COVID-19 Lockdown: Day 26

There was a little Sal listening over the weekend. Friday night, the duo tracks from Lee Konitz’ 1971 album Spirits had a spin and on Sunday night Jimmy Halperin’s Pslam had a run too. This morning I returned to Ruckus: Live at CJC (Creative Jazz Club Aotearoa) and my mood was such that I could focus in more that last week. I hadn’t heard any of DavidWard’s music in a long time and I really enjoyed re-connecting with it. He brings a slight quirky, fun approach to his music which went down well during the early start on Monday morning. Dave never was one for playing millions of notes, and this still seems to be the case. Not afraid of letting lines breathe is something that I’m aware of but that doesn’t mean it always happens! Nice band too – anything with John Bell (vibes) and Chris O’Connor (drums) is going to interest me. Rui Inaba (bass) was new to me and he slots in well. Nice sounding live recording too.

Following that, I wrapped up Sal Mosca’s Too Marvelous for Words with disc 5, containing the remainder of the Rotterdam concert and the Maastricht concert June 24 1981. In addition to some lines by Sal and Lennie Tristano, unsurprisingly, the repertoire across the five discs is drawn from the great American songbook (“Donna Lee” and “Hot House” get a couple of runs each too). He doesn’t really favour a particular tune “A Family Song” and “You Go To My Head” appear three times each, and plenty appear twice, but the set list stays pretty fresh concert to concert. Do I have a favourite concert? Well, I need to spent more time with the recordings and eventually one may stick with me a bit more than the others. Over the past several years I’ve moved away from playing standards. I still enjoying listening to them though and there’s no guarantee I won’t return to them at some stage. This set of discs serves as a lovely reminder of how much music can be extracted from these gems (and just how great Sal was).

COVID-19 Lockdown: Day 23

I will admit to being a little zoned-out as David Ward’s Ruckus: Live at CJC was playing this morning. End of the week tiredness or hangover from yesterdays kick in the guts? I’m not sure.... perhaps a bit of both? Anyway, it deserves more attention than I gave it, so I will return to it next week.

Along with a very welcome cup of tea, I followed up Ruckus with my daily fix of Too Marvelous For Words - Disc 4: De Doelen Hall, Rotterdam 20 June, 1981. This concert is notable as it features Sal’s own pieces more than the other concerts of the tour. In fact, the first ten pieces are Sal’s lines/compositions. It’s a treat getting to hear them back to back, and it brings a different vibe to the disc. It lifted my spirits somewhat, but it has been a long day.

Something about listening to all these pieces by Sal made me want to bust out Psalm – Jimmy Halperin’s duo album with Sal. It might get a run later tonight unless it is bumped by Sal's duo with Lee - Spirits. We'll see, but I'm sure both will get a run shortly.

Of Sal’s solo recordings (probably my favourite setting for Sal), I have listened to A Concert and Trickle the most. For You and Sal Mosca Music are off limits until I deal with my lack of a turntable situation.

COVID-19 Lockdown: Day 22

After another early morning round of Steve Cournane’s Dancing Queen kicked off week 3 of the pandemic lockdown. Then it was onto disc 3 of Too Marvelous For Words – Sal Mosca at Utrecht, 21 June, 1981. How about the chord solos on “Prelude to a Kiss” and “There Will Never Be Another You”? Sal had a sense of harmony second to none. He can be quite the romantic too, perhaps more so than others associated with Lennie Tristano. On studying with Sal Mosca, Larry Bluth wrote in the liner notes “The most basic material began to take on aspects I never knew existed.” I had a similar experience during my studies with Richard Tabnik and Connie Crothers. If fact, when people asked me what I worked on in my lessons, they often gave a puzzled look when I answered.... a kind of, “is that it?” look. Yeah, that’s it.

Then came the sad news of Lee Konitz’ passing. I clearly remember hearing Lee for the first time. It was Birth of the Cool. A pivotal moment in my life. Things would be very different had I not heard that when I did. I'll leave it there for now while I listen to Birth of the Cool.

COVID-19 Lockdown: Day 21

The morning kicked off with Steve Cournane’s Dancing Queen. The album is comprised of three trio sessions from September 2006, with Cournane joined by Roger Manins (ts) & Tom Callwood (b), Jonathan Crayford (keys) & Patrick Bleakly (b), and Joe Callwood (g) & Tom Callwood. Plenty of variety helped the morning cruise along - reggae grooves (“Plesmograph”), standards (“Alone Together”, “Evidence”) some calypso-type tunes of Steve’s (“There Will Always Be Rain”, “Toot & Repollo”), dark ballad (“John Karaitiana”) and even some ABBA (“Dancing Queen”.... and it actually works). Looking forward to giving this more air time.

Then it was onto disc 2 of Too Marvelous for Words – Sal at Concertgebouw, Amsterdam 21 June, 1981. I like that Sal’s friends/associates write the liner notes - Dick Hyman, Jimmy Halperin, Connie Crothers, Larry Bluth and Kazzrie Jaxen take one disc each. And Don Messina’s passion for the project comes through in the introduction (great work putting this together Don – thanks!). As usual, I listen to the disc at least once before reading the notes. At lunch I read Kazzrie’s notes and the first thing she mentions is Sal’s opening line on “I Never Knew” (which opens the disc) – something that leapt out at me too (and I'm sure it would grab anyone's attention). Of course there’s the influence of Tristano and the Sal’s early influence, Art Tatum, but I also hear some of the quirky, surprising twists and turners of Earl Hines’ solo work. That said, Sal is his own man and Too Marvelous for Words is distinctly Sal Mosca.

COVID-19 Lockdown: Day 20

Root 70 kept me company as I toured their discography during the start of the lockdown. Now I’m on tour with Sal Mosca, a disc a day from Too Marvelous for Words – a 5-CD set documenting solo concerts in the Netherlands during June, 1981. This was spurred on by our listening group. Unable to meet this month due to the pandemic lockdown, we are exchanging emails. One of the topics was artists born in April. I picked Sal (27 April, 1927-28 July, 2007) and as I hadn’t listened to his work in a little while.... here we are. 

Box sets can pose a problem, as you can easily overload or skim over things. I tried to stretch it out to a disc a week when I first got hold of the set back in 2016. And I think that helps. This week is the condensed version, and as I’m working these recordings definitely won’t receive the attention they deserve but I’m enjoying having Sal in the room nonetheless. Anyway, I kicked things off with disc 1: The Hague, 19 June, 1981.

Jazz April: week 4 listening

Don Cherry: Complete Communion (Blue Note)
It had been quite a while since I last gave this spin, and the passing of Gato Barbieri was my prompt. Listening to this a few times throughout the week made wonder why I haven't listened to this album more over the years. The music free yet well grounded and compositionally strong - the album features two 20 minute suites each comprised of 4 parts. Solid playing from all - Henry Grimes and Ed Black are a great rhythm section pairing, Barbieri seems to take a lead from Ornette and then shifts it into his own areas, and it nicely compliments Cherry's playing. Definitely worth checking out if you haven't already.

Yusef Lateef: Eastern Sounds (Prestige) & Into Something (Prestige)
Of these two albums recorded in 1961, my preference was leaning slightly towards the latter. The rhythm section (Herman Wright and Elvin Jones) kick things along a bit more. It's a little more straight ahead and has less variety than (3 blues, a rhythm changes and 3 standards) Eastern Sounds, and perhaps that was the mood I was in the couple of times I listened to the album this week. Later in the week I gave Eastern Sounds another run and got more into it. The variety is its strength but I could help wondering how the album would sound with the Wright/Jones rhythm section. Barry Harris is on both albums but, outside of the standard tunes, I don't feel he was best suited for this music. His comping is fine, but I haven't been able to get into is improvising. One thing that hung with me from these two albums was Lateef's tenor tone on the ballads.

John Coltrane: A Love Supreme (Impulse)
More specifically The Complete Masters Super Deluxe Edition..... and even more specifically the six takes of "Acknowledgement" from the sextet session. That they didn't get past the opening movement is telling, and the additional saxophone (Archie Shepp) and bass (Art Davis) seems superfluous. However, how would we react to these sextet tracks had we not heard the original work (or if it never existed)?

Sal Mosca: Too Marvelous for Words (Cadence)
Disc 4 is from a concert in Rotterdam and showcases 10 originals by Mosca (the disc ends with "You Got To My Head"). Sal's virtuosity is in service of the music rather than pyrotechnic wizardry. Tour de force doesn’t seem apt as he makes it seem so effortless. Lets hope that this set (and last years release on Sunnyside The Talk of the Town) brings Sal some well overdue attention. 

Don Cherry: "Mu" first part/"Mu" second part (Actuel)
After giving the above Cherry album a couple of runs, I pulled out this duo with Ed Blackwell. Whenever I hear this album I get the feeling that it's just a couple of friends who got together to play some music and decided to record it (there's a casualness about it that appeals to me). As I closely listen to Blackwell, the more I enjoy his playing.

Ned Rothenberg's Sync: Port of Entry (Intuition)
Aside from being a fan of Rothenberg, the instrumentation of Sync was what drew me to this group - alto sax/clarinets/shakuhachi along with Jerome Harris (acoustic guitar & bass) and Samir Chatterjee (tabla & percussion). Although this one deserves more listens, my initial impression left me wanting for a bit space and I wanted to like it more than I did. Since recording this back in the 1997/98, Sync have recorded a couple more albums and I'm keen to hear how they developed.

Jazz April: week 2 listening

Plenty more jazz sounds bouncing around the apartment this week.
Yusef Lateef: 1984 (Impulse)
I had been on the lookout for this one for a while now (due to the presence of Mike Nock) and picked it up as part of a 2-for-1 reissue paired with The Golden Flute. There's a lot of variety here - straight up blowing of "Soul Sister," oboe and flute exotica of "Try Love," the juxtaposition of "One Little Indian," the balladry of "Warm Fire" and the searching title track - makes for a very interesting album.

Quest: Circular Dreaming (Enja)
For those unfamiliar, Quest is the long-standing group of David Liebman, Richie Beirach, Ron McClure and Billy Hart and here they focus on tunes of the 60s quintet of Miles Davis (with two thirds of the tunes coming from Wayne Shorter). And while it may be a tribute album, Quest have developed a band sound (over the past 35 years) that places a personal stamp the music. Later in the week I gave some of the tracks back-to-back listens with the original recordings by Miles' group.

Sal Mosca: Too Marvelous for Words (Candence)
This week it has been disc 3 as I make my way through the 5 disc set. I think solo piano is my preferred setting to hear Mosca - and he's really on form throughout this entire set. We're lucky he made a number of solo recordings (Sal Mosca Music, A Concert, For You, Trickle, Recital in Valhalla). Check out the opening chorus of "There Will Never Be Another You" - too marvelous indeed.

Marilyn Crispell & David Rothenberg: One Dark Night I Left My Silent House (ECM)
A very nice set of 13 improvisations between bass clarinet/clarinet and piano (with some percussion). I got this on a whim recently mostly due to my interest in duos. While I'm somewhat familiar with Crispell (having heard her live and on a few albums), I hadn't heard Rothenberg before and found the two paired well. The improvisations contain strong melodic content and a nice amount of space making for a very enjoyable album.

Charlie Haden & Hank Jones: Steal Away (Verve)
I felt like something mellow and melodic, and this album of spirituals, hymns and folk songs hit the spot. If I have one complaint about this album, it is the way the piano recorded.... it seems muted or watery.

Lenny Popkin is a favorite of mine (great sound and lines and so relaxed) and this week I had a session listening to a selection of tracks from his trio albums (LP on tenor throughout with bassists Rich Califano, Eddie Gomez and Gilles Naturel and drummers Peter Scattaretico, Carol Tristano and Philippe Soirat).

317 East 32nd {originally released on Choice as Falling Free} "Dreaming" and "Everything Reminds Me of You"

Lenny Popkin (Lifeline Records): "Trio" and "I Surrender Dear"

New York Moment (Paris Jazz Productions): "Origin" and "Another Time"
Live at Intone Festival (PAO): "Out of Nowhere" and "When You're Smiling"
Time Set (Lifeline Records): "Call" and "Circular Logic" (the latter features multi-tracked solo saxophone)

Jazz April: week 1 listening

Here's a rundown of my listening over the past week.

Wayne Shorter: Speak No Evil (Blue Note) Of Shorter's albums, I'm most familiar with this one but I'm still giving it attention as I make my through his work on Blue Note (one album per month). It had been a while since I last gave this a spin. Top playing, great tunes and a stellar line-up. Hard to go wrong really.

Steve Swell: Kende Dreams (Silkheart)
Released last year (I picked it up last week) the presence of Connie Crothers made this a must-have and it hasn't disappointed. The album features interesting tunes (all by Swell) and a very cohesive group [Swell (trb) Crothers (p) Rob Brown (as) William Parker (b) Chad Taylor (d)]. The improvising and accompaniment from all involved is dynamic. This one is set for many more listens. Recommended.

Jochen Rueckert: Introduction (Jazzline)
I'll keep things very brief as I am planning to write about this one at some stage. My accidental introduction to the world of Hayden Chisholm.

Ran Blake: Film Noir (Arista)
I picked up this one (along with two others) when Blake played at Constellation at the end of last month. Recorded in 1980 (reissued late last year) and comprised of varying line-ups from solo to 11 piece ensembles, this album sounds remarkably fresh.

Sal Mosca: Too Marvelous For Words (Cadence)
I've been listening to disc 2 from this 5 disc set of a 1981 concert tour of the Netherlands. A "must have" for Mosca fans but I urge pianists and fans to solo piano to check out this album. I remember Don Messina's enthusiasm as he told me about this upcoming release (6 months or so before its release) and I can hear why - staggering stuff.

Yusef Lateef: Before Dawn (Verve)
I've been meaning to check out more of Yusef Lateef and now I'm finally getting around to it having picked up a few albums (including this one) recently. I only managed to have one listen to it this week but the bluesy-bop brought to mind my friend Johnny Lippiett.

A few different versions of Thelonious Monk's song "Jackie-ing" have been getting a run. 5 by Monk by 5 (Riverside) and The London Collection (Black Lion) got me started. I can't think of a better Charlie Rouse solo on the former (Thad Jones is excellent too) and the latter is a great solo rendition with a different feeling to the quintet recording. Steve Lacy's More Monk has been another source too.

More Bedside Listening

John Carter & Bobby Bradford Quartet: Flight for Four (Flying Dutchman) This album has been sitting on my "to listen to" pile and I finally got around to it. Mark Weber put me onto this quartet and I'm glad he did (Mark recently posted on John Carter here).

Sal Mosca: The Talk of the Town - Live at the Bimhaus (Sunnyside) This 2CD set of live solo piano from 1992 released earlier this year is an absolute gem. Wonderfully recorded, the album has a very intimate feel - it's almost as if you are a fly-on-the-wall in Sal's studio. Be on the lookout for more Mosca - I understand a box set is due out towards the end of the year. Hopefully these releases will bring more attention to a very underrated pianist.

Dizzy Gillespie: Perceptions (Verve) Earlier in the year I was checking out recordings associated with the Third Stream and I came across Perceptions. The music was written by J.J Johnson and Gunther Schuller conducts a brass ensemble, harps and rhythm section as they back Gillespie. The suite showcases the lyrical side of Dizzy's playing that many don't associate with him (myself included). I finally found a copy in August (at the Jazz Record Mart) and over the past month it has been getting some airtime.

Sonny Rollins: Rollins Meets Hawk! (RCA) I hadn't listened to this album for years and I have to say I've really enjoyed getting back into it. I first heard this album back in '99 when Norman Meehan played it to our jazz history class, not really for Sonny & Hawk, but for Paul Bley (check out Norm's book with Bley - Time Will Tell). Bley is outstanding and although I know people who don't really dig Rollins' here, I'm enjoying it. A bunch of live Rollins quartet recordings with Don Cherry are now available and I'm looking forward to checking them out (eventually!).

Thelonious Monk: Brillant Corners (Riverside) I have been learning a few of Monk's melodies and this was one of the recordings I listened to while working on "Pannonica." This may well be my favourite Monk album. Another album I hadn't listened to for ages and I had forgotten how much I enjoyed Ernie Henry's contribution on alto.

Spring Time Listening

Lacy: N.Y Capers & Quirks

Here are a few discs that have been on over the last few weeks.

Steve Lacy: NY Capers & Quirks (HatOlogy 1979)
If you asked, I would likely answer that Lacy's trios are my favourites from his vast discography with this live album near the top. The trio - Lacy (soprano sax) Ronnie Boykins (b) Dennis Charles (d) - sound great playing all Lacy tunes. Plenty of energy  and creative playing from all.

Bley: Notes on Ornette

Paul Bley: Notes on Ornette (Steeplechase 1998)
Bley (p) Jay Anderson (b) Jeff Hirshfield (d) One Bley original and a handful of Ornette tunes. This disc was new to me and has had multiple listens. Worthwhile checking out if you have and interest in Coleman or Bley.

This led me to revisit a couple of Bley's earlier discs  - "Footloose!" (Savoy 1963) with Steve Swallow (b) Pete LaRoca (d) and "Closer" (ESP Disk 1965) with Swallow (b) Barry Altschul (d). Both are excellent and recommended. I was introduced to Bley's work by one of my lectures - Norman Meehan - who went on to write "Time Will Tell: Conversations with Paul Bley." I rate Bley highly - a distinctive pianist and one of my favorites.

Warne Marsh & Sal Mosca: Quartet (1 & 2) (Zinnia)
Have been listening to a couple of very nice ballads from the these to volumes of live recordings at the Village Vanguard in 1981 "Shak' In-Out" (Improvising on Body & Soul) and "Way In There" (You Go To My Head).  The latter is one of my favourite Warne Marsh performances. Sal Mosca is in fine form too. These recordings are fairly lo-fi but well worth listening to for those interested in Mosca & Marsh.