Buck Clayton with Buddy Tate - Buck & Buddy blow the blues (1961) [re-rip]

A romping little session from Buck Clayton and Buddy Tate - served up in a looser, more relaxed setting than the former's albums for Columbia, and a slightly more swing-based mode than the latter's dates for Chess! Both horn players get plenty of room to solo in the open-ended Swingville mode - Buck on trumpet and Buddy on both tenor and clarinet - and the group's a nice one too, since Sir Charles Thompson's playing piano, Gene Ramey's on bass, and Gus Johnson's on drums. Titles include "Blue Creek", "Blue Breeze", "Blue Ebony", "Rompin At Red Bank", and "Dallas Delight". © Dusty Groove, Inc.

Prestige/Swingville, SVST 2030, 1961

Recorded 15th September, 1961 in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey

Musicians:

Buck Clayton - Trumpet

Buddy Tate - Tenor Saxophone, Clarinet

Sir Charles Thompson - Piano

Gene Ramey - Bass

Gus Johnson - Drums

Tracks:

A1. Rompin’ At Red Bank {Buddy Tate} (6:35)

A2. Blue Creek {Buddy Tate} (6:32)

A3. A Swinging Doll {Buck Clayton} (3:55)

A4. Dallas Delight {Buck Clayton} (4:36)

B1. Don’t Mind If I Do {Buddy Tate} (8:06)

B2. Blue Breeze {Buck Clayton} (4:13)

B3. Blue Ebony {Buck Clayton} (5:59)

Credits:

Supervision - Esmond Edwards

Recording Engineer - Rudy van Gelder

Design, Photo - Don Schlitten

Liner Notes - Joe Goldberg

Illinois Jacquet - Flying Home

Without a doubt, "The Kid" was one of the greatest sax players to ever breath life on this great Earth of ours.  His sound was gritty, raw and soulful but never without subtlety when required.  Indeed, his voice is instantly recognizable by jazz fans - "Flying Home" is quite possibly the most famous sax solo of all time.

This CD covers alot of ground while bringing you some of Jacquet's best cuts.  Bluebird  originally recorded all of these as 78's, and they have been expertly remastered here.  The recordings range in date from 1947 - 1967 and in location from Hollywood to NYC.  There are some personnel changes throughout the album, but certainly nothing to disappoint - Shadow Wilson to Jo Jones!!??!  Considering that this is technically a compilation, it plays incredibly well as an album.

And with that said, the band absolutely smokes.  It helps when each member is a seasoned pro - JJ Johnson, Leo Parker, Joe Newman, etc, etc.  It varies in size from track to track, but overall the idea is a "little big band".  One thing you will notice straight away is the weight that this band can produce.  Jacquet has basically put together a small group which can operate as a big band when called upon.  I love it.  And having dual trumpet players is one unique aspect to a band of this size.  The whole thing swings hard and is overall a definite shade of blue.  We are treated to all kinds of fun as the members all get to express themselves here, including Illinois' brother Russ who puts in some vocals on Try Me One More Time.

Flying Home is essentially a "Cole's Notes" of the impeccable Mosaic boxset which captured all of Jacquet's recordings from this period.  For those of you who are fortunate enough to have the boxset, this CD is probably not for you.  However for everybody else, including anybody looking to discover Illinois Jacquet, this album is an absolute gem.  I will include the AMG review which is glowing but curiously only scored the album a 3/5 stars.  I would say this set of classic tunes is without a doubt 4/5.  I have included all the scans and ripped the disc using EAC for 16/44.1 FLAC... enjoy!!!

This is a great selection of Jacquet's late-'40s/early-'50s work, hot on the heels of his success with Jazz At The Philharmonic and his tenure with the Lionel Hampton Band. There's lots of honking and squealing coupled to Jacquet's patented abrasive tone, one of the most exciting in jazz, heard to good effect on "Jet Propulsion." Jacquet's brother Russell vocalizes on "Try Me One More Time," making himself a worthy foil, and stalwarts like Leo Parker, Shadow Wilson and J.J. Johnson are counted up in the mix. The closing track is somewhat of a ringer; recorded live in 1967 at the Newport Folk Festival, it's a high voltage take on the the title cut with Illinois' old boss Hampton making a guest appearance. - Cub Koda/AMG

Bluebird / RCA 1992

1. Jet Propulsion 

2. Try Me One More Time 

3. Riffin' at 24th Street 

4. Symphony in Sid 

5. Jacquet for Jack the Bellboy 

6. Big Foot 

7. Black Velvet 

8. B-Yot 

9. Adam's Alley 

10. Hot Rod 

11. Flying Home

Joe Williams - Live! A Swingin' Night At Birdland

I'm sure many of you already have this one, but for those who don't... here's a treat.  Joe Williams backed by a quintet of pros in a small club, Birdland.  We are even treated to an intro from none other than Pee Wee Marquette.

This one is a winner from start to finish and has many nuances of a live performance.  Very intimate.  Brought to you in glorious mono, the fidelity is superb as the vinyl is clean.  24/44.1 wav dithered to 16/44.1 FLAC... enjoy!!!

In 1961, after six years as one of the main attractions of  Count Basie's orchestra, Williams (with Basie's blessing) went out on his own. One of his first sessions was this live recording, cut at Birdland with a strong quintet that featured trumpeter Harry "Sweets" Edison and Jimmy Forrest on tenor.  Williams mostly sings standards and ballads, but also tosses in a few of his popular blues (including "Well Alright, OK, You Win" and "Goin' to Chicago") during a well-rounded and thoroughly enjoyable set. - Scott Yanow / AMG

1. September in the rain (Warren-Dubin)
2. Come back baby (Mina-Bromley)
3. Five o'clock in the morning (Joe Williams)
4. By the river St.Marie (Warren-Leslie)
5. This can't be love (Rodgers-Hart)
6. Teach me tonight (DePaul-Cahn)
7. Well alright (Faye-Raye-Howell)
8. I was telling her about you (Charlap-George)
9. Have you met Miss Jones? (Rodgers-Hart)
10. Well oh well (Gillis-Bullard)

Roulette R-52085
1961

Joe Williams (vocal), Harry Edison (trumpet), Sir Charles Thompson (piano), Jimmy Forrest (tenor sax), Joe Benjamin (bass), Charlie Persip (drums)

Americans In Europe (1966-7)

Re-upped from the Crypt

An album of out-takes from LPs issued by the UK Fontana label in the late 60s and, as far as I know, never issued on CD. Included are two extra tracks from the Jimmy Witherspoon recording from the Bull's Head, Barnes that I posted earlier. Overall, there's some great straight ahead jazz here - enjoy!

01 - Bud Meets Eddie (Bud Freeman & Eddie Miller)
02 - Things Are Getting Tougher Than Tough (Jimmy Witherspoon)
03 - Time On My Hands (Earl Hines)
04 - Laura (Bud Freeman)
05 - I Can't Believe That You're In Love With Me (Wild Bill Davison)
06 - Diane (Eddie Miller)
07 - Can't We Talk It Over (Earl Hines)
08 - I'll Be So Glad (Jimmy Witherspoon)
09 - Church House Blues (Sir Charles Thompson)
10 - La Rosita (Ben Webster)

All tracks recorded in London 1966-7, apart from track 9 recorded in Paris.

Vic Dickenson Septet

Well I hope everybody had a great New Years!!  Me?  Well I took my family downtown for the 'kids' New Years celebration, which included fireworks at 9:00pm.  We had a great time and with the kids in bed, my wife and I quietly brought in the New Year with some 20 year Scotch.

This album is something I am wildly excited to share.
Compilations/reissues of this kind are exactly what we need as jazz fans.  Taking really rare and pricy albums from the past, and making the music available for a reasonable price.

The liner notes are extremely well written, and tell the whole story behind this comp, so I won't go into too much detail.  What I will say is that there is no doubt this music represents Dickenson's greatest contribution to jazz.  This double LP set, released in 1972, was taken from 4 - 10" LPs recorded in the early 50's for the Vanguard imprint.  What we now call mainstream or small group swing, really got it's beginnings from the players on these tracks.  There was a time when the big band players were in a kind of limbo, in between bebop and Dixie.  They managed to carve a niche for themselves, and Dickenson's septet help lead the charge.

Musically, most of the tunes are laid back with a jam-like feel.  The soloing is top notch and inspired.  Luckily, the fidelity is incredible from vinyl which I would categorize as only being very good.  I cleaned it up and the results are excellent.  I think you'll find there's wonderful clarity and the soloists are up front with lots of immediacy.  From what I can tell, this collection was released to CD at some point but definitely appears to be OOP.  Perhaps somebody can shed some light on that for us.  Ripped at 24/44.1 wav and dithered to 16/44.1 FLAC...enjoy the first post of 2013!!!

Vanguard VRS 8520/1
1972

Vol. 1

Vol. 2

Record 1 

Tracks 1 - 5

Vol. 3

Vol. 4

Record 2 

Tracks 6 - 12