Moe Koffman - Museum Pieces

MOE KOFFMAN
Museum Pieces
1978
256+ VBR LAME mp3
Vinyl rip & scans from Janus JXS-7073

Preview clip:
Digs (Archaeology)


What's the direct connection to the previous post featuring Hank Crawford? Since Moe avoids the sax entirely, it's the fact Crawford and Koffman regular Doug Riley were past musical directors for Ray Charles; Hank for an extended stint at the start of the 60s and RIley for a short spurt at the end of the same decade. Otherwise, the albums were released within a year of each other and share something in musical sensibilities as well, a fact picked up on by Dusty Groove who mention it in their brief review:

A groovy album of moody electric funk tracks from Moe Koffman -- and probably one of his best records from the 70s! The groove is nice and rolling, with less of the break-oriented sound than you might expect, but still with some very nice mellow, almost CTI-ish moments, thanks to keyboards from Don Thompson.

Not much left unsaid about Moe or this roster of regulars in one of the many posts here on Soundological covering Koffman and Riley. However, out of Moe's oeuvre, it is by far and away the closest to the smooth jazzfunk sound epitomised by Creed Taylor's imprint. More importantly, it pretty much sidesteps the copious cheese slathered upon the albums book-ending this session (Jungle Man before, Things Are Looking Up after) and hits a sweeter spot where groove, technique and studio polish intersect.

A snapshot of many popular trends in jazz during the period, there are a couple adventurous post-bop tunes on hand ("Dinosaurus" & "Wildlife"), some proto-smooth jazz moments ("Pharoah's Dream"), orchestral string-backed slow blues ("Evolution Blues") and a couple outright funkified offerings in the form of Weather Report-style fusion with some drum breaks ("Rocks") and the Mizell-flavoured downtempo funk of "Digs."

Days Gone By (Egyptology)

Based on its use by Jill Scott, you may already be aware of the mellow "Days Gone By (Egyptology)" and though it's not the best track on the record, it's why sample-spotters often snatch this one up on sight. That bite alone is one of the main reasons copies of this album are seldom seen out in the wild, coupled with the fact this is probably Koffman's strongest effort in the latter part of his pop-fusion phase so folks were likely more inclined to keep it in their collections.

Jill Scott's Slowly, Surely & Marc Mac's Visioneers Remix

Featuring prominently on the track is Ed Bickert's crystal clear tone on the guitar. He displays his deft mastery of the instrument throughout the album and for many fans his playing here is a big reason to pick up this set. Though more well-known for his work on bass, Don Thompson's contributions on keyboards (mostly Rhodes) are mainly as an astute accompanist with few solos on the album outside of "Wildlife" and "Days Gone By." Speaking of Ed and Don, this album was released around the same time as their critically acclaimed live duo set, At The Garden Party.

Intro to "Rocks (Mineralogy)"

On "Rocks" it's pretty clear Riley's still crushing on Mwandishi and Head Hunters era Hancock but always with his own bluesy touch thanks to his B-3 background. However, he's all over the map stylistically on his own composition "Dinosaurus", a tune described as "a delightful romp through the harmonic overtone series" which highlights both his skills and his influences (especially Bud Powell and Oscar Peterson) but meanders a bit too much as a result of some kitchen-sinkism.

For the most part Moe keeps it melodic throughout, maintaining his mainstream-oriented style without taking the type of excursions in his solos witnessed on the kosmigroovish Solar Explorations nor straight-up displaying his bebop chops like when he was Live at George's. However, he has a few moments where he lets go a bit and soars high, especially on "Pharoah's Dream" and "Wildlife."

Sometimes a picture doesn't paint a 1000 words
Australian issue [RCA VPL14130]

All in all, an enjoyable album that saw a modicum of critical and chart success here in Canada upon its release (nominated for 2 Juno awards in 1978). Created as a conceptual piece to accompany exhibitions at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto (pictured on the back cover), its main drawback is in replicating the sterile, hands-off environment of most museums to a fairly high degree.

As indicated by the cover art's roped-off skeleton, sarcophagus and caveman mannequin, the music is often dryly academic and tends to be aimed moreso at the head rather than the heart or hooves. However, as also hinted at on the cover, there's just enough howler monkey to keep things lively and nobody is placed on a pedestal so it stands as cohesive communal effort among some of Canada's A-list jazzbos of the late 70s.


Moe Koffman - Flute
Ed Bickert - Guitar
Marty Morell - Drums and Percusion
Rick Homme - Electric and Acoustic Bass
Don Thompson - Keyboard, Arco String Bass
Bob Mann - Rhythm Guitar on "Rocks," "Digs" & "Museum Piece" + solo on "Dinosaurus"
Doug Riley - Keyboard on "Rocks," + Clavinet & Piano on "Dinosaurus"


1 Museum Piece
2 Rocks (Mineralogy)
3 Digs (Archaeology)
4 Evolution Blues
5 Pharoah's Dream
6 Wildlife (Mammalogy)
7 Days Gone By (Egyptology)
8 Dinosaurus


Celebrate Cheeba's birthday today by tagging along with Soundological & Moe for a trip to the museum - free ticket in the comments!

Hank Crawford - Tico Rico

HANK CRAWFORD
Tico Rico
1977
256+ VBR LAME mp3
Vinyl rip & scans from Kudu KU-35

Although this popped up on the essential and now-defunct The CTI Never Sleeps blog a while ago, I thought I'd offer up another rip from my clean copy of this fairly rare OOP session Hank Crawford recorded for Creed Taylor's Kudu imprint. There was also an issue with the tracks on that version being wrongly named and tagged, which is not a concern here since they are correct in this package.

This album actually highlights the issue of abuse of copyright laws since rumour has it the original tapes have disappeared. If true, this would mean CTI does not hold the original sound recordings and would only be able to exert rights based on ownership of a copy - which Brooklyn Law School's Jason Mazzone has included as one of the four types of what he calls "copyfraud." However, try as I could, I could find no official statement that the master tapes for this album no longer exist but it still doesn't necessarily mean the album is in the public domain, or the even greyer category of "orphaned works," by default just because no one can technically prove they "own" the original.

There may be other reasons CTI has not reissued this record. Out of the eight records Crawford recorded for Kudu, this is not the only one to never see a reissue since originally hitting the streets; neither Don't You Worry 'Bout A Thing nor Cajun Sunrise have been released in digital format either. The remaining five that have been given the CD treatment are only available as Japanese imports on the King label.

For some reason, CTI has never reissued any of Crawford's albums on this side of the pond and the sole Crawford Kudu release on iTunes is Wildflower. WTF is up with that? It's especially odd since you'd think record company ghouls would be grinding his corpse like nobody's business after his passing just over a year ago. It's what they do best. Y'know, maybe there is some truth to the rumour after all...

Tico Rico & Funky Rooster

Fairly popular on its release, Tico Rico debuted at #31 in its first week and ultimately peaked at #28 on Billboard's 1977 Jazz Album chart. Of course, you know what that means to our favourite whipping boy over at AMG ...

Review by Scott Yanow

This LP has generally weak material ("Teach Me Tonight") is the only standard, the arrangements by David Matthews are routine and Crawford's soulful alto sounds obviously overdubbed over the string section; the "background" vocals on "Lullaby of Love" also do not help. The only reason to acquire this album is to hear Crawford's always appealing sound, but there are many more rewarding Hank Crawford recordings currently available.

In other words, Hank's holdin' his down but there's too much funky business goin' on out there on the lawn. Of course, this latter aspect is of most interest to our merchant friends at Dusty Groove, who are more forgiving and even more succinct playing up the album's strengths in their appraisal:

More of a David Matthews album than a Hank Crawford one -- as Matthews handled the arrangements in that slick funky big band style he was using at the time, letting Crawford come into solo over the top, but not really leading the session in any sort of obvious way.

However, probably the definitive assessment of this record on the web is likely courtesy of (surprise, surprise) CTI afficianado numero uno Doug Payne. He devotes a few paragraphs to this album in his insightful essay covering Matthews' work for Creed Taylor during the 70s. Not just a purveyor of fact-filled fanboy fodder, his wit and passion for the subject matter at hand always makes for an enjoyable read. I've snipped out some of the background info and play-by-play for Tico Rico in hopes you'll visit Doug's blog to learn more:

Hank Crawford recorded many albums for the Atlantic, Kudu and Milestone labels during his career, but very few on any label that had more than one or two great tunes. This is one that is terrific from start to finish, with Crawford in perfectly bluesy and swinging form, driven by Matthews's superb, yet simplified, electrifying charts. If a soloist is only as good as his arranger, then Matthews is probably the best Crawford ever had (and Crawford was the guy who arranged for Ray Charles!). Tico Rico - which has never been issued on CD - is undoubtedly their best work together. <<...>> Matthews provides an alluring, romantic underscore that Crawford simply sets alight. A fine achievement for both Hank Crawford and David Matthews.

Sax - Hank Crawford
Sax - Michael Brecker
Trumpet - Jon Faddis, Randy Brecker
Flute - Jeremy Steig
Guitar - Eric Gale
Bass - Gary King
Drums - Steve Gadd, Steve Taylor
Keyboards - Cliff Carter, Dave Matthews
Percussion - Nicky Marrero, Sue Evans
Cello - Alan Shulman, Charles McCracken
Viola - Emanuel Vardi, Lamar Alsop
Violin - Charles Libove, David Nadien, Emanuel Green, Marvin Morgenstern, Matthew Raimondi, Max Ellen, Max Pollikoff, Paul Gershman
Backing Vocals - Frank Floyd, Raymond Simpson, Zachary Sanders


1 Tico Rico
2 Teach Me Tonight
3 Lady Soul
4 Lullaby Of Love
5 I've Just Seen A Face
6 Lament
7 Funky Rooster


Soundological suggests you take your own Tico Rico to go while it's still hot in the comments!

Joe Scott - A Symphony of Our Time

JOE SCOTT
A Symphony of Our Time
1970
256+ VBR LAME mp3
Vinyl rip & scans from MRL 307

Movement 1 (excerpt)



This is the second of two albums Joe Scott put together for Bob Shad's newly revamped Mainstream imprint, Mainstream Red Lion. The first, Motion Pictures: The NOW Generation, was a pretty straight-forward orchestral take on the hits of the day with some dope guitar fuzz by Jay Berliner (who would release one of the funkier albums on MRL, Bananas Are Not Created Equal) and some fine electric piano/organ/old skool analogue synth sounds from the keys of session man Frank Owens (check out his sole solo LP over at never enough rhodes) accentuating the arrangements. Personally, I very much enjoyed the set as it was anchored by some boffo bass from a youngish Chuck Rainey and provided a much meatier take on the "hip hits orchestra" meme that pervaded the sonic landscape from the mid-60s to mid-70s.

The line up for A Symphony of Our Time stayed much the same, with minor differences in the horn & string sections, with Romeo Penque added on flute while swapping Owens for Dick Hyman and Rainey for Joseph Macho (he previously played with Owens in support of Bob Dylan and in the group The Restless Feelin's and he would also go on to contribute to one of my all-time fave albums, Van Morrison's Veedon Fleece). Although the personnel changes were slight, the compositions took on a whole new level of complexity as Scott used the pop material as a spingboard to a true symphonic arrangement, rather than simply arrange the songs to be played by an orchestra.

In the intensely informative liner notes replete with massive music-geekery, Scott explains in detail his process and the manner in which he conceptualised the songs as themes to be developed in a classical mode. A case could be made for this recording to be considered as Third Stream, although academics would likely cringe at the thought since the improvisational aspect is hard to discern, the focus is much more on the "rock" than the "jazz" and the compositions do teeter on the precipice of being fugal. I would conjecture that the very act of melding the different themes together into a single movement would avoid its fall into the latter, but I'd have a hard time arguing the case in classicist court.

There are some surprisingly sublime moments here where Scott's gambit pays unexpected dividends. However, at times he overreaches (not necessarily a bad thing in itself) or keeps the structure too rigidly poppy or classical and winds up a bit too predictable or slightly cliché. However, you've gotta give the man an A+ for effort at connecting people with music from the other side of the fence and trying to create something new and completely different in an idiom that was all too often rife with ivory tower elitism, artistic laziness or outright crass opportunism. Years later this kind of treatment would be adopted by struggling symphony orchestras to get bums in the seats or by pretentious prog-rockers searching out a certificate of authenticity for their oeuvre.

I would love to have been able to provide some biographical info on Mr. Scott since the slightly generic name shows up in different roles from the 40s to the 00s and I wanted to get the facts straight. Was he the Trumpet player & arranger who worked with who worked closely with Bobby Blue Bland since the 40s? Was he the singer for mid-60s art rock act Ford Theatre as some claim? Was he the arranger & conductor for a plethora of rock and C&W acts in the late 60s and early 70s? Was he the bass player who worked with Aretha Franklin, The Staple Singers and Curtis Mayfield? Is he the guy who fronts a popular wedding band on these days? All of the above? AMG lists no less than 15 artists with the same name or variations thereof and speaking to the man himself would help nail it down.

I was hoping to do so before posting because the fine Mr. Bostrom, who hosts the other Scott album linked to in the first paragraph, sent me Joe's email over a week ago but I haven't heard back from the man yet. Unfortunately, time is of the essence since I'm aiming to post the last five remaining MRLs yet to appear in the blogosphere before the 12th of the month - Bobby Shad's 90th birthday! Rest assured that if Mr. Scott does reach out, I'll update the post with any info he feels like sharing with us...


1 Movement 1 (Sonata Allegro) - Introduction: House of the Rising Sun; Theme I: Ruby Tuesday; Theme II: A Day in the Life
2 Movement 2 (Andante) - White Room
3 Movement 3 (Moderato) - America
4 Movement 4 (Finale) - Theme I: Dandelion; Theme II: We Can Work It Out; Theme III: Yellow Submarine


Savour Scott's symphonic sonics courtesy of Soundological HERE or HERE.

Pete Yellin - Dance of Allegra

PETE YELLIN
Dance Of Allegra
1972
256+ VBR LAME mp3
Vinyl rip & scans from MRL 363

Bird and the Ouija Board (excerpt)



One of the best things about maintaining the shad shack is getting a chance to hear pieces from the MRL collection that otherwise may not have come up on my radar. One example of this are the superb efforts of Pete Yellin, Dance for Allegra from '72 and It's The Right Thing from '73. After hearing them, they both found their way near the top o' my grocery list and as luck would have it, I found the first a few weeks ago. As usual, the version available through Soundological is a bit better than 160k res dropped at the shack and includes the full scans of labels and artwork.

Not a lot to tell about this album which was named for his daughter Allegra, who was probably in primary school at the time. She's currently a children's music teacher music so her pop's (and grandaddy's) love of music and dance undoubtedly rubbed off on her during those idealistic years between the birth of the hippie dream and its death due to yuppie schemes. For a great little analysis of this window in time for music and spirituality, I highly recommend you check out ish's insightful exploration of the subject posted recently at Ilé Oxumaré.

This set was recorded at the East Coast Record Plant in NYC near the end of May 1972, at the same time Ernie Wilkins was working there with Alice Clark on her legendary album for Shad's imprint. With that type of creative atmosphere and loving inspiration, all while spring was in full swing, it's no surprise this is such a buoyant, hopeful album where the all-star ensemble stretches out its tendrils like green shoots reaching for the sun. After a two-decade break in recording as leader, Yellin enlisted some of these same players in efforts during later years, with close friend Eddie Henderson playing on the '99 version of Mellow Soul and Billy Hart skinning up on last year's How Long Has This Been Going On?

One of the highlights of the MRL catalogue and not to be missed.


Wikipedia bio

Yellin is the son of an NBC studio pianist. He turned down an athletic scholarship at the University of Denver to study at Juilliard under Joseph Allard (saxophone) and Harold Bennett (flute). He worked in the 1960s with Lionel Hampton, Buddy Rich, and Tito Puente, and worked with Joe Henderson's band from 1970 to 1973. Around this time he also played with Mario Bauza, Hampton again, Maynard Ferguson, Sam Jones, Charles Earland, and the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis big band. In 1974 he formed his own band, and played at the Newport Jazz Festival.

As a sideman, Yellin has worked with Bob Mintzer, Eddie Palmieri, George Benson, Machito, Chick Corea, and others. He founded the jazz program at Long Island University in 1984, acting as coordinator for the studio there until the end of the 1990s.

AMG Bio
by Ron Wynn

His father was a pianist and NBC staffer, and Pete Yellin has recorded as a leader and was also part of Joe Henderson's early '70s band. He's a solid, sometimes exuberant player with extensive range, and a decent flutist. Yellin studied sax with Joe Allard and flute with Harold Bennett. He earned his degree from Juilliard, and at one point entertained thoughts of basketball stardom. Yellin had an athletic scholarship to the University of Denver as freshman, but then turned professional as a musician.

He played with Lionel Hampton in the early '60s, then with Buddy Rich and Tito Puente. Yellin joined Joe Henderson's band in 1970, and remained until 1973. He formed his own band the next year, and played at the Newport Jazz Festival in New York. He returned to play with Puente in 1974. Yellen worked in the horn sections of Rich and Bob Mintzer during the '80s. He recorded for Mainstream, but the session is currently unavailable on CD.

Pete Yellin - Tenor Sax, Flute
Eddie Henderson - Trumpet, Flugel Horn
Kenny Barron - Electric Piano
Stanley Clarke - Bass
Billy Hart - Drums
Dom Um Romão - Percussion


1 Dance Of Allegra
2 Esculynn
3 Bird and the Ouija Board
4 Mebakush

Discography as leader

1972 Dance of Allegra (Mainstream)

1973 It's the Right Thing (Mainstream)
at the shad shack

1995 Mellow Soul
Buy from Pete

1995 European Connection: Live!
Buy from Pete

1996 It's You or No One
Buy from Pete

1999 Mellow Soul
Buy from Pete

2008 How Long Has This Been Going On?
Buy from Pete

Albums available directly from Yellin's website (with preview clips).

Soundological dances with Allegra HERE or HERE.

Blue Mitchell - Many Shades of Blue

BLUE MITCHELL
Many Shades of Blue
1974
256+ VBR LAME mp3
Vinyl rip & scans from Mainstreram MRL 402

Harmony of the Underworld


I'm the biggest sucker for Blue Mitchell's 70s Mainstream sides. They were a major component of my initiation into the realm of jazzfunk and the first three are etched in my mind forever so, thanks the psychological process of imprinting, his sides are among the sine qua non of the milieu for me. I finally picked up a near mint vinyl copy of this one a few weeks ago and now need only Vital Blue to complete my Mitchell Red Lion series. This funky muther has already appeared at My Favourite Sound and Audio Design Studio in the past (check the shad shack for links) but during the Month(ish) of Mainstream we're stackin' 'em high and sellin' 'em cheap and this one's just another on the pile.

As usual, Blue has a stellar line up behind hime here since it seems Mitchell and Sarah Vaughan were the only artists on whom Shad actually spent proper money. The two are also tied as the most voluminously released artists on MRL (both providing 7 albums of new material for Shad in a few short years) so their stature, productivity and faithfulness were probably big factors in that equation. Not counting the split with Roy Haynes when Shad was in scavenger mode, this is the last LP Mitchell released on the label before it shuttered, after which he moved on to a series of labels.

Among these were RCA (Stratosonic Nuances, Funktion Junction) and ABC (African Violet, Summer Soft) where he would be slathered in strings and discofied to such a degree that on occasion he might as well have been just another one of the session musicians. Never again would he regain the raw funkiness and full-on souljazz feeling that typifies his Mainstream output. Mitchell would die before he had a chance to do so, passing away prior to the end of the decade at the relatively early age of 49.


Dusty Groove Review

Sweet electric 70s funk from Blue Mitchell -- blowing here in some of the hippest arrangements of his career! Blue's trumpet alone is always pretty darn great, but for this album he's working with arranger Dave Matthews -- who gives the tunes fierce groove that mixes vamping guitars with snapping drums -- sort of picking up the groove that Matthews forged with James Brown, but allowing for a lot freer jazz interplay!

The guitars are often recorded in a cool way that has them sounding a bit "watery" alongside the rhythms -- so much so, you'd swear they were keyboards at times -- and this approach sounds really great underneath Blue's tighter, harder, more punctuated solos over the top of the tracks. Additional support comes from horn players Joe Farrell and Seldon Powell -- and titles include "Funk Walk", "Blue Funk", "Funny Bone", "Golden Feathered Bird", "Harmony Of The Underworld", and "Hot Stuff".

Funky Walk

Blue Mitchell - Trumpet
Wilbur Bascomb, Jr. - Electric Bass
Michael Moore - Electric Bass
Joe Beck - Acoustic & Electric Guitar
John Tropea - Acoustic & Electric Guitar
Sam T. Brown - Acoustic Guitar
James Madison - Drums
James Bossy - Trumpet
Jon Faddis - Horn
Irwin "Marky" Markowitz - Horn
Joe Farrell - Flute, Tenor Sax
Seldon Powell - Tenor & Baritone Sax
Frank Vicari - Tenor Sax


1 Where It's At
2 Harmony of the Underworld
3 Funky Walk
4 Blue Funk
5 Golden Feathered Bird
6 Beans and Taters
7 Funny Bone
8 Hot Stuff


Soundological has a shady deal for you HERE or HERE.

Moe Koffman - Master Suite

Anitra's Last Dance


MOE KOFFMAN
Master Suite
1973

256+ VBR LAME mp3
Vinyl rip & scans from GRT 9230-1041

Seems like somehow Moe got pretty popular 'round these parts...in three short days The Four Seasons has suddenly become the single-most downloaded file here at Soundological. Not sure if it's based on the strength of the preview track or if there was another factor involved but this kind of take rate is completely unprecedented. Perhaps it's just Moe's fans coming out of the woodwork or it's due to the original popularity of the album on its release? Whatever the reason, it's a good thing one of the few pre-prepped LPs I had ready is another Koffman/Riley collaboration: Master Suite.

It's the follow-up to The Four Seasons and completes MK's hat-trick of concept albums covering classical material in a jazz-fusion style. This time he departs from spotlighting a single composer and instead he spreads the flutey love around to a variety of well-known pieces from assorted classical masters. As you can see in the AMG review below, Moe doesn't really get much recognition from the music journos, mostly due to what could be called chronic run-of-the-mill "critic snootiness" but it must be said this is not as strong an outing as his Vivaldi reworking from the previous year. While Mr. Allan is a bit dismissive of the effort in toto, there's a lot of truth in his assessment of the familiar melodies' tendancy to over-shadow the proceedings.

If you had a chance to read the review of The Four Seasons in the previous post, you'll likely find it kind of ironic that most of the chastising it received for being a failed "prog" piece is actually more applicable in this intance. While there are some high points such as the waltz-time "Anitra's Dance," the softly hypnotic "Syrinx" and some of the stronger segments of "Suite Fantastique," there are also duds like "Cavern of the Mountain Trolls," an ill-conceived mish-mash of hackneyed progrock idioms; "Theme from Orpheus," which sounds like a whiter shade of a pale Procol Harum; and "Morning Mist," which comes off as categorically cheesy because it just can't jettison the melodic baggage of the original composition.

In many cases, even the exceptional technical proficiency displayed by supporting regulars Riley, Bickert, Thomspon and Clarke aren't enough to elevate the tunes above a cheap gimmickery and the copious free-jazz flavoured breaks feel unduly tacked on as an afterthought. Where Four Seasons found some sweet grooves and explored the space within the symphonic structure, Master Suite is a disjointed effort that jumps from ubiquitous bits of the classical canon into either spastic improv or bombastic arena-rock and then back again with little apparent rhyme or reason. Thankfully Moe recognised a dead end and this release rightfully signals the cessation of his reliance on the classical-jazz-rock-fusion crutch he'd been leaning on for a few years and prompted him to explore more freeform avenues while staying grounded in his swing & hard bop roots.


AMG Review by Mark Allan
Unlike most 1970s fusion experiments, this one wedded jazz and some rock to classical. The problem is that the melodies inspired by Mozart, Grieg, Debussy, Berlioz, Bartok, and Gluck far outshine the jazz-rock middle sections by the Canadian flutist and his accompaniment. If this record was a real marriage, it would last six months.


Moe Koffman - Flute, Bass Flute, Piccolo
Doug Riley - Keyboards
Don Thompson - Acoustic & Electric Bass
Terry Clarke - Drums
Michael Craden - Percussion
Sandra Watts - Oboe
Ed Bickert - Guitar (1,4,8)
Terry Bush - Guitar (3,5,6,8)
D. Long - Rhythm Guitar (3)


1 Morning Mist
2 Anitra's Last Dance
3 Cavern of the Mountain Trolls
4 Intermezzo
5 The from Orpheus
6 Mozart's Ark
7 Syrinx
8 Suite Fantastique (Reveries/Witches Sabbath/March to the Scaffold)


Suiten your pot with Soundological HERE or HERE and if you're looking for mo' better Moe be sure to check out his discography post on SI as well.

Moe Koffman - The Four Seasons

Summer: Overture to Summer


MOE KOFFMAN The Four Seasons 1972

256+ VBR LAME mp3
Vinyl rip & scans from GRT 9230-1022


Well, faithful readers, it seems the recent computer meltdown was much worse than previously thought. I plugged my old drives into the new computer amd on start-up they started clicking and actually smoking. I've had my share of crashes but never seen the breath of the the devil wafting forth from my precious data like that before. This means ALL my unprocessed rips & scans are history and there were about a dozen LPs worth of 'em. Also lost all the tracks I've worked on in the past 6 months and a shitload of music & video. It took out my pro sound card too, so I'm using an old SoundBlaster Live! I had laying around...alas, ripping new material is not an option at the moment. Now before you get all uppity about backup that's the problem: my mirror drive went too. Just another reason why this is a burn, both literally & figuratively. Thankfully, there's still a few albums left in my posting buffer and I've finally gotten a chance to do a couple write ups.

So, without further ado, here we go with our fourth installment of the Moe Koffman discography, the title of which coincidentally corresponds quite nicely with its place in the Moe posting sequence. If you haven't had a chance to check out the others, just click on the "can con" tag at the end of the post or type "koffman" into the search box, top left.

This double-LP set is pretty rare these days yet when it does pop up, it doesn't have that high a sticker price - anywhere from $5 to $20 depending on condition. If you ask me, this one's a gold mine of samples waiting to be used and if you like your classical fused with some funky floot, you'll probably enjoy the proceedings on the whole. Now, it ain't nowhere near the funkiness of Don Sebesky or Bob James' interpolations of classical themes but Doug Riley works out some good arrangements in addition to just killing it on the Hammond and Rhodes all the way through.

Unlike most of Koffman's albums there's a pretty thorough review available online so I've taken the liberty of posting the entire write up since excerpts don't exactly do justice to Christopher Currie's analysis of the record. Keep in mind that the review is being written with a prog-rock slant (it was first posted on a newsgroup devoted to Brit proggers Yes) and some of its sweeping statements should be taken with a grain of salt since it seems sometimes he's not sure whether to be ascerbic or apologetic...

Tentative Review by The Christopher Currie

When mainstream music critics chide the progressive scene for its adaptation/bastardization of classical music, ELP's Pictures At An Exhibition is a frequent talent. The ELP work, after all, is one of the few progressive-era work to tackle (in more sense than one, of course) an established classical piece over the space of an entire album. It's also not the highest quality work that ELP ever released, making it a doubly convenient target for typecasting the genre.

I have a feeling, however, that ELP might receive a bit less attention if more critics were aware of Moe Koffman's The Four Seasons.

A bit of background information may be in order ...

Moe Koffman is a veteran of Canada's jazz/classical scene. He had a hit single in the late 1950s entitled "Swinging Shepherd Blues", and has ventured forth into the world of pop-classical/pop-jazz recordings from time to time since then. He's also, by at least one reliable account, a first-class jerk, known for hounding various players out of the Toronto music scene on the basis of personal vendettas. As drafter of Toronto's "Phantom Of The Opera" orchestral lineup, Koffman is unquestionably a man of some authority, which may explain why he's able to release novelty works as awful as Back To Bach and remain a fixture in the industry. Though a skilled flutist, Koffman therefore falls into something of an "artistically suspect" category.

In 1972, Koffman (no doubt acting under the influence of Emerson's expanding popularity) decided to create a progressive rock version of Vivaldi's "The Four Seasons", with string orchestra and rock band accompaniment. For sheer preposterousness, this two-record set at least matches ELP's Pictures, and quite possibly exceeds it. Unlike the ELP set, however, this album has languished in obscurity for several years, free of both the harsh gaze of anti-prog critics and skeptical acceptance from the genre's fans. While this isn't a fundamental loss for either, an increased awareness of its presence would at least add a little more perspective into such matters.

As one might expect from a work of this sort, the music toes a narrow gap between novelty status and serious performance. The composition itself is obviously solid [the official credits are obviously a different matter], the performances are reasonable enough for the circumstances, and there's enough real music going on (from a progressive standpoint, at least) to justify most of the album. On the other hand, the project as a whole is obviously terribly contrived. If the listener closes his/her eyes and pretends that Doug Riley is actually Keith Emerson, the music often stands on its own -- there are times, however, when this facade simply doesn't work. I would be reluctant to actually recommend this album, it's ratings notwithstanding [and it certainly wouldn't hold much appeal to Vivaldi enthusiasts, save perhaps as a novelty item]; still, there is something of a strange appeal to much of the music here.

The album begins, of course, with Koffman's adaptation of Vivaldi's most famous work, the "Overture To Spring". A completely over-the-top performance, this work perhaps outdoes anything even Emerson or Wakeman could have created with the track's basic material. Horrible lounge filler interacts with actual music; a Hammond Organ appears out of nowhere at point for obvious effect -- the entire track, in other words, sums up the ambivalent relationship between tastefulness and technical skill better than ELP could have hoped for.

Many listeners probably didn't make it as far as the second track, which is a bit of a shame -- most of the album isn't quite as "in your face" about its juxtaposition of styles. "Le Reveil" is actually a semi-reverential take on the original (featuring flute and electric piano) -- the pathos doesn't come through, but it works well enough otherwise. "Nature's Banquet" (based the final section of "Spring", of course) is a jazz improvisation on the original theme, with Koffman providing a centre for the piece amid a fairly good jam performance (though perhaps the drums are a bit too heavily in the spotlight).

The "Summer" section begins with "Overture To Summer", featuring a somewhat more restrained pop-classical mix than that which began the previous side -- competent enough as a work of music, its pop stylings appear rather superfluous. Next follows "Sunshower", a rather more proggish track including a truly derivative performance from Doug Riley -- the Emerson "influence" actually becomes rather disturbing, at some points in the song. Otherwise, this work is most notable for a reverential, pastoral mid-section, which somehow doesn't really work in this context. "The Calm" and "The Storm" are, of course, related works -- the former features flute, keyboards and aquatic sounds to a limited effect; the latter features yet another Emerson-esque adaptation of the same theme. Neither work, ultimately, is an album high point.

The "Autumn" section begins in a rather unsatisfying fashion. The opening section of "Harvest Festival" is rather dubious, featuring a contrived blues-rock direction of sorts; the track eventually improves, but not enough to entirely erase the taint of its introduction. "Sleep", featuring acoustic guitar in a prominent role, is actually a decent pop- classical fusion work (Riley's piano work is notable in this context as well). "Dance Of The Leaves", meanwhile, is another jam around the ordinary Vivaldian theme -- not perfect throughout, this still includes the high point of the side.

One suspects that Koffman was running out of ideas (or time) towards the end, given that the "Winter" section is somewhat shorter than the other sides of the work. The music, too, seems a bit innocuous in relation to the rest of the work. "Icicle Bells" features a decent introduction (lead by Koffman & Riley) but flounders somewhat on the jazz section which follows. "Snowflakes", a more thoroughly jazzified piece, also falls somewhat short of a higher status. It therefore falls to "Inverno Furioso" to conclude the album on a relatively stately basis -- this work is a traditional performance of the original version (obviously re-arranged, of course), apparently included to verify Koffman's diversity in such matters.

There can be little doubt that Koffman's The Four Seasons is an imitation of British progressive styles, performed by individuals not normally known for working in the genre. Still, one could easily find worse Koffman projects to explore. As a curious detour in progressive music's development, this work has some value.

(originally posted to alt.music.yes on 28 Jan 1999)


Moe Koffman - Flute, Bass Flute, Piccolo
Doug Riley - Keyboards
Don Thompson - Acoustic & Electric Bass
Terry Clarke - Drums
Michael Craden - Percussion
Dick Smith - Percussion (1)
Bobby Edwards - Guitar
Terry Bush - Guitar (7)
Bill Richards - Violin
Maurice Solway - Violin
Isadore Desser - Violin
Victoria Polly - Violin
Adele Armin - Violin
Peter Schenkman - Cello
Dave Hetherington - Cello


1 - Spring: Overture to Spring (Allegro)
2 - Spring: Le Reveil (Largo)
3 - Spring: Nature's Banquet (Allegro)
4 - Summer: Overture to Summer (Allegro)
5 - Summer: Sunshower (Allegro)
6 - Summer: The Calm (Adagio)
7 - Summer: The Storm (Presto)
8 - Autumn: Harvest Festival (Allegro)
9 - Autumn: Sleep (Adagio)
10 - Autumn: Dance of the Leaves (Allegro)
11 - Winter: Icicle Bells (Allegro)
12 - Winter: Snowflakes (Largo)
13 - Winter: Invèrno Furioso (Allegro)


This one was certified gold in Canada 1972 so it's surprising you don't run into it more often up here. Until you dig it up yourself, you can grab it from Soundological's treasure chest HERE or HERE.

Björn J:Son Lindh - Från Storstad Till Grodspad

BJÖRN J:SON LINDH
Från Storstad Till Grodspad
1971

96.7 MB
320 CBR LAME mp3
Vinyl (?) rip & scans from SR RELP 1135


It's not common practice to post rips from other sources here but the previous Lindh post (Cous Cous) has proven extremely popular. Now that Smooth at My Jazz World has fleshed out some of BJL's discography in the last few days, extra links have been added to the list as a result. However, this debut effort doesn't seem to have popped up yet so I thought I'd post this HiQ version originally upped on PirateBay by user Knaverlisa in a torrent collecting Lindh's 70s albums. Both the torrent and user have long ago walked the plank, so dropping it here to fill in the blanks for all those funky flute fiends who frequent Soundological.

Från Storstad Till Grodspad (which according to Google Translate means From Metro For Frog Brick thus making even less sense to those of us who speak English) fits more into the fusion à la prog file and is considerably more experimental than his later works. This comes through clearly on the first track which takes up the whole of side one - especially the second half of same, which some tasteful cat put up on YT this summer. Listen below, it's a SERIOUSLY dope piece and the excerpt kicks in just as the track moves out of the cinematic build-up and into the meat around the ten-minute mark. This segment alone has made it one of my favourite Lindh albums and puts it in the category of "must have," at least as far as his career is concerned.

Musik Från En Storstad (excerpt)

Side two sounds like it could be incidental music for film or TV and varies from minimalist free form improv ("Stäng Locket Hon Fryser") to Swedish sex romp silliness ("Tom Bohla") and spaced-out pop rock ("Biezlov" & "I Grodspadet"). Don't worry, he doesn't forsake the funk which stays up front on "Grytnäs Sväller" as well as being sprinkled throughout the first side. There's a load of musicians involved across the multiple recording session, including longtime collaborator Janne Schaffer on guitar. Soundological would love to provide more info on the proceedings but Swedish ain't our strong suit so any native speakers who can help us in the comments would be doing us a solid (update 2009/01/05 - a kind reader who wishes to remain anonymous sent a translation which I have posted in the comments).


Björn J:son Lindh - Piano, Organ, Flute
Hawkey Franzén - Guitar, Accordion, Vocals
Anders Nordh - Guitar, Vocals
Janne Schaffer - Guitar
Kenny Håkansson - Guitar
Rune Gustafsson - Guitar
Bengt Linnarsson - Bass
Georg Wadenius - Bass
Palle Danielsson - Bass
Bobo Stenson - Electric Piano
Ola Brunkert - Drums
Rune Carlsson - Drums
Jan Bandel - Drums
Janne Carlsson - Drums
Kofi Ayivor - Congas
Bengt Olsson - Horn
Bengt Sundberg - Horn
Bernth Gustavsson - Trumpet
Bertil Lövgren - Trombone
Jörgen Johansson - Trombone
Nisse Sandström - Sax
Lars-Erik Rönn - Oboe
Lucas Lindholm - Bass
Mats Hagström - Cello
Göran Lagerberg - Vocals
Karin Stigmark - Vocals


1 Musik Från En Storstad
2 Tom Bohla 1971
3 Grytnäs Sväller
4 Biezlov
5 Den Dansande Wollmar
6 I Grodspadet
7 Stäng Locket Hon Fryser
8 Tom Bohla 1972


Pick up your frog brick from Soundological HERE or HERE.