coda Posted December 20, 2004 Share Posted December 20, 2004 Of course, entirely subjective, three to mention where the music sounds old but the recording sounds new, these are my picks for best jazz release of the year. Recorded in December 1950, when it was released as a mono album the 33-1/3 rpm format was considered brand new. Remarkable that the music can still be so affecting, with Johnny Hodges, Lawrence Brown, Sonny Greer, and singer Yvonne Lanauze, it's a classic any way you cut it, on top of that the presence of the artists in these arrangments is unbelievable given it was done over 50 years ago. This DSD 24-bit CD remaster will make you stop and think what they were doing right back then at the Columbia recording studio that may be lost art now. 12 years after this recording Duke came out with another classic Money Jungle, with Max Roach and Charles Mingus, probably one of the greatest jazz trios ever, this was one aggressive session! Masterpieces in contrast is wonderfully mellow but equally intelligent. I've included the back cover of the original album. If you like Ellington, do not miss this one! Frank Hewitt was an artist I had never heard of before until this year, born in Queens NY in 1935, he grew up in Sugar Hill, Harlem, and at an early age was drawn to jazz piano. Over time he met up with Bud Powell, Thelonious Monk and Elmo Hope, by his early twenties he was playing often as a sideman on the New York scene, appearing with Billie Holiday, Dinah Washington, John Coltrane, Howard McGhee, Cecil Payne and many others. Major record labels overlooked him early on and he managed to stay out of the spotlight for most of his life until age 65, when he sat down for his very first recording session in 2001. Sadly he passed away in 2002 before it was released in 2004, the Small Records site mentions that his few recordings are among the most sought-after collector's items among musicians in New York. When you hear this album you will understand why. Elvin Jones is best remembered for his sessions as a drummer with John Coltrane. He continued to record well into the 1990s, this particular live session was recorded in September 1999 along with Michael Brecker and Antoine Roney on sax, Robin Eubanks on trombone, Darren Barrett on trumpet, Carlos McKinney on piano and Gene Perla on bass. Some powerful and inspiring jazz communicated in this meeting, listeners will pick up on a spiritual dimension with several tracks, evoking a sense that Coltrane is quite present and playing in spirit. One of Elvin's final recordings before he passed away in May this year, this was released by Half Note Records in October. He will be missed, for us he left some great music. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike stehr Posted December 21, 2004 Share Posted December 21, 2004 Money Jungle does have some interesting bass licks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MagicMtnDan Posted December 21, 2004 Share Posted December 21, 2004 This one was out before this year but it's one of the best ever (IMHO): Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edwinr Posted December 21, 2004 Share Posted December 21, 2004 Thanks, Coda, for your recommendations. I don't mind Ellington. One of my personal favourites is 'BackToBack' where Duke Ellington and Johnny Hodges 'Play the Blues' on Verve records. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coda Posted December 21, 2004 Author Share Posted December 21, 2004 For some exciting contemporary jazz, check out Chris Potter (from South Carolina), this came out in May 2004. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James RD Posted December 21, 2004 Share Posted December 21, 2004 I'll have to check those out. Thanks, coda. One of my favorites this year is "Eternal" by the Branford Marsalis Quartet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allan Songer Posted December 21, 2004 Share Posted December 21, 2004 My three favorites from 2004: Benn Clatworthy is a Brit who has been based in Los Angeles for the past decade or so. A big, STRONG tenor in the mold of Sonny Rollins and late 50's Coltrane. This set was recorded live at the tiny LA club "Charlie O's" in 2003 but not released until a couple of months ago. This was a steady working quartet that played just about every Thursday at the club for much of 2003. Clatworthy's magnificant, serpentine solo on "Carvan" is amazing. This is Clatworthy's second album for Mainstem and it's WELL worth tracking down. Von Freeman is now in his early 80's and is still playing regularly in Chicago. I am going to make every effort to make it there this year to hear him perform live. This album, on the Premontion label is a quartet date with Jimmy Cobb on drums, Richard Wyans on piano and John Webber on bass. From the opening notes of "Be My Love" you know this is going to be a special album. My favorite is a FURIOUS bebop workout called "Never Fear Jazz is Here" that is absolutely jaw-dropping. Von Freeman is the real deal--RUN out and buy this album! Sam Rivers live at t he Jazz Bakery. Rivers is also in his early 80's but is still making some really FRESH music and should be an inspiration to us all. Rivers plays tenor and piano. This is a trio date, but hardly conventional as EACH musician plays muliple instruments. Rivers on tenor, soprano, flute and piano. Doug Mathes on bass, Fender bass, violin and bass clarinet. Anthony Cole on drums, piano and tenor sax. This is an AMAZING trio and this is their third album. Rivers certainly isn't for every jazz fan, but I try to hear him live whenever I can and I buy every new release and am NEVER sorry for it! Anyway, that's my top three for 2004. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnalOg Posted December 21, 2004 Share Posted December 21, 2004 Whats up with the leather in the left shoulder area, talk about frugal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allan Songer Posted December 21, 2004 Share Posted December 21, 2004 It's because Americans have pretty much rejected their greatest mucial art form--JAZZ. I doubt Van Freeman has sold as many albums in his ENTIRE LIFE as Clay Akins will sell today. Von Freeman is POOR, my man--go buy his new album and MAYBE he'll be able to buy himself a new jacket. I know you were trying to be clever, but your comment is ignorant and callous. Von Freeman is a TRUE American idol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnalOg Posted December 21, 2004 Share Posted December 21, 2004 Allan, It was a joke! Ignorant, not. I'm well aware of the persona he is portraying in that pic, the cloths the old bungalow in the background. Callous, well that would just be my nature. In the future, unless I attack you personally I would appreciate the same respect. No hard feelings. Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allan Songer Posted December 21, 2004 Share Posted December 21, 2004 That's where Mr. Freeman lives, pal--it isn't a "persona" he's trying to "portray." And I wasn't ATTACKING you, just pointing out your callous and ill-informed comments. You weren't being funny--just making yourself look foolish. I guess I'm old-fashioned, but your "joke" leaves me cold. No hard feelinigs here either! And by the way--there's nothing wrong with his jacket --the black splotches are part of the album cover's graphic design. If you want to attack that design as clumsy, I'll agree! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnalOg Posted December 21, 2004 Share Posted December 21, 2004 Lighten up PAL, the only person that looks foolish is you, overreacting to what you perceive as a bad joke. As far as the persona thing, whether he lives it or not that's just my opinion. Why do you have to rub people the wrong way. Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnalOg Posted December 21, 2004 Share Posted December 21, 2004 Oh ya it's not holes in the jacket, its the graghics, my bad! Thankx, Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fini Posted December 21, 2004 Share Posted December 21, 2004 What's up with that hole in the corner of the house next door? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coda Posted December 21, 2004 Author Share Posted December 21, 2004 Tom, ever stop in at the Hot House? looks like you're close to some great Chitown music. happy holidays. Freeman, Wilkerson take different approaches to great jazz November 21, 2004 BY JOHN LITWEILER Chicago is one of the world's greatest jazz cities -- does anybody doubt this? The best possible evidence was at Hot House on Friday night: tenor saxophonist Von Freeman's quartet and fellow tenorist Edward Wilkerson's Eight Bold Souls. Their music made that downtown nightclub live up to its name. They were certainly different groups. Octogenarian Freeman is a dynamic improviser with boundless energy and powers of creation, and spontaneity is at the heart of his music. On the other hand, Wilkerson is an ingenious composer of detailed, subtle scores for an octet of empathetic and distinctive soloists-interpreters. Unique sound There is surely no other sound in jazz like that of Freeman's saxophone. Big, rich, pliable, it moves from gruff tones to warmth to wobbly within a few bars, often with a tantalizingly flat or sharp edge. It's a terrifically expressive sound, big and forceful, yet vulnerable at the same time. Like his sound, his style was founded in the best of swing era and bebop models -- Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young, Charlie Parker -- yet the tension that he mounts in his long solos is very much his own. Contrast is a large element, as in "All of You," in which long, super-fast runs, as if melody was squeezed into the tiniest possible notes, alternated with brief, spacey abstractions of the theme. That selection, in fact, began the show 20 minutes early -- Freeman told the audience it was "just a sound check." His "real" performance proved to be a remarkable curve of emotion, beginning with his complex construction of a fast blues solo 17 choruses long. In that most bitter of minor-key ballads, "You Don't Know What Love Is," yearning lingered in his long, held tones. By the second chorus his solo turned into a desperate plea, with a lovely top note, then slow, tumbling phrases, and finally the theme again with wavery tones. After another, even faster blues, he offered a slow blues that subsided into spaced phrases like a man sobbing. Hearing this set, you felt Freeman was baring his heart. His rhythm section of young veterans, including guitarist Michael Allemana and drummer Mike Raynor followed him closely, and bassist Matt Ferguson created especially well-shaped solos. Eight Bold Souls What a band of distinctive individuals the Eight Bold Souls are. The horn players especially sound like old-time New Orleans musicians or Duke Ellington sidemen who time-traveled to the 21st century. In Wilkerson's subtle composition "Odyssey," Mwata Bowden played the strangely flatted, drooping first theme on clarinet, and then twisted it into fantastic knots and gnarls, full of growls, honks, and high cries. When he was done, "Odyssey" suddenly slowed into a five-beats-to-the-bar. This rare, herky-jerky meter surely lent a strong edge of irony to Robert Griffin's tightly muted trumpet solo and even to a trombone solo by Isaiah Jackson, who normally plays with a sweet sense of melody. In fact, Griffin, too, is a lyric artist who, in the blues "Third One Smiles," even played both trumpet and flugelhorn at the same time. That tune was just the right medium for Wilkerson himself, a swinging, blues-drenched player who mingled humor and intensity as he took the time-honored "soul" tenor sax idiom into free-jazz territory. Supporting them with ever-bobbing patterns were probably the world's only cello-tuba-bass-drums rhythm section (in order, Naomi Millinder, Gerald Powell, Harrison Bankhead, and Dushun Moseley). As composer, Wilkerson is not prolific. But each piece is a gem, with finely defined moods arising from varied sound colors and the interplay of voices. Altogether, both groups made this evening a reason to rejoice. New Yorkers, eat your hearts out. John Litweiler is author of The Freedom Principle: Jazz After 1958 (Da Capo Books). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kev313 Posted December 21, 2004 Share Posted December 21, 2004 Hey, great thread (well mostly)! I'll be at HotHouse this New Years eve with Andy Bey and at Green Mill on Jan. 1 for Von Freeman! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fini Posted December 21, 2004 Share Posted December 21, 2004 ---------------- On 12/21/2004 9:56:28 AM rf3iicrazy wrote: Whats up with the leather in the left shoulder area, talk about fugle. http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0002ABTOO.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg"> ---------------- C&S sez that ain't leather: It's thrift store vinyl! (Man, he oughta be let back in here) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edwinr Posted December 22, 2004 Share Posted December 22, 2004 This von Freeman guy intrigues me. Pardon my ignorance, but would it be the same Freeman - I thought his first name was 'Bud' who I saw at the Tauranga Jazz Festlval, New Zealand, circa 1977, when I was still at school. The age is about right. Regardless, this Freeman I saw was outstanding - brought the festival goers to their feet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allan Songer Posted December 22, 2004 Share Posted December 22, 2004 Bud Freeman was a swing-era tenor who supposedly was a big influence on Lester Young (but I don't see it). He was a white player who played in some big-time all-white jazz "orchestras" including the Eddie Condon, Tommy Dorsey and Benny Goodman bands, He would have been about 70 years old in 1977. Not the same guy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve_L Posted December 22, 2004 Share Posted December 22, 2004 Thanks for the recommendation. I just ordered the Elvin Jones recording. I caught Michael Brecker at the JVC NYC Jazz Festival event at Bryant Park in NYC in '98 and he was fabulous. I've been a major fan of his since. This sounds like a fabulous and historical recording. Thanks again. Keep 'em coming! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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