JRR Playlist 18 July

[Alyn_Shipton]

JRR 190714


DISC
Artist Charlie Parker
Title Laird Baird
Composer Parker
Album Confirmation: Best of the Verve Years
Label Verve
Number Track 3
Duration 2.48
Performers: Charlie Parker, as; Hank Jones, p; Teddy Kotick, b; Max Roach, 30 Dec 1952.

DISC
Artist Five A Slide
Title Pink Panther
Composer Gershwin
Album Strike Up The Band
Label Black Lion
Number BLCD 760509 Track 2
Duration 4.22
Performers: Campbell Burnap, Pete Strange, John Beecham, Jim Shepherd, Roy Crimmins, Roy Williams, tb; Stan Greig, p; Pete Skivington, b; Johnny Richardson, d.

DISC
Artist Baikida Carroll
Title Against Your Warmth
Composer Carroll
Album Door of the Cage
Label Soul Note
Number Track 4
Duration 6.59
Performers Baikida Carroll, t; Erica Lindsay, ts; Steve Coulson, p; Santi Debriano, b; Phaeeroan Ak Laff, d. 1994.


DISC
Artist Erroll Garner
Title The Way You Look Tonight
Composer Kern, Fields
Album Dream Street / One World Concert
Label Telarc
Number 83350 Track 10
Duration 4.02
Performers Erroll Garner, p; Edward Calhoun, b; Kelly Martin d. 1962 World’s Fair Seattle.


DISC
Artist Hot Lips Page with Count Basie
Title Blues With Lips
Composer Page
Album From Spirituals To Swing : Complete Legendary Carnegie Hall Concerts
Label Definitive
Number CD 1 Track 3
Duration 3.11
Performers: Hot Lips Page, Buck Clayton, Ed Lewis, Harry Edison, Shad Collins t; Benny Morton, Dan Minor, Dickie Wells, tb; Earl Warren, Lester Young, Herschel Evans, Jack Washington, reeds; Count Basie, p; Freddie Green, g; Walter Page, b; Jo Jones, d. 23 Dec 1938


DISC
Artist Jelly Roll Morton
Title That’s Like It Oughta Be
Composer Morton
Album Dr Jazz
Label Proper
Number Properbox 112 CD 4 Track 2
Duration 2.54
Performers: Barney Bigard, cl; Jelly Roll Morton, p; Zutty Singleton, d. 17 Dec 1929.


DISC
Artist Raahsan Roland Kirk
Title If I Loved You
Composer Rodgers and Hammerstein
Album Bright Moments
Label Atlantic
Number SD 2907 Track 11
Duration 8.47
Performers: Rahsaan Roland Kirk (flute, stritch, tenor saxophone); Ron Burton (piano), Todd Barkan (synthesizer, tambourine), Henry Pearson (bass), Robert Shy (drums), Joe Habao (percussion)

Recorded live at Keystone Korner, San Francisco, California from June 8-9, 1973


DISC
Artist Phil Mason
Title Cotton Fields Back Home
Composer Ledbetter
Album Once in a while
Label Lake
Number Track 2
Duration 3.26
Performers: Christine Tyrrell, v; Phil Mason cornet, Roger Myerscough clarinet, Micky Cooke trombone, Jim McIntosh banjo, Laurie Chescoe drums, Trefor Williams, double bass, 2007.


DISC
Artist Stan Getz
Title Split Kick
Composer Getz
Album Split Kick
Label Roost
Number RLP 423 Track 1
Duration 3.06
Performers: Stan Getz, t; Horace Silver, p; `joe Calloway, b; Walter Bolden, d. 1951

DISC
Artist Frank Sinatra
Title Luck Be a Lady
Composer Loesser
Album Best of Vegas
Label Universal
Number 06025 277 312-2 Track 9
Duration 4.30
Performers: Frank Sinatra, v; Quincy Jones, dir; Bill Miller, p; Count Basie Orchestra, Jan 1966.

DISC
Artist Ian Carr’s Nucleus
Title Snakehips Dream
Composer Carr
Album The Pretty Redhead
Label Hux
Number 038 Track 3
Duration 8.14
Performers: Ian Carr, t; Brian Smith, ss, ts; Karl Jenkins, bars, ob, p; Chris Spedding, g, Jeff Clyne, b; John Marshall, d. 9 March 1971

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

thanks Alyn; how nice to have a Nucleus track ...

[Alyn_Shipton]

Sorry I got the date wrong in the header...it is of course 19 July!

[antongould]

thanks Alyn; how nice to have a Nucleus track ...

Indeed Calum back to my student days.......where did they go?

[Ian Thumwood]

There is some very interesting stuff in this selection. I will be curious to hear Baikida Carroll and the JRM track but the stand out has got to be the Basie track with Hot Lips Page. Page was the original trumpeter in Basie's band but got lured away by Joe Glaser (?) before the band made any records. He was instrumental in contributing to the way the Basie band transformed jazz. I wasn't aware this track existed so it will be interesting to hear.

See that the programme picks up with a Parker recording from the Verve label, I wonder if anyone else had picked up the new book outlining the history of Norman Granz' label:-

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Verve-Sound-America-Richard-Havers/dp/0500517142/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1405760374&sr=1-1&keywords=verve+the+sound+of+america

I've bought this as a birthday present for my Dad (plus the usual selection of CD's) but haven't looked through it as it is factory wrapped. It looks like an extremely beautiful and well laid out book that should appeal to most people on this board. Has anyone else read it?

I've always found Verve to be an uneven label yet there is always something exciting about the way they present music. The initial recordings were little more than ad hoc jam session but retain a degree of interest in an unorganised format simply because of the calibre of the musicians playing. I would suggest that the Ellington / Hodge "Back to back" album remains the label's crowning glory and would easily place this record in my Top Ten of essential small group jazz recordings. It is an essential record. I've also always liked "Hey!, Heard the Herd" by woody Herman which includes some blistering tracks. If you also includes the classic recordings of Billie Holiday, the New Testament Basie band, the session of Mulligan arrangements performed by Krupa and the sessions with Charlie Parker where Granz tried to instil a degree of order to a musician's work whose output had previously should little variety of contest, I think you start to build up a picture of how integral Verve has been to jazz.

During the 1990's / 2000's, the label underwent a renaissance with records by Shirley Horn , betty Carter and Joe Henderson which were amongst the best of than era. They had quite a strong roster of talent and were always very well recorded.

However, to counter this, there has always been another side to Verve which has been quite commercial with the recordings by the likes of Wes Montgomery and Jimmy Smith not in the same category as the superior music they made with Blue Note. On top of that, they also seemed too enamoured with the "safe" styles of jazz such as Stan Getz and Oscar Peterson - the latter being a musician who had an uncanny ability to throw a damp blanket over nearly all the recordings he made with a dominating approach to the piano which suffocated the excitement out of records. Peterson is a musician I've always mistrusted and Granz' enthusiasm and lack of critique regarding his work very much reflects Manfred Eicher's free hand granted to keith Jarrett albeit an on form KJ record is worth a million by Peterson. I would also have to say that "Getz a go go" sowed the seed for "Smooth Jazz" and the rank dross that followed in the form of the likes of Kenny G. No cutting edge on this record with all eyes focussed on the ££££'s. For me, Granz' enthusiasm for both Peterson and Getz showed poor judgement in contrast with the likes of Weinstock or Alfred Lions who could see the commercial appeal of some styles but not to the expense of quality jazz. Maybe I'm harsh on Granz as he was responsible for a lot of exceptional music and was a champion of musician's rights. As a producer he seemed to be able to sell jazz better than anyone else and whilst good musicianship was always a significant factor, this was always refracted by a more mainstream vision where the oeuvre of more challenging aspects of jazz in the 1950's and 60's had no place. The "safe" factor manifested itself even more so when Granz produced "Pablo" where the results were even more uneven and the roster of artists gave the impression that jazz had ceased to develop after say 1955.