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    Originally posted by diggedy derek View Post
    Have we noted Steve Grossman died just over a week ago?
    I hadn't heard that. Sad news and rather ironic that we had chosen to talk about him only last week.

    By way of a small tribute, here he is blowing up a storm in 1970 on 'Directions' from Miles' 'Black Beauty (Live At Fillmore West)' album, with Chick Corea, Jack DeJohnette, Dave Holland and Airto Moreira.
     

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      phenomenal album

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        A soup?on of French jazz this evening, starting with trumpeter Erik Truffaz. This is ‘Bending New Corners’ from the 2000 album ‘The Mask’ on Blue Note, with Patrick Muller keyboards, Marc Erbetta drums/percussion and Marcello Giuliani bass.
         

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          Saxophonist Julien Lourau with ‘Walking On Water’ from his 2009 album ‘Quarter Saigon’, featuring Laurent Coq piano, Thomas Bramerie bass and Otis Brown drums.
           

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            Lastly, something from French-based Algerian bassist Michel Benita. This is ‘Free At Last’ from the 2010 album ‘Ethics’, with Mieko Miyazaki koto, Eivind Aarset guitar/electronics, Matthieu Michel trumpet/flugelhorn and Philippe Garcia drums.
             

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              A few random bits and pieces this evening, starting with Lebanese oud player Rabih Abou-Khalil. This is ‘Maltese Chicken Farm’ from the 2001 album ‘The Cactus Of Knowledge’, with Antonio Hart alto sax, Ellery Eskelin tenor sax, Dave Ballou trumpet, Tom Varner French horn, Michel Godard tuba, Dave Bargeron euphonium, Gabriele Mirabassi clarinet and Jarrod Cagwin drums.
               

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                ‘Living On Both Sides’ by Australian bassist Ross McHenry from his 2013 album ‘Distant Oceans’, with Jon Hunt bass clarinet, Myele Manzanza drums, Adam Page saxophone/flute, Dylan Marshall guitar, Mark de Clive-Lowe keyboards and Lucas Spiler trombone.
                 

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                  ‘Panorama’ from the 2019 album ‘Counterpoint’ by Australian keyboard player Sean Foran and British guitarist Stuart McCallum, with John Parker drums and Sam Vicary bass.
                   

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                    Talking of Steve Grossman a few posts back reminded me that I ought to highlight another of Miles’ early 70’s saxophonists - Gary Bartz, who featured on the original ‘Live Evil’ recording, and the more recently released ‘Cellar Door Sessions 1970’ box set. This is ‘Teheran’ from the Gary Bartz NTU Troop album ‘Juju Street Songs’ from 1972, with Bartz mainly on alto sax, electric piano and percussion, Andy Bey electric piano, percussion and vocals, Stafford James bass and Howard King drums.
                     

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                      By the following year, like many of his contemporaries, Bartz was moving in a funkier direction. This is ‘Dr Follow's Dance’ from ‘I’ve Known Rivers And Other Bodies’, with Hubert Eaves electric piano, and, again, Stafford James bass and Howard King drums.
                       

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                        Finally, another track that I think diggedy derek will enjoy - 'What I Say’ from those Cellar Door Sessions, recorded on December 17th, 1970, with Miles Davis on trumpet of course, Gary Bartz on soprano sax, Keith Jarrett keyboards, Michael Henderson bass, Jack DeJohnette drums and Airto Moreira percussion.
                         

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                          I have no idea what the younger generations would think of as ‘jazz’ these days, but I know from experience that for many people of my generation their main reference points are the likes of Kenny Ball, Acker Bilk or Cleo Laine doo-be-doo-be-doo-ing in front of hubby John Dankworth and his Orchestra; the family-friendly musicians who made it into TV light entertainment circles in the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s. As it happens, Dankworth had some pretty solid jazz credentials, and a number of very good musicians indeed passed through the ranks of his orchestra. This is ‘Bachelor Sam’ from the 1969 album ‘Windmill Tilter’ that he recorded with trumpeter Kenny Wheeler. The album also features a pre-Miles John McLaughlin and Dave Holland, as well as the likes of Henry Lowther, Tony Coe, Chris Pyne and Mike Gibbs – all leading lights of the British jazz scene at that time.
                           

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                            The Don Rendell / Ian Carr Quintet were one of Britain’s more successful jazz groups in the mid to late 60’s. Carr went on to form Nucleus (one of the few bands from this country who could be regarded as equal to the American jazz-rock superstars of the early 70’s), as well as writing what is generally regarded as the definitive biography of Miles Davis. This is ‘Nimjam’ from the 1969 ‘Live’ album, with Rendell on saxophones, Carr trumpet, Michael Garrick piano, Trevor Tomkins drums and Dave Green bass.
                             

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                              Finally another landmark recording in British jazz, Stan Tracey’s 1965 album ‘Jazz Suite (Inspired By Dylan Thomas’s Under Milk Wood)’. This is ‘Starless And Bible Black’ with Tracey on piano, Bobby Wellins tenor sax, Jeff Clyne bass and Jack Dougan drums.
                               

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                                ‘Unexpected Days’ from bassist Stanley Clarke’s first solo album ‘Children Of Forever’ (1973), with Chick Corea electric piano, Pat Martin guitar, Arthur Webb flute, Lenny White drums, Andy Bey vocals and Dee Dee Bridgewater vocals.
                                 

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                                  New Zealander Myele Manzanza’s ‘Family Dynamics’ from the 2019 album ‘A Love Requited’, with Manzanza on drums, Matthew Sheens piano, Mark de Clive-Lowe keyboards, Ross McHenry bass, Jake Baxendale and Jason McMahon saxophones, Adam Page flute, James Macauley trombone, Ben Harrison trumpet and Django Rowe guitar.
                                   

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                                    From drummer Harvey Mason’s 2014 album ‘Chameleon’, here’s a version of Patrice Rushen’s ‘Before The Dawn’ , with Kamasi Washington saxophones, Christian Scott trumpet, Corey King trombone, Kris Bower keyboards and Ben Williams bass.
                                     

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                                      A couple of new albums this evening. Released only last week, ‘Source’ is the latest from Nubya Garcia. This is ‘Together Is A Beautiful Place To Be’, with Garcia on tenor saxophone, Sheila Maurice-Grey trumpet, Joe Armon-Jones keyboards, Daniel Casimir bass and Sam Jones drums.
                                       

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                                        From Michael Olatuja’s ‘Lagos Pepper Soup’, this is ‘Brighter Day’, with Olatuja on basses, Laura Mvula vocals, Jason Michael Webb keyboards, Femi Temowo guitar and Troy Miller drums.
                                         

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                                          Here's my listening of yesterday, Clifford Jordan and John Gilmore, two tenors, the last of which in a very rare sideman gig away from Sun Ra.



                                          Cheers for that Cellar Door stuff gjw100, I'll have to check that. I'm a bit behind on some Miles Davis box sets. I've only just really got into the Plugged Nickel, all these years later...
                                          Last edited by diggedy derek; 27-08-2020, 21:16.

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                                            Originally posted by diggedy derek View Post
                                            Cheers for that Cellar Door stuff gjw100, I'll have to check that. I'm a bit behind on some Miles Davis box sets. I've only just really got into the Plugged Nickel, all these years later...
                                            I came across this yesterday and you might find it of interest – film of Miles' Isle of Wight festival set from 1970, with the Cellar Door band plus Chick Corea on electric piano. I’d heard the music before (it was released by Columbia as ‘Bitches Brew Live’ in 2011), but I'd never previously seen the footage. It’s fascinating stuff and a reminder of just how diffident Miles could appear to be in a live setting, even when the band is quite clearly on fire.

                                             

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                                              For some years now Columbia Records have been busy milking the Miles Davis cash cow with the release of numerous ‘Complete....’ box sets of concert and studio recordings, many featuring material that didn’t make the final cut or alternative versions of tracks that did. Not that I’m complaining, but it would be nice to see the record companies casting the net a little wider. Herbie Hancock’s Mwandishi band recorded only three studio albums (two on Warner Bros, one on Columbia) before Herbie took the band in an even funkier direction with ‘Headhunters’. It’s my favourite period of his long career, and I’m sure there must be additional stuff in the vaults somewhere just waiting to be cleaned up and released. I can only dream I suppose. For now, here’s ‘Hidden Shadows’ from the last of the trilogy, ‘Sextant’ released in 1973. Herbie on keyboards, Bennie Maupin saxes and bass clarinet, Eddie Henderson trumpet, Julian Priester trombone, Billy Hart drums, Buster Williams bass and Dr Patrick Gleeson synthesizer
                                               

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                                                From 1975, ‘Mike Gibbs Directs The Only Chrome-Waterfall Orchestra’, with Gibbs on keyboards and an astonishing line-up of top US, British and European musicians including Ray Warleigh, Alan Skidmore, Charlie Mariano, Tony Coe and Stan Sulzmann on saxophones, Henry Lowther and Derek Watkims trumpet, Kenny Wheeler flugelhorn, Chris Pyne and Dave Horler trombone, Phillip Catherine guitar, Steve Swallow bass and Bob Moses drums. This is ‘Unfinished Sympathy’. And you thought Massive Attack had got there first.
                                                 

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                                                  My mention of Massive Attack yesterday prompted me into listening to ‘Blue Lines’ for probably the first time in over 25 years, and reminding me along the way that it was a Tom Scott sample underpinning the title track. So here’s Tom Scott & The LA Express with that sampled track, ‘Sneakin’ In The Back’, from their self-titled 1974 debut album. Scott on saxophones, Max Bennett bass, John Guerin drums, Joe Sample keyboards and Larry Carlton guitar.
                                                   

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                                                    Bassist Anthony Tidd’s band Quite Sane recorded only one album, ‘The Child Of Troubled Times’ in 2002, but what an album it was. This is ‘Short Stories’, with Eric Appapouley guitar, Robert Mitchell piano, Sean Rickman drums, a saxophone quartet of Miguel Zenon, Steve Coleman, Aaron Stewart and Dennis Baptiste, and the sublime Eska Mtungwazi on vocals, navigating a melody line of extraordinary complexity with apparent ease.
                                                     

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