Really.  No, really.  I mean, it’s kind of strange that he doesn’t have more cred among the jazz nerds.  You know how Jack Black et al argue about all the records in their collection in High Fidelity and then they berate customers who aren’t hip enough to buy the cassingle version that was only released in, like, Slovenia or something?  I was in the middle of that very problem at my favorite Cambridge record store a few years ago, buying Dave Brubeck albums while the customers were actually arguing (with the staff) about whether or not Brubeck could swing, and whether his music was actually any good.

Here’s what I think: he’s great.  I like certain things about his playing, and just like everyone, there are somethings I wish was a little more burning (like his line playing).  But as an arranger, he’s fantastic.  Check out his arrangement of “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime” from Tritonis, or his fantastic arrangement of “I Feel Pretty” from Plays Music from “West Side Story” and…, or, for that matter, “All the Things You Are” from Jazz at the College of the Pacific (although there is a pretty distasteful – by today’s standards – quote in Brubeck’s solo on that take).   The arrangements are truly top notch.

The list is:

• Jazz at the College of the Pacific – Earlier than the classic quartet, this stars Paul Desmond, with Ron Crotty on bass and Joe Dodge on drums.  Not essential, but very, very good.
• Brubeck on Campus – a 2-fer LP of Jazz Goes to College and Jazz Goes to Junior College.  The personnel on these records start to introduce the classic band, with Joe Morello appearing on drums.  Joe Dodge is still on some tracks, and the bassists are Norman Bates (not Anthony Perkins) on some tracks and Bob Bates on others (brothers, as it turns out).  Great playing.  I have been thinking about the bass playing quite a bit, and even more so with the introduction of Eugene Wright (on the next LP on the list).  As a bassist and a longtime fan of the slick nerdy things we can do to add a little flavor to the mix, I had a hard time connecting with the bass playing on these records (and those with Wright) until now.  These guys never play anything strange.  And at various times in my own development, I would have thought that by virtue of the absence of anything strange, the playing couldn’t possibly be great.  But now, I’m so impressed with their bass playing because of that very fact.  I think that they play with clarity and reliability, constantly demonstrating what it means to be the foundation.
• Plays Music from “West Side Story” and… - Just great.  This is the classic quartet, and everyone plays beautifully.  As I said, “I Feel Pretty” is particularly great.
• Curcio/I Giganti Del Jazz – an Italian import starring the classic quartet.  Very nice.
• Brother, The Great Spirit Made Us All – I jump right from the classic band to the late 1970s.  I never would have purchased this record (or those to follow in this list), if it weren’t for the fact that they star the great tenor saxophone player, Jerry Bergonzi, aka, my former teacher.  The first time I heard these records, he made them, carried them, created all that was interesting to my ears.  I still think that he is amazing on these recordings, but add to that a recent thought: what if Jerry’s playing was so great that he pushed Brubeck to greater heights?  I find Brubeck’s playing to be much more daring than on the classics.  Could have been a sign of the times, the fact that his band was made up entirely of youngsters, and/or/but/also/maybe Jerry’s amazing playing.  He sounds great.
• Back Home – A very nice live date.  Bergonzi also plays some mean electric bass on this record (and on the next one).
• Tritonis – Jerry Bergonzi is absolutely amazing on this record.  “Like Someone in Love” is truly astounding, and, as I said, “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?” is a great listen.

There are some obvious things missing from this list, but don’t worry: I have them on CD.

Next up is an LP by Chico Buarque and even though I’m leaping to CD, I have a bunch of great new Greg Burk CDs to listen to.

Best, R

Best, R.

• Here
• And Here

And on Youtube, a series of audience videos:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Nifty, eh?

Best, R.

Best, R.

On New Year’s Eve, I had a gig (Either/Orchestra, First Night at the Boston Public Library – extremely fantastic) with Charlie Kohlhase.  One small portion of our conversation went something like this:

RM – Hey Charlie.
CK – Hey there, Rick.  How’s that listening project coming along?
RM – Great.  I’m making my way through Blind Faith and Blondie.
CK – [Scowls] I see.  Well, those are two artists whose work you are unlikely to find represented in my record collection.

So here we are – recordings by Blind Faith and Blondie.  I could try to deny owning them, or simply not post anything about them.  I could write a tome about why I own these records, or simply list their existence and let the chips fall where they may.

How about this instead:

I like Blind Faith and although I am no Blondie/Deborah Harry completist, I’m perfectly happy owning the three Blondie albums I have.  I think Deborah Harry is great, and although I’m not such a fan of the records she did with Passport, I think that she could make some excellent jazz records (and they will absolutely be better than Rod Stewart’s – I promise).

• Blind Faith – I like this record.  I always have.  I know that Eric Clapton’s Rainbow Concert is not exactly championed as his greatest work, and somehow this record gets lumped into some associated category unfortunately.  But ever since I heard “Presence of the Lord” on that LP, I have been into Blind Faith.  Steve Winwood’s voice is in excellent form, EC plays to his strengths, Ginger Baker holds down the fort…it’s just great.  His tune, “Do What You Like” is a non-Prog Rock tune in 5/4.  Methinks Ginger doth like Dave Brubeck.
• Blondie - Eat to the Beat - It’s great.  “Dreaming” is track 1 (check the fantastic Bad Plus version for something a little more typical of my tastes).  “Accidents Never Happen” is surely related to the Elvis Costello “Accidents Will Happen” somehow.  If it isn’t, it should be.  “Atomic” is delightful.
• Blondie – Autoamerican – I love liner notes.  In this MP3 age, we can barely keep track of the artist/title, and you can forget about personnel.  But the age of the liner notes profiled some of the production sub-plot.  Take, for example, Tom Scott on this album, or Howard Kaylan & Mark Volman (aka Flo and Eddie), or – best of all – supreme jazz bassist Ray Brown.
• Blondie – The Best of Blondie – What’s not to love on this album?

I wonder what crazy records are next?

Best, R.

Best, R.

*Most of you know this, but I’m reporting on my record collection (LPs only), which I’m listening to in alphabetical order.

I love the simplicity of this tune.  Harmonically, there is nothing to it.  Melodically, very simple, but of stunning beauty.  Lyrically, such a simple idea – I mean, a song about falling in love to music?  But it’s so, so beautiful.  I must check out Jesse Winchester because if all of his stuff is this solid, he’s the man.

Best, R.

Steve Lacy’s The Complete Whitey Mitchell Sessions are, according to this discography, Lacy’s fourth time in a recording studio.  The music is quite far from his 1960’s avant-garde recordings (nothing on this CD could predict The Forest and the Zoo, or Weal and Woe).  In fact, some of it seems down right commercial.  Neil Hefti wrote some of the arrangements.  He’s the guy who wrote the music to the 1960s Batman television series.

Now, having said the word “commercial,” I have to tell you that this is a really fun CD to listen to.  Lacy sounds amazing.  I love the version of “Let’s Get Lost” – it’s possibly my favorite one ever.  A little context might be good.  These recordings are:

• four months before the Cecil Taylor Jazz Advance sessions.
• one year and four months before the Gil Evans Plus Ten sessions.
• one year and seven months before Lacy’s first recording session as a leader (Soprano Today).
• Lacy was almost 22 years old.

A really wonderful recording, worth checking out, and a must-own if you love Lacy’s music.

Re: Anders Jormin’s Xieyi, stay tuned.

Best, R.

I have a bunch more of her CDs, so even though this list is only a small portion of her discography, I have quite a few more on CD.  My introduction to her music, like the music of so many other musicians, came initially from history books and liner notes.  I kept noticing that there was this Carla Bley person who – allegedly – wrote great music, and so when The Very Big Carla Bley Band record came out, I bought it, and I loved it.  Many, many other recordings followed, and I love the fact that there are still a few releases that I don’t have – something to look forward to.  But, insofar as LPs in my collection are concerned:

• Escalator Over the Hill – This “jazz opera” blew my mind the first time I heard it (circa 1995), so much so that I honestly didn’t know what to do with it.  The second time I heard it (around 2001), I thought to myself “Yes, this is as amazing and inexplicable as I remember it.”  This time, I found myself fixated on the music, nearly from beginning to end.  I stumbled across a score – Bley’s imagination is incredible.  Her melodic concept is so lovely, and so unpredictable (except when she’s trying to be predictable!).  Her harmonic concept is…amazing.  And her arranging!  There is this incredible gimmick that she sometimes uses, which is so freaking cool – she writes the sound of a skipping record.  It happens on the Music Mechanique record, too (I think), but in this case it’s on the tune “Holiday in Risk.”   The cast is amazing, with people like Charlie Haden (during my favorite period in his fantastic career), Paul Motian (same), John McLaughlin, Jack Bruce, Sheila Jordan Jeanne Lee, Don Preston(!), Gato Barbieri (sounding absolutely amazing – see my previous post about him, too), Roswell Rudd, and Linda Ronstadt.  Ronstadt was the shocker for me.  I think she sounds incredible on this.  In fact, I was so amazed by her singing on “Why” that, in a rush to drop the needle at the beginning of the tune, I flung the needle at the record and managed to scratch the middle of “Why” while adding a few nice skips throughout the rest of the side.  I’m really bummed out about this.  In addition to “Why,” I’m a gigantic fan of “Little Pony Soldiers.”  I really, really need to get a new LP copy of this, now that I have a terribly scratched copy.  Also, since I borrowed the score from the library, and sadly have to return it, time to run out and buy one.
• Tropic Appetites – a sort of follow up to Escalator Over the Hill.  It’s not quite as mind blowing for me, although I love a few things about it.  One is that Dave Holland plays double bass, electric bass and cello on it.  Another is that Gato Barbieri still sounds amazing.  Still another is the “Funnybird Song,” which I always liked.  When I met Howard Johnson last year (he sings on it), I told him that it was among my favorite recordings of his.  He laughed and said (of course), “I like to flock a lot.”
• Live – Reviews of this point in her career are somewhat uncomplimentary.  I disagree.  Yes, there seem to be a different set of production values, but just because the record sounds different doesn’t mean the music actually is.  There is still the same incredible sense of melody, amazing harmonic sense, and incredible arranging.  The playing is still extraordinary.  Forget about the reviews.  Get the records and decide for yourself.  I love “Song Sung Low” on this one.
• Heavy Heart – Lovely.  Kenny Kirkland plays his ass off.
• Night-Glo – When I first got this record, I agreed with the critics.  I don’t agree anymore.  And Steve Swallow is a genius.

I really, really like her music, but it looks like I’ll have to take it upon myself to play it.  She will always work with Steve Swallow (for obvious, great reasons), and if not him, then there is always Charlie Haden.

Best, R.

Sabbath.  Yes, I have at least one Black Sabbath record.  I come from the midwest and grew up in a place and during a time when Pat Robertson for President made sense.  So, I don’t have many Black Sabbath records, and even though I sort of want to check out some others, I’m not likely to anytime soon.  In the meantime, I’ll have to be satisfied with Paranoid, which is one heck of a great record.  It’s like a Cream album for people who like horror movies.  Totally great.  Hmm.  Methinks an Ozzy record of jazz standards might be somewhat more interesting than Rod Stewart’s.  (Ozzy, call me, ok?)

There was a time when I actually worried about the problems that could ensue if certain jazz moguls noticed that right next to my Ran Blake collection was a Black Sabbath album.  But, the alphabet being what it is, my not owning any records that could act as some kind of alphabetical buffer, no visits from jazz moguls, and what with my complete reluctance to re-arrange my LP collection by genre – with the notable exception of having separated the classical stuff – I will just have to hope that no one is horrified by Sabbath next to Blake.  The good news is that I have several Ran Blake albums:

• The Blue Potato and Other Outrages – An incredible solo piano record with a great black & white photo on the back in which Ran bears a striking resemblance to my cousin.  This LP has the all-time greatest version of “Chicago” ever.
• Rapport – Absolutely lovely record with Ricky Ford, Rufus Reid, Anthony Braxton and others (like Chris Connor).  Fantastic version of George Russell’s “The Ballad of Hix Blewitt” and “You Go to My Head.”  I’m also a fan of Ran’s tune “Thursday” and a Mikis Theodorakis tune called “Vradiazi.”
  
• Film Noir – Enter the musicians that I know (I mean, I know Ran too, but I actually worked with John Hazilla today – he’s the drummer on most of this record).  This LP is fantastic.  It’s a great contrast to the solo piano albums that I have, what with a couple of tunes verging on big band sized instrumentation.  In-cred-ible.
• Duke Dreams – Gary Giddons describes this LP so eloquently:

Duke Dreams is well titled, because it’s a medidation on Duke Ellington not just on a handful of his compositions, but on the pervasive quality and spirit that animates the astonishingly large body of his work.  In transmuting his own dreams about this country into music Ellington covered more territory than any other American composer.

This, on the heals of:

Blake is distinctive in part because his “sonorous image”, to borrow Aaron Copland’s rather mischievous phrase, has an analytical quality.  Even when he plays a familiar melody, he seems to be composing it anew, or turning it over in his mind for the first time.  Yet if Blake approaches his material objectively, his purpose is to express deep feelings.

And so, to me, Duke Dreams feels like a beautiful tribute to the artistry of Ellington, his music examined, considered and recast by the brilliant artist, Ran Blake.

• Short Life of Barbara Monk – This album features a quartet (Hazilla, again!), and is beautiful, sad, lovely…
  

I found myself somewhat stuck on the Ran Blake albums, listening to a few of these several times.  When I was ready for the next batch, I thought to myself, “Self, no problemo.  We’ll check out Art Blakey and be on our way.”  Then I got stuck again.

• Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers – ok, why didn’t anyone tell me about this record 20 years ago ?  I bought it 2 or 3 years ago, and was totally blown away.  That feeling didn’t diminish with time, but the opposite.  This is fan-freaking-tastic.  Original(?) versions of “Nica’s Dream” and “Ecaroh”, along with an amazing version of “It’s You or No One.”  I’ll never play “Nica’s Dream” the same way again (thank God).  Oh, yeah, and two more words: Doug Watkins!
• Thermo – This is a Milestone two-fer of Ugetsu/Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers at Birdland and Caravan.  Absolutely amazing, with some of the best Wayne Shorter and Freddie Hubbard ever.  “One By One” is a new favorite tune of mine.  Oh, yeah, and two more words:  Reggie Workman!

On to the next set of records. But, truth be told, I’m having a hard time getting past Carla Bley’s Escalator Over the Hill.  It’s amazing…

Best, R.