Randy Bey Posted October 10, 2002 Share Posted October 10, 2002 Picked up Tenor Madness, and Saxophone Collossus by Sonny Rollins, and Sketches of Spain by Miles Davis recently. That Tenor Madness has gotten a lot of play over the last week or so. Very nice. My fav Sonny album so far. heh, now I have more Sonny than Patricia Barber. Not quite as enamored with Saxophone Collossus, but Sketches of Spain is my second fav from the bunch. Now I need to get more Art Pepper. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobd Posted October 10, 2002 Share Posted October 10, 2002 Keep listening to Sax Collossus. It's an amazing CD. Give it a good chance. I'm a tenor player so I should know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clipped and Shorn Posted October 10, 2002 Share Posted October 10, 2002 Art Pepper sounds great on those old Contemporary discs. I also like his early work with Kenton. But I find myself mostly grabbing for the Bird....even on sides that were originally taken off a radio broadcast lost for 40 years then found in some closet on broken glass acetates which were glued back together. btw, Art is cool writer. check out his life story, If memory serves it was called something like "Straight Life". I once caught him in Oakland at a gig he played between prison stays. He was one of the only players of his generation that found a style that was distinct from the Parker mold. Along with Konitz and then Desmond. "Art Pepper + Eleven" another good one on Contemporary........ -c&s Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mobile homeless Posted October 10, 2002 Share Posted October 10, 2002 Yeah, the book is Staight Life and written with his wife, Laurie. I have been meaning to pick this up and as it's out on paperback and inexpensive, it's worth the trouble. Some of the jacket comments are interesting: Art Pepper is a great one and excellent on vinyl over CD (as is 95% of all good jazz). Even on the later reissues from Contemporary and Galaxy, I find it worth the trouble even though the sonics are not as good as others (much of the music sure is). A few have been resissued in 180g vinyl at the standard prices ($25-30) but many more are all over from the 80s when Fantasy Catalog went hogwild with vinyl (finally offering much of their entire selection at $5.00). Now, OJC is all over the place and cheap...but again, not the best quality by any means (many can actually be quite lame). Still, even these more pedestrian pieces eat digital alive depending. PLEASE NOTE: RANDY, please give the Sonny Rollins more attention, most notably the track BLUE 7, quite possibly one of the best jazz recordings of all time and certainly one of my favorites bar none (it deserves all the praise in every way). Max Roach is brilliant here on the drums and Sonny is extraordinary (ditto with Doug Watkins & Tommy Flanagan)! It is just about a PERFECT recording and shows how great genius at improvisation can produce true art. IF anyone has not heard a recording of Blue 7 on good vinyl, tubes, and horns, then you are missing something VERY special! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clipped and Shorn Posted October 10, 2002 Share Posted October 10, 2002 There are literally thousands of cool books on Jazz and many by the artists themselves. There are even books on the influence of jazz writing on jazz. The jazz book collection is almost as much fun as the record collection, and it is especially fun to suppliment one with the other. Discographies also help one to piece together the record collection. -c7s oh, and yes, some of these great books or out of print and valuable collectibles worth the search..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randy Bey Posted October 10, 2002 Author Share Posted October 10, 2002 Doh! I had the two Sonny albums mixed up! My bad. I've been listening to Sax Colossus all along and I agree 100% on that Blue 7. Funny, I thought sure it was the other way around. The mind is the first thing to... to... uh, whatever. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxg Posted October 11, 2002 Share Posted October 11, 2002 I have Sax Colossus on XRCD - it was the first one I ever got. Really amazing recording - I listened to it for a full year before I realised it was mono!! I also have one of his recordings on reasonable vinyl but sadly like you my memory is going and I cant remember its name.. Will check it out tonight and get back to you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mobile homeless Posted October 11, 2002 Share Posted October 11, 2002 Sonny Rollins is so damn great... One of my favorites. I have a whole section of vinyl dedicated to him. A short list of some greats - most on LP and CD - ALL worth having: - The Sound of Sonny - Sonny Rollins: A Night at the Village Vanguard - Freedom Suite - Saxophone Colossus - Way Out West - Sonny Rollins with the Modern Jazz Quartet - Moving Out - Thelonious Monk Brilliant Corners - Sonny Rollins and the Contemporary Leaders - Sonny Rollins Meets Hawk - The Bridge On a side note, if only into CD/Digital, keep an eye out for the K2 20-Bit remasters of a few of these as they are better than the normal CD version. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxg Posted October 11, 2002 Share Posted October 11, 2002 Well dont Kelly - Way out West is the vinyl I have too. It was driving me mad (almost enough to leave the office - go home and check!!) Phew!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allan Songer Posted October 11, 2002 Share Posted October 11, 2002 Blue 7, sure. But I'll take St. Thomas--when Rollins bites into that Carribean beat, which he has done from time to time over the past 50 years it just floors me. Saxophone Collosus might be the best jazz LP ever. I know it's crazy to pick one, but if you had to this would surely be on the short list. If you're looking for some early Art Pepper, hunt down a CD called "The Complete Aladdin Recordings, vol. 3" on Blue Note. It seems to go in and out of print. This session wasn't for "Aladdin" at all, but for "Omegatape." It wasn't released on LP until the mid-1970's and is probably Pepper's best 1950's recording. The rythym section is the most sympathetic of any he EVER recorded with--this was actually a working group in LA at the time and it shows. The group includes my favorite and the MOST UNDERRATED piano player of all time, Carl Perkins, Ben Tucker on bass and Chuck Flores on drums. I've listened to this session at least once a month for the past 25 years and it always punches me straigt in the gut. Incredible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clipped and Shorn Posted October 11, 2002 Share Posted October 11, 2002 To the Sonny newbies.... Remember, that is a young Sonny with Ted Navarro on those classic Amazing Bud Powell Blue Note vols. Dance Of The Infidels and Bouncing With Bud, then there is all that other early bebop Sonny, and then all the great stuff with early Miles on Prestige, and all the great stuff with Monk besides Brilliant Corners, like that long early version of Friday The 13th etc. and Newk's Time, and Rollins Plays For Bird, and Moving Out, and Shadow Waltz, and Sonny's Time, and Freedom Suite, and East Broadway Rundown, and The Bridge.... all fine albums.... worth checking out.... -c7s Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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