Jazz | Pint | Amok Amor

Tonight I planned to listen to selections from discs relating to an up coming session. The theme for November is "Jazz & Place" - which I'm leaning towards music that I have connection the place and the music. maybe something from Chicago which I've nailed down to a couple of options - Miles Davis 'Live at the Plugged Nickel 1965' (I lived a short walk from where the club once stood and it's one of my favourite recordings from Miles) or Ken Vandermark's 'The Midwest School' (I heard this group, Audio One, at the Green Mill in 2013 and this was recorded in 2014 at the same venue). And then there's NYC, and The Stone in particular - Connie Crothers and Bill Payne ('The Stone Set'), Richard Tabnik ('Symphony for Jazz Trio') or Connie Crothers Quartet with Mark Weber.... a tough choice! Plus there's Will Holhauser/Michael Moore/Han Bennink 'Live in NYC' not only a souvenir from that gig at Drom where I happened to run into Bastian Duncker (it's a reminder of the time I spent in Greece where I'd been a couple of months before playing music alongside Bastian). It all feels a little nostalgic tonight... maybe it's the chamomile tea?

But in the end, I went off script and ended up listening to Amok Amor - Petter Eldh (bass) Christian Lillinger (drums) Wanja Slavin (alto sax) and Peter Evans (trumpet) - and their high energy playing almost crushed any nostalgic feelings that were kicking about! Seriously though, this is a recent bandcamp purchase that I bumped into will looking into Lillinger. He's quite the drummer and worth price of admission alone, but everyone plays well, and it's a really cohesive quartet. Maybe not music I will return to a lot but when the moment strikes me it can hit the spot.

Music for Commuting: Miles Davis Quintet box set

Lets face it, the rumble of the road isn’t exactly the ideal listening environment, but it provided an interesting listening experience this past week or so as the Miles Davis Quintet box set accompanied the daily commute. Tony’s cymbals and snare on my right and Miles and Wayne to the left. Herbie made appearances mostly in the form of solo lines with some comping popping out here and there. While Ron’s presence was felt at times, there was very little in the way of clarity. Not exactly what I had in mind but it was great to be able to focus on the horn/drum pairings. Maybe I need to round things out and have a session or two to zone in on Ron and Herbie.

Call me old fashioned, but it's the first three discs that really appeal to me - before the introduction of the electric piano and bass. E.S.P and Miles Smiles are two of Miles’ albums I've listened to the most alongside the likes of Birth of the Cool, Kind of Blue and The Plugged Nickel recordings. Nefertiti isn’t too far behind either. The addition of guitar to the group has never really appealed to me. And although I hadn’t listened to those recordings for ages, I still haven’t warmed up to them - it just seems extraneous.

Miles Davis Quintet Prestige Sessions

Miles Davis – The Legendary Prestige Quintet Sessions

Maybe inspired by giving the Jimmy Giuffre 3 a or three spin a couple of weekends ago, last week I decided to revisit more music I hadn't listened to for a long time.

As an aspiring jazz musician it's pretty hard to pass by these recordings, and I definitely spent a fair amount of time with Cookin', Relaxin', Workin' and Steamin' – and of those I'm probably most familiar with Relaxin.' Over the years there's been the odd track here and there, but it's been a while that I've sit down and listened to them from start to finish. This set also includes The New Miles Davis Quintet (that I'm less familiar with) and a disc of live material (that is new to me but I only gave it a single run this week).

Phrasing, time feel, space, economy, conciseness, continuity – Miles' playing has an immediacy I find hard to resist. The way he plays the melody on “Diane” (love the sound of Philly Joe 's cymbal behind Miles), his solo break on “Surrey with the Fringe on Top,” the bubbly feel of his longer lines on “Oleo” (PC is totally on here too), the swinging simplicity of “Trane's Blues” and this open horn tone on “Woody'n You.” Sometimes I feel Miles overdoes the harmon mute. Aside from his great tone on the open horn it would have been nice to hear him use other style mutes. But this could be one of the disadvantages of listening to a box set I guess.

As before, I'm not really struck by Coltrane's playing on these recordings. Dare I say that, on the earlier tracks at least, in comparison to Miles, he sounds labored (things pick up a bit on “Four” and “Salt Peanuts” “Airegin”). Although, as usually happens when I listen to Coltrane, I warm a little to his playing throughout the week. But for me, it still misses the mark. And how about his blend with Miles on the head of “Stablemates”?... the intonation gives the piece an interesting vibe. But Coltrane is the foil to Miles, and the contrast is part of what makes Miles' playing so effective. Would it work as well if it was a trio with P.C and Philly Joe? (Actually I think it would.... why didn't they do that?!)

Garland has his moments “Oleo” sounds like he's channeling Lennie Tristano (there are hints on “Well You Needn't” too). And his playing (comping and solo) on “Surrey with the Fringe on Top” is on point. I didn't remember Garland's chord solos - “There Is No Greater Love”, “Something I Dreamed Of Last Night” and “When Lights Are Low” - and in general, I preferred them to his line playing. So while he never really grabbed me as a soloist, his comping is an important component of the overall band sound and he locks in well with Chambers and Jones.

In general, during the piano and tenor solos I found my concentration moving towards the bass and drums. This week has been a reminder of how much I enjoy Philly Joe's playing (had I forgotten....?)

Philly Joe's tone enjoying it more than I remembered – the variety he gets from the cymbals and snare, and a nice deep brush sound too. And then there's the effortless flow and pop of Chambers' walking lines – they just go and go and go.

As with the Giuffre disc, I've enjoyed revisiting these recordings, and across the week it reinforced some of my earlier memories of this music. Much like before, my ear was drawn to the playing of Miles and the combination of Chambers and Philly Joe. For me, these recordings aren't ones I reach for to hear my favourite soloists (Miles being the exception), but it's the overall band sound of these recordings that hit the spot.

Miles Davis Blindfold Test

Down Beat split the Miles Davis "Blindfold Test" over two issues (June 13 &27, 1968) giving Miles plenty of room to share his opinions with Leonard Feather . Click on the image to view PDF of part 1 and part 2. More vintage magazine articles are available here.

Stan Getz Blindfold Test

From May 10, 1973, Stan Getz takes Down Beat's "Blindfold Test." Dan Morgenstern tests Getz with tracks by Chick Corea, Dexter Gordon, Lee Konitz, Miles Davis and even a track by Getz (from 25 years earlier). More vintage magazine articles are available here.

The Plugged Nickel

The Plugged Nickel circa late 1960s 
(excuse the glare on my photo).
The Sigmund J. Osty collection - Chicago History Museum 

One of my fellow interns at the Chicago History Museum is working on processing a collection photographs of buildings from across Chicago. As she was working her way through them I spotted this jazz-related gem taken sometime in the late 60s/early 70s - the Plugged Nickel at 1321 N. Wells Street (a short walk from the Museum).

I've been keeping my eye out for the Complete Live at the Plugged Nickel 1965 box set. Used copies are so expensive that sometimes I almost succumbed to getting the digital version, but I managed to hold out until I found it reasonably priced last week (although it has been put aside for a Christmas present). Many consider the recordings Miles' quintet made at the Plugged Nickel to  be classics and an essential part of any jazz collection, and it would be nice to see the box set available again in a physical format (seems more likely it will be as vinyl).

As it appears in September 2016

While hunting online for articles regarding the club, I came across the article below from the Chicago Tribune (May 17, 1981) in which Larry Kart ponders why Columbia haven't reissued the Plugged Nickel LP in the U.S....I know the feeling.

Saturday Afternoon Listening

These three albums keep my wife and I company as we attempted to get some work done this afternoon. All-in-all they made for a nice mix.

Marilyn Crispell - Storyteller (ECM)
I've listened to this album a few times this week. The trio (with Mark Helias (b) Paul Motian (d)) have very unified sound. It may seem mellow and sleepy but there is a nice energy that underpins the album (and occasionally bursting through). I particularly like Motian and Crispell combination.

Miles Davis - In A Silent Way (Columbia)
I had been a while since I had given this a spin. I can't really work out why but it worked surprisingly well bridging the first and third albums here.

New York Jazz Collective - Everybody Wants to Go to Heaven (Naxos)
The second album from this sextet has some very nice writing for three horns (trumpet, trombone, sax/clarinet) and rhythm section. By the time this one over, my attention for school work had begun to falter (hence this blog post).

Miles Davis Kind of Blue - Original Down Beat Review

Miles Davis' Kind of Blue was released on this day back in 1959. Here's the five-star review that appeared Down Beat (Oct 1 1959). Seems like it hit the ground running, I wouldn't mind checking out a few other reviews to see what the consensus was at the time of the albums release. Earlier this year Jazz Wax wrote about Bill Evans' liner notes for Kind Of Blue and included the drafts written in Evans' hand. 
More vintage magazine articles can be found here.

The Enigma of Miles Davis - Down Beat January 7 1960

For Miles' birthday (b.1926) here is Barbara Gardner's feature The Enigma of Miles Davis from the January 7, 1960 issue of Down Beat magazine. Click on image below to view PDF of the full article. Enjoy.
Links to all the vintage magazine articles I've posted can be found here.

Impact Records: Miles Davis - Birth of The Cool

It's been a while since added to this series of the blog. Here are the previous entries - Kings of Swing, Kind Of Blue, Charlie Parker, Billie and Pres, Out To Lunch.

I'm not sure what led me to this album. Perhaps someone mentioned it to me or I read about it somewhere. This was early in 1999 during my first year at music schools and hitting the library was almost part of the daily routine (I lived just a couple of blocks away). Sometimes I was there for something specific, other times I would just choose albums at random. Either way, I returned home from one of my many visits to the library with a stack of CDs to listen to and in amongst them was Miles Davis' Birth Of The Cool. The first track "Move," grabbed my attention - this was a different sound from the ensemble. But the thing that really made me pay attention was the alto saxophone solo. So this was Lee Konitz - a name I had come across but had yet to hear. A personal approach to the horn - tone, phrasing, time, the line. This album got a lot of air time that week/month and at times I would just loop Konitz's solos. Not long after hearing Birth Of The Cool (maybe the same week) I was exposed to him again during one of our Improvisation classes. Our teacher (Hi Nick!) talked about Konitz's 10-step method and played us "All The Things You Are" and "Too Marvelous For Words" from Konitz Meets Mulligan. I purchased this album not long after with money from playing on the street [This was how I funded most of my CD purchases during my time at music school… I enjoyed the expression on their faces as I handed over $20-$30 in change]. Not long after that was Lennie Tristano/Warne Marsh Intuition (the reissue of Tristano's Capitol Recordings and a Marsh session from the 50s) and Konitz's Subconscious-Lee, which I had to special order and it was expensive. I'll probably write a bit on those albums in the future.
During my first visit to NYC (April 2002) I heard concert by a college faculty band playing the Birth Of The Cool charts. I can't remember what school but John Faddis was on trumpet, I think Jim Snidero was on alto and John Riley on drums - I'm sure I have it written down in a notebook somewhere. I took me a little while to get the live recordings once they were issued. I haven't listened to them in a while so maybe I'll head there next.

Impact Records: Miles Davis "Kind of Blue"

Part Two of the ongoing series of records that made an impact on me as a young musician. Read Part One Here.

Recommended by my first saxophone teacher, "Kind of Blue" was the first jazz album I purchased (as seems to be the case with many budding jazz musicians).  I liked the saxophones but they were too darn fast for me! Miles' playing stood out and eventually I started playing along with bits and pieces of his solos - his solo on "So What" must rank high on the list of 'most transcribed solos'... though I didn't write out the solos I tried learning from records. Along the way I tried picking up bits & pieces from Coltrane and Adderley too.
The couple of listenings I have given it this week have been the first for a while. In fact, I don't remember listening through the entire album in a sitting since the initial listening after replacing the original cassette (!) with CD some years ago. This week my ears have been drawn to the rhythm section - Cobb's ride cymbal, the chordal work and comping of Evans, and the simplicity and clarity of Chambers. There's something about the running time of LPs that I enjoy - not too long, not too short. It seems many people feel the need to fill the 80 minutes of a cd when often it's not necessary. Perhaps with vinyls revival and digital domination this will change.