Sonny Stitt - My Mother's Eyes (1963) [vinyl>flac]

It seems Sonny Stitt can’t go wrong in the eyes of most jazz lovers, so here we have another great earlier album from the master. Enjoy!

A rare one for Sonny Stitt - an album for Pacific Jazz recorded on the west coast, but done with some hard-burning organ work by Charles Kynard that easily matches any of Stitt's best soul jazz sides from the east! There's a tightly cooking feel to the entire set that's really great – a style that's slightly different than Sonny's work for Argo or Prestige, but which is equally great – thanks to fluid lines on Hammond from Kynard, and some great guitar from the under-rated Ray Crawford. The group's completed by Doug Sides on drums – and titles include "Blue Skies", "Sitt In Time", "Summer Special", "My Mother's Eyes", and "SOP Blues". (Out of print.) © 1996-2013, Dusty Groove, Inc.,

Pacific Jazz, PJ-71, 1963

Recorded May, 1963 in Los Angeles, California

Track Listing:

A1. Summer Special {Sonny Stitt} (3:37)

A2. My Mother's Eyes {Abel Baer, Wolfe Gilbert} (5:24)

A3. Stitt In Time {Sonny Stitt} (4:12)

A4. Blue Skies {Irving Berlin} (4:01)

B1. My Mother's Eyes {Abel Baer, Wolfe Gilbert} (5:23)

B2. S.O.P. Blues {Sonny Stitt} (4:13)

B3. Don't Go To Strangers {Redd Evans, Arthur Kent, Dave Mann} (5:25)

B4. Red Top {Ben Kynard, Lionel Hampton} (3:19)

Personnel:

Sonny Stitt - Tenor Saxophone

Charles Kynard - Organ

Ray Crawford - Guitar

Doug Sides - Drums

Credits:

Producer - Richard Bock

Cover, Photography - Woody Woodward

Liner Notes - Bob Porter

Thad Jones And Mel Lewis Quartet

I'm really thrilled about this post.  While visiting my local antique shop, a source for jazz vinyl, I came upon this new arrival.  It was still sealed and only $5!!!  I snatched it up in a flash...

For any fans of Thad Jones, this session is an important one.  This was recorded live at the Airliner Lounge in 1977.  It's one of the last which features him in a small group.  On that note, it could aruguably be one of his best - even bringing Scott Yanow to award it 5 stars.  His playing is certainly on par with any of his Blue Note efforts.

Of course, this is a co-lead side so Lewis busts out a few times as well.  Infact, the whole band can be heard, each taking soulful and moving solos.  Rufus Reid is incredible on this one.  The whole group play brilliantly, with top flight interaction.

Overall, the album is a real gem and reminds us why Thad Jones and Mel Lewis are so important as musicians, not just arrangers or composers.  The best part about this post???  The minty status of our source!!!  This transfer came out incredibly... absolutely beautiful tone.  The mono recording throws a huge field of sound with wonderful seperation between the players.  Aside from that, I also have the 8 page booklet!!!  This includes full discographies for both Jones and Lewis, full session info, pics and even a transcribed cornet solo!!  This should make a wonderful upgrade, especially for those who have this sourced from the stereo CD.  Ripped at 24/44.1 wav and dithered to 16/44.1 FLAC... enjoy!!!

Artists House AH-3
1978

A1 But Not For Me 16:30
A2 This Can't Be Love 3:52
B1 Autum Leaves 15:25
B2 What Is This Thing 4:45

Bass – Rufus Reid
Cornet – Thad Jones
Drums – Mel Lewis
Piano – Harold Danko

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

Sonny Stitt - Black Vibrations (1971) [vinyl>flac]

"Sonny Stitt joins up with a tight group of prime Prestige funky players – like Idris Muhammad, Leon Spencer, Melvin Sparks, and Virgil Jones – for a sound that's much funkier than some of his other records for the label. The set's got a good set of modern funk tracks, with all the quality moments you'd expect from these top-notch players. Titles include "Goin' To DC", "Calling Card", "Them Funky Changes", and "Black Vibrations"." Of special interest are the tracks where Don Patterson who at Stitt’s insistence, took over the organ from Leon Spencer.

This date ‘has some good Jones trumpet and finds Stitt playing acoustically and switching to alto on two of the six jams, but once again it is the nonstop chugging of Sparks, Muhammad and either Leon Spencer or guest organist Don Patterson that fuels the fire.’ ~ Scott Yanow, AMG.

Prestige Records, PR 10032, 1972

Recorded 9th July, 1971 at Rudy Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey

Track Listing:

A1. Goin' To D.C. {Leon Spencer Jr.} (7:23)

A2. Aires {Don Patterson, Sonny Stitt} (5:33)

A3. Black Vibrations {Leon Spencer Jr.} (6:41)

B1. Calling Card {Sonny Stitt} (6:26)

B2. Where Is Love? {Lionel Bart} (2:22)

B3. Them Funky Changes {Leon Spencer Jr.} (7:55)

Personnel:

Sonny Stitt - Alto Sax (A1,B2), Tenor Sax (A2,A3,B1,B3)

Virgil Jones - Trumpet

Melvin Sparks - Guitar

Leon Spencer Jr. - Organ

Don Patterson - Organ (#A2,B1)

Idris Muhammad - Drums

Credits:

Producer - Bob Porter

Recording Engineer - Rudy Van Gelder

Jackie McLean - Makin' The Changes (1957) [vinyl>flac]

I prepared this post for the RVG blog. Another contributor posted a CD rip, so rather than wasting my efforts I decided to offer it at the Crypt. This is a marvellous early album by Jackie McLean. It was recorded over two dates one consisting of a Quartet and the other as a Sextet; by the masterful Rudy van Gelder. These variants do detract from the album's flow, but taken individually the music is excellent and well played. The listener can easily discern the dynamics offered by Mal Waldron, Paul Chambers and Curtis Fuller to highlight a few of the great musicians on show here. Overall the album is an opportunity to experience some great hard bop that sounds fresh even in today’s diverse jazz world. Enjoy!

Makin' the Changes features altoist Jackie McLean in two different settings. On three selections -- a rollicking "Bean and the Boys," an up-tempo "I Never Knew" and "I Hear a Rhapsody" -- McLean teams up with pianist Mal Waldron in a quartet with bassist Arthur Phipps and drummer Art Taylor. The other three numbers ("What's New," " "Chasin' the Bird" and McLean's original "Jackie's Ghost") have more of a jam session feel, and feature McLean in a sextet with trumpeter Webster Young, trombonist Curtis Fuller, pianist Gil Coggins, bassist Paul Chambers and drummer Louis Hayes. In general, the hard bop music is swinging and fairly advanced, a step above the usual jam sessions of the time. ~ by Scott Yanow, AMG.

New Jazz, NJLP 8231, 1960

Recorded 15^th February, 1957 (#A1,A3,B1) in Hackensack, New Jersey

Recorded 30^th August, 1957 (#A2,B2,B3) in Hackensack, New Jersey

Track Listing:

A1. Bean And The Boys {Coleman Hawkins} (8:32)

A2. What's New {Bob Haggart, Johnny Burke} (7:08)

A3. I Never Knew {Gus Kahn, Ted Fiorito} (2:58)

B1. I Hear A Rhapsody {Dick Gasparre, George Fragos, Jack Baker, Richard Bard} (5:07)

B2. Jackie's Ghost {Ray Draper} (5:26)

B3. Chasin' The Bird {Charlie Parker} (6:35)

Personnel:

Jackie McLean - Alto Saxophone

Curtis Fuller - Trombone (#A2,B2,B3)

Webster Young - Trumpet (#A2,B2,B3)

Mal Waldron - Piano (#A1,A3,B1)

Gil Coggins - Piano (#A2,B2,B3)

Arthur Phipps - Bass (#A1,A3,B1)

Paul Chambers - Bass (#A2,B2,B3)

Arthur Taylor - Drums (#A1, A3, B1)

Louis Hayes - Drums (#A2,B2,B3)

Credits:

Supervision - Bob Weinstock

Recording Engineer - Rudy Van Gelder

Cover Artwork - Esmond Edwards

Liner Notes - Nat Hentoff

The Buddy Tate Celebrity Club Orchestra - Unbroken

Man... I love Buddy Tate.  This date is just another great session in his huge discography.  However, the orchestra owes it's swingin sound to more than just Tate.  They are indeed a group, and a fine one at that.  It was music like this which helped to keep swing alive and well through a decade like the 70's.

On Unbroken, we're treated to the full band blasting through ensemble melodies, individual solos, quiet and down tempo ballads & high flying dance numbers.  Aside from Tate, Bascomb really shines as a soloist - he has perfect tone.

I think it's easy to look back and see why albums like this, which at the time may have seemed average or relic, were infact essential to mainstream music's survival.

This MPS side was ripped at 24/44.1 wav and dithered to 16/44.1 FLAC.  It's wonderfully minty and quiet.    
More of that old school vibe here at the Crypt... enjoy!!!

Recorded MPS Studio Villingen, Black Forrest June 30th/July 1st, 1970
MPS / BASF Stereo 20740

1972

Starting in 1952 and continuing into the early 1970s, tenor saxophonist Buddy Tate worked regularly at the Celebrity Club in Harlem with his septet/octet, which he logically called the Celebrity Club Orchestra. Tate and his group made relatively few recordings, which makes this set (cut for MPS and last available domestically as a Pausa LP) quite valuable. In addition to Tate, the group features trumpeter Dud Bascomb (who was with Erskine Hawkins' Orchestra during the swing era), pianist Nat Pierce, bassist Eddie Jones, and such lesser-known players as trombonist Eli Robinson, Ben Richardson (on clarinet, alto and baritone) and drummer George Reed. The unit performs six veteran swing standards (including "Undecided," "Airmail Special" and "Tuxedo Junction") and a couple of basic originals. The enjoyable music swings hard, making one wish that this fine session were reissued on CD. - Scott Yanow / AMG

Clarinet, Alto Saxophone, Baritone Saxophone – Ben Richardson
Bass – Eddie Jones
Drums – George Reed
Piano – Nat Pierce
Tenor Saxophone – Buddy Tate
Trombone – Eli Robinson
Trumpet – Wilbur Dud Bascomb

Earl Anderza - Outa Sight (1962)

Possibly the most apposite album title ever!

From a review by Eddie Blackwell ~ Jazz Journal, February 1999:-

From the original sleeve-notes we learn that Anderza had been playing for several years [at the time of this recording] and cited Charlie Parker and Lee Konitz as his prime influences. Clearly he had also listened to Eric Dolphy, having received lessons from Dolphy's teacher. In addition, there is reference to a session with Ornette Coleman. His mastery of the alto is demonstrated in a formidable technique. A powerful, brilliant tone, invariably devoid of vibrato, is nevertheless warm and intense on the ballads. In order to create a more individual sound he had developed the technique of false fingering which enabled him to produce higher notes than the saxophone would normally attain. These skills are deployed in a programme of originals, one or two of which were composed at the studio, and several splendid ballad readings. You'd Be So Nice lopes along at perfect tempo, and Anderza's affection for What's New produces a warm performance in which he attempts, successfully, to ascend into the formerly unreachable area above high F and then descends in complete musical taste. He lags neatly behind the beat on Blues Baroque, a satisfying 12-bar, and tears into Freeway like the proverbial bat out of the other place! A fine young musician, captured at a period in his development when the formalities of bop were under challenge from a freer form of expression. I wonder what became of him?

(1) All The Things You Are
(2) Blues Baroque
(3) You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To
(4) Freeway
(5) Outa Sight
(6) What's New
(7) Benign
(8) Lonesome Road
(9) I'll Be Around
(10) Freeway
(11) Benign

Earl Anderza (as); Jack Wilson (p, hps); (tracks 1, 2, 4, 5, 6) George Morrow (b); (tracks 3, 7) Jimmy Bond (b); Donald Dean (d).
Los Angeles, March 1962

Thanks to Otis Foster for unearthing this, originally posted at -
http://cd.ciao.com/Outa_Sight_Limited_Edition_Earl_Anderza__Review_5750762:

"Earl Anderza and I were cell mates in San Francisco City Prison in July of 1970. As I was the only other person in there who loved jazz & knew musicians and since we were probably the only two guys in that cell block with IQs higher than the temperature of the over-crowded air, we became friends, At that time, even though I had been a denizen of Jazz clubs in San Francisco (from the Blackhawk where I saw Horace Silver for the first time in 1960 or 61, when I was 16, from behind the screen that segregated people under 21 from those who were old enough to drink; to the 181 Club after hours; Jack's on Sutter for Sunday Morning Jams) , in LA (Shelly's MannHole where I came every night for a week each to hear Mose Allison & Bill Evans play two sets); in New York (Thanks to a beautiful woman who had flown me from California to hear Bobby Short in the Village) and Chicago (for blues at Mr. Kelly's),.. I had never heard Earl Anderza play.
In the three weeks we spent locked down together, we talked about a wide-world of subjects, of course, we spoke about music, books and our lives in the life, while we awaited transportation to different prisons; he to the State and me to the Feds. Earl spoke about music with the sort of authority that --- when I got out many months later and bought my first vinyl copy of "Outa Sight" --- I wasn't the least bit surprised that his musicianship was amazing or that his lyrical sense was fully formed. I have been delighted by these cuts for more than 35 years; each time I go back to them they re-delight me.

After about three weeks, I got carted off to Lompoc FCI and I never saw Earl Anderza again. Since Earl never re-emerged into the first-rank of musicians with new music, I have assumed that he was lost in that labyrinth. I did hear about him once, from an inmate who transferred into Federal prison from the State. This guy told a story about how Earl Anderza was sitting alone on Xmas eve locked in his cell pouring his soul into his sax, when the sweet/sad sounds that floated down the tiers ignited a full-blown riot --- inmates screamed and threw burning clothes and mattresses onto the tiers until Folsom Prison had do be locked down, to silence the alto-sound of Earl Anderza's mournfully incarcerated-soul.
It's hard to research things that go on in the belly of that beast, so that is about what I know. If I were researching Earl's life after he went "Outa Sight," I'd begin with California's Department of Corrections. If anyone wanted to interview me to validate these recollections, I'd gladly make myself available. Earl Anderza should be remembered not because he was a good guy lost in a dark world; rather because his music is unforgettably elegant. Listen to these cuts and you will know all that can be known about Earl. It will blow your mind that someone, who you have never heard of, could have made such a profound sound with so much virtuosity. Enjoy...jt"

Charlie Barnet - Cherokee

Perhaps my optimism is warping my judgement, but I would like to believe that the Crypt is finally reaching certain "non-believers".   Yes, sometime ago I set out to reign in jazz fans who don't like big band, mainstream and/or basically anything deemed old and uncool.  In that time I have shared quite a few albums and overall received great response.

With that in mind, I am really excited to share this classic album by Charlie Barnet.  For those unfamiliar with him, I would suggest reading up on him, if you like a really non-traditional story.  For our purposes, the Coles notes read like this...  Barnet had his heyday in the 40's with a really great big band.  He eventually drifted out of jazz, but left a few albums along the way - Cherokee is one of those.

In 1958 Barnet hand picked a band to take into the studio.  Everest had commisioned him to cut a session, and so he decided to put together an album of tunes which were hits for him.  Now here's something else you should know about Charlie Barnet, he was always a wildly progressive band leader.  The result of all this is an album which infuses west coast cool and east coast bop into some great big band standards.   I think he wanted to show the apathetic youth, and modern jazz fans that big band could adapt and measure up.  Boy was he right...

I chose this album so that hopefully anybody still unsure about big band, can experience the absolute fun and joy of the genre at its best.  The music moves quickly and excitedly, yet retains a really soulful vibe.  The thing that most any jazz fan will enjoy about Cherokee, is the non stop barrage of solos.  Yes indeed, Barnet was the genuine article.  I have some really wonderful mint sides from his earlier years, but wanted to try and grab everyone's attention with this first - my favorite of his to be sure.  This set swings as hard as they come!!

This was ripped from my original Everest LP.  Ripped at 24/44.1 wav and dithered to 16/44.1 FLAC, it's a really minty affair with top notch fidelity.  Be sure to read the liner notes penned by Nat Hentoff.  Enjoy!!!

Everest Records LPBR-5008
1958

Charlie Barnet (soprano, alto & tenor saxophones); 

Bunny Briggs (vocals); 

Pete Mondello (alto, tenor & baritone saxophones); 

Vinnie Dee (alto saxophone); 

Dick Hafer, Kurt Bloom (tenor saxophone); 

Danny Bank (baritone saxophone); 

Charlie Shavers, Markey Markowitz, Clark Terry, Al Stewart (trumpet); 

Billy Byers, Frank Sarroco, Bobby Byrne, Ed Price (trombone); 

Nat Pierce (piano); 

Chubby Jackson (bass); 

Terry Snyder (drums).