Rex Stewart - Rendezvous With Rex

This interesting and well-rounded LP has two separate sessions originally cut for the Felsted label. Cornetist Rex Stewart is fiery on the first date, jamming on a trio of his worthy but obscure originals (when was the last time anyone played "Tillie's Twist" or "Tell Me More?") with trombonist George Stevenson, Haywood Henry (on clarinet and baritone), tenorman George Kelly, either Willie "The Lion" Smith or Dick Cary on piano, bassist Leonard Gaskin and drummer Arthur Trappier; Stewart takes a pleasant vocal on "My Kind of Gal." The three numbers from the later date have moody arrangements by Cary (who doubles on trumpet) and find Stewart in a septet with Hilton Jefferson (heard on clarinet and alto), clarinetist Garvin Bushell (whose bassoon work makes the date most memorable), guitarist Everett Barksdale, bassist Joe Benjamin and drummer Mickey Sheen. Superior music that will hopefully resurface on CD someday. - Scott Yanow/ AMG

Felsted FAJ 7001
1958

A1   Tillie's Twist
A2   Pretty Ditty
A3   Tell Me More
B1   Danzon D'amor
B2   My Kind Of Gal
B3   Blue Echo

Alto Saxophone – Hilton Jefferson (tracks: A2, B1, B3)
Baritone Saxophone – Haywood Henry (tracks: A1, A3, B2)
Bass – Joe Benjamin (tracks: A2, B1, B3), Leonard Gaskin (tracks: A1, A3, B2)
Bassoon – Garvin Bushell (tracks: A2, B1, B3)
Clarinet – Garvin Bushell (tracks: A2, B1, B3), Haywood Henry (tracks: A1, A3, B2), Hilton Jefferson (tracks: A2, B1, B3)
Cornet – Rex Stewart
Drums – Arthur Trappier (tracks: A1, A3, B2), Mickey Sheen (tracks: A2, B1, B3)
Guitar – Everett Barksdale (tracks: A2, B1, B3)
Piano – Dick Cary (tracks: A2, B1, B2, B3), Willie "The Lion" Smith (tracks: A1, A3)
Tenor Saxophone – George Kelly (tracks: A1, A3, B2)
Trombone – George Stevenson (tracks: A1, A3, B2)
Trumpet – Dick Cary (tracks: A2, B1, B3)
Vocals – Rex Stewart (tracks: B2)

Freddie Hubbard - Sweet Return (1983) [vinyl]

I haven't seen a CD reissue of this outside of Japan?

Review by Richard Palmer, Jazz Journal, July 1984:

The title is apt. It commemorates not only Freddie's return to Atlantic after an absence of 12 years, but also a reunion with the kind of material and approach that originally established him as a major jazz talent.
Just a glance at the personnel tells you most of what you need to know about the music on the date, which is predictably wonderful, and also richly varied in its challenges. Gomez is simply awesome — at home in every context, his vast sound propelling everything and everyone, and his solos are models of imagination and structure. Brackeen contributes the date's most ambitious composition, Heidi-B, and I find her rollicking work on the joyous Calypso particularly noteworthy. Tabackin is equally convincing on both tenor and flute, and it is especially nice to hear his talents spread so richly in a smaller ensemble. And as for Haynes ... he just seems to get better and better, a master of controlled and sympathetic aggression, and still one of the greatest practitioners of brushes. Freddie himself is in absolute top form here. Whether it be his happy bubbling on Calypso, his darkly romantic reading of Misty, or his richly creative excursions on both tracks on the second side, this date proves with every note that he is indisputably one of jazz's true heavyweights. By no means miss this one.

1. Sweet Return
2. Misty
3. Whistling Away The Dark
4. Calypso Fred
5. Heidi-B
6. The Night Has A Thousand Eyes

Freddie Hubbard (t); Lew Tabackin (ts/fl); Joanne Brackeen (p); Eddie Gomez (b}; Roy Haynes (d); Hector Manuel Andrade (perc).
NYC, June 13 & 14, 1983.

Herbie Mann - Glory Of Love (1967) [vinyl>flac]

Flutist Herbie Mann is backed by a large rhythm section and a small horn section on this Creed Taylor-produced A&M set (which has been reissued on CD). Actually the most interesting aspect of the R&B-oriented date (which includes such songs as "Hold on, I'm Comin'," "House of the Risin' Sun" and "Unchain My Heart") is that the up-and-coming flutist Hubert Laws is matched with Mann on several tracks.  ~ by Scott Yanow, AMG.

This album is from Taylor's A&M period, and fronted by flautist Herbie Mann, it features a stellar line-up of soul-jazz studio musicians. There's a lot of pop soul here, and a sampling of the latin styles that both Mann and Taylor were known for. You'll find young Roy Ayers and Sonny Sharrock here (dig Ayers' awesome vibes solo on the cover of soul hit "The Letter" for a virtual blueprint of his Ubiquity sound). Listen to Ayers and Sharrock duet on the cover of "Hold On I'm Coming" over the unrelenting funk of Grady Tate on drums. Edu Lobo's "Upa Neguinho" gets a terrific treatment. The title track is pure CTI schmalz. And capitalizing off Taylor's eye for turning adult pop hits into jazz is "Love Is Far Stronger than We" covered from the A Man And A Woman soundtrack. "Oh How I Want To Love You" is a slinky sexy grind of a song, and, gasp, actually a Herbie Mann original.

CTI/A&M, SP-3003, 1968

Recorded 26^th (#A1,A3,A4,A5,B3), 27^th (#B4) July; 19^th (#B1) September;
6^th (#A2,A6,B2) October, 1967 at Van Gelder Studios, New Jersey

Track Listing:

A1. No Use Crying {Roy Gaines, Freddie Kober, Johnnie Daniels} (3:03)

A2. Hold On, I'm Coming {Isaac Hayes, David Porter} (3:11)

A3. Glory Of Love {Billy Hill} (2:41)

A4. Unchain My Heart {Freddy James, Agnus Jones} (3:09)

A5. House Of The Rising Sun {Traditional} (3:08)

A6. The Letter {Wayne Carson} (3:22)

B1. Upa, Neguinho {Edu Lobo, Gianfrancesco Guarnieri} (2:40)

B2. Love Is Stronger Far Than We {Pierre Barouh, Francis Lai, Jerry Keller} (3:10)

B3. Oh, How I Want To Love You {Herbie Mann} (5:31)

B4. In And Out {Herbie Mann} (4:33)

Personnel:

Herbie Mann - Flute

Hubert Laws - Flute, Piccolo Flute (#A1,A3,A4,A5,B1,B3,B4)

Joe Grimaldi - Saxophone (#B1)

Benny Powell - Trombone (#B1)

Burt Collins - Trumpet, Flugelhorn (#B1)

Ernie Royal - Trumpet, Flugelhorn (#B1)

Roy Ayers - Vibraphone (#A2,A6,B2)

Ted Sommer - Vibraphone (#B1)

Paul Griffin - Piano (#B1)

Roy Glover - Piano (#A1,A3,A4,A5,B3,B4), Organ (#A1,A3,A5,A5,B3,B4)

Roland Hanna - Piano (#B4), Organ (#B4)

Eric Gale - Guitar (#A1,A3,A4,A5,B1,B3)

Jay Berliner - Guitar (#B1)

Sunny Sharrock - Guitar (#A2,A6,B2)

Ron Carter - Bass (#A1,A3,A4,A5,B1,B3,B4)

Earl May - Bass (#A2,A6,B2)

Grady Tate - Drums (#A1-A6,B2-B4)

Herb Lovelle - Drums (#B1)

Johnny Pacheco - Percussion (#B1)

Ray Barretto - Percussion (#B1)

Ted Sommer - Percussion (#B1)

Plus Horns and Unidentified Chorus

Credits:

Producer - Creed Taylor

Recording Engineer - Rudy Van Gelder

Don Byas - Ballads For Swingers (1966) [vinyl]

This is from vinyl. Part of a collection recently acquired by Danair, who lacks the facilities to rip LPs so he's sending them for me to do. The first, hopefully, in a series!

Born in 1912, Byas served his apprenticeship in a variety of big bands. Like most tenor players of his generation his style was heavily indebted to that of Coleman Hawkins, particularly in its fullness of tone. However, he soon developed his harmonic range and became interested in the then developing bop style. Often considered to be a bridge between the swing and bebop generations, he often anticipates Charlie Parker's solo development, stringing together whole series of tiny melodic ideas into a coherent line with a challenging harmonic profile.

He went to Europe in 1946 and spent the remainder of his life there until his death in Amsterdam in 1972. In later life he was a fine ballad player. Albert McCarthy in the book “Jazz On Record” published in 1968, suggested that he appeared to introduce elements from the playing of John Coltrane and Sonny Rollins into his style, citing the tracks “Lady Bird” and “All The Things You Are” from this album as evidence. He summarised – “At his best, Byas can be rated as one of the greatest ballad performers on his instrument”.

01 - Yesterdays
02 - All The Things You Are
03 - Lady Bird
04 - Lover Man
05 - I'll Remember April

Don Byas (ts) Bengt Axen (p) Niels Henning Orsted Pederson (b) Axel Riel (d) but see below
Café Montmartre, Copenhagen.

Thanks to Chu:

According to Lord, this was recorded on 13-14 January 1963 (one night) and the drummer is William Schiøpffe. This together with much more from the same night was once released on two Black Lion CDs entitled "A Night In Tunisia" and "Walkin'".

Junior Mance - Holy Mama

Today's offering is one of my favorite albums by our main man, Junior Mance.  Recorded in the late 70's, we are getting a snapshot of his best work in my opinion.  The older Riverside and Jazzland sides may be more attractive, but musically Mance is world's ahead by this point in his career.  I wanted to share this side a few years back but it had been reissued to CD.  It appears that it has gone OOP.

Holy Mama is really a showcase for both Mance and Martin Rivera, his bassist.  Sal LaRocca comps accordingly and does an amazing job keeping up with his partners - no easy task.  Overall, the dynamics on Holy Mama really speak to an excellent recording, but also to a trio with great abilities.  From the softest whisper to a lion's roar within a moment's notice, they capture one of the great essences of acoustic jazz.

The opener is a great example of what to expect from this album.  "By The Time I Get To Pheonix" explores just about every emotion and groove that Mance has to offer.  The way in which they change the time signatures, to the way they change the feel is something only the greatest of musicians are capable of.  The group are rooted in swing but use everything available to them;  from funk to blues.  I think that Rivera really deserves a shout out as he shows himself to be a bassist of the highest caliber.  Really, would a player like Junior Mance work with anything less?  Rivera's solo on "That Mellow Feeling" displays not only an immaculate sense of groove and feel, but amazing dexterity and mastery of his instrument.  I find when he takes a solo, I want to yell out to him and encourage him.  He seems to play right to the edge of chaos - where a player loses himself but of course, he always stays in the tune, fully composed.

Holy Mama was ripped from minty vinyl at 24/44.1 wav and dithered to 16/44.1 FLAC.  I have changed my methods a tad and now use FLAC Frontend to convert from wav.  All scans are still included in 300dpi quality.  For several reasons, I had shy'd away from ripping vinyl - only now and again.  I am now reborn and plan on flooding the Crypt with the huge backlog of albums I have.  I hope everyone digs this Sunday offering... enjoy!!!

___________________________________________________________

Inner City Records
IC 6018
1979

Bass – Martin Rivera
Drums – Salvatore LaRocca
Piano – Junior Mance


A1 By The Time I Get To Phoenix
Written-By – Jim Webb* 7:30

A2 God Bless The Child

Written-By – A. Herzog Jr.*, B. Holiday* 8:17

A3 That Mellow Feeling
Written-By – Junior Mance 7:13 

B1 Holy Mama
Written-By – Junior Mance 5:20

B2 Miss Otis Regrets
Written-By – Cole Porter 2:56

B3 The Good Old Days
Written-By – Junior Mance 5:57

B4 Blues For The Schnug
Written-By – Junior Mance 6:44

Cozy Cole - Cozy's Caravan & Earl Hines - Earl's Backroom

Ahhhhhh, home sweet home.  I may show up at different blogs, shoot....  I even have my own - but nothing, N-O-T-H-I-N-G compares to the Crypt.  I decided to take a short "blogcation" (yes I invented this word), which in turn became quite a long blogcation.  It was nice being able to just listen to some music that had been piling up, and simply chill out when logged on.  But enough of that, onto the music!!!

I want to continue where we left off and get the rest of this incredible series posted.  This album is really two sides in one, a split LP.  While on the topic, you should know that I have tagged it as such so don't be surprised to see two albums appear in your media player.

For fans of Cozy Cole, I don't think you will find a greater album than this.  First of all, the fidelity alone makes it a hot ticket.  Much of his early work suffers from poor recording.  This album also allows him some real space to hit ya with what he's got.  His solo during Caravan is an incredible example of his skill.  Cozy is in no rush and builds it slowly, deliberately creating that wonderful tension until he finally explodes before the band bring back the chorus.  Overall, like much of this series, we are treated to vocals and blues in a jazz jam setting.

As for the Earl Hines side, we are treated to a small quartet session featuring the little known horn player, Curtis Lowe.  Like many of his albums, these tunes are rooted in the blues and have a real jam flavour.  All 3 tracks are solid and exemplify Hines at his best.

With both of these sides combined, we get quite a strong album.  One theme that runs throughout??  FUN!!!  It's all upbeat and lighthearted which is a side of jazz I certainly love.  This was ripped from disc using EAC to 16/44.1 FLAC, 24 bit remastering, mmmmmmmm tasty Crypt BBQ anybody??? ...  enjoy!!!


Earl Hines Quartet - Earl's Backroom
Felsted FAJ 7002

01. Brussels’ Hustle (Hines) 7:59
02. Oooh! (Hines) 5:03
03. Backroom at the Villa d’Este (Hines) 6:49

Cozy Cole Septet - Cozy's Caravan

Felsted FAJ 7002

04. Caravan (Tizol-Ellington) 9:58
05. Phatz’ Blues (Morris-Thompson) 5:16
06. Margie (Davis-Conrad-Robinson) 4:26

Earl Hines Quartet:
Curtis Lowe (ts, bs), Earl Hines (p), Charles Oden (b), Earl Watkins(d).
Recorded in San Francisco, on February 3, 1958.

Cozy Cole Septet:
Lou Jones (tp), Walter 'Phatz' Morris (tb, hmca on #5), Boe McCain (ts), Reuben Jay 'June' Cole (p), Dickie Thompson (g, vcl), Peter Compo (b), Cozy Cole (d).
Recorded in New York City, on February 7, 1958.

Johnny "Hammond" Smith with Lem Winchester - Gettin' The Message (1960)

Organist Johnny "Hammond" Smith's fourth album as a leader, 1961's Gettin' the Message, pairs him with vibraphonist Lem Winchester; Smith and Winchester recorded together fairly often around this period, and the rather unique combination of mellow vibes (an instrument most often associated with cool jazz and Milt Jackson's dignified work with the Modern Jazz Quartet) and funky organ (then rising in popularity, along with what would soon be called soul-jazz) is an interesting blend of styles. The two trade solos in front of a standard hard bop rhythm section that hogs little of the listener's attention, but unfortunately never rises much beyond a mild simmer. While this is fine for tunes like the mellow opener, "Dementia," songs like "Lid Flippin'" and even that hoary old "Swanee River" sound like they could stand to be goosed along a bit; there's a big difference between cool and cold. Aside from that flaw, however, this is a solidly entertaining and texturally intriguing album. ~ by Stewart Mason, AMG.

Prestige Records, PR 7217, 1960

Recorded 14^th October, 1960 at Rudy Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey

Personnel:

Johnny "Hammond" Smith - Organ

Lem Winchester - Vibraphone

Eddie McFadden - Guitar

Wendell Marshall - Bass

Bill Erskine - Drums

Track Listing:

A1. Swanee River {Traditional} (8:54)

A2. Just Say So Long {Johnny "Hammond" Smith} (4:00)

A3. Lid Flippin' {Johnny "Hammond" Smith} (5:14)

B1. Gettin' The Message {Johnny "Hammond" Smith} (7:12)

B2. Princess {Johnny "Hammond" Smith} (5:28)

B3. Dementia {Johnny Burke, Erroll Garner} (5:18)

Credits:

Supervisor - Esmond Edwards

Recording Engineer - Rudy Van Gelder

Liner Notes - Sidney Falco

Johnny (Hammond) Smith with Lem Winchester, Prestige PRLP 7217 - Johnny (Hammond) Smith has perhaps his best LP effort to date here. The formidable jazz organist has always been a swinger of the first rank, but on this set he also shows first-class showmanship and taste. The addition of the late Lem Winchester adds a touch of contemplation which gives the instrumental sound distinctiveness – much like a funky Modern Jazz Quartet. The album is neatly divided into a variety of moods with “Swanee River,” “Gettin’ the Message” and “Princess” among the top tracks. ~ Billboard Magazine (May 12, 1962, page 24)

Mike Nock - Strata

Another Mike Nock date from 'wightdj' and at the time he sent it, I'd never even heard about this one. The album is a New Zealand release on the Kiwi label that does not appear to have seen any international distribution. In other words, not easy to find!

The record is primarily a solo effort but there is some nice percussion accompaniment on a few cuts. Nock plays some Fender Rhodes and synthesizer as well as piano on this captivating music that was written for a feature film of the same name. There is a definite mood established in this music, it's easy to imagine it accompanying a movie.

This is a rare one, don't miss it and don't forget to thank wrightdj for your good fortune in obtaining a copy of this treasure.

Mike Nock - Ondas

I'd call this one of the overlooked masterpieces of ECM. Rarely have piano trios produced such astounding conversations, this is the territory of  Evans/LaFarro/Motian or Jarrett/Haden/Higgins, hallowed ground indeed, but I have no problem elevating this album to that status. You can read Thom Jurek's ecstatic review, but first here are Mike's memories:

"Manfred wrote me a letter after hearing In Out and Around, saying he wished that album had been on ECM and telling me he wanted to make a trio recording with Gomez, Christensen and myself.
I played quite often with Gomez on recordings and tours, but never with Christensen.
The first day in the studio the trio played quite differently - free high energy jazz, which was erased before I even heard it!  I loved the session but Manfred seemed disinterested.
The next morning he got up at dawn and we began recording around 9am.  By 11am we were finished as he knew he had what he wanted.
It was a very collaborative session.  The first piece; ‘Shadows of Forgotten Love’ was on In Out and Around but Manfred had his own vision for the piece, suggesting I just play the first 16 bars and forget about the bridge section.  We finished the first take and I saw Manfred gesticulating wildly in the control room for us to continue - which we did and which you can actually hear on the recording.  It was all very spontaneous and a wonderfully unusual collaborative experience for me.
I was very much into Brazilian music and culture at the time ('Ondas' means 'waves' in Portuguese) but interestingly enough I came up with the title while on one of my frequent visits to Nelson NZ, situated on Golden Bay.
Manfred loved the title, as apart from the sound of the word it also had a somewhat enigmatic quality, as he felt very few people would know what it actually meant".
Mike Nock - September 15, 2010

Mike Nock celebrated his 70th birthday on September 27, 2010.

I've got to say that I mourn that first session that Manfred erased so preemptively, how nice would it be to have a companion album with a completely different feel?

Mike Nock - Succubus

 An odd little chapter in Nock's albums, as evidenced by the cover that would have you expecting some Goth-Metal band or other such, but this 1980 release on Sutra Records was relatively mainstream jazz for the time. At the end of the day the album attempts to straddle too many fences to be much more than interesting for me, but if you are a big fan of later Weather Report then I'm guessing you may well love this.

This rip comes from a young Swedish guy named Gustav, who posted it a few years back.

Mike Nock - Piano Solos 1978

More brilliant solo work from one of my favorite piano players. There is a sparkle to Nock's solo playing that I find irresistible, he is a painter, a poet, as good as any of his peers at this art-form (solo piano).

This first ran at the old Crypt some 4 years ago and it came then as a gift from wrightdj.