Charlie Parker - 'The Complete Savoy & Dial Master Takes'

Charlie Parker, or "Bird" as he was known to his friends and fans, was in a league of his own.  He didn't really play music, as much as he intuited it from somewhere else.  Bird woodshedded to get the chops, and he was a technical master of the alto sax, but what he played didn't come from long hours of practice.  In so many ways, he was his own influence, he was also the greatest soloist to ever walk this earth.

The first thing you'll notice about 'The Complete Savoy & Dial Master Takes' is how modern this music on these 3CDs sounds.  Even the guitarist and the occasional vocals (for the most part) sound modern.  These tracks may be eighty years plus old, but it isn't campy old-timey nostalgic music, and it isn't music you listen to, to learn something.  This is the stuff he was putting out in his heyday, that was on the shelves of jazz fans and played for entertainment.  Dial and Savoy made lots of money off it.  Bird was a commercial artist, not an obscure player supported by a boutique label, known only to a few insiders.  He was never paid anything close to what he deserved, not even in the Norman Granz days.  Bird left the studio with a wad of cash, which was quickly shot into a vein.  That's how he chose to live, and how he died...

Bird is the subject of many a scholarly analysis, and rightly so.  Nevertheless, this music was made for you to enjoy, as much as Bird enjoyed making it.

For the freeload, tell us about your favorite "Monster Movie"

Miles Davis - 'Birth Of The Cool'

 

Miles Davis’ 1957 album ‘Birth of the Cool’ is a modern jazz classic, a snapshot of the post-bebop direction that the young trumpeter was beginning to pursue at the ripe age of 22.

Miles leads his band of merry men [band of merry men? - Ed.]: George Russell, John Lewis, Lee Konitz, Kai Winding, Mike Zwerin, Al Haig, Max Roach, Gunther Schuller, and Al McKibbon, amongst a rotating cast of others.  They all congregated at arranger Gil Evans’ apartment on 55th Street in Manhattan, where they fleshed out their sound. 



The album’s title, Birth of the Cool, refers to the new style that Davis and his collaborators were pioneering. ‘Cool Jazz’ was characterized by a more relaxed and understated approach to improvisation, with an emphasis on melodic and harmonic subtlety.  The pioneering harmonies, complex chords, and voicing on the collection of songs were ahead of their time.  Even more impressive when you recall that the recordings happened almost a decade before their eventual release.  This style would go on to influence a wide range of musicians and genres, including West Coast jazz, bossa nova, and even rock music.



Following the album’s release, ‘Birth of the Cool’ would establish Davis as one of the most important figures in jazz history.  The album’s innovative sound, which featured slower tempos, softer tones, and a more relaxed approach to improvisation, helped to usher in a new era of jazz that would have a lasting impact on the genre.



While, 'Birth of the Cool' is one of the best cool jazz albums ever and one of Miles Davis’s best albums, it also helped to break down racial barriers in the jazz world. The album’s diverse group of musicians included both black and white performers, and its success helped to challenge the notion that jazz was exclusively a black art form.  Not only did the record set the tone for innovation, but its influence also stretched far beyond that of music and achieved serious social significance.  That’s quite an achievement, considering that Miles was in his early twenties when the sessions began.

Today’s freeload is the much sought after, and long out of print Japanese remaster, 1st press, 'Black Triangle' label CD.  This is the version that myself, and fellow "Audiophools" like.







For the freeload, tell us what some of your favorite groundbreaking albums are.

The Doobie Brothers - 'The Warner Bros. Years 1971-1983'

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness...wait, what? Scratch that.  Sorry, I'm confusing Dickens' 'A Tale of Two Cities' with The Doobie Brothers, whom are a tale of two bands; the original Doobie Brothers and, of course, the "McDoobies".

When the band started making the rounds in their early California days, they were befriended by The Hells Angels, and played every biker bar in The Golden State.

With their richly melodic and Southern-indebted sound, they won a fanbase right off the bat, and easy rock radio staples soon came rolling out on a consistent and steady basis.

However, in the mid-70s lead singer and frontman Tom Johnston had to step out, which lead to the recruitment of Michael McDonald.  McDonald would soon turn the band’s sound completely, rendering the group more soulful and pop-friendly, but losing a lot of their rock roots in the process.  To say the band’s legacy is divisive to this day even to hardcore fans is nothing short of an understatement.

'The Warner Bros. Years 1971-1983' has every notable Doobie memory gathered in one place, and let’s face it: outside some fun reunion bits with the entire ensemble on stage in the late '80s and early '90s, the Doobie’s short-lived Capitol Records days are nothing much to write home about.

The set includes:

• The Doobie Brothers (1971)
• Toulouse Street (1972)
• The Captain And Me (1973)
• What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits (1974)
• Stampede (1975)
• Takin’ It To The Streets (1976)
• Livin’ On The Fault Line (1977)
• Minute By Minute (1978)
• One Step Closer (1980)
• Farwell Tour (1983)

There will always be those that are nostalgic for the mullet-driven rock of the group’s early days, and those that enjoy the sleek radio candy that the McDoobies offer.  Myself, I like the original Doobie Brothers slightly better than the "McDoobies".

While they weren’t perfect, they were one of the most consistently fun bands in rock music, and it's hard to have a bad time when listening to the Doobies.

For the freeload, what's your favorite incarnation of a band that has gone through multiple personnel changes?

The Rolling Stones

 MrDave wins the contest, I saw the Stones at MetLife Stadium, this past Sunday. Bambi gets an honorable mention for more or less figuring out where I sat.  My friend Gemma, a.k.a. Mrs. Was, who I went with, always gets the best seats.

Two more things:

1. During the upcoming summer months, I'll be dividing my time between Manhattan and Southampton, Long Island, so posts will be reduced to three or maybe four per week.
2. WeTransfer is now limiting downloads, so I'm giving workupload a try.

Today's freeloads is 5 CDs of various Stone's low gen/master reels, transcription LP's, acetate discs, unreleased and alternative versions, all with excellent sonics.

First up is a 3CD set, 'Outtakes And Alternates (1963-1979)'

Next we have a 2CD set 'Clean Cuts'

For the freeloads, what's your favorite (just one) Stones song?
If my favorite song gets a mention, I'll post a so-so audience recording of the 5/26 show I saw.

Announcement

The Memorial Day weekend is the unofficial start of summer here in the U.S.A.

In the meantime, feel free to use the comments section, to talk among yourselves, and share some music.

While you're there, enter the
'Who is Babs Seeing This Weekend?' Contest
.

See you May 28th!

Robert Nighthawk – 'Live On Maxwell Street 1964'

 

Graphic by Bob McGrath

Robert Nighthawk is one of the pioneers of Electric Chicago Blues, and the successor to Tampa Red, and added his own significant variations to Tampa's style.  To say he was a great slide player is an understatement, that he was a great singer is indisputable.  Unfortunately, due to Robert's lack of interest in recording, his recorded legacy is quite small.  Because of this, every recorded album/compilation of Robert's is an essential component of the early electric blues era.

'Live On Maxwell Street 1964' captures Robert Nighthawk in his element, live on the street at Chicago's Maxwell Street Market, with all the market's commotion going on around him. You'll hear cheers of encouragement from the Robert's friends, fans, people talking, babies crying, car horns and truck engines. It was not done in a studio with 157 takes and then technologically enhanced.  This is the vibe John Landis and Dan Aykroyd tried to capture with John Lee Hooker's performance in the film, 'The Blues Brothers'.

Listen to his "Cheatin' & Lyin' Blues", "I Need Your Love So Bad" or medley "Anna Lee/Sweet Black Angel" (the latter erroneously credited to B.B. King) and you'll hear where Muddy Waters was found his inspiration.  Robert Nighthawk's voice is a separate story. Powerful, smooth and raw, blended with his guitar playing.  Many, many, bluesmen follow Mr. Nighthawk even without knowing it.

On most of the songs he is only accompanied by Robert Whitehead on drums, and Johnny Young's rhythm guitar.  While on some tracks appear such great Chicagoans as Carey Bell on harmonica, "Big" John Wrencher (a.k.a. One Arm John) also on harmonica, and "Blind" Arvella Gray on guitar.

This kind of blues is like the record of a lost civilization - gone so long that we've almost forgotten how much it accomplished in its prime.  In the 60 years since this album was recorded, electric-guitar blues has been buffed and polished to a high shine, and the rough edges that got sanded away took with them the very texture of the blues.  I'm reminded of the old adage, "Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater".  If that strikes a chord with you, grab this freeload - and it will grab you right back.  It's rough, raw and gritty - a musical snapshot of the streets on which it was recorded.  This is the real deal blues stained with sweat, nicotine, street food and cheap beer on a hot summer afternoon - it's delicious!

For the freeload, tell us who's your singular favorite guitarist (not a list of favorites, just one) .

Donald Byrd - 'Byrd in Flight'

 

'Byrd in Flight' was one of the first Jazz records, I ever owned, it was gifted to me for Christmas 1960, by my then piano teacher Mark, who was an early 60s hipster/beatnik kind of guy.  I have literally listened to 'Byrd in Flight', thousands upon thousands of times.

Released in December 1960, 'Byrd in Flight' was pieced together from three different recording sessions from earlier that year.  The core band for these sessions consists of trumpeter Donald Byrd, tenor saxophonist Hank Mobley, pianist Duke Pearson, and drummer Lex Humphries, with either Doug Watkins or Reggie Workman on bass.  Alto saxophonist Jackie McLean also makes a guest appearance on two tracks. 

Duke Pearson composed the bulk of the material for this session, though Byrd also contributes two original compositions.  The first of these is "Ghana," an energetic tune with Afro-Cuban rhythms, and nice solos from both Donald and Hank Mobley.  Byrd's other original, "Lex" swings happily along, with an interesting call-and-response approach between the horns and the drums.  Here Donald's solo mixes long-winded (in a good way) bop phrases with more simple, lyrical lines to good effect, while Hank Mobley takes more of a straight bebop approach, but with intricately clever phrasing and a slightly laid-back feel. "Little Boy Blue" is the sole cover tune on the album, and is a ballad feature for Byrd.  His expressive trumpet tone and his simple, lyrical solo that's based largely around the melody is the highlight of the piece, that said, Duke Pearson's excellent accompaniment is sublime.

"Gate City" is the first of three Duke Pearson compositions, and is a Gospel-tinged blues number, in which most of the players stick to the realm of blues traditions.  Bassist Reggie Workman gets some room to shine on the slow "Bo," another Duke Pearson originals with breaks in the melody for bass fills.  Jackie McLean takes the first solo and gives the tune a healthy dose of laid-back bop, while Donald's solo is spacious, lyrical and accurately described as a "speech-like, talking solo" by Nat Hentoff in the liner notes.  The album closes with the final Pearson original "My Girl Shirl," a minor tune with unusual changes and a wonderfully contrapuntal horn line in the bridge.  Once again, Jackie McLean starts out the soloing with a bold statement, with lyrical lines that accentuate his sharp, incisive tone, and then Donald takes a more bop-inflected solo.

'Byrd in Flight' is one fine hard bop album.  The original songs are well-written and executed, and the single cover tune functions well as the album's ballad. Donald Byrd, Hank Mobley, Jackie McLean and Duke Pearson play consistently great solos.

If you're a fan of hard bop releases from the Blue Note label, you won't be disappointed by this one.  If you already have it, the freeload is a 24bit/192kHz vinyl rip, and makes for a nice upgrade.

For the freeload, what was the oddest movie you've ever seen?

New York Dolls

The New York Dolls' first album fused glam, sleaze, metal and punk, and in 1973 was way ahead of its time.  The Dolls gussied up in make-up, sleazy women's clothing and big high heels to bring us catchy tales of drugs, sex and the urban life in Lower Manhattan.  The album is stuffed with songwriting gems, lifted by ferocious energy, and serving as an audible link between 60s garage rockers like the MC5 and the Velvet Underground, glam rock, and first-generation punk bands like the Sex Pistols (who were called into being by Malcolm McLaren, who'd managed the Dolls during their 1975 collapse).

While the album has in retrospect has been called "Proto-Punk", fans of late 70s punk will find it bizarre, with its Chuck Berry-based rhythm guitars on "Looking For A Kiss" and Buddy Holly-like falsetto backing vocals on "Trash" point to an unabashed 50s rock 'n' roll influence. David Johansen's vocals are gravelly, breathy, menacing, and entirely individualistic, his sci-fi and urban lowlife lyrical imagery on "Frankenstein" come straight out of Lou Reed.  On "Looking For A Kiss", The New York Dolls' infectious sense of humor is on full display. There's also a pretty wild cover of Bo Diddley's "Pills".

It all adds up to an arresting innovative sound - the Stooges' ear-busting Raw Power is much louder and less self-conscious, and although the Dolls are sometimes close to blues-based heavy metal, they're much less predictable.  This album has so many wacked-out classics like "Looking For A Kiss," "Frankenstein," "Trash," the head-banging "Jet Boy," and the raving "Personality Crisis" that make it a fun listen.

After this, the band cut just one follow-up album, 'Too Much Too Soon' before Johnny Thunders and Jerry Nolan quit and formed the Heartbreakers with Richard Hell, while Johansen (backed by Sylvain) began a solo career, and later adopted the alter ego of Buster Poindexter.

David Johansen on lead vocals and harmonica.
Johnny Thunders on lead guitar and backing vocals
Sylvain Sylvain on piano, rhythm guitar and backing vocals
Arthur "Killer" Kane on bass guitar
Jerry Nolan on drums

For the freeload (a nice sounding Japanese remaster), tell us who your favorite androgynous rock musician or band is.

Tito Puente - ‘Quatro: The Definitive Collection’

This box set is just one portion of Tito Puente’s career from 1956 to 1960, and while it may be named 'Quatro', there’s actually cinco 180 gram LPs inside.

  This vinyl release was limited to 5000 copies worldwide.  Digitally re-mastered from original recordings, and has a 46-page booklet (included in the freeload), that features new liner notes covering the era of 1955-1960 plus never before seen photos and memorabilia, along with quotes from Tony Bennett, Emilio Estefan, Sheila E, Marc Anthony and others.

‘Quatro: The Definitive Collection’ captures a brief moment in time when Tito Puente’s musical ambitions aligned perfectly with a somewhat adventurous yet dance-hungry record-buying public.  After these RCA Victor records, nothing would be the same for Tito.




Cuban Carnival, issued in 1956, produced some hits that have endured to the present day. " Pa' Los Rumberos" was later covered by Santana; "Que Sera" (What Is It?) has been covered by more Salsa bands than I can count, and Cuban Fantasy has been covered by numerous Latin Jazz bands.


Night Beat, a big band instrumental album issued in 1957, throws down some serious "CuBop", especially in the tracks "Mambo Beat", "Night Hawk" and "Emerald Beach", which can hold their own with any of the Latin Jazz coming out of other big bands at the time and still hold up to this day.  Tracks like "Sea Breeze" and "Carioca" alternate nicely between straight ahead and Latin Jazz.  "The Late, Late Scene" mixes in a nice Blues motif.  There is also some tasty Afro Cuban in a 6/8 time signature, as in "Night Ritual".  'Night Beat' also has some wailing saxophone solos throughout that a lot a people unfamiliar with Puente's work from this period wouldn't automatically associate with him, along with some solid trumpet work from Doc Severinsen.  This is probably the recording from the early part of his career that you could use if you ever needed to settle an argument about whether Tito should be taken seriously in the Jazz department.


Dance Mania, issued in 1958, remains one of his most famous dance albums and includes the enduring classic "Complicación".  This was before the Salsa era, and the songs still had specific dances associated with them - "Mambo", "Son Montuno", "Guaguanco".  "Mambo Gozon" illustrates why Tito, along with Tito Rodríguez, and Machito were referred to as "The Big Three" in New York at the height of the Mambo craze.  There is also a lot of nice vibraphone work in this recording, and although Tito's most popular title "El Rey" is usually associated with his work with the timbales, historically speaking, his pioneering use of the vibraphone in this music provided an enduring contribution to Latin Jazz.


Revolving Bandstand, issued in 1960, is an interesting face off between Tito Puente's and trombonist Buddy Morrow's bands playing the same classics such as "Autumn Leaves" and "Harlem Nocturne" but alternating styles as they go. Rather than separate takes of each song, the arrangers had each band take passages within the same song.  Consequently, there are regular shifts between straight ahead and Latin Jazz throughout every track in the recording.  In the wrong hands, this could have been a disaster, which probably explains why it hasn't been tried very often, but on this recording is seamless.

A fifth bonus CD titled Bonus Edition includes the definitive versions of "Ran Kan Kan" and "Timbal y Bongo" along with seven outtakes of "Pa' Los Rumberos" and some other surprises.  The outtakes provide some insight into how demanding Tito could be during the recording process.

If you are already a Tito Puente fan, Quatro is a must-have collector's item.  If you like "Cubop" and the Latin Jazz of the 50s but aren't that familiar with Tito's work from that period, you should also check this out without hesitation, as there will be some revelations for you in these recordings (especially Night Beat).  Ditto if you are any sort of Mambo fan at all.  These sessions went down before Salsa came up, and people still remembered that different rhythms had different names.

For the freeload, tell us about some of the foods you don't eat.

Kenny Garrett - 'Triology'

 

In the ’80s, Kenny Garrett was part of a group of young, talented musicians known as The Young Lions and were heralded as the “saviors” of “classic” jazz.  The Young Lions returned to the foundations of jazz, playing bebop and music from the Great American Songbook, classic swing in some cases, and even melding swing with modern styles to invigorate dance forms from the big band era.  The music was coined as neo-bop, post-bop and even neoclassical jazz.  The essential aspects of the music were rooted in the early parts of jazz language.  Since then, Kenny has also dabbled in hip-hop and world music, which sometimes (not always), at least to my ears, leaves much to be desired. But that's just my personal taste.

Kenny has an impressive professional resume, starting with the Duke Ellington Orchestra (under the leadership of Mercer Ellington), Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, Woody Shaw, Miles Davis, Freddie Hubbard, and many others. Kenny started leading his own groups in 1984.

'Trilogy' was released in 1995, and finds Kenny in a trio format that put the focus squarely on his playing to create all the harmonic and melodic tension. With Charnett Moffett and Kiyoshi Kitagawa alternating on bass, and Brian Blade on drums.

 

For the freeload tell us what's your favorite fictional world or place (from a book, movie, or video game).

David Bowie Narrates Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf

I have been a big fan of 'Peter and the Wolf' ever since I heard my father's 78s narrated by Basil Rathbone, as a little girl.

In 1978 at my local record store, I first came across 'David Bowie Narrates Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf'.  What I expected, given the zeitgeist of the day, was a cocaine fueled Thin White Duke narrating a jarringly different avant-garde version of 'Peter and the Wolf'.


When I got home, and unwrapped the album, it was on green vinyl, furthering my suspicions.  Much to my surprise, it was a charming, warm and stylish rendering of the classic.  David's soft and clear voice shifts voices eagerly between the exaggerated highs and lows of the various characters, and does justice to Prokofiev's timeless, memorable, nostalgic storybook of a piece.  David was clearly a fan of 'Peter and the Wolf'.

Today's freeload is the 1992 CD release, that also has 'Britten's Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra', and Tchaikovsky's 'The Nutcracker Suite'. Keep an open mind, and gorgeous melodies will delight you throughout.

For the freeload, tell us about your best friend when you were a teenager.