What Jazz are you listening to now?

[NikF]

^
The Garner looks interesting. I'm not sure if I own it or even if I've heard it.


Laura: Don Byas.

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While not being long enough for anyone to stretch out these are still nice performances and really quite cool.

[king ubu]

Sessions from 1975 with some great players present (click the cover of Vol. 1 to enlarge and read) ... haven't played these often yet, time to revisit.

@SimonNZ (and maybe @NikF, too?: if we're speaking Billy Bauer (and Lee Konitz), the main source is Lennie Tristano. The recordings to check out are whatever you can get your hands on by Tristano (including the Capitol sessions from 1949, officially reissued on the CD "Intuition", which also contains a later Warne Marsh/Ted Brown album, Marsh being the other imminent Tristano follower ... those 1949 sessions include a couple of freely improvised tunes; there's also a great later live two-disc set on Uptown, without Bauer but with Konitz, Warne Marsh and Willie Dennis). Speaking of Konitz, the main thing to get is "Subconscious-Lee", a Prestige album collecting earlier stuff including a Tristano-led session (with Bauer), a Konitz session with Sal Mosca on piano (another Tristano student) and Marsh but without Bauer, and another Konitz session with Bauer (that also includes a as/g duo).

Excellent stuff!

There's really not so much Bauer, but there's more Tristano to explore (his early Keynote sides, the two Atlantic albums: Tristano, The New Tristano ... and whatever you can lay your hands on), and more Marsh (Ne Plus Ultra, All Music - to name just two great ones!), and of course tons of Konitz, but Konitz is the one that got away pretty fast from the pure Tristano approach. There's also a two-disc set on Verve, "Live at the Half Note", recorded in 1959, which features what was the Tristano band (with Marsh, but no Bauer anymore at that time) with Bill Evans subbing on piano ... the rhythm section is also pretty cool: Jimmy Garrison and Paul Motian. Worth looking for!

[NikF]

@SimonNZ (and maybe @NikF, too?: if we're speaking Billy Bauer (and Lee Konitz), the main source is Lennie Tristano. The recordings to check out are whatever you can get your hands on by Tristano (including the Capitol sessions from 1949, officially reissued on the CD "Intuition", which also contains a later Warne Marsh/Ted Brown album, Marsh being the other imminent Tristano follower ... those 1949 sessions include a couple of freely improvised tunes; there's also a great later live two-disc set on Uptown, without Bauer but with Konitz, Warne Marsh and Willie Dennis). Speaking of Konitz, the main thing to get is "Subconscious-Lee", a Prestige album collecting earlier stuff including a Tristano-led session (with Bauer), a Konitz session with Sal Mosca on piano (another Tristano student) and Marsh but without Bauer, and another Konitz session with Bauer (that also includes a as/g duo).

Excellent stuff!

There's really not so much Bauer, but there's more Tristano to explore (his early Keynote sides, the two Atlantic albums: Tristano, The New Tristano ... and whatever you can lay your hands on), and more Marsh (Ne Plus Ultra, All Music - to name just two great ones!), and of course tons of Konitz, but Konitz is the one that got away pretty fast from the pure Tristano approach. There's also a two-disc set on Verve, "Live at the Half Note", recorded in 1959, which features what was the Tristano band (with Marsh, but no Bauer anymore at that time) with Bill Evans subbing on piano ... the rhythm section is also pretty cool: Jimmy Garrison and Paul Motian. Worth looking for!

Good stuff. Thanks.

I'm considering that when I have time I'll start a thread on late 1940s to mid-50s era guitarists. I've no time right now, but if/when I do it would be cool if you (and anyone else, of course) were inclined to stop by and add any thoughts and insights you might have.

[NikF]

...and speaking of guitar players -

Chico Hamilton: Live at The Strollers. (The Original Chico Hamilton Quintet)

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Featuring Jim Hall.

[king ubu]

I'm considering that when I have time I'll start a thread on late 1940s to mid-50s era guitarists. I've no time right now, but if/when I do it would be cool if you (and anyone else, of course) were inclined to stop by and add any thoughts and insights you might have.

Sure ... love Tal Farlow and Jimmy Raney ... and I guess Belgian René Thomas belongs there, too. Generally though, I think my favourite guitar players are from the era just after: Kenny Burrell, Grant Green, Wes Montgomery. But gladly this is not a question of either/or!

And yeah, Jim Hall ... it's hard to believe, all the great recordings he was on, bands he was with: Chico Hamilton Quintet (and trio before that), Jimmy Giuffre 3, Bob Brookmeyer ... and then he was with Sonny Rollins in the early sixties ... amazing! Alas, never caught him live.

[NikF]

Sure ... love Tal Farlow and Jimmy Raney ... and I guess Belgian René Thomas belongs there, too. Generally though, I think my favourite guitar players are from the era just after: Kenny Burrell, Grant Green, Wes Montgomery. But gladly this is not a question of either/or!

I'm just concentrating at the moment on the slightly earlier era for a different reason. But Burrell, Green, Montgomery - absolutely! Those are greats.

And yeah, Jim Hall ... it's hard to believe, all the great recordings he was on, bands he was with: Chico Hamilton Quintet (and trio before that), Jimmy Giuffre 3, Bob Brookmeyer ... and then he was with Sonny Rollins in the early sixties ... amazing! Alas, never caught him live.

I never got the chance to see/hear him either. But at least there's so much of his work out there. 

[SimonNZ]

@SimonNZ (and maybe @NikF, too?: if we're speaking Billy Bauer (and Lee Konitz), the main source is Lennie Tristano. The recordings to check out are whatever you can get your hands on by Tristano (including the Capitol sessions from 1949, officially reissued on the CD "Intuition", which also contains a later Warne Marsh/Ted Brown album, Marsh being the other imminent Tristano follower ... those 1949 sessions include a couple of freely improvised tunes; there's also a great later live two-disc set on Uptown, without Bauer but with Konitz, Warne Marsh and Willie Dennis). Speaking of Konitz, the main thing to get is "Subconscious-Lee", a Prestige album collecting earlier stuff including a Tristano-led session (with Bauer), a Konitz session with Sal Mosca on piano (another Tristano student) and Marsh but without Bauer, and another Konitz session with Bauer (that also includes a as/g duo).

Excellent stuff!

There's really not so much Bauer, but there's more Tristano to explore (his early Keynote sides, the two Atlantic albums: Tristano, The New Tristano ... and whatever you can lay your hands on), and more Marsh (Ne Plus Ultra, All Music - to name just two great ones!), and of course tons of Konitz, but Konitz is the one that got away pretty fast from the pure Tristano approach. There's also a two-disc set on Verve, "Live at the Half Note", recorded in 1959, which features what was the Tristano band (with Marsh, but no Bauer anymore at that time) with Bill Evans subbing on piano ... the rhythm section is also pretty cool: Jimmy Garrison and Paul Motian. Worth looking for!

That's interesting: I've  heard some early Tristano, but not the ones with Bauer. I'll check those out. Thanks.

now:



Sun Ra - Mayan Temples (1990)

[king ubu]

That's interesting: I've  heard some early Tristano, but not the ones with Bauer. I'll check those out. Thanks.

Tristano was quite a character it seems ... and his approach to jazz pretty special (and yes, I do feel ambiguous about it in many respects, but I love his recordings nonetheless). He had a close-knit community of pupils and it seems he was almost dictatorial as a teacher. The main thing was not to let emotion "disturb" the clean line, something like that. He would also prefer playing with drummers that more or less took over the function of a metronome, so as not to disturb his own lines, which were rhythmically fragmented to the extreme, yet also came with an enormous drive.

Here's the recommendations, somewhat more specific ...

The early Keynote sids:

[img http://cps-static.rovicorp.com/3/JPG_500/MI0002/801/MI0002801699.jpg?partner=allrovi.com]http://cps-static.rovicorp.com/3/JPG_500/MI0002/801/MI0002801699.jpg[/img]

Capitol material is on here:



The early Prestige/New Jazz Tristano (with Konitz) and Konitz (with Mosca, Bauer) is this:



Related, this various artists one is pretty interesting, too:



Without double-checking, I think it contains a couple of Konitz tracks not on the above disc, but I'm not 100% sure.


Mid sixties on Atlantic:



The live quartet material with Konitz that's on half of "Tristano" was fully released in a great box by Mosaic (Tristano/Konitz/Marsh on Atlantic, six CDs - the live set makes up two full discs there), it's okay but not perfect. The main reason for this is that Konitz started taking a somewhat different trajectory that led him out of the close Tristano circle eventually, allowing his music to become more emotional and intense (c.f. "Motion", which has Elvin Jones on drums ... there was a three-disc complete edition of that album, including some more takes with Elveen and two discs of prior sessions with the same material, with Nick Stabulas on drums - Konitz is in perfect shape, but it was Elveen's special kick that really made the album ... it's one of Konitz' very best)

This is the excellent Uptown set:




More goodies from the same scene/circle:



Ted Brown is another tenor man, same general vein as Marsh (they have some two-tenor stuff going on, see above and below) ... Ronnie Ball (from UK) was one of the few non-US Tristano-ites, Willie Dennis is with Tristano on the Uptown set above ... this Savoy album is very good.



This one's a classic, too - Tristano pupil Sal Mosca is on piano, Billy Bauer's there, too ...


If you want the full Marsh/Brown package (Ted Brown is great, some of his recent recordings are very much worth checking out, too, and he also appeared as a guest on a very, very good fairly recent Konitz album, "Sound of Surprise" - I don't know their other recent albums, but that one is excellent), this one could be considered (overlap with the "Intuition" disc above):



And this is the Tristano band (with Konitz/Marsh) with Bill Evan subbing on piano (mentioned above already):



Somewhat further from that core is this here, including an excellent date with saxes (also featuring Marsh):



But basically, the Tristano influence is still there with Konitz in some form ... and in the fifties, on his various Atlantic and Verve albums, his way from pupil to master, is quite spectacular really - actually he could be masterful from the late forties on of course, but he shaped his own thing then - and the aforementioned "Motion" is a definite highpoint.


One more thing Tristano: Jazz Records, the label of ... don't recall the name (other Tristano-ite), has a few discs of very good live recordings by Tristano bands: "Wow" and "Live in Toronto 1952" are the ones I know, others contain solo material and/or overdubbed metronome-drums I think ...


There is finally also a Proper box (four discs, as usual) ... which likely contains most of the important studio material for a small price (but may erratically leave off some tracks, you never know with them) - but in so-so sound as usual, I assume (I don't have this one, but have three or four of their boxes).

[NikF]

^
Great post. Thanks for taking the time to share.

I don't like to single just one of those out, but..the first time I heard 'The New Tristano' was an incredible experience for me. Wonderful.

[Dancing Divertimentian]

Stockton Helbing.



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[NikF]

Tal Farlow: The Swinging Guitar of Tal Farlow.

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[SimonNZ]

Lennie Tristano - the 1949 sessions from the Intuition album

[king ubu]

Excellent, both! 

Love the Fsrlow/Costa combination ... love Eddie Costa anyway!

[SimonNZ]

Lambert, Hendricks and Ross with Joe Williams - Sing Along With Basie (1958)

[king ubu]

I love that one! I Love LH&R!

Me, last night:



Both first listens - maybe the last missing bit from Chet's first decade or so ... not familiar with his Italian recordings quite yet, not sure I need them, really ... but the mid sixties Prestige ones with George Coleman et al I have on my shelves again, while I have gaps elsewhere in that period, and certainly no need for Chet & Mariachi Brass and all that other World Pacific schlock ...

The Baker is nice (though it feels like he's almost constantly in danger of being rolled over by the intense waves of piano that Kenny Drew is throwing at him), the Desmond is gorgeous.

[NikF]

I love that one! I Love LH&R!

Me, last night:


Both first listens - maybe the last missing bit from Chet's first decade or so ... not familiar with his Italian recordings quite yet, not sure I need them, really ... but the mid sixties Prestige ones with George Coleman et al I have on my shelves again, while I have gaps elsewhere in that period, and certainly no need for Chet & Mariachi Brass and all that other World Pacific schlock ...

I think all I have from his Italian recording dates are -

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- and perhaps they're all I need. But I'd be happy to be proved wrong.

[Border Collie]

What am I listening to now?  Jaco

https://youtu.be/1EdWJo31ciY

[king ubu]

I think all I have from his Italian recording dates are -

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- and perhaps they're all I need. But I'd be happy to be proved wrong.

They're both French (with Belgians like Bobby Jaspar and René Thomas), and both pretty good. Not 100% sure of the timeline, but the one on top may be from the Italian period (yup, rec. in Rome, but with one Italian only, plus three Belgians and one Swiss ... but they do some Italian material), while the one with Jaspar is - I think, I have a luxurious complete edition and am not familiar with other recent reissues - from the Barclay material (Paris, 1955/56).

I don't know all that much about that chapter in his career, but he spent a year or so in prison in Italy in the early sixties, there are a few proper Italian recordings, too, like "Chet Baker in Milan", "Chet Baker and Fifty Italian Strings", and several soundtracks by Piero Umiliani with Chet's participation (collected in a set by Moochin' About, which I don't yet have, only have "in Milan" and it's on a pile somewhere, as of yet unplayed).

Thread duty:



Alexander Hawkins - Unite | Brand new, and from the very first impression, very good indeed! Started with disc two that is Hawkins' first large band release (titled "Heart") with a band including Percy Pursglove, Hannah Marshall, Alex Ward, Julie Kjaer, and others, while disc one (titled "Call") has the latest incarnatoin of the Hawkins Ensemble, this time in septet with Shabaka Hutchings (bcl, ts), Dylan Bates (v), Otto Fischer (g), Neil Charles (b), Tom Skinner (d), and of course the leader on piano. Excellent stuff on both!

[NikF]

They're both French (with Belgians like Bobby Jaspar and René Thomas), and both pretty good. Not 100% sure of the timeline, but the one on top may be from the Italian period (yup, rec. in Rome, but with one Italian only, plus three Belgians and one Swiss ... but they do some Italian material), while the one with Jaspar is - I think, I have a luxurious complete edition and am not familiar with other recent reissues - from the Barclay material (Paris, 1955/56).

I don't know all that much about that chapter in his career, but he spent a year or so in prison in Italy in the early sixties, there are a few proper Italian recordings, too, like "Chet Baker in Milan", "Chet Baker and Fifty Italian Strings", and several soundtracks by Piero Umiliani with Chet's participation (collected in a set by Moochin' About, which I don't yet have, only have "in Milan" and it's on a pile somewhere, as of yet unplayed).

Thanks for the correction. How could i fail to miss this?  -


Yeah, the issue of the top one that l have states 'Rome 1962' - and throughout almost every entry that Thomas makes sounds like he's just been 'let off the leash' - I think it's great.

[king ubu]

Thanks for the correction. How could i fail to miss this?  -


Yeah, the issue of the top one that l have states 'Rome 1962' - and throughout almost every entry that Thomas makes sounds like he's just been 'let off the leash' - I think it's great.

Yeah, I corrected above - and created a mess ... rec. in Rome with an Italian pianist but a largely Belgian band (these guys went to Paris, as did Swiss drummer Daniel Humair, who btw. is still playing, and playing great). Will look for "in Milan" over the weekend.