Roy Brooks: Understanding (1970) Reel To Reel – RSD 2021 Selection: Taurus Woman Track Listing A1 Prelude To Understanding (Brooks) 22:08 B1 Understanding 20:12 C1 Billie’s Bounce (C. Parker) 21:04 D1 Zoltan (W. Shaw) 23:20 E1 Taurus Woman (C. Garnett) 17:09 F1 . . . Taurus Woman (Continuation) 15:15 F2 The Theme (M. Davis) 4:28 Artists Carlos Garnett, tenor saxophone; Woody Shaw, trumpet, Harold Mabern, piano; Cecil McBee, bass; Roy Brooks, drums. Recorded Live at The Famous Ballroom, Baltimore, MD, November 1, 1970 original recording engineer: Vernon Welsh. Reel To Reel sound restoration by Chris Gestrin; mastered and lacquer cut by Kevin Gray; Producers, Cory Weeds, Zev Feldman. During the 1960s and 1970s, Vernon Welsh recorded more than 800 jazz performances at The Famous Ballroom. The tapes were stored at the Morgan State University library for years, and were eventually acquired by veteran record producer Joel Dorn, who began reissuing them. In later life Roy Brooks struggled with health and legal problems, and finally passed away in 2005, age 67 Music The live performances are of unusual length, each taking a complete side of the LP, sometimes, both sides, grooves right up to the label. “The tempos range from brisk to rocking. and the tone of the music has a wild expressiveness” (The New Yorker) “The playing is intense and demanding, the rhythm is propulsive, Brooks is ferocious behind the drum kit”. (AllAboutJazz) The album starts out with Prelude to Understanding on Side 1, followed by the substantive composition Understanding on Side 2, in which the band embarks on “a lengthy excursion into the lines, harmony and character of the number”. At this point you begin to understand how this album is going to work. It’s Brooks’ album, and he goes all out to create a “dynamic of rhythm, accents and shapes to move each number forward”, while the soloists embark on their extended excursions. Side Three introduces Charlie Parker’s bop-classic Billies Bounce (1945) which extends from its original three minutes on shellac to over twenty minutes on one LP side. Woody Shaw’s Zoltan overlaps onto a second side. My favourite however is Carlos Garnett’s Taurus Woman. Harold Mabern maintains an infectious piano vamp, while Garnett flexes his muscular tenor chops, riding high into the upper register and beyond, before coming together with Shaw to reprise the harmonic theme of our Taurus Woman. The whole set rounds off with a five-minute pastiche of Miles’ The Theme. Whether it is Revolutionary Jazz as the hype sticker claims I’ll let you decide. This album has been on my turntable all week, it’s great stuff. Vinyl: Reel To Reel RTR-007 3xLP gatefold, limited-edition 180 gram, “Never-Before-Released material” for Record Store Day April 2021. Copies can be found but are in short supply. The audio quality is quite acceptable, within the limitations of a one-take live recording. No indications of microphone positioning, none visible in the photos, so a likely a basic setup. Mabern’s piano vamp is a little forward in the mix, Woody Shaw’s fiery expressive solos occasionally sound like the buzz of a demented blue-bottle, with clipping top-end , but the fervour and energy of Brooks and the band carry the day. Kevin Gray remastered the Brooks’ session from the original tapes, so you are getting the best possible sound out of the source. Gray squeezes the long tracks into the maximum vinyl capacity of each side, his tell-tale initials in the runout. Kevin Gray @ Cohearent Audio Gatefold, fold-over Booklet – another 19 pages of this . . . Back cover with Limited Edition count, jacket number 317 of 2,000 The Art Director says: A three-LP gatefold is a complex exercise in Origami, and a game of Guess Where the Third LP is? There is information on the back cover, on the text inside the gatefold, and as if you hadn’t got enough information, there is more information in the 20-page booklet housed inside the gatefold. The booklet includes interviews with the artists, fellow musicians, and the record producers, mostly biographical detail and Brook’s career progression, but some also about the actual music, rare. The accompanying portraits of Roy Brooks behind the drum kit, beads of sweat, pouring perspiration, exactly right for live concert performance, does it for me. Verdict: Value added, thumbs up! Collector’s Corner Brooks “Understanding” Famous Ballroom recording may be not previously issued, but the composition “Understanding” is also a feature of Brooks’ 1972 Muse album, The Free Slave (MR 5003), which is also a live recording, this time only ten minutes in length. The Free Slave is also a recording by the Left Bank Society, engineer Orville O’Brien (of many Strata East sessions), with Woody Shaw and Cecil McBee, but George Coleman on tenor and Hugh Lawson on piano. Carlos Garnett’s composition Taurus Woman also had a Muse outing of 12 minutes, on Garnett’s album Black Love (MR 5040, 1974). Another not previously issued recording. Woody Shaw’s track Zoltan appears on Shaw’s magnificent Muse title Love Dance (MR 5074, 1975) Woody Shaw Love Dance Muse 7074 (1976) Originals of those Muse albums are very hard to find (set aside the Mosiac Complete). Which leaves us with Charlie Parker’s Billies Bounce: the only actual previously Never-Before-Released material on the RSD Understanding album. Apart that is from Charlie Parker’s original shellac, which was previously released. Yes we have no bananas. I guess it all depends what anyone understands by “Never-Before-Released“. Not that it really matters. Judge it on its merits. In Other News . . . Many if not most of the things you own are made in China. Your phone, your clothing, your electricals, home, kitchen and tableware, household items, automotive parts, power tools, Christmas decorations . . . Chinese Jazz? For a time there was “Shanghai Jazz”, cabaret singers ’40s style . . . . . . but now, Blue Note Jazz has arrived . . . In one of those eerie coincidences that turn up unexpectedly in Jazz, the B-Side of Charlie Parker’s Billies Bounce (Savoy 1945) is the tune “Now’s The Time“. That’s what I call a segue. Now’s The Time, jazz from China! Don Was and his boys have been racking up the frequent flyer miles. Last year Universal Music Group launched Blue Note Records China. Just when I was getting to grips with Three Blind Mice and 70’s vintage jazz from Japan, along comes Fu Manchu and his Jazz Messengers. According to their press release, Universal have brought in one of China’s most celebrated pop music producers, Zhang Yadong, and Ren Yuqing, a leading figure in the Shanghai jazz scene, together with Don Was, to steer the new venture. I’ve listened to some of this anthology of Contemporary Chinese Jazz on-line, and I have to say its pretty good New York-style jazz,. No chopsticks or Suzie Wong, and I hear subtle Eastern influences and overall a pleasing freshness. I could not find imported vinyl copies of Now’s The Time in the usual record outlets over here. Seems Now’s not quite the time, but, maybe some time soon. BJC, BeijingJazzCollector? https://londonjazzcollector.wordpress.com/2026/10/30/roy-brooks-understanding-1970-reel-to-reel-rsd-2021/ #roybrooks #tauruswoman #reel #understanding #rsd #famousballroom #vernonwelsh #carlosgarnett #side #shaw #rss #feeds #linksharing #qwibbit

Elton Dean: El Skid (1977) Vinyl Selection: First In The Attic (long – 12:54) Track List A1 Dr. Les Mosses A2 First In The Attic B1 That’s For Cha B2 K And A Blues Artists Elton Dean, alto saxophone, saxello; Alan Skidmore, tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone; Chris Laurence, acoustic bass; John Marshall, drums. Recorded at Riverside Studios, Hammersmith, London W6, 25th & 26th February 1977, recording engineer John Gill, mastering and lacquer cut in Hamburg, Germany, for the Vinyl Records label. Elton Dean, British progressive jazz icon, featuring alto saxophone and saxello, spanned the hybrid jazz rock, experimental and free jazz chasm. A leading light of the “London and The Home Counties Scene“, Keith Tippett, and Soft Machine. Dean eventually formed his own band Ninesense with all the leading avant-leaning jazz/rock players of the day, but everybody wandered in and out of each others groups. I’m a dabbler, still finding my way in this genre. Music Elton Dean compositions are often in two parts – an opening of abstract sounds, plink plonk squawk, or wild saxophone on fire, leading to a more composed piece with fragments of recognisable melody and harmony, but still punctuated with high energy ferocious improvisations and inside/outside excursions. My selection is a dark piece, First In The Attic, perhaps the most structured of the four tracks, harking at times to what I imagine to be a Bach Fugue (remember, I don’t listen to classical music, could be way off metaphor here). A serpentine sinuous duet between Dean and Skidmore, delicious harmonies, pitching at times into dissonance, yet maintaining a sense of narrative. The melody is often merely implied, some notes not played, branching of into fiery extended solo runs, why play one note when you can squeeze in a hundred? To my ears it earns the epithet “beautiful”, a word much overused in general parlance, but fitting here. I’m mindful of the fact some readers found the Keith Tippett British Progressive Jazz album posts “dreadful rubbish”. There is no pleasing everyone in music, it’s the risk of exploration, searching for New Land. Hopefully some may like it, but if not, I’ve got some bad news, there’s more in the pipeline. And the regular stuff, of course. Vinyl: Vinyl VS 103 Recorded in London, mastered and pressed in Germany by the German label “Vinyl”, whose catalogue included niche British Progressive Jazz. The recording quality is solid, and the pressing, I would say, not bad for 1977. The Art Director Says: What can I say? The album title El Skid references the quartet’s tenor player Alan Skidmore, though why the Hispanic form El? Possibly a play on words, on the Charlton Heston movie El Cid (1961), an epic tale of the heroic Castilian knight and ruler of medieval Spain, which has nothing to do with this music or musicians. It is repeated three times in the title, to use up the first line, poor use of precious space. The cover art is a geometric repeating pattern, like a block-sorting task in an IQ test, that has little or nothing to do with the music. (I took an IQ test once. Fortunately, the results came back negative) The front cover is effectively identical to the back cover, with no useful information about the music or the artists. You either have to already know, or guess what’s in the grooves. The four artist photos on the back cover are printed as cyanotype, a Victorian-era print process which generated a cyan-tinted monochrome image. Here it is merely a design artifice with no connection to the period. The cyan tint is also used for text, in a small font which makes it difficult to read, especially if you are over thirty seventy like me. My verdict: the cover doesn’t do justice to the music or the artists. Hopeless. Collector’s Corner A vinyl record on the Vinyl label is a conflation worthy of the movie Airplane (1980) Request our vector, Victor, over, we have clearance Clarence, Captain Oveur to Control Tower, Roger, Roger, Over”… The Vinyl edition of El Skid is the only vinyl edition. The only reissue is on The Evil Silver Disk (Voiceprint, 2001). Pop-Quiz Trivia: Globally renowned singer piano-player Elton John (He’s Still Standin’..) fashioned his stage name Elton John (real name Reg Dwight) out of the band he was playing in at the time, Elton from Elton Dean and John from R&B singer Long John Baldry. In Other News, in my mailbox advises a forthcoming release November 6, 2026: The Tiberi Tapes x4LP (Impulse) release marking Coltrane’s 100th anniversary Press Release: “ As a saxophonist chasing John Coltrane around Philadelphia and New York clubs in the early 60s, Frank Tiberi set up modest reel-to-reel gear (ie concealed portable recorder and single mic, bootleg quality) and recorded the bandstand to study it.… The sound is raw and close, with none of the polish of a studio date, so the payoff is hearing Coltrane and his band test, stretch and reshape their seminal jazz music as it happens.” Personally I’m still struggling to find time to listen through Lee Morgan’s three nights Live at The Lighthouse , 12 LP collection with 33 hours of music, , but The Tiberi Tapes may appeal to purist Coltraneologists. Personally I am content with my twenty six Coltrane albums, all professionally recorded. More music next week. Copy that, LJC, Roger, Over and Out https://londonjazzcollector.wordpress.com/2026/10/23/elton-dean-el-skid-1977-vinyl/ #eltondean #vinyl #skid #britishprogressive #progressivejazz #vinylrecords #artistselton #alanskidmore #johnmarshall #keithtippett #rss #feeds #linksharing #qwibbit

Podcast: Classic Quartets This week’s theme. Classic tracks from some of the classic quartets that were mostly together for a time, with a few great random quartet one-offs thrown in for good measure. Featured artists include John Coltrane, McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Garrison, Elvin Jones, Thelonious Monk, Charlie Rouse, Shadow Wilson, Wilbur Ware, Dave Brubeck, Paul Desmond, Joe Morello, Eugene Wright, Norman Bates, Jim Hall, Connie Kaye, Percy Heath, John Lewis, Milt Jackson, Art Pepper, Red Garland, Philly Joe Jones, Paul Chambers, Art Tatum, Ben Webster, John Ore, Frankie Dunlop, Gerry Mulligan, Chet Baker, Henry Grimes, Dave Bailey, Red Callender, Bill Douglas, Larry Bunker, Carson Smith. The post Podcast: Classic Quartets first appeared on jazzcollector.com. https://jazzcollector.com/podcast/podcast-classic-quartets/ #classicquartets #podcast #artpepper #arttatum #davebailey #davebrubeck #elvinjones #paulchambers #pauldesmond #redcallender #rss #feeds #linksharing #qwibbit

Booker Ervin: The Book Cooks (1960) Bethlehem/ VMP (2020) Selection: Little Jane Track List A1 The Blue Book (8:35) A2 Git It (6:56) A3 Little Jane (6:24) B1 The Book Cooks (Teddy Charles) (10:42) B2 Largo (6:15) B3 Poor Butterfly (John Golden, Raymond Hubbell) (3:46) Artists: Booker Ervin, tenor saxophone; Zoot Sims, tenor saxophone; Tommy Turrentine, trumpet; Tommy Flanagan, piano; George Tucker, bass; Dannie Richmond, drums. Recorded April 6, 1960 (not June 1960 as stated on the jacket), recording engineer Peter Ind, though not credited on the cover. In his time Ind played bass with pianist Lennie Tristano. He once confessed to an unusual recording technique – start the tape rolling, then run up stairs to the band to start playing bass. Music: One Discogs Reviewer: “Absolutely fantastic funky groovy album. Yah, you should get it.” There are also other reasons. This is an ” I already have a lot of Booker albums, do I really need another?” situations. Yes, you need this one. This is a great recording session with A-list musicians that rarely gets a proper recommendation. Also, with The Book Cooks you get several albums for the price of one. Booker is Booker, you already know him, that unmistakable wailing voice. Zoot Sims was a surprise appearance, an “old school” second tenor? Zoot always amazes me how fast and articulate his tenor is, immaculate cascades of notes with triple summersaults on the way down, a swinging muscular energy which contrasts sharply with gritty Booker himself. There is ample space for these two tenors, their voices complement each other. Tommy Flanagan, the melodic alter ego of the rhythmic Wynton Kelly, contributes elegant solos and accompaniment. Tommy Turrentine was destined to stand in the shadow of his more famous brother, Stanley, but plays hard in his own right. Dannie Richmond’s percussive armoury flows from a decade of sparing with the genius of Mingus. Where to next, boss? George Tucker likewise comes with decades of experience, having played with just about everyone, swings like hell, just like Zoot. Forget post-bop, modal and the avant garde for a moment, that’s all still to come, The Book reminds me of the simple pleasure of rhythmic and melodic charts played with surefooted precision and conviction. Vinyl: VMP 538625001 (2020) Reissue of Bethlehem BCP 6048 (1961, mono) VMP “Vinyl Me Please” limited edition of 1,000 copies, serial number 00785, on brown vinyl. Credited in the VMP footnotes, remastering engineer John Sigmon, transfer engineers Alex Nappi and Dana Pederson, none of whose names register anything with me. Vinyl Me Please was a Denver-based record club, modelled on book clubs, issuing club subscribers a “club exclusive” record each month. VMP went into liquidation in May 2025, but has been relaunched following purchase by VYNL, a company who have amassed a collection of record clubs, (perhaps buying one club a month?) The new company uses Ryan Smith at Sterling Sound for remastering, which is a good thing. This VMP title was manufactured in 2020 by the giant GZ Media, Czech Republic. GZ Media provide a complete service, typically small batch production of 300-1,000 copies, generally from customer supplied high-res digital sources. Small batch production is ideal for enterprising independent producers who spot gaps in the market, such as reissue of classic vintage titles, ignored by majors. GZ Media vinyl has no etching identifier but their presses produce a distinctive circular swirl in the vinyl area under the label, which is easily recognised ( below, contrast-enhanced for visibility). Small drilled catalogue number. Booker Ervin The Book Cooks – VMP edition (2020) – labels, brown vinyl. Czech manufacture Booker Ervin The Book Cooks, VMP exclusive edition (2020) back cover – Czech Republic stamp The Art Director says: Title: Hah! An unexpected play on words! Book and Cook, that must have taken all of 30 seconds, over a creative lunch in an upscale NY restaurant. (I recommend the pan-seared scallops, with a glass of well chilled Chablis). Nice chiarascuro portrait of Booker on the cover, pointedly not smiling at the camera. The tenor sax has a strong visual presence, and no other decorative elements, no visual puns – no chef’s hat, cookery books, or kitchen utensils. Great! The original cover looks laminated, irregular specular reflections from the heated cellulose, an object of beauty, difficult to photograph black due to bouncing reflections, but looks gorgeous. Unfortunately the industry eventually stopped lamination, deemed too costly, in favour of uncoated paper, and later, plastic coating. On vintage laminated covers, collectors can usually carefully remove Sellotape used to repair seam splits without damaging the artwork. Sadly, rarely on uncoated paper, as I have found to my cost. The original (which I don’t have) is a beautiful work of art. And as a bonus you get music too. Guess I have to settle for this VMP reissue Collector’s Corner The original mono 1960 Bethlehem edition is rare, only a couple listed on Discogs, at $500-$700. Beautiful laminated cover, deep groove labels, I think one to kill for (though I am not suggesting you should) US original Bethlehem edition, 1961 UK Parlophone: mono edition PMC1170 (EMI 1961). From previous experience, Parlophone will likely sound pretty good but not as good as the Bethlehem – Parlophone were EMI remastered from US distribution copy tape, usually resulted in some loss of top-end frequencies – not that anyone at the time would notice. Parlophone UK original release (early 1960s) In the ’70s , our friends in Japan reissued The Book Cooks many times. I have had mixed experience of these Japanese reissues, some good, some not so good. If it’s a well-recorded session, you most likely get good results, except when you don’t. The Book Cooks, Japanese reissues, 1970s Caytronics (Cayre Industries), New York reissuer of mainly Latin/Hispanic and some jazz, including a five volume Bethlehem compilation. Alternative cover, alternative label design, going out of their way to avoid everything original, I guess for copyright reasons. Looks cheap and uninspiring. The Book Cooks, Caytronics stereo reissue 1977 Conclusions: The original vinyl is most desirable, but its hefty price means many need to consider alternatives. The MVP edition seems relatively expensive because it’s in short supply, sellers asking around £125, even up to £200 for a sealed “mint” copy. Copies tend not to travel – I have only ever seen a couple of VMP editions here in UK. For once, no easy answers on the reissue front LJC: no easy answers https://londonjazzcollector.wordpress.com/2026/10/16/booker-ervin-the-book-cooks-1960-bethlehem-vmp-2020/ #bookcooks #bookerervin #littlejane #bethlehem #vmp #janetrack #tommyflanagan #poorbutterfly #raymondhubbell #teddycharles #rss #feeds #linksharing #qwibbit

Podcast: Two Nights With Miles and Trane This week’s theme: The four albums (plus) recorded for Prestige on May 11 and Oct. 26, 1956. Artists are Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Red Garland, Paul Chambers and Philly Joe Jones. For Jazz Collector Live, part of the centennial celebration of Miles and Trane. The post Podcast: Two Nights With Miles and Trane first appeared on jazzcollector.com. https://jazzcollector.com/podcast/podcast-two-nights-with-miles-and-trane/

Tatsuya Takahashi & The Tokyo Union – Maiden Voyage (1976) Three Blind Mice Selection: One Mint Julep (Randolph Toombs) Track List Maiden Voyage (Herbie Hancock) 6:34 The Blues 7:11 One Mint Julep (Rudolph Toombs) 6:15 The Preacher (Horace Silver) 5:33 Sir Duke (Stevie Wonder) 4:27 Giant Steps (John Coltrane) 5:45 A Child Is Born (Thad Jones) 5:09 One Mint Julep: Rudolph Toombs was hired by Atlantic to freshen up the Atlantic songbook with up-tempo R&B. Toombs produced the 1952 hit for The Clovers, a doo-wop vocal group. The song tells the story of a young man who falls for the charms of a young woman,and finds a few years later that he has a ring on his finger, and remembers that it all started with “One Mint Julep“. A Mint Julep, near relative of a Mohito, consists of bourbon, fresh mint leaves and crushed ice, a classic drink associated with Kentucky Derby Day. Artists: The Tokyo Union – Leader Tatsuta Takahashi Tokyo Union were one of a small number of Japanese jazz big bands, along with The New Herd, and the Inner Galactic Orchestra, probably others I have never encountered. Rhythm Section: Masahiro Kanayama, electric piano; Yoshinori Ishida, bass; Kazuhiro Ebisawa, drums; Ken-ichi Araya, Masahiro Ikumi, guitar; Reeds Hiroshi Yagimura, alto saxophone; Seiji Inoue, tenor saxophone; Takemi Ishikane, baritone saxophone; Hiroshi Abiko, Motoharu Suzuki,Tomokazu Saiki,Yoshifumi Tada, trumpet; Eijiro Miyazaki, Kiyotaka Uchida, Koichi Okada, trombone; Ken-ichi Sudare, bass trombone. Recorded December 4- 5, 1976, Epicurus Studio, Tokyo Engineer – Yoshihiko Kannari Producer – Takeshi Fujii Music All the tracks bar one are big band arrangements of classic jazz titles, some with prominent use of guitar wah-wah pedal – a sound which dated very quickly. The big band arrangements however are a delight, weaving together call and answer sections, and a fresh look at well-loved compositions, everyone already knows the tunes, Coltrane, Horace Silver, Herbie Hancock, Thad Jones. The music is not “cover versions” of these jazz standards, but upscaling modest quartet/quintet compositions to a full nineteen piece jazz orchestra, with full-on arranging skills on display. Vinyl: Three Blind Mice TBM 3001 (1976) The star of the show is the recording engineer – Yoshihiko Kannari – Japan’s answer to Rudy Van Gelder, and the dynamic engineering which is the trademark of the Three Blind Mice label. The Epicurus Tokyo studio microphone setup is meticulously documented on the insert, included the latest Neuman mics (for 1976) Drums have separate mics for snare, hihat, tomtoms and bass; piano has two mics. Studio partitioning created discrete instrument sections which can be recorded and mixed very flexibly. (Holes in the baffle-boards enabled musicians to see each other). The result is very dynamic stereo mix, sharpness and clarity in each instrument, with lots of ambient air. Full credit due also to EMI-Toshiba for the pressing – clean flat, very quiet surface, and full frequency range reproduced. Forget the often somewhat tame Blue Note reissues of the previous decade, Toshiba show what can be done when working with 1st generation tapes rather than distribution copies (that’s my explanation anyway). Insert Collector’s Corner Once again Three Blind Mice define a standard of vinyl reproduction which is near impossible to beat. I have thousands of jazz vinyl albums, including many original Van Gelder. 1970’s TBM is really the best sounding vinyl there is. The music may be artistically limited, but in terms of pure audio engineering, a constant pleasure to listen, the bar is set so high, it’s difficult to go back. Golden Era modern jazz in Japan, 1972-77. Not to damn TBM musicianship with faint praise – there are some outstanding players, in what was a small niche field. Isao Suzuki (b), Kazumi Watanabe (g), Takeo Moriyama (d) Toshihiko Inoue (as, ts). More piano trios than I would wish, and a few to many cabaret singers, who sing nevertheless in immaculately-pronounced English/American, not a trace of Ingreesh. Two contemporary big bands – Tokyo Union and New Herd – are worthy of your attention. LJC https://londonjazzcollector.wordpress.com/2026/08/07/tatsuya-takahashi-the-tokyo-union-maiden-voyage-1976-three-blind-mice/

Podcast: Irving Berlin Jazz Songbook This week’s theme: Jazz and vocal versions of songs written by Irving Berlin. Featured artists include John Coltrane, McCoy Tyner, Sonny Rollins, Ray Bryant, Max Roach, George Bryant, Charles McPherson, Jackie McLean, Rosemary Clooney, Ed Bickert, Scott Hamilton, John Oddo, Scott Hamilton, Warren Vache, Bill Evans, Ella Fitzgerald, Nancy Lamott, Duke Jordan, Walter Bishop Jr., Oscar Peterson, Dinah Washington, Lockjaw Davis, Paul Quinichette, Clark Terry, Lou Donaldson, Horace Silver, Arthur Taylor. The post Podcast: Irving Berlin Jazz Songbook first appeared on jazzcollector.com. https://jazzcollector.com/podcast/podcast-irving-berlin-jazz-songbook/

Charles Tolliver: Live In Tokyo (1973) Strata East Selection: Stretch Track List Drought 12:06 Stretch 10:35 Truth 6:56 Effi 10:31 ‘Round Midnight 8:40 Artists: Charles Tolliver, trumpet; Stanley Cowell, piano; Clint Houston, bass; Clifford Barbaro, drums. Engineer [Floor] Shigehisa Nagao; Engineer [Recording] Kunio Arai Producer [Concert] Toshinari Koinuma Recorded: 7 December, 1973 at Yubinchokin Hall Tokyo, Japan. In association with Takafumi Ohkuma and Kuniya Inaoka of Trio Records. Charles Tolliver, trumpet. The ’60s found Tolliver playing sideman on Blue Note sessions with Andrew Hill and Jackie McLean, probing the outside canvas to which he was most suited. Blue note were obviously happy with their trumpet roster of Morgan and Byrd, no leader opportunity was offered to Tolliver. No need to hang around hoping for a recording deal, Tolliver founded his own label, Strata East, and immediately signed himself up. Tolliver was still recording up to about 2019 (“Connect”, Gearbox Records UK), and is still with us, age 84. Music: Discogs Reviewer: “Masterpiece. Perfection. Don’t sleep on this performance. Cooks all the way through.“ A live session recorded in Tokyo with an all-American line-up, arguably the best of both worlds. Live recordings allow the musicians to stretch out, without the restriction of squeezing in three or four tracks per side. Uncompromising post-bop, no soul jazz or funk-leanings. All About Jazz offers the musician’s perspective: “Tolliver is known for a clear, powerful tone that can convey both lyrical sensitivity and fiery intensity, allowing him to navigate complex harmonic structures with precision and expressiveness. He developed highly individual phrasing that emphasizes both melodic invention and rhythmic drive, often incorporating unexpected intervals and dynamic contrasts” Plagiarism has gotten a bad name recently, and A I is effectively plagiarism on an industrial scale. You can tell a mile away when you read A I generated text. Absolutely. However, if someone else has written an insightful commentary on my topic, better than I could, then I am happy to hand the heavy lifting over to them. I can also then argue with them. To my ear Tolliver lacks the warmth of my Blue Note friends, Morgan and Byrd, and he doesn’t construct his lines as lyrically as say Woody Shaw. He is post-bop and in some ways post-Blue Note. However he has, as the money-quote says, a fiery intensity and a singular determination to innovate, and not imitate, without falling off the free jazz cliff. Tolliver also had a desire to dabble in the big band oeuvre with Music Inc, give the hi-fi speakers a good work out, good music, especially in collaboration with pianist Stanley Cowell. Labels: Strata East (original release 1974) Gatefold Harry’s Place Our intrepid time-travelling paparazzi Harry has blagged his way into Montreux again, 1971, to share with LJC his Charles Tolliver shot, and Tolliver’s Strata East co-founder, Stanley Cowell. Charles Tolliver, Montreux 1971 Stanley Cowell, Montreux 1971 All photos © Harry Monty Collector’s Corner Simultaneously released in Japan by Trio Records (1974 ) Tolliver Live in Japan Trio Records Japan 1974 The Art Director says: The US gatefold back cover is wasted opportunity. The US gatefold photography is no Francis Wolf, more like family snaps. I prefer the Japanese cover to the US gatefold, more aesthetic, great picture on the back of the band playing live in Tokyo like the album title says, and the flying bird motif links front and back covers, great. Trio records was formed by the Japanese hi-fi manufacturer in 1969, perfect timing, and perfect natural synergy, jazz and hifi. Just add Japanese whisky (unfortunately not included) LJC in oriental mood. Footnote: Little or no A I was used to generate the content of this post. Which mostly explains why it’s published a little later in the day than usual. The real stuff takes time. https://londonjazzcollector.wordpress.com/2026/08/14/charles-tolliver-live-in-tokyo-1973-strata-east/

Podcast: Jazz Collector Live, Third Anniversary This week’s theme: Happy Third Anniversary to the Jazz Collector Live radio show and podcast, featuring the best of something. Featured artists include John Coltrane, Lee Morgan, Curtis Fuller, Kenny Drew, Paul Chambers, Philly Joe Jones, Miles Davis, Hank Mobley, Wynton Kelly, Jimmy Cobb, Bill Evans, Cannonball Adderley, Percy Heath, Connie Kay, Stan Getz, Duke Jordan, Jimmy Raney, Zoot Sims, Oscar Peterson, Joe Pass, Rosemary Clooney, Warren Vache, Scott Hamilton, Cal Collins, Charlie Parker, Joao Gilberto, Maxine Sullivan, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Roland Kirk, Charles Mingus, John Handy, Clifford Brown, Max Roach, Harold Land, Richie Powell, Charlie Parker, LaVern Baker, Art Blakey, Freddie Hubbard, Wayne Shorter, Cedar Walton and more. The post Podcast: Jazz Collector Live, Third Anniversary first appeared on jazzcollector.com. https://jazzcollector.com/podcast/podcast-jazz-collector-live-third-anniversary/

Jackie McLean: Vertigo (1963) UA Blue Note (1980) Selection 1: Marney (6:15) Selection 2: Dusty Foot (6:51) Track List A1 Marney 6:15 A2 Dusty Foot 6:51 A3 Formidable 6:13 B1 Vertigo 8:13 B2 Cheers 4:50 B3 Yams 7:51 Artists Jackie McLean, alto saxophone; Donald Byrd, trumpet; Herbie Hancock, piano; Butch Warren, bass; Tony Williams, drums, all tracks (except A3) recorded at Englewood Cliffs on February 11, 1963 A3 “Formidable“: Jackie McLean, alto saxophone; Donald Byrd, trumpet; Walter Davis Jr., piano; Paul Chambers, bass; Pete LaRoca, drums, recorded May 2, 1959. (Sneaked onto Jackie’s 1959 New Soil album on CD, as a bonus track) Music The Vertigo album combines two previously unreleased session, one recorded just a couple months before McLean’s One Step Beyond, and his avant-leaning journey to The Outside, a destination that is not ATOL protected. It seems Alfred Lion had decided on an avant-leaning direction for McLean, with a roster of like-minded musician such as Grachan Moncur III and Eddie Khan, adding Bobby Hutcherson for texture. Blue Note had many mainstream and dependable soul-jazz sellers and could afford to test the waters with more avant-garde fare. “Ticket to Far Out please”. One Way or Return, sir?” “There’s no returning from Far Out. Make it one way.“ The Vertigo session was quietly shelved to make way for the new direction, but The Vertigo album nevertheless deserves a place in the mainstream Jackie McLean Blue Note catalogue. I count eighteen Jackie albums posted at LJC, now 19. The title track Vertigo, Jazz Times says “a relatively jarring line with no chord changes”. Not a track by which to judge the whole album. Other tracks offer greater variety including a boogaloo to rival The Sidewinder, an urban chase, and some great swingers. The golden-tone presence of Donald Byrd offers a counterweight to McLean’s sharp-tone alto, great harmonies. Herbie Hancock does his infectious masterful vamping, Anthony Williams characteristic restless hyperactivity, Butch Warren scampers up and down the bass neck. Terrific line up. Though Van Gelder recorded the session at Englewood Cliffs, he did not go on to master the Vertigo session. The tapes remained unissued in the Blue Note archives until Cuscuna produced it for Liberty, and a UA engineer mastered it for the LT series, see etching “cx”. Vinyl: Liberty/UA Blue Note LT 1085 Blue label white note, in transition to EMI’s Capitol ownership (1979 and beyond) Blue label white note, Capitol-EMI Industries, last of the changing identities of Liberty Records Collector’s corner Taken as as a whole, Vertigo offers a classic McLean Blue Note album. Purchased for small change back in 2011, when I knew next to nothing, and neglected almost as long, because of my naïve and mistaken notion that blue label white note Liberty/UA albums and the LT Series were somehow inferior to “original Blue Notes”, overlooking the fact many have direct lineage to original Van Gelder tapes and were never issued at the time. This is “the original”. The 2026 Tone Poet reissue of Vertigo prompted me to rediscover this title, and very glad I did. Right now its giving me great enjoyment, at no cost. The most precious asset we have is our attention, which we sometimes waste chasing novelty (guilty!), or the pleasure of acquiring yet more albums which we lack time to play. But we need to talk Cover Art The Art Director Speaks: When the Vertigo session tape was released on CD in 2000, typographic cover art in the manner of Reid Miles was created, based heavily on another McLean title, Jacknife. The font is from the “Shattered” family, text looking broken into pieces. A slice of each letter is offset from main body, left and right, creating a sense of impact and shock. The splinter can be horizontal or in this case, vertical. The Shattered fonts are a really clever visualisation of distress, violence and danger, that fits well with the ’50’s-’60s Hollywood psychological thrillers. Demons of the Mind: Hitchcock’s Rear Window (1954), Vertigo (1958) and Psycho! (1960), Fanatic (1965), Wayne Shorter’s album Schizophrenia (1967) and not forgetting that great loss of memory thriller, what was it called again, Ambrosia … Dementia …Nostalgia … yes, Amnesia! Vertigo Compact Disc release (2000) Plagiarism in cover art? Surely not! Any resemblance is pure coincidental. This is a totally different colour for a start. Jacknife Blue Note CD 2002, Italian clear vinyl reissue 2025. Sure, it was a steal, but who’s goin’ to snitch? Now Blue Note have had Kevin Gray master the Vertigo session from the original Van Gelder master tapes, for the Tone Poet series 2026. Nice Francis Wolff studio portraits for the gatefold, bring the musicians back to life, if only briefly. Jackie departed twenty years ago, in 2006, and Byrd in 2013, same year as Butch Warren. Tony Williams, in cruel irony, led a band called “Lifetime”, passed away age only 51 in 1997. Of the original Vertigo session players, only Herbie is still with us, comping away, seemingly indestructible at age 86. Looks great, nice gatefold, I would go for it if I didn’t already have the Liberty/EMI album. LJC Afterthoughts: May be you too have albums on the shelf un-played for some time. A brave soul once suggested to me that collectors should play every LP in their collection at least once a year. Logical but for me impractical. Personally, I give most attention to recent acquisitions, to get to know them better. I reckon you need to play a record at least five times in order to absorb its contents, to understand the musical intent. Of course your mileage may vary. I’m often surprised how my picks change with repeated plays. Some records I took an immediate dislike to, I revisit later for a second opinion, and mostly I still dislike them. Some tunes come back to haunt me over the following weeks, earworms. Some tunes I don’t get at first, but repeated listening unpicks them for me. It’s a funny thing, music, given we are all mostly consumers of it. Perhaps there is a science of how we listen, and could listen better. No use looking to the music industry, who need to sell us the next record. We collectors have to figure out this listening thing for ourselves. Your thoughts welcome. LJC Footnote: my own record archiving system. After purchase, each record is given a fresh white paper inner sleeve, with a new archival mylar inner bag (Nagaoka-style) to protect it. On the paper sleeve I record the purchase price, source and date of purchase, and the cleaning history (ultrasonic cleaning and demagnetizing date, to be updated with subsequent cleaning history). You think you are going to remember this? I record distinguishing label and runout stamps. Hence I know today the Vertigo album was purchased in 2011 in an Ebay auction for £11, given an IPA alcohol wet clean after purchase, and none since. I list each track on each side and, after listening, nominate my pick/s of the album. Some “listening notes” I add as comments. Everything is kept with the record itself on its inner sleeve, for future reference. I don’t grade the vinyl or cover, though I probably should, nor the dates on which I have played it, because its too much of a chore. The pick is usually the selection in any subsequent blog post. https://londonjazzcollector.wordpress.com/2026/08/21/jackie-mclean-vertigo-1963-ua-blue-note-lt-1085-1980/