Comments on: One Record

By: don-lucky

don-lucky — Sat, 30 Jul 2022 15:01:12 +0000

*On a side note, was it a coincidence that the original air date for “Time Enough at Last” was November 20, 1959 ? There was definitely something in the air that year, as so many of the albums we noted as possible contenders for a desert island pick were also released in 1959. That was one hell of a year… (Pardon the pun.)

By: don-lucky

don-lucky — Sat, 30 Jul 2022 14:51:24 +0000

…The mere thought of selecting just one album is in itself one of Dante’s Nine Circles of Hell ! If trying to answer the question doesn’t lead to madness, surely listening to the same record over and over would ! Heaven forbid that the needle should ever break ? The very idea of a desert island pick always reminds me of that classic Twilight Zone episode “Time Enough at Last”…

For those that haven’t seen it (spoiler alert): “It’s the story of a man who loves books yet is surrounded by those who would prevent him from reading them. One day he takes his lunch break in the vault of a bank where he works so his reading cannot be disturbed. Moments after he sees a newspaper headline, which reads “H-Bomb Capable of Total Destruction”, an enormous explosion outside suddenly shakes the vault, knocking him unconscious. After regaining consciousness and recovering the thick glasses required for him to see, he emerges from the vault to find the bank demolished and everyone in it dead. Leaving the bank, he sees that the entire city has been destroyed, and realizes that, while a nuclear war has devastated Earth, him being in the vault has saved him.

Finding himself alone in a shattered world with canned food to last him a lifetime and no means of leaving to look for other survivors, he sees the ruins of the public library in the distance. Investigating, he finds that the books are still intact; all the books he could ever hope for are his for the reading, and time to read them without interruption.

His despair gone, Bemis contentedly sorts the books he looks forward to reading for years to come, with no obligations to get in the way. Just as he bends down to pick up the first book, he stumbles, and his glasses fall off and shatter. In shock, he picks up the broken remains of the glasses without which he is virtually blind and bursts into tears, surrounded by books he now can never read.

“That’s not fair. That’s not fair at all. There was time now. There was… was all the time I needed.”

By: Bill W.

Bill W. — Sat, 16 Jul 2022 17:54:24 +0000

I’d go with “Saxophone Colossus” by Sonny Rollins. Of previous lps mentioned here, I think “Kind Of Blue” (Miles), and “The Fox” (Harold Land) are very worthy picks as well.

By: Japhy

Japhy — Thu, 14 Jul 2022 20:25:20 +0000

I miss Al.

By: Octogenarian Buff

Octogenarian Buff — Mon, 11 Jul 2022 11:57:15 +0000

In this forum for Blue Note aficionados it might be frivolous to strike a blow for some af the old swing masters, e.g. Young on Aladdin and the Hawkins/Webster encounter on Verve from 1957, but they certainly deserve a desert island existence together with Rollins on Village Vanguard and Hill´s Point of Departure ( the explosive and deconstructionist drumming of Tony Williams alone paves the way to my Pantheon).
I´m Danish jazz lover who had the privilege of being able to see and enjoy and sometimes talk to jazz greats mostly from the Blue Note roster, Powell, Gordon, Griffin, Henderson, Taylor ( Cecil and Art), McCoy, Drew, Parlan, Jordan, Rollins, Gillespie, Konitz, Hawk, Webster, Chet and numerous others, who all played at Cafe Montmartre in Copenhagen in the 60`s and 70`s. The crowning glory for me, jazz wise, occurred in 1961, when I saw both Cannonball and Coltrane playing to a capacity crowd in a large concert hall in Copenhagen. Elvin Jones and his octopus drumming stole the show. Some memory to cherish in one`s old age!
I`ve enjoyed following your blog for quite some time and this is the first time I put my oar in. Thank you for incisive insights and learned instruction which contribute to keeping our beloved minority genre afloat.

By: Kristian Kristiansen

Kristian Kristiansen — Mon, 11 Jul 2022 10:06:04 +0000

For me Dexter Gordon Go will always be up there, I bought it in the sixties when Dexter lived in Copenhagen, and you could hear him week after week in Montmatre, recalls so many memories, and so does Ben Webster on Fontana recorded live in 1965 in Montmatre the night I was there. These young teen age recollections and records are still among my dearest
KRistian

By: Ceedee

Ceedee — Mon, 11 Jul 2022 02:51:11 +0000

Al,I love “Paul’s Pal” by Rollins as well. Was lucky enuff to grab a copy on yellow Bergenfield 40 yrs(!) back-couldn’t afford it now,let alone yr original. Ck out a killer version of “Pal” on Three of A Kind(Minor Music)-Peter Madsen(p),Dwayne Dolphin(b),Bruce Cox(d). It’s a “feel good” go-to that never fails to lift my spirits(and who hasn’t needed that lately?)
Let’s put aside the usual KOB and Bill’s Vanguard sessions-I vote for his Portrait In Jazz date. It has some great playing by the trio and includes “Someday My Prince Will Come”,with its spiraling finish. It made me laugh out loud when I first heard it decades ago and it still brings a smile to my face.
Lastly,that Swallow/La Roca LSD tale at RVG’s made me have even more respect for Rudy’s accomplishments. A couple of knuckleheads on acid?
C’mon, man!

By: maarten kools

maarten kools — Sun, 10 Jul 2022 18:46:17 +0000

ow ha.. just read this statement on Basra-
Pete- LaRoca bn4205 (1965!)
.

“Bassist Steve Swallow recounted that he and La Roca had taken LSD prior to traveling to recording engineer Rudy Van Gelder’s New Jersey studio for the session. He also said that Van Gelder threatened to end the session after pianist Steve Kuhn started manually plucking the piano strings.”

🙂

By: maarten kools

maarten kools — Sun, 10 Jul 2022 18:21:35 +0000

great topic All, because there will never be a def answer.
And because it’s a pretty stupid idea to choose one song or one album;
here we go!

‘putting a smile on my face song’ *Not Guilty- Cliff Jordan, BN1565
Cliff Jordan – tenor saxophone
Curtis Fuller – trombone
John Jenkins – alto saxophone
Ray Bryant – piano
Paul Chambers – bass
Art Taylor – drums
(Lee Morgan is on the album but not this song)
.
.
one dessert record; it could be Basra- Pete La Roca BN4205, but in the end,
you always have to follow your heart , and then there is only one option (that, strangely enough has the same drummer):

Art Farmer – To Sweden with Love. ( Atlantic SD1430)
it’s haunting and comforting at the same time

Art Farmer – flugelhorn
Jim Hall – guitar
Steve Swallow – bass
Pete LaRoca – drums

By: gw

gw — Sun, 10 Jul 2022 13:57:35 +0000

Agree w Charlie: the Fox is about perfect, as is its sister disc the Elmo Hope Trio.