Eddie Harris - A Study In Jazz

Still the same base band here, but Harris finally puts the Hollywood themes aside for an album and plays some of his own compositions. The tracks are curiously short (except for the final track), perhaps still seeking to be radio and jukebox friendly I suppose, but still a pretty satisfying album.

Eddie Harris - Breakfast at Tiffiny's

Tenor-saxophonist Eddie Harris's third album features him exploring 11 themes from Henry Mancini's score for Breakfast At Tiffany 's. Harris stretches out the most on "Moon River" and the title cut but he does justice to the nine lesser-known themes. This long out-of-print LP holds one's interest throughout and, although Harris comes up with plenty of fresh ideas, he also never leaves the melody far behind. His unlisted backup group is a septet that includes trombonist Joe Avant, vibraphonist Charles Stepney, pianist Willie Pickens and guitarist Joe Diorio. A fine (if obscure) outing.AMG

Eddie Harris - Mighty Like A Rose

"Mighty Like a Rose was Eddie Harris' follow-up to the smash Exodus to Jazz, and it probably comes as no surprise that it's mightily similar in sound and style. One can hardly blame Harris for taking essentially the same approach; it's not every day that a jazz artist's debut LP makes him a million-selling star overnight. And he struck while the iron was hot, completing the sessions for Mighty Like a Rose a month before the single edit of "Exodus" had even peaked on the pop charts. Perhaps that's why there are only two Harris originals this time around; the rest of the repertoire is mostly standards, plus another movie theme adaptation -- this time of "Spartacus" -- that would prove to be the first of many "Exodus" sequels Harris recorded in his early period (although pop-chart lightning never did strike twice). Harris is once again joined by his regular Chicago backing group of the period -- guitarist Joe Diorio, pianist Willie Pickens, bassist William Yancey, and drummer Harold Jones, who provide solid, appropriately easygoing support. Harris' playing strikes a balance between cool bop and straightforward soul-jazz, though it's possible to hear the influence of Detroiter Yusef Lateef beginning to creep in. It's all well-executed, and Harris' command of the highest ranges of his instrument is as lovely as ever, making this date worthwhile for anyone who loved the sound of Exodus to Jazz." AMG

Lakota Jazz - The Eduring Joy of Jim Pepper

My loving tribute to the late, great Jim Pepper, the Lakota Nation's glorious gift to Jazz.

"Water Spirit feelings running round my head, makes me feel glad that I'm not dead."

This one always brings a tear to my eye, I miss you my brother.

Lakota Jazz - The Enduring Joy Of Jim Pepper by Kingcake on Mixcloud

Bobby Shew Quartet - Breakfast Wine (1983) [vinyl>flac 24/48]

From www.artsjournal.com: Doug Ramsey on Jazz and other matters... Breakfast Wine: Missing Too Long (July 17, 2009)

Bobby Shew’s Breakfast Wine is so rare that it does not appear in the Shew discography on the trumpeter’s own web site. Nonetheless, the PAUSA long-playing vinyl album released in 1985 is a highlight not only of Shew’s recording career but also of all jazz releases in the last two decades of the twentieth century. I lost my copy of Breakfast Wine in a move, so when I was rummaging through the used LP bin in a Seattle store the other day and came across a pristine copy, I gave a whoop. That prompted another customer to amble over and see what the fuss was about. I showed him the cover. He stared at it blankly and went back to the rock section. Good. I didn’t want to have to fight him for the LP.

Shew’s rhythm section on the record included the stalwart drummer Sherman Ferguson, pianist Makoto Ozone and bassist John Patitucci. Ozone and Patitucci were in their early twenties, at the launch points of their substantial careers. They shared with Shew the enthusiasm he had rekindled after deciding to walk away from his career of lead trumpet work with Woody Herman, Buddy Rich and other big bands, and from the Hollywood studios in which he had spent hundreds of lucrative hours.

“After all the Woodys and Mork and Mindys,” he told the liner note writer (full disclosure: I was the liner note writer), “I realized I wasn’t doing what makes the hair stand up on the back of my neck. So I threw it all over, and now I’m playing jazz in clubs and doing clinics for student musicians about 200 days a year. I don’t make the kind of money I used to as a studio musician. But I love everything I do. It’s a self-inflicted eccentricity. And I’ve discovered it works not only in an artistic sense, but in a business sense too. I’m doing what I love and life is good.”

And that, essentially, is what Shew has been doing for a quarter of a century. He has recorded more than two dozen albums as a leader since, but Breakfast Wine has a special place in his output because of the sense of discovery in his playing, the freshness of the emerging Ozone and Patitucci and, not least, because of the title tune. Randy Aldcroft’s intriguing “Breakfast Wine” has made its way into the repertoires of many musicians and into fake books. The recording that introduced it should make its way back into general circulation as a CD reissue.
In the meantime, if you get lucky, as I did, you may find the LP. This web site lists several copies ranging in price from expensive to ridiculous. They include an offer from an outfit in France that will sell you the LP and a CD-R transfer for a mere $78.84 US.

Grumpy: I was lucky picked up a sealed copy for a reasonable price!

1. Breakfast Wine - 8:24
2. Alone Together - 6:13
3. Waltz For Bill Evans - 6:00
4. Softly As In The Morning Sunrise - 6:00
5. I Waited For You - 5:05
6. Shew-In - 8:05

Bobby Shew (flh, t) Makoto Ozone (p) John Patitucci (b) Sherman Ferguson (d)
Sage & Sound Studios, Los Angeles, September, 1983

Ronnie Mathews - Legacy (1979) [vinyl>flac]

New link now available. Ripped from a mint LP in flac with scans.
Aside from the songs on Johnny Hartman's LP "Once In Every Life" that were featured on the "Bridges of Madison County" soundtrack, none of the material released on the Beehive label has been reissued. The man who owns the catalog has resisted repeated urgings to reissue the music himself or to let someone else do it for him. Sad.

Review by Scott Yanow:
Pianist Ronnie Mathews assembled an all-star group (tenor saxophonist Ricky Ford, trumpeter Bill Hardman, bassist Walter Booker, Jr. and drummer Jimmy Cobb) for this hard bop set. Mathews had long been a distinctive but underrated player and is heard in prime form on a varied program including two of his songs, a pair of Tex Allen originals, "Suicide Is Painless," "A Child Is Born" and "Once I Loved." The musicians all live up to their potential, making one wish that the Bee Hive releases of the late 1970s were available on CD.

01 - Legacy
02 - A Child Is Born
03 - Once I Loved
04 - Ichi Ban
05 - Theme From Mash
06 - Loose Suite
07 - Four For Nothing

Ronnie Mathews (p) Ricky Ford (ts) Bill Hardman (t) Walter Booker Jr (b) Jimmy Cobb (d)
Rec: NYC, Setember 21, 1979

Incidentally, 'Ichi Ban' composed by Mathews, is revisited here, having first been released on the marvellous 1963 Prestige recording 'Doin' The Thang', which featured Freddie Hubbard.

Doc Cheatham - It's A Good Life! (1983)

Doc was 77 years old when this album was recorded, but frankly you would never know.  He still had a surprising amount of power and stamina left in him - enviable by anyone's standards.  This album is a wonderful, feel good side with solid playing by all who appear.

In my opinion, its Doc's vocals that keep things interesting and pacing nicely.  He sings on several tracks and much like his horn, has lots of wind for each tune.

Certainly nothing groundbreaking here, but its a great mainstream joint for those of us who dig it.  This album is ultra minty, ripped in 24/44.1 wav and dithered to 16/44.1 FLAC.  I didn't use any editing tools - didn't need to.  Enjoy!!!!

The 77-year-old trumpeter proves to be very much in his prime during this excellent session. In fact Cheatham, who is backed by a fine rhythm section led by pianist Chuck Folds, dominates this set, taking melodic but passionate trumpet solos and contributing charming vocals. His versions of "Struttin' with Some Barbecue" and "You're Lucky to Me" are particularly memorable. - Scott Yanow / AMG

Dancing In the Garden of the Muses #3

Volume 3 covers Muse releases 5037-5055 (5050 & 5051 were never used) -- Most of this music was recorded in 1973 or 1974 (excepting the Dorham 1960, and Vick 1966 titles) -- The set opens with a marvelous Phil Woods track followed by Eric Kloss, Pat Martino, Carlos Garnett, Mark Murphy, Catalyst, Eddie Jefferson, Kenny Barron, Teddy Edwards, Red Rodney, The Visitors, Willis Jackson, Dom Um Romao, Louis Hayes, Kenny Dorham, Harold Vick and Lester Bowie.

Dancing In the Garden of the Muses #3 by Kingcake on Mixcloud

Curtis Amy - Mustang (1967) [re-rip]

A fantastic LP of beautiful modal tracks, played by one of the most underrated reed players ever, during the most fruitful time of his career. At this point, Amy's moved away from his bluesy Texas roots, and has discovered a freer Coltrane-esque sound that works beautifully with his spiritual, strident compositions. Although the record was pushed by Verve with the funkier track "Mustang" (also recorded by Donald Byrd), the record really sounds more like a Nathan Davis record, with a mix of tenor and soprano sax that is extremely spiritual. Tracks include "Mustang" (2 versions), "Shaker Heights", "Enojo", and "Old Devil Moon". © Dusty Groove, Inc.

The Texas Tenor tears it up on this release for Verve from 1966. It's a fantastic LP of beautiful modal tracks, played by one of the most underrated reed players ever, during the most fruitful time of his career. At this point, Amy's moved away from his bluesy Texas roots, and discovered a freer Coltrane-esque sound that works beautifully with his compositions. Although the record was pushed by Verve with the funkier track "Mustang" -also recorded by Donald Byrd- the record really sounds more like a Nathan Davis record, with a mix of tenor and soprano sax that is extremely spiritual. This has never made it to CD or a vinyl re-issue -suprising given the popularity of the very funky title track and the fact it's on Verve. ~ Orgyinrhythm

He might have been known as a Texas tenorman but Amy plays more soprano sax here (probably due to the Coltrane influence of the era). The band is mostly of unknowns (local Texas players?) except for pianist Kenny Barron but create quite a energetic stir often with a Latin tinge. Verve needs to reissue this! It's not easy to find but keep your eyes open in those dusty record bins. ~ RateYourMusic

Verve Records, V6-8684, 1967

Recorded 26^th January, 1967 at Bell Sound Studios, New York

Personnel:

Curtis Amy - Tenor Sax (#A1,B1,B2), Soprano Sax (#A2,A3,B3)

Leroy Cooper - Baritone Saxophone

Jimmy Owens - Trumpet, Flugelhorn

Kenny Barron - Piano

Carl Lynch - Guitar

Edgar Willis - Bass

Bruno Carr - Drums

Eva Harris - Vocals (#B2)

Track Listing:

A1. Mustang [Short Version] {Sonny Red} (3:18)

A2. Shaker Heights {Curtis Amy} (11:51)

A3. Enojo [Peevish] {Curtis Amy} (3:36)

B1. Mustang [Long Version] {Sonny Red} (5:08)

B2. Please Send Me Someone To Love {Percy Mayfield} (3:28)

B3. Old Devil Moon {E.Y. "Yip" Harburg, Burton Lane} (6:07)

Credits:

Producer - Joel Dorn, Jack Shaw

Director Of Engineering - Val Valentin

Remix Engineer - Norman Baker

Cover Design - Acy R. Lehman

Cover Photo - Jon Henry

Eddie Harris - Exodus To Jazz (vinyl rip)

Someone suggested an Eddie Harris series in recent comments so I thought I'd toss this one out for a starter. Harris was a really unusual horn voice at this point in his career - a tone with the airyness of Getz and Desmond but drenched in Chicago Blues.

 I was somewhere around 10 years old when first I heard this one. It was a favorite of my step-father's so it was played often enough that I noticed it even as a kid. I also seem to recall the music showing up on T.V. soundtracks by the mid to late 60's, but I could be wrong there.

Years passed and I forgot the album entirely until a badly re-mastered Collectables two-fer CD reminded me just how good it was. At some point early in the digital ballgame I made a mini-disc rip of a scratchy LP that I think I had borrowed. The mini disc wav files were eventually stored on a CD when I gave up on the medium, and were promptly forgotten. I was going thru a CD wallet with some unmarked discs and tossing most of them out, but these files had been partially tagged on the disc (albeit incorrectly) and I decided to see what I could do with the files.

Isotope RX cleaned up the clicks and pops and resolved the slight clipping issues. A lovely rip emerged after some additional beginning and ending editing on the bit of groove noise there. I'd guess that I had a HiFi Mono version rather than the stereo covers shown here: these I obtained from discogs - it looks like mono in both Audacity and Isotope, and it sounds like High Fidelity Mono to my ears when played. It sounds quite good, but there is no apparent 'sound-stage'. In 1961 the mono version likely sounded better than the stereo anyway.

Houston Person - Chocomotive (1967)

Review by Alex Henderson

"Some jazz improvisers believe that appealing to R&B and pop fans is beneath them, but Houston Person never had that elitist mentality. The big-toned tenor titan was always a communicator; though he has first-rate chops and can easily sail through difficult bop changes, Person doesn't value pyrotechnics over feeling and emotion. Consequently, albums like Chocomotive have managed to reach a lot of R&B and pop fans who don't necessarily buy a lot of jazz. Person was 32 when he recorded this excellent LP, which employs Cedar Walton on piano, Bob Cranshaw on bass, Frankie Jones on drums, and Alan Dawson (who was primarily a drummer) on vibes. No organist is employed, but even without the mighty Hammond B-3, Chocomotive is a fine soul-jazz/hard bop date. True to form, Person is as expressive on ballads (including "You're Gonna Hear From Me" and Neal Hefti's "Girl Talk") as he is on a hard-swinging blues like the title track. And the saxman really pours his heart into a blues-drenched performance of Buddy Johnson's "Since I Fell for You." Person also tackles the Fifth Dimension's corny "Up, Up and Away," but don't snicker -- after he gets through with the tune, it becomes a swinging soul-jazz instrumental. Even if "Up, Up and Away" isn't your favorite Fifth Dimension hit, you have to admire Person's ability to give it an interesting makeover. In 2001, Fantasy reissued five of this LP's seven tracks on a 78-minute CD titled Trust in Me (Prestige 24264), which also contains the Trust in Me LP in its entirety. Due to space limitations, "Girl Talk" and "Up, Up and Away" were omitted from Fantasy's Trust in Me CD. And for that reason alone, collectors who have this LP should hold on to it."

01 - Chocomotive
02 - You're Gonna Hear From Me
03 - Close Quarters
04 - Girl Talk
05 - Since I Fell For You
06 - Up, Up And Away
07 - More

Houston Person (ts) Cedar Walton (p) Bob Cranshaw (b) Alan Dawson (d, vib) Frankie Jones (tp, d)
NYC, June 14, 1967