Yusef Lateef - Outside Blues

While this recording is taken from a Trip records reissue, as far as I can tell, this was originally released on the Charlie Parker label.

The lp is far more bop oriented than most of Lateef's stuff, and he tends to share the spotlight with the trumpet.

For a relatively unknown line-up this record is a great nugget. 35 minutes of hard bop.

Yusef Lateef
Outside Blues

1. Dexterity
2. Train Stop
3. Big Foot
4. Soul Blues
5. Blue Rocky
6. Trudy's Delight
7. Introlude
8. Outside Blues

Yusef Lateef - tenor saxophone
Vincent Pitts -trumpet
John Hormon -piano
Ray McKinny -bass
George Scott, Cliff Jarvis - drums


Recorded at Peter Ind Studio, New York, New York on August 14, 1961.

TLP-5018

Art Pepper Shelly Manne - Pepper Manne

I've listened to these tracks pretty closely and I am fairly sure I don't have these versions of the Art Pepper tracks elsewhere.

I know I don't have the Shelly Manne tracks but I know very little of him. Assuming that those tracks are different that previous versions as I suspect the Pepper tracks are then you truly have a little gem here. The Art Pepper tracks would have been recorded during his mid 50s period.

I bit of research turned up this from dustygroove...

Excellent work by both players -- even if the source of the material's a bit sketchy! This set probably has less to do with the Charlie Parker imprint than most albums on that label -- and we suspect that the material was taped by Apex in LA, and later relased by Charlie Parker in a dodgy one-off deal. Who cares, though? Side one features some incredible work from Art Pepper -- playing here in a quartet with Russ Freeman on piano, and sounding incredibly sharp, with an edge that's missing from some of his bigger-known sides at the time. The group plays "Diane", "Pepper Pot", and "Besame Mucho", as well as a great version of "I Surrender Dear". Side two features Shelly Manne leading a very unusual group -- a sextet with piano by Robert Gil, and a heavily percussive lineup that includes extra drums, bongos, and conga. The sides have a strong Latin flavor, in keeping with the red peppers on the cover of the album.

Art Pepper Shelly Manne
Pepper Manne

1. Pepper Pot
2. Besame Mucho
3. Diane
4. I Surrender Dear

Art Pepper - alto
Russ Freeman - piano
Ben Tucker - bass
Gary Frommer - drums

5. Move
6. Sometimes I'm Happy
7. Fascination
8. Caravan
9. Rhumba
10. Magitos

Shelly Manne - drums
Mike Pacheco - bongos
Carlos Vidal - congos
Roberto Gil - piano
Julio Ayala - bass
Frank Guerrero - drums

Charlie Parker Records PLP836

In Glorious Mono

Charlie Parker - The Happy Bird

I recently found myself on the wrong side of a discussion about Blue Note records. Everyone on the message board had been fawning over records that I had been listening to for years. Or rather, not been listening to for years because I felt over familiar with them.

Did this make them bad records? Of course not. But it also led me to thinking "Why don't I ever listen to those bebop records that turned me on so long ago?" I mean those records turned me on my ear at one time. I couldn't get enough of the slurred notes, that blistering pace, all the while sounding perfectly natural to me. Not a hint of anything "outside" no matter how wild they may have been in their time.

I have spent the last couple of weeks revisiting some of those records. I'm thinking I may like to share a few with you all.

And why not start with the master himself? A posthumous release on the label named after the man himself. I love the fact that this recording is less than perfect. I can only imagine what a live Parker performance must have been.

While those live performances have been documented extensively, unless you are a completest, there are plenty that slip by. Here's one I really like.

Charlie Parker
The Happy Bird

1. Happy Bird Blues
2. Scrapple From The Apple
3. I Remember April
4. I May Be Wrong

There are no liner credits on my lp, but I am sure someone will be along shortly to fill us in. And I mean that in the nicest way.


PLP-404

* a bit of research tells me this MAY have been recorded 4/12/51.