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!

Willie Mitchell - Solid Soul

WILLIE MITCHELL
Solid Soul
1968
256+ VBR LAME mp3
Vinyl rip & scans from Hi SH-32045

San-Ho-Zay



In a city populated by multiple generations of musical goliaths, WIllie Mitchell was somehow still able to stand head and shoulders above most Memphians. Since his passing this January, there have been many tributes made and obits written, so we'll keep it short and sweet here at SI. I'm throwing this one down mostly due to the fact that my pal, Professor Groove, asked me to guest on WeFunk Radio tonight to drop some science on Mitchell and flip some beats, both old and new, to highlight his legacy. You can listen to the live stream on CKUT's site if you like (midnight EST) and later I'll also drop a link to the show on the deep 'n' dope WeFunk archives).

While gearing up I noticed blogopolis was devoid of this smouldering coal of southern soul, so thought I'd share this classic set with y'all. Hip hop hedz will know the main joint Groovin' from GZA of the Wu-Tang's Liquid Swords but I originally bought it back in the 80s for the covers of Hugh Masakela's Grazing In The Grass and Cliff Noble's The Horse (previously posted here). If you ask me though, the real killer thriller is the rendition of Freddie King's San-Ho-Zay, a banger for the boards and a track that falls squarely between the nascent funk sound of the time and four-on-the-floor shakers familiar to the Northern Soul scene. On the whole, this LP sounds exactly like the cover sez and how it looks: Solid. Soul. Slick. Badass.

Wille's "Groovin'" vs. GZA's "Liquid Swords"

Wax Poetics' Obituary

One of the greatest record producers ever, Poppa Willie Mitchell ruled the soul charts with hits on Hi Records for O. V. Wright, Bobby “Blue” Bland, Otis Clay, Ann Peebles, and Syl Johnson. But everything changed the day a young soul crooner named Al Green arrived at his doorstep in South Memphis.

They had previously met in Texas at one of Green’s gigs. Mitchell offered to bring him back to Memphis, but Green wasn’t quite ready to commit. “He wanted to know how long it would take to make him a star,” Mitchell told Andria Lisle in Wax Poetics Issue 9. “I told him eighteen months, and you know what he said? ‘I really can’t wait that long!’” Poppa Willie, with a heart of gold, loaned the young Al $1500 to pay off some debts, but without a contract, Al Green disappeared into the night. “About six months later,” Mitchell remembered, “the doorbell rang at six o’clock in the morning. I thought it was a man coming to paint my kitchen, but the guy said, ‘Don’t you remember me? I’m Al Green.’”

Willie Mitchell died on Tuesday, January 5, 2010. He was eighty-one.

When you compare the Al Green anecdote with another one told by Al Bell at Mitchell's Memorial in Memphis, it's clear Willie really was as generous as they say. Seems after Stax went belly up, Al was not only persona non grata in the Memphis music scene for a while, the outcome was also financially crippling for him. During the service he reminisced how his main competitor, Willie, was the one cat who kept Al and his family from falling through the cracks at that crucial time. You can read all about it at Red Kelly's stupendously informative and stupid cool the "B'" side, a blog all soul fans should have the pleasure of perusing.


Willie Mitchell - Trumpet
Charles Hodges - Organ, Keyboards
Leroy Hodges - Bass
Mabon "Teenie" Hodges - Guitar
Al Jackson, Jr. - Drums


1 Prayer Meetin'
2 Grazing in the Grass
3 Windy
4 Sunrise Serenade
5 The Horse
6 Groovin'
7 San-Ho-Zay
8 Up Hard
9 Monkey Jump
10 Strawberry Soul
11 Hideaway
12 Willie Wam


Willie Mitchell Links
Hi Records Home Page
Wikipedia
AMG Bio
Red Kelly's the "A" Side and the "B" Side


Solid Soul was reissued on CD in 1993 (Hi 120) and again on Sept. 11, 2001 (Hi 182), on each occasion it was packaged as 2-for-1 with its successor, On Top. Both reissues are OOP and can fetch big bucks on line ($200 at Amazon! WTF!) so don't think twice and grab it if you see it for a reasonable price.

In the meantime, Soundological does your Willie a solid HERE or HERE.

Various Artists - The Guitar Players

VARIOUS ARTISTS
The Guitar Players
256+ VBR LAME mp3
Vinyl rip & scans from MRL 410

Ernie Wilkins & His Orchestra - Thank You



Shad gets pretty desperate for product placement on this one, even more so than with some of the other compilations released at the tail-end of Mainstream's run. This one's culled haphazardly from previously available material (whereas Jazz and Booty featured session out-takes) with little regard to a genre-centred theme (whereas Yesterday=Bop, Get It Together=Funk & Soul, Billie Holiday Revisited=Billie Holiday). Running the gamut from blues to bossa to bop with bits of funk and rock for good measure, there's a distinct lack of continuity in the programming. Not only that, he's fudged some of the artists' names, giving performance credit to whomever the guitar player was on the track in hopes that their current fortunes would inculcate success at the cashier's counter.

Ernie Wilkins' cover of Sly Stone's "Thank You (Fallettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)" from Hard Mother Blues is credited entirely to David Spinozza (and spelled incorrectly to boot), who was only one of four guitarists for that session. However, Spinozza had grown in stature since this set, appearing on a multitude of classic albums and was dating Yoko Ono at the time while her and John Lennon were separated. In other words, besides being a hot property in the studio and on many charting albums, his newsworthy name was also popping up in gossip rags.

In much the same spirit David T. Walker and Arthur Wright, two indisputable dominators of the six-string domain, are named as the artists for Afrique's "Dueling Guitars" from the monster funk album Soul Makossa. At least there's some truth-in-advertising on this one and a close call for Shad to make: go with the names of the highly-respected session strummers or with the faceless studio creation who provided the label with a Top 40 R&B album the year before. Since Walker, who was highly prolific at this point in his career, remains a legend and Afrique was eventually forgotten by all but the most fanatic funksters, he probably made the proper strategic decision in this case.

Shad also wears his disdain for Paul Jeffrey's debut set on his sleeve as discussed previously in the post for Watershed. However, it's hard to wag the finger too vigorously in his direction for using Jack Wilkin's name since his fiery performance on the album is not only a show-stealer, it was also the impetus for Shad to extend a recording offer to the young guitarist.

More sensibly, Shad credited Ted Nugent for the cover of Joe Williams' "Baby Please Don't Go" from his band's self-titled debut album The Amboy Dukes. While the Dukes were largely an outdated garage band clinging to past glories by this time, the Nooge's antics and knuckle-dragging guitar style was gathering steam and the Motor City Madman had yet to release his first album sans The Dukes. Another fine example of Shad's savvy marketing skills and crafty cash-in tactics.

Save for dropping Sonny Terry's name from the famous blues duo, the rest of the tracks are properly credited. In fact, Jim Raney is once again given the nod for "Move It," which originally appeared on his lovely album Two Jims and Zoot during Mainstream's first run in the 60s but was reissued under Zoot Sims' name as Otra Vez in the MRL series.

Ultimately, Shad simply slapped together an album with minimal musical cohesion to maintain maximum marketing impact. This doesn't preclude quality entirely and the Jay Berliner tracks - in addition to those of Afrique, Paul Jeffrey, Jim Raney and Ernie Wilkins - are highly recommended if you haven't already heard them on their respective releases. While actually a very good representative of the myriad flavours to be found in the MRL catalogue, it's much more likely to please all of the people some of the time than some of the people all of the time.

1 Afrique - Dueling Guitars [David T. Walker & Arthur Wright]
2 Amboy Dukes - Baby Please Don't Go [Ted Nugent]
3 Jay Berliner - Papa Was A Rolling Stone
4 Lightning Hopkins - Lightning's Blues
5 Jay Berliner - Getting The Message
6 Ernie Wilkins & His Orchestra - Thank You [David Spinozza]
7 Paul Jeffrey - Minor Scene [Jack Wilkins]
8 Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee - Man Ain't Nothing But A Fool
9 Jim Raney - Move It

Get your gitbox fix from Soundological HERE or HERE.

Moe Koffman - Back To Bach

MOE KOFFMAN
Back To Bach
1979
256+ VBR LAME mp3
Vinyl rip & scans from Anthem ANR-1-1023

Canned Daddy

Nursury Rhyme Dancer



This is widely acknowledged as the worst set from the entire Moe Koffman catalogue and that truly says something, don't it? Frankly, it encapsulates everything wrong with discofied jazz and much of music in general at the end of the 70s (or is that the start of the 80s?): monotonous metronome disco beats, cheezy and unchallenging solos, horrendous concept albums, salubrious string sections, schmaltzy balladry, slick assembly-line production sapping the soul out of every note and even bad cover art to boot.

Obviously Moe had exhausted his ideas and made an ill-advised return to not only the nearly dried-out well of Western Classical Music but, as the the title so non-cleverly states, back to Bach's well-worn and immediately-identifiable ditties. Bad call there, buddy. On the bright side, beat builders may find a funky brick or two to work with here - however "brick" is definitely the operative word overall since this here album sinks like one in almost every aspect.

In the immortal words of Brenda Lee: I'm sorry. So sorry. Sorry my completist tendencies compel me to cough up this chunk of Can Con crap into your lap. But hey, this means Moe's mostly done here at SI (check his discography post here) and we can hold our head high for keepin' it real and reppin' our hinterland 'hood...


Moe Koffman - Flute & Piccolo
Doug Riley - Keyboards & Toy Drum
Bob Mann - Guitar
Tom Szczesniak - Bass
Bob McLaren - Drums & Percussion
Brian Leonard - Drums & Percussion


1 Canned Daddy
2 The Wooden Soldier
3 Singing Voices
4 Bad N Eerie
5 Back to Bach
6 Bach's Lunch
7 Air D'Or (Melody of Gold)
8 Irish Tea Party
9 See Us Home
10 Nursery Rhyme Dancer


Bach up with Soundological HERE or HERE.

Dollar Daze: Brian Auger, Julie Driscoll & The Trinity - Open

BRIAN AUGER, JULIE DRISCOLL & THE TRINITY
Open
1969

Black Cat


At the end of August I scored 400 LPs for $400 from the yard sale of a veteran collector/record fair trader. He was liquidating after buying a Harley and a cottage and there were a few dozen boxes laid out with a handful of people picking through them. It was a lot of superb psych, surf, freakbeat, garage rock and other goodies of the genre with a smattering of soul, doo-wop and jazz. At first I was reticent to grab much since the LPs had no pricing and I knew some of them were worth quite a bit. However, when the gentleman came up and told me everything was a buck, I kinda went off the deep end.

Then, a few weeks back while on a business trip to TO, I poked my head into a thrift store and walked out an hour later with another 100 bucks worth of dollar LPs spanning from soundtracks, R&B, and jazz to comedy, classical and obscure ethnic delights. That means 500 records to get through on top of a crazy hectic schedule and very little time to listen to them and write up posts, let alone rip the vinyl, clean it up then scan and stitch the covers. Rather than do something silly like take another few months off until I could put up something worthwhile, I thought I'd switch it up a bit. That means interspersed amongst the occasional OOP vinyl rip over the next few weeks, I'll also provide a quick write up of some of the albums I grabbed and point you in the direction of someone who has already provided the goods in the blogosphere.

We'll kick things off with Brian Auger, Julie Driscoll & The Trinity's Open, a record that I've been very familiar with since it was introduced to me in the early 90s by my mentor, Sideshow Sid, but one I have never actually owned. Since posts featuring the Hammond B3 have always proven to be quite popular here at Soundological, this is one set I highly recommend to those of you who are not familiar with Auger's oeuvre - often cited as one of the main influences on the acid jazz scene that would come 20 years later.


Elusive Disc sez

One of the icons of London's underground jazzy mod scene, Brian Auger puzzled more than one music critic bringing this crossover to perfection during the mid-late sixties. 1967's Open sees Auger switch to a more hippy folk acid R&B with the help of Julie Driscoll - his female partner already featured in his earlier project, the Steampacket. Driscoll performs in her perfectly trendy disjointed vocal style over Auger's Hammond aural carpet to createsome interesting pop r'n'b tunes culminating in the fabulous cover version of Donovan's "Season Of The Witch".

Dusty Groove sez

Open is great stuff -- one of the amazing early albums from the team of Julie Driscoll and Brian Auger -- kind of a next-generation to the Brit beat group sound of the mid 60s -- one that moves beyond simple R&B modes, to bring in more sophisticated soul and jazz touches! Driscoll's vocals are amazing -- some of the boldest belted out in the British scene at the time -- and Auger's Hammond work really cooks throughout -- at a level that easily makes him one of the best UK organists to hit the scene, amidst some very heady company in the 60s. There's a few bluesy moments, but our favorites are the funky ones -- especially the group's reading of "Season Of The Witch", which is tremendous. Other cuts include "In & Out", "Black Cat", "Goodbye Jungle Telegraph", and "Break It Up". CD also features 5 bonus tracks -- "Red Beans & Rice (parts 1 & 2)", "Save Me", "I've Gotta Go Now", "This Wheel's On Fire", and "The Road To Cairo".

AMG Review
by Thom Jurek

From the outgrowth of Steampacket, a band that included not only Brian Auger and Julie Driscoll, but also a young Rod Stewart, came Auger and Driscoll's collective effort that produced two albums. When Driscoll left in 1969 to pursue a solo career, Auger, drummer Clive Thacker, and bassist Dave Ambrose continued as Brian Auger & the Trinity. Open has been unfairly characterized as a kind of groove jazz rip, one that combines Wes Montgomery, Jimmy McGriff, and the rock sensibilities of the psychedelic era. Whatever. There are many tracks here, from deep grooved funky jazz to lilting ballads and greasy blues numbers and the skronky exotica number "Goodbye Jungle Telegraph."

Auger may not have been as gifted an organist as Alan Price technically, but he could more than hold his own on the Hammond B-3 (as evidenced by the first two tracks here which are instrumentals, "In And Out" and "Isola Nate"). He was also able to pull more sounds out of the instrument than any of his peers. Auger wasn't much of a vocalist, but he could dig deep and get the emotion out of a song — especially in a funky number like "Black Cat," which featured a killer though uncredited studio horn section.

Driscoll's contributions are all on the second half of the album, beginning with the shuffling choogle of Lowell Fulsom's "Tramp," continuing through a moving reading of Pops Staples' "Why (Am I Treated So Bad)," two Auger originals, and concluding in a reading of Donovan's "Season of the Witch" that single-handedly established her reputation as a vocalist of great interpretative ability and emotional dexterity. Almost eight minutes in length, it is the perfect interplay for the quartet with its dark, smoky swirling energy and extant soul groove, and capos the album on a high note, making it a delightful precursor to the classic Streetnoise which was to follow.

Brian Auger - Keyboards, Vocals
Julie Driscoll - Vocals
Gary Boyle - Guitar
Dave Ambrose - Bass
Clive Thacker - Drums


1 Tramp
2 Why (Am I Treated So Bad)
3 A Kind Of Love-In
4 Break It Up
5 Season Of The Witch
6 In & Out
7 Isola Natale
8 Black Cat
9 Lament For Miss Baker
10 Goodbye Jungle Telegraph


Open up a hi-res rip over at The sweet harmonies and be sure to say "thanks!"

Sonny Red - Sonny Red

SONNY RED
Sonny Red
1971
256+ VBR LAME mp3
Vinyl rip & scans from MRL 324

And Then Again



As a bit of a birthday gift for the shad shack, which celebrates its first anniversary today, we've saved the best for last. In fact, some folk even speculate this lesser-known set from vet Sonny Red may even be the best of entire MRL run. Whther they're right or wrong is strictly a matter of personal taste but you'd have a helluva time ruling it out of the running.

If you're unfamiliar with the name, you're not alone. Obviously we're not talkin' 'bout the French metal band nor the thoroughbred nor the Bonanno mob family capo Alphonse Indelicato nor the heavily tattooed rapper nor the country/blues harmonicat. That sentence alone illustrates the point made in more than a few biographical pieces on Sylvester Kyner: struggling to get noticed despite instrumental proficiency, compositional skills and the ability to enlist top-tier talent, his generic name didn't do much to help him stand out from the crowd. In this day and age, when "Sonny" and "sax" are mentioned in the same breath, one is more likely to immediately think of Rollins, Stitt, Criss or maybe even Fortune.

However, Kyner seems to have made a memorable impression on those with whom he worked, especially upon the wife of a fellow alto player from the NYC scene it would seem since Gloria Coleman composed a track called "Hey Sonny Red" for Soul Sisters, her debut on Impulse! records. Sonny had made his way out to the big apple about five years before this was cut and worked with a lot of the same folks. Wonder how her hubby George felt about that? BTW, Coleman also released a cookin' album for Mainstream, Swings and Sings Organ.

Hey Sonny Red


Musician and scholar Ivan Svanoe wrote the definitive piece on Red, so the minimal biographical info I could find on him would be a drop in the Bluesville: The Journey of Sonny Red bucket. The following is taken from the Mississippi Rag's coverage of Annual Review of Jazz Studies #13 published in 2003:

The longest essay is a thorough oral history of the modern alto sax player Sonny Redd (or Red), aka Sylvester Kyner (1932-81), Anders Svanoe's "Bluesville: The Journey of Sonny Red." Born in rural Mississippi in 1932, Redd grew up in Detroit and moved to New York City in 1957 to enter the burgeoning modern jazz scene there. He played with major musicians, recorded and was generally known as a capable and entertaining musician, but there was by then a glut of post-Parker alto players and Redd never established an identity with the jazz audience. Nevertheless, he persisted stubbornly in the music, becoming "a jazz survivor" in one commentator's words.

Svanoe's history is very thorough, with many interviews, photographs and other documents, 40 scores of compositions and solos (including scores to several flute quartets) and an annotated discography of Redd's work. The essay runs to 145 pages, virtually a whole monograph and is very well organized and readable. It is an interesting scrutiny of a workaday musician who was not a "jazz giant" or a publicity hound but who made a highly individualistic contribution to modern jazz.

Since the discography below was culled from the usual sources (AMG, Discogs, Jazz Discography Project, googling) I'm sure Mr. Svanoe's annotated discography of Sonny's performances is more thorough, particularly when it comes to his long career as a sideman. Of course, until you can source a copy of that print-only piece, there's always trusty ol' AMG to get the basics down.

AMG Bio
by Scott Yanow

Sonny Red was a good but not great altoist who was somewhat lost in the shuffle in the 1960s and '70s. He worked in Detroit with Barry Harris (1949-1952), in 1954 temporarily switched to tenor while with Frank Rosolino, and later that year joined Art Blakey briefly. In 1957, with his arrival in New York he gained some recognition, recording with Curtis Fuller and Paul Quinichette, in addition to having several dates as a leader (1958-1962) for Savoy, Blue Note, and particularly Jazzland. Despite some freelancing and recording with Clifford Jordan, Pony Poindexter, Donald Byrd, Kenny Dorham, and Yusef Lateef among others in the 1960s, Red was in obscurity by the 1970s.

To illustrate just how obscure, one of the only reviews conjured up for this particular session (recorded at the East Coast Record Plant in the last week of June '71 and released the first week of September) was found in the April 1972 issue of Black World magazine:

The liner notes indicate that Sonny Red (Mainstream), a.k.a. Sylvester Kyner, is a "Detroiter who has been around for many years, but has been out of the limelight for too many of them," Yes, it would seem so. "Love Song," overdubs Sonny Red on both alto sax and flute, the result a lush, Pharoah Sanders-like quality accented beautifully by pianist Cedar Walton, bassist Herbie Lewis, and drummer Billy Higgins. "Mustang" should please the foot-tappers, and "A Time For Love" the romantic. In fact, the whole album is a sign: "Quiet. Serious men at work."

Sylvester "Sonny Red" Kyner - Alto Sax & Flute
Cedar Walton - Piano
Herbie Lewis - Bass, Viola
Billy Higgins - Drums


1 Love Song
2 Tears
3 Mustang
4 And Then Again
5 My Romance
6 A Time For Love
7 Rodan

Discography

1959 Out of the Blue (Blue Note 4032)
re-issued 1996 on their Connoisseur series
at Sic vos Non Vobis in contributions c/o grumpy

1959 Two Altos (w/ Art Pepper) (Regent 6069)
at u2n2

1960 Breezing (Jazzland JP-932)
in comments c/o grumpy

1961 A Story Tale (w/ Clifford Jordan) (JLP-940)
at Pathway To Unknown Worlds

1961 The Mode (Jazzland JP-959)

1962 Images (Jazzland JP-974)

1971 Sonny Red (Mainstream MRL 324)

The Mode & Images reissued as Red, Blue & Green
at Escuela de Jazz (lossless) & Blaxploitation Jive (mp3)

As sideman

1957 Tommy Flanagan & Curtis Fuller - Jazz .... It's Magic! (Savoy MG-6055) (also available on Lone Hill's Curtis Fuller Complete Savoy Sessions)
1957 Curtis Fuller - Curtis Fuller with Red Garland (New Jazz NJLP 8277) at Jazz Cartoon
1957 Paul Quinichette - On The Sunny Side (Prestige PRP-7103)
1957 Curtis Fuller - New Trombone (Prestige PRP-7107) at RFCCBH
1957 Frank Wess - Jazz Is Busting Out All Over (Savoy MG-12123) at barin99
1960 Various - Gretsch Drum Night at Birdland (Roulette SR-52049, Vogue 600107)
1961 Bill Hardman - Bill Hardman (Savoy MG-12170) reissued as Saying Something (Savoy SJL/K-1164)
1962 Pony Poindexter - Pony's Express (Epic BA-17035)
1964 Bobby Timmons - Live at the Connecticut Jazz Party (Chiaroscuro 2030, Early Bird 104)
1966 Kenny Dorham - The Shadow Of Your Smile (West Wind WW 2049) aka Last But Not Least 1966, Vol. 2 (Raretone FC 5022)
1966 Kenny Dorham - Live at the Half Note (WABC-FM broadcast Feb. 25) bootleg cover here
1966 Donald Byrd - Mustang (Blue Note BLP 4238) at Blaxploitation Jive
1967 Donald Byrd - Blackjack (Blue Note BLP 4259) at Blaxploitation Jive
1967 Donald Byrd - Slow Drag (Blue Note BST 84292) at Blaxploitation Jive
1967 Donald Byrd - The Creeper (Blue Note LT 1096) at Blaxploitation Jive
1968 Yusef Lateef - The Blue Yusef Lateef (Atlantic SD-1508) at OufAr KhAn
1972 John White - John White (Mainstream MRL 330) at Soundological
1974 Roy Brooks - Live At Town Hall (Baystate RVJ-6028) at private press
1978 Howard McGhee/Benny Bailey/Teddy Edwards - Home Run (Storyville 4082)


Soundological tames Sonny's red lion HERE and HERE.


BTW, someone coming to the site for their first time today will be the 50,000th unique visitor! Welcome and thanks to you and everyone else who has stopped by since we started in July 2009!

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.