Ron McClure Quintet - Descendants (1980)

Recorded in New York in July 1980. I participated in the work of Ron McClure, who was also with the Dave Liebman Quintet. Originally recorded for New Zealand's Ode Records, it was released by Ken Music when it was made into a CD. I read the liner notes, I couldn't find the word "Ode Records". Moreover, the album title has been changed from the original "Home Base" to "Descendants", and the jacket has been redesigned. What makes this CD great is that it has 2 more songs than the analog version, and the sound source was remixed in March 1990! I don't need analog records except for collectors. John Scofield has played a very notch performance over the whole volume, and it is by far the best guest participation work recorded in 1980. And Tom Harrell's flugelhorn is good! Maybe it's a synergistic effect, John Scofield and the trumpeter originally had a great compatibility, and Tom's play inspired him to play lively. ~ JohnScoMania, johnscomania.blog.com. 

Ken Music, 660-56-007, 1992
Recorded July, 1980 at Garden Studio, New York City 

Musicians:
Ron McClure - Acoustic Bass, Solo (#6)
Tom Harrell - Flugelhorn
John Scofield - Guitar
Mark Gray - Piano [Electric]
Jimmy Madison - Drums 

Tracks:
1. Boat People (8:37)
2. Dance Of The Scorpion (6:40)
3. Descendants (7:15)
4. Scorpitarius (8:46)
5. Line (5:32)
6. Life Isn't Everything (2:49)
7. Sunny Day (4:59)
8. The Calling (7:03)
9. M Street Shuffle (5:05) 

All compositions and arrangements by Ron McClure 

Total Time: 56:48 

Credits:
Producer, Liner Notes - Ron McClure
Executive Producer - Ken Fujiwara
Recording, Mixing, Editing & Remix - James H. Madison
Design & Edit - Peacock Pii 

Sunny Day

Anders Mogensen - Taking Off (1995)

Anders Mogensen is currently being referred to as "the greatest Danish drummer since Alex Riel". His debut album on Storyville showcases Anders at his best. He is joined by a stellar cast of today's great musicians for a tour-de-force venture into musical nuances ranging from hard driving urban jazz grooves to subtle lyrical statements. Listen to this album and join the growing crowd of people who are already enjoying the sounds from one of the most exciting new artists on the jazz scene. ~ storyvillerecords.bandcamp.com. 

I'm Glad I Bought It
================
I'm a big fan of Rick Margitza. The contrast between Gary Thomas and Rick Margitza is very interesting. The sound of Gary Thomas is solid and I don't feel the charm as a tone, but I was impressed once again that he is following his own path without categorically changing his playing style from the time of his debut. ~ Leo, 5 Stars, Amazon.com. [Translated from Japanese] 

Storyville Records, STCD 4198, 1995
Recorded 1st October, 1994 at Sound on Sound, New York 

Musicians:
Anders Mogensen - Drums
Rick Margitza - Soprano Saxophone, Tenor Saxophone
Gary Thomas - Tenor Saxophone
Niels Lan Doky - Piano
Ron McClure - Bass [Acoustic] 

Tracks:
1. Emergence {Anders Mogensen} (1:09)
2. F.F. {Anders Mogensen} (9:11)
3. Lonely {Anders Mogensen} (7:06)
4. Take Off {Anders Mogensen} (11:56)
5. Evidence {Thelonious Monk} (4:18)
6. Missing You {Anders Mogensen} (9:59)
7. Softly As A Morning Sunrise {Sigmund Romberg, Oscar Hammerstein II} (8:02) 

Total Time: 51:44 

Credits:
Producer - Niels Lan Doky
Executive Producer - Karl Emil Knudsen
Engineer - Peter Beckerman
Assistant Engineer - John R. Reigart III
Mastering - Hans Nielsen, Anders Mogensen
Photography - Art Zimmerman

Magnifique ~ Claude Mischler, 5 Stars, Amazon.com.

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!

LeeAnn Ledgerwood - Breaking The Waves (2011)

This album is another serious work by pianist LeeAnn Ledgerwood utilising the same trio members as in her previous work "Simple Truth" released in 2010. A listener can't not be drawn into the exceptional muscular musicality showcased throughout this CD. Essentially, LeeAnn is the glue that pulls the powerful rhythm team of bassist Ron McClure and drummer Nasheet Waits together. She is the mastermind of all the compositions on this outing resulting in a truly expressive trio format that deserves further listening, Enjoy!

SteepleChase Records, SCCD 31732, 2012
Recorded February, 2011 

Musicians:
LeeAnn Ledgerwood - Piano
Ron McClure - Bass
Nasheet Waits - Drums

Tracks:
1. Breaking The Waves (8:15)
2. Save The Wolves (6:49)
3. Audrey Girl (8:25)
4. The University Of Free Will (5:17)
5. Chilli’s Walk (8:04)
6. Lutherans For Jesus (7:13)
7. The Great Smoking Mirror (8:04)
8. Deep Six (9:03) 

All Compositions by LeeAnn Ledgerwood 

Total Time: 61:10 

Producer - Nils Winther 

" … pianist Lee Ann Ledgerwood is part of an ever-growing contingency of extremely talented jazz musicians of the female persuasion… and first crack at a piano trio record. Ultimately, it proves to be one of the best of its kind in recent memory. Simultaneously adventurous but also emotionally direct… " (C. Andrew Hovan, AAJ on “Transition” SCCD 31468).

The Fourth Way

This mp3 copy of the first Fourth Way album (and the only studio album)
 is the only time I have ever encountered the album and I sheepishly admit that I haven't the faintest idea where it was that I found it.

This band is always known as an ensemble but there is no doubt here on the first offering that this is Mike Nock's brainchild, he is the sole author on every tune. I can imagine walking through The Haight in 1968, Jefferson Airplane, Grateful Dead and Quicksilver in the park but you go walking the other direction and happen upon a small club with these guys offering the jazz response to The Summer of Love.

Compared to the two live albums that followed this one is relatively tame, but for me to hear this deepens my appreciation of what follows.

Now if someone were to come up with a fresh lossless rip.....

The Fourth Way

That's right, you are looking at the original and only studio album made by this seminal jazz fusion band. Looking through the album credits it gives you the impression that Mike Nock was the de-facto leader in that he wrote seven of the eight compositions (Michael White wrote Dance of the Mechanical Men). This album is not anywhere near as spacey as the two live albums to follow which, oddly enough, makes it the least dated sounding of the three albums they produced. What you hear on this album is a quartet of accomplished musicians exploring fresh new frontiers in music. Being the late 60's, early 70's there is the seemingly required spiritual path reference, in this case the writings on Sufi philosophy of G.I. Gurdjieff and P.D. Ouspensky. Given that the band was based out of San Francisco I guess you could say this was a 'hippie jazz' group - lots of hippies, myself included, dug this band. Even my friends who were bored to tears with most of my music dug these guys. One reason may be that they kept Ron McClure and Eddie Marshall way up forward in the mix and even rock fans could tell that they were beasts.

The Fourth Way
Capitol Records 1969

1) Everyman's Your Brother
2) Clouds
3) Sparky
4) Bucklehuggin
5) Openings
6) Gemini Trajectory
7) Dance of the Mechanical Men
8) The Sybil