256+ VBR LAME mp3 Vinyl rip & scans from T-bow (no cat#)
Totally obscure private press recording of some straight-up jazz with a boppish flavour by saxophonist Mark Allen. Actually, it's more of a collaboration between Allen, the Aurèle Lecompte Trio ca. '78 and the duo of Joe Turner and Robin Moir. In the local region it usually sells for anywhere from $5-$10 but elsewhere in the country and internationally it seems to fetch $50 or more, as is often the case with private press albums. Unfortunately, I couldn't dig up any info on Mark Allen himself and his exceptionally commonplace name wasn't much help, so I gave up my pursuit after a few weeks of dead ends. Apparently the only release by T-Bow Records, there's no other reference to the label name outside of this album.
It was a bit easier to find some info on Aurèle Lecompte since he's still active on the supper club circuit and was holding down resident duties as recently as last year, performing at chi-chi resto gigs in Ottawa and the adjacent Gatineau region of Québéc. There's scant biographical info available, limited to a mention of him having played with Louis Armstrong and Liberace and reference to a position at the Ottawa office of Radio-Canada in the 70s. Recently he's worked often with québécoise chanteuse Jo Bocan, particularly at the upscale St-Estèphe Restaurant and they accompanied its master chef, Stéphane Paquet, to Nice in France for a special cultural exchange event in 2006. According to Tom Lord's extensive Jazz Discography, Lecompte has two performance credits from 1978 but I can't find hide nor hair of the other. The standards "Lullabye Of Birdland,""For All We Know" and "Lady Is A Tramp" are basically showcases for the trio since they lack participation by Allen, Turner or Moir.
Bassist Gilles Champagne had a few other credits in the local Ottawa music scene including a stint in the Orpheus Theatre orchestra in 1979, where he was listed as an organist in the production credits along with drummer Robb. Champagne appears to have ended up at one of the hippie havens of the Canadian West Coast, Saltspring Island (a major source of BC Bud) where he popped up as a member of local classic rock cover band Lookinglass sometime in the mid-90s. Since then he's been replaced by another bassist and seems to have dropped off the map.
Glenn Robb is still very active member of the jazz scene in his native Ottawa, regularly playing drums at the supper clubs of both the Monterey Inn Resort and Villa Lucia as part of various trios (The Monterey, Jazz'oo and Art Lawless Trios to name three) and he gigs weekly with his band Magnolia Rhythm Kings. In his 40+ year career, he's performed on many Canadian TV and film soundtracks and has shared the stage with legends such as Benny Goodman, Bud Freeman, Bud Shank, and Cab Calloway as well as holding membership in the orchestras of Ron Milne, Ken Campbell, Gerry Heike and Champ Champagne.
When it comes to the husband-wife team of music moguls Joe Turner and Robin Moir, however, there's no shortage of info on them or their many projects. Cutting their teeth in Ottawa with a party band called Fizz, they've branched out and built a veritable empire with Isle of Skye Productions that includes a bustling recording studio, music publishing business, artist management, broadcasting and not one but three party bands: The Jaguars, Moetown and the Fifth Avenue band. This album captures them at a relatively young age and early stage in their career and the vocal tracks "Lush Life" and "Little Girl Blue" portray Moir's talent as an interpretive vocalist.
Mark Allen - sax, clarinet Aurèle Lecompte - piano Gilles Champagne - bass Glenn Robb - drums Joe Turner - guitar Robin Moir - vocals
1 Petite Fleur 2 Lush Life 3 You Light Up My Life & I Can't Get Started 4 Lullabye Of Birdland 5 Sweet Georgia Brown 6 Send In The Clowns/Michelle/Like Someone In Love 7 Lady Is A Tramp 8 Little Girl Blue 9 For All We Know 10 Louise
Update: Forgot to mention that the album was produced by Gene Perla, who will be here in Montreal at the venerable Upstairs Jazz Bar & Grill this weekend, August 7th & 8th, with Al McClean, Andre White and Dave Lang.
256+ VBR LAME mp3 Vinyl rip & scans from Finnadar SR 9024
Teo Macero is a name to which most readers of this blog should need no introduction: producer of landmark works such as Miles' Kind of Blue, Mingus' Mingus Ah Um , Monk's Monk's Dream and Brubeck's Time Out as well as one of the earliest, and most recognisable, proponents of Third Stream music. This historical document captures him while still a rising star and since gallons of ink have already been put to paper when it comes to this album, I'll leave you with a small sampling of same...
For starter's, here's whatDr. Progresso has to say in his excellent review of The Best of Teo Macero (the middle paragraph is transcribed from the liner notes on the back cover):
In 1978 Macero began work on his second (!) album, released in 1979 on Finnadar, a subsidiary of Atlantic/WEA. TIME PLUS SEVEN (SR 9024) did not represent any new recordings by Macero, but released for the first first time his 1963 recording of the title suite, "Seven," "Equals," "Time," and "Plus."
"This composition was commissioned by the Rebecca Harkness Dance Company, then directed by Robert Joffrey. 'Time Plus Seven' was choreographed by Anna Sokolow in 1963. ... Anyway, here it is, World Premiere 'Time Plus Seven' recorded at CBS's 30th Street Studio in New York, 1963. Fred Plaut was the engineer. I was the conductor. I wish I could find the contract which listed the personnel, but can't. To the great musicians who recorded this composition, my apology for not listing them and my everlasting gratitude for giving me a great performance."
The piece is starkly atonal, and not unlike the much shorter "Pressure," written for Orchestra U.S.A two years later. Thus it is hardly coincidental that side one of this LP is finished off with that recording of "Pressure." Side two of this LP reissues Macero's side one of WHAT'S NEW?, bringing it back into print on LP after fourteen years.
Teo Macero is likely to be known to the average jazz fan for his work as a producer of others' records, though he is also a composer, tenor saxophonist and conductor. This compilation LP released by Finnadar in 1978 collects music from three separate sessions. "Time Plus Seven" was a commissioned ballet and clearly falls into Third Stream music, though the delay added to the saxophones comes across a bit lame. Sadly, none of the personnel are confirmed due to the loss of the record contracts, though Clark Terry seems likely as the trumpeter in "Time."
The work "Pressure," which first appeared on the John Lewis' Orchestra U.S.A. release Sonorities, is an atonal work that sounds like music for an overblown mystery. Of more interest are the advanced compositions from a 1955 session, especially "Neally" and "T.C.'s Groove," which mix jazz soloists like Art Farmer, Eddie Bert and John LaPorta with the bizarre but catchy accordion of Orlando Digirolamo. Ernestine Anderson provides the overdubbed voices in "Sounds of May," though the tape has been manipulated to make it sound like a male chorus. This LP quickly disappeared from print, though all of this music was reissued on the Stash CD The Best of Teo Macero, which is also no longer available.
Some wonderful slices of 50s modern jazz -- work recorded under the leadership of Teo Macero, who was best known as a producer for Columbia during their glory days in the jazz business, but who was also a budding young genius in the years before then! The set features a handful of tracks from Teo's early What's New album for Columbia, plus a track from an Orchestra USA session, along with the side-long, previously-unreleased "Time Plus Seven", an extended jazz ballet suite. Macero's approach is a blend here of both third stream styles and some of the New York whimsy of players like Gil Melle at the same time -- and titles include "Pressure", "Neally", "Adventure", "TC's Groove", and "Sounds Of May".
Finnadar was founded by Atlantic records engineer/producer Ilhan Mimaroglu as an outlet for his left-field leaning proclivities, with an emphasis on the burgeoning electronica movement of the era. Here's a very interesting interview with him recorded on October 10, 1975 that covers the label's inception (courtesy of the Internet Archive).
MANU DIBANGO Manu Dibango 1971-1978 (aka Collection Blanche) 1979
256+ VBR LAME mp3 Vinyl rip & scans from Festival ALB 365
If you've already grabbed all the available releases from Dibango's discography post at Soundological, this collection still holds five exclusive treats for you: "Rencontre," "Soukouss," "Besoka On Salsa," "Biso" and "Idiba." None of them appear on any of the albums linked in that discog and since it is the single most-visited post at S.I., offering it here seemed a pretty simple way to make at least a few folks happy! Hopefully it also helps E-mile on his (relatively) new mix series, Africa Calling. If you like music from the mother continent, check out all four volumes!
Of most interest to Dibango fans are the rare tracks "Biso" and "Idiba" which have not made other compilations and are otherwise only available on the 1971 album Soma Loba or the Festival repressing of that LP from the same year, simply called Manu Dibango. As such, they pre-date the afrobeat direction and are more along the lines of the rhumba/souk sound popular in the region during the late 60s and early 70s.
Some of the other rarities not appearing on the discog post include "Rencontre" and "Soukouss," both from the Accord collection Soul Makossa released in 1985. The latter (along with "Besoka On Salsa") are otherwise only available on b-sides of singles or, appropriately enough, on the 2002 collection B-Sides, released by Dibango's own Soul Makossa records.
1 Soul Makossa 2 Kata Kata 3 Rencontre 4 Soukouss 5 Besoka On Salsa 6 Touba 7 Hibicus 8 Biso 9 Idiba 10 Wasa N'dolo 11 Nights In Zeralda 12 Oa Na Mba 13 Lakisane 14 Wild Man In The City
Soundological's Manu mission continues with part I HERE or HERE and part II HERE or HERE.
Just tryin' to put back into the music blogosphere by fillin' in any blanks I can with out-of-print vinyl as well as the occasional mix, remix, re-edit, art or rant. But mostly vinyl. Mostly.
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