Joe Diorio, Ira Sullivan - The Breeze And I (1993)

This CD has a set of duets by guitarist Joe Diorio and Ira Sullivan, who is heard on flute, alto flute, soprano, and alto sax. The music is mostly standards (other than Diorio's "Lovely Afternoon" and Wayne Shorter's "Dance Cadaverous") and taken exclusively as lyrical ballads. Sullivan never really cuts loose and does not play any trumpet on this project, and the lack of mood variation gives a definite sameness to each performance, so the project -- which is full of heartfelt interpretations of such numbers as "The Breeze and I," "I Wish You Love" and "The Summer Knows" -- is best listened to either a few numbers at a time or as superior background music. ~ by Scott Yanow, AMG. 

RAM Records, RMCD 4508, 1994
Recorded 9th June, 1993 at Bill Wray's Skyline Studio, Mechanisburg, Pennsylvania 

Musicians:
Joseph Diorio - Guitar
Ira Sullivan - Alto Sax, Soprano Sax,, Flute, Flute [Alto], Percussion 

Tracks:
01. Breeze And I {Ernesto Lecuona, Al Stillman} (8:53)
02. I Wish You Love {Charles Trénet} (5:58)
03. Day By Day {Stephen Schwartz} (6:22)
04. Beautiful Love {D. Gillespie, W. King, E. Van Alstyne, V. Young} (5:38)
05. Look To The Sky {Antônio Carlos Jobim} (4:45)
06. I'll See You Again {Noël Coward} (4:24)
07. Summer Knows {Alan & Marilyn Bergman, Michel Legrand} (7:00)
08. Without You {Osvaldo Farrés, Ray Gilbert} (4:58)
09. Dance Cadaverous {Wayne Shorter} (5:22)
10. Lovely Afternoon {Joe Diorio} (4:54) 

Total Time: 58:13 

Credits:
Producer, Recording, Mixing Supervisor, Liner Notes - Raimondo Meli Lupi
Assistant Mixing Engineer - Jeff Way
Mixing Engineer - Jim Anderson
Mastering Engineer - Gennaro Carone
Art Direction - Giorgio Anedda [Audiovideo, Milano]
Cover Concept, Graphic Design - Alberto Berengo Gardin
Photography - Ruggero Balzan

Buried Treasure in your own yard! Part one...

 

One of the things that many of you can testify to is that when you have a ridiculous huge digital collection, things can hide from you in your own files... even stunningly good stuff that you never got around to listening to! There was a time when I was into live recording trading and to this day there is a Live and Unreleased file on my hard-drive that has a bunch of stuff that I never quite got around to listening to. Now that I am officially in the 'old fart do it now' mode, I make a point of exploring what is there at least once a month. Today was that day and I found 2 jaw dropping gems... both in FLAC! I am relatively sure that I never actually listened to either of these recordings as it is tough to believe that I would not remember. Here is part one of what will be a two parter! The following comes from a text file in the file...

Red Rodney, Ira Sullivan & the Jack Wilkins Trio

Amsterdam (de Meervaart), International Jazz Festival, 9 August, 1980

The Jack Wilkins Trio with guests Red Rodney and Ira Sullivan at the International Jazz Festival Amsterdam (de Meervaart), Saturday 9 August, 1980. My taping of the direct Dutch radio broadcast.

Ira Sullivan arriving a little late on stage, thinking the Jack Wilkins Trio would play a longer set; Rodney and Sullivan had never played with Wilkins before.

There was a news bulletin (of almost 5 minutes) in between "Mr Oliver" and the following track, causing these tracks to be incomplete and  fading in, respectively.

Any info on the two "unknown" tunes is of course appreciated.

Enjoy!

Personnel:

Red Rodney (tp,flh), Ira Sullivan (tp,flh,as,fl), Jack Wilkins (g), Ron McClure (b), Billy Hart (d)

Track list:

1 Announcements

2 Unknown

3 Mr Oliver (nc)

4 Unknown (fading in)

5 Dolphin Dance

6 Monday Dance

7 The Red Arrow

8 Announcements

9 Happy Birthday into Buzzy

Lineage: FM > tape > recording, tracking and editing wav file in Audacity > CD-R > Wav > TLH (Flac 8, sector align) 

Audio quality:

A- (FM)

There it is, that is what I got... Hell, I didn't even know that I had it!

Red Rodney - Live At The Village Vanguard (1980) [vinyl]

Red Rodney’s 1980 sessions at The Village Vanguard marked the beginning of his comeback and finds the leader’s trumpet work in fine form. Two experienced horn players and a young rhythm section made for a strong program with hard bop drama and pure musical ballad sentiment. In the liner notes, Rodney states, "I was determined to associate myself with young musicians in order to move ahead with the music of today." Ira Sullivan picks up the flugelhorn as Red Rodney carefully interweaves muted trumpet lines around Johnny Mandel’s "A Time For Love." And they both opt for flugelhorns on "What Can We Do" with Sullivan coming from the right channel, Rodney from the left. Again, on the final track, the two seasoned veterans perform together on trumpet and flugelhorn. Jack Walrath, who wrote half the tunes on this program, contributed much to Rodney's band library over the years. It's Walrath's "Come Home To Red" that allows the leader to pour his open trumpet sound over the room (backed by Sullivan's gentle flute fills) as a reminder that one of his earliest influences was Harry James. After a long career with several disturbing setbacks, it's nice to remember that Red Rodney succeeded in the end by passing the torch on triumphantly to the next generation. ~ Extract by Jim Santella, AllAboutJazz.

Muse Records, MR 5209, 1980

Recorded 8^th & 9^th May and 5^th July, 1980, At The Village Vanguard, New York City

Musicians:

Red Rodney - Trumpet (#A1-A3,B2,B3), Flügelhorn (#A2,B1)

Ira Sullivan - Flügelhorn (#A2,B1,B3), Soprano Sax (#A1), Tenor Sax (#A3), Flute (#B2)

Garry Dial - Piano

Paul Berner - Bass

Tom Whaley - Drums

Tracks:

A1. Lodgellian Mode {Jack Walrath} (8:41)

A2. A Time For Love {Johnny Mandel} (5:36)

A3. Mr. Oliver {Jeff Meyer} (8:42)

B1. What Can We Do {Simon Salz} (9:54)

B2. Come Home To Red {Jack Walrath} (5:06)

B3. Blues In The Guts {Jack Walrath} (6:38)

Credits:

Producer - Bob Porter

Recording Engineer - Malcolm Addey (Remote Facilities)

Mastering Engineer - Joe Brescio At The Master Cutting Room, NYC

Cover Design - Mark Larson

Liner Notes - Red Rodney

Red Rodney with Ira Sullivan - Night And Day (1981) [vinyl]

The Red Rodney-Ira Sullivan Quintet was one of the finest groups of the early 1980s. Rodney had an opportunity to play fresh material; Sullivan gained more exposure than he ever had in his career; and pianist Garry Dial was given high-profile and challenging writing assignments; bassist Barry Smith and drummer Steve Bagby completed the band in mid-1981. On this Muse LP (their fourth of six recordings), the musicians perform fresh versions of two standards ("Night and Day" and "You Leave Me Breathless"), plus four challenging originals. Sullivan plays trumpet on three of the six pieces, alto on two, and soprano on one. The exciting "Dial-A-Brew" is a highlight of this recommended (but sadly out of print) set. ~ by Scott Yanow, AMG.

This studio date was the final Muse session for this band and it is truly a monster! Ira plays trumpet along with Red on three of the tunes, alto on a couple and one on soprano. It is kind of a rare sound with two trumpets fronting a quintet but Ira's versatility gives this band a lot of sounds to work with; as a result none of these albums sounds quite like the last. Ira's alto solo on Muck and Meyer is so strong you have to wonder why he didn't use that horn more. Well worth repeated listens, Enjoy!

Muse Records, MR 5274, 1981

Recorded 15^th & 16tth June, 1981 at Nola Studio, New York City

Musicians:

Red Rodney - Trumpet (#A1,B3), Flugelhorn (#A2-B2)

Ira Sullivan - Trumpet (#A1,B3), Alto Sax (#A1,B1), Soprano Sax (#A2)

Garry Dial - Piano

Barry Smith - Double Bass

Steve Bagby - Drums

Tracks:

A1. Night And Day {Cole Porter} (4:03)

A2. You Leave Me Breathless {Frederick Hollander, Ralph Freed} (6:20)

A3. Babies {Jeff Meyer} (5:55)

B1. Muck And Meyer {Jeff Meyer} (5:25)

B2. Frito Mistos {Jeff Meyer} (5:20)

B3. Dial-A-Brew {Garry Dial} (6:11)

Credits:

Producer - Bob Porter

Engineer - Malcolm Addey

Mastering Engineer - Joe Bresco at The Master Cutting Room, NYC

Cover Concept and Photo - Arthur Paxton

Back Photo - Hugh Bell

Liner Notes - Richard M. Sudhalter

Billy Taylor - Billy Taylor Introduces Ira Sullivan 1956 (LP-24-48-flac)

 
A great early session from Chicago trumpeter Ira Sullivan – a very strong player who came out strongly in the late 50s as one of the big jazz hopefuls from the Windy City. This set has Ira backed by the Billy Taylor Trio – presented by Billy on ABC, where the Taylor trio was recording at the time. Tracks have a nice open-ended feel, and a lot more drive than Billy's own work at the time, and the best numbers feel like they were recorded for a Prestige blowing session. Titles include "Strolling", "Leslie's Gauge", "You Don't Know What Love Is", and "So In Love".  (dustygroove.com)
 
Tracks...

  1. So In Love
  2. Imagination
  3. Strolling
  4. They Can't Take That Away From Me
  5. Leslie's Gauge
  6. In A Mellow Tone
  7. You Don't Know What Love Is

Personnel...

Billy Taylor - Piano
Ed Thigpen - Drums
Earl May - Bass
Ira Sullivan - Trumpet

My LP > flac 24/48 > Complete 600 DPI Scans > 491MB

The Incredible Ira Sullivan

The Incredible Ira Sullivan
Stash Records 1980

1) Lonely Moments (Salz)
2) Our Delight (Dameron)
3) Bernie's Tune (Miller)
4) Kim's Lament
5) I Can't Get Out of This Mood (McHugh, Loesser)
6) On the Seventh Day (Walrath)
7) Satin Doll (Ellington, Strayhorn)

NYC 1980


We have revisited so many Ira Sullivans lately and our previous offerings of this record were flawed so when I saw a slightly worn copy at the store I decided to see if I could coax a reasonable rip out of it. The previous post of this came from a Ron the Jazzman contribution but the actual rip came from his friend billd. The rip was decent but a little noisey and had a few full blown skips that marred it. I carefully cleaned my record twice in the hopes that most of it's problems were dirt and was rewarded with a fairly good and quiet return but with three or four places on each side where skips or sound anomalies were unfix-able.

Now I put on my Dr. Frankenstein lab coat and looked to the old rip from jazzman. Surely the two rips would not have anomalies in the same places! They did not, so after a little time matching up the volumes the cutting leaders so I could match up tracks side by side like two patients on adjacent operating tables. Slowly I marked the areas to be transplanted and the sites to receive them - it is not as hard as you might think if you listen carefully while magnifying the wave in Audacity until you can see the space between breaths and find landmarks that match up on the two waves - it takes good ears and good speakers or headphones but once you get the hang of it it is possible to make imperceptible cut and paste fixes. You may hear a couple other tiny sound bumps here that I didn't choose to fix (I spent most of a day on this) but none of the actual surgery is audible. So what we have here is something of a Frankenstein monster but the good looking elegant one that you can't tell is made of parts.