etnobofin

It’s that time of year, and given that the annual “Christmas-is-too-commercialised” debate is being thrashed out elsewhere, I thought I’d share some Christmas music that’s guaranteed not to be heard on high rotate in your neighbourhood Starbucks.

Lester Bowie – Almost Christmas
From All the Magic!: ECM 1246/47 [Buy]

The Goons – I’m Walking Backwards for Christmas
Available on The Goon Show Vol.3 [Buy]

Soul-Sides had a great post last week touching on the Mizell Brothers and their contribution to the birth of disco. Starting in the early 1970s, the Mizells’ crystal-clean multitracked productions set a standard and a sound palette that many disco producers looked to emulate later in the decade.

I’m going to go out on a limb here and contend that the birth of disco occurs during 8 bars in the middle of Fight Time the first track on Donald Byrd’s 1972 Mizell-produced album Black Byrd. If you don’t believe me, skip through to 5’17. Remember this is April 1972! Flight Time is a complete production number, including the sample of the Boeing 707 that opens the track. Cheesy? Quite possibly, but it didn’t stop Black Byrd going on to become Blue Note’s best-selling record ever.

On Love’s So Far Away, the nascence of disco is even more apparent – check out David T. Walker’s killer rhythm guitar work. The band on Black Byrd includes Joe Sample (elp and synth), Wilton Felder (b) and the funkmonster himself, Harvey Mason (d).

Donald Byrd – Flight Time
Donald Byrd – Love’s So Far Away
From Black Byrd: Blue NOte 84466 [Buy]

The Blue Note label in the late 1950s and early 1960s was the proving ground for a generation of talented young trumpeters who surged into view in the aftermath of Clifford Brown’s untimely death. These new players had chops for Africa (often literally and spiritually), were alumni of Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers and were deeply imbued with the gospel and blues that would inform hard bop in the first half of the 1960s. Among this cohort of young lions were Lee Morgan, Freddie Hubbard, Dizzy Reece and Donald Byrd.

I’ve chosen just one Donald Byrd track to share today, because it stands out for its power and sheer funk. Frank Foster’s The Loud Minority was recorded on December 4th, 1970 in New York. These sessions, along with some December 1969 recordings, lay dormant in Blue Note’s vaults for 25 years until they were finally released in 1995 under the title Kofi, an album that provides a superb insight into Donald Byrd’s explorations in West African and Brazilian musics and funk. I highly recommend the entire album for those interested in groove and early fusion.

What I particularly love about this track is its balls-to-the-wall horn statement and the great rhythm section that underpins it. Drummer Mickey Roker rides the line between boogaloo and a loose, open-sticked clave on snare. Ron Carter (b) keeps things loose-knit. The other percussionists are some guys called, oh, Airto and Dom um Ramao. Frank Foster’s tenor sax is flippin’ tesifyin’, brother. Donald Byrd hits those high notes and makes it sound like he means something (go back to school, Maynard). And Duke Pearson (rhodes) and Wally Richardson (gt) round out a great sounding band. Gotta love it.

Donald Byrd – The Loud Minority
From Kofi: Blue Note 31875 [Buy]

The guy sure can play. So, without taking sides in the politics of American jazz, here are two recordings of a young Wynton, cementing his place in the history of the music. With Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter and Tony Williams in Japan in 1981, and with his own band (Kenny Kirkland, Jeff “Tain” Watts, Phil Bowler) in New York in 1983.

Herbie Hancock Quartet – Clear Ways
From Quartet: Columbia CGK 38275 [Buy]

Wynton Marsalis Quartet – My Ideal
From Think of One: Columbia CK 38641 [Buy]

molo (gunter likes frenchfries) posted a Dave Douglas tune in his recent Night Blend compilation which inspired thoughts of other trumpet players who pushed the envelope, and I dug out my vinyl copy (a Quadrophonic recording, no less!) of the Don Ellis Orchestra album Tears of Joy.

Recorded in San Francisco in May 1971, this particular incarnation of the Ellis band welded a “conventional” big band lineup to a string quartet and a woodwind quartet, and played a set often inspired Don Ellis’ interest in non-”Western” musics and non-standard time signatures.

The piano solo on Blues in Elf (11/8) is by the band’s Bulgarian pianist Milcho Leviev. Samba Bajada is a Hank Levy composition, and is described by Ellis as a “samba in 9″.

Don Ellis Orchestra – Blues in Elf
Don Ellis Orchestra – Samba Bajada
From Tears of Joy: Columbia GQ 30927 [Buy]

Regarding last week’s tragic events in London, there is very little I can add that hasn’t been said already. Che Tibby provides a useful perspective from New Zealand, and I am ashamed to note that mosques in my own country were vandalised overnight. It is clear that our common enemy is irrational and indiscriminate hatred, regardless of the perpetrators and the victims.

And if the audio tracks aren’t enough there are some links to two videos from a gig at a club in Belgium (where else?) from 2002 – Again and again and Vinas Lullaby. 30Mb each, but well worth the download.

Darn. This stuff is inspiring. Could I enthuse any more?

Kim Paterson – Mink
From Impending Journey: Tap Records TAP003 [OOP]

Kim Paterson – Impending Journey
From Manifesto Auckland Jazz Sampler: Tap Records TAPSR001 [OOP]

Kim Paterson, the elder statesman of Auckland’s jazz community, player of the game, teacher, trumpet player and drummer.

Kim’s been playing around New Zealand, Australia and the world since the 1950s, but didn’t record his first album as a leader until 1997: Impending Journey, on Mark de Clive-Lowe‘s shortlived Tap Records label. Even in New Zealand, these Tap Records releases are now very hard to find.

Kenny Wheeler Quintet – Foxy Trot
From Double, Double You: ECM 1262 [Buy]

Kenny Wheeler and Bob Brookmeyer Quintet – Upstairs with Beatrice
From Island: Artists House AH0006 [Buy]

This will be the final post in this series on Kenny Wheeler. Thanks to everyone who has dropped by and especially to everyone who took the time to comment. Don’t worry, Mr Wheeler will return at a later date, without a doubt…

To bid a temporary farewell, some slightly more straightahead stuff, set off with some interesting compositions. On Foxy Trot, Michael Brecker adds his particular muscularity to a group featuring longtime Wheeler collaborators Dave Holland, John Taylor and Jack deJohnette. Recorded in New York, May 1983.

Upstairs with Beatrice is a Bob Brookmeyer composition. Bob (valve trombone) and Kenny are joined by East Coasters John Hollenbeck (d) Jeremy Allen (b) and Frank Carlberg (p) on the 2002 record Island – a disc worth getting just for the bonus DVD with interview material, deconstructions of Kenny’s and Bob’s solos and footage of the recording session.

Coming soon on etnobofin… some kiwi music for New Zealand Music Month.

Kenny Wheeler Brass Ensemble – Going for Baroque
From A Long Time Ago: ECM 1691 [Buy]

Thierry Péala with Kenny Wheeler – 546
From Inner Traces – A Kenny Wheeler Songbook: naive Y266 102 [Buy]

When you track down the (very rare) interviews with Kenny Wheeler, one of the things you learn is that Mr Wheeler is very interested in early music – that is, the music of Western Europe of the middle ages and the Renaissance. And sometimes this interest manifests itself in his compositions.

Here are two examples – Going for Baroque is fairly self-explanatory, with contrapuntal horn lines eventually dissolving into a more familar “wheelerian” harmonies. 546 is a short composition for jazz ensemble and vocalists based on the form and harmonies of Elizabethan English choral music.

Kenny Wheeler Quartet – Kind Folk
From Angel Song: ECM 1607 [Buy]

Kenny Wheeler Big Band – Part II – For H. Part III – For Jan
From Music for Large and Small Ensembles: ECM 1415/16 [Buy]

Thierry Péala – Of Smiles Remembered
From Inner Traces – A Kenny Wheeler Songbook: naive Y266 102 [Buy]

Three different interpretations of Kenny’s tune Kind Folk. The 1996 Angel Song version features the impossibly cool combination of Kenny with Lee Konitz (as), Bill Frisell (g) and Dave Holland (b).

The tune appeared six years earlier under the title “For H” – the second movement of The Sweet Time Suite, played by Kenny’s British big band on Music for Large and Small Ensembles.

Recorded in Pernes les Fontaines, in southeast France in January 2000, the vocal version by French singer Thierry Péala is backed by Steve Arguelles on drums and Bruno Angelini on piano.