What Jazz are you listening to now?

[Brian]

Milt Jackson - Jackson's-Ville (1956)

Hmm, this looks interesting. I like just about anything where Hank Jones plays a supporting role.

TD: this afternoon, Sonny Rollins and Clifford Brown on Basin Street

[king ubu]

^ all the recordings Lucky Thomspon and Milt Jackson made together are very much worth hearing! Savoy spread the material over several LPs, but during the times of the great LP twofers, when the catalogue was owned/run by Arista, there was a double LP with all of it:



info: https://www.discogs.com/de/Milt-Jackson-Second-Nature/release/1779357

To my best of knowledge, all potential CD reissues were botched (unless you go for all the Denon/Savoy 90s CDs which reproduce the original vinyl contents) ... the Avid set has their usual less than good sound (and misses one track I think? just a trio title I seem to remember, but still: session not completely included), the Bags 4-disc-set on Proper duplicates one track (and thus misses a track, too) ... too bad.

Oh, no ... Fresh Sound has a 2-disc-set that has all the 16 Savoy tracks plus some more from two Atlantic LPs ("Ballads & Blues", which is so-so, and "Plenty Plenty Soul", which is totally great again, so even if you have the half with Lucky, you'll need the rest!) - this one:
https://www.freshsoundrecords.com/milt-jackson-albums/5765-quintet-sextet-with-lucky-thompson-2-cds.html

The usual caveats may apply: vinyl rips of less than optimal quality, tape warble, whatever ..., shady sources, illegal in the US etc. etc. - just don't tell me you hadn't been warned, but the music needs to be heard badly, it's wonderful!

[Brian]

Do you mean that the Fresh Sound 2 CD set is all excerpts from various albums? Plenty Plenty Soul - the complete original - is in my shopping cart already, and I try to avoid those European reissues that divide up the original sessions. I have their Blue's Moods reissue - that is a great one - but it also has just the quintet tracks from Blue Soul, and I want all of the tracks, darn it!

[king ubu]

Do you mean that the Fresh Sound 2 CD set is all excerpts from various albums? Plenty Plenty Soul - the complete original - is in my shopping cart already, and I try to avoid those European reissues that divide up the original sessions. I have their Blue's Moods reissue - that is a great one - but it also has just the quintet tracks from Blue Soul, and I want all of the tracks, darn it!

No, the Fresh Sound is *complete* as far as LT/Bags Savoy (and Atlantic) recordings go. The two Atlantic LPs were put together from two/three sessions, LT only on one for each of the albums. Savoy also had a habit of splitting sessions over multiple LPs, combinging sessions etc. ... I agree about staying away from all of those European releases usually, which is why I've also bought the 2-LP-set on Arista ... but I would stronly assume if you want to go the CD route, that the Fresh Sound is the best choice (unless you want to hunt down the various Denon/Savoy CDs from the early/mid 90s, which might be a rather pricey endeavor).

You can check here for details:
https://attictoys.com/lucky-thompson-discography-1951-1956/

"Plenty, Plenty Soul" is from early 1957, so go on here:
https://attictoys.com/lucky-thompson-discography-1957-1974/

[Brian]

No, the Fresh Sound is *complete* as far as LT/Bags Savoy (and Atlantic) recordings go. The two Atlantic LPs were put together from two/three sessions, LT only on one for each of the albums. Savoy also had a habit of splitting sessions over multiple LPs, combinging sessions etc. ... I agree about staying away from all of those European releases usually, which is why I've also bought the 2-LP-set on Arista ... but I would stronly assume if you want to go the CD route, that the Fresh Sound is the best choice (unless you want to hunt down the various Denon/Savoy CDs from the early/mid 90s, which might be a rather pricey endeavor).

You can check here for details:
https://attictoys.com/lucky-thompson-discography-1951-1956/

"Plenty, Plenty Soul" is from early 1957, so go on here:
https://attictoys.com/lucky-thompson-discography-1957-1974/

Ah okay so it is not like Fresh Sound is violating the artists' intentions in putting together an album - since Savoy did not really consult them anyway.

I have a lot of Fresh Sound, Poll Winners, Essential Jazz Classics etc releases because in many cases they are the only versions of the album available in the US. Wish every label was as diligent about preserving and remastering as, for instance, Blue Note! (Well...many no longer exist)

[king ubu]

Ah okay so it is not like Fresh Sound is violating the artists' intentions in putting together an album - since Savoy did not really consult them anyway.

Well, different topic I guess. As a rule of thumb I'd assume no label basically ever bothered to ask the musicians about compiling and sequencing albums (often they'd probably even invent the titles for original tunes that didn't yet have any). In the fifties, several labels re-configured stuff, with the formats in use changing: singles, 10" and then 12" - labels such as Blue Note, Contemporary or Prestige sometimes just reissued material from 10" LPs in the new 12" format, either adding more music or sometimes recording a few more new tracks to fill up the playing time ... the classic Blue Notes by Monk and Bud were mostly all out first as 78 rpms, then on 10" and then again on 12". Savoy did similar re-configurations, I think (including 40s sessions - from when there were no LPs in jazz music at all - on 12" LPs in the 50s etc.)

I am not sure what is the best approach, but myself I like going chronological, in session order ... but of course there are many, many classic LPs where the LP configuration was just perfect in its own way (Blue Note is the perfect example for that, but that only starts around 1955/56 when the new 12" format was firmly established and they started exploring its new possibilities).

And finally, I guess hardly any record label/producer was as sympathetic to the musicians as Blue Note/Lion/Wolff were ... the guys behind Pacific (Dick Bock) and Contemporary (Les Koenig) maybe, but Bock for instance would do splices and edits and add strings and stuff - probably not bothering to ask the musicians. I'd say it would be most unfair to state that the producers and labels didn't bother about or like the music, but still, for most of them it was business (and the guys behind Savoy are a perfect case in point, no matter they produced some of the greatest music ever with Charlie Parker).

[SimonNZ]

Jimmy Raney Quartet - Visits Paris (1954)

[aligreto]

Jimmy Raney Quartet - Visits Paris (1954)

Great cover artwork 

[SimonNZ]

Great cover artwork 

Yeah, I thought so too - a simple idea well executed.

now:



Mary Lou Williams - Plays in London (1953)

[Alek Hidell]

Yeah, I thought so too - a simple idea well executed.

now:



Mary Lou Williams - Plays in London (1953)

You know, I've heard very little of Williams' music, and none of her earlier stuff (I believe the only thing of hers I have is Zoning, from 1974). It's a shortcoming I've long pledged to rectify, but I never have. I imagine you'll tell me I need to rectify it forthwith, right?

[SimonNZ]

You know, I've heard very little of Williams' music, and none of her earlier stuff (I believe the only thing of hers I have is Zoning, from 1974). It's a shortcoming I've long pledged to rectify, but I never have. I imagine you'll tell me I need to rectify it forthwith, right?

I dont know if I'd say its quite as urgent as that, though I've found her albums uniformly fine. Zodiac Suite is particularly interesting if you haven't heard it already, but again though very well executed I personally dont find it as downright essential as some critics have made it out to be. YMMV.

[Alek Hidell]

I dont know if I'd say its quite as urgent as that, though I've found her albums uniformly fine. Zodiac Suite is particularly interesting if you haven't heard it already, but again though very well executed I personally dont find it as downright essential as some critics have made it out to be. YMMV.

Thanks. I've heard good things about that suite, so that may be where I begin (some day ).

[king ubu]

Regarding Mary Lou Williams, she made many outstanding recordings ... for early stuff, I guess 1944/45 was a true peak period, which includes sessions with Frankie Newton, Bill Coleman, Coleman Hawkins and others. The Asch date with Hawkins is particularly wonderful! In 1945 she also was part of an all-female group w/Marjorie Hyams and Mary Osborne in the line-up as well - both took part in several sessions w/Williams. From around the same time (1947 I think) there's also a lovely session with Kenny Dorham.

The London sessions on Vogue/Swing (1953/54), I'm afraid, I find comparatively weak/bland ... bu I'll have to check them out again, it's been quite a while.

I also wanted to listen to the album she made with Cecil Taylor (well, not "album" really, it's a document of a live encounter) - not sure it's only the ill-matched rhythm section (Bob Cranshaw and Mickey Roker - both fine musicians of course, but not ones to put on stage with Taylor later than ... 1960 or so, and this is from 1977) or also to some extent the two co-leaders' fault that it doesn't really gel. But props to Mary Lou, she took all kinds of chances during her long career!

[SimonNZ]

I also wanted to listen to the album she made with Cecil Taylor (well, not "album" really, it's a document of a live encounter) - not sure it's only the ill-matched rhythm section (Bob Cranshaw and Mickey Roker - both fine musicians of course, but not ones to put on stage with Taylor later than ... 1960 or so, and this is from 1977) or also to some extent the two co-leaders' fault that it doesn't really gel. But props to Mary Lou, she took all kinds of chances during her long career!

I forgot about that one, though I played it quite recently. I was actually really impressed by it, though all my attention was on the two pianists interaction - I don't remember the rhythm section at all.

[king ubu]

I forgot about that one, though I played it quite recently. I was actually really impressed by it, though all my attention was on the two pianists interaction - I don't remember the rhythm section at all.

Cool - I meant to write "re-listen" or "listen ... again", of course, but you understood me correctly. First time I heard it was many moons ago, in the nineties, on vinyl, borrowed from a music teacher (not mine, but I got to know him nonetheless and he hipped me to quite some interesting stuff, also lent me CT's "In Transition" twofer and my very first Sun Ra, too ... and one afternoon a few other students and myself met to try our luck at "Les Moutons de Panurge" and other minimal music pieces). Will have to dig, so far couldn't locate it, but I know behind a pile of CDs, there's another pile which includes several ML Williams discs and I hope that one to be on said pile as well ...

[king ubu]

Mike Longo - The Matrix | From the hugely enjoyable run of Japanese Mainstream reissues ... somehow, Mainstream is the better (funkier/earthier/groovier) version of CTI, but thanks to Creed Taylor's marketing genius, people don't seem to remember. This is definitely not one of the label's best (look for ... Harold Land and Charles Williams to name just two ... also the albums by soul singers Ellerine Harding and Alice Clark!), but it's very nice indeed. Groovy stuff with Longo on piano and rhodes (I guess, maybe it's a Wurli?), Al Gafa on guitar, Sam Jones on double bass PLUS Ron Carter on double and electric bass, Mickey Roker on drums, and Potato Valdes add some percussion. Perfect for winding down after a long day at work.

[king ubu]

Mike Longo - The Awakening | Next one from the stack, again from 1972, Al Gafa, Ron Carter and Mickey Roker are still around, but this time three horns were added: Virgil Jones (t), Curtis Fuller (tb) and James Moody (as, ts, fl) - and Dizzy Gillespie, Longo's boss in the sixties, adds some congas.

[SimonNZ]

Dizzy Gillespie / Stan Getz / Sonny Stitt - For Musicians Only (1956)

[bwv 1080]

[Alek Hidell]

Well, damn, this is good. Haven't enjoyed a new jazz album this much since ... The Bell, on which Smith and Taborn also played, and which inhabits a somewhat similar sound-world.

But of course it isn't exactly the same sound-world, thanks to the two elder statesmen here who, despite the subdued playing (even from Parker, from whom no sheets of circular-breathing sound are to be heard), are very much in command of what they want to say. There are several pieces here where all four play, but there are also duos and trios of various combinations - all fascinating, often beautiful. Great stuff.

Also listened to this one for the first time today:



While not on the same level as the first, this one is quite good too and will need another listen soon. It's bookended by two sort of "atmospheric" pieces (which may have been my favorite two cuts, actually), with more straight-ahead improv in between. Yeah, I need to listen to this one again.