Coming off Recycled Goods, I started with some old comps, then segued through a good portion of the queue. Looks like I have about as many new records still unplayed. I figure next week will be more first-pass prospecting, then I'll settle down and try to pull a new column together.
In doing so, I'll shoot for the minimum 1600 words rather than the 2000-2400 I've been handing in.
Voice. The music editor hasn't gotten back to me, and in any case isn't necessarily the one calling the shots.
Whether it would be dangling thread. If that's all it is, I suppose we could call it something else and slip it by. Rob Harvilla did express an interest in me continuing to do something on jazz for the Voice, so that's another dangling thread.
Where Christgau lands may or may not have an effect. He's been talking to a lot of people, but I don't know the details or whether any of it is even promising. My own best suggestion is that he institutionalize himself, setting up some sort of foundation for the advancement of rock crit -- in effect, go back to being the Dean, a role he somewhat retreated from when writing.
the Jazz Consumer Guide or some form of derivative. I've never had much luck freelancing. I thought I had a gig at St.
Louis Today a week before they went out of business. I had something in D.C.
set up, then got sick and left town. Lester Bangs encouraged me to write for Creem, then he quit and left town. I can think of three or four other things that never panned out.
I did get the Rear View Mirror column at Seattle Weekly for a few months. I wrote part of Rolling the magazine. I bugged Joe Levy at one point about doing a jazz box there, which may or may not have led to David Fricke writing one.
I've tried pitching a diary-type column, loosely based on the one British jazz curmudgeon Philip Larkin wrote. On the other hand, samizdat and chased me down. And Recycled Goods was the result of Michael Tatum wooing me.
The work I did for Michaelangelo Matos and Christian Hoard also came about after they approached me. So I don't exactly feel I'm in the driving seat on all this.
for publicists, so I don't have a good feel for where I might be standing.
Obviously, I can continue Jazz Prospecting Notes as long as I get the material. That provides some exposure, and I can always self-publish Jazz CG, but that sort of makes it a self-indulgence, unless I try to make a serious run with database rated count for jazz is 5427 records, which is way Don't know. Meanwhile, keep on doing.
Herbie Hancock: Jazz to Funk (1966-69 [2006], Aim, 2CD): interesting recordings from the 1960s," but doesn't give much more than hints about who did what when and where. As near as I can tell, the under drummer Albert "Tootie" Heath's name. The dominant personality on the album is Don Cherry, who springs Jimmy Heath into a free frenzy on soprano and tenor sax -- a dimension I've never heard before.
Tootie is also working way outside his normal bounds, with Ed Blackwell and James Mtume adding to the percussion. Hancock and Buster Williams hold their own in this group. Billy Bonner plays flute, and there are chants and the like, giving this a period feel, not far removed from what Pharoah Sanders was doing at the time.
The other disc appears to be outtakes from the 1966 sessions for the Blow Up soundtrack. This is more conventional fare, with tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson standing out in a group reportedly including Freddie Hubbard, Joe Newman, Phil Woods, Jim Hall, Ron Carter and Jack DeJohnette. But, as is often the case with soundtrack music, pieces vary: one called "Far Out" sounds like electric bass, vibes, congas, and flute, none of which are documented.
Nice minor groove piece, as is the flute-dominated closer "Hot and Heavy." [2006], Aim): Again, only bare hints in the doc. The first eleven on Canyon, and reissued on CD in 1995 on Drive Archive.
That would place it between his tenures at Blue Note and CTI. The idea seems to be to go pop, with covers like "Brown Eyed Woman" and "Let It Be" and a couple of Stevie Wonder tunes. With his creamy tone, He sounds light and happy on those.
The album closes with three songs from a 1972 Gloria Lynne album, also on Canyon, presumably with Turrentine in the mix somewhere, but he's obscured by the big production, the backing singers, and the general blight of ordinariness. Aim, 2CD): More profiteering in obscurities, but this time the discs aren't so obscure they pose any problems tracking down. In fact, they're already on my shelves.
The 1954 session originally appeared on two 10-inch Bethlehem releases, which are combined -- different Charlie Mingus. They're a fascinating set of orchestral sketches, seeds that Mingus developed over the following decade. The second released as Mingus Three, reissued in 1997.
For packaging, and for that matter for documentation, I prefer the separate discs. Two of print, and list price here isn't exorbitant at $16.98.
Still, I repertoire made famous by groups half that size, and struggling in the process -- I swear, the half-sized groups had twice the muscle, no doubt because Mingus himself wouldn't accept anything less. I'm sure it's fun to play this music, but mostly we just get are shadows and reverberations of past glory. Maybe that's the point of ghost bands, but it's been 24 years since Mingus Dynasty rose and 13 since the Big Band debuted -- hasn't the novelty worn off?
Midway through I started thinking this might be my next dud, but then I remembered I've already so honored a Mingus big band, and this is nowhere near as lame as the Marsalis record. But it pulls its punches, and not just on stage, as when they dropped off the second half of the title to "Free Cell Block F, 'Tiz Nazi USA." I mean, do you really think America today than he was in 1975?
Charles Mingus: At UCLA 1965 (1965 [2006], Sunnyside, 2 CD): Alternate title, which didn't fit on the spine: Music Written 30-minute set. This was recorded a week later at a jazz workshop, and retains the flavor of his early experimental workshops, as he lectures, hectors, moves people around, and talks to the audience. As with the workshops, it doesn't feel quite sorted out, and the penchant for long, intricate orchestration isn't my favorite Mingus facet.
The recordings question about the sound -- I have trouble following the patter, but the music is in pretty good shape. Still working on it. The legendary cool jazz drummer turns 85 this September, and he's got four new albums to celebrate with.
That's quite a lot to deal with, two of his albums in my database, both unrated Soul Notes from the early '90s, although I must have a big pile of records he's played drums on over the last 50+ years. (Well, small pile, anyway. Looks Baker to Lester Young and Billie Holiday.
) All four albums have the same core group: Cary Denigris on guitar, Paul Ramsey on Fender bass, Evan Schwam and Andrew Haddo on flute and reeds, and Jeremy Carlstedt on percussion. Some have an extra flute/reeds player -- Karolina Strassmayer here, Geoffrey Countryman on two others. Most have guests: trombones here, plus vocals by Bill Henderson (two cuts) and Arthur Lee (one).
But that's all set up. The record does little for me, although there are things I like fine. The drummer has a nice swivel, a little too fleeting to be called swing.
The guitar and drums amplify that, but also color it, and I don't much care for their tones. The reeds provide more bulk, but as color they are strictly pastel, and none are able to take command. So picture them as grasses or flowers shuffling to and fro, swivelling from the drums.
That's fair enough as to represent Hamilton, but I'm looking forward to four 70-minute albums of the same. The vocals at least break things up a bit, and they're the best things here. Not sure I've ever said that about Henderson before, so not sure in the guitar and the saxophone.
Nothing strikes me as bad, annoying, or even boring, although at 72:47 it is plenty long. Fontella Bass guests, singing three pieces. She never gets much traction, even on her bread and butter gospel, and not just because Chico chills out.
Chico Hamilton: 6th Avenue Romp (2006, Joyous Shout): Just have advances of the last two releases in Hamilton's quadfecta, so I don't have session info. Hype sheet says this is, "an elegy to '60s era L.A.
which moves from Motown covers to a song entitled Shuggie Otis, son of the great Johnny Otis, guests here)." Actually, the credits put Otis on a different cut, but they're probably wrong. as WAR.
While "Ain't No Sunshine" is the theme here -- at least it theme song. It turns out that "Elevation" ain't bad, but the sax influence appears to be Wayne Shorter rather than Coltrane, and it's a soprano. "'A' Train" is done with the vocal -- presumably Brenna Bavis, the cut credits are screwed up here too -- and it ain't bad either.
But the only thing here that moves beyond "not bad" is a Chico Hamilton: Heritage (2006, Joyous Shout): I've played each of these albums twice, which means I've put about ten hours into the series. A third pass might lead me to appreciate the subtleties of Hamilton's art more, although I don't doubt that I get the basic idea: he's always been a slippery fellow, and his post-cool just scales his approach up through the band. He brings a long history of references into the mix, but in the end they're so uniformly integrated that everything reduces to consistency.
A even if there's also very little to get excited about. This last volume is meant as an homage to Gerald Wilson, who wrote three of the pieces. That means more texturing, which is not something this doctor would prescribe.
Two vocals by Marya Lawrence are the high points. A third by Hamilton is a throwaway. (2005 [2006], TCB): Swiss pianist and big band arranger, Gruntz is in his 70s now, and his Concert Jazz Band dates back to the '70s.
I've missed his records up to this one, so I have no idea how this fits in, but a glance through the Penguin Guide indicates that the size and personnel are highly volatile. He travels a lot and records with musicians he finds along the way -- this was recorded in NYC, hence a conspicuous number of Americans, several bringing their own music. And clearly he prefers unleashing the musicians to see what vision of his own.
This blows up pretty quickly, with six trumpets leading the charge, but settles down for some more intricate stuff before the program ends.
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