What Jazz are you listening to now?

[king ubu]

That Lyons box is so good - it's one of very few items I pre-ordered ... terrific music!

Didn't report my recent listening yet, but got this one yesterday and gave it a first spin last night:



First impression is that it's pretty good indeed. I might be a little bit biased as I've known Alex for a long time, first just online, but we've met and had a coffee or dinner or drinks after concerts several times in the past three or four years, and I think he's one of the most talented and interesting jazz musicians around these days.

[San Antone]

Miles Davis : My Funny Valentine In Concert

Miles Davis – trumpet
George Coleman – tenor saxophone
Herbie Hancock – piano
Ron Carter – double bass
Tony Williams – drums



I always loved this record - recorded in February 1964 at Philharmonic Hall prior to his finalizing the personnel to his 2GQ (it was released a year later in Feb. 1965). The final piece of the puzzle would be Wayne Shorter, who would join the quintet during the 1964 Europe tour (after Sam Rivers was auditioned for a short stint).  It has been written that Tony Williams did not like George Coleman's playing, but I've never found fault.  For sure he's no Wayne Shorter, but from the little I've read, Williams had a very negative feeling towards Coleman.  It was Williams who put Sam Rivers forward.  But there can be no question that Wayne Shorter was the perfect saxophonist for this group.

'Four' and More is a companion recording that documents the same concert, but with the up tempo tunes whereas MFV contains more mid-tempo swinging numbers and ballads.  One thing that has always impressed me about this recording is the great sound of the bass.  Credit goes to the audio engineers at the hall, and the acoustics of the hall of course.

[San Antone]

Sonny Rollins : Way Out West

Sonny Rollins - tenor saxophone
Ray Brown - bass
Shelly Manne - drums



One of the great saxophone trio recordings.  Rollins must have liked this configuration since he released several albums without piano (Freedom Suite; Live at the Vanguard). 

[king ubu]

Miles Davis : My Funny Valentine In Concert

That recording - both albums taken together - may actually be my favourite George Coleman performance! The atmosphere and sound is indeed wonderful. And even if Coleman may play a few licks too many and run the changes too much, he was outstanding! There's that story about Miles having agreed to play for free (or for less than usual) and not having pre-informed the band that they wouldn't get paid (or not as much as usual) and them being pissed ... no idea how much of it is true, but there seems to be tension in the air, and that may be part of why the music has that special quality? (I'm not nearly as fond of the Antibes session by the same band, for instance ... it's still good, and I consider it a shame that the band is usually not considered when discussing Miles' important albums etc. - and I was very pleased that, contrary to the band with Mobley, the Coleman band w/Rivers coda - from Japan btw, I don't think that group toured Europe, we'd have many more good-quality recordings if that had been the case - got the deluxe box set treatment.

[San Antone]

That recording - both albums taken together - may actually be my favourite George Coleman performance! The atmosphere and sound is indeed wonderful. And even if Coleman may play a few licks too many and run the changes too much, he was outstanding! There's that story about Miles having agreed to play for free (or for less than usual) and not having pre-informed the band that they wouldn't get paid (or not as much as usual) and them being pissed ... no idea how much of it is true, but there seems to be tension in the air, and that may be part of why the music has that special quality? (I'm not nearly as fond of the Antibes session by the same band, for instance ... it's still good, and I consider it a shame that the band is usually not considered when discussing Miles' important albums etc. - and I was very pleased that, contrary to the band with Mobley, the Coleman band w/Rivers coda - from Japan btw, I don't think that group toured Europe, we'd have many more good-quality recordings if that had been the case - got the deluxe box set treatment.

Yeah, I meant that Shorter joined the band in Europe; Berlin? 

[king ubu]

Yeah, I meant that Shorter joined the band in Europe; Berlin?

Indeed Berlin is the first recording - and again one with magic atmosphere and amazing sound (in some review I read when I was a kid and exploring jazz for the first time, I read something about the acoustic on that recording being so good, you would hear a feather dropping to the ground).

There was tour through Europe in fall 1964 ... actually there'd be more than enough material for another volume of the Bootleg Series from it, but with the 1967 tour of the same band being part of the series already, I doubt that they'll do a 1964 set. Here's the entry for the first documented concert of the tour (Berlin, actually), and links to the following ones that are confirmed/were recorded:
http://plosin.com/milesahead/Sessions.aspx?s=640925

There'd be one okay-sounding Rivers concert from Japan to throw in, July 12 (July 14 is the one released on Columbia: a third one from Kyoto, July 15, is a pretty rough sounding audience recording). According to the notes on Losin's site, there's a recording from July 13 as well, but it has not been circulated so far:
http://plosin.com/milesahead/Sessions.aspx?s=640712

[San Antone]

Indeed Berlin is the first recording - and again one with magic atmosphere and amazing sound (in some review I read when I was a kid and exploring jazz for the first time, I read something about the acoustic on that recording being so good, you would hear a feather dropping to the ground).

There was tour through Europe in fall 1964 ... actually there'd be more than enough material for another volume of the Bootleg Series from it, but with the 1967 tour of the same band being part of the series already, I doubt that they'll do a 1964 set. Here's the entry for the first documented concert of the tour (Berlin, actually), and links to the following ones that are confirmed/were recorded:
http://plosin.com/milesahead/Sessions.aspx?s=640925

There'd be one okay-sounding Rivers concert from Japan to throw in, July 12 (July 14 is the one released on Columbia: a third one from Kyoto, July 15, is a pretty rough sounding audience recording). According to the notes on Losin's site, there's a recording from July 13 as well, but it has not been circulated so far:
http://plosin.com/milesahead/Sessions.aspx?s=640712

Looks like Shorter actually joined the band prior to the Berlin concert.  There is a television show taping, the Steve Allen Show, on Sept. 10 & 11 (broadcast 9/22) prior to the 9/25/64 Berlin date.  Those Steve Allen tracks do not appear to ever have been released outside of the broadcasts.

[San Antone]

Round About Mompou : Beirach/Huebner/Mraz

Pretty interesting.  George Mraz is a great bassist and is recorded fantastically on this unusual recording of the music of Federico Mompou as interpreted by Richie Beirach, bassist Mraz and violinist Gregor Huebner.  I discovered it by accident looking for Mompou recordings besides the piano works. Recorded and mastered in May 2001 at Bauer Studios Ludwigsburg, Germany:

Tracklist
1   Impressiones Intimas #1   4:29
2   Musica Callada #6   8:05
3   Fantasie On Musica Callada #10   2:11
4   Musica Callada #10   6:33
5   Bass Fantasie On Musica Callada #1   2:58
6   Musica Callada #1   3:52
7   Musica Callada #27   1:48
8   Around Musica Callada #27   4:36
9   Fantasie On Musica Callada #19   3:11
10   Around Musica Callada #19   1:00
11   Musica Callada #19   3:39
12   Musica Callada #18   7:40
13   Fantasie On Musica Callada #18   1:55
14   Musica Callada #15   2:28
15   Musica Callada #22   8:20

[king ubu]

Looks like Shorter actually joined the band prior to the Berlin concert.  There is a television show taping, the Steve Allen Show, on Sept. 10 & 11 (broadcast 9/22) prior to the 9/25/64 Berlin date.  Those Steve Allen tracks do not appear to ever have been released outside of the broadcasts.

Yep, what I meant was "first known recording" ... those years from when Coltrane left to when Shorter joined saw Miles try several other sax players, not just Stitt, Mobley and Coleman (the ones documented), but also Jimmy Heath and Frank Strozier (from the Memphis gang, to which Geore Coleman and his regular piano partner Harold Mabern also belong, I think they all played with Miles sometime in 1963, but only Coleman made it onto the records as far as i know). Also J.J. Johnson made the band a sextet for a short moment ... also, the pretty obscure but from what little I've heard fine Rocky Boyd was on tenor for a moment, and even Sonny Rollins:
https://indianapublicmedia.org/nightlights/miles-miles-davis-19611963/
(I guess David got his info from reliable sources ...)

I'd certainly be in for another Bootleg Series volume of the second quintet ... one Steve Allen show from the fifties was released officially on the Concord set with the Coltrane/Garland/Chambers/Jones quintet recordings, so it seems it's possible to obtain rights ...

[San Antone]

Miles Davis Quintet : Miles in Berlin

Miles Davis – Trumpet
Wayne Shorter – Tenor saxophone
Herbie Hancock – Piano
Ron Carter – Double Bass
Tony Williams – Drums

"Milestones" (Miles Davis) – 8:57
"Autumn Leaves" (Joseph Kosma, Jacques Prévert, Johnny Mercer) – 12:37
"So What" (Miles Davis) – 10:27
"Stella by Starlight" (Victor Young, Ned Washington) - 12:53
"Walkin'" (Richard H. Carpenter) – 10:39
"Go-Go [Theme] and Announcement" (Miles Davis) – 1:44

Miles in Berlin is an album recorded on September 25, 1964, by the Miles Davis Quintet at the Philharmonie Hall, Berlin, Germany. It was released in the United States on CD in 2005 and marks the first recorded work of what is commonly known as Miles Davis's Second Great Quintet.

Ubu - yeah, it is too bad they didn't include all those bands on the way to the final iteration in the yellow box '65-'68.  If Bob Belden was still around, sadly he passed in 2015, I'd ask him the thinking on that.  We knew each other in Denton, TX, University of North Texas (back then it was called North Texas State University).  This was the 70s, like 76-78, and back then he had all these Miles bootlegs and an encyclopedic knowledge of the where, when and who of each Miles band.  Perfect evolution for him to get the gig to co-produce all those re-issues and boxes.

[Irons]

Sonny Rollins : Way Out West

Sonny Rollins - tenor saxophone
Ray Brown - bass
Shelly Manne - drums



One of the great saxophone trio recordings.  Rollins must have liked this configuration since he released several albums without piano (Freedom Suite; Live at the Vanguard).

Great recording. I have it on vinyl and CD. The missus has no interest in jazz what so ever, but loves "I'm an Old Cowhand". The stereo release has Rollins hard left and Brown/Manne hard right so a handy tool for checking channels are correctly configured.

[king ubu]

Ubu - yeah, it is too bad they didn't include all those bands on the way to the final iteration in the yellow box '65-'68.  If Bob Belden was still around, sadly he passed in 2015, I'd ask him the thinking on that.  We knew each other in Denton, TX, University of North Texas (back then it was called North Texas State University).  This was the 70s, like 76-78, and back then he had all these Miles bootlegs and an encyclopedic knowledge of the where, when and who of each Miles band.  Perfect evolution for him to get the gig to co-produce all those re-issues and boxes.

Yes, too bad! I really appreciate his input to the series. I was still in high school when theses boxes came out (the Miles/Gil was first) and it took me a while to collect enough pocket money to get them. Love the entire series! (But as I said, I'm a bit sad that the Mobley band didn't get the full treatment ... most of "Someday My Prince Will Come" and the live recordings from the Black Hawk and from Carnegie Hall - easy to assemble separately, but still, the obvious lack of love/respect - or assumed lack of marketability - for the band makes me a sad ...)

Thread duty - not jazz really, but good:

[San Antone]

Yes, too bad! I really appreciate his input to the series. I was still in high school when theses boxes came out (the Miles/Gil was first) and it took me a while to collect enough pocket money to get them. Love the entire series! (But as I said, I'm a bit sad that the Mobley band didn't get the full treatment ... most of "Someday My Prince Will Come" and the live recordings from the Black Hawk and from Carnegie Hall - easy to assemble separately, but still, the obvious lack of love/respect - or assumed lack of marketability - for the band makes me a sad ...)

Thread duty - not jazz really, but good:

Don't you have this one?



Would seem to cover most of what you describe, the Hank Mobley sessions, Live at the Blackhawk and Someday My Prince are not included but the other stuff you mention is, including the Tokyo and Berlin live dates.

The Seven Steps: The Complete Columbia Recordings of Miles Davis 1963–1964 is a box set of studio and concert recordings by Miles Davis for Columbia over a two-year period. It marks the final part of the time of transition between the two "Great Quintet" formations.

Disc 1 and part of disc 2 are the sessions that made up the Seven Steps to Heaven album. The second half of disc 2 and disc 3 are the concert recordings from the Jazz Festival in Antibes that made up the In Europe album. Disc 4 and 5 are the sessions that made up the My Funny Valentine and Four & More albums, both recorded in 1964 at the Lincoln Center, New York, on February 12, 1964. Disc 6 contains the Miles in Tokyo album, with Sam Rivers replacing George Coleman, previously only available in Japan. Disc 7 contains the album Miles in Berlin, previously only available in Germany and Japan.

Morgana King is a great singer who is almost forgotten these days.

[king ubu]

Yup, I have all the "metal spine" boxes ("In a Silent Way" was a cardboardcover) ... the "Seven Steps" is great, it really helps re-evaluate the 1963/64 years, but the 1961 (pre health/operation related break) period, with Mobley on sax and the Kelly/Chambers/Cobb unit driving a very hip and closely-knit band just didn't get that lavish box treatment ... and while I'm not saying those are Miles' best albums (they're far from, but they're still good!), I very much love Mobley and find it sad that the 1961 band didn't get that same treatment.

Just gave this a very first spin - and that I typed "pain" first, instead of "spin", is totally fitting - it's devastating but at the same time fascinating:

[SimonNZ]

After reading the above discussion played Miles In Berlin for the first time in a while, wondering why I so seldom drag it out. Its an exciting recording with the new band clearly loving working together. I guess that like other Miles live from the same era, including the Plugged Nickel set, I've got a bit of a problem with the narrowness of Miles' repertoire in concerts of this era - really its narrower than an 80's pop band on a greatest hits tour. I know that putting that aside they're strong sets with subtle and telling differences, and that Miles felt the audience wasn't keeping up and only wanted familiar material, but even with that consideration I'd have loved to have heard live "deep cuts" from the older albums or quintet versions of stuff from the Gil Evans albums.

Played ESP after. No petty grumbles there.

[San Antone]

After reading the above discussion played Miles In Berlin for the first time in a while, wondering why I so seldom drag it out. Its an exciting recording with the new band clearly loving working together. I guess that like other Miles live from the same era, including the Plugged Nickel set, I've got a bit of a problem with the narrowness of Miles' repertoire in concerts of this era - really its narrower than an 80's pop band on a greatest hits tour. I know that putting that aside they're strong sets with subtle and telling differences, and that Miles felt the audience wasn't keeping up and only wanted familiar material, but even with that consideration I'd have loved to have heard live "deep cuts" from the older albums or quintet versions of stuff from the Gil Evans albums.

Played ESP after. No petty grumbles there.

There is a huge difference between the live recordings and the studio records of the '65-'68 quintet.  The studio dates are almost exclusively originals while the live dates are still using the same book of standards as his previous quintet with one or two new songs thrown in, like "Footprints" which was one of the few songs to enter the live repertory.

My favorite record of the second quintet is Nefertiti mainly because of the title song, which I think is unique and extremely effective as a group performance.  But you won't find a live date where that song is played. 

[San Antone]

And since I mentioned it ~ I'll listen to it



Miles Davis Quintet : Nefertiti

Miles Davis – trumpet
Wayne Shorter – tenor saxophone
Herbie Hancock – piano
Ron Carter – double bass
Tony Williams – drums



I've always loved this album driven mainly because of the first song, "Nefertiti," which inverted the relationship between the front line and the rhythm section.  Normally the rhythm section supports the soloist. In this song  the horns keep repeating the tune while the rhythm section solos.  One of the foundation aspects of Jazz is African in origin (drum ensembles are a perfect example), the combination of fixed and variable: one half of the ensemble repeating a pattern (the rhythm section playing the form/harmonic progression) while the other half (the horns) of the ensemble performs endless variation on top of it (soloists).  "Nefertiti" still employs this model, but inverted it.

Fantastic.

[NikF4]

Oscar Aleman : Swing Guitar Masterpieces 1938-1957

This is a fantastic 2CD collection.

I thought I had this, but I don't. As much as I like Django I remember wondering who and what else was happening in the same genre around the same time. I think Aleman's name was as far as I got before being sidetracked by 1950s jazz guitar in general, which is a pity because there's still a huge gap in my listening experience and knowledge of swing guitar during those years.

[San Antone]

I thought I had this, but I don't. As much as I like Django I remember wondering who and what else was happening in the same genre around the same time. I think Aleman's name was as far as I got before being sidetracked by 1950s jazz guitar in general, which is a pity because there's still a huge gap in my listening experience and knowledge of swing guitar during those years.

Besides Django I know of two, Tchan-Tchou Vidal and Aleman playing in that Gypsy style during the '30s. 



Of course there were a lot of other jazz guitarists.  But there has been a revival since the '80s of young guitarists playing Jazz Manouche: Angelo Debarre, Jimmy Rosenberg (the Rosenberg Trio), Tchavalo Schmitt, Dorado Schmitt, Joscho Stephan, Yorgui Loeffler, Fapy Lefartin, Matalo Ferret and some others I can't think of right now.

TD

This set is not a comprehensive examination of his stay at Prestige—that is available on the 8-CD Miles Davis Chronicle: The Complete Prestige Recordings, 1951–1956—nor is there any new material here, but the recordings are in the exact format of their release, the forgotten 10-inch vinyl record, something new at the time that could accommodate more minutes than 78 rpm discs, which were the common format for popular recordings.

[NikF4]

Besides Django I know of two, Tchan-Tchou Vidal and Aleman playing in that Gypsy style during the '30s. 



Of course there were a lot of other jazz guitarists.  But there has been a revival since the '80s of young guitarists playing Jazz Manouche: Angelo Debarre, Jimmy Rosenberg (the Rosenberg Trio), Tchavalo Schmitt, Dorado Schmitt, Joscho Stephan, Yorgui Loeffler, Fapy Lefartin, Matalo Ferret and some others I can't think of right now.

Thanks for the  Tchan-Tchou Vidal name, it's a new one to me. Yeah, I'm aware of some of the more current guys - Rosenberg Trio, Tchavalo/Dorado Schmitt.
Somewhere I've a compilation CD of gypsy jazz that appears to be mostly needle drops. And many of the artists featured seem to be accordionists but have guitar players in their band. The only one (accordion player, not guitarist) I can remember right now is Jo Privat.
But I'll definitely check out Vidal.