September/October 2005 • Issue 276

september/october 2005issue 276free

now in our 31st yearwww.jazz-blues.com

ALSO:

SHEMEKIA COPELANDA New CD and On Stage at Fat Fish Blue

THELONIOUS MONK & JOHN COLTRANENewly Discovered Historic Live Tapes Now On Disc

Dave Koz

RUDY VAN GELDERChris Hovan’s Interview

with the Legendary Jazz Recording Engineer is Revisitedas Blue Note’s RVG Reissue Series Reaches 150 Titles

ROCK & ROLL HALL OF FAME AND MUSEUM TURNS 10

September/October 2005 • Issue 276PAGE TWO

Published by Martin WahlCommunications

Editor & Founder Bill Wahl

Layout & Design Bill Wahl

Operations Jim MartinPilar Martin

ContributorsMichael Braxton, Mark Cole,Chris Hovan, Nancy Ann Lee,Peanuts, Mark Smith, DuaneVerh and Ron Weinstock.Distribution Jason Devine

ICON Distribution

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RUDY VAN GELDERINTERVIEW

"Buffalonious"

Original mascot fromthe

Buffalo Jazz Reportdays – mid '70s

Created by Christine Engla Eber

Watch for new t-shirts bearing his image–coming soon!

By Chris Hovan

From the Editor...This interview by Chris Hovan with the Legendary recordingmaster Rudy Van Gelder first ran in our July-August 1999 issue. At that time theBlue Note reissue series, Rudy Van Gelder Editions, was in its initial stage in theU.S. Now, six years later, the total number of RVG Editions released by the label willreach 150 titles with its September release of six more CDs. In recognition of thatmark, we have decided to rerun this marvelous interview for those who have notseen it, and to refresh those who did on the art of Rudy Van Gelder. In addition, ourmany thousands of web readers who download our issues around the globe will geta chance to read it as we have only been posting issues for download for two years.

R E V I S I T E D

For many decades now, the nameRudy Van Gelder has been synonymouswith recorded jazz music. The numberof sessions he’s done over the yearseasily numbers in the tens of thousands.He’s been actively involved inthe recording work of suchquintessential jazz labels asPrestige, Impulse, Verve, CTI,and of course, Blue Note. Inmore recent times, Van Gelderhas cut sessions for Highnote,Milestone, Reservoir, Venus,and N2K, to name just a few. Infact, drummer T.S. Monk’s N2Kalbum, Monk on Monk, wasdone at Van Gelder’s and hasreceived many critical plaudits,most recently being named Jazz Albumof the Year in Down Beat Magazine’sAnnual Readers Poll. From the first timeI interviewed Van Gelder in 1989 for aradio program I was producing I couldsense his genuine love for the music andhis great interest in the legacy he hashad a hand in preserving. I found him tobe no less engaging and immersed inhis work, his new remastering of BlueNote classics in particular, when we hadoccasion to again speak one evening inMay of this year (1999).

Chris Hovan: For those readerswho may not be as familiar with yourcareer, tell me briefly about how you gotinvolved in the recording business.

Rudy Van Gelder: Well, I was al-ways involved in recording when I wasa kid. It got to be a business shortlythereafter. I used to record my friends,many of whom were amateur musicians.I used to do it at my parents’ house andthen people heard about that and then Iwould get calls from musicians and sing-ers in the neighborhood and they wouldwant me to record them, which I did,making demos and that sort of grew forquite awhile. Then I started getting calls

from people in the record business, pri-vate record labels at the time, and I startedrecording for them. That’s how I got intoit.

The first record I ever made that wassold as a commercial recordwas one of Joe Mooney, whowas an organ player workingaround here at the time withBucky Pizzarelli and a bassplayer by the name of BobCarter. It was a working trio andI recorded them for this com-pany called Carousel Recordsand it was actually available forpurchase. It was played on theradio and everybody liked it.There was this station in New

York, WNEW. The disc jockey was AlCollins and he used to play that every af-ternoon and so it got to be quite popular.

CH: When you started out, how muchof the recording equipment was availablefor purchase and how much did you endup designing and constructing yourself?

RVG: When I first started makingrecords, which was non-commercially,there was nothing available. That was howI got into it, radio and HAM radio, and Iused to construct my own equipment.There were no commercial companiesmaking recording consoles as they aretoday. The major record companies allbuilt their own and if you wanted to doanything you had to do it yourself. WhichI did. That’s how I started. How much didI end up designing? Of course, it was ev-erything. The only commercial designswere available through radio equipmentmanufacturers. They had consoles forradio purposes and that was my first con-sole, which was actually a modified radioconsole. A neat little thing too. It had onemeter, but it made some very nice records,some of which I’m remastering right now.

CH: Tell us about how you met Alfred

September/October 2005 • Issue 276 PAGE THREE

Lion and subsequently began to recordfor Blue Note.

RVG: I had been recording for vari-ous independent jazz labels at the timeand had never met Alfred and I recordeda band for the musician called Gil Melle.He had a nice little band and came tome through this other label, I think it wasProgressive Records. Alfred acquiredthat record, he bought it and released thaton Blue Note as a 10" LP and then hewanted to make another one. At thattime, Alfred was going to a studio in NewYork which was incidentally also a radiostudio, WOR studio in New York, and theyhad a business of making their record-ing facilities available. So, that’s wereAlfred went and he took that album to theengineer there and he said, “I want it tosound like this.” So the engineer listenedto it and told Alfred, “Look, I can’t make itsound like that, you better go to the guywho did it.” So that’s what happened.Alfred came to me and stayed foreverafter.

CH: You have said that the RudyVan Gelder “sound” owes a lot to AlfredLion and the Blue Note legacy. Pleaseexplain how Blue Note had an impact onyour own development as an engineer.

RVG: In all honesty, I don’t want tosay that was the whole thing, but he wasa large part of it and most of it was hisconcept of how he wanted his ownrecords to sound and how he approachedthat and the task which he gave me tomake sure that I could get for him whathe wanted out of the musicians that hebrought in. So, in that way I was subjectto this on-going discipline. That formedthe foundation of what I did later for dif-ferent producers and different types ofmusic. Alfred was really the first clientwho became the foundation of a businessfor me. Every session he made I recordedfor him, so that label got a distinctive

RudyVan Gelder (left) at work, picturedwith Blue Note’s Alfred Lion at a record-ing session at New York’s Half Note in1960. Photo ©Mosaic Images

sound that way. There was a certainconsistency and the people who boughtthose records would look forward to whatwas coming next because they knew therecord would have a good sound. Themusicians were all of a certain caliberand he would get a good performanceout of them. So that’s all what blendedtogether to launch my adventure in thisthing.

CH: In a previous interview with me,you discussed how you tried to give eachlabel its own identity soundwise. With-out getting too specific or technical, ex-plain how you approached that and howyou approached the development of BlueNote’s sound.

RVG: I would like to modify some-thing of what you said, you say it’s “mysound”, really what it is is my feeling andmy approach to the musicians I’m record-ing at a particular session. I really don’tlike to think of it as being “my sound.”What I’m doing really is trying to let themusicians be heard the way they wantto be heard. What it really is is the musi-cians’ sound

Alfred [Lion] would be very meticu-lous, well-rehearsed, and he would comein and see that everything was going welland he knew what he was going to getbefore he came into the studio. Therewere other labels at that time where theproducers were much looser and theywould just come in and see how thingswent. And the musicians and the musicwould very much reflect that. There weretwo ways of looking at it and that’s re-flected in the way these records sound.The difference is in the producer. [Alfred]had a feeling for the music and when itwas working and when it wasn’t work-ing. He was very good at that. He knewwhen things were working. Now that’snot to say that the other producers didnot know. It’s just that he was the epitomeof that kind of producer. He understoodwhat was happening and actually work-ing with him all those years allowed meto understand what is happening andthat’s one of the things I’m always grate-ful to him for.

CH: How did the invention of stereoeffect your approach to recording jazz?

RVG: That was a problem for ev-eryone and not just me. There was noartistic rush to get into stereo from thepeople I worked for. They had to get intobecause they had to get into it. As amatter of fact, for quite awhile Alfred andothers too had to be making...this ispretty important that you understand this.They had to make two products from thesame session. They had to make a monorelease in order to have anyone buy itand they had to make a stereo releaseto make that available to people whowere buying stereo. And then of course

when the stereo LP came in there wasthis question of compatibility. Who wantsto buy two albums of the same music?You had to make both available and thatbecame very difficult so what happenedwas everything that was made inHackensack was mono. Even towardsthe very end when we were recordingtwo-track we weren’t listening in stereo.We were recording in two-track and wewere listening in mono because therewas only one speaker in Hackensack inthe control room and only one speakerin the studio. So how could you listen instereo when you only have one speaker?And all the judgments, Alfred’s judg-ments, as to mix and balance, and minetoo and the musicians too and how theysounded in relationship to each other,and all that during the creative part ofthose recordings was done in mono. Itcouldn’t be any other way. Towards theend we were running two-track sessionsbut no one had ever listened to them.So there was no particular attention orattempt at creating a stereo field at thattime.

CH: Please discuss your approachto the new Rudy Van Gelder Edition BlueNotes in terms of working with the ste-reo and mono tapes and deciding whichformat to use for the new master.

RVG: My approach was totally dif-ferent from what I had heard in the pre-vious CDs. This was first time I had anyopportunity to deal with those tapes.Once or twice they sent to me both themono and stereo versions, which I de-scribed to you a minute ago, and themono would sound much better for obvi-ous reasons, because no one who hadbeen involved in the creation of the origi-nal session had ever listened to stereo,but everyone had listened to mono. So Itried to convince them to release themono version even though it had previ-ously been issued as stereo because Ifelt that the mono version sounded as ifAlfred would have wanted it to be thatway. And that is really my goal here.However, there are plenty of albums inthis series that are in very good stereo.Until now no one has heard my versionof what these early recordings shouldsound like on CD.

CH: Tell us how this whole projectcame about for remastering the classicBlue Note albums.

RVG: The concept of it came fromHitoshi Namekata. He’s the one that runsthe Blue Note label in Japan for Toshiba-EMI. He wanted me to do it and he calledMichael Cuscuna and Michael called meto see if I was interested and it ended upthat absolutely I would be, just as longas I could get the original tapes when-ever possible. It had nothing to do withBlue Note New York other than Michael

September/October 2005 • Issue 276PAGE FOUR

Bonnie Raitt will be appearing at the PalaceTheatre Wednesday, October 12 at 7:30 pm.Her new album SOULS ALIKE will be releasedSeptember 13 on Capitol Records. Ticketsare on sale at the Playhouse Square TicketOffice; online at www.playhousesquare.comor by phone at 216-348-5271. Photo by SamJones courtesy of Capitol Records.

as a producer. Subsequently, there arefew issues being made in the UnitedStates. They are different. They have ex-tra tracks on them. You see, the conceptof this was to duplicate the original LPsas much as possible. They [Japan] didn’twant any of the out takes or none of theadditional tracks, they wanted it just as itwas issued originally. Of course, thatmade me feel even better.

CH: How long have you been en-gaged in this project?

RVG: I’ve made a hundred albumson this RVG series in Japan. I’ve alreadydone this. I’ve been working on this since1998 for the whole year of ’98 and nowI’m doing the second hundred, as op-posed to the relatively small amount forthe U.S. So you really can’t compare thetwo.

CH: Some have said that these newremasters possess a sound that is warmerand much more akin to the original vinyl.How do you feel about that?

RVG: I was so happy to hear you saythat because that’s my goal. I really wantit to sound like that because that’s whatAlfred heard. No one heard it off a CD. Iwant people to hear the music with thewarmth and the energy and all the thingsthat Alfred and Francis Wolff put into it. Ireally feel that I’m commissioned to dothat. I’m driven by that. That’s exactlywhat I’m trying to do and if someone saysthat then they understand what I’m tryingto do and that’s really gratifying.

Performance artist Laurie Anderson, returnsto Playhouse Square with her solo work“The End of the Moon,” for one 7:30 pmshow Sunday, November 6 in the PalaceTheatre. Tickets are on sale at the Play-house Square Ticket Office; online atwww.playhousesquare.com or by phone at216-348-5271 or 800-766-6048.

Rock & Roll Hall of Fameand Museum turns 10It has been 10 years now since the

Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Museumopened its doors at the foot of East 9thStreet in Downtown Cleveland. The veryunique I. M. Pei designed building hous-ing the Rock Hall is a now very familiarlandmark on the city’s coastal skyline.Since it opened in September, 1995 morethan 5 million people have visited theRock and Roll Hall - and most of themare from out of the area. Many of its visi-tors are from Europe and Asia, as well asall parts of North and South America.

It is estimated that the Rock Hall hasbeen responsible for injecting over $1-bil-lion into the Cleveland area’s economy inits 10 years. During that time the museumhas established itself as a unique andimportant cultural institution, as it fulfillsits mission not only to preserve, study andinterpret rock and roll and its impact onsociety, but also to be a top tourist desti-nation and economic driver in NortheastOhio.

To commemorate its 10th Anniver-sary, the Rock Hall is announcing plansto open a new Library and Archives inDecember 2007 at the Cuyahoga Com-munity College campus in downtownCleveland. The 18,000-square-foot facil-ity will be housed within the college’s newCenter for American Music and Record-ing Arts. In addition to the announcementof the new Library and Archives facility,

the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Mu-seum will also kick-off a year-long celebra-tion the weekend of September 24-25 withhalf-price admission and giveaways, in-cluding a trip for two to see the RollingStones perform live in Las Vegas. Overthe years, the Rock Hall has offered aplethora of exhibits, concerts, specialevents, traveling exhibitions, symposiumsand much, much more.

I recently went to a concert at themuseum’s intimate theatre featuring blueslegends David “Honeyboy” Edwards andAaron Moore. Both current Chicago resi-dents, “Honeyboy” and Moore both hailfrom Mississippi. Honeyboy was born in1915 and in 1942 folklorist Alan Lomaxcaught him on tape while doing field re-cording for the Library of Congress. Theguitarist/singer one is of the last of theoriginal acoustic Delta blues players.

Boogie Woogie pianist Moore is an-other one preserving a classic music style.Aaron is somewhere in the vicinity of 80himself, although his exact age seems tobe a something no one agrees on. Nomatter, these two guys, who performedboth separately and together, were a gasto experience. They broke up the perfor-mances with a bit of spoken word blueshistory via a question and answer sessionvery well conducted by the Rock Hall’sVice-President of Education and PublicPrograms Warren Zanes.

Michael Frank of Earwig Records alsocame along with them and played someharp. “Honeyboy” has a DVD out which

Shemekia Copeland will be appearing at FatFish Blue on Wednesday, October 12 at 8pm. Her new Alligator album THE SOULTRUTH has just been released and is re-viewed in this issue. For ticket information,call 216-875-6000, or visit online atwww.fatfishblue.com. Photo by LarryBusacca courtesy of Alligator Records

September/October 2005 • Issue 276

THE RUDY VAN GELDER EDITIONSTHE RUDY VAN GELDER EDITIONSTHE RUDY VAN GELDER EDITIONSTHE RUDY VAN GELDER EDITIONSTHE RUDY VAN GELDER EDITIONSFrom 1953 to 1967, Alfred Lion produced a body of work that ranks as the most innovative series of recordings in

modern jazz. Almost all of these masterpieces were documented by the extraordinary Rudy Van Gelder; a self-

taught engineer who more than set a new standard. Devoid of caution or timidity, he captured the full power and

rich sound of jazz ensembles with dazzling clarity. His contribution to the focused approach that Blue Note took at

every stage of any album was immeasurable. Decades later, Rudy agreed to take a second look at the original

recordings, bringing them into the digital domain with the same skill and focus. Blue Note has just released twelve more RVG

Editions. If you think you’ve heard these gems before, listen again.

Fuego, Donald Byrd Symphony for Improvisers, Don Cherry Music from ‘The Connection’, Freddie Redd The Big Beat, Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers

Sunday Morning, Grant Green Inventions & Dimensions, Herbie Hancock Oblique, Bobby Hutcherson Time for Tyner, McCoy Tyner

Boss Horn, Blue Mitchell Judgement, Andrew Hill Think!, Lonnie Smith At the Organ, Vol. 3, Jimmy Smith

Let Me Tell You ‘Bout It, Leo ParkerDown With It, Blue Mitchell

And Six More Coming September 13...That’s Where It’s At, Stanley Turrentine

Reach Out, Hank MobleyTurning Point, Lonnie Smith

The Sounds of Jimmy Smith, Jimmy Smith

Thelonious MonkQuartet withJohn ColtraneLive at Carnegie Hall

These newly-discovered sonically-pristine concert tapes from CarnegieHall in November 1957, found in the

Voice of America archives at the Libraryof Congress in Washington DC earlier

this year, capture 51-minutesof remarkable music from two legends

at the height of their powers.

Coming September 27

A Major Find on Blue Note...Never Before Released!

PAGE FIVE

September/October 2005 • Issue 276PAGE SIX

will be reviewed in the Holiday Gift Guidesection of our November-December issue.This concert was part of the museum’sLegends Series.

The Rock Hall also sponsors the Hallof Fame Series, which brings Hall of Fameinductees together with fans in an intimatesetting to discuss their careers and oftenperform.

In November plans are underway forthe 2005 installment of the annual Ameri-can Music Masters Series, an annual eventthat celebrates the lives and careers of rockand roll’s early influences. Previously fea-tured in the series, which began in 1996,were Woodie Guthrie, Jimmie Rodgers,Robert Johnson, Louis Jordan, MuddyWaters, Bessie Smith, Hank Williams andLead Belly. This year they will be celebrat-ing Sam Cooke, who was inducted into theRock and Roll Hall of Fame in the inaugu-ral class of 1986. This year the series willtake place the first week in November withconcerts on November 5 and 6 (details tobe announced soon).

The American Music Masters Seriesincludes a main concert, a series of smallerconcerts and educational programs, typi-cally with guest speakers, lectures, filmsand a symposium. Check outwww.rockhall.com for information as it isreleased. We will also have a good deal ofinfo in our November-December issue, sostay tuned for more details.

Happy birthday to the Rock & Roll Hallof Fame + Museum...and we wish themmany more to come! Bill Wahl

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Freddy Cole to perform for Fundraiser

Jazz singer Freddy Cole will performin A “New York Kind of Feeling,” the themefor the annual fundraiser for Access to theArts, a local nonprofit organization. The eventwill take place Saturday, November 5, at TheCountry Club, 2825 Lander Rd., Pepper Pike.Cocktails will be at 6:30 p.m. and dinner at7:30 p.m. Ticket price is $150 per person.

Call 440-423-1122 for reservations.Freddy, the younger brother of Nat

(King) Cole, and his trio will entertain in aNew York nightclub atmosphere during din-ner, singing a combination of jazz, blues andpop songs.

John Hellman, Diane Welsh, and JoanFountain, chairpersons, will organize the si-lent auction. Throughout the year, Access tothe Arts provides art and entertainment tothe elderly and the ill with quality live perfor-mances and radio broadcasts.

New Release blues... . I hope ev-eryone had a great summer and enjoyedthe many blues festivals across the land.As fall comes, it’s time to pick up the CDsthat will get you through the wintermonths. Here’s what’s on tap for yourearly fall listening enjoyment: FloydDixon- Fine! Fine! Thing!; Jimmy “T99”Nelson- The Legend; North MississippiAllstars- Electric Blue Watermelon;Bobby Rush- Night Fishin’; AngelaStrehli-Blue Highway; Blues Traveler-Bastardios!; Eric Burdon- It’s My Life;B.B. King- 80; Bonnie Raitt- SoulsAlike; Duke Robillard- A SpecialEvening with and Friends (DVD); BuddyGuy- Bring ‘Em In; The Detroit Cobras-Baby; Bettye LaVette- Own Hell ToRaise; Houston Person- All Soul;Champion Jack Dupree with TSMcPhee- Dupree ‘N’ McPhee; The 1967Blue Horizon Session; Johnny “Guitar”Watson- What The Hell Was That- TheFunk Anthology; Jimmy Witherspoon-Plus; Jimmy Smith- The Sounds Of;Hubert Sumlin- Blues Party; HubertSumlin- Healing Feeling; Dr. John- Liveat Montreux 1995/1986; Big MamaThornton- In Europe; Charles Brown &Friends- Greatest Christmas Hits; WillieDixon- Boss of t he Chicago Blues; Mis-sissippi John Hurt- D.C. Blues- The Li-brary of Congress Recordings, Vol. 2;Snooks Eaglin- New Orleans StreetSinger; The Siegel- Schwall Band-Flash Forward; Delbert McClinton- TheCost of Living; Magic Slim & the Tear-drops- Anything Can Happen; ElvinBishop- Getting’ My Groove Back;Duwayne Burnside & the MississippiMafia- Under Pressure; Louisiana Red-No Turn on Red; Tab Benoit-Voice of theWetlands... And the winner is... . Liv-

By Mark Smith

ing Blues Magazine has announced theresults of the 2005 Living Blues Awards.The readers took the following to the top:B.B. King- Male Blues Artist of the year;Etta James- Female Blues Artist of theyear; Bobby Rush- Best Blues Album of2004 (New Recording)- Folk Funk; PercyMayfield- Best Blues Album of 2004 (His-torical Recording)- His Tangerine andAtlantic Sides; Charlie Musselwhite-Most Outstanding Musician- Harmonica;Bobby Rush- Best Live performer; AlvinYoungblood Hart- Most OutstandingMusician- Guitar; Ray Charles- MostOutstanding Blues Singer; PinetopPerkins- Most Outstanding Musician-piano. Meanwhile, in the other corner,here’s what the critics had to say: Rob-ert Lockwood, Jr- Male Blues Artist ofthe Year; Mavis Staples- Female BluesArtist of the year; Carey Bell- Most Out-standing Musician- Harmonica; JodyWilliams- Most Outstanding Musician-Guitar; Etta James- Most OutstandingBlues Singer; Pinetop Perkins- MostOutstanding Musician- piano; MavisStaples- Comeback Artist of the Year;Big James Montgomery- Most Out-standing Musician- horns; Bobby Rush-Best Live performer; Willie Kent- MostOutstanding Musician- bass; Sam Carr-Most Outstanding Musician- drums;Chuck Campbell- Most OutstandingMusician- other-pedal steel guitar;Gatemouth Brown- Best Album of theYear (New Recording)- Timeless; ;Percy Mayfield- Best Blues Album of2004 (Historical Recording)- His Tanger-ine and Atlantic Sides... . RIP blues... .Blues Guitarist Little Milton tragicallypassed away last month after a stroke.Milton, who was riding high on thestrength of his new release, Think of Me,was one of the best selling blues artistsof the 60’s with such classics as TheBlues Are Alright, We’re Gonna Make It,Feel So Bad, If Walls Could Talk andBaby I Love You. Well, that’s it for thismonth. See Ya!

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September/October 2005 • Issue 276 PAGE SEVEN

WWWWWe only bring you the Cream of the Crop!e only bring you the Cream of the Crop!e only bring you the Cream of the Crop!e only bring you the Cream of the Crop!e only bring you the Cream of the Crop!

THELONIOUS MONK QUARTETWITH JOHN COLTRANE

At Carnegie HallBLUE NOTE

When I first heard this newly-found recording of Monk & Tranewas coming, I was indeed a bit skeptical. Remembering an album12 years ago of Monk & Trane live at the 5 Spot issued on BlueNote, my skepticism is no wonder. That was an amateur record-ing at best. In my review of that album I ended with “ I can stronglyrecommend this disc to those who collect music by either artist,but others who are just beginning collections should take heed ofthe sound limitations and should weigh that aspect into your pur-chase consideration, if, in fact, sound quality is even a factor ofsuch decisions. For those whose philosophy is that music out-weighs all else - there is plenty of it to feast on here.”

Well...you need not worry about any of that here.The tapes with the Monk/Trane portion of a concert Thanks-

giving Eve in 1957 were recently discovered at the Library ofCongress in Washington D.C. earlier this year. The concert wasrecorded by Voice of America for a radio broadcast. The amazingpart is that these are indeed pristine tapes with amazingly clearand balanced sound quality. Also on the bill that night was BillieHoliday, Dizzy Gillespie, Ray Charles, Chet Baker-Zoot Sims andSonny Rollins. What a night!

Monk had been working with his quartet, including Coltraneon tenor sax with Ahmed Abdul-Malik/bass and Shadow Wilson/drums, for four months at New York’s Five Spot Café. By thisnight in November the band was in top form, and that is certainlyin evidence (no pun intended) throughout this just-under-an-hourlong concert. The program consists mostly of Monk originals(and that’s a good thing) including “Monk’s Mood,” Evidence,”Crepuscule with Nellie,” “Nutty,” “Epistrophy” and “Blue Monk.”The 9-1/2 minute version of the standard “Sweet and Lovely” isanother big gem. The concert closes with an incomplete secondversion of “Epistrophy “

Other than three studio tracks for Riverside and the abovementioned live Five-Spot amateur recordings, this is the only otherrecorded document of this historically important quartet. Andbelieve me, all the hype about the pristine recording quality is in

fact no hype at all...it is fact.It is the rare treat like this release that makes me realize how

much fun this job still is after 31 years. Get ready to scoop thisone up immediately when it is released September 27! Bill Wahl

SHEMEKIA COPELANDThe Soul Truth

ALLIGATORWhen a talented artist gets to compile a goodly-sized body of

work, the chances increase that one or maybe several offeringswill emerge as landmark works.

The Soul Truth looks to be one of the crown jewels in Ms.Copeland’s catalog. A powerful twelve-song set with not a slouchamong them, this disc not only holds Copeland’s primo perfor-mances but also stands a testimonial to the second phase of soulmusic’s greatest era. Songs such as “All About You”, “You Can’tHave That” and “Uptown Line” evoke in sound and spirit the firsthalf of the 70’s; an era not yet drowned by disco and abundantwith soul tunes energized by waves of social change. African-Americans found new expression in those times and female art-ists often waved the twin flags of racial and sexual equality. And,oh yeah, the music was killer, too.

The classic production, provided by Steve Cropper, evokesthe best of vintage works by singers like Candi Staton, Ann Peeblesand Betty Wright. Copeland is full-throttle throughout as each ofher workouts seems to best the one before it. Smart program-mers will jump on this one as well should listeners. This will standas one of Ms. C’s very best. Just buy it. Duane VerhCatch Shemekia Copeland live at Fat Fish Blue Wed., Oct. 12

September/October 2005 • Issue 276PAGE EIGHT

ELLA FITZGERALD &LOUIS ARMSTRONG

For LoversVERVE

For Lovers features an 11-tune com-pilation from three reissued CDs originallyrecorded during the 1950s by two legends,vocalist Ella Fitzgerald and vocalist-trum-peter Louis Armstrong.

This album launches with the lightlyswinging classic, “The Nearness of You,”a 1956 recording with pianist OscarPeterson, guitarist Herb Ellis, bassist RayBrown and drummer Buddy Rich, ex-tracted from the Verve recording, Ella andLouis. From that same August 16 session,the compilation team includes gems suchas “Stars Fell On Alabama,” “Under ABlanket of Blue,” “Moonlight in Vermont,”“Isn’t This A Lovely Day?,” and “Tenderly.”

One of two tunes extracted from Ellaand Friends (recorded in 1950 and 1951),“Dream A Little Dream With Me,” per-formed with the Sy Oliver Orchestra, ranksamong the best of this compilation. Ofthree numbers selected from the July 1957dates on Ella and Louis Again, most en-joyable are Louie’s bluesy, seductive takeon “Let’s Do It” and their collaboration on“Autumn In New York.” The original re-cordings were produced by either MiltGabler or Norman Granz.

Although Ella’s sweet melodiousvoice at times seems disparate againstLouie’s gruff, gravely singing and Louie’strumpet playing takes a back seat to theirvocals, this album is a nostalgic trip. Nancy Ann Lee

JIMMY “T-99” NELSONThe LegendNETTIE MARIE

Vocalist Jimmy Nelson was a found-ing member of the late 40’s-early 50’sOakland blues scene alongside artistssuch Lowell Fulsom and Ivory Joe Hunter,cutting a number of singles for West Coastlabels.

These days he’s a globe-trotting fes-tival favorite sporting a honey-and-gravelvoice and an aura of geniality. Supportedhere by Roomful Of Blues alumni includ-ing Duke Robillard, Sugar Ray Norcia andtrombonist/producer Carl Querfurth, Ol’T-99 fronts a rhythm-plus-horns bluessession that conjures the sound and moodof those cut by artists such as BobbyBland for Duke.

And if the Nelson originals that pre-vail here are sometimes pedestrian in

content, the overall atmosphere and theleader’s “frontin’” abilities carry the day.A bona-fide good-time disc.

If you can’t find this one in the stores,try www.jimmyt99nelson.com.

Duane Verh

EDDIE PALMIERILISTEN HERE!

CONCORD PICANTEOne of the foremost Latin-jazz pia-

nists, Eddie Palmieri celebrates 50 yearsin music with this 10-tune album, histhird Concord Picante release (followingLa Perfecta II and Ritmo Caliente). Hecontributed six original tracks for thisJanuary 2005 New York studio date andarranged four jazz classics, all with thesoloists in mind.

Palmieri leads his Afro-CarribbeanJazz Octet, featuring trumpeter BrianLynch, trombonists Conrad Herwig andDoug Beavers, alto saxist DonaldHarrison, bassist John Benitez, drummerHoracio “El Negro” Hernandez andconga player Giovanni Hidalgo. Guestartists Michael Brecker (tenor sax),Regina Carter (violin), Christian McBride(bass), Nicholas Payton (trumpet),David Sanchez (alto sax) and JohnScofield (guitar) add much to this ener-getic outing.

Performing in settings from to ten-musician ensemble, these musiciansmake this one of Palmieri’s most excit-ing and vibrant Latin-jazz recordings.The ensemble creates dense sheets ofsound interspersed with fine soloing andhorn section forays, especially on oneof the hottest tracks, Palmieri’s “Vals ConBata.” It’s full of color and thrust, throb-bing rhythms and blaring horn sectionchoruses. Palmieri’s arrangement re-freshes “Tin Tin Deo,” going for the rootson the Chano Pozo classic. A dense or-chestral version of Horace Silver’s“Nica’s Dream” features Carter, brassand horn soloists and great section work.His core band totally remakesThelonious Monk’s “In Walked Bud” asa rousing Latinate tune. The fiery titletrack by Eddie Harris is performed in arousing quintet featuring Brecker’stenorisms as well as contributions fromPalmieri, McBride, Hernandez andHidalgo. Respite from the brassy, ar-ranged numbers are the brief duo treat,“Tema Para Eydie,” best spotlightingPalmieri’s robust piano chops andBenitez’s basslines and the melodiousballad, “La Gitana,” performed as a trio

with Palmieri, Scofield and Benitez.Able to fuse rhythms of his Puerto

Rican roots with jazz influences madePalmieri a hit in the 1950s and ‘60s whenhe played New York’s Palladium Ball-room and he is still capturing world-wideaudiences, now with seven GrammyAwards behind him. This album is oneof Palmieri’s recent best and it wouldn’tsurprise me if he grabs another Grammy.

Nancy Ann Lee

OTIS TAYLORBelow The Fold

TELARCOtis Taylor says his music is trance

blues and that’s about as good a tag asanything I an come up with, althoughsome would argue it isn’t blues in theconventional sense.

Below The Fold is his third releasefor Telarc and it is a mix of blues-themedsongs with a humming riff in the back-ground, much like a sonic microwaveput to music. Since Taylor uses banjoas one of his non-blues instruments onhis releases, some of his tunes wanderoff into the same material Tony Trischkais doing with his progressive bluegrassbanjo, which isn’t that much of a jump.

While banjo is the main instrumentin a lot of Below The Fold, Ron Miles’trumpet gets major spotlights includingputting the riff in “Right Side Of Heaven,”as drummer Greg Anton puts in the beat.Futoshi Morioka welds some sharp leadguitar into “Didn’t Know Much AboutEducation,” as Ben Sollee’s cello andRayna Gellert’s fiddle make the back-drop for “Government Lied,” an interest-ing tale of German soldiers executingblack and white U.S. soldiers in Belgiumduring World War 2. The twist is theGermans were only prosecuted for kill-ing the white soldiers.

We have to mention the bassist here,since it is Taylor’s daughter Cassie. Withhelp from Morioka’s guitar, she getseveryone’s full attention on “Working ForThe Pullman Company” by going intoher best “little girl” voice to sing a tale ofwaiting for her Dad to come home fromhis railroad job that day. It’s sad andpoignant, all in one shot.

In newspaper jargon, “below thefold” is the part of the front page youcan’t see in the newspaper box when youwalk by it.

The title here is a misnomer becausea lot of Below The Fold is front pagenews in itself. Peanuts

September/October 2005 • Issue 276 PAGE NINE

CHARLIE HADEN LIBERATION MUSIC ORCHESTRA

Not In Our NameVERVE

Charlie Haden serves up another masterpiece with this discof music from mostly American composers—Ornette Coleman,Pat Metheny, Samuel Barber, and Bill Frisell. Haden reunites withCarla Bley, the primary arranger, conductor and co-producerwith Haden and his wife, Ruth Cameron. The orchestra featuresbassist Haden and pianist Bley, with Chris Cheek and Tony Malabyon tenor saxes, Miguen Zenon on alto, Seneca Black and MichaelRodriguez on trumpet, Curtis Folkes on trombone, Ahnee SharonFreeman on French horn, Joe Daley on tuba, Steve Cardenason guitar and Matt Wilson on drums.

Best among the eight selections is a robust four-part med-ley, “America the Beautiful,” a nearly 17-minute foray that in-cludes two versions of the title tune as well as “Lift Every Voiceand Sing” and Coleman’s “Skies of America.” The medley couldbecome a political statement. It begins with staunch intent andends with cacophonous chaos before it resolves to the maintheme. Another highlight is the Orchestra’s take on the tradi-tional tune, “Amazing Grace,” which gets a pleasing blended-horns remake that sounds real down home bluesy and spot-lights various soloists, including Haden. The Orchestra also of-fers a satisfying version of “Goin’ Home,” from the Largo ofAntonin Dvorak’s New World Symphony.

There are some moments, especially in the melody heads,where the arrangements start out a tad hackneyed (read, his-toric), but when the soloists break out, the tunes become totallyrefreshing to hear. One of the best examples is on “Lift EveryVoice and Sing,” which is transformed beginning with Daley’stuba solo.

This is a very listenable concept album for fans of ar-ranged music, followers of Haden, and admirers of Carla Bley’simprint. Nancy Ann Lee

THE SIEGEL-SCHWALL BANDFlash Forward

ALLIGATORThose who have enjoyed the good-timey atmosphere and

the quirkier moments generated on Corky Siegel’s Chamber Bluesrecordings should get an even larger kick from this return of theSiegel-Schwall band to disc. The fellas cut up, get loose and ingeneral conjure a mood that recalls the confluence of blues, folkand jug-band vibes of the early revivalist 60’s. The fare is mostlylight-hearted and energized particularly by Siegel’s inspired-sound-ing harp work and the signature deep-blues drumming of Chi-cago blues survivor Sam Lay. Lay’s five feature tunes are thestrongest vocal showings as well.

Flash Forward blends the authority of veteran players withremarkably youthful vitality and attitude. A nice effort.

Duane Verh

MOJO STUReal House Blues

MUDBONEIn the tradition of rascals such as John Mooney and Preacher

Boy, Mojo Stu has fashioned acoustic blues into a unique andpersonal vehicle. Not afraid to couch his core sound of steel-bodied guitar and burly, congenial vocals in cushions of drummachines, soulful backup choruses and occasional syntheticskronks, Stu injects a vitality and individual character into tradi-tional form and makes a whole lot of fun music in the bargain.This is an “up” session of originals that will likely stick with youonce you’ve given it a chance. Stu is a one-man streetcornerband for the new century and it’s worth the effort to run this discdown. Duane Verh

SEAN JONESGemini

MACK AVENUE On his 13-tune follow-up to his debut CD, Eternal Journey,

27-year-old Warren, Ohio-born trumpeter Sean Jones taps thetalents of pianist Mulgrew Miller, bassist Kenny Davis, reedistTia Fuller, keyboardist Orrin Evans, tenor saxmen Ron Blakeand Walter Smith III, trombonist Andre Hayward, and drummersE.J. Strickland and Cory Rawls.

Hard bop is still Jones’ domain, yet best among the seven

originals he contributes to this session titled for his astrologicalsign are a fun-filled blues romp (“Blues for Matt B”) with hisfront-line players, a contemporary soul-jazz ballad (“Chillin’ atda Grill”) featuring Evans on electric piano and an atonal elec-tric backbeat number, “T.V. Land.” Other tunes on this sessionare by Fuller, Evans, Davis, Rowls, and Quamon Fowler.

date are his fluid chops, imagination, and a broad compo-sitional palette that includes acoustic swing, acid jazz, funk, R&Band gospel. He extracts the best from his colleagues and sparklesin the spotlight on solos. This is an ear-pleasing album that showsJones’ growth and promise. Nancy Ann Lee

APPEARING AT FAT FISH BLUE WED, OCT. 12

September/October 2005 • Issue 276PAGE TEN

JUDITH OWENLost and Found

COURGETTE/ADA/WARNER MUSIC GROUPThe word “chanteuse” has been tossed around a lot lately

when describing female singers in publicity material accompa-nying their CDs. Properly defined, Chanteuse is a actually aFrench word for a female singer, especially one who sings innightclubs and cabarets. And for many of us, or at least to me,the word also evokes thoughts of one who is sultry and mesmer-izing. So while the word chanteuse in this sense does not fit thatmany of today’s female singers, it does fit Judith Owen.

This is the fifth CD for the Welsh-born Owen, but I believe it isthe first to get national distribution, and it is the first I’ve heard ofher. Our regular readers probably know that we do not review awhole lot of singers, and I personally review very few. But as withLizz Wright recently, I found this to be an extremely intriguing setof music.

Opening with “Smoke on the Water,” Owen takes a song bythe early heavy metal band Deep Purple and twists it completelyaround coming up with a lounge jazz version that should be a hitin the European lounge music scene. She follows with an original,“Emily,” which certainly brings to mind Joni Mitchell while Owenretains her own personal stamp. Judith is a singer/pianist/songwriter and most of the songs here are hers. All are very wellwritten compositions with quite meaningful lyrics.

One of the other covers is a version of the Police tune “Walk-ing On The Moon,” again twisted well away from the original ver-sion. She also does two standards, “Night and Day” and “TheseFoolish Things.” The sparse accompaniment also adds to thesmoky mood. On some tracks Owen’s voice and piano are heardonly with bass, some plus light strings or second vocalists.

The album does sport some notable guests. ‘Keb’ Mo playssteel guitar an “Train out of Hollywood (another that brings Jonito mind), Tom Scott adds sax and flute to “Sky High,” guitaristRichard Thompson, who Owen has worked with, is heard on “Nightand Day” and Cassandra Wilson adds a second vocal to “Enough.”

This is simply a wonderful album blending jazz with smalldoses of rock, folk and blues with great success. It is one of thefew treats in the onslaught of female jazz singers hurled at usrecently. It will be released nationwide on September 13. A chan-teuse indeed...check it out. Bill Wahl

Catch Judith Owen live at Wilbert’s downtown Friday, Sep-tember 16.

HARRISON KENNEDYVoice StoryBLACK & TAN

Drawing upon blues, soul and r&b roots, and unafraidto shift gears from heavy to light and back, Detroit-bred vocal-ist/guitarist Harrison Kennedy lays out one of the more enter-taining and meaty acoustic-based sets in recent times. Good-timey blues, complete with kazoo, bump up against smolderingRobert Cray-like fare, searing calls for racial justice and church-steeped soul that evokes departed street-singer Ted Hawkins.

Kennedy was crossing black genres with the chart-busting70’s Detroit group, Chairmen Of The Board. He sang lead ontheir eponymous hit which dared inject blues harmonica intoclassic Motor City r&b production. His powerhouse vocals fit thevaried moods and range of Voice Story as needed. The minimalaccompaniment is equally varied and well chosen. Periodically

discs show up that blow some urgently needed fresh air into thescene. This is one of those. Duane Verh

VARIOUS ARTISTSSwing Around the WorldPUTUMAYO WORLD MUSIC

A compilation of various Swing groups from around the world,this 12-tune album delivers dance party music featuring musi-cians from Zimbabwe, Mauritius, the USA, Italy, France, Hawaiiand Greece.

Among the most fun tracks is the Oscar Peterson Trio withClark Terry singing his trademark, “Mumbles.” Other USA groupsfeatured are the Squirrel Nut Zippers (“Pallin’ With Al”), andJambalaya Cajun Band (“Hey Rock”). Duke Heitger and his SwingBand (“Swing Pan Alley”) features trumpeter Heitger (originallyfrom Toledo, Ohio) playing a hot muted trumpet on the jumpin’number.

The Paris-born Romane, a devotee of Django Reinhardt, of-fers an original swing composition, “Gypsy Fire,” which soundsjust like the collaborations of Django and Stephane Grappelli inthe famous Quintet due Hot Club de France.

Toe-tapping highlights. No matter what language the lyrics,the music is first-rate from beginning to end. A 35-page bookletfeaturing a photo and biograph on each band (in English, Span-ish, French) enhances this compilation disc.

A portion of proceeds will be donated to the National DanceInstitute, a USA arts organization that inspires children with dis-tinctive dance programs. For more information, visitwww.putumayo.com. Nancy Ann Lee

TAJ MAHALThe Essential Taj Mahal

COLUMBIA/LEGACYThis two Cd set will take you on a retrospective journey through

the career of one of America’s more diverse musicians –Taj Mahal.From the opening track, a 1967 version of Sleepy John Estes’“Leaving Trunk” on through 35 more songs before closing theset, Taj lends his stamp to quite a variety of compositions andstyles. Although Taj wrote close to half of the tracks, he coverssongs by such very different writers as Willie McTell, Bob Marley,Carole King, and Horace Silver.

As this set taps into his vast recordings for Columbia as wellas his output for Private music, you’ll pretty much hear differentmusicians on every track. And some of them are quite diverse aswell, such as Ry Cooder/guitar & mandolin, Al Kooper/piano,Howard Johnson/tuba, Eric Clapton and vocalists Hall & Oates,Sheryl Crow and the Pointer Sisters.

Some of the more unique tracks include “Texas Woman Blues”with Taj on vocals and upright bass accompanied only by thePointer Sisters. Then, the next song, “Cakewalk Into Town,” fea-tures Taj, the Pointers and Johnson on tuba. He takes a reggaeturn on Marley’s Slave Driver” and delves into jazz on Silver’s“Senor Blues.” He follows that with “The New Hula Blues,” wherethe instrumentation is National dobro guitar, Hawaiian Steel Gui-tar, tenor, Liliu and baritone ukuleles, slack key guitar, bass anddrums.

The last song, a 2005 rendition of the traditional “John Henry,”is a very tasty guitar duet with Etta Baker.

A fine sampling of the entire career of Taj Mahal, and a per-fect way to revisit for his old followers as well as a concise educa-tion for new fans. Bill Wahl

September/October 2005 • Issue 276 PAGE ELEVEN

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ROBERT GLASPERCanvas

BLUE NOTEPianist-composer Robert Glasper

makes his Blue Note debut (street dateOctober 4) leading a trio through mostlyoriginals performed with bassist VicenteArcher and Damion Reid. Guesting ontwo tunes each are Mark Turner (tenorsax) and Bilal (vocals).

Glasper and his side team serve upa melodious, tight 10-tune mainstreamset that’s ear-pleasing from start to fin-ish. He shows passion and imaginationat the keys and his original tunes dem-onstrate his ability to write lasting stuff.Highlights include the energetic, time-switching, sonorous “Jelly’s Da Beener,”which really shows off Glasper’s chops;the pulsating “Chant,” a mystical trionumber that features Bilal’s Middle East-ern vocal stylings and creative contri-butions from all. The only tune not aGlasper original, Herbie Hancock’s“Riot,” features Glasper on FenderRhodes and Turner augments with fluidtenorisms.

Glasper was raised in Houston,Texas and first-inspired by his motherwho played piano, sang gospel music inchurch and led a band that played thejazz-blues club circuit. He attendedHouston’s High School for the Perform-ing Arts and Manhattan’s New School.

His first album, Mood, was released in2003 on the Fresh Sound New Talentlabel.

It’s apparent not only from the al-bum title but from the array of diverseoriginals that 26-year-old Glasper capa-bly creates color ful soundscapes.Equally talented at composing and per-forming, Glasper’s definitely a youngtalent deserving of wider exposure.

Nancy Ann Lee

SISTA MONICA PARKERCan’t Keep A Good Woman Down

MO MUSCLE RECORDSOne of the most impressive blues

performers of the past decade has beenSista Monica Parker. She certainly canbelt out a vocal, but also can powerfullydeliver a lyric without raising her voice,and she has always has terrific bandssupporting her. Word that she had over-come serious health issues was certainlywelcomed by knowing blues fans and shehas another superb new recording on herMo Muscle label

In addition to her regular band, an-chored by Danny B. Ceconcini on key-boards and with guest appearances byLarry McCray and Chris Cain on guitar,she presents us with a program of 11originals (well, one is a James Brownadaptation) and two covers to show thatthe “lioness of the blues” is back and as

strong and supple a singer as ever.The title track and the closing, It’s

Good to Be Alive, obviously relate to herovercoming the recent health problems.Cookin’ With Grease is a rocking, funkynumber that has her recall her musicalroots and lets folks know that when thegroove is right, you really are “cookingwith grease,” while Put It in the Crock Potis a funky tribute to James Brown andthe JB’s that the Godfather would likelyappreciate. Both Willie Nelson’s FunnyHow Time Slips Away and Sam Cooke’sA Change Is Gonna Come, have been re-corded extensively. Her performance ofthe Cooke classic is solid but she reallyputs more of her stamp on Funny, withher superb delivery of the lyric. Of coursesongs like the rocking, Show Me WhatYou’re Working With, Put Your MoneyWhere Your Mouth Is, The Truth and TheBigger They Are the Harder They Fall,

September/October 2005 • Issue 276PAGE TWELVE

certainly represent what Solomon Burke once described as “thewoman of today” who doesn’t take nonsense from her partner.This is not to say that Sista Monica cannot be romantic as shecaresses the lyric of Leave the Door Open and Surrender toLove.

Sista Monica is as compelling a vocalist as anyone in theblues today and with this disc has added to her substantialbody of recordings. This will be among my favorites of the yearand is highly recommended. Ron Weinstock

BILL RANSOMGenerations

BONGO TIME PRODUCTIONSAdding to Cleveland’s place in jazz history, drummer Bill

Ransom assembles some of the best local musicians for his spec-tacular self-produced, 10-tune debut CD as leader.

Joining him in the diverse array of tunes by Pat Metheney(“John McKee”), Chick Corea (“Armando’s Rumba”), MilesDavis (“Solar”), John Patitucci (“Backwoods”), Tony Williams(“Sister Cheryl”), Kenny Kirkland (“Dienda”), Jaco Pastorius(“3 Views of a Secret”) and others, are bassist Glenn Holmes,reeds man Ken Leegrand, pianists Phill Jones (8 tracks) andJackie Warren (2 tracks), trumpeter Theodore Croker (4 tracks),and guitarist David Baker (1 track).

There’s a lot to like about this album. As one would expect,the selections give Ransom opportunities to show off his traps/percussive artistry and leadership skills, but not in ways thatovershadow contributions from his team mates, especially giftedveterans Holmes and Leegrand.

This is a tastefully conceived, melodic album featuring ex-citing time shifts, appealing textures and a multitude of percus-sive colors, as well as plenty of pleasant surprises. For example,“Solar” is performed as an Afro-Cuban jaunt spiked by Ransom’stalents on hand drums and percussion instruments, underneathLeegrand’s soprano sax solo and a trumpet-tenor sax chorus.Ransom gives “Backwoods” and outdoorsy feel with a variety ofshaken instruments under Holmes’ bass solo and Leegrand’slovely soloing. One of the most beautiful tunes is the trio finaleof the Leonard Bernstein ballad, “Some Other Time,” which fea-tures Warren’s light tickling of the ivories, Ransom’s soft brush-work and Holmes’ spaciously plucked lines.

Largely influenced by Tony Williams, Ransom has workedwith contemporary jazz saxophonists Najee and Marion Mead-ows, trumpeter Cecil Bridgewater and flutists James Newton.He continues to perform with pianist Eric Gould’s trio, whichwhom he’s recorded. Ransom teaches classical percussion andis percussion director at the Cleveland Music School Settlement.

At last word, Ransom was putting all the elements togetherto attain national distribution for this first-rate album. Here’s hop-ing Cleveland-based Ransom garners well-deserved widest no-tice for his talents as well as for assembling such a capable sideteam. Nancy Ann Lee

Over 2,500 CD & DVD Reviews

At Your Fingertips!www.jazz-blues.com

RENEE’ AUSTINRIGHT ABOUT LOVE

BLIND PIGWith eleven mostly self–penned tracks to showcase her

stunning voice Renee’ Austin’s sophomore effort on Blind Pigis a glorious trip through road house rock, gospel, western swingand Memphis style blues.

Hitting the ground running with the kick butt rocker, Mouthof the Delta, Austin quickly downshifts into a lower gear withthe soul infused groover, Harder Than it Has To Be. She thenslows things down even further with Right About Love which isa tender ballad that allows the richness of her voice to work itsway into your heart. Just when get all misty eyed about thepromise of love, Austin kicks back into her house rocker modewith the scorching reminder that you can’t take your belong-ings with you when you’re done here, U-Haul. After finishingthat off she romps through a gospel fueled kiss off directed atan ex-lover, Thank You Card , a 70’s rocker, Meant To Be, aswampy cover of Bobbie Gentry’s Bugs which would evoke asmile on the face of any CCR fan and even a cover of the ArthurCrudup classic That’s All Right.

She showcases the lushness of her voice again on Strang-ers On a Train which has an urbane Dinah Washington feel andon the Western Swing inspired Mister Cowboy which couldtumble off a kd lang disc. What really sets Austin apart fromvirtually all her peers is the immense versatility of her voice.Her slow numbers are rich and nuanced, her gospel and swingnumbers are nimble and her rockers are throaty and powerful.

While any number of singers can work their way through agood ballad or power their way to the front of a stomping rocker,very few can do both as well as Austin Pick this up and treatyourself to a terrific vocal showcase by an artist who clearlyhas a bright future ahead of her. Mark Smith

FRANK MORGANRaising the Standard

(Live at the Jazz Standard Volume 2)HIGHNOTE

Alto saxophonist Frank Morgan’s first HighNote disc, CityNights, met with rave reviews last year and served up trea-sured standards by Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, JohnColtrane and others. While City Nights didn’t completely docu-ment his three-day 2003 gig at the Standard, this nine-tunedisc—also featuring pianist George Cables, bassist CurtisLundy and drummer Billy Hart—captures some excellent ad-ditional moments and is just as likely to garner extensive criti-cal acclaim.

Morgan opens with a lush version of “Polka Dots andMoonbeams,” a five-minute take that shows what each of thesemusicians is capable of under Morgan’s leadership. He’s in-spirational and his warm, woody, fluid expressions grab yourattention. He and his empathetic team are adroit at reinvent-ing warhorse standards such as “Footprints,” “Nefertiti,” “Don’tGet Around Much Anymore,” “Old Folks,” “In A SentimentalMood” and other gems. Cables has collaborated with Morganfor more than two decades and that familiarity pays off intheir telepathic interactions.

It’s great to hear the 71-year-old Morgan excel with suchsplendid imagination and energy in this diverse live-recordedperformance that includes boppers, ballads, swing and blues.Morgan’s surely had more than his share of hard knocks since

September/October 2005 • Issue 276

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the release of his eponymous 1955 album. Three decadeswould pass before he re-emerged on the scene in 1985 afterhis absence due to drug addiction and a series of imprison-ments. He cut 14 discs between 1985 and 1996, when hesuffered a stroke. To go through all of that and come back insuch impressive form as you’ll hear, is a testament to his tal-ents and his perseverance. If you don’t already own Volume1, you’ll want to. Nancy Ann Lee

KENNY “BLUES BOSS” WAYNELet It Loose

ELECTRO-FI RECORDSKicking things off with the high energy Blackberry Wine,

which takes more than a little inspiration from the oft coveredChicken Shack Boogie, Kenny “Blues Boss” Wayne ripsthrough thirteen cuts of piano driven boogie woogie and blues.

With stylistic nods to Roosevelt Sykes, Professor Longhair,Amos Milborn and Jay McShann, Wayne takes the listenerthrough New Orleans second line rhythms and ample dosesof Kansas City inspired Swing. While the bulk of the materialfavors a mid-tempo groove, Wayne slows things way downfor the slinky cover of Milborn’s Bewildered and his ownthoughtful ballad, Wishing Well. A tasty slice of soul bluesmakes an appearance in the form of Blues Carry Me Home.

Those looking for something to crank their party to thenext level should head straight to the title cut which augmentsWayne’s fleet fingered keyboard work with greasy saxophone.Overall, the disc is a nice break from guitar driven blues.

Mark Smith

DAVID “FATHEAD” NEWMANI Remember Brother Ray

HIGH NOTEWith David “Fathead” Newman’s tribute to his departed

friend and former boss and patron, he closes a circle or sorts. Itwas in 1959 that the soulful tenor great stepped away from hischair in Ray Charles’ band at the leader’s behest with his solodebut for Atlantic-

Fathead: Ray Charles Presents David Newman. WhileNewman has often waxed sides of the r&b persuasion over hiscareer, his new disc is a straight-ahead small-group jazz datefeaturing mellow renderings of tunes associated with the late,great Charles. The songlist is as nicely executed as it is predict-able, highlighted with favorites such as “Georgia”, “Hit The RoadJack” and “Ruby”. And Newman is predictably at his best onthe blues as evidenced by Brother Ray’s standout track, “DrownIn My Own Tears”. Vibist Steve Nelson most often spells the saxman with his own workmanlike choruses.

The material here is familiar enough to spur airplay which,hopefully, will spur success in the marketplace. Both are well-deserved. Duane Verh

CHRIS BEARDLIVE WIRE!

NORTHERNBLUESSon of blues guitarist Joe Beard, Live Wire! is the third

release from his up and coming heir apparent Chris, in spite ofthe title being a tad on the misleading side. The critic’s truth-in-advertising law makes me add that only half the disc wasrecorded live at a couple gigs in Michigan and Chicago while

PAGE THIRTEEN

September/October 2005 • Issue 276PAGE FOURTEEN

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the other half was done at a studio inBeard’s hometown of Rochester, NewYork.

“Ten Toes Up” pretty well illustrateswhat the live tunes are about, a mix ofR&B funk with sax support via QuinnLawrence. “It’s About Time” takes amore loping route to get to the heart ofthe matter, thanks to the whirling B-3work of Alan Murphy. Things slow downfor Lucky Peterson’s “Tribute To LutherAllison,” which shows one of Beard’smany influences here.

While the studio tunes are solid,nothing really jumps out except for thecover of the aforementioned LutherAllison’s “A Change Must Come,” asBeard trys his best to set the neck of hisguitar on fire from the friction of thestrings. The oddest thing on Live Wire!are songs coming in multi-parts, “Trib-ute To Luther Allison” in two sections and“It’s Over” in three. My only guess is theycouldn’t smooth the two live recordingsof each song into a seamless number forthe disc and had to chop them up likethat.

Bottom line will run this way: if youlike Joe Louis Walker and Robert Cray,you will probably like what Chris Beardis doing on Live Wire! On the other sideof the coin, if you don’t know any of thenames I just mentioned, congrats. Youare now officially in the group of bluesfans who are a little out of the loop. Peanuts

In Memory Of

JOHN COLTRANEMore John Coltrane for Lovers

IMPULSE RECORDSThe name John coltrane might not

bring the thought of music for lovers tomind for most, but indeed the tenor saxgreat could play a ballad with tear jerkingsensitivity as well as he could go on anintense firestorm excursion. He could also,of course, go anywhere in between.

This is actually volume two of theColtrane for Lovers series (hence the“more”) and, as with the first - simply titledColtrane for Lovers, it offers tracks fromhis classic album with vocalist JohnnyHartman, cuts from his Ballads album andballad cuts from some of his other albumson Impulse, plus one from a 1957 Vervedate.

The tunes on this edition are “You’reA Weaver Of Dreams,” “You Are Too Beau-tiful,” “I Wish I Knew,” “Naima,” “AutumnSerenade,” “Say It (Over And Over Again)“Wise One,” “Feelin’ Good,” “What’s

New?,” and “Lush Life.” It is hard to saywhich volume is the better as they bothhave several definitive Coltrane balladperformances...like “Naima” on this set,taken from his Village Vanguard albumwith Eric Dolphy playing bass clarinet.McCoy Tyner and Elvin Jones are on handthroughout with either Jimmy Garrison orReggie Workman on bass, with Art Davisadded on second bass on one.

Without a doubt, If you enjoy balladsplayed on the tenor sax, you need to havethis disc. Then you’ll want volume 1.

Bill Wahl

BOBBY PURIFYBetter To Have It

PROPER AMERICAN RECORDSSome of you may remember the duo

James & Bobby Purify who had a classicsoul hit, I’m Your Puppet, four decades ago.It seems that there have been at least threesingers who have performed as BobbyPurify, the latest being a terrific vocalistby the name of Ben Moore, who, as JerryWexler says in the liner notes to the newPurify album “THE MAN CAN FLAT SING- and I sure don’t mean to suggest he singsflat.”

The disc was produced by the legend-ary Dan Penn, author of so many R&Bclassics including The Dark End of theStreet and Dr. Feelgood. Penn’s long-timepartner Spooner Oldham is on keyboardson this session, and Penn co-wrote all butone song (Moore wrote What’s Old to You)with keyboardist Carson Whitsett and Hoy“Bucky” Lindsay. Other familiar names inthe studio band include guitarist JimmieJohnson and bassist David Hood, whileCharles Rose leads the horn section thatincludes Harvey Thompson and WayneJackson.

This is an absolutely delicious record-ing that justifies Wexler’s praise. Mooredelivers some wonderful songs includinga terrific number, My Life to Live Over (acompletely different tune from the oldGuitar Slim number) with Purify-Moorereflecting about how he would changesome things if he could live things anew.

There’s a bit of topicality as Purifydelivers a lyric about things being wrongfor a young man to grow up when there’sNobody Home to help him grow up withJohnson adding a strong solo here. Moreof a classic Memphis-funk groove ispresent on Somebody’s Gotta Do It withstrong, punchy horns, but the entire discis first-rate with strong playing to accom-pany the terrific songs and fabulous vo-cals from Purify-Moore. Fans of old school

September/October 2005 • Issue 276 PAGE FIFTEEN

R&B and deep southern soul will find fewdiscs as satisfying as this terrific record-ing. Ron Weinstock

JAMES BLOOD ULMERBirthright

HYENABlood Ulmer has so far recorded an

exceptional trio of discs during his tenurewith the Hyena label. This most recent ofthe three is a solo effort that is a gem ofquiet intensity. This former guitarist forOrnette Coleman traverses the modalbridge that connects primitive blues withavant-garde jazz and produces works thatare both grounded and free-form in theirnature. Coupled with a deep-blues voicefor the ages, Ulmer casts spell after hyp-notic spell on each track here, grabbingone’s attention and holding on with a gripunexpectedly strong for a single player.

The material takes interesting turnstowards and away from the blues, includ-ing a charming Caribbean-flavored portraitof Ulmer’s granddad, “Geechie Joe” and apost-Ornette guitar piece “Love DanceRag”. His dark reading of the Howlin’ Wolfclassic “Sittin’ On Top Of The World” alonejustifies the disc’s purchase. Birthright isone of this year’s best. Duane Verh

MIND • BODY • SOULEXPO 2005

SEPTEMBER 9, 10 & 11Lakeland Community College • Kirtland, Ohio

East of Cleveland Just Off I-90

Featuring over 100 vendors in 23,000+ square feet ofspace with everything to stimulate your Mind, Body & Soul,

plus feature speakers, mini-workshops and lectures.

For information, including limited vendor space available, or

to register for a workshop go to www.thejourneymag.com, or call 440-223-1392

PLUS MANY WORKSHOPS EACH DAYLimited Openings • Register Now and Save Your Place!

Bryan Kest - World-Renown Yogi • Laura Lee - Your Angels Revealed

Headline Speakers:

Friday 3 - 8:30 PM, Saturday 10 AM - 8:30 PM., Sunday 10 AM - 6 PM

Berklee College of Music namesDr. Larry Simpson Senior VicePresident of Academic Affairs

Berklee College of Music PresidentRoger H. Brown announced the appoint-ment of Dr. Lawrence J. Simpson to thenewly created position of Senior VicePresident for Academic Affairs at the pio-neering music college. At Berklee,Simpson will lead and oversee the aca-demic initiatives of the college, includingcurriculum, faculty, and all areas directlyrelated to teaching and learning. He joinedthe college on August 22.

Simpson comes to Berklee fromCleveland, where he has been presidentand chief academic officer of CuyahogaCommunity College’s Metropolitan Cam-pus for the past year, and headed the

RANDY JOHNSTONIs It You?HIGHNOTE

On his fourth outing for HighNote, gui-tarist Randy Johnston delivers a 10-tunemixture of standards and originals per-formed with Xavier Davis (piano on fivetracks), Dwayne Burno (bass) and GeneJackson (drums).

The quartet serves up a catchy, is-land-beat remake of the public domainclassic, “Careless Love,” a bopping ver-sion of Johnston’s “The Jump Back,” anda melodious bossa reading of the lesserknown gem “I Miss You,” composed byNew York based pianist Sayuri Goto, aswell as three others. Davis, who stintedwith Betty Carter, Tom Harrell and othergroups, enhances with his lyricism.

However, Johnston’s playing beststands out in the trio setting with Burnoand Jackson, as he proves on a lush read-ing of the ballad, “Nancy (With the Laugh-ing Face),” and a lightly swinging remakeof the warhorse tune, “Who Can I Turn To,”one of two Gus Kahn compositions, as wellas three more tunes.

Johnston’s at his most expressive onthis disc, showing that he can play in peakform at any tempo and improvise with

skill, clarity and warmth. This is a first-rate, engaging listen from start to finish.

Nancy Ann Lee

Eastern Campus for the past elevenyears. At Tri-C, and of particular interestto Berklee, he has been responsible forthe growth and excellence of the college’sarts and cultural programs, including thenationally recognized Tri-C Jazz Festival-Cleveland, and the college’s recordingarts and technology, and community mu-sic programs.

He managed the college’s partner-ships with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fameand Museum, Cleveland Museum of Art,and the Playhouse Square Foundation,and serves on the boards of the Associa-tion of Performing Arts Presenters (chair),the Community Partnership for Arts andCulture (chair), The Cleveland Orchestra,Young Audiences of Greater Cleveland,the Cleveland Institute of Music, the Mu-seum of Contemporary Art, and the Down-town Cleveland Partnership.

Longtime readers of this magazinemay remember that Larry Simpson was aregular contributor to these pages. Wewish him the best of luck.

September/October 2005 • Issue 276