Friday, 17 July 2009

Hadley Caliman - Hadley Caliman






Cigar Eddie


HADLEY CALIMAN
Hadley Caliman
1971

256+ VBR LAME mp3
Vinyl rip & scans from Mainstream MRL 318


Although some of you may have grabbed this from Reza before he closed up shop, there's currently no link floating around for this saxophonist's classic Mainstream session from 1971. I'm putting this out there for those who slept on it and also to ensure there's an active link at the shad shack. I'm not going to go into his saga here since the definitive Hadley Caliman post has got to be the one over at bonjourqui. It's a fascinating story told in great part by Caliman's own words and goes into his childhood relationship with Dexter Gordon, his time in San Quentin prison and his musical career in the 70s and beyond. Highly recommended reading and a must for fans of Caliman in particular and post-bop jazz and the human condition in general.

As far as the sidemen go, Vuckovich is well-known and appears consistently in many of the blogs in the blog roll to the right. Douglas (another Canuck) has quite the history in music and this set comes early on in his teaching career, which began in 1970 with the California Institute of the Arts. (Correction made 4/9/2009: This is actually Bill Douglass, with two "s"es, see comments below) Becton has a fair list of credits as a drummer for releases on MPS, Impulse and appears on the first ECM release with Mal Waldron but doesn't have much in the way of biographical info flowing through the intertubes.

The big mystery (for me) is John White Jr., the guitarist. Maybe it's his commonplace name but I can't find squat on this cat. His sole (?) release as leader was on Mainstream but good luck finding it! It's a legendary funky blues rock set that usually fetches $50 and upwards (have seen it go for as high as $200) and if I hadn't seen a picture of it myself, I would have thought it was just a myth. Any info Soundological readers might have on him would be highly appreciated!!!
(Update 4/9/2009: A sealed original vinyl copy found its way into Soundological's hands and will appear in the Month of Mainstream)


WANT IT?


Hadley Caliman - Tenor Sax & Flute
Larry Vuckovich - Piano
John White Jr. - Guitar
Clarence Becton - Drums
Bill Douglas - Bass


1 Cigar Eddie
2 Comencio
3 Little One
4 Blues For L.L.
5 Kicking On The Inside
6 Longing


Soundological lets you get your hands on Hadley HERE or HERE.

12 comments:

Simon666 said...

I truly love this album : )

If people want to check the follow-up "Iapetus" (1972), Reza kindly let me keep his upload in my Todd Cochran post

Simon666 said...

oops, i meant Katonah's link (which was on Reza's site)

Arkadin said...

Did you know that the obscure John White was reissued by P-Vine?
http://p-vine.com/music/show/638
The CD is still available on Amazon but quite expensive which is why I suggest someone downloads it from iTunes for around 6 Euros... ;)
Got the Stroziers btw - Cheers!

cheeba said...

@Simon, me too, purchased this at a relatively young age and have enjoyed it for almost 20 yrs now. Thanks for the heads up on Iapetus, linked at the shad shack.

@Arkadin, was aware of the reissue (that's how i finally found a pic of the cover) and its hefty price tag when sold used. iTunes is not a choice for me so will have to wait for the vinyl or CD to show up at an affordable cost.

E-mile said...

cheeba, ofcourse we know this one!
great stuff, recommended after(or before)listening to Buddy Terry[:-)
great stuff...
peace, E-mile

Anonymous said...

The John White album can be had on CD can be had from P-Vine in Japan: http://p-vine.com/music/show/638

Ryan said...

I had the chance to meet Hadley a few years ago in Seattle. He plays frequently now at a joint called Lula's. He was incredibly friendly and chatted with me about his troubles with crime and drugs after his recording career in the 1970s. I asked him what the difference is between his playing now and then and he replied, "Back then, I didn't know when I was making mistakes."

He released an album last year which was quite good.

Thanks for the John White upload! Looking forward to checking out Hadley's playing on that one... never heard of it before.

cheeba said...

Hi laze! Thanks for sharing your story!

I've heard Hadley is a class act all the way and your comment certainly fortifies that perspective. I was in Portland a few times in '07 and my timing was unfortunate in that he was booked to play there a few days after I returned from one of the trips.

I actually haven't heard the John White myself but just purchased the vinyl this week and waiting for it to arrive in the mail. A sealed original copy (overstock cut out) was actually cheaper than ordering the P-Vine CD! Talk about a bargain!

If you haven't had a chance yet, you can hear some more Hadley on some Luis Gasca and Azar Lawrence LPs from the early 70s, some of which can be found over at Smooth's My Jazz World - just do a search for his name.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for this. I used to work with Hadley occasionally in Kelso, WA., in 1983-4. This Bill Douglass is not from Canada, he's from the Sierra foothills of Caifornia and he came up on the SF Jazz scene in the 60's under the mentorship of Donald Rafael Garrett and around folks like Tom Harrell, Kent Glenn, Henry Grimes, Vince Wallace, et al.

cheeba said...

You're welcome Anon, and thank YOU so much for shedding some light there.

I was unsure and went with the Canadian Douglas, mainly because of the spelling. The "one s" was in the area at the time and plays the same instrument. With those bangs hanging in his face in the liner pic, it was hard to tell.

I've updated the links so proper credit is given and very much appreciate you taking the time to share your knowledge!

Simon666 said...

RIP

http://www.oregonlive.com/music/index.ssf/2010/09/seattle_saxophonist_hadley_cal.html

Heffe said...

I think you're a genius , Sir , for uploading this . Thank you for the free download !