I’m no expert on Brit Jazz. And even this terrific tome prob’ won’t change that, on its own. But I bought it for several reasons: it’s simple aesthetic appeal, first and fivemost; to learn more about the evolution of Jazz, on these Septic Isles of ours; and, perhaps – time and funds permitting – to allow me to build a little collection of some of this music?
Endpaper memorabilia.There are some terrific covers.
I’m British, and I love and have even played quite a lot of jazz. So exploring the work of fellow jazz enthusiasts and musicians, this side of The Pond, seems quite natural. That said, as a consumer of mostly American jazz (and related forms), I have – like many ‘over here’, quite possibly? – pursued those interests in my own little bubble.
I ordered O’Donel Levy’s Breeding of Mind, from Japan. But it turned out they didn’t have it in s Asti k, at the time, after all. I’ll no doubt try again, soon.
Another album that was supposed to come from Japan, but didn’t, was an album featuring Groove Holmes and Jimmy McGriff. Mayhap I’ll try again with that’n n’ all?
I’ll try to get all of these on CD, as and when fundage allows.
Pretty much all of them appear to be available, currently, at cdsvinyljapan.com, where I’ve been getting most of the Mainstream, Groove Merchant, Flying Dutchmen releases – or in fact anything groovy, esp’ jazz wise, that I can’t find affordably via Amazon or Discogs – of late.
I’ve included links to those CDs under each entry. Just got to save up the shekels!
I’ve been digging Gadd’s immaculate grooving behind O’Donel Levy, on the superb Simba album a lot recently.
A fabulous album. Reissued on Mr Bongo.
This performance predates that. And to see Gadd so young – big ‘Fro, but no beard! – is wonderful. And to hear him? Even better.
What touch! What feel! Not super hard and heavy, but light, subtle. Just exactly right! The veritable Goldilocks zone.
This was shot the year I was born. And he’s still with us! What a legend. I’d love to know exactly what the performance was. Who with, etc. I would like to see the whole thing.
Aha!
LATER…
So, I found the above, on the YT channel of Dutch drummer, Ruben van Roon (quite a dude himself!).
Turns out it’s a quartet of Chuck Mangione (keys and flumpet) and Gerry Niewood (sax), with Tony Levin (bass) and Gadd. Poss’ performing at Montreux, ‘72?
I’ve been digging Gadd’s immaculate grooving behind O’Donel Levy, on the superb Simba album a lot recently.
This predates that. And to see Gadd so young – big ‘Fro, but no beard! – is wonderful. And to hear him? Even better.
What touch! What feel! Not super hard and heavy, but light, subtle. Just exactly right! The veritable Goldilocks zone.
The year I was born. And he’s still with us! What a legend. I’d love to know exactly what the performance was. Who with, etc. would like to see the whole thing.
I learned about this on an episode of Flog It, when a member of the public took their portfolio in, to be valued/sold.
The owner had very nearly sold her copy once before. Having been offered £1,000 for it. This time her portfolio of prints sold, at the televised auction, for £2,250!
Fortunately there are other more affordable modern reprints, such as this one, for just £12, and another by Dover publications, thT can also be found via Amazon (and elsewhere), that costs a bit more, but allegedly has bigger/better quality prints.
I did a two hour delivery shift this afternoon. Most welcome and useful, given the haemorrhaging of money out of my account, recently, keeping Flo’ on the road.
Sitting in our lovely garden now. Enjoying sublime sunny weather. Birds singing all around.
It’s tough, sometimes…A glimpse of the tiny pond…
I’ve been thinking about enlarging our tiny pond. Hmmm!? Tim kindly gave me some more pond liner. We shall see…
Dad’s b’day card…Inscription…Chester, enthroned, earlier in the day.
Dad’s birthday get together was fun. He treated us all to a Chinese takeaway. And we had a video call with Abbie and Dan over dinner and pressies…
New Faces… 1952 Horace Silver Q’tet 1 1955 Horace Silver Q’tet 2 1955 Silvers Blue, 1956 Six Pieces, 1956 ✓ Stylings Of… 1957 Further Explorations, 1958 Finger Poppin’ 1959 ✓ Blowin The Blues Away, 1959 ✓ Horace-Scope, 1960 Tokyo Blues 1962 ✓ Silver’s Serenade 1963 Song For My Father 1964 ✓ Cape Verdean Blues 1965 ✓ Jody Grind 1966 Serenade to a Soul Sis’ 1968 You Gotta Take a Little… 1969 That Healin’ Feelin’ 1970 Total Response 1971 All, 1972 27th Man 1973 ✓ Silver n Brass Silver n Wood Silver n Voices Silver n Percussion, 1977
In terms of material and performances this should’ve been a five star recording. And in terms of my enjoyment of the music, it very nearly is.
Butt… and it is, sadly, a rather large butt…
Sound quality is an issue. The mic’ on Bill Evans’ piano is either damaged, too close, or something similar (simply overloading on signal?), as there’s a degree of distortion on all the piano that is just bizarre.
Herbie’s flute and Chuck’s bass are well enough recorded. But Paul Motion’s drums are, on occasion, rather thin and distant. Not a good day for the studio engineers, this one!
And, alas… oh, woe is me. Or rather woe is all of us. Because, as already mentioned, this is a great date in terms of personnel and material. The performances are good. Possibly very good? But they’re definitely marred by the audio issues.
Most particularly the distorted piano.
I’m actually surprised by two things; that it was released at all. And that, in our ‘fix it in the mix’ age of digital wizardry, it hasn’t been cleaned up. I’m sure software exists nowadays that could significantly improve the sound.
Despite this, it still scores relatively high, for me. Because, whilst the distortion is an annoyance, the overall vibe of the album is terrific. This really comes close to Nirvana. I hope one day someone dies the decent thing, and restores the piano to a more pure pristine sound.
So, all in all, an oddity. A great album, sadly spoiled somewhat by a technical issue. But nevertheless worth having and enjoying.
There’s lots of both beauty and ugliness in life. So there should be plenty of both in Art, is Art is a reflection of life.
But maybe Art differs, somewhat, in that we may have more control (although that might be illusory?), and therefore the search for perfection that in Life can be tortuous, is perhaps more feasible in Art?
Anyway, I find that here I am, in my 50s, and still a fan of traditional Art forms, like drawing, painting, printmaking and sculpture.
Perhaps analogously, I still like records and CDs? I like to possess an object; the Thing is important!
