Hidefumi Toki & The Super Jazz Trio - City-Toki

barabara sounds sez:

Hidefumi Toki burst onto the scene back in the early 70s as the sax player in Toshiyuki Miyama's New Herd — in fact I was reminded of this album by Katonah's great recent post of Sunday Thing over on his always essential Private Press [even though Toki didn't actually play on that one]. Before long Toki was leading his own unit, and by the time City-Toki came out in 1978 he was just about at the top of his game. Most of what came next is not really worth exhuming — a sad decline into fuzak and session wilderness. But on this album, cut in NYC, he certainly shows he has the chops to hold his own with a rhythm section of the quality of Flanagan, Workman and Chambers. He's also come up with some nice compositions. I can't say it's absolutely all killer [to quote a line] but it's definitely more than just filler.

Recorded July 6 1978 at Sound Ideas Studio NYC; issued on Baystate; this is ripped from the 2005 JP-only CD reissue.

personnel:

Hidefumi Toki alto sax, soprano sax; Tommy Flanagan piano; Reggie Workman bass; Joe Chambers drums

There's a [not totally complete] Toki discography here...

Nathan Davis - London By Night

barabara sounds sez:

In my book Nathan Davis can do no wrong. That said, if I had to choose a decade, I would always go for his '60s sides (such as Peace Treaty and Funny Girl) above his later works. But by anyone else's standards, London By Night — from 1987 and, yes, recorded in the UK capital over a couple of nights — is a fine album and Davis is in great fettle on his horns (soprano as well as tenor) and also flute. The title track swings nicely, though the standout track for me is the beautiful Rio de Janeiro. If there's one glitch, it's the anachronistic Beatles cover. But that comes right at the end so you can just program it out. This one's from the Disk Union CD reissue...

dusty sez:

Overlooked genius from reedman Nathan Davis – a later session that's a bit more straight ahead than some of his 70s work, and a date that really gets back to some of the best soulful energy of his records from the 60s! Davis is recorded here in very sympathetic company – players who share some of the best energies he picked up on the expatriate scene during his famous time overseas – Dusky Goykovich on trumpet, Kenny Drew on piano, Jimmy Woode on bass, and Al Leavitt on drums! There's an easygoing soul jazz groove to the whole set, with a slight touch of modernism – and in addition to tenor, Davis also plays some wonderful soprano sax – handling the horn with stretched-out soulfulness that makes him one of the undisputed masters of the instrument.

A couple more enthusiastic quotes:

Rough Guide sez: "Shows Nathan Davis at the top of his post-bop form"

Penguin Guide sez: "Could almost be from an undiscovered Jazz Messengers tape. Goykovich's flugelhorn has a fat, luxuriant quality that that blends well with Davis... there are fine, controlled solos all round, notably on 'Dr Bu', where the Blakey/Messengers debt is most openly acknowledged..."

personnel

Nathan Davis (tenor sax, soprano sax, flute); Dusko Gojkovic (trumpet, flugelhorn); Kenny Drew (piano); Jimmy Woode (bass); Al Levitt (drums); Stan Robinson, Jean Toussaint (tenor sax on Shades)

tracks:

Noite Em Leblon; I Thought About You; Rio De Janeiro; London By Night; Dr Bu; But Beautiful; You've Changed; Shades; Lament; If I Fell

recorded

Boathouse Studios, London (04/17/1987-04/18/1987)

Tubby Hayes - Return Visit

barabara sounds sez:

Tubby Hayes from 1962... He's in NYC, been playing gigs down in the Village, and he goes into the studio with a scratch group of musicians, most of whom have never heard of him before.

There's Walter Bishop Jr. on piano — he's the only one who's ever actually played with Tubby; the rhythm section is Sam Jones and Louis Hayes; on tenor there's James Moody (for contractual reasons he goes by the unimaginative alias of 'Jimmy Gloomy'); and then there's a reed player who has an array of horns with improbably names, many of which he plays at once — yup, Roland Kirk. Not bad for a tag team...

It doesn't take them long to gell and to jam. Produced by Quincy Jones, it's a great date. Tubby sounds commanding on vibes as well as his usual sax, and he's definitely not overawed by the company. Enjoy.

AMG (Yanow) sez:

One of Britain’s top jazz musicians of the 1950s and ’60s, Tubby Hayes was a fine hard bop stylist on tenor and occasionally vibes and flute. A professional at 15, Hayes... co-led the Jazz Couriers with Ronnie Scott (1957-59), and appeared in the U.S. a few times during 1961-65. He headed his own big band in London, sat in with Duke Ellington’s Orchestra in 1964, and was featured at many European festivals. Heart trouble forced him out of action during 1969-1971, and caused his premature death. Tubby Hayes led sessions for Tempo (1955-1959), London, Jazzland (1959), Fontana, Epic (a 1961 date with Clark Terry and Horace Parlan), Smash (a 1962 album which matched him with James Moody and Roland Kirk), 77, Spotlite, and Mole.

David Baxter sez:

A Saturday morning in June 1962 and Tubby Hayes arrives at the recording studio on West 48th Street in New York City... Introductions are made. One member wonders who Tubby Hayes is, asks if he's a rock 'n' roll singer... Producer Quincy Jones suggests maybe they get started. But what to play? They don't have a play list, have never rehearsed. Apart from pianist Walter Bishop Jnr, Tubbs has never met any of them. Quincy suggests they warm up with a blues, and they choose `Stitt's Tune`, the theme of Tubb's old band The Jazz Couriers — Tubbs and Gloomy on tenor sax, Roland Kirk providing counter melody on manzello and stritch, his customary hybrid horns.

Next it's a minor blues - a Kirk original 'I See With My Third "I"', then a ballad medley, including 'Alone Together,' one of Tubbs' favourites. Next Tubbs switches to vibes for 'Afternoon In Paris,' with solos from Kirk and Gloomy on tenors and Bishop on piano, and an unrehearsed coda from one-man brass section Kirk on tenor, manzello and stritch. They round off the session with another Kirk original 'Lady "E"', with Tubbs still on vibes and Kirk on flute.

And then they're through. Just time for bassist and drummer Sam Jones and Louis Hayes to get to Birdland and Kirk to the Five Spot for their first sets, and for Tubbs to return to the UK. In the space of just a few short hours they've recorded an exciting and memorable jazz album. That's how it was and them were the days.

personnel:

Tubby Hayes tenor sax, vibes; Roland Kirk tenor sax, manzello, flute, nose flute, stritch; Jimmy Gloomy tenor sax, flute; Walter Bishop Jr. piano; Sam Jones bass; Louis Hayes drums

Tracks:

1. Afternoon In Paris 5:46; 2. I See My Third "I" 9:27; 3. Lady "E" 3:15; 4. Stitt's Tune 9:51; 5. Medley: If I Had You; Alone Together; For Heaven's Sake 7:24

Want to get more Tubby?

Here's Changing the Jazz At Buckingham Palace

There's plenty of early Tubby Hayes — plus lots more — over at BritJazz

Malik Yaqub - Yaqub Speaks, Vol. 1

barabara sounds sez:

I've been away recently (and will be again shortly) — but I don't need to be posting much at the moment, there's so much other good stuff out there.

Currently I'm grooving on the most incredible track by Malik Yaqub, a clip posted by cinemafunk. If you read Spanish (I don't — but google translate will give you the gist) you can find all about Yaqub and his outside life around Europe. If you don't, then just scroll down to the two clips at the bottom. One is a live snippet from the 6th Jazz in Tangier Festival (2005), featuring the legendary Salah Ragab & his Cairo Jazz Band.

But it's the other clip that transports me. I'm not sure of the track name, but It seems to have a radio introduction, suggesting it was recorded off the air.

Wait, there's more — thanks to a couple of my favourite regular haunts in the blogosphere...

Get yourself over to the mighty El Reza and to Katonah's Private Press, and you'll find a couple more tracks from Yaqub's ultra-rare album...

Enjoy!

Archie Shepp — Soul Song

barabara sounds sez:

More Shepp, this is one of my favorite albums of his, all modal sweeps and swoops, propelled by a great, dynamic rhythm section with Marvin "Bugalu" Smith going all out on drums and Kenner Werner on keyboards. I love the extended gospel incantations of Mama Rose and the long modal improv of Geechee. But the highlight (IMHO) is the stately title track, with Werner matching Shepp start to finish — all in 4 short powerful minutes. There's a bonus track on this CD reissue, My Romance, on which Shepp gets all lyrical. This was laid down in Germany in 1982. I do wish I'd seen him in this era, but I only managed to catch him later on.

Yawno disagrees — but there again, his reviews are almost always disagreeable ;-)

Since it's still available from enja here, this one is only up strictly short-term.

Grab it while you can coz it won't be here long. And now it's gone.

AMG (Scott Yawno) sez:

This is one of Archie Shepp's more erratic sets. On the 15-minute "Mama Rose," the great tenor... plays his somewhat out-of-tune soprano and takes an eccentric vocal..The 18-minute "Geechee" is a fine, lengthy workout for Shepp's emotional tenor...

Personnel: Archie Shepp soprano & tenor sax, vocals; Kenny Werner piano; Santi Debriano bass; Marvin "Bugalu" Smith drums

Tracks: 1. Mama Rose; 2. Soul Song; 3. Geechee; 4. My Romance

Celea Liebman Reisinger - Ghosts

barabara sounds sez:

Saxman Dave Liebman needs no introduction; and if you know European jazz of the last couple of decades (which I don't really) nor do French bassist Jean-Paul Celea or Austrian percussionist Wolfgang Reisinger. This date is from 2001 and was issued on NIght Wing. There's some really fine work on it, especially the Albert Ayler-penned title track.

I don't speak/read much French but you get the idea that they liked this in France. Jazz.com was less impressed. You pays yer money (or not as the case may be) and makes yer own mind up. That's what this blog is all about.

Franck Bergerot (JAZZMAN) sez:

"Pas de discours, mais précision du geste, de l'intention, de l'extra-lucidité, immense présence à l'autre et à l'instant. Libre et contemporaine, la musique du trio est le fruit de cette intensité du geste et de l'attention. C'est ainsi qu'elle nous ravit, body and soul".

jazz.com (Chris Kelsey) sez:

This album has the trio of Celea, Liebman, and Reisinger interpreting several songs written or made famous by such great saxophonists as Albert Ayler, Wayne Shorter, Ornette Coleman, and, in this case, John Coltrane. It takes guts (or gall) for Liebman—a saxophonist who's been so profoundly influenced by Trane—to record the master's "greatest hit." More than almost any other jazz musician, Coltrane made certain tunes his own: My Favorite Things especially...

Liebman subverts expectations by playing the tune on tenor instead of soprano, whilst the rhythm section renders a heavy, odd-time vamp that in terms of feel (if not composition) more resembles Coltrane's Spiritual (from Live at the Village Vanguard) than his original version. Liebman is his usual technically astounding self, and he plays with characteristic passion and eloquence. Drummer Reisinger channels Elvin Jones fairly remarkably, and bassist Celea is a sturdy groove-maker. The music is well-played and inspired in its way. As much as this writer esteems Liebman, however, the group's very decision to approach such iconic material seems contrived and perhaps ego-driven. That perception gets in the way of the music—for this listener, anyway.

Jackie McLean featuring Dexter Gordon - The Meeting

barabara sounds sez:

Heavyweight summit meeting of two sax giants, laid down when the two crossed paths in Copenhagen in the sumer of 1973. It's a live session recorded at the Montmartre Jazzhus over a couple of evenings. There was another album (imaginatively called Vol. 2) from these dates, also on Steeplechase. Both of these guys had done their best work earlier in their careers, but this is still a great date.

dusty sez:

The first installment of a live recording made in Copenhagen in 1973 -- featuring Jackie leading a group that also includes Dexter Gordon on tenor and Kenny Drew on piano. Niels-Henning Ørsted Pederson plays bass and Alex Riel plays drums -- and the tracks are long and open, with a focus on solo space -- as on Gordon's own European sessions of the time. Song titles include Gordon's "All Clean", Sahib Shihab's "Rue De La Harpe", Drew's "Sunset", and "On The Trail".

Nathan Davis Sextet - Peace Treaty

barabara sounds sez:

The Nathan Davis Sextet from 1965, recorded in Paris with Woody Shaw on trumpet and issued on the SFP label. It's a classic — the man himself says so:

"The idea of naming the album "Peace Treaty" arose from the various meetings held between American and North Vietnam in Paris in an attempt to negotiate a cease fire and peace treaty during the Vietnamese Conflict.

It was during this period that I dedicated a lot of tunes that i was composing to the idea of peace, love and non-violence. When Claude Lenissois first approached me to do an album, he suggested that we record at the Comedie des Champs-Elysees because they had a good track record of producing good sound.

Everything fell into place because i was working steady with Kenny Clarke, René Urtreger, Jimmy Gourley Woody Shaw and Jean-Louis Chautemps on a regular basis at the 'Blue Note'. So we all had to do was fly Jimmy Woode in from Germany where he was living at the time.

Donald Byrd was also living in Paris and occasionally played with us at the Blue Note, so he came in and helped produce the record.

Time has proven it to be a classic."

Nathan T. Davis, Jan. 2007 — from the liner notes for the reissue CD

Nathan Davis - tenor & soprano sax

Woody Shaw - trumpet

Jean-Louis Chautemps - baritone sax

René Urtreger - piano

Jimmy Woode - bass

Kenny Clarke - drums

Jimmy Gourley - guitar

Karin Krog & John Surman - Bluesand

barabara sounds sez:

One of Karin Krog's more recent (1999) and lesser known (at least to me) collaborations, but hauntingly beautiful as usual. This is the Japanese reissue which has an extra track featuring her on a version of Air on a G String arranged by keyboard maestro Morgan Fisher. This was used for a TV commercial advertising a brand of saké. It's rather tasty (and so is the music). The rest of the album is Karin with John Surman, who adds keyboards to his usual outstanding palette of clarinet and sax.

dusty sez:

For the past 30 years, Karin Krog has been one of Europe's greatest jazz vocalists -- but although she spent a time in the 70s doing some very experimental material, she's been spending a lot more time on standards lately. However, this release marks a new direction -- and has her working again with British reed genius John Surman, a frequent collaborator during the old days. All of the tracks are in English, and are penned by Surman and Krog, with a spare folksy style that hearkens back to their more progressive work in the 70s. Surman plays reeds, piano, and synthesizer -- while Krog sings and manipulates her voice with electronics. Titles include "Sas Blues", "Bluesand", "Secret Games", "Fly Away", "Sombre Woods", and "Ribbon of Sand".

Changing The Jazz At Buckingham Palace - Tubby Hayes / Dizzy Reece

barabara sounds sez:

A tip of the hat to Bacoso over at the awesome Orgy in Rhythm who has delivered several fantastic Tubby posts recently. This one is only half Tubby — on the 2nd side Dizzy Reece takes over — but it's a good'un. You've got to love the tourist-brochure cover too (aimed at the US market?) complete with marching guards and bearskin helmets. Very 1950s kitschy.

This is from the Japanese CD reissue, and is part of the classic Savoy albums series collectively entitled 'Pre-Modern Jazz, (which sounds kind of strange to me).

For a full Tubby discography, how about this bilingual (English and Farsi) blog.

update: now in the comments, scans of the cover art.

dusty sez:

One of the rarest records on the Savoy label — and a crack session of British jazz featuring two of England's best players ever! The album's got a side of work apiece by Hayes and Reece — and the Hayes cuts are two long jammers with a laidback blowing session feel that works perfectly with his gutsy tenor. Players on those tunes include Harry South on piano and Dickie Hawdon on trumpet — and the titles are "Nicole" and "Hall Hears The Blues". The Reece material features a quartet on four tighter tunes, three of them Charlie Parker compositions ("Yardbird", "Blue Bird", and "Bluebird Number 2"), plus a mellow reading of "How Deep Is The Ocean". Reece's quartet features the great Phil Seamen on drums, and piano work by Terry Shannon, who's no slouch either! (HQ -- Hi Quality CD pressing!)

AMG (Ken Dryden) sez:

This compilation pairs two 1956 sessions led separately by tenor saxophonist Tubby Hayes and trumpeter Dizzy Reece. The opening track is pianist Harry South's slinky, extended hard bop blues "Hall Hears the Blues," in which the rhythm section (with bassist Pete Elderfield and drummer Bill Eyden) goes it alone for three minutes before Hayes and trumpeter Dick Hawdon make their presence known with outstanding back-to-back solos. The erroneous liner notes reproduced from the original album repeatedly refer to the leader as "Tubby Hall," making one wonder if the song title is also incorrect! Hayes takes charge from the kickoff of the quintet's midtempo rendition of Howard McGhee's "Nicole" (yet another variation of "I Got Rhythm"), though Hawdon is equal to the task of matching the tenor saxophonist with a superb solo of his own. The remaining four tracks feature Dizzy Reece with a quartet consisting of pianist Terry Shannon, bassist Lennie Bush, and drummer Phil Seamen. Reece focuses on songs composed or performed by Charlie Parker, offering two expressive interpretations of "Bluebird," along with a moving rendition of the standard "How Deep Is the Ocean?" and a spirited take of "Yardbird Suite" that showcases the rhythm section as well. Originally released bySavoy and finally reissued on a Japanese CD in 2000, this long unavailable music is worth investigating by hard bop fans who enjoy British jazz of the mid-'50s.

Sonny Fortune - In The Spirit Of John Coltrane

personnel:

Sonny Fortune alto sax, soprano sax, tenor sax; John Hicks piano: Santi Debriano bass; Ronnie Burrage drums; Steve Berrios bata drums, Julio Collazo bata drums, Reggie Workman bass; Rashied Ali drums

barabara sounds sez:
Sonny Fortune continues to blow the gospel of the Jazz Church of St. JC well into the 21st century — and into his 70s.
This album (issued on Shanachie in 2000 but now seemingly OOP) doesn't match up to his 1970s very best, but you have to love his version of Olé and the final track is a great workout.
If you like this, pick up his 2005 album Continuum, which IS in print, on his own label, Sound Reason.

amazon reviewer sez:
Perennially underrated saxophonist Sonny Fortune has worked with Miles Davis, McCoy Tyner, and Elvin Jones. Not coincidentally, each of these musicians enjoyed a close relationship with Fortune's overriding musical influence, John Coltrane. In the Spirit consists mostly of originals by Fortune written under the influence of Trane. "Hangin' Out with J.C." borrows its chord structure from "Countdown" and "Moment's Notice," while the title track is a deep ballad reminiscent of "Dear Lord." Although he's best known as an alto saxophonist, Fortune also plays tenor and soprano here, distinguishing himself accordingly on each horn. He's accompanied by a topnotch rhythm section including John Hicks on piano, Santi Debriano on bass, and Ronnie Burrage on drums. On the last track, "For John," bassist Reggie Workman and drummer Rashied Ali lift off with Fortune on a visit to interstellar space. The spirit lives. -- Rick Mitchell