A great session: Tom Archia

Tom Archia (1919–1977)

It was around 20 years ago when my friend the late Otto Flückiger taught me that there were much more interesting things from the Chicago jazz scene of the 1940s and 1950s than the Sun Ra related stuff from that time and placethat I was so much interested in. On one day in the mid-nineties he played me several 78rpm records featuring a tenor saxophonist called Tom Archia to introduce me to the chicago way of playing the tenor sax: relaxed and way behind the beat. Of course the best known exponent of this style has to be Gene Ammons. I already knew and loved a bit the early Gene Ammons stuff. But Tom Archia thrilled me right away. What got me is that he was cool and relaxed and immensely sassy at the same time.

Around that time I exchanged Sun Ra related tapes with Ra researcher Robert L. Campbell and used some Tom Archia stuff Otto had taped for me as filler. And Robert was blown away just the same. So we had to know more about this man. Google did not bring up much about him in the mid-90s and so we started with dusting off old (non indexed mostly) discographies and collector’s lists. All the while we were stumbling over other artists from that place and period that we wanted to know more about. And that was the foundation of the Red Saunders Research Foundation. And one of the RSRF’s first projects was a page, dedicated to Tom Archia.

Most of Tom Archia’s playing on records is in an r’n’b context which is a pity as this format restricts him timewise. But in October 1947 at the Universal Recording studio in Chicago it was just him and a rhythm section (with Archia himself singing on one track). Tom is accompanied by Bill Searcy (p), Leo Blevins (eg), Lowell Pointer (b) and Robert “Hindu” Henderson (d). The four resulting tracks landed on three different 78rpm records.

The result is not only a fine session, it is a GREAT SESSION! Hey people, this DESERVES TO BE UNIVERSALLY HEARD!

To help this noble cause, I have put up clips playing the four tracks on youtube. If you listen to all four of them, you may notice that his set of licks is limited. But if you love these licks as much as i do, they’ll never get on your nerves.

The first track of the session was the jumping “Jam For Sam”. If you want to hear one of Archia’s favourite licks , check at 01:24-01:26. Also here as on the other three tracks listen to Leo Blevins’ guitar and the accents he sets.

The second track recorded that day was the boppish “Macomba Jump”. Here one of Archia’s favourite licks appears at 01:34–01:40.

Downfall Blues:

The next track, “Downfall Blues”, was rereleased on a Chess Vintage Series LP in the early seventies (titled “Whiskey” on that occasion). But here you get it in original 78rpm sound to feed your nostalgic needs. The singer is Archia himself and the track unfortunately has some autobiographical notions. Starting with his most favourite lick, his playing is at its most laconic  throughout here:

The final tune the band recorded that day is “Slumber”(also rereleased as “Minor Blues” on that Chess Vintage Series LP). Relax, lay back and enjoy this one – and if you wake up, tell me what you think.

Now would someone else please wake up and rerelease all of Tom Archia’s recordings for Aristocrat/Chess? In pristine quality? From the original master disks? Please? Universal? Charly? Some japanese company? Preferably on vinyl?

Until then, enjoy!

R.I.P., Bobby Hutcherson

This morning I received the sad news of vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson’s passing on monday at the age of 75. Here is an obituary from the New York Times.

I never had the chance to see any of the great vibraphone players of the 20th century (Hampton, Jackson, Hutcherson, Dickerson) play live. But for youtube’s sake, we have the chance to see them all in action (not that it’s a comparable experience).

In 1989 Bobby Hutcherson was runnnig the european festival circuit with the band that was either announced as “The Phil Woods / Dizzy Gillespie All Stars” or as “The Dizzy Gillespie / Phil Woods  All Stars”, depending on whatever. It seems this band played every major and minor european festival that year, and fortunately most of the times some TV station was broadcasting at least parts of the proceedings.

In the VHS collection of my friend, the late swiss jazz researcher Otto Flückiger, I found a nearly 13 minute clip of the All Stars playing Gillespie’s composition “Tour De Force” at the Jazz Festival in Wiesen, Austria on Saturday, July 8, 1989 – which has never been on youtube before.

So here’s my tribute to the late great Bobby Hutcherson. The band consists of Dizzy Gillespie (tp), Phil Woods (as), Bobby Hutcherson (vib), Steve Turre (tb), Cedar Walton (p), Rufus Reid (b) and Mickey Roker (dr). And Hutcherson has a nice solo in there.

 

Enjoy!

… and please excuse the TV noise in the background, I could not do anything against this.

Anthony Braxton Quartet in Montreux 1975

Dave Holland and Anthony Braxton in Montreux,
on July 20, 1975

Never before and never again did composer and multiinstrumentalist Anthony Braxton have such a high profile as in the mid-1970s when he was under contract with Arista. One could say that Braxton’s music was much more accessible than it is now, but of course this is only partly true. As you might know his time with Arista came to an end after the release of Braxton’s “For Four Orchestras” in a 4LP Box (Allmusic website gives it 1 1/2 stars today).

What people went for at the time were Braxton’s quartets with which he toured also through Europe at the time. This 2LP (and CD):

documents two concerts. The first is from July 20, 1975 when the Braxton Quartet with trumpeter Kenny Wheeler, bassist Dave Holland and drummer Barry Altschul played at the Jazz Festival Montreux. The other one is from November 4, 1976, when trombonist George Lewis had replaced Kenny Wheeler.

Kenny Wheeler in Montreux, on July 20, 1975

Michael Cuscuna in his original liner notes writes about the two concerts:

 

Ironically, the fourth tune of each performance was eliminated from possible release by technical difficulties, and that  missing piece in both concerts was the stop time composition that first appeared on “Five Compositions, 1975.”

The stop time composition Cuscuna is talking about is 23G, which is inded on this album:

But at least in Montreux the quartet played yet another piece that did not find it’s way onto the “Montreux/Berlin” album (also from the “Five Pieces, 1975” album): the fast Bebop abstraction Composition 40M.

And that is where an old VHS cassette from the collection of my friend, the late Otto Flückiger comes up and contains just that performance:

As you can see from the band preparing to leave the stage at the end that this must have been the last track (or the encore – if there was one). Personally I enjoy watching drummer Barry Altschul here: he looks like playing this music is a lot of fun.

Barry Altschul in Montreux, on July 20, 1975

Enjoy!

Dexter Gordon: As Time Goes By

Dexter Gordon at Jazzwoche Burghausen 1980.

At the end of one of the VHS cassettes from Otto Flückiger’s vast collection, I found something very nice: About ten minutes of the Dexter Gordon Quartet at the Jazzwoche Burghausen 1980 in Burghausen, Bavaria/Germany. Since I have nothing to say about Dexter Gordon that you would not know, here is “As Time Goes By”:

 

The personnel is: Dexter Gordon (ts), Kirk Lightsey (p), John Heard (b), Eddie Gladders (dr).

Enjoy!

Memories of a Jazz Festival: Hollabrunn 1985

(Clockwise): Miles Davis, Fats Domino, Pharoah Sanders in
Hollabrunn, Austria, July 1985.

The 1985 Blue Danube Jazz Summit 1985 in Hollabrunn not far from Vienna seems to have been a one time only event. Which is a pity, since the line-up for those three days (July 5 to July 7, 1985 ) was truly stellar. I found the following list:

July 5:
Miles Davis Group / Modern Jazz Quartet /Astrud Gilberto Group / Shankar – Jan Garbarek Group / Jamalaadeen Tacuma Band /Mingus Dynasty / Charlie Mariano – Jasper van’t Hof Group / Albert Mair Group

July 6:
James Brown Revue /Woody Herman All Stars / Airto Moreira & Flora Purim Group / Astor Piazzolla Sextet / Cedar Walton Quartet / Jackie McLean Sextet / Tommy Flanagan Trio / Leon Thomas – Jimmy Witherspoon Band with Arnett Cobb / Pharoah Sanders Quartet / Lou Donaldson Quartet / Benny Wallace Trio / Steve Lacy solo / Wide Fields

July 7:
Fats Domino Rhythm & Blues Explosion / Joe Zawinul solo / Working Week / Stéphane Grappelli Trio / George Wein’s Newport All Stars(Donald Byrd, Woody Shaw, Johnny Griffin, Nathan Davis, Slide Hampton, Kenny Drew, Jimmy Woode) / Gilberto Gil Brazilian Band / Lounge Lizards / Bob Moses Group / Joanne Brackeen – Clint Houston Duo / Big Band Machine

Thankfully the austrian TV station was there to document parts of the festival. I do not know how much they filmed, but fortunately I found clips from four of the concerts on my late friend Otto Flückiger’s old VHS tapes, which I decided to present here.

Starting chronologically here is Miles Davis’ band from July 5. The lineup: Miles Davis (tp, keyb); Bob Berg (ts, ss); John Scofield (g); Robert Irving III (synth); Darryl Jones (elb); Vincent Wilburn Jr. (dr); Steve Thornton (perc).

They are playing “Pacific Express” and “Time After Time”. Note that according to the list on this page “Time After Time” was played way before “Pacific Express” (there are also a lot of great photos of the band in Hollabrunn on that page). In fact I had found the two tracks on two different VHS cassettes and made the segueing myself. After I discovered the real order of tunes, I was not in the mood to go into the editing process all over again.

The next clip comes from July 6 and presents the Tommy Flanagan Trio. Flanagan is accompagnied by bassist George Mraz and  drummer  Art Taylor. This was also on two different VHS cassettes. So after the Monk Medley there is a segueing (done by me) and then comes an unidentified ballad followed by Tadd Damerons “If You Could See Me Now”. For all I know true sequence of tracks could have been the other way around.

 

Next up – also from July 6 – is a rarety as it shows Pharoah Sanders with a group that did not appear on any official albums. Here Pharoah is accompagnied by pianist Joanne Brackeen, bassist Clinton Houston and drummer Victor Lewis. They are playing Brackeens composition “Haiti B”.

And to leave Hollabrunn we have Fats Domino with an unidentified band doing his 1960 hit “My Girl Josephine” on July 7.

Enjoy!

More Art Blakey (Marsalis content)

Art Blakey at the “Subway” in Cologne,
probably on February 1, 1985.

In the far away corners of one one of my harddisks with clips from the Otto Flückiger collection I found three more clips of Art Blakey with or without his Messengers.

The first one comes from  July 24, 1980 when Blakey played at the Jazz Festival in Antibes. The Messengers are: Art Blakey (dr, ldr), Valery Ponomarev, Wynton Marsalis (tp), Robin Eubanks (tb), Bobby Watson, Billy Pierce, Branford Marsalis (ts), Kevin Eubanks (g), James Williams (p), Charles Fambrough (b), John Ramsay (dr).

I do not know what tune they are playing, but it is not “Stairway To The Stars” as announced.

 

The next one is a drum battle between Blakey, Billy Cobham (or is it not Cobham?) and Simon Phillips (of Toto fame) -thanks to Penny L. for identifying him . This clip comes from the 1982 Montreux Jazz Festival, I do not know the exact date. Does somebody?

And finally a better quality version of the Jazz Messengers at the Subway in Cologne  probably on February 1, 1985. I had uploaded this before but the old version was a pain to watch. The band: Art Blakey (dr), Terence Blanchard (tp), Donald Harrison (as), Jean Toussaint (ts), Mulgrew Miller (p), Lonnie Plexico (b).

After the introduction by Alan Bangs they play “Oh By The Way”, “Tenderly”, “One By One”, “Jodi” and “The Theme”

Enjoy!

Even more McCoy Tyner

McCoy Tyner in Montreux, July 18, 1981

I thought that with this post as well as that post, I was finished with digitizing all of the McCoy Tyner footage from Otto Flückiger’s old VHS cassettes. But  this was not so – as I discovered three more clips that I had previously overlooked.

First up is McCoy Tyner playing “Eternally Yours” solo at the Jazz Festival Montreux on July 18, 1981:

From the same day (but from a different VHS tape) here is McCoy’s Quintet playing “Walk Spirit Talk Spirit” and “It’s You Or No One”. The band consists of Tyner, John Blake (vln), Joe Ford (as), Avery Sharpe (b), and Ronnie Burrage (d).

And finally here is McCoy Tyner’s band a year earlier at the Jazzwoche Burghausen in Germany on March 14, 1980. Band members are: Joe Ford (sax), Earl Conrad (vln), Avery Sharpe (b), George Johnson (dr), Guilherme Franco (perc). They are playing Tyners “The Seeker”.

Enjoy!

 

R.I.P. Gato Barbieri

Gato Barbieri (1932–2016)

Just received the sad news of saxophonist Gato Barbieri’s passing. Here is the obituary from the “New York Times”.

And here is something special, Gato Barbieri playing “Brazil”  in Montreux on June 18, 1971. With Barbieri are: Lonnie Liston Smith (p), Chuck Rainey (el-b), Bernard “Pretty” Purdie (d), Sonny Morgan (cga), Nana Vasconcelos (perc,berimbau).

Despite the sad occasion: Enjoy!

Art Blakey in the 1970s and 1980s

Art Blakey in Montreux on July 8, 1976

[UPDATE: Changed the 62 minutes Subway clip to a better version] In the 1970s and the 1980s Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers were regulars on the european jazz festival circuit. So it’s very strange that I never managed to see the band live. But then again at that time my mind was set on free jazz only and I must have thought of Blakey as old hat.

So I am fortunate that I found a lot of TV footage of Blakey among the VHS tapes of my late friend, the swiss jazz researcher Otto Flückiger. Some clips feature just one track, some are full length concerts.

 

Starting off with Blakey and the Messengers playing “Along Came Betty” on July 8, 1976 at the Jazz Festival Montreux. The band on this occasion: Art Blakey (dr), Bill Hardman (tp), David Schnitter (ts), Mickey Tucker (p), Christopher Amberger (b). According to this list, “Along Came Betty” was the third track of this concert.

On another cassette, I found another track from this concert: “Gipsy Folk Tales” (the seventh track of the concert). Unfortunately this suddenly stops around the nine minute mark in the midst of Mickey Tucker’s solo (what follows on the VHS tape is a Donna Summer show!)

If you came here for a glimpse of Wynton Marsalis, I have to disappoint you since the chronologically next clip I found is from the 1983 Umbria Jazz Festival. This festival took place from July 11-17, 1983. It’s not clear, on what day the Messengers played. Here the band consists of Blakey (dr), Terence Blanchard (tp), Donald Harrison (as), Jean Toussaint (ts), Mulgrew Miller (p), and Lonnie Plaxico (b).

They are playing “Oh by the Way”, composed by Terence Blanchard (thanks, Saxophone Freddie!)

The next clip can be dated exactly: July 23, 1983 at the Jazz Festival Montreux. The band is the same as in Umbria with Johnny O’Neal replacing Mulgrew Miller (thanks, Saxophone Freddie!). I made a mistake editing this: I did not realize that the TV station had broadcasted the latter part of the show live ( an unidentified tune, the introduction of the musicians by Blakey, an unidentified old time tune, “Polka Dots and Moonbeams and “Blues March”. Then after a break comes an  excerpt from the first part of the concert featuring “Little Man” and a another unidentified tune. Again: If you can identify the untitled tunes, I’d be grateful.

At some time in February 1984 the Jazz Messengers played at the Jazz Festival Aarau in Switzerland. I was not able to find out the exact date (McCoy Tyner played there on February 24). Again the band consists of Blakey (dr), Terence Blanchard (tp), Donald Harrison (as), Jean Toussaint (ts), Mulgrew Miller (p), and Lonnie Plaxico (b).  All in all there are more than 80 minutes from Aarau, but the source video gave me trouble. After the first 30 minutes or so, the video starts repeatedly to stall while the music goes on. That is why the first, second and fourth part have video to the audio, whereas for the third part I could not get video and audio synchroneous (i’d need weeks for that). So i just added some screenshots to the music.

Part 1 starts with Donald Harrison’s solo in an unidentified tune and commences with “On The Ginza”:

Part 2 again starts wirth an unidentified snippet of Donald Harrison which is soon followed by “Moanin'”.

Part 3 unfortunately has no footage, as I explained above. Blakey and the Jazz Messengers play “Oh By The Way” and “Tenderly”, a feature for Terence Blanchard:

Finally part 4 – again with footage – is another rendition of “Blues March”:

On March 23, 1984 the Jazz Messengers played at the 15. Internationale Jazzwoche in Burghausen (look here to see the poster, does anyone have footage from the Arkestra’s appearance on March 22?). Terence Blanchard, Donald Harrison, Jean Toussaint, Mulgrew Miller and Lonnie Plaxico are on board with Blakey. In this clip (again all I have) they are playing “Duck Soup” (I guess named for it’s composer, Donald “Duck” Harrison”, falsely titled “Duck Soup” by the TV station) and Benny Golson’s “Blues March”. Note that “Duck Soup” has already been put up on youtube by someone, but “Blues March” has not.

The next clip features the Jazz Messengers (Art Blakey (dr), Terence Blanchard (tp), Donald Harrison (as), Jean Toussaint (ts), Mulgrew Miller (p), Lonnie Plexico (b)) at the jazz club Subway in Cologne, probably on February 1, 1985. Again I could not identify the tune:

In fact there is a more than an hour of the Jazz Messengers at the Subway. I found a better version than the one I had shown here previously. Here it is:

Jumping forward four years, Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers  appeared at the Jazz Festival Bern in April or early May 1989 .There the band consisted of Blakey, Brian Lynch, Donald Harrison, Terence Tony, Javon Jackson, Frank Lacy, Benny Green, and Essiet Essiet. I found over an hour of footage from this concert, for technical reasons I had to split this into three parts.

Part 1 features Wayne Shorter’s “Hammer Head” followed by J. J. Johnson’s “Lament”:

Part 2 features Walter Davis’ “Jodi” followed by an interview with Blakey (with italian voice-over) and Freddie Hubbard’s composition “The Core”.

For the last part of the show (or this broadcast?) the band was joined by veteran Messenger Bennie Golson for a rendition of Golson’s “Blues March”.

 And finally something rare and special: At the Estival Jazz Lugano in summer 1989 (exact date unknown) Art Blakey – who otherwise did not play there – was presented with an honory award for his life achievements. On that occasion he agreed to improvise a little with Guido Parini and Oliviero Giovannoni, two fine drummers from the italian speaking part of Switzerland. Blakey has to be pushed into this somewhat by the announcer, I have left this out to protect the living …

Enjoy!

Eddie Harris in Lugano 1989

Eddie Harris in Lugano, Switzerland, 1989

The legendary tenor saxophonist, trumpeter, pianist, singer and pioneer-for-a-lot-of-things Eddie Harris is one musician I never saw live, although he sometimes appeared in places not really to far from me. But I was a free jazz only guy at that time and arrogant at that.

Happily in my late friend Otto Flückiger’s collection  I found TV footage from Harris’ appearance at the Estival Jazz Lugano in 1989, where he was accompagnied by Ronald Muldrow on guitar, bassist Ray Peterson and drummer Norman Fearrington.

So as my present for the end of the year to you all here is the Eddie Harris quartet in Lugano 1989 in two parts.

 

Enjoy!