Thursday, October 11, 2012

Al Haig and Jimmy Raney - Special Brew

Al Haig Jimmy Raney Quartet - Special Brew
Spotlite LP


1 Freedom Jazz Dance
2 We'll Be Together Again
3 Marmaduke
4 Dolphin Dance
5 Blues for Alice
6 Shaw 'Nuff
7 Don't You Know I Care (Or Don't You Care to Know)
8 Just Friends

If I recall correctly this one was actually recorded a bit earlier than Strings Attached. Still Frank Gant on drums but Wilbur Little rather than Jamil Nasser. Another fine album, how could it be anything else?

My memory says that it was our dear departed Jazzman who contributed this rip. Even if it wasn't, I'm saying it was!

22 comments:

  1. this one in flac
    http://www.embedupload.com/?d=0FYDYHIDUT
    http://www.embedupload.com/?d=3GRHLNAIIJ

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  2. Thanks for sharing this, must have missed it the first time round

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  3. Don't remember seeing this on any of the late lamented Jazzman's blogs... I'm sure I would have jumped up and grabbed it!

    Thanks very much for sharing, KC.

    - der bajazzo

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  4. I've never seen this before either. Many thanks KC.

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  5. When I first met The Jazzman in the late 90's, this was an album I sent him from an LP I borrowed I think. Probably we got other copies later though. He posted it on his blog in 2010 and it is still there, sans links.
    I was puzzled not to have it in my collection though. Then I realized it is the same as "Strings Attached". Sorry to bear sad tidings, if so.

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  6. Look closer and you will se that isn't so, two songs are repeated but they are different versions, the bass player is different too - definitely two separate sessions

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  7. Yes, two quite different sessions and no duplication. You need them both if you are a Haig fan.

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  8. I stand corrected - good news! Thank you.

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  9. Looks like I'd assumed they were the same and renamed Special Brew as Strings Attached. Now downloaded both from here to make sure I get it right! Thanks again.

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  10. i've been forced )by the fact that it's so good) to listen to it a few times..special indeed..thanks

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  11. embedupload probably works for everybody but me? I've tried on two different posts, can't download any files so far. never had a problem ever with mediafire links or rapidshare links, but just not aware how to work the embedupload links .... yet....

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  12. @Wade - Don't know if you've tried this already but I always prefer RS if possible so I click on the Download RS button, then copy and paste the RS link shown into RS Manager.

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  13. very nice album,thank you very much from jerusalem

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  14. just paste the link into your browser window wade - you will see both rapidshare and mediafire links along with all the others

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  15. getting it now, thanks for the tips,
    and the post!

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  16. Always wanted to hear this one. Thank you!

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  17. Haig was a superb artist and a vile human being...I think I spoke to this during the original Haigfest, to which I also contributed, but for those who missed the discussion, read "Death of a Bebop Wife". I've never seen as dark and disturbing a portrayal of the life some of these musicians led, not just the habits, but the way they lived in squalor, the violence that permeated their lives. But then, there's the music......

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  18. Thanks, KingCake!

    Indeed this was Jazzman's rip.

    It is an interesting album for several reasons. Haig and Raney had recorded together on many sessions in 1948-1951, several of them with Stan Getz. But in 1974 both had just embarked om comeback careers after being away from the scene for many years.

    "Shaw 'Nuff" was recorded also on Al Haig's very first session in 1945 - with Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker! That's quite a start to a recording career. This album also features a couple of less frequently played Charlie Parker tunes, namely "Marmaduke" and "Blues For Alice". "Just Friends" is also heavily identified with Charlie Parker, being the most well-known of his "With Strings" sides.

    "Don't You Know I Care" is also not one of the more oft-played Ellington tunes. The Duke had recorded it on his first RCA Victor session after the infamous 1942-1944 record ban, but it soon disappeared from his repertoire, although he would occasionally revisit it in later years, including on his last recorded album "Eastbourne Performance" from 1973.

    Then we have "Freedom Jazz Dance" and "Dolphin Dance", showing that Haig and Raney didn't have to rely on tunes from the 40s, but were open to newer sounds as well.

    Another interesting aspect of this album is that is the only one, as far as I know, where Haig can be heard playing electric piano. Unlike some reviewers, I don't mind electric piano; I quite like the sound of it.

    What is odd though is that this album is in mono, or something very close to it. It is surprising considering that it is a studio album from 1974. It is not the fault of the rip, since I have heard another rip that is the same, and since one can hear pops and clicks in the left or right channel. I wonder if something went wrong with the recording process, and this could have something to do with the album only being released in 1976, and with Haig and Raney rerecording two of the same tunes again only a few months later on the "Strings Attached" album for Choice.

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