Benny Goodman 45s

Yessiree..more vinyl dug out from the depths... it will take me longer to type this post than the recording will last! (actually it already has.)

This is just a little box set that I acquired somewhere long ago. Benny revisiting his early 30's success. I'm pretty sure these recording are from the 50's.

When I was a kid, I wanted to play a musical instrument. We're talking early on, 7 - 8 yrs old. I wanted to play the coronet! I had seen someone play one on TV and I thought it was cool as hell.

Nope I was told - I would need braces and the trumpet, as I now knew it, was out.
How about a clarinet? Well, I spent the next year or so in a small class without another males. Clarinets were not cool.
My clarinet teacher was not cool, or he would have convinced me what I found out on my own. I love that woody sound.

This story will continue shortly....

20 minutes of swing...

Benny Goodman Trio

1. Blue
2. After Hours
3. Bye, Bye, Pretty Baby
4. At Sundown
5. When You Are Smiling
6. All I Do Is Dream Of You

Benny Goodman - clarinet
James Crawford - drums
Teddy Wilson - piano


Capitol Records CCF 343

Clifford Brown - Pure Genius Vol 1

Now this is a hard bop date!!! Brownie wails, Rollins hangs tough and Roach pounds on these live tracks. Ritchie Powell managed to hold his own. George Morrow is solid. And now I am not listing the personnel below!!

These tracks were produced from private recordings in the possession of Brownie's wife. The tapes were in less than perfect shape and Roach was instrumental in restoring them.

Was there ever a Vol 2?

Clifford Brown/Max Roach
Pure Genius Vol. 1

1. i'll Remember
2. What's New
3. Dahoud
4. Lover Man
5. 52nd St. Theme

Elektra E1-60026

Gigi Gryce Quintet - The Hap'nin's

** OK just so you know up front, this is not just a posting but a plea for a better recording!!! ***
The back story is that I probably borrowed this from one of the Chicago area libraries that I strip mined for great jazz records shortly after my second awakening. Unfortunately I either did not notice, or I had no way to fix it, but the left channel is virtually non existent, leaving many fine solos as only a whisper.
I'm sure there must be one kind soul out there that can help me revise the first paragraph.

This is just one of those subtly exceptional post bop dates that seems to get lost in the crowd. Tis a shame...this date swings like a mother!!!

Read carefully!!! My link has been deleted...it was faulty. The pristine link is placed in the comments sextion...and make damn sure you thank the fellow who left!!

Gigi Gryce Quintet
The Hap'nin's

1. Frankie and Johnny
2. Lover Man
3. Minority
4. Summertime
5. Nica's Tempo
6. Don't Worry About Me

Gigi Gryce - alto sax
Richard Williams - trumpet
Richard Wyans - piano
Julian Euell - bass
Mickey Roker - drums

Prestige - 8246

1960

Benny Carter in Hollywood

Here at Chez Hook, we occasionally like to look way back to the swing era and see where some of our heroes have come from. These Benny Carter tracks are all live and I would assume taken from radio transcriptions.

There is not a lot i can say about this stuff. I am by no means an expert on swing era jazz, but as the old saying goes, "I know what I like". This I like quite a bit.

This is taken from a Swedish import lp that I honestly have no idea how I came into.

Benny Carter
In Hollywood

1. Jump Call (d)
2. I Can't Get Started (d)
3. Sunday (b)
4. Somebody Loves Me (b)
5. Early Boyd (c)
6. Rose Room In Sunny Roseland (a)
7. Love For Sale (c)
8. Sweet Georgia Brown (a)
9. Jubilee Jump (b)
10. Habanera (from Carmen) (c)
11. Sleep (b)
12. Without A Song (d)
13. Slick Mix (b)
14. Oofdah! (d)

(a) possibly Claude Dunson, Vernon Porter, Teddy Buckner, Freddie Webster (tpts); Alton Moore, J J Johnson, John Haughton (tbns); Benny Carter (alt/tpt/arranger);Porter Kilbert (alto); Hubert Myers, Gene Porter (ts); Willard Brown (bari/alto); Ted Branson (piano); Ulysses Livingstone (guitar) Curley Russell (bass); Oscar Bradley (drums)
recorded late 43 or early 44

(b) probably from the same period as (a) but with Sonny White on Piano

(c) possibly Irving Lewis, Fred Trainer, Gerald Wilson, Emmett Berry, Paul Cohen (tpt); Henry Coker, Alton Moore, George Washington, Lewis Taylor (tbn); Benny Carter (alto/arr); Jewell Grant, Porter Kilbert (alto); Bumps Myers, Harold Clark (ts); John Taylor (bari); Rufus Webster (paino); Herman Mitchell (guitar); Charlie Drayton (bass); Max Roach (drums)
Hollywood 1945

(d) including PaulCohen, Ira Pettiford, Walter Williams (tpt); Al Grey, Clarence Ross (tbn); Benny Carter (alto/tpt/arr); Bumps Myers (ts); Willard Brown (bari/alto); Sonny White (piano); Jimmy Cannady (gtr); Thomas Moultrie (bass); Percy Brice (drums)
c. August 1946


Jazz Society AA 502

Benny Carter/Phil Woods - My Man Bennie My Man Phil

Hard to believe this record was recorded over 20 years ago. I like to think of these great old jazz guys as eternal.

Here's a Hooks Gems admission. Somehow I always think of alto sax as...second tier...thinking the real masters played the tenor...but then I think of these two, and Pepper and Bird...and well the list goes on.

Admission #2 - the record languished on the shelf unplayed for many years. It wasn't until I was trying to unclutter than I decided to give it a spin with fresh ears. Kinda glad I did. It's a great record. Not a scorcher, but one of those records you can pull out once in awhile and really enjoy. Let's be realistic, that was a way of life with rock and roll records for the first 20 - 25 years of record collecting, at least a cd doesn't take up much room.
And at this point I enjoy a blowing session far more than a mediocre rock record.

Benny Carter/Phil Woods
My Man Benny, My Man Phil

1. Reet's Neet
2. Just A Mood (II)
3. Sultry Serenade
4. We Were In Love
5. My Man Benny
6. My Man Phil
7. Just A Mood (I)
8. M.A. Blues
9. People Time
10. I'm Just Wild About Henry

Benny Carter - alto, trumpet (4, 9), vocals (6)
Phil Woods - alto, clarinet (4)
Chris Neville - piano
George Mraz - bass
Kenny Washington - drums

recorded 12/21-22/89 NYC

This is actually taken from a cd for a change...
Music Masters MM 5036-2-C

Yusef Lateef - Jazz "Round The World

First off let me ask, is there anything cooler than holding these old heavy duty jazz lps with the great gatefold covers? Impulse especially. I just love that fat orange stripe in the middle of the lps collection. This is taken from the lp, as I try to do as often as possible.

As it might suggest, this lp tended to roam all over the place. long before world music was a popular term, many jazz musicians were exploring music from many different locales.

Lateef has mostly based these tunes on folk songs from various places around the globe and at least one will be instantly recognizable to all but a cave dweller.

This was Lateef's first outing for Impulse and his more far out stuff would come later, although this must have sounded fairly uncompromising back in its day.

The unfortunate thing is no song even clocks in at over 5 minutes, so their is little stretching out, something this very short lp would have benefited from immensely. Even so, I find that the 30 minutes I spend with this lp is always gratifying. I hope you do as well.

Yusef Lateef
Jazz 'Round The World

1. Abana
2. India
3. You, So Tender and Wistful
4. Yusef's French Brother
5. The Volga Rhythm Song
6. Trouble In Mind
7. The Good Old Roast Beef of England
8. Raisins and Almonds
9. Utopia
10. Ringo Oiwake

Yusef Lateef - tenor sax, bassoon, flute, oboe, and shanas.
Richard Williams - trumpet
Hugh Lawson - piano
Ernie Barrows - bass
Lex Humphries - drums

recorded 12/19-20/63

again with the mono...

Impulse A-56

Kenny Drew Quartet - Talkin' & Walkin'

This lp from 1955 was originally released on the Pacific Jazz imprint, and includes several prominent musicians from their roster at the time. Although from what i understand, at the time of this recording they were actually Drew's working quartet.

Instead of being just a straight ahead post bop date, it is fun to hear them stretch out a bit while the sax seems to being looking backwards with some serious bebop chops.

Im pretty sure this would happen to be another record I tracked down in the Chicago library system. Then I promptly transferred it to cassette and then finally moved to disc some years ago.

talkin' & walkin' with the
Kenny Drew Quartet

1. talkin' - walkin'
2. in the prescribed manner
3. wee dot
4. hidden channel
5. deadline
6. i'm old fashioned
7. minor blues
8. walkin' - talkin'

Joe Maini - alto, tenor sax
Kenny Drew - piano
Leroy Vinnegar - bass
Lawrence Marable - drums

recorded at Capitol Studios, Los Angeles, CA, December, 1955

Jazz West JWLP 4

Gil Evans - Live at the Public Theater

This is the second record of the Evans stuff I posted months ago. I wanted to offer both but at the time I could not locate this lp. Creative record filing once again takes its toll.

I'm not about to relist the cast of characters on this lp, so look up the older post for that info. The recordings were made on the same nights.

Taken from my lp, which has a different cover than that shown.

Ifr you missed the first post about this ensemble, let me say once again. Now that these recordings worked their way into my head, I would be disappointed if I could no longer listen to them when the need arose. I like records like that. Records that just sit in a dusty corner of your collection but never fail to shine when brushed off and brought out.

This time out we get a Mingus cover AND a Hendrix cover.

Gil Evans
Live at the Public Theater
(New York, 1980)

1. Copenhagen Sight
2. Zee Zee
3. Sirhan's Blues
4. Stone Free
5. Orange Was The Color Of Her Dress

Trio records PAP-25016



My cover

Bill DeArango - Live @ Barkin Spider

Without fail, the best thing about running this blog the last few years has been reaching out to other fans about the music I love so much. Consequently I have met some great folk and learned about so much music they I may have missed on my own.
Bill DeArango falls into this category completely. While seeing in retrospect that I should have been aware of him, I was not. That is until a fan of my blog dropped this short set in my inbox and asked if I would be gracious enough to post it. I listened and I enjoyed it immensely. Certain that it would make the blog, i needed to do a little research first.

He is what the donor had to say to me... " hi hookfinger, i have a tape of bill de arango from 1992 in a club in cleveland called the barkin spider a friend of mine knew bill and use to go and see him play he asked bill if he could record him and bill said yes. bill use to live in cleveland and used to play this club once a month. well anyway if interested let me know and i will send it to you."
Not much to go on so now I give you details I located on Classic Jazz Guitar site...
"Bill DeArango (1921-2005), played with some of the world's great jazz musicians. The list reads like a who's who in jazz from the 1940's. Ben Webster, Charlie Ventura, Coleman Hawkins, Red Norvo, Dizzy Gillespie and others. By 1950 this player had laid down some of the most inventive and creative jazz guitar solos known at that time. And, all this creative output was accomplished playing in the shadows of the great horn players of that period in New York.

DeArango left New York and the national jazz scene at the close of the forties and made his home in Cleveland, Ohio. He surfaced again in 1954 with a recording entitled DeArango on which he displayed the same great playing that set him apart from other guitarists of that time.

Bill DeArango was active in the music business through the 1990s. He owned a music store in Cleveland for many years and participated in the whole music scene in Cleveland from jazz to rock. He appeared on some rock and free jazz recordings from the 1970's and 1980's. He was often billed at places like the Barking Spider Tavern in Cleveland.

In 1993, DeArango made a free jazz CD with Joe Lavano called Anything Went. This CD also contained some standards that, along with the free jazz forms, demonstrated the amazing musical range of this musician.

©Copyright 2005 Classic Jazz Guitar"

I've done my best to identify the songs properly.

Bill DeArango
Barkin Spider 1992

1. You and The Night and The Music
2. unknown
3. Summertime
4. Yesterdays
5. Lullabye of The Leaves
6. Autumn Leaves

No other info was supplied.

Well there you have, Phil. Sorry it took so long to get this wonderful set up. I am honored that you share it with us.
If you people like this make sure to thank Phil in the comments.

BDA_BS

Dizzy Gillespie - The Cool World soundtrack

I have a soft spot for this period of Dizzy's work and this is no exception. Dizzy seemed to hit a surprisingly productive stretch in the mid 60's. This is one is somewhat odd. The soundtrack for Shirley Clarke's 1964 film, all of the tunes were written by Mal Waldron, though he does not appear on the lp.

I have never run across the movie but I would sure like to at some point, just to see how the whole thing fits together. Otherwise this soundtrack stands quite well by itself.

I don't think it is terribly hard to track down so what I offer here is the mono version burned from my lp.

The Cool World
Dizzy Gillespie

1. Theme from "The Cool World"
2. The Pushers
3. Enter, Priest
4. Duke's Awakening
5. Duke On The Run
6. Street Music
7. Bonnie's Blues
8. Duke's Fantasy
9. Coney Island
10. Coolie
11. Duke's Last Soliloquy

Dizzy Gillespie - trumpet
James Moody - tenor sax and flute
Kenny Barron - piano
Chris White - bass
Rudy Collins - drums

PHM 200-138

The Ted Brown Sextet - Free Wheeling

This classic has been long OOP, seeing occasional reissues over the years often times incorrectly credited to its most famous member, Art Pepper. Indeed it was Peppers presence that first caused me to seek out this fantastic record.
I only know of one other outing with Ted Brown as a leader. Shortly after recording this record, he headed back east to NYC, where seems to have worked intermittently in relative obscurity. Such a shame.

Not to be overlooked is the inclusion of another of my favorite saxes, Warne Marsh.

As is sometimes the case here at Hooks Gems, there is a back story to this lp. When I first moved to this area about 7 years ago, I really knew no one. I had no friends and sole mode of transportation was still a cargo van decked out for my business. At some point I found myself either watching or bidding on item on ebay with someone in my area. Im a little fuzzy on this part, but I seem to remember that you could see where the bids were coming from and even contact the ebay user. I may be way off base but anyway, I emailed this dude, out of the blue, introduced myself as another jazz fan, and asked if he would like to chat jazz sometime. He was very nice and we did indeed chat jazz. A very knowledgeable fellow but as it turned out a good 25 yrs older than me. The fellow invited me to his place for appetizers and wine one night, so I went and met him and his lovely wife. As we retired to the basement, he had a simple but astounding stereo and a jazz collection that surpassed anything I had ever seen. I asked if he listened to anything but jazz and he said "very little".
Still confident, I handed him my copy of this Ted Brown record in hopes I was bringing something he was unfamiliar with. He smiled with delight at the sight of the record, as he showed it to his wife. Apparently Ted Brown had played at their wedding. I never really pressed him on this and we spent a few fun evenings listening to jazz, with him turning me on to many a rare lp.
His name was Joe Hunt.

Sorry for the rambling. Here is a great jazz lp, from the vinyl source.

The Ted Brown Sextet
Free Wheeling

1. Aretha
2. Long Gone
3. Once We Were Young
4. Foolin' Myself
5. Avalon
6. On A Slow Boat To China
7. Crazy She Calls Me
8. Broadway
9. Arrival

Ted Brown - tenor sax
Warne Marsh - tenor sax
Art Pepper - alto sax
Ronnie Ball - piano
Ben Tucker - bass
Jeff Morton - drums

rec 11/26/56

Vanguard VRS-8515

John Zorn - Spillane

...and now for something completely different... or not. I have been trying to introduce new elements to the blog, so here's a start.

The title track is a rambling jazz track with all the cool elements of noir thrown in, while side two sports a very cool blues track and and a track with the unparalleled Kronos.

The whole mess is gonna take more time typing in players than it takes to listen to, so you will have to take my word for it that this is 50 minutes (or so) worth your effort.

Did I mention Kronos on the final track?

John Zorn - Spillane

1. Spillane
2.Two Lane Highway
3. Forbidden Fruit

Personnel track one -
Anthony Coleman - piano, organ, celeste
Carol Emanuel - harp
Bill Frisell - guitar
David Hofstra - bass, tuba
Bob James - tapes, compact discs
Bobby Previte - drums, percussion
Jim Staley - trombone
David Weinstein - sampling keyboards, celeste
John Zorn - alto sax, clarinet
John Lurie - voice of Mike Hammer
Robert Quine - voice of Hammer's conscience

recorded 6/86

personnel track two
Albert Collins - guitar, vocals
Robert Quine - guitar
Big John Patton - organ
Wayne Horvitz - piano, keyboards
Melvin Gibbs - bass
Ronald Shannon Jackson - drums
Bobby Previte - drums

recorded 6/87

personnel track three
David Harrington - violin
John Sherba - violin
Hank Dutt - viola
Joan Jeanrenaud - cello
Christian Marclay - turntables
Ohta Hiromi - voice

recorded 9/87

Nonesuch 9 791172-1