I downloaded the following albums a while ago from Soulseek and I've never contributed them to Ish's Muse blog as I took it for granted someone else had done it before me. On the occasion of Bacoso posting Pike'sLet The Minstrels Play On some days ago I called on the Nine Sisters again and to my surprise found no links for On A Gentle Note (1977) and Moon Bird (1983). As I also couldn't find them in the blogosphere it seemed like a good idea to me to make them available again, not least because they are pretty hard to get and worth hearing, especially On A Gentle Note.
Scott "The Unavoidable" Yanow:
After 1966, vibraphonist Dave Pike was primarily heard on European labels until he made his first album for Muse in 1975. His second effort for the label teams Pike with a variety of top L.A. players: Tom Ranier on electric piano (he plays alto on "Scrapple from the Apple"), guitarist Ron Eschete, bassist Luther Hughes, drummer Ted Hawke, and the obscure Rudolph Johnson on tenor. There are some unaccompanied solos (Eschete on "Everytime We Say Goodbye," Ranier's keyboard on "Gigi," and Pike on "Visions of Spain") and a fair amount of variety in the rhythms (ranging from straight-ahead to Latin and rock), making this a generally unpredictable (if now hard to find) LP.
Side A
1. Lazy Afternoon
2. Gigi
3. Regards From Freddie Horowitz
Side B
1. Secret Mystery Of Hensch
2. Everytime We Say Goodbye
3. Scrapple From The Apple
4. Visions Of Spain
Dave Pike - vibes
Rudolph Johnson - tenor sax Tom Ranier - electric piano & alto sax Ron Eschete - guitar Luther Hughes - bass Ted Hawke - drums & percussion
Recorded November & December 1977 at United Audio Studio, Santa Ana, California
Muse MR 5168
Another one of the post-Europe Dave Pike recordings, with a sound that's a bit straighter than usual, but still with his usual great take on jazzy vibes playing. The title track's a nice breezy groover, and the LP also includes two more originals, one with a Latiny feel called "Set the Stage", the other with the usual Pike goofiness, called "Jumpy the Snail". (Dustygroove)
Side A
1. Moon Bird
2. Love For Sale
3. Jumpy The Snail
Side B
1. Set The Stage
2. Dream
3. Anthropology
Dave Pike - vibes Ron Eschete - guitar Tom Ranier - piano Luther Hughes - bass Ted Hawke - drums & percussion Buck Clark - percussion
Having posted his album Cloudy (Palcoscenico) in July Claudio Fasoli is no stranger to this blog anymore, therefore no introduction is needed. Some of you may also know the title track from the fine Tempo Jazz series still available on Flageolette's blog. Just have a look at the guys playing on this album: Claudio Fasoli, Giorgio Azzolini, Bruno Biriaco and Franco D'Andrea - simply said the créme de la crème of modern Italian jazz on an album for Carosello's legendary Jazz from Italy series. By the way hardworking jazzfromitaly has just started a new label blog featuring that series, not to forget his main blog and his Horo-blog - check them out!
Side A
1. Days Off
2. Pseudonimo
3. Dolores
Side B
1. Eskimo Fakiro
2. Childish Eyes
3. Sunless Dream
Claudio Fasoli - tenor & soprano sax Giorgio Azzolini - bass Bruno Biriaco - drums Franco D'Andrea - piano
Recorded at CAP Studio, June 9 - 10, 1977
Carosello/Jazz From Italy CLE 21036
My download stats tell me that Clifford Jordan's Inward Fire has been the most downloaded album so far surprisingly followed by Paul Horn's Monday, Monday - obviously there's some need for easier sounds...Well, here you go! Here's That Rainy Day is another album from Horn's - in my opinion - completely underrated RCA period, one of those albums receiving 2 stars only from the sometimes ignorant AMG-staff which then again is almost a recommendation...
I'd like to quote Al Schmitt's liner notes partially as they are quite accurate:
"In this album, the mood is sentimental. It alludes to memories, to loneliness, to love, to regret and to all the torchy times that were sad, wistful or reflective. It is a mood I have long wanted to present in an album, but it took an artist like Paul Horn to make the idea a reality in sound. [..] In this album, Paul is backed by his quintet, augmented by two harps and a chorus. The voices are used differently than they have been in the past. They sing only the most important line in each song. The rest of the time the chorus becomes an instrumental section, with Paul's horn taking over as the lyricist. Wether telling the story on clarinet, bass flute or alto flute, Paul's message is a bittersweet sound, so sensuous, so touching, that it is impossible to hear it without being moved to a new level of mood... a mood that haunts you on 'That Rainy Day'"
Dustygroove agrees: "A sweet and mellow set from flutist Paul Horn -- with a sad, sleepy, and wonderfully late nite feel! Ralph Carmichael arranged and conducted the set -- and most of the tracks feature the Ralph Carmichael Singers in the background, singing in a really moody style that adds a nice edge to the tunes. The record's the kind we might have passed up years ago, thinking it a snoozer -- but we love it's dark tension, and really appreciate some of the additional instrumental touches, like vibes by Lynn Blessing, piano by Mike Lang, and bass by Bill Plummer."
Maybe interesting for some of you, Gang Starr's Memory Of contains a sample from Here's That Rainy Day (title track):
Side A
1. Who Can I Turn To (When Nobody Needs Me)?
2. Here's That Rainy Day
3. How Sensitive (Insensatez)
4. The Shadow Of Your Smile (Love Theme From "The Sandpiper")
5. In The Wee Small Hours Of The Morning
Side B
1. Girl Talk
2. Moment To Moment
3. Ecstasy
4. Laura
5. On A Clear Day (You Can See Forever)
Paul Horn - clarinet on A4, B5; flute on A2, A3, B1, B3; bass flute on A5; alto flute on A1, B2, B4
Bill Plummer - bass
Lynn Blessing - vibes
Bill Goodwin - drums
Mike Lang - piano
Ralph Carmichael - arranger, conductor & choral director The Ralph Carmichael Singers - chorus plus 2 harps, uncredited
Recorded Nov 4, 1965 - Nov 8, 1965, released 1966
RCA Victor/Dynagroove LSP-3519
Lovely little album, made for daydreaming on a cold, grey and wet November day - grab it here:
While the first side of Devil Blues features the ending tracks of Frankfurt Workshop '78: Tenor Saxes the second one completes the Afrian Moods-session recorded October 6, 1984 with two preceding tracks - Circle had a strange publishing policy to say the least...
In the late 1970s and beyond, Shepp's career went between various old territories and various new ones. He continued to explore African music, while also recording blues, ballads, spirituals and tributes to more traditional jazz figures like Charlie Parker and Sidney Bechet, while at other times displaying his penchant for honking R&B and soulful blues. (Wikipedia)
No big surprise the stomping title track is a showcase for Shepp's more bluesy side, it also gives the other players opportunity for some sweeping solos - quite entertaining. If one didn't know that side 2 was recorded in 1984 one might assume this session to be the one from 1978. Especially the fiery U-majaa recalls the progressive Shepp from past times - my personal fav thanks also to Don Mumford's great drumming. Listen to a short excerpt:
Side A
1. Devil Blues (18:55)
2. Confirmation (2:31)
Archie Shepp - tenor sax George Adams - tenor sax, vocal Heinz Sauer - tenor sax Rainer Brüninghaus - piano Palle Danielsson - bass Alex Riel - drums
Recorded 24/9/1978, Frankfurt
Side B
1. Mama Rose (6:07)
2. U-majaa (17:08)
Archie Shepp - tenor & soprano sax, vocal Siggi Kessler - piano Peter Bockius - bass Don Mumford - drums
Recorded 6/10/1984, Leverkusen
Circle Records RK 7884/33
Devil Blues was kindly contributed by reader Thomas so when you leave a comment don't forget to thank him - keeps us in business as Ish says!
Let's stay behind the former Iron Curtain and move to Ex-Czechoslovakia. If Tone Janša's Pattern is an evidenceforColtrane's or Sanders' influence on him, this album demonstrates that groups like Impuls, CH.A.S.A. and Jazz Q had listened to Herbie Hancock, Return To Forever or Mahavishnu Orchestra very well and no reason to hide from their western counterparts imo. Btw there's a Jazzrocková Dílna 2 - anyone out there having this album and being so generous to share it with us?
And now for something very special. Tone Janša is nothing less but a legend, probably the best sax player ever to emerge from former Yugoslavia (he's from Slovenia, to be correct), "a giant of a man, and a saxophonist who has much in common with both Pharaoh Sanders and the giant who influenced him, John Coltrane." (Thom Jurek)
However he's is somewhat of a lost giant which may has something to do with the fact that he didn't record much after the mid-eighties except for the private released CD Tone Janša Quintet & Sextet (1998). Well, at least that's what I was able to find out. If someone out there has more informations about what Mr. Janša did in the last 20 years I'd be happy to hear it.
Anton (Tone) Janša was born May 5, 1943 in Ormoz/Slovenia. He "got seriously engaged in jazz in 1969, when he started to study it at the institute of Jazz in Graz, Austria [where he may have met most of his band mates as they also studied there]. In the years 1971, 1972 and 1973 he played with Dieter Glawischnig in several clubs in West Germany, Austria and Poland. Later he began to work with his own quartet, played in clubs and recorded in Ljubljana and for NDR (Radio Station) in Hamburg, Germany.
In 1974 he was recording with his quartet for RTV Ljubljana made after that a tour to Poland, where he took part in "Jazz nad Odra" festival. After finishing his studies in Graz - where he graduated in classical music and jazz - and on the Berklee College in Boston, he joined as professional the big band of RTV Ljubljana [of which he was a member until 1984], and at the same time continued to work with the quartet. In 1974 he played at jazz festival in Graz with the international big band, the leader of which was Slide Hampton; other members were Albert Mangelsdorff, Art Farmer, Rudi Josel etc. In 1975 he appeared with the quartet at the jazz festival in Ljubljana. In the autumn of the same year he visited Hungary. In 1976 he played also in Gustav Brom's big band together with Simeon Chterev at jazz festival in Prague." (Janez Gregorc, taken from the liner notes of Tone Janša - Jazz Kvartet)
Outside of Yugoslavia Tone Janša is best known for the two fine records he made with Woody Shaw, Woody Shaw With The Tone Janša Quartet (1985) and Dr. Chi (1986) and for Bouyancy (2001), a commendable compilation of tracks from Jazz Kvartet (RTB LP 4202, 1977) and Tone Janša Kvartet (RTB LP 4205, 1978), issued on Cosmic Sounds making material of Janša's most creative phase available for the first time.
In 1988 he started teaching saxophone and flute at the University of Graz and the music school Schladming. He retired in 2004.
Pattern (Helidon, 1979) is not a single bit worse than his releases on RTB, it's almost a little more interesting respectively versatile as it adds the RTV Ljubljana Big Band on the title track.
Update: Check out this blog for another superb Janša-album (thanks to Corvimax for the tip!): http://jugozvuk.blogspot.com/2009/10/tone-jansa-1978-quartet.html
One of the most accomplished pianists to emerge from the bebop era, Walter Davis, Jr. earned his pedigree at an early age, having played with Charlie "Bird" Parker while still in high school. He went on to perform with many of the music’s most important masters, most notably Max Roach, Dizzy Gillespie, Art Blakey, Jackie McLean, and Sonny Rollins and in later years led his own impressive groups, which at times included the young Branford and Wynton Marsalis.
Davis was born in Richmond, Virginia on September 2, 1932, but moved with his parents when he was only one day old to East Orange, New Jersey, where he was raised amongst a most musical family. Davis’s mother was an accomplished vocalist who sang in a chorus known as the Orange Majestic Singers and also played piano, as did her four brothers and her husband.
Davis began playing piano at a very young age and began his formal studies with Mrs. Dolores Tillary, wife of the Majestic Singers musical director Albert Tillary, eventually studying with Mr. Tillary himself. Later he studied the classics with Miss Zevia Reed, in preparation for a career as a concert pianist, but after hearing Billy Eckstine’s forward looking big band at Newark’s Adam Theatre and Harlem’s Apollo his interest in the European classical repertoire was replaced with a passion for the music of the nascent bebop movement.
While still a student at East Orange High School a classmate introduced Davis to Bud Powell, who took the young pianist under his wing. One of Davis’s first professional jobs was with bebop vocalist Babs Gonzalez’s Three Bips and a Bop group featuring both Powell and Thelonious Monk, the latter who became another important friend and mentor. Soon Davis was working with Charlie Parker at the Apollo Bar in Harlem.
A chance encounter with a teacher while was playing a club engagement with Bird in Newark resulted in the end of Davis’s academic pursuits and soon he was devoting himself to music full time. In 1952 he joined Max Roach’s group and the following year he made his recording debut on the drummer’s album The Max Roach Quartet featuring Hank Mobley for the musician owned record label Debut that Roach had formed with bassist Charles Mingus.
Thereafter Davis worked regularly in Harlem with a host of beboppers, often with Babs Gonzalez groups featuring the likes of Sonny Rollins, Kenny Dorham, Lucky Thompson and other pioneers of the new music. In 1956 he joined Dizzy Gillespie’s big band for its State Department tours of Europe and the Middle East. In ’58 he returned to Europe with Donald Byrd’s quintet featuring Belgian saxophonist/flutist Bobby Jaspar, Doug Watkins and Art Taylor, recording Byrd’s Jazz In Paris during the group’s residency in France.
Upon returning to New York he joined longtime friend Art Blakey as a member of his Jazz Messengers, fortifying the relationship that went back to the drummer’s early days with the Billy Eckstine band and would last the rest of the pianist’s life.
As was the case with many other great artists, Davis made his recorded debut in 1959 as a composer with Blakey and the Messengers, waxing his composition “Splendid” with the group, which also featured Lee Morgan and Wayne Shorter, on the band’s Blue Note album Africaine that sadly would not be released until two decades later.
Davis's profile in the jazz community increased greatly that year through his association with Blakey, a pair of recordings for Blue Note Byrd In Hand with trumpeter Donald Byrd, and New Soil with Jackie McLean. He also made his first appearance as leader on Blue Note with Davis Cup, which featured both Byrd and McLean on a program comprised completely of the Davis's original compositions.
He also appeared on drummer Art Taylor’s Taylor’s Tenors for Prestige and recorded again with Blakey on the Live Paris Concert album on which he gracefully steps away from the piano for two tunes to allow his friend and mentor Bud Powell to sit in with the group.
Davis worked regularly with Blakey into 1960 when drug problems that made touring difficult forced his departure from the band. He returned to record with the group the following year, contributing two new originals to the Messengers’ album Roots and Herbs, but unfortunately again his work with the group was to remain largely unknown until the album was released several years later.
The next year he recorded and performed with Betty Carter (‘Round Midnight) and Jackie McLean (Let Freedom Ring), while also working with Philly Joe Jones and leading his own group. He was largely absent from the jazz scene for the next several years, during which times he earned a living as a tailor/clothing designer and furniture craftsman, returning in 1966 to record a pair of albums for Prestige with Teddy Edwards and Sonny Criss.
He recorded again with Criss (Portrait of Criss) in 1967 and with Archie Shepp the next year (The Way Ahead), before embarking on another hiatus from the jazz scene to study music in India. His return to New York was marked by work with both Doctor John (Mac Rebennack) and the Rolling Stones.
Returning to the world of Jazz in 1972, he recorded again with Blakey (A Child’s Dance) and Shepp (Attica Blues), before joining the group of Sonny Rollins, (who himself was making a triumphant return from his famous second sabbatical from public performing), touring with the tenor titan through 1974 and appearing on his widely heralded Horn Culture album.
The following year he joined Blakey full time after missing the drummer’s Backgammon record date, to which he contributed the title track and another original, “Uranus,” the latter of which remained in the Jazz Messenger songbook for the remainder of the band’s existence. He recorded with group featuring special guest Sonny Stitt in 1975, remaining with Blakey through 1977, when he appeared on the classic Gypsy Folk Tales album, again contributing the date’s title tune.
In 1977 Davis recorded his album Illumination for the Japanese Denon label, his second date as a leader, nearly twenty years after his first effort as such. The session, which featured Blakey making a rare appearance as a sideman, and Tony Williams sharing drum duties, began a fruitful relationship with the high quality label, that included two more albums as a leader, Abide With Meand Night Song, as well as sessions with Sonny Stitt and Archie Shepp.
The decade of the eighties found Davis receiving long overdue deserved recognition. He worked regularly as a leader and with the Dizzy Gillespie Quintet and Philly Joe Jones’s group Dameronia, as well as various allstar alumni Jazz Messenger assemblages. He toured and recorded regularly as a leader for various European labels, including most notably the impressive trio date Scorpio Rising for Steeplechase.
Widely recognized at the time as the foremost interpreter of the music of Thelonious Monk and Bud Powell, along with Barry Harris, he appeared on various concerts paying tribute to the two piano greats, including performances at New York City’s the Town Hall and Lincoln Center and Washington, D.C.’s Kennedy Center. In light of his many accomplishments, it is remarkable that Davis’s stunning solo album In Walked Thelonious, recorded in 1989 for the independent Maple Shade label, was only his second date as a leader for an American record company.
Walter Davis, Jr. passed away June 2, 1990 in New York City. At the time of his death he was in the middle of an engagement, leading a duo at the Greenwich Village piano player’s mecca, Bradley’s. (Russ Musto/Jazz.com)
1. Just One Of Those Things (Cole Porter) - 7:20"
2. Ronnie's A Dynamite Lady (Walter Davis, Jr.) - 2:32"
3. Glass Enclosure (Walter Davis, Jr.) - 2:44"
4. Uranus (Walter Davis, Jr.) - 2:44"
5. Bloosy (Walter Davis, Jr.) - 3:15"
Walter Davis, Jr. - piano
Recorded live at CIAK, Milano, Italy, November 8, 1979
Released 1981. Palcoscenico Records PAL 15008
The Ark very proudly presents an exquisite review by Cheeba, blogland's prime soundological investigator and keeper of the Shack - I feel priviledged! Don't forget to thank him when you leave a comment!
"It's an honour to be asked to write a guest post for the Ark, especially since it meant I'd have a chance to listen to the Mel Dancy set Sherlock had recently acquired. Although it's a little too much on the e-z listening tip for him, he knew I was more attuned to the loungier side of the spectrum (i.e., I have dodgy taste and high tolerance for cheez) and asked if I would do the deed. Gladly says I! As a starting point for my investimigation, Inspector Arkadin passed along a link to Mel's website. It had some very basic info, a discography and exactly two pics of him. It was an easy task to find his up-to-date MySpace page with current gig schedules and more photos, confirming he's still active in the Miami area but it doesn't have much more in the way of biographical info. Further searching led to a jackpot in Marv Golberg's R&B Notebook on The Rivileers, a doo wop/R&B group of which Mel was a member in the 50s. Here's some background on Mel from an interview Marv conducted with him ca. 1996 for the article:
Mel had started his show business career by being Dizzy Gillespie's paper boy, and was always big into jazz: “When I was a kid, I used to shimmy down the drainpipe and take a bus to a train and get off at 52nd Street [the jazz capital of New York City]. Then with my mother's eyebrow pencil, I would paint a moustache on, and they would laugh ... and slip me into the club.”
“I was 17 years old,” says Mel, “and in the Jamaica High School choir, when they approached me because Gene Pearson was going in the service. So we used to go down to my basement and practice and learn all the old tunes. Then we started taking new tunes. We took '(I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons' and I did the arrangement on it. It was the first time, to my knowledge, that a modulation ever appeared in Rhythm and Blues. It was a three-tone modulation, which the McGuire Sisters covered exactly the way I envisioned it and the way we recorded it. That was actually my arrangement; it was done in my basement and it was out of my head. We were also doing 4 Freshmen tunes and were singing very good; we had very tight harmony.”
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As for Mel, “When I got out [of the Air Force], I thought I was gonna set the world on fire. I went on an amateur show in Harlem, and I didn't win!” In spite of this initial lack of success, Mel is the only one of the Rivileers who has made music his career. He became the singer with a band that was playing the Village Vanguard (in New York's Greenwich Village), toured Russia during the Nixon Administration, and was with a jazz aggregation called the Singin' Swingin' Zeniths. Says Mel, “I've never been anything but active in music.”
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Mel Dancy's career also included being the singer at the Hotel Edison in Manhattan; recording a jazz album for Bobby Shad's Mainstream Records; leading a Platters group that toured the world; appearing as “Lord Dancy,” the calypso singer on cruise ships; being in several episodes of Miami Vice; and having the part of Whitney Houston's piano player in the movie The Bodyguard. At the time this article was written, he was doing an eight-month stint as the piano player/singer at “Lord Jim's” at the Oriental Hotel in Bangkok, Thailand.
I've been charmed by big chunks of this album for a few weeks now, which really shouldn't come as much of a surprise. How could it not yield some great moments with personnel like Cornell Dupree, Gordon Edwards, Phil Bodner, Ray Barretto, Johnny Pacheco and George Devens under the aegis of Wade Marcus? Although the strings and arrangements can get a bit overpowering at times, under the dusting of powdered sugar there's still a fantastic crooner album with swinging moments à la Bennett or Sinatra. This is especially true on the killer reading of the title track given by him and the band. Even if he's not a top-tier vocalist, Dancy has a solid voice and can deliver a line with a wink as well as a tear. Being '72, the obligatory funk and soul elements creep out here and there ("See Saw" and "Wasn't It You") as well as the requisite countrypolitan soul ("Just Beginning To Feel The Pain") and a gospel closer. I'm more often than not left nonplussed by Marcus' arrangements but there are some great charts here and any fan of his sound would surely find this an enjoyable listen. Thanks to Arkadin for the opportunity to hear it and for filling another crack in the shad shack!" (Cheeba)
Side A
1. Just A Little Lovin' (2:56)
2. See-Saw (3:09)
3. Don't Give Up On Me (3:16)
4. Wasn't It You (3:06)
5. Beginning To Feel The Pain (3:02)
Side B
1. Let Me Do What I Want To Do (2:37)
2. The Years Of My Youth (4:37)
3. Day Star (3:49)
4. Fly With Me (Butterfly) (2:56)
5. This Time We'll Know Him (2:53)
Mel Dancy - Vocals
Paul Griffin - Acoustic & Electric Piano
Gordon Edwards - Bass
Jimmy Johnson - Drums
Cornell Dupree - Electric Guitar
Carly Lynch - Rhythm Guitar
Ray Barretto - Congas
Michael Collazo - Conga & Bongos
John Pacheco - Congas
George Devens - Percussion
Phil Bodner - Flute, Piccolo, Oboe
George Marge - Oboe
Aaron Rosand - Concert master
Violins - Norman Carr, Harry Glickman, Sanford Allen, Irving Spice, Max Hollander, Louis Stone, Peter Dimitriades, Paul Winter, Jack Zayde, James Tyron, Noel DaCosta
Celli - Maurice Brown, Seymour Barab, Alan Schulman, Maurice Bialkin
Violas - Theodore Israel, Archie Levin, Seymour Berman, Arnold Magnes, Harry Zaratzien
Produced by Bob Shad
Arranged & Conducted by Wade Marcus
Engineer - Roy Cicala
Photography - Joel Brodsky
Cover Design - MPI
Recorded at East Coast Record Plant last week of August and/or first week of October 1972
Although Dwike Mitchell and Willie Ruff have worked together as a duo for decades, their recordings have been sporadically available, including these early-'70s sessions first issued by Mainstream. Their program focuses exclusively on the works of Billy Strayhorn, who was so impressed with their performance at the now defunct Hickory House that he wrote "Suite for the Duo" specifically for them. Mitchell's solo interpretation of "Take the 'A' Train" is a virtuoso affair that suggests Oscar Peterson at times. Ruff's majestic French horn, with beautifully held long notes, is the centerpiece of "Passion Flower." The aforementioned "Suite for the Duo" is unlike anything else in Strayhorn's vast output, beginning with a strident prologue featuring French horn and piano, including a middle segment with a complex blues piano theme, and finishing dramatically with Ruff returning on French horn to join Mitchell. The flip side of the record focuses exclusively on well-known Strayhorn works, with a gorgeous solo piano arrangement of "Chelsea Bridge," an unusually slow but effective piano/French horn duet of "U.M.M.G.," a playful miniature of "Rain Check," and a haunting take of "Lush Life," the latter in which Ruff's French horn steals the show. While a few of these tracks have been compiled with various reissues of a 1971 concert by the Mitchell-Ruff Duo with Dizzy Gillespie, the full album has been unavailable since the demise of Mainstream. Highly recommended. (Ken Dryden/AMG)
Those who wish to savor the genius of Strayhorn should cop a very special new recording, Strayhorn: A Mitchell-Ruff Interpretation (Mainstream MRL 335). Almost everything about it is unusual. First of all, due recognition has evaded two fine artists heard here - Dwike Mitchell, a piano virtuoso and Willie Ruff, a bassist and one of the very few who can play jazz on the difficult French Horn. They have recorded infrequently and their finest album, The Catbird Seat (Atlantic 1374), is out-of-print though it wows all who hear it. Here they offer a sensitive and artistically superb rendition of Strayhorn's best-known works, including Lush Life and others mentioned here. More importantly, this album features a previously unknown suite for French horn and piano that the little one composed especially for this duo. It is exquisite in its simple beauty and the interpretation is quite worthy of the master who created it. (Phyl Garland/Ebony)
Side A
1. Take The 'A" Train - 4:28
2. Passion Flower - 5:24
3. Suite For The Duo - 12:23*
Side B
1. Chelsea Bridge - 4:23
2. Upper-Manhattan Medical Group - 3:50
3. Rain Check - 1:18
4. Lush Life - 6:25
Willie Ruff - bass & French horn Dwike Mitchell - piano
Recorded 1970/71, Hollywood (*Recorded 1969 at a memorial concert at Lincoln Center, New York)
Mainstream MRL 335. 1972
Sarah Vaughan's sole small-group recording with pianist Jimmy Rowles (aside from a pair of tribute albums to Duke Ellington in 1979) was recorded live at an unlisted location in 1974 for Mainstream. Although Rowles proves himself to be a consummate accompanist, and Vaughan is in her usual outstanding form, excessive reverb is used on several of the tracks, giving the album a somewhat cavernous sound. The singer's interest in a variety of material is evident, including chestnuts like "The Folks Who Live on the Hill," and W.C. Handy's "Morning Star," along with the then-current pop hit "A House is Not a Home" (which is strangely credited to a another pair rather than its actual composers, Burt Bacharach and Hal David), and Jimmy Rowles' campy collaboration with Johnny Mercer, "Frasier (The Sensuous Lion)." Tenor saxophonist Teddy Edwards and trumpeter Al Aarons join Vaughan and her quartet on three selections. This LP, which has only been reissued in Japan, is worth picking up, in spite of the questionable production. (Ken Dryden/AMG)
Side A
1. Folks Who Live On The Hill
2. That Face
3. That Sunday
Side B
1. A House Is Not A Home
2. Frasier
3. Morning Star
Sarah Vaughan - Vocals
Jimmy Rowles - Piano
Al Aarons - Trumpet
Donald Bailey - Drums
Monty Budwig - Bass
Teddy Edwards - Tenor Sax
Recording Date 1974
Release Date June 1975
Mainstream MRL 404
Just trying to post some rare, out-of-print, if not fine at least interesting (mainly jazz) records not yet available in blogland... I do not intend to ruin artists, their inheritors or even the music industry, so if one of the albums posted here is still available or available again mail me and I'll be a good boy and remove it!
