What do you wear when it gets bloody hot? Surely not a Tartan. Linen? Silk? (well yea, if you’re a girl or an I-talian from certain parts of NJ). I always liked the idea of wearing what people wear when they live in the bloody heat every day all year ’round. And the older the culture the better.
Check out this YouTube video and description below:
These are excerpts of the early jazz art movie : Black And Tan Fantasy
It shows the band in a setting very close to what the band did in the famous cotton club, backing dancers, singers and other acts.
Black and Tan Fantasy is one of the first pieces Ellington recorded in what is now called jungle style. Originally in 1927 it was a kind of solo piece for trumpeter Bubber Miley. There also exists a lovely version (even 2 takes) where Jabbo Smith substitutes for Miley, also 1927.
When the time was ready in 1929 to make a movie recording, Miley had already left the Ellington band. What makes this movie very interesting is that Miley’s follow up is not Cootie Williams who normally plays the solos, but instead it is Arthur Whetsol. Cootie was already in the band, but self declared in an interview that at first he did laugh about the growl/plunger solos and only after a while started studying it seriously.
Arthur Whetsol was more known for his lyrical solo work, a famous example is the haunting beautiful tone on “Creole Rhapsody”. Another striking lyrical solo by Whetsol can be heard on “Black Beauty”, also in this movie. Also note that Whetsol plays the muted solo on “Black and Tan” with a harmon mute, usually it is done with a plunger by others.
Also an interesting note is that the alto saxophone solo, that used to be played by Otto Hardwicke, is not played by his follow up Johnny Hodges, but instead by Harry Carney, more famous for his baritone sax contributions.
Tricky Sam Nanton plays his usual plunger solo, which is pure magic!
Duke Ellington – piano, composer
Fred Guy – banjo
Wellman Braud – double bass
Sonny Greer – drums
Arthur Whetsol, Cootie Williams, Freddy Jenkins – trumpets
Joe “Tricky Sam” Nanton – trombone, Juan Tizol – valve trombone
Johnny Hodges, Harry Carney, Barney Bigard – reeds
Freddie Washington – dancer
Nina Simone…
…And Piano!
Can it really be that I’ve only mentioned one crappy Nina Simone record on TM so far? CRAPP…Y! I mean why?
Nina Simone can be a bit tricky especially later on (i.e. “Rich Girl” yes the Hall & Oates tune ) but one LP I like and recommend is Nina Simone And Piano! from 1969. Just Nina and piano. You can listen into her voice unobstructed and that’s a trip worth taking. There’s a whole wide world in there. I’ve also heard JD recommend Nina Simone Sings the Blues and I 2nd that recommendation based on his recommendation. Here here.
But there’s one track from neither you have to hear if you haven’t (& even if you have) from I Put A Spell On You (a record I don’t but must own) -
Oh Hell, why not one more….I Put A Spell On You
The Stanley Brothers
Earliest Recordings
That’s what Ralph Stanley called it before it was called Bluegrass. Others called it “mountain soul” (the Stanley Brothers were raised on the Virginia side of the Clinch Mountains). I think I may listen to mountain soul differently than I listen to bluegrass. But that’s just me.
1947, ’48 and ’52 are when the Stanley brothers Earliest Recordings were recorded for the Rich-R-Tone label. This record on John Fahey’s Revenant Records was made from 78 transfers and these original recordings have been hard to come by – the 78s received regional distribution at best (Rich-R-Tone was based in Johnson City, Tennessee) and the previous LP reissue was a limited pressing marred by overdubs and studio effects added to make them sound more modern.
inspired by this
Of all days, my family chose to tell me today about their extreme dissatisfaction with my new-found cigar-habit.
Archie Shepp
Kwanza
Archie Shepp + 1969 is the gift that keeps on giving. Kwanza released in 1974 but recorded mostly in ’69 opens with “Back Back” and you expect a tight-pants’d James Brown to slide out. Instead you get some super tasty Archie Shepp and Grachan Moncur III blowin’ like there’s no tomorrow. Good god! Side 1 also includes Leon Thomas and his amazingly restrained yodel on “Spoo Pee Doo” in front of a backing band and singers fit for Lou Rawls. At 2:38 this could have hit the charts! The Gracham Moncur III penned “New Africa” closes out the side in freer style with Archie screamin’ and the band wailin’ . Big, bold and beautifully.
I suppose that lower mic setup was for Leon’s abdomen?
Side 2 is full of more delights with two 10 minute tracks: “Slow Drag” starts with a piano vamp then the horns come in over the top – think a freer jazzed tequila. “Bakai” written by Cal Massey after he heard about the brutal murder of 14-year-old Emmett Till in Mississippi in 1955 for whistling at a white woman is fierce bad-assed contained rage at its finest.
Kwanza smokes and smolders in celebration and sorrow over so many things and this records contains them all so you can let ‘em loose to shake your room, rattle your soul and roll your own.
Personnel:
* Archie Shepp: tenor saxophone, soporano saxophone
* Martin Banks: trumpet, flugelhorn (track 2)
* Robin Kenyatta: alto saxophone, flute (track 2)
* Andrew Bey: piano (track 2)
* Bert Payne: guitar (track 2)
* Albert Winston: electric bass, bass (track 2)
* Beaver Harris: drums (tracks 2, 3 & 5)
* Leon Thomas: lead vocals (track 2)
* Tasha Thomas, Doris Troy: backing vocals (track 2)
* Jimmy Owens: trumpet (tracks 1, 3 & 5)
* Grachan Moncur III: trombone (tracks 1, 3 & 5)
* James Spaulding: alto saxophone (track 1)
* Charles Davis: baritone saxophone (tracks 1, 3 & 5)
* Dave Burrell: organ (track 1), piano (tracks 3 & 5)
* Wally Richardson: guitar (track 1)
* Bob Bushnell: electric bass (track 1)
* Bernard Purdie: drums (track 1)
* Walter Booker: bass (tracks 3 & 5)
* Woody Shaw: trumpet (track 4)
* Matthew Gee: trombone (track 4)
* Clarence Sharpe: alto saxophone
* Cecil Payne: baritone saxophone, flute (track 4)
* Cedar Walton: piano (track 4)
* Wilbur Ware: bass (track 4)
* Joe Chambers: drums (track 4)
c.1920
Thursday April 29, 2010 marks Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington’s 111th birthday celebration. Tune in to WKCR for a day and night of Duke.
This just in from Jonathan: DUKE!!!!! It goes from Wednesday until early Friday AM.
Cathy I went to Godlewsky Farms & Greenhouses in Great Meadows, NJ yesterday to buy some plants for planting in our tiny garden. That’s one of about 40 greenhouses filled with pieces of rainbows that nearly hurt your eyes.
We picked up lettuce, tomatoes, eggplant, garlic, and hot peppers. A modest less colorful but more nourishing assortment for our modest garden.
Man O man. What a Saturday Saturday was — Record Store Day, a stroll through JC and Hoboken, lunch and beers with Stephen and then Monkeyhaus.
A special Monkeyhaus for a special group of audiophiles – the crew from Stereophile. If the Fan-The-Flames-Of-Subjectivist-Reviewers-Hate Club knew about this event they could have padlocked the door and thrown away the Monkeyhaus key causing the world of hi-fi as we know it to cease to exist. You’d think that a Monkeyhaus filled with audiophile professionals would see more talk of hi-fi but music was once again the star of the afternoon, evening and early morning. Yes, this Monkeyhaus also had the honor of being one of longest at nearly 12 hours.
The issue you reported to Network Solutions on 4/20/2010 11:05:40 AM and assigned to Service Request 1-461203076 has been completed and closed.
I apologize for the issue with your account. The Database for your wordpress site has been cleansed, however you may need to reinstall the theme for your website so that the appearance is correct. If you or your website visitors at any time got a warning from Google during a site visit, we recommend you submit your site to Google for review.
Well, halle-fucking-lujah. Since Google has blacklisted this site, no one can visit using Firefox or Safari. I also can’t use either browser to edit so it’s IE or nothing. By the way, IE was the only browser to ignore the potentially harmful shit that was inserted into this site. Nice. We’ll see how long it takes Google — who it should be noted are ON TOP of this shit — to deal with the few thousand Network Solutions customers that got hacked.
Late to the party as per usual (not to mention they have a new LP out). ML twice made note of these guys in ’09 but I figure what the heck, let’s go for a third. To be honest, initial spins of this one didn’t do much for me. Peevishly, I thought of them as the new weird folk/drone scene’s answer to the Cocteau Twins, only not as good. But, like a good analogue trooper, I gave it a few more plays and cannot recommend this one enough.
Pocahaunted eschew electronic embellishment in favour of a more tribal and meandering approach to generate the aural wash for their vocalising. Lovely stuff but just as things are getting all comfy cozy, they sort of fall off the noise/improv deep end at the end of side 2. Totally cool with me as we wouldn’t want to typecast the “Olsen twins of blissed out drone”. This might be out of print but definitely worth a look.
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