Coleman Hawkins - JATP and more

 

It's a Friday night and we gotta lotta love for Hawkins round Chez Hook this evening. Had a itch needed scratchin' so I threw together these live tracks. Couple of oddball bonus cuts thrown in.

I started off with an old Verve lp that has 3 from a 1950 JATP set, next up another 3 from 49. Rifftide from the second set should be recognized as Hackensack by Monk, obviously from their time together. The first lp finishes off with Hawkins accompanying MJQ on 4 tracks.

Next I tacked on Hawkins set from a Pablo box entitled "The Greatest Jazz Concert In The World", a claim that doesn't actually hold up. Go figure! But it is fun.

Then I slapped on a couple of odd tracks from weird compilations before finishing with a "jam session" from the afore mentioned earth shaking concert. The jam is a Duke staple and I'm pretty sure my cloth ears say Hawkins in sandwiched between the Prez and Benny Carter solos.

1. Yesterdays
2. Hawk's Tune
3. Stuffy
4. Body and Soul
5. Rifftide
6. Sophisticated Lady
7. Bean Stalkin'
8. I Can't Get Started
9. Time On My Hands
10. The Walker
11. Moonglow
12. Sweet Georgia Brown

13. Lover Come Back To Me
14. Blues Changes
15. Skippy
16. Battle of the Saxes

17. C Jam Blues

Wardell Gray - Central Avenue

A friend asked me to repost this lp. It was a perfect opportunity to revisit it as well and I thought it was so fantastic that I decided to revise my much earlier post and give it it's due right here.

 Wardell Gray came of age in that special time between swing and bop. It was the west coast and things were as far out as they were back east just yet. Gray's easy tone and swinging feel make this a delight to listen to. Too bad his early demise relegated him to obscurity to all but hardcore jazz fans.

Other than a couple of alt versions this lp was also released as Wardell Gray Memorial Album. With the additional tracks it will no longer fit on a snigle disc so....
The first disc worth of tracks are the same as the memorial lp, you can skip them if you have a copy.


1. Twisted
2. Southside
3. Sweet Lorraine
4. Scrapple from the Apple
5. Move
6. A Sinner Kissed An Angel
7. Blue Gray
8. Grayhound
9. Treadin'
10. April Skies
11. Bright Boy
12. Jackie
13. Farmer's Market
14. Sweet and Lovely
15. Lover Man
16. The Man I Love
17. Lavonne
18. So Long Broadway
19. Paul's Cause


This bonus disc is the bomb! The first 3 tracks are the unissued sessions from Central Ave. "The Great Lie" is from an IAJRC release. "Stoned" is on a Mainstream comp. The last track is actually Gray's first ever release.

1. Twisted (alt.)
2. Easy Living (alt.)
3. Southside (alt.)
4. The Great Lie
5. Stoned
6. The Chase - Dexter Gordon's All Stars
7. Relaxin' at Camarillo
8. Cheers
9. Carvin' The Bird
10.Stupendous
11. Easy Living



There ya go. The whole shebang! A much better post than the first time around.

Wardell Gray - Central Avenue

I really dig Wardell Gray. I love the way he embraces bebop and swing both and yet manages to be the precursor to that whole west coast sound.

Gray later became semi-famous for his battles with Dex but I think these sessions stand up as well as anything he did.

Most have been reissued in various forms but were originally released as Prestige 78's.

Everything here comes from a Prestige twofer released the year I graduated high school. I can't imagine how I missed it. Due to time constraints I have not included a couple of alternate takes.

Wardell Gray
Central Avenue

1. Twisted*
2. Easy Living*
3. Southside*
4. Sweet Lorraine*
5. Scrapple from The Apple #
   
6. Move #
   
7. A Sinner Kissed an Angel ~
8. Blue Gray ~
9. Grayhound ~
10. Treadin ~
11. April Skies ^
    
12. Bright Boy ^
    
13. Jackie ^
    
14. Farmer's Market^
15. Sweet and lovely ^
16. Lover man ^
17. The Man I Love +
    
18. Lavonne +
19. So Long Broadway +
20. Paul's Cause +
21. 
    

Wardell Gray - tenor sax with
Al Haig - piano
Tommy Potter - bass
Roy Haynes - drums
Clark Terry - trumpet
Sonny Criss - alto sax
Dexter Gordon - tenor sax
Jimmy Bunn - piano
Billy Hadnott - bass
Chuck Thompson - drums
Phil Hill - piano
John Richardson - bass
Art Madigan - drums
Art Farmer - trumpet
Hampton Hawes - piano
Harper Crosby - bass
Lawrence Marable - drums
Robert Collier - conga
Frank Morgan - alto sax
Sonny Clark - piano
Teddy Charles - vibes
Dick Nivison - bass

* nyc - 11/11/49
# hula hut, LA - live - 8/27/50
~ Detroit - 4/25/50
^ LA - 1/21/52
+ LA - 2/20/53


Prestige P-24062

Fats Navarro - Nostalgia

So if you ever wanted to hear what a real Savoy record sounds like, here's your chance. Of course decent copies of these records are few and far between and excruciatingly expensive. Or they are simply so beat as to be worthless. Luckily I found one somewhere between. This has seen its share of late nights and probably a few early mornings.

A Savoy reissue of a couple of different sessions. Everything here should be recognizable but goddamn if it ain't a lot of fun!

I sometimes find myself awed that a talent like this was silenced before I was even born.

Nostalgia
Fats Navarro Memorial No. 2

1. Nostalgia
2. Barry's Bop
3. Be Bop Romp
4. Fats Blows
5. Dextivity
6. Dextrose
7. Dexter's Mood
8. Index
9. Stealing Trash
10. Hollerin' and Screamin'
11. Fracture
12. Calling Dr. Jazz

1-4
Fats - trumpet
Charlie Rouse - tenor
Tadd Dameron - piano
Nelson Boyd - bass
Art Blakey - drums

5-8
Fats - trumpet
Dexter Gordon - tenor
Tadd Dameron - piano
Nelson Boyd - bass
Art Madigan - drums

9-12
Fats - trumpet
Eddie Davis - tenor
Huey Long - guitar
Al Haig - piano
Gene Ramey - bass
Denzil Best - drums

Savoy MG-12133

Ben Webster - The Horn

Some people have elevated Ben Webster to godhead status. Well, he is good. And those Blanton-Webster sessions are immortal. Worth every bit of praise the receive, but they are still essentially Duke's glory.

How was Webster when he struck out on his own? Well I have not dug too deeply because the few mainstream releases I have encountered were, while not bad, but unexciting at best.

That would however exclude the session he made with Tatum, which is outstanding.

However these two odd sessions that I am sharing here go a long way to convincing that once again I may not know what the hell I am talking about. Good stuff these...

Ben Webster - The Horn
1. Teezol
2. Don't Blame Me
3. 'Nuff Said
4. Tea For Two
5. Woke Up Cliped
6. I Surrender, Dear
7. Dirty Deal
8. The Horn
9. I Got It Bad and That Ain't Good
10. Spang
11. Dark Corners
12. Blues Mr. Brim
13. Frog And Mule
14. The Jeep Is Jumpin'

Tracks 1-8:
Ben Webster - tenor
Oran "Hot Lips' Page - trumpet
Clyde Hart - piano
Charlie Drayton - bass
Denzil Best - drums

from Circle Records 1982 reissue of a Feb. 8, 1944 session for World Transcriptions.
originally released only on 16" platter for radio station use. CLP-41; in original mono

Tracks 9-14 are from a Doctor Jazz reissue of a record that was originally released on Bob Thiele Music label. It was titled The Big Three and contained sessions by Wester, as well as Hawkins and Young. Their sessions will be showcased later I would assume.
Webster are from two sessions in May 1944, the 3rd* and 15th. Both have 52nd St. written all over them.

For the 3rd, the personnel were
Ben Webster - tenor
Idress Sulieman - trumpet
Tony Scott - clarinet
Sadik Hakim - piano
Bill DeArango - guitar
John Simmons - bass
Sid Catlett - drums

For the 15th, it was Webster, DeArago, Simmons, and Catlett with
Al Haig - piano

You find them both here

Prestige First Sessions 1949/50

A two-fer set of lps I have had for years.

Some great stuff on these. These lps are responsible for my love of Tristano/Konitz. I originally bought this set for the Fats Navarro tracks. While I was familiar with much of the work of several artists on here, at the time I was familiar with Tristano and Konitz in name only.

When I bought this set in the early '80s much of this stuff was unavailable. Freaking internet takes all the fun outta things! If you're like me, I prefer the vinyl any time.
And if you think there is anyway I can list fully the performers for all these tracks... you're dreaming. That's where the internet comes in. But I will cover the major bases.

Disc One:
Lennie Tristano
1. Tautology
2. Retrospection
3. Subconscious Lee
4. Judy
Lee Konitz
5. Marshmallow
6. Fishin' Around
7. Tautology
8. Sound Lee
Don Lamphere
9. Spider's Web
10. Strike Up The Band
Kai Winding
11. Broadway
12. Waterworks
Fats Navarro
13. Wailing Wall
14. Go
15. Infatuation
16. Stop


Disc Two
J.J. Johnson
1. Afternoon In Paris
2. Elora
3. Tea Pot
4. Blue Mode
Wardell Gray
5. Easy Living
Sonny Stitt
6. Fine and Dandy
Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis
7. Sweet and Lovely
8. Squattin'
Al Haig
9. Liza
10. Stars Fell On Alabama
11. Stairway To The Stars
12. Opus Caprice
Leo Parker
13. Mona Lisa
14. Who's Mad
15. Darn That Dream
16. I'll Cross My Fingers

Additional performers include Denzel Best, Duke Jordan, Warne Marsh, Shelley Manne, Brew Moore, Gerry Mulligan, George Wallington, Roy Haynes, Max Roach, Bud Powell, Wynton Kelley, and Oscar Pettiford, among others.

Prestige P-24081 (disc one)
Prestige P-24081 (disc two)