teetering on the plinque

[julian2002]

hi,
over the past few weeks i've been listening to quite a lot of dave brubeck, can anyone recomend some other music or artists in a similar vein. no death plinque or screaming saxes please it's got to have a tune....
cheers

julian

 

[rob]

oscar peterson?

oscar peterson plus one (clark terry) or night train. two fantastic albums.

or if you can find it i would recommend the oscar peterson big 4, freedom song.

 

[rob]

btw ive just ordered dave brubeck's "time out".
looking forward to listening to it.


whilst we are on the subject wouldent it be a good idea to review music on here?

 

[sideshowbob]

Check my jazz faq Julian.

I think you'll like bebop.

Some possibilities:

- Charlie Parker (try a Verve compilation or two)
- Dizzy Gillespie (try a late 40s/early 50s compilation)
- Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers (anything late 50s)

Other stuff:

- Lee Morgan, The Sidewinder (Blue Note). Funky as hell, you'll recognise the title track.

- Sonny Rollins, Saxophone Colossus (Prestige). One of *the* classic tenor albums of all time. Impossible to dislike.

- Roland Kirk, We Free Kings (Atlantic). Kirk is gutsy and gospel influenced, and immediately likeable. The fact that he often plays 3 wind instruments simultaneously is a bonus.

- Cannonball Adderley, Somethin' Else (Blue Note). A classic, featuring Miles Davis as a sideman.

That should get you started. All of these contain great tunes as well as great playing.

whilst we are on the subject wouldent it be a good idea to review music on here?

Rob, I tried in the early days to start a few threads, but not many people joined in, so I gave up.

-- Ian

 

[joel]

Horace Silver - Song for My Father / Seven Pieces of Silver
Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers - any you can find
Modern Jazz quartet - ditto
Freddie Hubbard - Hub Tones / Red Clay / Sky Dive
Art Pepper - I think he did his best work in the 70s, so any from that time.
Eric Alexander "Nightlife in Tokyo" a nice new album featuring a reasonable sax player (Eric) and the stonkingest hard bopper of the moment: Harold "comp is his middle name" Maburn
Harold Maburn - Don't know Why (don't be put off by the N****h J***s title, it's a storming album). This is on Venus Records from Japan so may be a tad hard to get ahold of in the UK. Which is a shame. The Venus sound involves BIG BIGGER BIGGEST dynamics.
None of the above will scare the cat.

 

[michaelab]

Joel - I've tried a few times to get some of the recommendations you made to me once on a thread over on GH (rip), some of which are on your above list too and been spectacularly unsuccessful Even using Amazon etc.

Been looking for the Airto, Flora Purim stuff you recommended high and low but to no avail....

Michael.

 

[sideshowbob]

Michael, Airto and Flora stuff is easy enough to get hold of in London. Most of the big superstores on Oxford Street (HMV have two shops there, and of course the Virgin Meagre Store), and Tower in Pickyerwilly Circus, will have some. Also check out Ray's Jazz Shop (now on the first floor in Foyles on Charing X Road) - not as much space as they used to have when they were in their own shop, but a ton of stuff all the same, including Brazilian.

Of course, if you had a turntable D ) you would have a large choice at MVE in Notting Hill, who always seem to have a lot of Brazilian stuff.

-- Ian

 

[joel]

Michael,
I am very surprised you can't find Flora's albums in London (nevermind Lisboa).
Anyway, Talking of Brazilian Divas...Have you heard the New Joyce Album? she's on top form.
A couple more to add to the initial list:
Kenny Dorham - Una Mas - a not entirely unseuccessful attempt to blend South American idioms and Hard Bop.
Hank Mobley - Dippin' - featuring Lee Morgan and Harold Maburn. It bops, it pops, it rocks. The fun starts from track two.
John Coltrane - Blue Train - indoctrination has to start somewhere.
Julian "Cannonball" Adderley - Somethin' Else - one of the all time great Jazz albums. Forget the liner notes, igore Miles' doodlings and concentrate on Adderley's awesome alto. An immense album.
All on Blue Note.

 

[Joolsburger]

Soul Brother Records Keswick Road Putney London

http://www.soulbrother.com/ it's the place to get these things if you have the money..

 

[joel]

Hi Jules,
They have some reasonably interesting looking things. I am a *big* fan of Esther Phillips...
However, most of this has either been rereleased on CD (and most of the Blue Note stuff can be had in 24bit in the RVG series), or can be had for pennies by scouring the vinyl bargain bins.

 

[michaelab]

Joel - seen the odd Flora album in the big London stores (HMV, Virgin, Tower) but not the one you recommended (Stories to tell).

Also been looking for:
Kenny Barron "Canta Brasil"
Airto "Fingers"

...amongst others. Have been able to find other stuff by the artists but not those specific records (which you recommended)

By the new Joyce album are you referring to this ?

Will look a bit harder here in Lisboa - I'm only familiar with the one big mainstream music store here (FNAC) but there must be others.

Michael.

 

[joel]

Yes, it's that Joyce album. Maybe not up with her best (I'm not able to judge that), but it sounds really good. The "featured" pianist Westletoft doesn't quite fit to my ears, but that's a minor gripe as she is in great form and the band are hot (or is that cooool). That's a great label for Brazilian music BTW.
It is surprising that you can't get the Flora album. A bit less that Airto's Fingers is proving hard to get, as that may never have been released on CD.
Anyway, try to get "Light as a Feather" by Chick Corea's Return to Forever - this has been recently rereleased by ECM, so should be reasonably easy to get hold of.

 

[sideshowbob]

According to amazon.co.uk, Stories to Tell is currently out of print.

-- Ian

 

[joel]

Originally posted by sideshowbob
According to amazon.co.uk, Stories to Tell is currently out of print.

-- Ian

Shame. Flora was clearly *BIG IN JAPAN* because JVC-Victor (I think is the label) have rereleased and K2ed her back catalogue from the 70s.
Oh well. Best thing would be to buy a record player and find a nice cheap version on vinyl.
Joel

 

[michaelab]

Thanks guys. I can see the Chick Corea album on Amazon....for £16.99 :cry:

Michael.

 

[sideshowbob]

Shame. I picked up a mint vinyl copy for around a fiver a couple of months ago.

-- Ian

 

[joel]

Originally posted by joel
Michael,
Julian "Cannonball" Adderley - Somethin' Else - one of the all time great Jazz albums. Forget the liner notes, igore Miles' doodlings and concentrate on Adderley's awesome alto. An immense album.
All on Blue Note.

Answering myself, how sad
Somethin' else is a classic "cool" album and well worth getting in the RVG special edition CD.
But, and it's a biggie... I recently picked up a 1982 Toshiba EMI 12-inch black CD. Not of the album, but of one track: Autumn Leaves (whadda chestnut, I know). This is a 45rpm pressing, apparently taken from the *real* masters (hohum). In any case, all the stops were pulled out to make this and no compression or EQ was added or so it says in the liner notes.
So, all the makings of audiophool 180gm naff boredom...
Wrong.
This has totally blown my mind. It is sooo different from the CD it ain't even funny.
The thing has such life and atmosphere. It is quite extraordinary.
While the effect is not like being in the studio with the players - it does feel like I'm in the booth with RVG. which is about as good as it gets IMO. The recording is not perfect by any means, but it is a thing of awesome beauty. Think of a medieval chalice, it is not perfectly symmetrical, and yet all the more precious and beautiful for that imperfection. That is this recording.
I am also only just beginning to latch on to the brilliance of Cannonball. He really should be up there with the superstars...
I'm thinking of picking up an ordinary LP version of Somethin' else just to check my bearings on this one.
It is amazing to listen to something you thought you knew - it's a track I've been listening to for 20+ years - and realize that in fact you didn't really know it at all.
Revelation cost me all of 3 quid. Oh, and the new speakers to be sure.
Just thought I'd share that
Michael, if you do like this, you are fairly sure to like CTI stuff like Freddie Hubbard's "Red Clay" and I think Flora.
How is the search going?

 

[michaelab]

Cheers for the tip Joel, I just ordered "Somethin' Else" together with Cannonball's Bossa Nova (with The Bossa Rio Sextet Of Brazil) for $22 (one of those amazon 'deals') - unfortunately had to go to amazon.com to find them but even with the $10 shipping it's cheaper than what I'd pay in the UK or Lisbon!

As for the rest of my search, been very busy lately and haven't had time to do much. Now I've discovered that Amazon.com (as opposed to .co.uk) appears to have much more jazz, and what's more, they have a lot more MP3 samples so you can listen to stuff you don't know before buying I'll be looking for more stuff from there.

Michael.

 

[michaelab]

having complained about HMV et al I just went to my local (when in London) at Canary Wharf. It's tiny and usually has nothing of note but I just picked up Wayne Shorter "Speak no Evil" (one of your recommendations to me ages ago) and John Coltrane "Blue Train" both for £4.99 each :MILD: Also got the first "Verve Remixed" CD for just a tenner so plenty to listen to over the weekend

Michael.

 

[joel]

Arrrh, you got some good 'uns there Michael.
These are all albums that repay attentive and repeated listening - while the surface seems quiet and almost contemplative, the music runs deep. There's a lot going on in there.
Blue Train is an amazing album....


Note to Brother Sideshow:
Brother, Our prosletyzing is beginning to bear fruit. This new convert, MichaelAB, will in short time be listening to Cecil Taylor on LP through a pair of large (yet strangely Compact) British monitor loudspeakers of 1970's origin.
Viva la Causa!

Brother Jomina