Battle of the Tenor Saxes - IAJRC 15

A big damn thanks to Luis for scanning this cover for me.


I used to be a member of this organization, but economics and differences in taste finally caused me to drop out. I still hold them in the highest regard.

This is obviously a labor of love. Self published and full of rare tracks, I truly hope I am not hurting any one's feelings by sharing this, but it no longer appears available on their website in any form.
This lp is split into two camps, "The Big Sound" and "The Cool School". Can't say I really dig one side over the other as this is some outstanding shit.

The liner notes are extensive, comprehensive and far too detailed to provide here. but the one thing I want to reiterate from them - "Melvin Moore's vocal on Deep Purple is regrettable but the side is included here for its rarity as well as the brief contribution of Marsh."

(Aw shit - an hour of typing gone in a keystroke - what you get here is a track
and artist list, full personnel detail available in a couple of days.

Battle Of The Tenor Saxes IAJRC 15
Side One - "The Big Sound"

1. Skippy - Coleman Hawkins
2. Surf Board - Ben Webster
3. Dumb Woman Blues - Gene Ammons
4. Cup-Mute Clayton - Ike Quebec
5. Topsy - Ike Quebec
6. The Happening - Paul Gonsalves
7. Sahara Heat - Illinois Jaquet
8. Don't Push Daddy - Illinois Jaquet

Side Two - "The Cool School"

9. Movin' With Lester - Lester Young
10. Lester Smooths It Out - Lester Young
11. On The Town - Dexter Gordon
12. The Way You Look Tonight - Allen Eager
13. I'm Shooting High - Warne Marsh
14. Deep Purple - Warne Marsh
15. Oh Well - James Moody
16. The Great Lie - Wardell Gray

IAJRC 15

You won't gleam a lot of info off this back cover scan but here it is if you want to try. Again , thanks Luis.

Hampton Hawes Trio - Mitchell's Studio Club

This pair of lps is not terribly rare but I had them loaded up and i thought why not share, maybe someone will be unfamiliar with this fellow.

Hawes was a veteran of the west coast scene when he was railroaded after selling a bit of smack to a federal agent in the early 60s. Not to defend what he did, but he received double the maximum penalty that can only be attributed to the social conditions at the time. These records were made shortly after he left rehab after a pardon by president Kennedy.
He had by this time returned to form and was swinging in this new trio, consisting of an old friend and a new sensation.

These records were recorded over a period of two nights at Mitchells Studio Club in LA on April 30 & May 1, 1966.

Hampton Hawes Trio
The Seance
1. The Seance
2. Oleo
3. Easy Street
4. Suddenly I Thought Of You
5. For Heaven's Sake
6. My Romance

I'm All Smiles
1. I'm All Smiles
2. Manha de Carnaval
3. Spring Is Here
4. The Shadow Of Your Smile
5. Searchin'

Hampton Hawes - piano
Red Mitchell - bass
Donald Bailey - drums



Contemporary S7621
Contemporary S7631

Coleman Hawkins in the 40's - Vol.1

With Hawk's birthday coming up this weekend, I thought I might post and handful of his lps I have laying about. Hawk may have been the first of the jazz artists outside of the "bop" pantheon that I truly came to appreciate. Not the first I heard, or enjoyed, that was probably Artie Shaw, but the first that I really learned to dig into and find out what he was all about. I still list Bean among my favorites.

The first batch of songs was released as one of the lps on this Prestige two-fer. They are a bunch of 78's from the 40's. The first four sides signal the coming of the "new music" and include what has come to be accepted as the first modern showings of bop, with venerable sideman, Thelonious Monk. Track 4, Drifting On A Reed, still invariably makes its way onto compilations i make for people who "just don't get jazz" and decide to sample it.
i don't know where else these songs have been reissued and it is with great pleasure that I keep them alive here.



This second batch is from a Trip records reissue titled "Coleman Hawkins with The Trumpet Kings - 1945". Do not be fooled into thinking this is Bean with some sort of super group but rather another collection of various sides that just so happen to showcase trumpters as well as Hawk. More firmly rooted in the swing era, as evidenced by the songs covered, these tracks are still full of crackling energy and it is fun to hear Hawk with these"old timers". Even though he came up among them, it was his forward facing nature that keeps me from thinking he was actually "one of them." The sides with Roy Eldridge are particularly good.



Once again as this is basically a compilation, there is no way I am going to list all the personnel. And on a funnier note, I can't even seem to locate my trip lp, even though I ripped it only a couple of weeks ago. All information should be easily located through the glory of the internet. If necessary, contact me and I will see about supplying the info if necessary.

While listed as two separate lps - both fit handily on one disc. As usual taken from my vinyl rips.

Coleman Hawkins - The 40's 78s
1. On The Bean
2. Recollection
3. Flyin' Hawk
4. Driftin' On A Reed
5. I Mean You
6. Bean and the Boys
7. Cocktails For Two
8. You Go To My Head
9. Sih-Sah
10. Bay-U-Bah
11. Sophisticated lady
12. Bean's Talking Again

Milestone M-47015-1

Coleman Hawkins and the Trumpet Kings
1. I Only Have Eyes For You
2. 's Wonderful
3. I'm In The Mood For Love
4. Bean At The Met
5. Thru For The Night
6. I'm Yours
7. Under a Blanket of Blue
8. Beyond The Blue Horizon
9. In A Shanty In Old Shanty Town
10. My Man
11. El Salon de Gutbucket
12. Embraceable You

Trip 5515

Courtesy of our friend Otis - the personnel for the Trumpet Kings lp is now listed in the comments section.

Kenny Drew / Niels-Henning Orsted Pederson - Duo 2

It's late at night, the lights are off and with only the glow of the streetlamps through the window, the Sandman evades me. This record spins on the turntable, and the warm glass of bourbon feels good in my hand.
I should have been asleep hours ago but I found myself wandering the apartment and this seemed like the best way to settle down.



The other selections are inspired, don't get me wrong. A couple of Drew originals and a couple of standards. They keep the lp grounded.

Kenny Drew/NHO Pederson
Duo 2

1. Jeg Gik Mig Over So
2. Largo
3. My Little Suede Shoes
4 Trubell
5. Bluesology
6. Viking's Blues
7. A Child Is Born
8. It Might As Well Be Spring
9. My Shining Hour

Kenny Drew - piano
Niels-Henning Orsted Pederson - bass

Recorded 2/11-12/74, Copenhagen

IC 2010

Lee Konitz / Red Mitchell - I Concentrate On You

I had been searching for this baby for quite sometime and wouldn't you know, between the time I located it and actually had it sent, someone slipped it into the blogosphere. C'est la Vie!

I know the cat that put it up recently (a great guy) and we both agreed that there was room for both. His, if you locate it, is a flac copy from a cd. Mine once again is a lowly mp3 from the lp spinning on my turntable as I type.

I love way way these two work on this record. I love that Konitz treats the alto almost like a tenor, giving way to slow languorous lines instead of quick flights usually associated with the smaller horn. This lp is as sophisticated as anything Porter portrayed. Both players take this to heart in the probing, sensuous lines that follow along closely with the original melodies. And yet they still manage to not sacrifice the irreverence and wit that Porter cultivated in his songwriting.

And let it be said that this version of "I Concentrate On You" is one of the great seduction tracks of all time. A sure winner any time, but best during the cool down.

Lee Konitz/Red Mitchell
I Concentrate On You
a tribute to Cole Porter

1. Just One Of Those Things
2. Easy To Love
3. It's Alright With Me
4. Ev'rytime We Say Goodbye
5. You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To
6. Love For Sale
7. In The Still Of The Night
8. Night and Day*
9. I Love You
10. I Love Paris
11. I Concentrate On You

Lee Konitz - alto sax
Red Mitchell - bass, piano*

Recorded 7/30/74, Copenhagen

IC 2018

Stan Getz - Gold..."Happy 50th, Stan"....

Not to be confused with the much later Verve"greatest hits" type cd, also titled Gold.

This would be the Inner City version of the Steeplechase record pictured at the left.

Assuming it got it's title from celebrating Getz' 50th birthday, I salute him. My 50th was a milestone ( and a damn lot of fun) but I didn't document it for the world.

Again we have a couple of ex-pats calling on some of Euro's best to help out on a great outing.

Copenhagen in the early seventies was the place to be, forget the west coast.

Stan Getz - Gold
...Happy 50th, Stan...

1. Morning Star
2. Lady Sings The Blues
3. Cancao Do Sol
4. Lush Life
5. Stan's Blues

6. Infant Eyes
7. Lester Left Town
8. Eiderdown
9. Blues For Dorte

Stan Getz - tenor sax
Joanne brackeen - piano, electric piano
Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen - Bass
Billy Hart - drums


recorded live 1/28, 29, &30/77
(Getz celebrated his birthday for 3 days, that's another feather in his cap.)


Disc One
Disc Two

Prestige First Sessions 1949/50

A two-fer set of lps I have had for years.

Some great stuff on these. These lps are responsible for my love of Tristano/Konitz. I originally bought this set for the Fats Navarro tracks. While I was familiar with much of the work of several artists on here, at the time I was familiar with Tristano and Konitz in name only.

When I bought this set in the early '80s much of this stuff was unavailable. Freaking internet takes all the fun outta things! If you're like me, I prefer the vinyl any time.
And if you think there is anyway I can list fully the performers for all these tracks... you're dreaming. That's where the internet comes in. But I will cover the major bases.

Disc One:
Lennie Tristano
1. Tautology
2. Retrospection
3. Subconscious Lee
4. Judy
Lee Konitz
5. Marshmallow
6. Fishin' Around
7. Tautology
8. Sound Lee
Don Lamphere
9. Spider's Web
10. Strike Up The Band
Kai Winding
11. Broadway
12. Waterworks
Fats Navarro
13. Wailing Wall
14. Go
15. Infatuation
16. Stop


Disc Two
J.J. Johnson
1. Afternoon In Paris
2. Elora
3. Tea Pot
4. Blue Mode
Wardell Gray
5. Easy Living
Sonny Stitt
6. Fine and Dandy
Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis
7. Sweet and Lovely
8. Squattin'
Al Haig
9. Liza
10. Stars Fell On Alabama
11. Stairway To The Stars
12. Opus Caprice
Leo Parker
13. Mona Lisa
14. Who's Mad
15. Darn That Dream
16. I'll Cross My Fingers

Additional performers include Denzel Best, Duke Jordan, Warne Marsh, Shelley Manne, Brew Moore, Gerry Mulligan, George Wallington, Roy Haynes, Max Roach, Bud Powell, Wynton Kelley, and Oscar Pettiford, among others.

Prestige P-24081 (disc one)
Prestige P-24081 (disc two)

Some Zoot Sims

I guess this would be the first of those oddball posts I was talking about earlier. The ones where sharing the music really is foremost.

You see this post consists of pieces of two lps. Most of the one at your left and another Savoy reissue under Chuck Wayne's banner.

I have never seen either of the two on disc nor hanging around the blogoshpere much.

The first - the Good Ole Zoot lp is culled from two sessions. The first (a) is a quintet recording. Unfortuately one track from this lp was too warped to be salvageable and it was from this session. This missing track is titled Toot No.2.

The players are:
Zoot Sims - tenor
Stu Williamson - trumpet, valve trombone
Kenny Drew - piano
Ralph Pena - bass
Jimmy Pratt - drums

recorded 7/16/54

The second session (b) is actually a Chubby Jackson session. (Damn, I have some great Chubby Jackson on cassette around here that I need to locate.) I still love the big band sound even when it was falling out of style. Actually even more so, when the young dudes tried keeping it alive. Even though Georgie Auld would hardly be considered a hip new guy, and as usual there is the inclusion of a couple of fellows who found this to be their fleeting claim to fame.

The players here are:
Zoot Sims - tenor sax
Chubby Jackson - bass
Al Porcino - trumpet
Don Ferrara - trumpet
Howard McGhee - trumpet
J.J. Johnson - trombone
Kai Winding - trombone
Charlie Kennedy - alto sax
Georgie Auld - tenor sax
Gerry Mulligan - baritone sax
Tony Aless - piano
Don Lamond - drums

Recorded 3/15/50

The final session(c) was actually attributed to Chuck Wayne and also consisted of several sessions. From the lp at left we have culled the only 4 songs thatZoot Sims played on.

The rest of the lp is fairly uneventful, but the Sims songs manage to be a pretty good time. Oddly there were 8 tracks cut this day with Zoot only playing on 4 while relatively unknown Brew Moore blew sax on the other 4. Hmmm, what were they thinking?




The cast:
Chuck Wayne - guitar
Zoot Sims - tenor sax
Harvey Leonard - piano
George Duvivier - bass
Ed Shaughnessy - drums

recorded 4/13/54

The thing you all have been waiting for....

1. Howdy Podner (a)
2. Indian Summer (a)
3. Leavin' Town (b)
4. Flyin' The Coop (b)
5. What's New (a)
6. Hot Dog (b)
7. So What (b)
8. While My Lady Sleeps (c)
9. Tasty Pudding (c)
10. Prospecting (c)
11. Sidewalks of Cuba (c)

(a) & (b) New Jazz 8280
(c) SJL 1144

Sonny Stitt / Zoot Sims - Inter-Action

This is a very short but nice meeting of two underrated tenors.

I can't speak for the backing band as I have never heard of any of them but they all seem to rise to the occasion as needed.

What draws me to this outing is Stitt's Parker influences smack up against Sims' Prez impressions. And the way they co-mingle sometimes to the point where I struggle to tell which tenor is blowing.

Stitt picks up his first horn, the alto on Fools Rush In, but it is undeniably Sims' tenor solo on this song that is the highlight of the lp for me.

Anyway, short lp, short review.

Sonny Stitt and Zoot Sims
Inter-Action

1. My Blue Heaven
2. The Saber
3. Katea
4. Fools Rush In
5. Look Down That Lonesome Road
6. I Want To Go Home

Sonny Stitt - tenor and alto saxes
Zoot Sims - tenor sax
John Young - piano
Sam Kidd - bass
Phil Thomas - drums

recorded Chicago, Jan 1965
in glorious mono!

Cadet LP-760

Dexter Gordon - Something Different

Another great late period Dexter G. record that I never see around. This time with two great European jazz artists and ex-pat Billy Higgins. The inclusion of Philip Catherine on guitar is not something I would generally look forward to, but damn if this isn't a fine set.

Covering Miles is always a risky idea, and covering this classic takes guts, but they pull it off phenomenally.

Once again Dexter shows his masterful interpretation of ballads and that fluid subtlety I love so much on the slow numbers. Throw in a little bossa nova, and you get a well rounded picture of this lp.

Dexter Gordon Quartet
Something Different

1. Freddy Freeloader
2. When Sunny Gets Blue
3.Invitation
4. Winther's Calling
5. Polkadots and Moonbeams
6. Yesterday's Mood

Dexter Gordon - tenor sax
Philip Catherine - guitar
Niels-Henning Orsted Peterson - bass
Billy Higgins - drums

recorded 9/13/75

Steeplechase SCS-1136