chambers. Here the young drummer Tony Williams moves the band into new areas – I've always contended that jazz could not evolve any faster than its drummers. A lot of fifties attempts at moving the music beyond bebop fell foul of this rule... 'Dolores,' a Wayne Shorter composition opens uppishly on a line by tenor that falls into bass, band then bass again. Miles takes the first solo, open horn swirled along by William's wash of cymbals and a fast bass walk. No Hancock at first – Miles was always a master of space but with this quintet he was to explore the frontiers anew. Shorter follows Hancock enters at last on a single note line, leaving his left hand at home. Without chords being sketched, the linearities can take unexpected directions Peppy and fresh...

Another American treasure - Doc Watson playing 'Deep River Blues.' Just the Doc and his acoustic guitar, some fine picking and that warm baritone voice. Recorded in 1964, the album this comes from was a staple round our house several years later as all the guitar players worked out their own versions of many of the songs.

Alton and Rabon Delmore, brothers born in Alabama, pioneers of country music, regulars in the Grand Old Opry from the thirties onwards. (The Opry is the longest running radio show in the U.S. I discovered on the Wikipedia entry – I knew it had been around a long time but not that long!). Like Doc Watson, interestingly they crossed styles as and when, no doubt confounding purists, who seem to have little understanding at a distance of the commercial moves a musician makes. Their version of 'Big River Blues' is an antecedent of the above 'Deep River Blues' and gives a fascinating contrast in linked but different styles. Singing in close harmony, straight out of the high lonesome, backed by interweaving guitars, whether it's because they come from an earlier generation, one can track the rhythmic differences. They are just that fraction more four-square than the Doc, albeit that the lead bounces nicely off the accompaniment. Much more country, as well, Doc's voice reminding me oddly of a folk blues Jack Teagarden. In another strange reversal, later in their career, during the forties, they added electric guitar and drums – Doc Watson had started his professional career playing electric guitar in a country/western swing band. I gather his superb flat-picking technique came in part from playing fiddle tunes on the electric, in later years moving them onto his acoustic guitar.

Searing stuff from Max Roach and company – 'Mendacity,' recorded in 1961, from his album 'Percussion Bitter Sweet.' Booker Little leads the ensemble in on soured trumpet before the Abbey Lincoln takes the song. A chorus then stopped by an ensemble surge. Then the incomparable Eric Dolphy's alto – talk about 'vocalisation of tone' – this reminds me of the musical conversations he had with Charles Mingus in the quartet that recorded equally biting music - 'Faubus Fables' etc. Another ensemble punctuation then Max takes his equipment out front, the most musical of drummers, chunks of silence after each statement. An unusual solo that stops and starts, stops and starts, yet with a narrative line throughout. Far from the ker-ching of orthodox modern jazz - the times were a-changing in many ways. Abbey Lincoln returns, the lyric darkly spelling out the racism these musicians and their people endured. Angry, righteous music.

Thelonious Monk
Thelonious Monk (p) Percy Heath (b) Art Blakey (d)
Blue Monk
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Miles Davis
Miles Davis (t) Wayne Shorter (ts) Herbie Hancock (p) Ron Carter (b) Tony Williams (d)
Dolores
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Doc Watson (g, v)
Deep River Blues
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Delmore Brothers (g, v)
Big River Blues
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Max Roach
Booker Little (tp) Julian Priester (tb) Eric Dolphy (as) Clifford Jordan (ts) Mal Waldron (p) Art Davis (b) Max Roach (d) Carlos "Patato" Valdes (cga) Carlos "Totico" Eugenio (cowbell) Abbey Lincoln (vo)
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Miles Davis... John Coltrane... Perry Robinson... Warne Marsh... Frank Wright... Charlie Haden...

The first classic Mile Davis Quintet, recorded in 1955 when they were starting out, playing a Benny Golson tune, 'Stablemates.' Still finding their way at this point, a fascinating glimpse of what was to come when Davis road-hardened the band into a formidable playing and recording unit. With Philly Joe at the drums, they were always going to swing, yet Miles was evolving a new space to operate in, slowly clearing out the harmonic clutter of hard bop to point in new directions. (A process that was ongoing – arguably he had been on this road since the forties – see 'Birth of the Cool,' etc...).
A smoky theme, sinuously unwinding before Miles enters, open horn. Notice that use of space – most bop trumpeters of this time would have splattered sixteenth notes everywhere. Coltrane next – interesting to be reminded that at this time he was hardly rated as a tenor saxophonist. He edges through his solo, perhaps, rather than taking one of the almighty gallops that he would soon become famous for. The contrasts in the front line was one of the fascinations of this band – conventional wisdom has it that Miles was spare, his sax player much more fulsome, overloading the chords and the bars with torrents of notes. Yet this early in the game, on this track there is not much between them. Mind you, conventional wisdom held that Miles did not have the technique for grandstanding in the trumpet tradition – which was nonsense. A curio, then, snapshot of a new band. This was not their first recording date – a somewhat confusing move from Prestige to Columbia was underway and they had already done a session for the new label. As part of the deal for their release from Prestige, the band was to go into the studio on May 11th 1956 to record a slew of tracks – by which time they were firing on all cylinders... This resulted in the classic albums, 'Cooking,' 'Steaming,' 'Relaxin'.'


More Coltrane – taken from the album 'Cosmic Music,' this is 'Manifestation.' Straight in with howling saxophone, high hollers and sweeping querulous searching – joined by the shrill pipings of Pharoah Sanders on piccolo who takes over as Coltrane drops out. Almost folksy, a pastoral timbre as beneath the new Coltrane group boil the rhythms up – somewhat muddily as the mix is not so good. Alice Coltrane, comes next, having just succeeded to the piano chair after Tyner (and Elvin Jones, the drummer) had left. Swirling and stabbing as Rashied Ali and probably Ray Appleton drive her along. Bass pretty much inaudible. Coltrane returns magisterially to be joined by Sanders, who switches between tenor and piccolo. Coltrane punches at phrases as if spinning the speedbag, jagged shards of melody thrown out – and suddenly: they stop. Another oddity, this was recorded in February 1966 but never released until after Coltrane's death on an album that his wife, Alice, put together, overdubbing some tracks with strings and added organ and vibes to produce 'Cosmic Music.' An interesting snapshot, again, of a new band – although Coltrane had fine-honed his virtuosity by this time, he was still breaking new ground...


'The Call' – a composition by Perry Robinson, first recorded on an ESP date with Henry Grimes back in 1965. A vocalised folkbluesy squawking phrase bending up and answered by resolution. From which materials and rhythmic shapes, Robinson improvises solo on clarinet – mainly high up with the occasional double-blown note hinting at the deeper register before the exploration shifts octaves downwards and breathily sketches itself softly into the distance returning in volume to the theme and some Gershwin-like swooping rises (think 'Rhapsody in Blue') across the instrument's range. A bright morning feel to this – and a timeless journey referencing earlier styles but still resolutely contemporary... An unsung hero...

Warne Marsh received more recognition than Perry Robinson, perhaps, but only in the relative sense – overall, as one of jazz's 'Unsung Cats,' it seems as if he became more acclaimed in recent years after his death:

'There seems to be an increasing interest in the music of the late jazz tenor saxophonist Warne Marsh...' (From here...).

The usual... Marsh was a compadre of Lennie Tristano and was also one of those few who moved on from that initial influence to become a truly great saxophonist. (Along with Lee Konitz from the same generation, who is luckily still with us). Before Tristano, the influence of Lester Young, of course... that lighter, airier tone on the usually more burly tenor. But spun steel... there was always a solid emotional determination linked to the originality of Marsh's melodic conception. This is 'You are too beautiful,' from 1957, from the (annoying titled) album 'Music for Prancing.' (Is he a fucking horse?). A sprightly tempo, Marsh unreels his distinct melodic imagination over polite comping and strong bass. One hears the sound of distant drums – Stan Levey. Red Mitchell takes a fleet solo, followed by Ronnie Ball. Then a round of fours...

Marsh died onstage in 1987, in the middle of 'Out of nowhere,' which has to be ironic... Still, there are worse ways to go, I suspect...

I was re-sorting my cds into some kind of 'order' with a new stacker when I discovered this – Frank Wright's 'Uhura Na Umoja,' recorded in 1970. Wright was one of the band of black musicians who lit out for the European territories in the sixties and seventies – this session was recorded in Paris. No bass, unusually, the redoubtable Bobby Few on piano, Art Taylor on drums and Noah Howard on alto make up the quartet. This is 'Being,' a Howard composition, opening in declamatory fashion, an Ayler-esque fanfare before the alto solos over lurching drums and swirling piano. Wright follows, wilder, more abandoned, something of the yearning tone of Coltrane in his playing, beyond the usually stated influence of Ayler. I always associate Taylor with more hard boppy manoeuvres – here, he sounds like he's enjoying himself, hard-hitting in a freer style. Bobby Few solos – another underrated musician. The band ride out on the theme – the Ayler-esque echoes underpinned not just by Wright's allegiance but the fact that Few had played with Albert – in fact, the tenor player had brought him to New York from their mutual home of Cleveland. There is a gutsy spirit to this track that earths the ontological title and Wright's spiritual yearnings:

“I was put on this planet by the Creator to proclaim the message of the Universal Spirit - to shout it to the people,” (Quoted here...)

Gutbucket and space church – come to think of it, all of these musicians had links to r and b which gives the music a funky edge...

Recorded in a time of ferment – all these musicians had left America for Europe, Few and Wright were to remain. 'Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive,' etc, in a memory of the original French Revolution... Few says of their arrival in post-68 Paris:

"We all said 'where can we go' and Frank said 'well, what about Paris?' We said, 'hey, wow, but we don't know anybody or anything,' and Frank said 'well, let's just go.' So we packed our bags and came to Paris...and we were like pioneers. We knew nobody—we didn't know the language or anything—and there was this student revolution that had happened in '68 and it was still going on by the time we came. Four of us were walking down the street and hundreds of police came with gas masks on in the back of us and in front of us were these students burning cars and everything, and we just started running because we got scared. We saw a light on that we thought was a restaurant and ran into this place and this guy closed the door and said 'wow, who are you guys?' and we said we were musicians. He asked if we knew where we were and we said we thought it was a restaurant. He said, 'it is, but downstairs is The Jazz Cave'...the owner said 'would you like to play here next week?'" (From here... ).

I remember something of the ambiance of the time – passing through Paris in 1969 I returned the following year for the first of a series on ongoing sojourns in the city and remember well the edgy craziness – riot police and students fighting it out in confrontations that eventually became ritualised into dark parody. Standing in the Saint Severin, we would watch a band of students engage with the cops – every weekend. It became a spectator sport after a while... As the promise ebbed away... But at least we still have the music – worth more in the long run and more powerful than slogans to this old anarchist's ears...

Somehow this all comes together... This is track 3 from Charlie Haden's Liberation Music Orchestra recorded in April 1969. A suite comprising three Spanish folk songs with new words added during the Spanish Civil War - 'El Quinto Regimiento,' 'Los Cuatros Generales' and 'Viva la Quince Brigada.'. An amazing arrangement by Carla Bley yokes folk music to oompa brass to free jazz, introduced by Sam Brown's spanish guitar – then the band come in, brass led, before Don Cherry solos – some skidding cornet that reaches up a couple of times to notes that are only just hit, re-inforcing the raw militia band atmosphere. The drums of Paul Motian are somewhat clattery in the mix – but nevertheless drive the band and contribute to that ragged feel, just holding it all together. The ensemble swirls around, eventually covering the soloing Cherry – with presumably Mike Mantler behind him. Ebbing away as the guitar returns, shadowed by the leader's growling bass, the flamenco rips fitting in seamlessly as if vindicating the 'spanish tinge.' ('In fact, if you can't manage to put tinges of Spanish in your tunes, you will never be able to get the right seasoning, I call it, for jazz.' Jelly Roll Morton, quoted from here... ). Haden solos, going down deep and sonorous and strong-fingeredly echoing some of the guitar figures. The band return with the second theme, punctuated by some Roswell Rudd trombone snorts that build into a solo over lurching background figures. Unusual for the time, a sample of an original Spanish recording (female voice) acts as a bridge into part three – 'Viva la Quince brigada,' led by Gato Barbieri who slowy builds up to a frenzy as another sample is dropped in – male voice now – and the band sprawl over a free-ish section and the original recording comes back again as an echo bouncing eerily over the intervening years. Effective and almost subliminal. The band take up the theme over two beat drums, ending on a bugle-like declamation. The first time I heard this song was in my teens from an appallingly pious but no doubt well-meaning Joan Baez warble through it. (What did Miles's trumpet teacher say about vibrato?). This is more vibrant, fierce stuff – while retaining an edge of memory that evokes the tragedies and betrayals of the Civil War in Spain.

¡Ay Carmela! ¡Ay Carmela!
que se ha cubierto de gloria,
¡Ay Carmela! ¡Ay Carmela!

Haden in the liner notes says:

'We use, with only slight changes, the original 1930 orchestra and chorus arrangements of "Los Cuatro Generales" and "Viva la Quince Brigada"as they were playing on the soundtrack of the film "Mourir A Madrid"... Parts of these same arrangements from that soundtrack are super-imposed under the improvising...

By synchronicity I was in Spain that year, a month or so after this was recorded in New York and hitch-hiked back from Madrid intending to go to France but by the accidents/magnetic forces of the road ended up in Sitges, near Barcelona, where I spent a happy time playing in a bar and meeting up with a disparate international crew on the beach. By some accident – or following my nose – I had landed in one of the few 'autonomous zones' that existed in those latter years of Franco's rule. Spain I remember as having dark overtones of the Civil War and mucho ongoing repression, the people suspicious – not surprisingly – of young long haired Brit itinerant musicians. But Sitges was zappy, touristy and relatively free of the general heavy manners – a place of fun, light and drunken camaraderie although the Guardia Civil could be relied upon to exercise those long batons on occasion to whop the shit out of anyone stepping too far over the edge... which somehow I managed to avoid, even though moving under the black flag – by luck rather than judgement... Following on from that Wordsworth quote above about the original French Revolution, the next line:

'But to be young was very heaven!'


Miles Davis
Miles Davis (t) John Coltrane (ts) Red Garland (p) Paul Chambers (b) Philly Joe Jones (d)
Stablemates
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John Coltrane
Pharoah Sanders (ts, fl, picc, tamb, per) John Coltrane (ts, bcl, bells, per) Alice Coltrane (p) Jimmy Garrison (b) Rashied Ali (d) Ray Appleton (per)
Manifestation
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Perry Robinson (cl)
The Call
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Warne Marsh
Warne Marsh (ts) Ronnie Ball (p) Red Mitchell (b) Stan Levey (d)
You are too beautiful
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Frank Wright (ts) Noah Howard (as) Bobby Few (p) Arthur Taylor (d)
Being
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Charlie Haden
Perry Robinson (cl) Gato Barbieri (ts, cl) Dewey Redman (as, ts) Don Cherry (ct, Indian wood and bamboo fl) Mike Mantler (t) Roswell Rudd (ts) Bob Northern (fh, hand wood blocks, crow call, bells, military whistle) Sam Brown (g) Carla Bley (p, tam) Charlie Haden (b) Paul Motian (d, perc)
El Quinto Regimiento/Los Cuatros Generales/Viva la Quince Brigada
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Anthony Braxton... Phineas Newborn... Miles Davis...

Anthony Braxton and his Great Quartet playing 'No 159' from the 1991 set recorded at the Willisau Festival. Swirling, densely scampering brilliance held together with a repeated phrase that pops up like an annoying child repeatedly sticking their tongue out at you over and over again. (My dear wildboy grandson springs to mind...).

Phineas Newborn recorded the old bop/Afro-Cuban warhorse 'Manteca' out in Los Angeles, 1961, with one of the top rhythm duos of the day – Paul Chambers and Philly Joe Jones, who had come together in the first great Miles Davis Quintet during the years 1955-8. Newborn never attained the critical heights and was dogged with illness, both mental and physical. On form, though, a scintillating player:

'In his prime, he was one of the three greatest jazz pianists of all time, right up there with Bud Powell and Art Tatum...' (Leonard Feather, quoted from here...).

Miles in 1965 with his Second Great Quintet, bristling with the youthful energies he had surrounded himself with in another gesture of artistic renewal. Taken from the live sets taped at the Plugged Nickel, this is 'Round Midnight,' Monk's famous dark blue reverie which Davis recorded many times. Thoughtful trumpet leads in with a long pause before a sudden trill then into the main theme, Miles bending and squeezing notes, wry smears, sudden flurries. Changing gear as Shorter enters, the tempo busier now. An elliptical solo, finding almost as much space as the leader. Some nice interplay between piano and tenor. Herbie Hancock next, equally sparse to match the mood. Miles returns. More 'vocalised' horn - this is not about bop speed but something different, colour and a cunning use of silence...



Anthony Braxton
Anthony Braxton (as) Marilyn Crispell (p) Mark Dresser (b) Gerry Hemingway (d)
No 159
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Phineas Newborn Jr
Phineas Newborn Jr (p) Paul Chambers (b) Philly Joe Jones (d)
Manteca
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Miles Davis
Miles Davis (tp) Wayne Shorter (ts) Herbie Hancock (p) Ron Carter (b) Tony Williams (d )
Round Midnight
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Marilynn Crispell/Gary Peacock/Paul Motian... Ornette Coleman... Miles Davis...

A confusing time since I got back – family stuff – an impending baby (my daughter's) - technical problems – plus two great gigs back to back (Jack Hudson and Don Partridge) and a weekend with old friends which necessitated a surfeit of raking...

So to start again, before the reviews – here's Marilynn Crispell with Gary Peacock and Paul Motian. An understated trio, slow and ruminative on 'Albert's Love Theme,' taken from the set dedicated to the compositions of Annette Peacock, 'Nothing ever was, anyway.' Subtle flicks of nuance, discreet colouring – yet underneath a clenched and emotional rigour at work which makes of it something more than just a mood piece. Crispell who can hammer the exhilarating chromatic hell out of a piano with the best gonzo stylists around reins back here and lets the notes breathe. Peacock takes a solo in similar mode – the emotion conveyed beyond mere technique or considerations of the instrumental avenue chosen, thought matched to heart expressed immediately through the body's skill. Motian gives a brief patter across the kit before the piano returns... Somewhat beautiful...

A track of skidding brilliance. Ornette and Prime Time playing 'City Living' from the live set 'Opening the Caravan of Dreams.' A suitably romantic and utopian name for a venue graced by such a romantic and (impossibly) utopian musician. There is a damaged vulnerability to Ornette's playing armoured by an intrinsic courage that took him from facing early contempt – through facing later contempt and ignorance. To win out... Heartwrenching alto flies through the maelstrom that surrounds him – the clattering guitars and drums - rising free...

I'm coming down slowly after the last few days of insanity – so, something to ease the recovery... Miles playing 'There is no greater love,' backed by the grand rhythm section of the classic Fifties band, Red Garland, Paul and Philly Joe. Miles begins and ends - tight harmon muted stuff - bookending Garland, who comes in to his solo locked hands all the way, slow and bluesy. Dedicated to a special person...

Marilynn Crispell
Marilynn Crispell (p) Gary Peacock (b) Paul Motian (d)
Albert's Love Theme
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Ornette Coleman
Ornette Coleman (as) Bern Nix Charlie Ellerbee (g) Jamaaladeen Tacuma, Al MacDowell (b) Denardo Coleman, Sabir Kamal (d)
City Living
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Miles Davis
Miles Davis (t) Red Garland (p) Paul Chambers (b) 'Philly' Joe Jones (d)
There is no greater love
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Thelonious Monk... Johnny Griffin/Eddie Lockjaw Davis... Cannonball Adderley

Monk takes three minutes and fifteen seconds to stretch out on one chorus of 'I should care.' Slowed down for every crunching sonority to ring out to his quizzical ear, as if turning each small phrase round in his head before fingering the keyboard. Timing is all...

'Soft Winds,' from 'Tough Tenors' - by the tough tenors par excellence, Johnny Griffin and Eddie 'Lockjaw' Davis. Earthy music, but played with the technical finesse that was required of musicians raised in bop and beyond. Johnny Griffin, of course, was a fearsome soloist at nightmare tempos, gunslinger supreme, although he developed his ballad playing as he got older. Davis was maybe not rated so highly - yet he could hold his own in most company. Yet: this is a relaxed performance that goes against the grain of their macho reputations. Sprightly piano from Junior Mance leads it in. Davis takes the first solo, prodding at a couple of riffs until he eventually wakes himself up with a fearsome r and b-like smear followed by some more fancy stuff. Mance comes up with his usual blues-inflections, bouncing nicely through. Griffin starts quietly, building slowly up to some r and b inflected call and response figures. An odd track in their canon, perhaps, more relaxed than some of the wilder workouts...

Cannonball Adderley was playing in the Miles Davis band when he made the 1958 Blue Note album 'Somethin' Else,' from which I have chosen brother Nat's composition 'One for Daddy O.' Easy swinging in, Cannon takes the first solo. Always something of a spring morning about his playing (or maybe it's because the sun is shining for once in God's Little Acre - in between the hail and rain). There was always a piping clarity to his lines that spun complexity and emotion into such an attractive dance. Ending as Blakey summons one of his mighty press-rolls and Miles is almost propelled forward by the air-pressure. Moving through the space in such a different way, with a more plaintive and shadowed emotion, some piercing high notes that cut straight through you. Hank Jones takes a sparkle of a solo and Cannon returns for some more, as does Miles, again using half as many notes, the contrast between the sparse and the plenty creating a dynamic that drives this album, as with so much of Davis's work. Although Miles could let rip when he felt the need, it wasn't so much a matter of technique, rather: sensibility and sensitivity to the occasion. Jones wraps up before they take the theme out. Miles was a guest on the session – although there is some dispute as to how much of a part he played overall on the date and his sign-off at the end of this track, the famous 'Is that what you wanted, Alfred?' seems to hint at a wider involvement. Still... who cares? This was a marvellous date, one of those places where various lines meet... on the apex of hard bop, with 'Kind of Blue' just round the corner. Cannon is an underrated sax player, I feel – probably because he was another who was touted as the 'New Bird' on his debut – who could live up to that? Or maybe because he went off and made some money before his tragic early death? Lest we forget - he stood alongside Miles and the burgeoning John Coltrane and always held his ground. Mercy mercy mercy...

More later: it looks as if the weather may permit a dash to the shops - if we are quick...

In the Videodrome...

Tough Tenors...


Cannonball talks about Bird and plays... the subject is... jazz...

Orrin Keepnews on Monk...



Thelonious Monk (p)
I should care
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Johnny Griffin/Eddie 'Lockjaw' Davis
Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, Johnny Griffin (ts) Junior Mance (p) Larry Gales (b) Ben Riley (d)
Soft Winds
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Cannonball Adderley
Julian Cannonball Adderley (as) Miles Davis (t) Hank Jones (p) Sam Jones (b) Art Blakey (d)
One for Daddy O
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Xmas Mix 2... Prince Far I... Burning Star Core... Sidney Bechet... Miles Davis... Arcana... Howling Wolf... Fugazi... Jackson C. Frank... and more

And now it's Christmas Day... Another mix...

1.Prince Far I – Heavy manners
2.Burning Star Core – This moon will be your grave
3.Sidney Bechet – Blues in thirds
4.Miles Davis – Jeru
5.Arcana – Derek Bailey/Bill Laswell/Tony Williams – Tears of astral rain
6.Howling Wolf – How many more years
7.Fugazi – Repeater
8.Jackson C. Frank -Yonder come the blues
9.Booker Ervin – Den Tex
10.The Impressions – The girl I find
11.J.S.Bach (K. Richter) – Dem wir das Heilig mitz wit Freuden lasse



WordsandmusicXmasMix2
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John Coltrane... Lennie Tristano... Miles Davis... Sly and the Family Stone...

In Aberystwyth these last couple of days for the funeral of an old friend so little time or inclination to post but... we move on...

Restricted to what I have on the laptop hard drive until I get home so here's John Coltrane from the Prestige days... What you might call a simplish riff twelve bar, 'Chronic Blues,' taken from his first album as leader ('Coltrane'), recorded in 1957. Odd line up of baritone, trumpet and tenor. Sahib Shihab solos first, a nice measure of fluid garrulity, spinning nicely through with some elastic double timing.. Coltrane next, who always takes it up a notch or two, stretching out asymmetrically across the bar lines – an encapsulation of the achieved linear freedoms of bop and hints of greater freedoms to come. Johnny Splawn takes a bright solo, one of those names who surfaced and disappeared as quickly. Mal Waldron picks out his usual spare line, working small fragments outwards. Ensemble take it out, buttressed by some deep baritone.

Lennie Tristano from 1957 – a live set. Art Taylor's drums drive things along – a tougher rhythmic backdrop than Tristano was supposed to like but I suspect that was something of a canard. Lee Konitz here on alto, one of the very few who came up through those years (and still around) who did not stand in Charlie Parker's shadow. This is '317 East 32nd,' which was the address of Tristano's studio, I think. One of those long, complex lines the pianist wrote over standard chord sequences. Cerebral, yes – but Bird could be cerebral. This swings...a loose feel coming from the live circumstances, perhaps, and the drummer, who takes a couple of fours at the end – some sharp hitting... some stomping chords from Lennie – music with a lot more muscle than it is given credit for.

Miles live from the 'Plugged Nickel' in Chicago, 1965, this is 'Agitation.' A feverish track as befits the title, the leader on imperious form, spurred on by the spluttering, hissing cymbals of Tony Williams, trumpet all the way for a while. Long low bends to end the solo, as Wayne Shorter eventually surfaces. Hancock more prodding here, the bass not too audible (but I'm listening on my portable speakers) Williams again rising from the backline like a storm. Shorter splats out small fragments, the cymbals fall off, he raises the theme as they flow back, batting it about in short flicks. Hancock next as Williams machine guns his snare – bass coming through now. Hancock's line gets more extended as he progresses, the theme allowed to peek through spasmodically. A slow fall off and Williams takes the floor. Parade ground snares, rimshots, long rolls that rival Art Blakey then Miles calls it back home. Turbulent brilliance...

Speaking of turbulence... Sly Stone in 1971 had encountered plenty. Hit by the political/cultural fallout of the sixties, rough times and drugs a plenty, in the wake now of the massive success he had achieved, he recorded most of the album 'There's a riot going on,' by overdubbing many the parts himself.
This is an instrumental track, 'My gorilla is my butler.' Lest we forget – Sly was in the sixties vanguard of slamming together rock, soul and funk, coming from the other direction that Miles took, perhaps. Beating Stevie Wonder to the punch here, with a darker vision overall... This is a bubbling, wah-wahing, sometimes awkward rough diamond of a track out of the zeitgeist. Good to see the man back and touring...



John Coltrane
John Coltrane (ts) Johnny Splawn (t) Sahib Shihab (bars) Mal Waldron (p ) Paul Chambers (b) Albert "Tootie" Heath (d)
Chronic blues
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Lennie Tristano
Lee Konitz (as) Lennie Tristano (p) Gene Ramey (b) Art Taylor (d)
317 East 32nd Street
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Miles Davis
Miles Davis (t) Wayne Shorter (ts) Herbie Hancock (p)piano Ron Carter (b) Tony Williams (d)
Agitation
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Sly Stone
My Gorilla is my Butler
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Miles Davis... Lennie Tristano... Lee Morgan/HankMobley... Captain Beefheart... Funkadelic...

I return – eventually... had to take a couple of days out to rest up as my brain forgets that my body can't keep up so well any more. A drag, but there you go...

Carrying on from the sad news about Mike Osborne, I don't really want to get into an ongoing obituary scenario – but this year has been pretty savage with regard to jazz/improvised musics. I was going to post a track from the Ric Colbeck album but Destination Out has already done so, plus some other tracks and provided a good write-up – I'll leave it there, for now...

Leading in on dreamy vibes before Miles takes the melody – from the album 'Miles Davis and the Modern Jazz Giants,' the second take of 'The Man I love.' Miles in high romantic mode – burnished and darkly blue trumpet, echoed by Milt Jackson and some subdued comping from Monk - this is a track from the famous Xmas Eve session when tempers apparently flared between the trumpeter and the pianist. Miles respected Monk's music but hated his accompaniments. Then the vibes up the tempo with a short break before taking a solo, fleet and superbly inventive rolling lines from Jackson. Monk enters, with an almost absurdly stretched phrase – maybe some joke going on here – and he seems to disappear altogether as the bass keeps going, then Miles enters tentatively – to be edged out by Monk suddenly splurging a burst of notes. He returns after the pianist's brief amended solo, picking up Monk's last phrase – then swaps to muted trumpet. The tempo drops back to the original speed, then Jackson has another eight bars before Miles takes it out, ending on an open horn coda before they briefly finish it off together... Masters at work, 1954... sprung on the tensions between Monk and Miles, who were both on the cusp of greater recognition. But I reckon Milt wins it on points, here and throughout the session...

'You don't know what love is.' Lennie Tristano in solo mode, a sombre reading that goes into time with a walking left hand line imitating bass before heady chording deepens the line. Unusual, perhaps, if you are more used to Tristano's long complicated weavings of single notes. On the faster tracks, he uses the walking bass to buttress these in an odd mixture that seems to combine Bach with boogie. As on this other selection from the same session 'C Minor Complex.' Some dazzling stuff here – that even four maybe offering an elastic rhythmic freedom to bounce off in a longish exploration...

One is tempted to say this is early Lee Morgan, but in a tragic sense - as all of his recordings are early Lee Morgan, due to his death at the age of 24. This Savoy session, from November 5, 1956, was billed as the Hank Mobley Quintet, introducing Lee Morgan – but he had actually made his first recording for Blue Note the day before. (Just me and my discographies here tonight...). The trumpeter was 18... Jesus... or whatever expletive you think appropriate... Art Taylor leads them in briefly on drums – an uppish riff blues called 'Hank's Shout.' Mobley takes the first solo – an underrated player these days, he has an interesting melodic conception, supple and swinging, a hard bopper supreme yet with a softer tone on tenor than Coltrane, say, or Sonny Rollins. Somewhat like a bluesier version of Warne Marsh? Fast, yet light on his feet, Leonard Feather described him as the 'middleweight champion of the tenor saxophone.' (Quoted in here... ). Morgan struts in, biting hard on a surging repeated note before he takes off on a dazzling display of trumpet playing young turkery. Hank Jones takes a rippling, sprightly solo, bebop piano from the day, letting Doug Watkins in for a quick taste before they go into a round of fours – baton handed back and forth in good order. A gem...

Blues and jazz have sent many a ripple through the musics, high and low. Captain - my Captain Beefheart, the great and inscrutable one, recorded 'Trout Mask Replica' in 1969. One of the great albums of all time, across all genres. This is 'Pachuco Cadaver.' Channelling the Delta Blues with a dash of free jazz to collide into sixties avant rock with a vengeance. A freewheeling freedom to the continually shifting melting rhythms, weirdo lyrics and a splash of the Captain's soprano sax. Vocals on a mainline that stretches back to Howling Wolf... Never surpassed, really...

'A squid eating dough in a polyethylene bag is fast and bulbous. Got
me?'

Uh, yes, sort of...

'Standing on the verge of getting it on.' This is Funkadelic from their 1974 album called... 'Standing on the verge of getting it on.' (I'm bored with the word 'eponymous'). Clamourous electric guitars and a wild rhythm section with call and response vocals. Colliding the other way back from psychedelic/hard rock into funk – except funnier than the white genre which took itself a wee bit too seriously – no pun intended – given the subject of the spoken high giggly voiced intro, which sounds like the helium tank had been handed round, if it wasn't speeded up:

'Hey lady, won't you be my dog
And I'll be your tree
And you can pee on me!
(x3)

We will do you no harm
Other than pee in your afro

Hey lady, won't you be my dog
And I'll be your tree
And you can pee on me!'

Gloriously un-PC... But a democratic offer, I would submit. (Although: I've been around, but I've never understood the attraction of golden showers). Some of the breaks recall/reflect prog-rock – which might be the back-door to jazz, in an odd way, as all those earnest groups of the hour wanted to bring the sort of chops you found in jazz into rock (boy, did they mess that one up) – at a time when fusion was da rage also, (boy, did THEY mess that one up) to mix things even more – trying to cross back via rock from jazz. I was listening to some of Miles' electric jazz today and realised that no one else really came close... But this album works very well in its tight, clenched marriage of genres. A reclamation job, perhaps, on one subversive level... and fun... These separated genres often the convenient fictions of critics... cue Joe Turner, not Bill Hayley... Eddie Hazel is soaringly brilliant throughout... George Clinton for President...

'Even if you don't dig it
Don't mean it's not the thing or thing to do
Could be just for you.'

As Wittgenstein might have said... if he was cool...


In the Videodrome...

The Captain...

Derek Bailey with Michael Welch here...

... and more Derek...

... a long look at the most interesting Clinton...

Miles Davis
Miles Davis (t) Milt Jackson (vib) Thelonious Monk (p) Percy Heath (b) Kenny Clarke (d)
The man I love take 2
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Lennie Tristano (p)
You don't know what love is
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C minor complex
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Lee Morgan/Hank Mobley
Lee Morgan (t) Hank Mobley (ts) Hank Jones (p) Doug Watkins (b) Art Taylor (d)
Hank's Shout
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Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band
Captain Beefheart (v, ss) Zoot Horn Rollo (g, f) Victor Hayden (b-cl, v) Mark Boston (bg) John French (d)
Pachuco Cadaver
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Funkadelic
Spaced Viking; Keyboards & Vocals: Bernard (Bernie) Worrell
Tenor Vocals, Congas and Suave Personality: Calvin Simon
A Prototype Werewolf; Berserker Octave Vocals: Clarence 'Fuzzy' Haskins
World's Only Black Leprechaun; Bass & Vocals: Cordell 'Boogie' Mosson
Maggoteer Lead/Solo Guitar & Vocals: Eddie 'Smedley Smorganoff' Hazel
Rhythm/Lead Guitar, Doowop Vocals, Sinister Grin: Gary Shider
Supreme Maggot Minister of Funkadelia; Vocals, Maniac Froth and Spit;
Behaviour Illegal In Several States: George Clinton
Percussion & Vocals; Equipped with stereo armpits: Ramon 'Tiki' Fulwood
Rhythm/Lead Guitar; polyester soul-powered token white devil: Ron Bykowski
Registered and Licensced Genie; Vocals: 'Shady' Grady Thomas
Subterranean Bass Vocals, Supercool and Stinky Fingers: Ray (Stingray) Davis
(given as cut and pasted
from here... ).
Standing on the verge of getting it on
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Louis Armstrong... Bobby Blues Bland... Miles Davis...

A couple of tracks to keep it rolling - the sublime Louis Armstrong and 'Potato Head Blues' and Bobby Blues Bland - one of my favourite songs: 'Ain't no love in the heat of the city.' Plus Miles... 'Milestones.'

Done on the run from my laptop hard drive and the battery is running out so no details... may amend later...

Louis Armstrong
Potato Head Blues
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Bobby Blues Bland
Ain't no love in the heart of the city
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Miles Davis
Milestones
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Max Roach Tribute - Part One... with Dexter Gordon, Bud Powell and Miles Davis...

Things have been hectic here... out a lot, two disparate gigs attended and some family matters to engage with, plus the hassle of trying to sort out our moving house scenario – now the resultant and boring exhaustion... but slowly catching up...

With regard to the sad death of the great Max Roach – there are many fine tributes out there – Destination Out has some nice tracks and comments plus links... WKCR is doing a week long retrospective - I found this on friday morning and spent several hours tuned in to the music. It's on now, in fact - Sarah Vaughan with Bird and Diz - and Max. Amazing stuff.

So: a few tracks in my own small salute to a giant of music. In two parts...

Early Days...

Here's Max on a Dexter Gordon session from 1946. 'Long Tall Dexter,' a riffy twelve bar from the cusp of bebop. Introduced by Max's cymbals and drums, a fascinating track where everyone is starting to define the new genre in their own ways. Lester swoops in for his solo backed by a somewhat state of the art rhythm section. Leonard Hawkins follows – some slithery rolls behind him. Bud next. Max fills in the holes nicely throughout. At this distance, the move from swing to bop seems more of a slide than a jump...

1947 – the same rhythm section, but under the leadership of the pianist for a trio date. A romping uptempo gallop through 'Indiana.' Some markers being laid down here, I suspect. And some distance travelled in a year or so. Zappy exchanges between the pianist and drummer towards the end. So much crammed into two minutes forty five seconds...

A date with Davis – 1953, a year or two before the trumpeter started his major breakthrough. Something of a forgotten session, perhaps... Miles in relaxed form on a sway through 'When lights are low.' Space will out... Brief solo from Lewis coming with both hands before the usual more spartan single line peeps out. Max's hissing cymbals slowdrive it onwards...

In the Videodrome...

Re Max: Godoggo sent this Youtube url over in a recent comment... (and a couple with Art Davis on here and
here...

I put up the second part a ways back...

And here's Max in the seventies on a ferocious session here...

Dexter Gordon
Dexter Gordon (ts) Leonard Hawkins (t) Bud Powell (p) Curley Russell (b) Max Roach (d)
Long Tall Dexter
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Bud Powell
Bud Powell (p) Curley Russell (b) Max Roach (d)
Indiana
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Miles Davis
Miles Davis (t) John Lewis (p) Percy Heath (b) Max Roach (d)
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