John Coltrane, Jazz Piano Solos v. 24

Yet another book of solo piano arrangements, this time of tunes either written by or recorded by John Coltrane. The ones he wrote (most of them, at least) cannot be 'played', as of this writing, presumably due to the need to pay royalties for such 'playing'.

The arrangements in this book are by Brent Edstrom.

Jazz Ballads (Jazz Piano Solos, v. 10)

Most of these are on MuseScore, as 'official' scores. That means they cannot be printed or downloaded without paying. But the full sheet music is there, so you could play them off a tablet or something. And many of them, at least, can be listened to. It's nice to be able to hear them when trying to learn the arrangement (and before deciding whether to bother).

George Gershwin (Jazz Piano Solos v. 26)

Hal Leonard publishes some really great collections of piano solo arrangements of jazz standards. The difficulty ranges from things I can play (intermediate level) to things it'll be a while until I can play. But these do not come with recordings, even online. Fortunately, they have started putting them on MuseScore. You can't download them without paying (I've already paid for the books!), but you can listen to them (played via MIDI), which can be very helpful, especially for getting the rhythms right. 

Another Night

Albums from another night of listening....

• 
  Duke Ellington, Such Sweet Thunder (Columbia, 1957)
  This is Duke's Shakespeare suite, and it is a really fantastic album. It's a relatively small version of the Ellington orchestra, and they are in great form here. Mono only, unfortunately, though, timbrally speaking, it is a great recording. I'm privileged to own a white label promo that is in terrific condition.
• 
  Gary Burton and Chick Corea, Crystal Silence (ECM, 1973)
  I am a big fan of Gary Burton. I am not a huge fan of Chick Corea, though there are albums of his that I love, and this is one of them. (Circle is another.) There is something amazing about the combination of piano and vibes here, all the more so because of how these two play off each other.
  I always think of this album as quiet and meditative, and there are times it is like that, but not always. Still, I needed this album on this day, when my uncle was dying of Covid. I'm glad it was there for me.
• 
  Oregon, Winter Light (Vanguard, 1974)
  I thought I'd posted about this album before, because I'd listened to it a while back. Anyway, I had to have another listen because I got an original pressing, whereas the other one was a later re-issue in Vanguard's "MidLine" series. This one sounds a lot better, probably (as usual) because of tape degradation. But what matters here is the music, and it is fantastic. If you were only ever to listen to one album by these guys, this might be the one.
• 
  Collin Walcott, Don Cherry, and Nana Vasconcelos, Codona 2 (ECM, 1981) and Codona 3 (ECM, 1983)
  I listened to these two albums while hacking on LyX, so I don't have as much to say about them as I might otherwise. But they're terrific albums. Walcott really shines here, when given the chance to be more of the focal point (as he is not always with Oregon).
  
  

Happy 80th, Herbie

The other day, I listened to Herbie Hancock's first solo album, Takin' Off, and later was googling for more info about it, and realized that he is going to be 80 years old today, 12 April 2020! Happy birthday, Herbie!! So, of course, tonight had to involve some Herbie.

Monday Evening Tunes

• 
  Jan Garbarek, Egberto Gismonti, and Charlie Haden, Folk Songs (ECM, 1981)
  A very nice album, but not breathtaking in the way that Magico was. It has its moments, but it lacks the lyrical flow of that album. Still, these are three amazing musicians, and there are some wonderful moments.
  As I mentioned, I think, with Magico, this album sounds especially wonderful on the new speakers, because they do such a great job with Haden's bass. It is deep and powerful, and just big, the way it should be.
• 
  Herbie Hancock, Takin' Off (Blue Note, 1962)
  This was Herbie's first album as a leader, at the ripe age of 22. With Dexter Gordon and Freddie Hubbard, and a rhythm section of Butch Warren and Billy Higgins. It's a nice record, but for the most part it's also a pretty typical one for the label and the era. The slow ballad, "Alone and I", that closes the album is probably my favorite.
  Here's something kind of scary: This coming Sunday, 12 April 2020, is Herbie's 80th birthday.
  My copy is a 1970s "black b" pressing, and not an RVG master. So it's a touch dark, though it still sounds pretty good.
• 
  Duke Ellington, Jazz Party in Stereo (Columbia, 1959)
  What a fun record! The liner notes claim that Duke was just back from Florida, so they wanted to get a few tunes recorded, but then a whole bunch of people showed up to say hello, including Dizzy Gillespie and Jimmy Rushing, and it turned into a party. Including, at one point, two vibraphones, two xylophones, a glockenspiel, and nine tympanis, plus more conventional percussion. Great music and a great performance, including yet another long rip from Paul Gonsalves (though nothing approximating what is on Ellington at Newport).
  My copy is an original 6-eye pressing. It is far, far superior to the Classic re-issue, and probably cheaper.
  For audiophiles: This is a great recording, timbrally, and it has a ridiculously wide soundstage at times.
• 
  Collin Walcott, Don Cherry, and Naná Vasconcelos, Codona (ECM, 1978)
  I am guessing that this must have been one of the "Let's throw three amazing musicians together and see what happens" albums that ECM seemed to make from time to time. It's an interesting collection of folks: Walcott, from Oregon, on sitar, tablas, and dulcimer; Cherry, best known for his early work with Ornette Coleman, but by then well-established in his own right, who plays trumpet (as usual), a variety of flutes, and dousn'gouni; and Naná Vasconcelos, a Brazilian percussionist who, at that point, had recorded two albums for ECM with Egberto Gismonti. (He would later record one of my favorite albums, As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls, with Pat Metheny and the late Lyle Mays.)
  This is a very weird album, as you might expect. It doesn't always work, but when it does it's really magical. The highlight, to me, is "Mumakata", though the other song on side 2, "New Light", is also wonderful.
  PS: CO (Collin), DO (Don), NA (Naná). (Kind of like NiRoPe, if you're from southeastern New England.)

Birthday Music

1. 
   David Torn, Cloud About Mercury (ECM, 1986)
   If you're at all into progressive rock, and you don't know this album, you need to listen to it very soon. The rest of the band is Bill Bruford, Tony Levin---i.e., the rhythm section from the great King Crimson incaranation of the early 1980s---and Mark Isham on trumpet. Torn is a guitarist, and a very creative one.
   This is one of those genre-busting albums. It's somewhere between progressive rock and fusion, I guess.
   
2. 
   Jan Garbarek Group, It's OK to Listen to the Gray Voice (ECM, 1985)
   A stunningly beautiful album, with David Torn on guitar, Eberhard Weber on bass, and Michael DiPasqua on drums and percussion. The interplay between Torn and Garbarek, in particular, is worth the price of admission. And Weber plays bass like no one else.
   From here on out, it turned out to be mostly a night of Garbarek.
   
3. Ralph Towner, Solstice (ECM, 1975)
   Another of my favorite albums, and one of the great ECM records. Garbarek and Weber are here again, along with Jon Christensen on drums. Somewhat unusually for jazz, Towner plays classical and 12-string guitars, and occasionally piano. This is more straight ahead jazz than one gets with Oregon, and there are just lovely textures between the acoustic guitars, Garbarek's sax, and Weber's electric upright bass.
   The recording is extraordinary. It's hard to over-state what a wonderful audio engineer Jan Erik Kongshaug was, and how much influence he must have had on the 'ECM sound'. Here, he gives us a wonderful sense for the softness of Towner's classical guitar and, at the same time, the power of Garbarek's sax.
   
4. 
   Keith Jarrett, My Song (ECM, 1978)
   The second record from Jarrett's so-called 'European Quartet', with Garbarek, Christensen, and Palle Danielsson on bass. The only other studio album they made was Belonging, from 1975.
   This one is more lyrical than that one and less 'free' than Nude Ants (1979), which was recorded live at the Village Vanguard. A wonderful album.
5. 
   Keith Jarrett, Personal Mountains (ECM, 1989)
   Also from the European Quartet, recorded live in Tokyo in 1979. I would guess that this record maybe gives one more of a sense for what their concerts were really like. There's a lot of out-there improvisation, as on Nude Ants, but also more lyrical performances.

More Music

1. 
   Ralph Towner, Batik (ECM, 1978)
   The first song, "Waterwheel", is a classic. The rest is merely good.
   The copy I have is a Warner Brothers re-issue, and these generally are a lot better than the US originals, which were pressed and distributed by Polydor. But I thought this one was a bit dark, and it left me wondering what a German original might be like. That said, I'm not sure I love this album enough to pay what it would take to find out.
2. 
   Daniel Lanois, For the Beauty of Wynona (Warner, 1993)
   As diverse as what he produces, and beautiful. One of my very favorite albums. The highlight here for me is "Unbreakable Chain", though there are a lot of competitors for that title.
   It's a nice recording, too. Though, as you might expect, it is a bit inconsistent in that respect, given how it would have been recorded.
   Unsurprisingly, the original US release, on CD, included a censored version of the cover.
3. 
   Daniel Lanois, Acadie
   His first solo album. I remember hearing it the first time and wondering how on earth this guy could make this album. It's basically folk, with a slightly Cajun edge. But it is wonderful, too, maybe even better than Wynona, because it is more coherent as an album.
   Unfortunately, the recording is just all right. There's quite a lot of sybillance on the vocals (which always reminds me of cheap, crappy speakers).
4. 
   kd lang, Ingénue
   I hadn't listened to this for a while. A great album, and her voice sounds amazing, even through the digital recording. There could be a lot more depth to the recording, but for the most part the instruments sound very natural.
5. 
   Steve Tibbetts, Safe Journey
   I've mentioned him in other recent posts. Many of his albums are meditative and quiet, and this one has such moments. Lovely, and a nice recording, as one expects from ECM.

Tonight's Selections

1. Keith Jarrett, Gary Peacock, and Jack DeJohnette, Standards vol. 1 (1983)
   

A Blue Note Labelography, by Robert May

Reprinted from Primyl Vinyl Exchange Newsletter, vol. 2, no. 6, Nov - Dec, 1997

Reposted here, with permission, since it is no longer at its original location (see here)

Relatedly, see this Blue Note discography this guide to Blue Note labels (and also this one), and this one, and this history of the company.