Rashied Ali at the Boltax (1979)

From 1978 to 1981 my friend, jazz researcher Otto Flückiger (1930–2006), went to the USA each year for up to three weeks to check out the jazz scene. Most of these trips led him to New York City where he checked out every jazz related event he could manage to visit – from gatherings of old swing veterans to extreme improvised loft sessions, documenting it all with a tape recorder and taking photos at every gig.

On Saturday, October 13th, 1979, Otto spent the evening at the Boltax Theatre in Soho, where drummer Rashied Ali’s Quintet  presented modal jazz, very much influenced by – of course – John Coltrane.

 Cover of the MC on which Otto recorded parts of the Rashied Ali concert.

The band consisted of Arthur Rhames  – misspelled by Otto – (ss, ts), Melvin Holder (ts), Tommy Smith (p), Radu (b) and of Rashied Ali (dr). Otto recorded some eighty minutes on that evening, but most of it is marred by talking and other background noise. But there is a piece which is a little bit more listenable, so I thought I could present it here. The name of the slow burning tune the band is playing here is unknown (at least to me):

As always, Otto took a handful of photographs (remember, the material was expensive then):

Rashied Ali at the Boltax, N.Y.C, October 13, 1979.
Photo by Otto Flückiger (click to enlarge)

Tommy Smith, Melvin Holder, Rashied Ali and Arthur Rhames at the Boltax,
N.Y.C, October 13, 1979. Photo by Otto Flückiger (click to enlarge)

Arthur Rhames at the Boltax, N.Y.C, October 13, 1979.
Photo by Otto Flückiger (click to enlarge)

Melvin Holder at the Boltax, N.Y.C, October 13, 1979.
Photo by Otto Flückiger (click to enlarge)

Seeing the tape recorders besides pianist Tommy Smith on the next photos, I wonder if one of them was Otto’s. I guess probably not, because it would not have picked up so much talk most of the time. Maybe the band members were also documenting it?

Tommy Smith at the Boltax, N.Y.C, October 13, 1979.
Photo by Otto Flückiger (click to enlarge)

Rashied Ali at the Boltax, N.Y.C, October 13, 1979.
Photo by Otto Flückiger (click to enlarge)

On the above photo you will notice the neon letters “SRO”. Does anyone know what these letters stand for? It looks like “SRO” was a regular act at the Boltax. The “After Dark” section of “New York” magazine’s October 8 issue mentions “S*R*O” as “back again”. Strangely Rashied Ali’s appearance is not mentioned here;

And to close our visit at the Boltax up, here is a photo of bassist Radu:

Radu at the Boltax, N.Y.C, October 13, 1979.
Photo by Otto Flückiger (click to enlarge)

Look forward for more documents from Otto’s travels at this place  in the near future!

Woody Shaw: more from Juan Les Pins 1979

Continuing to digitize my friend Otto Flückiger’s old VHS cassettes, I found some more footage of Woody and his quintet playing the Jazz à Juan festival in Juan Les Pins, Antibes at the Côte d’Azur on July 24, 1979. They are playing But Not For Me and Woody’s composition Stepping Stone:

The personnel: Woody Shaw (tp), Carter Jefferson (ss), Onoje Allan Gumbs (p), Stafford James (b) and Victor Lewis (dr).

Since this is – according to the opening credits – part 3, and only one other track, “Seventh Avenue”, is up on youtube already, I guess there must be even more footage from this concert. I hope it will turn up on one of the many tapes I have not yet digitized. Until then: Enjoy!

Clifford Jordan at the Tin Palace 1979

Just because it’s so much fun to put Otto’s photos from his trips to New York up on this blog together with some music from the concerts he witnessed, here is another one. On October 2, 1979, tenor saxophonist Clifford Jordan (1931–1993) was  playing at the Tin Palace – with two different rhythm sections.

On the first set (at least on the first set Otto recorded), Jordan was accompanied by Walter Davis on piano, Walter Booker on bass and drummer Jimmy Cobb (click on photos to enlarge):

Clifford Jordan at the Tin Palace, N.Y.C., October 2, 1979.
Photo by Otto Flückiger 

Blindfold test resolved: Big Nick Nicholas at the West End

Update (June 16, 2012): Big Nick Nicholas is playing at the West End here, not at the Tin Palace as I had erroneously written.

Well my little “Body and Soul” blindfold test did not last long. I promised to give you the solution by the end of june, but it did take Bo Scherman less than an hour to figure out that the tenor player in question is Big Nick Nicholas (1922–1997). Congratulations, Bo! I would not have thought that someones comes up with the solution THAT quick.

Big Nick Nicholas was playing this beautiful rendition of “Body and Soul” with his quartet at the West End in N.Y.C. on October 3, 1979.

Big Nick Nicholas at the West End, October 3, 1979.
Photo by Otto Flückiger

George Walker “Big Nick” Nicholas played with Hank Jones, Thad Jones, Dizzy Gillespie, Hot Lips Page and Earl Hines  in the 1940s and joined Buck Clayton’s band in 1955. In the early sixties Nicholas inspired John Coltrane to write his composition “Big Nick”, dedicated to him.

It seems that Nicholas was away from the N.Y.C scene for a while. In one of the announcements on Otto’s tape from the West End, Nicholas mentions that he has not been in New York for years. Besides recording two sets of Nicholas’ quartet, Otto also took quite a few photographs (you can click on them to enlarge them) and did not forget to take the promotional flyer for the engagement with him  (subtitled “An Infuential Tenor Saxophonist returns To The Big Apple”) on which Phil Schaap  tells us more details about Nicholas’ career:

Woody Shaw Quintet, Juan Les Pins 1979

Trumpeter and composer Woody Shaw (December 24, 1944 – May 10, 1989) was technically as well as musically one of the most influential trumpet players of the late twentieth century – and his influence is still large today. There are quite a few clips on youtube showing Woody at his best, but on one of the old VHS tapes I found one of Woody’s 1979 working quintet, that no-one has put on youtube yet. It was filmed for a french TV station at the Jazz à Juan festival in Juan Les Pins, Antibes at the Côte d’Azur on July 24, 1979. Voilà:

The personnel: Woody Shaw (tp), Carter Jefferson (ss), Onoje Allan Gumbs (p), Stafford James (b) and Victor Lewis (dr). It says they are playing “But Not For Me”, but is that true? It looks like I am not able to hear the Gershwin tune here, but maybe that’s because I am not a musician. Or is there a different tune with the same title by someone else? Any help on this point is very much welcome.

More of the Great Earl Hines

Just found some more Earl Hines clips in the archives. They were filmed at the Jazz Festival in Antibes, France on july 20 1979. The first one has Hines playing a medley

The second is Hines’ Interpretation of “I Can’t Believe That You’re In Love With Me”

followed by his “New Boogie Woogie On St. Louis Blues”.

Enjoy!

If you have not seen the other Earl Hines clips, they are here.