More Wild Bill Davis in Rheinfelden (1986) (part 3)

My last weeks have been very unjazzy, so that is why not much happened on this here blog. And the stress will not let up for a while ..

But here for your entertainment comes part 3of  the 120 minute private video of a concert Wild Bill Davis gave at the Hotel Schützen in Rheinfelden, Switzerland on (probably) April 13 1986. The other members of Davis’ quartet were saxophonist Jimmy Tyler, the legendary Dickie Thompson on guitar and drummer Clyde Lucas.

I still do not know who filmed this footage. If someone who was involved in the making of this video reads this, I would like to hear from you so I can give proper credit.

So here you get – after some talking – the Wild Bill Davis Quartet playing Nat Adderley’s Jive Samba followed by Wild Bill Davis’ Stolen Sweets.

There will be more to come from this concert – if nobody objects.

Until then:Enjoy!

More Wild Bill Davis in Rheinfelden (1986) (part 2)

As promised in this post, I am putting up more footage from the 120 minute private video of a concert Wild Bill Davis gave at the Hotel Schützen in Rheinfelden, Switzerland on (probably) April 13 1986. The other members of Davis’ quartet were saxophonist Jimmy Tyler, the legendary Dickie Thompson on guitar and drummer Clyde Lucas.

I still do not know who filmed this footage. If someone who was involved in the making of this video reads this, I would like to hear from you so I can give proper credit.

So here you get the Wild Bill Davis Quartet playing Stardust followed by Ray Bryant’s Cubano Chant. Then a little  April in Paris coda à la mode de Basie concludes this (the first?) set.

There will be more from this concert – if nobody objects.

Until then:Enjoy!

Brötzmann / Bennink / Dauner /Mangelsdorff (1986)

The November issue of British Music Magazine Wire carries a beautiful shot of german saxophonist Peter Brützmann (now 71) on the cover. Inside you find a long and very interview with Brötzmann focussing not only on his music but also on his rough and brutish visual art. This is followed by a seven page “primer” giving beginners a thorough overview over what one could deem to be Brötzmann’s most important records. All in all a must for fans of Brötzmann.

When I started to listen to jazz in the early eighties, I started with Free Jazz. At that time I lived in the Ruhrgebiet in a town not very far from Wuppertal (which is not in the Ruhrgebiet), where Brötzmann is and was living. Every other months you could find Brötz playing in one of the towns that make up the Ruhrgebiet – at one time solo in maybe a gallery, then in some trio setting in some jazz club, then maybe in a larger venue where he was playing with Bill Laswell, Shannon Jackson and Sonny Sharrock as Last Exit.

I know that Brötzmann hates to be labeled Furor Teutonicus and the like, and yes, I love his romantic solo outings as well as his  you-know-what. But let’s be frank: What you look for when hearing Brötzmann, is catharsis and mind clearing abrasive noise. Which is exactly what you get from this little clip I just found on an old VHS cassette:

Peter Brötzmann, Han Bennink, Wolfgang Dauner, Albert Mangelsdorff (not much Mangelsdorff here) at the Theaterhaus-Jazzfestival, Stuttgart 1986.

Enjoy!

The Paris Reunion Band in Burghausen (1986)

In late 1984 tenor and soprano saxophonist Nathan Davis (born 1937) formed the Paris Reunion Band to pay tribute to drummer Kenny Clarke (who passed in January 1985) and to evoke the spirit of Paris in the late fifties and early sixties when it was home to many american jazz musicians.

For four or five years the Paris Reunion Band was making the European festival circuit each year. Of course the logistics to gather musicians which have their home in different parts of the planet were enormous and so besides core members Nathan Davis and Woody Shaw the members of the band kept changing.

On March 16, 1986 the Paris Reunion Band played in the Stadtsaal in Burghausen, a small town in the Bavarian part of Germany, during the Jazzwoche Burghausen. At that concert the band consisted of Woody Shaw and Benny Bailey(tp), Glenn Ferris (tb), Nathan Davis (ss, ts), Johnny Griffin (ts), Kenny Drew sr. (p), Jimmy Woode (p) and Alvin Queen (dr).  Bavarian TV station BR3 was filming the festival, and I found four tracks on one of Otto Flückiger’s old VHS cassettes – which I am offering you here. I have decided to present the footage in two parts.

Part one consists of the band playing Woody Shaw’s Sweet Love of Mine (solos by Shaw, Griffin, Bailey, Drew) and Slide Hampton’s The Waltz (solos by Davis, Ferris, Davis, Drew).

Part two opens with Johnny Griffin’s feature on Sophisticated Lady, which is followed by the Griffin composition Callitwhachawanna (solos by Drew, Davis, Bailey, Griffin, Ferris, Woode).

Enjoy!

Wild Bill Davis in Rheinfelden (1986)

While digitizing more of Otto Flückiger’s old VHS cassettes, I found a more than 120 minutes long private video of a concert Wild Bill Davis gave at the Hotel Schützen in Rheinfelden, Switzerland. The date seems to be April 13 1986. The other members of Davis’ quartet were saxophonist Jimmy Tyler, the legendary Dickie Thompson on guitar and drummer Clyde Lucas. At first I thought that Otto himself filmed this. But this is untrue, as Otto can be seen standing next to the stage for a while at some point. For a private video I would say that the quality is surprisingly good, especially in regard to the sound.

It sure would be great to present the whole concert here but I think it would not be right without having the permission of the person who filmed it. So I am presenting you the start of the concert, in hope that someone will step forward and give me the go ahead for the rest.

So here you get the Wild Bill Davis Quartet playing All The Things You Are followed by Indian Summer (thanks to Fernando and Jeff for the title of the second tune!).

Enjoy!

Wild Bill Davis / Jimmy Tyler / Dickie Thompson (1986)

As soon as he could afford the equipment, my friend, the late Otto Flückiger, used movies of musicians that he was fond of and that he himself or somebody else had filmed and made nice little movie clips from the footage. One example would be this short movie featuring the Wild Bill Davis Quartet at an unidentified location (possibly in switzerland). In between the footage of the band, Otto cut some N.Y.C. footage that he himself had filmed sometime in the mid-80s.

Personnel of Wild Bill’s quartet on this occasion: Jimmy Tyler (1919–1998) (as), Wild Bill Davis (1918–1995) (org), Dickie Thompson (1918–2007) (g), Clyde Lucas (1943–2010) (dr).

Enjoy!