Andy Biskin: Reed Basket

     I’ll admit that when Reed Basket arrived in my inbox, I was a bit apprehensively about the virtues of a clarinet quartet. But I needn’t have worried. Clarinet wizard Andy Biskin and Reed Basket, with fellow clarinetists Peter Hess, Mike McGinnis, and Sam Sadigursky, uncork a relatively broad range of sound generated by five different members of the clarinet family. Biskin composed every one of the odd numbered tracks, which alternate in the program with an astonishing range of covers by composers including Franz Schubert (Moment Musicaux #3), Horace Silver (Blue Silver), Jelly Roll Morton (Wolverine Blues), and the biggest surprise, Lou Reed (Walk on the Wild Side). The carefully detailed arrangements are brought to vibrant life by musicians that are marvelously attuned to the nuances of each other’s sound. And Biskin’s smart sequencing of the program provides an engaging flow to the project. If I were impelled to pick a favorite piece from this baker’s dozens of delicious performances, today it might be the group’s dissection of fellow clarinetist Pee Wee Russell’s Wailin' D.A. Blues. Tomorrow, Biskin’s own Yasmina, with it’s A-section of rapturous melody and stately mien and the B-section that gives it some lift, might just hit the spot, and the day after that, it could be the easy groove of the Horace Silver piece or the winsome and lively arrangement of the Lou Reed song, or ... You get the idea: not a wasted moment in over an hour of charming and captivating sounds, beautifully recorded and mixed by Marc Urselli. Improvised music is full of surprises; I like it when an album I was hesitant about knocks me out in the listening. Very happily recommended. 

Self-produced; Andy Biskin (Bb, bcl) Peter Hess (Bb, Eb, alto clarinet, bcl, contra-alto clarinet) Mike McGinnis (Bb, alto clarinet, bcl)/ Sam Sadigursky (Bb, Eb, bcl); NYC, May 17, 2024; 1.Easy Chair/ 2.Camelot/3. Yasmina/ 4. Moment Musicaux #3/ 5. New Fangle/ 6. Wailin' D.A. Blues/ 7. Old Self/ 8. Blue Silver/ 9. So Forth/ 10. Walk on the Wild Side / 11. If Time Allows/ 12. Wolverine Blues/ 13. Minotaur; 62:10. andybiskin.com

A pair of guitar duos: Joe Morris & Elliott Sharp/Eyal Maoz & Eugene Chadbourne

     Two of modern music’s most outré guitarists, Joe Morris & Elliott Sharp, unite for an absolutely wild session they’ve dubbed Realism. Now this collaboration, involving acoustic guitars and electric guitars plus Morris’ effect pedals and Sharp’s electronics, is nearly as far from realism as you can get. I say “nearly” because the instruments are usually recognizable as guitars. Noisy, scrabbly, and definitively weird, their abrasive sounds will certainly not be to everyone’s taste. But so what? As producer and current ESP honcho Steve Holtje reminds us, one of the early slogans of the label was “you never heard such sounds in your life,” and that’s certainly true of this set. Totally improvised, and chock-full of surprising moments, this music twists and turns in so many directions at once it can feel somewhat dizzying. From the first fairly gentle flurries of sound on Shapes Mentioned to the whoops and clangs of the lengthy Arrokoth, Realism is both insanely beautiful and beautifully insane. Totally recommended.

 ESP-Disk’ ESP5084; Joe Morris (g, effects) Elliott Sharp (g, electronics); Brooklyn, NY, July 17, 2023; Shapes Mentioned/ Neither Odd Nor Even/ Light Asking/ Freezing in Hell/ Soft Version/ Arrokoth; 64:40. espdisk.com

    Another guitar duo, Eyal Maoz & Eugene Chadbourne, has a big batch of fun on The Coincidence Masters. Freely improvised music needs surprising coincidences to result in more than a random jumble of noise, and veteran weirdo Dr. Chad along with Maoz are more than ready to create the right conditions for those surprises to erupt. Where the Morris/Sharp duo is prone to big noises with lots of electronic effects, Maoz and Chadbourne take a calmer approach to their interactions. Chadbourne’s many projects over the years have nearly always had a humorous edge to them, and The Coincidence Masters is no exception. It comes through in the quietly subversive back and forth that the pair engages in, as well as the titles they’ve given for their improvised encounters. Song titles like And Now, All Is Left Is The Titles Search and The Last Track point directly at their playful attitudes in the recording studio. But in the end, They are no less serious about their music than the more raucous Morris/Sharp duo. Listened all the way through, the CD feels like a kind of suite, with track times running from the thirty-eight seconds of Eager for the Ad-Lib to a pair of lengthy excursions in Unexpected, Also For Us, clocking in at just over ten minutes, and the longer Naming Comforts People. The Coincidence Masters is a delightfully entertaining showcase of improvisation, mastered by none other than Elliott Sharp! 

Infrequent Seams (CD, digital album); Eyal Maoz, Eugene Chadbourne (guitars); NYC, June 10, 2022; Words Are Not Intended/ Two Guitarists/ Improvisation Enthusiasm/ On-the-Spot/ Eager for the Ad-Lib/ Unexpected, Also For Us/ And Now, All Is Left Is The Titles Search/ We Need It/ Naming Comforts People/ All Through / The Last Track; 52:05 . infrequentseams.bandcamp.com

Classic Vanguard Jazz Piano Sessions

        Following closely after Mosaic’s compilation of Classic Vanguard Small Group Swing Sessions comes a companion set, Classic Vanguard Jazz Piano Sessions with 6 CDs containing a total of eleven complete sessions. The fun starts with the Jo Jones Trio, recorded in early stereophonic sound at the end of April 1958. Mosaic has eschewed its usual chronological sequencing in favor of a more thematic approach, and the glorious sounds of the Jones trio with pianist Ray Bryant and his bassist brother Tommy Bryant. Drum master Jones, a mainstay of the Small Group Sessions collection, is heard again with the almost forgotten pianist Sir Charles Thompson in a quartet date on the remainder of disc 1. Thompson led a few band dates on the earlier box and is represented here in two contexts. The quartet date of January 1954 features Jones with bassist Walter Page and guitarist Freddie Green, while the February 1955 session, which starts off disc 2, is a drummer-less trio with Skeeter Best on guitar and Aaron Bell on bass. The rest of disc 2 offers a solo set from pianist Bobby Henderson, a very enjoyable Fats Waller tribute recorded in November 1956. This fine performer was rediscovered after 23 years by producer John Hammond during a random stopover in Albany, NY where Henderson was performing under a different name. After Henderson made a second solo recording for Vanguard in 1957 (Call House Blues), he disappeared again, resurfacing again two decades later to make two more solo albums for Chiaroscuro in 1969. Discs 3 & 4 are given over to four sessions led by pianist Mel Powell, closely associated with Benny Goodman. First up is a swinging sextet date featuring trumpeter Buck Clayton. That’s followed by a fascinating August 1954 trio date with Powell joined by the “Vice Prez” Paul Quinichette on tenor saxophone and Bobby Donaldson on drums. Just a week later came another trio excursion, with trumpeter Ruby Braff and Donaldson. The last Powell session, done in October 1955, is a hodge-podge of lineups, with trios, quintets, and septets. There’s some fine music here, but the ever-changing configurations make for an odd listening experience. Thomas Cuniffe, principal writer and editor of jazzhistoryonline.com who contributed a liner essay to the first Vanguard box, repeats that effort here. He describes the Ruby Braff/Ellis Larkins duo sessions that make up discs five and six as the “crown jewels of this collection,” and it’s hard to disagree with that assessment. Trumpeter Braff and pianist Larkins recorded a baker’s dozen of songs in February 1955, released as on two 10-inch volumes aptly titled as Two Part Inventions in Jazz. The pair followed up with an October date devoted exclusively to songs by the well-loved team of Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart, issued on Lp as 2 x 2. Larkins had established a reputation as an accompanist to singers, notably Mildred Bailey and Ella Fitzgerald. In Braff he had a partner whose style frequently took a song’s lyrics as a springboard for his improvisations. They are clearly of one mind in their approaches to the music, and together they manifest an unhurried and sophisticated approach to their material. The late Michael Cuscuna, co-founder of Mosaic Records, was deeply involved in the preparation of the Vanguard sets, and these collections testify to his wide-ranging engagement with all eras of jazz. He’s much missed, but his overwhelming contribution to the music will live on as long as there are enthusiasts to listen to his many productions. Easily recommended. 

Mosaic MD6-281; Disc 1 63:21): (A) Jo Jones Trio (4/30/58) (B) Sir Charles Thompson Quartet (1/22/54). Disc 2 (70:10): ©) Sir Charles Thompson Trio (2/16/55) (D) Bobby Henderson (11/26/56). Disc 3 (61:43): (E) Mel Powell Septet (12/30/53) (F) Mel Powell Trio (8/17/54). Disc 4 (72:37): (G) Mel Powell Trio (8/24/54) (H) Mel Powell Septet/Quintet (10/19/55). Disc 5 (60:43): (I) Ruby Braff/Ellis Larkins duo (2/17/55). Disc 6 (50:43): Ruby Braff/Ellis Larkins duo (10/14/55). For complete discographical details, go here. Limited to 5,000 sets; available from www.mosaicrecords.com

Kenny Burrell with Art Blakey: On View At The Five Spot Café: The Complete Masters

     The cast: guitarist Kenny Burrell with Art Blakey on drums, plus Bobby Timmons and Roland Hanna alternating on piano, tenor saxophonist Tina Brooks, and bassist Ben Tucker. The date and place: August 25, 1959 at the Five Spot Café, near the Bowery in lower Manhattan. The recording engineer: Rudy Van Gelder. What could go wrong? Nothing! For the original Lp, the producer’s biggest problem was likely to be what to include and what to leave out from the five sets of the evening. Now we have On View At The Five Spot Café: The Complete Masters, with six previously unissued tracks joining the original album and the three tracks that were added to an earlier CD reissue. While the music is great, The Complete Masters is a misnomer. According to Tom Lord’s online Jazz Discography, there were twenty-five pieces recorded that night. Hanna was on piano for sets one, three, and four, replaced by Timmons on the other two sets, with Tina Brooks playing only with Timmons on piano. For this collection, compilation producer Joe Harley has simply sequenced the original album followed by the CD bonus selection, and then added six more tracks after that, for a total of fourteen tracks. That leaves eleven performances unaccounted for. The notation “rejected” is appended to thirteen takes in the Jazz Discography, a few of which have now been issued. To a jazz nerd like me, it seems wrong to call this The Complete Masters when it’s really the Incomplete masters, without an explanation as to what’s missing. And why wasn’t the music put back in the original sequence, instead of the hodgepodge that’s been issued in the past? Even so, there’s nearly two hours of fine music at hand. And who could scoff at having more Tina Brooks to listen to, or to relax with an especially frisky Kenny Burrell with the mighty Art Blakey at the drums? Not me, that’s for sure. The booklet includes an essay by Syd Schwartz about the history of the Five Spot, his notes on the performances, and a revealing interview with Kenny Burrell. While I’m looking forward to the eventual release of the entire evening in its original sequence, I’m pretty happy listening to what’s here. 

Blue Note (2 CDs/3 Lps); Tina Brooks (ts on #) Kenny Burrell (g) Bobby Timmons or *Roland Hanna (p) Ben Tucker (b) Art Blakey (d); NYC, August 25, 1959; CD 1 (63:36): Birks’ Works#/ Hallelujah*/ Lady Be Good#/ Lover Man#/ 36-23-36/ Swingin’/ If You Could See Me Now*/ Beef Stew Blues*. CD 2 (51:22): The Next Time You See Me, Things Won’t Be the Same*/ The Take Off*/ Birks’ Works#/ Lady Be Good#/ Love Walked In/ 36-23-36 (The Theme)#. www.bluenote.com

Charles Mingus: In Argentina - The Buenos Aires Concerts

     I had the enormous pleasure of seeing the Charles Mingus quintet in performance during the last few years of his career, twice in San Francisco, and once in New York. The last show I caught was at the Great American Music Hall in April 1977, with the same unit that appears on the newly released In Argentina - The Buenos Aires Concerts. The quintet toured the States that year, played in South America in June and then in Europe in July before returning to New York, on the last tour that Mingus would make. This set is not only the first official release of this concert material, but as Mingus biographer Brian Priestley mentions in his essay for the booklet, it’s also the first legitimate documentation of this edition of the quintet. In addition to Priestley’s notes, the booklet includes rare photographs, a long and insightful excerpt from Claudio Parisi’s Grandes del jazz internacional en Argentina 1956-1979, and reminiscences of working with Mingus by trumpeter Walrath and saxophonist Ford. Walrath writes that “playing with Mingus, to quote Dannie Richmond, ‘is a bitch in every sense of the word.’” Mingus, he notes, “always wanted something different.” Ford, who was barely 23 at the time of the 1977 tour, tells the story of how he came to be in the quintet. About Mingus, he writes that “when you played with him, you were walking on eggshells. You never knew what was going to happen. Still, it was a great experience ...” The programs are mostly drawn from tunes recorded on Mingus’ Seventies Atlantic albums: Changes One, Changes Two, Three Or Four Shades Of Blue, and Cumbia And Jazz Fusion, along with two older favorites. Goodbye Pork Pie Hat, a 1959 elegy to the great Lester Young, is the first number of the June 2 show. The still relevant 1957 composition Fables Of Faubus, complete with repartee, a very fine bass solo, and a drum solo, comes from the June 3 performance. As an acknowledgment of Mingus’ roots in bebop, the band plays a quick medley of Koko and Cherokee as a theme statement. A brief piano solo by Mingus ends both nights. Although Mingus was ill and in a generally bad humor according to contemporary accounts, the music is powerful on both nights, with enthusiastic audiences loudly approving. Mingus might not have been soloing as much as he had been earlier in his career, but his continued fierce ensemble playing combined with the talents and dedication of this multi-generational unit make this a collection not to be missed. Highest recommendation! 

Resonance HCD- 2077 (2-CDs & 3-Lps); Jack Walrath (tpt) Ricky Ford (ts) Robert Neloms (p) Charles Mingus (b, p on *) Dannie Richmond (d); Buenos, Argentina, June 2, 1977 (disc 1) or June 3, 1977 (disc 2); Disc 1 (77:50): Introduction/ Goodbye Pork Pie Hat/ Duke Ellington’ s Sound of Love/ Noddin’ Ya Head Blues/ Three or Four Shades of Blue/ Koko; Cherokee/ For Harry Carney/ Cumbia & Jazz Fusion/ Solo Piano Improvisation*. Disc 2 (33:32) Sue’s Changes (incomplete)/ Koko; Cherokee; Band intros/ Fables of Faubus/ Solo Piano Improvisation*. resonancerecords.org

Kenny Dorham: Blue Bossa In The Bronx & Freddie Hubbard: On Fire - Live From The Blue Morocco

     Someone really ought to get to work on a biography of Sylvia Robinson. Not sure who she was? She was half of Mickey and Sylvia, with a massive hit in 1957 called Love is Strange; she had another smash hit in 1973 with Pillow Talk. And she went on to co-found Sugar Hill Records in 1979, producing the influential hip-hop songs Rapper’s Delight by the Sugarhill Gang and The Message by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. But what concerns us here is her club The Blue Morocco, a short-lived Bronx nightspot. Two excellent releases recorded at the club have just been release, one by Kenny Dorham and one by Freddie Hubbard. Both sessions were recorded by Bernard Drayton, another fascinating New York personage. When Zev Feldman, known as the Jazz Detective, was introduced to Drayton, he became aware of Drayton’s archive of tapes. Drayton is described by Feldman as “a renaissance man” who not only had a lengthy career in advertising, but was also a gifted photographer and a fine recording engineer. John Coltrane’s last public performance, released by Impulse! as The Olatunji Concert, is one of his efforts. Drayton worked with two mikes, a tiny mixer and a Revox reel-to-reel tape machine, a setup that’s pictured in both of these releases. 

    Trumpeter Kenny Dorham was, by all accounts, a cultured and respectful man. The booklet included with Blue Bossa In The Bronx - Live From The Blue Morocco, includes an excerpt from an interview with the late Dan Morgenstern. Back when he was the editor of Downbeat, Morgenstern worked closely with Dorham when the trumpeter was briefly writing record reviews for the magazine. The insightful Morgenstern describes Dorham as “an extraordinarily intelligent person ... a guy who thought about the music and its history...” The single CD or double Lp issue of this quintet date offers what sounds like a complete set from the Bronx club. Kicking things off with Dorham’s best-known composition, Blue Bossa, the stellar unit features Sonny Red on alto along with a marvelous rhythm section of Cedar Walton on piano, the ubiquitous Paul Chambers on bass, and Denis Charles on drums. Charles is usually associated with the likes of Cecil Taylor and Steve Lacy, but remember that he also worked with Gil Evans, Sonny Rollins, and Sandy Bull. His low-key but insistent presence on the drums gives the band a firm foundation for the excellent solo work of Dorham and Walton. Sonny Red plays fluidly, but he doesn’t often sound especially inspired on this night. The typically varied program includes nods to K.D.’s bop roots, with expansive versions of Charlie Parker’s Confirmation and Milt Jackson’s Bags’ Groove, and a pair of standards. Memories of You is a feature for Sonny Red, whose convincingly bluesy approach shows him at his best. The music then slides directly into Dorham’s disarmingly relaxed look at My One and Only Love. We also get to hear Blue Friday, a Dorham original that debuted on his exquisite 1959 album Quiet Kenny, and the set closes, in the bop tradition, with The Theme. Dorham is a classic example of the “musician’s musician.” While he didn’t get a ton of recognition from the public, he was highly thought of by his peers, as well as the many trumpeters who followed in his footsteps. Eddie Henderson, Steven Bernstein, Charles Tolliver, and Jeremy Pelt all offer their praise from different angles in statements included in the booklet. Bassist Reggie Workman also offers his perspective, noting Dorham’s “unique sound and approach” and emphasizing that he also a vocalist, making him especially “able to relate to the lyrics of a song.” The booklet also features liner notes by Bob Blumenthal, short statements from Dorham’s children, and a fascinating remembrance of the night by Bernard Drayton. Frankly, I’ve never heard a Dorham recording that I didn’t thoroughly enjoy, and Blue Bossa In The Bronx is no exception. Happily recommended. Resonance HCD–2072 (CD & 2-lp set); Kenny Dorham (tpt) Sonny Red (as) Cedar Walton (p) Paul Chambers (b) Denis Charles (d); The Bronx, NY, 1967; Blue Bossa/ Confirmation/ Memories of You/ My One and Only Love/ Bags’ Groove/ Blue Friday/ The Theme; 73:35. 

    When the masterly trumpeter Freddie Hubbard was really feeling it, it was obvious from the first note. One night in The Bronx, Hubbard was in fabulous form, as the recently issued On Fire - Live From The Blue Morocco proves. Hubbard at that point in 1967 was signed to Atlantic Records, after a long association with Blue Note.  His formidably swinging quintet at the time consisted of Bennie Maupin on tenor saxophone, Kenny Barron on piano, Herbie Lewis on bass, and Freddie Waits on drums. This Resonance set, on two CDs or three Lps, is the second of Bernard Drayton’s recordings to appear on the label. Considering the recording setup he used, he managed to get a well-balanced result. The wildly exciting program features original compositions by Hubbard (Crisis, Up Jumped Spring, True Colors, and Breaking Point), along with Bob Cunningham’s Echoes of Blue, and a pair of standards in the second set. Bye Bye Blackbird and Summertime each are explored at length, with superb solo work by Hubbard, Maupin, and Barron. Freddie Waits could drive a small group with finesse and unstoppable propulsion, and he’s totally on his game on this night. In what has become the standard for Resonance releases, and producer Zev Feldman’s projects in general, there’s a copiously illustrated booklet. This one includes Feldman’s introduction, a short piece by Freddie’s son Duane Hubbard, liner notes by John Koenig, memories of performing with Hubbard by Kenny Barron and Bennie Maupin, an essay by Bernard Drayton about the gig, plus appreciations by fellow trumpeters Charles Tolliver, Eddie Henderson, Steven Bernstein (“This recording is insane!”), and Jeremy Pelt. On Fire is a valuable addition to the legacy of the great Freddie Hubbard, and is heartily recommended. Resonance HCD-2073; Freddie Hubbard (tpt) Bennie Maupin (ts) Kenny Barron (p) Herbie Lewis (b) Freddie Waits (d); The Bronx, NY, April 10, 1967; Disc 1 (65:18) Crisis/ Up Jumped Spring/ Echoes of Blue/ True Colors; Breaking Point. Disc 2 (47:56) Bye Bye Blackbird/ Summertime/ Breaking Point. resonancerecords.org

Jim Snidero: Bird Feathers

    With his latest project, Bird Feathers, alto saxophonist Jim Snidero delivers a delightful session of songs written or played by Charlie Parker, with the aid of bassist Peter Washington and drummer Joe Farnsworth. It’s a bit unusual to tear into tunes like Ornithology or Confirmation in this trio format without a chording instrument, but this unit succeeds admirably. Bird Feathers, the album, kicks off with the title track, a reworking of a Parker original from a 1947 Dial session, and a hint of what’s in store for the remainder of the 46 minutes. Snidero’s bright tone and the fluidity of his ideas are always a treat, especially when he’s invigorated by a thematic approach. For this Bird tribute, he smartly sequences Parker’s tunes and standards that he loved to play. By the time I got to Snidero’s exquisite version of These Foolish Things, I was more than ready to endorse this release wholeheartedly, and that was only the third track! Other highlights include a brisk look at Ornithology, complete with effective solos by Washington and Farnsworth, a loving version of Hoagy Carmichael’s The Nearness of You, the gently swinging version of the infrequently played Charlie’s Wig from the same 1947 session that produced Bird Feathers, and the finale, a solo saxophone rendition of the well-known Ram Ramirez tune Lover Man. The accomplished Washington shows with every note why he is one of the most recorded bassists of the modern era, with 514 (!) sessions listed in Tom Lord’s online Jazz Discography since his debut in 1986. Drummer Farnsworth, a sensitive and responsive musician, has amassed over 200 sessions in the same database since 1991. They are both clearly suited to Snidero’s stripped-down approach to this material, and together they help make this disc a success. If you love the music of Charlie Parker half as much as Jim Snidero clearly does, you will absolutely enjoy every minute of Bird Feathers. Joyously recommended. 

Savant SCD 2224; Jim Snidero (as) Peter Washington (b) Joe Farnsworth (d); Saylorsburg, PA, October 4, 2024; Bird Feathers/ Scrapple From the Apple/ These Foolish Things/ Ornithology/ Embraceable You/ The Nearness of You/ Charlie’s Wig/ Confirmation/ Lover Man; 46:58. www.jazzdepot.com