A little Trane

I have added some Coltrane to my L365 station.  I finally got around to purchasing Interstellar Space (1974).  I believe it was Trane's last studio album.  It's a duet with  Rashied Ali on drums.  It is very avant garde in spirit, but any Coltrane fan will appreciate it.  I am playing 'Venus'.

I also added 'The Believer' from the box set Fearless Leader.   This is from an album released ten years earlier but was recorded in 1958.  That was the title cut.  I am adding another cut from the same sparse album 'Do I Love You Because You're Beautiful'.  The Believer featured the great rhythm section of Garland, Chambers, and Taylor.   This was the heroic period in jazz. 

• Bass – Paul Chambers (3)
• Drums – Arthur Taylor* (tracks: B2), Louis Hayes
• Piano – Red Garland
• Tenor Saxophone – John Coltrane
• Trumpet – Donald Byrd, Freddie Hubbard (tracks: B2)

Red Garland & Paul Chambers

 

Pianist Red Garland shares at least one honor with John Coltrane, besides often playing behind Trane.  Both were fired by Miles Davis.  I finally got around to adding Red Garland Revisited to my collection.  The cause in both cases was heroin.  

Garland, bassist Paul Chambers, and drummer Philly Joe Jones were often referred to simply as the rhythm section.  That is mostly due to their work as the platform for Davis and Trane in Miles' first great quintet.  You can find Garland and Chambers on a lot of seminal albums in the late fifties. 

I finally got around to adding Red Garland Revisited to my collection.  It is a superb showcase for Garland's talent and also features some fine work by guitarist Kenny Burrell.  I am playing the two cuts with Burrell on them, both Miles Davis standards: 'Walkin' and 'Four'.  Chambers plays bass and Art Taylor is on drums.  

I bought the album on the recommendation of the Penguin Jazz Guide 1001.  Shortly after the entry on the above disc, I read one on Paul Chambers Bass On Top.  Had to have it.  Burrell shows up again, as does Art Taylor.  Hank Jones plays piano.  This is a great one for bass fans, especially if you like jazz bass played with a bow.  I am playing another piece from the Davis playlist: 'The Theme'. 

Miles Live @ the Blackhawk

The two most valuable Miles Davis box sets (of those that I have) are: 1) The Legendary Prestige Quintet Recordings and 2) Live at the Plugged Nickel.   If you have those two, you have big chunk of music from both of Miles' great quintets.  I would add that the former is much less important if you already have the individual albums released from those sessions.  

What comes next?  Almost certainly it would be Miles In Person Friday and Saturday Nights at the Blackhawk, Complete (Columbia, 2003).  This box contains four CDs recorded on April 21st and 22nd of 1961.  The Blackhawk was a great venue and the location of some very great jazz recordings.  This album is fine sample of Miles between his two quintets.  Here is the lineup:

• Bass – Paul Chambers (3)
• Drums – Jimmy Cobb
• Piano – Wynton Kelly
• Tenor Saxophone – Hank Mobley
• Trumpet – Miles Davis

Chambers and Cobb remain from the Kind of Blue album.  Hank Mobley fills the sax chair.  He gets some bad press for his work with Miles, but I can't hear any problems other than the fact that his name isn't John Coltrane.  Wynton Kelly is a superb hard bop piano player and he does a fine job here.  His work on the above cut is toe curling good. 

I am playing 'No Blues' from the first disc in the set.  If this doesn't recharge your smart phone, I don't know what will. 

I am also playing 'Softly As In a Morning Sunrise' from Wynton Kelly's  Kelly Blue.  This is just the rhythm section from the above album, recorded in 1959. 

Hank Mobley's Sweet Tenor

Hank Mobley is one more tenor whose blessing was also his curse: he played with Miles on a number of extraordinary recordings. That's a blessing to be sure, because any certified jazz nerd will know your name. It's a bit of a curse as well, because no one will ever quite forgive you for not being John Coltrane. Well, maybe they forgave Wayne Shorter, but that just tells you how hard the curse is to break. Anyway, Mobley plays on Miles Live at the Blackhawk, one of the finest box sets I own. I just don't see how anyone could say that his work there represents a loss.

Mobley also recorded Soul Station, his magnum opus and certainly one of the classic modern jazz documents. This week I got a hold of Workout and Another Workout. Mobley could have spent a few dollars hiring an adman to name his albums. All three recordings feature Paul Chambers on bass and Wynton Kelly on piano. That's a solid, blues based trio there. Soul Station has Art Blakey on drums. Workout has Philly Joe Jones on drums, which is one awesome rhythm section. Grant Green also plays guitar. Workout was recorded in March of 1961. The material on Another Workout was recorded the following December, minus Green's guitar.

I have a great fondness for the swinging blues bop that was Mobley's great gift. It's just plain happy music, full of the joy of life. Here is a sample:

Hank Mobley/Greasin' Easy/Workout

And dig dis sample for comparison from the great work:

Hank Mobley/Dig Dis/Soul Station