Russ Freeman ~ Chet Baker Quartet (1956) [vinyl]

Can you remember those far off pre-internet days, when the only way to hear the music was to physically acquire a copy of the LP?
Out of print, this had been on my wish list for years, my heart leapt when it wa reissued by the Japanese in 1978, but these limited edition high quality pressings were very expensive in the UK - outside my price range - until I stumbled across this second hand copy in Honest Jons in the Portobello Road, London - heaven!

These days of course you just download the CD reissue or the Mosaic set from some Russian site, but for me this 12" slab of cardboard and vinyl is still heaven, and I thought I'd share it with you.

01 - Love Nest
02 - Fan Tan
03 - Summer Sketch
04 - An Afternoon At Home
05 - Say When
06 - Lush Life
07 - Amblin'
08 - Hugo Hurwhey

Chet Baker (trumpet) Russ Freeman (piano) Leroy Vinnegar (bass) Shelly Manne (drums)
Los Angeles, CA, November 6, 1956
[King Jazz GXF 3104 reissue of Pacific Jazz PJ-1232]

Dudley Moore - 30 Is A Dangerous Age, Cynthia (1968) [vinyl]

Dudley Moore's musical score to '30 Is A Dangerous Age, Cynthia' is original and eclectic. The music is very much a product of its time, and while written specifically for the film, stands brilliantly on its own as an album. Essentially, Dudley Moore was a successful TV personality in England, but also a professional musician. He both starred in and wrote the musical score for this 1968 movie. The soundtrack reflects his interest in broad range of music genres, especially jazz in small group arrangements. On most of the tracks the listener gets to hear some of Dudley's excellent piano playing. The soundtrack features Dudley's brilliant ability to blend his acting, vocal renditions and his piano playing alongside some cleverly arranged orchestral and smaller group ensembles. The movie itself was the first time Moore ventured out on his own without his long-termed comic partner Peter Cook and the plot about a young man having an early mid-life crisis is less enticing. However, the one thing it shares with "Bedazzled” is Moore's marvellously penned tunes, of popular renowned, is a witty vocal track called "The Real Stuff."

London Records, MS-82010, 196

Tracks:

A1. 30 Is A Dangerous Age (2:33)

A2. Head First (2:23)

A3. The Newsreel Overture (0:32)

A4. The Real Stuff (3:07)

A5. Cynthia (1:52)

A6. Legend (6:32)

B1. Waltz For Suzy (3:30)

B2. Morning Walk (2:50)

B3. Rupert Street Concerto (1:23)

B4. Madrigal (1:55)

B5. Mating Cry (1:48)

B6. The Detective (6:05)

All Compositions by Dudley Moore except #A4 Co-Written with George Hastings

Also Barbara Moore - Vocals (#B5)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062625/

Rupert Street, a piano player and composer, decides to write a musical and marry before he reaches his thirtieth birthday. One minor problem: he'll be 30 in six weeks...

Director: Joseph McGrath

Writers: Dudley Moore, Joseph McGrath

Stars: Dudley Moore, Eddie Foy Jr., Suzy Kendall

Yusef Lateef - Jazz 'Round the World (1963) [vinyl]

This one's for KingCake.

For some strange reason this doesn't seem to have made it to CD. When there was a recent spate of 2on1 Impulse reissues I was hoping for a twofer with A Flat, G Flat And C, but it was not to be. Although I had Hookfinger's vinyl rip, that was in mp3 and from a mono version, so I bought a stereo LP copy, expensive and not in perfect condition but I think it's cleaned up OK. There is something special about owning the vinyl, enhanced by the original gatefold sleeve!

Review by C. ANDREW HOVAN, allaboutjazz.com:
With a recent article in JazzTimes covering the history of Impulse Records and the role that prime mover John Coltrane made in securing the label's place in history, it occurred to me that there are still holes in the catalog's reissue program. Aside from Archie Shepp and Pharoah Sanders, both heavily caught up in Coltrane's trajectory, multi-instrumentalist Yusef Lateef was a vital member of the Impulse family who made his most mature recorded statements during the sixties while following his own path.
Prior to signing with Impulse, Lateef had made many albums for Verve, Savoy, and Prestige that while certainly a bit left of center, drove mainly down the center of the mainstream tradition. The breakthrough came with the half dozen titles that Lateef cut for Impulse, beginning with 1963's Jazz 'Round the World . The premise was very simple for his debut. Way before the term 'world music' was even coined, Lateef would fashion jazz interpretations from various ethnic melodies while utilizing his vast array of woodwind instruments. It would pay off like a charm, with Lateef's swaggering tenor making the most of "Yusef's French Brother" and "Trouble In Mind" taken to new vistas with our reedman on oboe, of all things.
The ten selections are all on the short side, but Lateef and his ensemble make the most of them. Trumpeter Richard Williams is bristling with kinetic energy and this album serves as a valid reminder of how substantial a talent Williams was, despite unjust ambivalence by the jazz masses during his brief lifetime. Pianist Hugh Lawson, bassist Ernie Farrow (incorrectly dubbed as Ernie Barrows on the original album jacket), and drummer Lex Humphries also do their part in making this one of Lateef's more memorable performances, made all the more thrilling thanks to Rudy Van Gelder's engineering genius.
Other masterpiece would follow for Lateef, particularly 1984 and The Golden Flute , but Jazz 'Round the World remains a personal favorite and serves as testament to the fact that the house of Impulse was built by more than just Trane and his followers.

See also article here: http://www.thewire.co.uk/in-writing/essays/jazz-searches-for-new-lands_yusef-lateef-jazz_round-the-world

01 - Abana
02 - India
03 - You, So Tender And Wistful
04 - Yusef's French Brother
05 - The Volga River Song
06 - Trouble In Mind
07 - The Good Old Roast Beef Of England
08 - Raisins And Almonds
09 - Utopia
10 - Ringo Oiwake

Richard Williams (trumpet) Yusef Lateef (tenor sax, flute, bassoon) Hugh Lawson (piano) Ernie Farrow (bass) Lex Humphries (drums)
NYC, December 19 & 20, 1963
[Impulse AS-56]

A note from KC

It certainly can't have escaped many folks attention that I closed The Crypt and Bolden's the other day in the wake of yet another spate of complaints and arguments over our choices of dl sites. I became so sick and tired of the whole mess that I was ready to call it quits and end this blog's 11 year run. Then something somewhat miraculous happened that has changed my mind - the primary party with whom grumpy and I were arguing actually came to my Chitlin Circuit blog and offered a sincere apology (something which has NEVER happened before!). A little while ago I posted the following advice at Chitlins... and I'm re-opening the blog and passing on that advice here

"Lately there has been a growing number of people getting hostile over choices of dl link providers and some peoples' inability to navigate them to get to the desired link. Most of these sites are something of a minefield to navigate; what appears to be the proper button often isn't and they frequently lead to areas that anti-virus and browser programs read as malware. Usually that is a false positive, but no one needs to take that chance of creating a mess they don't know how to eradicate. There IS, however, an easy solution to this frustrating situation (frustrating to both y'all AND me for different reasons).

I'm going to once more strongly suggest that you take this very easy solution that will prevent you from ever having to go to any of those dl sites ever again; the solution is a freeware program called jdownloader2. (Notice that I have put a link to the clean installers) The program is super easy to learn and all you will need to do is highlite the desired link and the program will show you the direct link and you can then tell it to run the download. Simple eh?

So here is my point, if you don't wish to take this advice then DO NOT come complaining to me about your problems dl-ing a post. I am, quite frankly, not interested."

Count Basie & His Atomic Band - Complete Live at the Crescendo 1958

While I prefer to post LP rips here, this was just too good not to share.

 "EU-only five CD set. This superb collection compiles all existing live recordings made by the Atomic Band at the Crescendo Club, in Hollywood, in the summer of 1958, for the first time ever on a single edition. The sound quality is excellent throughout the set. Count Basie's career was revived in late 1957 thanks to the success of the Neal Hefti-arranged LP Atomic Basie, which became one of his biggest hits. The orchestra was filled with stars, and Joe Williams' vocals were heard to great effect supported by Hefti's excellent scores and the superb quality of the band. This long unavailable material includes amazing extended live versions of many of the perennial Hefti arrangements, plus a variety of songs that formed part of the orchestra's repertoire at the time, and Sammy Davis Jr. As a guest star singing with the band on Ray Charles' "Hallelujah, I Love Her So". As a bonus, we have added the soundtrack from a complete 17-minute TV show featuring the same band shortly before it started the Crescendo engagement. Our comprehensive booklet contains detailed information, as well as a rare Count Basie interview published in Down Beat during the band's stay at the Crescendo."

The Al Grey ~ Jimmy Forrest Quintet - Live At Rick's (1978) [vinyl]

The short-lived Al Grey-Jimmy Forrest quintet was formed when the pair left Count Basie's Orchestra in 1977 and ended upon Forrest's death in 1980.

Extract from the liner notes by Jerry Valburn, 1979:
It began with a telephone call. The soft spoken voice on the other end said, 'This is Al Grey. Jimmy Forrest and I would like to put out a record on your Aviva label." ... With the major companies concentrating on the disco and rock scene, recording activity with jazz musicians is completely overlooked and neglected. The result is for the small companies to fill this void and this in turn helps these musicians. … Needless to say, I was overwhelmed and honored that both Grey and Forrest would consider releasing their high quality and exciting blend of music on Aviva and I told Al this.
The quartet (with Shirley Scott on piano and Bobby Durham on drums) came into Hopper's in New York in May. Al came out to my studio along with Bobby Durham and brought some unmixed tapes of the group that had been made on location a few months earlier. As could be expected, these were excellent and exciting performance of the quartet. My only misgiving was one of a personal preference. It has always been my feeling that Shirley Scott, one of the most gifted women talents in jazz, has never been featured enough (on records) on the piano. Most recordings find her playing organ, and at the piano she has no peers. Over lunch, that day, I learned that the group would be going into Rick's on the Lake in Chicago for a two week engagement. Shirley Scott would be playing piano during that stand. We made a decision to record, and Al Grey decided to add the veteran bassist, John Duke for the engagement. My close friend, John Gill, is an outstanding recording engineer and audio expert. We asked John to handle the actual recording (John is one of the most talented sound engineers on the scene today, and he had done many pickups at Rick's and was thoroughly familiar with the acoustics of the room). John went in to record during the second week of their engagement (second week in July 1978) and some of the best captured performances of that week are combined on this album.

01 - In A Mellotone
02 - The Jumpin' Blues
03 - Summertime
04 - C.B. And Me
05 - Truly Wonderful
06 - I Can't Get Started
07 - Salty Papa

Al Grey (trombone) Jimmy Forrest (tenor sax) Shirley Scott (piano) John Duke (bass) Bobby Durham (drums)
"Rick's", Chicago, IL, July 19-21, 1978
(Aviva 6002)

Dudley Moore Trio - The Theme From "Beyond The Fringe" And All That Jazz (1962) [vinyl]

Although recorded in England, originally issued by Atlantic in the US. This is ripped from the UK 1970 reissue.

01 - I Love Paris
02 - Theme From Beyond The Fringe
03 - What's New
04 - I Get A Kickout Of You
05 - Just In Time
06 - Chicago
07 - I Didn't Know What Time It Was
08 - Just One Of Those Things

Dudley Moore (piano) Pete McGurk (bass) Chris Karan (drums)
London, England, August, 1962
Atlantic 1404

The Other Side Of Dudley Moore (1965) [vinyl>flac]

Jazz musician and writer Simon Spillett said of this album: "This is a true classic and illustrates the breadth and depth of the musical mind that lay behind the comic persona. "My Blue Heaven" and "Baubles, Bangles and Beads" are out-and-out groovers, smack in the middle of the great piano trio tradition, but Moore's own compositions take in a far wider trawl for inspiration and influence. "Lysie Does It" would not sit too awkwardly on an Andrew Hill album; "Poova Nova" is bossa nova lounge music as only a performer from the 1960s could envisage it, whilst "Sooz Blues" takes its cue from the unexpected resource of John Coltrane's "Equinox". The ballad "Sad One For George" is among Moore's greatest compositions, touching upon the melancholy of Bill Evans, and it is Evans who the trio evoke explicitly in its rearrangement of the old Dixieland warhorse "Indiana", surely one of the most brilliant transformations of a standard tune imaginable..."

From biography by Heather Phares:
"Though he was renowned as a groundbreaking British comedian and achieved Hollywood stardom thanks to his roles in 10 and Arthur, Dudley Moore took the most pride in his accomplishments as a musician and composer. A choirboy at age six and the organist at church weddings by 14, as a child Moore found refuge in music from the hospital stays and taunting from other children he endured because of his club foot. Eventually, he won a scholarship to Magdalen College at Oxford to study the organ, but he left the school to play jazz piano with Johnny Dankford and tour the U.S. with Vic Lewis. When he returned to Oxford, he met comedian Peter Cook and joined the satirical sketch comedy revue Beyond the Fringe, where his over-the-top piano solos earned him his first widespread success. Moore's witty, whimsical musical and comedic stylings complemented Cook's more acerbic sense of humor perfectly, and throughout the '60s and '70s the pair continued to mix humor and music in projects like the BBC show Not Only But Also and their foul-mouthed alter-egos Derek and Clive. Moore and Cook also made several films together, and Moore composed the music for movies including 30 Is a Dangerous Age, Cynthia and the classic Bedazzled. During the '70s and '80s, Moore found the time to release several albums' worth of piano-based jazz, including Dudley Moore at the Waredon Festival and Come Again, in between his film, television, and stage work. Both his comedy and music careers waned in the '90s due to health problems."

Dudley Moore (p), Pete McGurk (b), Chris Karan (d)
Rec 1965

My Blue Heaven/Lysie Does It/Poova Nova/Take Your Time/Indiana/Sooz Blooz/Baubles, Bangles And Beads/Sad One For George/Autumn Leaves.