Old thread died. Will be posting reveals here
>Track 1: Herbie Hancock & Chick Corea - Someday My Prince Will Come
Herbie Hancock – Piano, left channel
Chick Corea – Piano, right channel
Props to jtg for calling exactly who's in each channel. This is the first track off 1978's An Evening With Herbie Hancock & Chick Corea: In Concert, the recording being taken from their tour that year. I really enjoy their interplay here and their interpretation of the tune as well. At a time when they were both mainly doing electric stuff, it's pretty interesting to hear their acoustic interactions. It's a pretty good album, well worth checking out.
>Track 2: Thelonious Monk - Bright Mississippi
Thelonious Monk - Piano
Charlie Rouse - tenor saxophone
Larry Gales - bass
Ben Riley - drums
Off of Live at the Jazz Workshop. The shorter of two takes of this song, which is a Monk original, a contrafact of "Sweet Georgia Brown". I know I'm pushing ita bit with "standard" here, but to me it just sounds like a very esoteric version of Sweet Georgia Brown. I think the best thing about this track is how Monk sits out on Rouse's solo, to me it really serves as a snapshot of how Monk was playing at the time. I mean, to me, this track is like a Monk crash course with his minimalism and his quotes during his solo.
>Track 3: Charlie Parker - Bebop
Charlie Parker - alto saxophone
Howard McGhee - trumpet
Jimmy Bunn - piano
Bob Kesterson - bass
Roy Porter - drums
So this is one of the recordings with Dial when Bird was drunk off his ass on whiskey because he couldn't get heroin in California. You can even hear Howard McGhee yell "blow" at him at one point towards the start of his solo. Apparently Bird was angry this recording was even released. It's interesting people appreciated it so much on that basis, especially since some people thought McGee was Dizzy. I don't know, I guess I view this track as more of a novelty, but it's still pretty enjoyable.
>Track 4: Dave Brubeck - St. Louis Blues
Dave Brubeck - piano
Paul Desmond - alto Saxophone
Eugene Wright - bass
Joe Morello - drums
This is a live recording of the quartet from the early 60s. Personally I think the highlight is Morello's drumming, the way he sort of drives the track by being just slightly less behind the beat than one normally would be on a medium swing like this. Also that triplet thing he goes into is just so exciting to me. I quite like Desmond's and Brubeck's solos, and the way he interacts with Brubeck is one of the best things about this quartet. Those two have this melodic quality that just leaves their solos stuck in my head for ages after listening to them.
>Track 5: Miles Davis - Budo (Hallucinations)
Miles Davis – trumpet
Mike Zwerin – trombone
Junior Collins – French horn
Bill Barber – tuba
Lee Konitz – alto saxophone
Gerry Mulligan – baritone saxophone
John Lewis – piano
Al McKibbon – bass
Max Roach – drums
A cut from the live recordings of the Birth of the Cool bands. I thought it was sort of cool to hear it in the form of a radio broadcast. I was also sort of curious to see if anyone would recognize Konitz.
>Track 6: Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis - Body and Soul
Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis - tenor saxophone
Milt Buckner - piano
Jimmy Gourley -bass
Gus Johnson - drums
This is a recording which appears to be from the Prestige vaults, and has been reissued several times on different albums, namely Leapin' on Lennox and Body and Soul most recently. It was recorded in 1974, and first issued on another, different joint album with Sonny Stitt called Leapin' on Lennox in 1976. I think. This track provides a nice contrast to the other ones, and really shows off Davis' tone. I personally don't think it's anything really special, but it's nice to have something more traditional and semi-obscure.
>Track 7: Chick Corea - Peri's Scope
Chick Corea - piano
Eddie Gomez - bass
Paul Motian - drums
From 2012's Further Explorations, which is essentially Chick's tribute album to Bill Evans. A live album recorded at the Blue Note. I like the interaction on this track, but I mostly included it as sort of a trick. I was curious to see who people would call on a track with Chick Corea tributing Bill Evans. I think it's also interesting to see how people view more recent stuff of older artists. I really like what all the musicians are doing here, especially because Motian is more active than he typically used to play with Evans.
>Track 8: Wynton Marsalis - Donna Lee
Wynton Marsalis - trumpet
Wessell "Warmdaddy" Anderson - alto saxophone
Eric Lewis - piano
Kengo Nakamura - bass
Joe Farnsworth - drums
Off of Live at the House of Tribes from 2005. I don't personally like this that much, it seems like this would've been good 50 years earlier maybe. I still think that there's some pretty crazy technique here from Marsalis obviously, and I quite enjoy the alto's uniqueness. The rest of the band is really nothing speical as far as I'm concerned. I was most interested in hearing how people would react not knowing it's Marsalis, given the commonly negative view of him which may cloud people's opinions normally.
>Track 9: Bill Evans - You Must Believe in Spring
Bill Evans - piano
Eddie Gomez - bass
Eliot Zigmund - drums
Title track off the 1981 album recorded in '77. Once again stretching the use of "standard" a bit, but I've heard quite a few singers do it. So Evans played on this 4 years after his girlfriend Ellaine had killed herself; the first track on the album is dedicated to her. According to Wikipedia: "When Evans broke the news to Ellaine, she pretended to understand, but then committed suicide by throwing herself under a subway train. Evans' relatives believe that Elaine's infertility, coupled with Bill's desire to have a son, may have influenced those events." I feel like you can really hear that sadness on this recording. This is certainly one of my favorite Evans recordings.
>Track 10: Charles Mingus - Take the "A" Train
Johnny Coles - trumpet
Clifford Jordan - tenor saxophone
Eric Dolphy - bass clarinet and alto saxophone
Jaki Byard - piano
Charles Mingus - bass
Dannie Richmond - drums
Recorded in Norway in 1964. I actually culled this from a DVD I bought, which features some live performances of the Charles Mingus Sextet during their European tour. For this specific performance it's definitely worth seeing the video, if just to see Dolphy's angry look when the band comes back in. I like how they play it more straight ahead to start out but it gets more adventurous as it goes on. Richmond's drumming is pretty interesting, and of course Dolphy's solo is nuts. I just really like this track; it's probably one of my favorites.
Didn't get to post my thoughts last night - here we go (all written before I read any comments in yesterdays thread, except for the bits in *stars*):
>Track 1
Four minutes in and I'm not recognising a tune anywhere in here, or hearing one at all really. This intro is a bit overlong, but it's a live recording so it could have been a good build-up on the night. Oh right, now around five minutes I think I actually do know this one. I like the build-up in the first minute or so after that, with the left hand getting more emphatic. Now that he's gotten into the swing of it I'm glad he's got all this time to stretch out. There might not be an awful lot going on melodically but I like the different rhythms and textures he's exploring.
It's really hard for me to guess who this is. Obviously a virtuoso, and I think probably modern-ish, but his approach seems very firmly rooted in traditional sounds - especially the intro which I think was a little too much so. Bearing that in mind, and the fact that it's a live recording of solo piano, I'm going to take a stab pretty much in the dark at this being Keith Jarrett.
*Didn't notice at all that this was a duo. I was listening through headphones too, oops. Seems a bit more obvious on second listen...*
>Track 2
This is a Monk tune that I can't name. The playing sounds close enough to him in style but a little heavy. I think that's just the recording quality though, so I'm gonna say it is him. Altoist has that nasty rough-edged Jackie McLean sound. I like Jackie but his tone is pretty grating. Whoever it is they nailed the solo. A lot of the phrases are quite Bird-like, but then they're developed in Monk-ian ways with fairly minor variations on each repeat. Monk is also a really early example of a great reactive accompanist, which he shows with his little space-filling licks here. I don't know if anything about this recording is off-the-wall amazing, but it's a solid slab of Monk that I can't fault.
>>65050289
>Track 3
Another one I recognise but don't know... This has to be Bird and Diz? And Bud Powell on piano? The way Bird ends the second phrase in his solo (about 0:38) is just beautiful, with that unexpected minor feel and leaving it just behind the beat. After that his solo actually looses it's way a bit, maybe that's why it's so short. It's the trumpet solo that really steals the show technique-wise here though. This is pretty lightning fast playing even for Diz.
Oh actually I've just worked out what this is - it's one of the takes from that famous Lover Man session just before he went into rehab. That's why Bird sounds a bit off. Pretty sure it isn't Diz if that's the case. Whoever it is I need to check them out more...
>Track 4
This has to be Paul Desmond. So is it a Dave Brubeck session? I like what the piano does in parts of the accompaniment here where it's a mix of quite staccato chords and sustained single notes. His work during the bass solo is even less, and more. I'm finding myself reminded a bit of the way Monk can sometimes steal the show with his economical accompaniment. Piano solo really swings too. There's enough interesting little touches of colour in some of these block chords to remind me of some of the Brubeck stuff I've heard, so I still think it's his quartet.
>>65050306
>Track 5
So this week is going to be big on bebop tunes then? I'm not sure what the point of this trumpet solo is, it's fragmented to the point of incoherence. Wasn't too impressed with the alto either, but at least there seemed to be some semblance of a story in there. Actually the alto sounded way more interesting just as he faded out for the announcer. Whoever this was I don't think this tune did them justice - short solos that sounded a bit tired. I know the tune but I can't name it. When I was getting into Charlie Parker he was all I listened to for a couple of weeks just charging through all the Savoy and Dial stuff so the individual tunes just blur into one for me.
*I actually contemplated this being a BotC track, but ruled it out. I have the live disk too so I have heard it before, though I don't really like it compared to the studio versions.*
>Track 6
Body and Soul. Nice little intro there on the sax, much more succinct than some of the others in this playlist but no less effective. This is really breathy playing, but way more energetic than the players I'm used to hearing who sound like that. It's hard to hear a quartet version of this without thinking of Hawk, and whilst this is obviously more subtle and lyrical, it does seem to borrow a fair amount from his version. I think the sax solo goes on a bit too long, and flags in the middle, but the contrast between the beginning and the end, especially the part where everyone else lays off, makes for a decent performance overall.
>>65050313
>Track 7
Not the slightest hint on the tune, think it's one I don't know. I like the drummer's intro, it's fun. The drummer and pianist are really on the ball with each other, doing all these little rhythmic stops and starts. In a way this piano solo is quite traditional in that I don't think he strays too far from the melody, but then the ways he explores and elaborates on it involve some quite advanced melodic work.
The second half of the tune was even more my thing, where focus shifts quite rapidly between the three of them and it's only suggestive of the harmony. I can find piano trios a bit hard to get on board with but after only a couple of listens there's loads in here that excites me.
>Track 8
This is another Bird tune I think. Possibly Donna Lee? At first this sounds quite beboppy, though with a bit much speed and precision to be that early, and the way the drummer uses the snare to drive it forward hints that there's some more modern stuff going on too. Then there's a run in the trumpet solo at about 1:20 which completely abandons the fast bebop runs and throws in some unexpected outside playing (I think it's a chromatic run down, but I have a crap ear for this), and after this he slows down a lot and puts in a bit more soulful (for want of a better word) phrases. Then he really Dizzy's it up near the end with some high-register fireworks. Great solo.
During the alto-drum trade offs the drummer is the highlight for me, melodically the alto seems just like he's filling space and showing off. The speed and precision is mindblowing though, there's parts that sound like they've been sequenced rather than played live.
This was really cool - kept the spirit of bebop whilst mixing it seamlessly with some newer sounds.
>>65050330
>Track 9
Bill Evans-y. Takes a while to get started, and in the build up it's pretty straightforward playing without much interplay. Piano doesn't do much at all actually, until after the bass solo. It does get better after that, but the time they took to get into the swing of it leads me to believe it's not Bill Evans, but one of his imitators. If it is him it's not his best work.
>Track 10
Take the A Train! The rising horn thing that comes in behind the trumpet solo is a nice touch, and I like that old-timey piano solo. Oh right, this has to be Eric Dolphy, so presumably a Mingus-led band? This is one of the more inspired Dolphy solos I've heard - he sometimes gets a bit locked in the same patterns where I'd prefer more variety, but he really goes nuts here. Twice I've thought it was going to end and he's taken it further. The drummer is really letting go too, guessing it's not Danny Richmond - or else he's way louder and more full-on live than I've ever heard him in studio. I think the piece should maybe have ended with Dolphy's solo, because whilst this sax player is doing his best, you just can't follow that. I do like how it's decending into polyphony though. Whichever album this is I'm gonna have to check it out soon.
*I should have realised that piano was Jaki Byard from the mix of styles - think I might have done if I'd been hearing him -after- I spotted that it was Mingus.*
>>65050306
Nice call with that Bird track.
>>65050313
That bit where everyone else lays out in Track 6 is probably the best about it for me.
>>65050043
I know Bird and McGhee were unhappy this session got released, but I think that's more for personal reasons. The tracks from it are still regarded as being decent pieces of music.
>>65050086
The only Lockjaw stuff I've heard before is Very Saxy and some of the Cookbook sessions. He must've mellowed out a lot over the years...
>>65050043
This isn't from the same session that his infamous version of Lover Man comes from is it?
>>65050534
It is - there were four tracks recorded overall.
Also in case anyone needs to find it, old thread, including tracklist download and everything else: >>65026272
>>65050099
Oh another track from this was on one of the blindfold playlists not that long ago
http://www9.zippyshare.com/v/0kaVpeaP/file.html
Here's next week's playlist. Theme is duos.
