Elvin Jones & Empirical

I have just acquired a marvelous box set: The Complete Blue Note Elvin Jones Sessions.  It contains eight CDs with the contents of maybe nine original LPs recorded between 1968 an 1973.  I've posted a couple of cuts from this collection but I have only started listening to it.  

I also purchased a recording by Empirical: Opt' n' In'.  This is a tribute to Eric Dolphy.  I have posted one cut on the recording: 'Hat & Beyond', an obvious nod to Dolphy's 'Hat & Beard', from his seminal recording Out to Lunch.  If I have time, I'll write more on these recordings. 

David Murray's Two Great Albums & All His Others

I have been pushing David Murray for a long time on this blog.  I am pushing him again, and I have posted three numbers on my Live365 site from two very fine albums.  

The Hill was recorded in 1986 and released in 88, by Black Saint.  Richard Davis plays bass and Joe Chambers plays drums and vibes.  It's very avant garde, as the cut I posted will demonstrate.  'Santa Barbara And Crenshaw Follies' begins with a meaty melody and then goes pretty wild.  I like it.  I'll wait for the reviews.  

Ming is probably the better album.  This one, recorded in 1980 by Black Saint, has a larger band and a much richer sound.  Henry Threadgill plays alto, backing up Murray on tenor and bass clarinet.  Lawrence "Butch" Morris plays cornet, George Lewis on trombone, Olu Dara on trumpet, Anthony Davis on piano, Wilber Morris, and Steve McCall on percussion.  

I am playing two songs from Ming on my station: 'Ming' and 'Dewey's Circle'.  Let me know if you like them, or if you don't.  Both of them are melody rich and avant garde vicious.