MAX ROACH QUARTET – Live In Tokyo Vol.1 and Vol.2 (LPs-DenonJazz-1977)

Label: Denon Jazz – YX-7508-ND

Format: Vinyl, LP / Country: Japan / Released: 1977

Style: Free Jazz, Post Bop, Free Improvisation

Recorded live at Yubin Chokin Hall, Tokyo, January 21, 1977.

Cover Design – SIGN. Satoshi Saitoh

Cover Photo – Tadayuki Naitoh

Engineer by – Kaoru Iida

PCM Operator – Hideki Kaukizaki, Kaoro Yamamoto

Produced by – Tsutomu Ueno and Yoshiharu Kawaguchi

A  -  Calvary .................................................................................... 18:40

B1 - 'Round Midnight ...................................................................... 11:42

B2 - It's Time .................................................................................... 8:50

Max Roach – drums, percussion

Cecil Bridgewater – trumpet

Billy Harper – tenor saxophone

Reggie Workman – bass

Beautiful sounds from the ultra-hip Max Roach Quartet of the mid 70s. Tracks are long – very much in the Harper style of the time – and titles include "It's Time", "Calvary", and "Round Midnight".

Product Description:

MAX ROACH QUARTET Live In Tokyo Vol. 1 (1977 Japanese, 3-track Denon Jazz label, vinyl LP featuring a great live recording from the Yubin Chokin Hall in Tokyo Japan recorded on the 21st January 1977 featuring Cecil Bridgewater, Billy Harper, Reggie Workman with Max Roach. Housed in a picture sleeve complete with the original Japanese insert and wide obi-strip, YX-7508-ND)

MAX ROACH QUARTET – Live In Tokyo Vol.2 
(LP-DenonJazz-1977)

Label: Denon Jazz – YX-7509-ND

Format: Vinyl, LP / Country: Japan / Released: 1977

Style: Free Jazz, Post Bop, Free Improvisation

Recorded live at Yubin Chokin Hall, Tokyo, January 21, 1977.

Cover Ilustration – Atsushi Yoshioka

Cover Design – SIGN. Satoshi Saitoh

Cover Photo – Tadayuki Naitoh

Engineer by – Kaoru Iida

PCM Operator – Hideki Kaukizaki, Kaoro Yamamoto

Produced by – Tsutomu Ueno and Yoshiharu Kawaguchi

A1 - Mr. Papa Jo ............................................................................... 3:05

A2 - Scott Free Part 1 ..................................................................... 16:22

B  -  Scott Free Part 2 ..................................................................... 17:10

Max Roach – drums, percussion

Cecil Bridgewater – trumpet

Billy Harper – tenor saxophone

Reggie Workman – bass

Product Description:

MAX ROACH QUARTET Live In Tokyo Vol. 2 (1977 Japanese, 3-track live Denon Jazz label, vinyl LP, starring Cecil Bridgewater [trumpet], Billy Harper [tenor sax] & Reggie Workman [bass] recorded at the Yubin Chokin Hall that year. Pasted picture sleeve with Japanese insert & picture obi, YX-7509-ND).

Note:

Nearly all Japanese LPs were issued with an ‘obi’ - literally translated this means ‘sash’ and is derived from the obi (sash) worn around the traditional kimono dress. This delicate paper strip, usually wrapped around the left side of the album cover, often contains marketing information and album content details, all printed in Japanese kanji and ~kana script. Obi designs can be as varied as the LPs they adorn, and some series’ of obi designs can be as collectable as the artists’ albums they decorate. However, not all promotional LPs were issued with the obi - the LP was often distributed before the obi was produced - it is rarer to find a promo with an obi than it is without one, especially on first pressings. They are more common on promo copies of reissue albums as the timing is not quite so important as for a brand new release so there was more time to put the whole package together. The rarest Japanese promotional LPs are those designed with exclusive custom picture sleeves, often compilations of previously released tracks issued to the media as a reminder of back catalogue success prior to the launch of new material, or an impending Japanese tour. These retrospective LPs can be the crowning glory of any collection and they rarely come up for sale. They are often some of the most expensive LPs to obtain, with prices ranging from £50 to £1500 for the extreme rarities...!

If you find them, buy these albums!

MAX ROACH QUARTET – Nommo (LP-Victor-1978)

Label: Victor – SMJ-6225

Format: Vinyl, LP, Album / Country: Japan / Released: 1978

Style: Free Jazz, Post Bop

Recorded in Lausanne, Switzerland, October 1976.

Mixed at Long View Farm - North Brookfield, Massachusetts.

Composed By – Jymie Merritt

Design [Album] – Hirohito Fukutomi

Photography By – Tadayuki Naitoh

Liner Notes [Cover Notes] – Bill Hasson

Engineer – Jesse Henderson

Producer – Underground, Inc.

Victor Record Label, Catalog# MAX-6003 A-B

A - Nommo ....................................................................................... 25:40

B - Nommo (Continued) ................................................................... 24:25

Max Roach – drums, percussion

Cecil Bridgewater – trumpet

Billy Harper – tenor saxophone

Reggie Workman – bass

Recorded for Swiss Radio in Lausanne, Switzerland, in October of 1976. This is an original 1978 release from Japan. Includes an insert with notes in Japanese! First press on Victor.

Recorded in 1976, but not released until 1978 and only in Japan. This record is astonishingly good. Truly a beast of a free jazz-post bop session that features Max Roach on Drums, Billy Harper on Tenor (who's solo at the beginning of side two reaffirms my belief that he is one of the greatest Tenor players of all time), Cecil Bridgewater on Trumpet and Reggie Workman on Bass.

Enjoy!

If you find it, buy this album!

CLIFFORD BROWN – The Quintet Vol. 1 (2LP-1976)

Label: Mercury ‎– EMS-2-403

Series: The EmArcy Jazz Series –

Format: 2 × Vinyl, LP, Compilation, Remastered / Country: US / Released: 1976

Country of Origin: Netherlands  

Style: Hard Bop

Recorded at Capitol Studio Los Angeles, August 3,5 & 6, 1954 and Capitol, New York, February 23, 1955.

Art Direction [Art Director AGI] – Jim Schubert

Artwork – Bob Ziering

Compiled By, Liner Notes – Dan Morgenstern

Design – Joe Kotleba

Engineer [Cutting] – Gilbert Kong

Reissue Producer – Robin McBride

Remastered By [Tape] – Dick Campbell

A1 - Delilah . . . . . 8:06

A2 - Parisian Thoroughfare . . . . . 7:14

A3 - Jordu . . . . . 7:48

B1 - Sweet Clifford . . . . . 6:40

B2 - Ghost Of A Chance . . . . . 7:20

B3 - Stompin' At The Savoy . . . . . 6:26

C1 - I Get A Kick Out Of You . . . . . 7:36

C2 - Joy Spring . . . . . 6:51

C3 - Mildama . . . . . 4:25

D1 - Daahoud . . . . . 4:04

D2 - Gerkin For Perkin . . . . . 2:58

D3 - Take The A Train . . . . . 4:21

D4 - Lands End . . . . . 4:58

D5 - Swingin' . . . . . 2:52

Clifford Brown – trumpet

Max Roach – drums

Harold Land – tenor saxophone

George Morrow – bass

Richie Powell – piano

To me, the name of Clifford Brown will always remain synonymous with the very essence of musical and moral maturity. This name will stand as a symbol of the ideals every young jazz musician should strive to attain.

This name also represents a musician who had intelligent understanding and awareness of social, moral, and economic problems which constantly confuse the jazz musician, sometimes to the point of hopeless rebellion.

In the summer of 1953, while I was working with the Lionel Hampton band in Wildwood, N.J., I begged Hamp to hire three of the musicians from Tadd Dameron's band, which was nearing the end of its Atlantic City engagement: Gigi Gryce, Benny Golson, and Clifford Brown. They were all hired and then began an association that I'll always be grateful to Lionel for.

Brownie stayed on to go to Europe with this band and became closely associated with several other young musicians who were of growing importance in the jazz world, such as Art Farmer, Anthony Ortega, Jimmy Cleveland, Alan Dawson, and George Wallington. Although this band never played in the states together, I think it was one of the best Hamp ever had.

By means of an ex-tensive recording schedule abroad, Brownie came first to the eyes and ears of the French and Swedish jazzmen and a new thoroughbred was on the jazz scene. The uniting of Clifford Brown with the trumpet must have been declared from above. For seldom does a musical vehicle prove to be so completely gratifying as the trumpet was to Clifford.

Here was the perfect amalgamation of natural creative ability, and the proper amount of technical training, enabling him to contribute precious moments of musical and emotional expression. This inventiveness placed him in a class far beyond that of most of his poll-winning contemporaries. Clifford's self-assuredness in his playing reflected the mind and soul of a blossoming young artist who would have rightfully taken his place next to Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, and other leaders in jazz.

In this generation where some well-respected and important pioneers condemn the young for going ahead, Brownie had a very hard job. He constantly struggled to associate jazz, it's shepherds, and it's sheep, with a cleaner element, and held no room in his heart for bitterness about the publicity-made popularity and success of some of his pseudo-jazz giant brothers, who were sometimes very misleading morally and musically. As a man and a musician, he stood for a perfect example and the rewards of self-discipline.

It is really a shame that in this day of such modern techniques of publicity, booking, promoting, and what have you, a properly-backed chimpanzee can be a success after the big treatment. Why can't just one-tenth of these efforts be placed on something that is well-respected, loved, and supported in every country in the world but it's own?

Except for a very chosen few, the American music business man and the majority of the public (the Elvis Depressley followers specifically) have made an orphan out of jazz, banishing its creators and true followers and adopting idiots that could be popular no place else in the universe. I'll go so far as to bet that the salaries of Liberace, Cheeta, and Lassie alone could pay the yearly cost of booking every jazzman in the country.

This is why it's such a shame that Clifford Brown, Charlie Parker, Fats Navarro, and others have to leave the world so unappreciated except for a small jazz circle. I hope some of us live to see a drastic change.

In June, 1950, Clifford Brown's career was threatened by an auto accident while he was with the Chris Powell band, which kept him from his horn for a whole year. Exactly six years later, by the same means of an auto accident, death took its toll of Clifford Brown, along with his pianist Richard Powell (brother of Bud Powell), and Richard's wife.

Clifford, at 25, was at the beginning of showing capabilities parallel only to those of Charlie Parker. There was nothing he would stop at to make each performance sound as if it were his last. But there will never be an ending performance for him, because his constant desire was to make every musical moment one of sincere warmth and beauty; this lives on forever. This would be a better world today if we had more people who believed in what Clifford Brown stood for as a man and a musician. 

Jazz will always be grateful for his few precious moments; I know I will.

By Quincy Jones

Downbeat Magazine, August, 1956

If you find it, buy this album!

MAX ROACH and CECIL TAYLOR – Historic Concerts 1979 (2CD-1984)

 

Label: Soul Note – 121100/1-2 

Format: 2 × CD, Album; Country: Italy - Released: 1984

Style: Free Improvisation, Free Jazz

Recorded at Mc Millin Theatre Columbia U., New York, December 15, 1979

Executive-producer – Giovanni Bonandrini

Photography By – Collins H. Davis Jr.

Re-Design (inside and page 4) By  – ART&JAZZ Studio, By VITKO

Producer – Max Roach

Producer [Concert] – Bill Goldberg
Recorded By – Peter Khun

You won’t hear Cecil Taylor on commercial radio these days although back in the sixties I could catch him on WYLD AM&FM, Saturdays 4-7pm on the “ This Is Jazz ” program hosted by Larry McKinley, a popular New Orleans-based DJ (I believe Larry was originally from Chicago). Larry was renown for his weekday morning programs, The Larry and Frank show.

Larry was the straight man and Frank F. Frank was… well, what would you expect with a name like Frank F. Frank. Imagine Langston Hughes’ Jess B. Semple but with an ignant (short for an aggressive but lovable ignorant) New Orleans hipster inclination. Larry used to pinch his nose to do the voice of Frank. The routines were off the chain, including a hilarious pre-taped one-liner that would be inserted at appropriate times when Larry and Frank were discussing something either reprehensible or ridiculous in which some New Orleans citizen was engaged. All of sudden out of nowhere would come a shouting feminine voice: “you just like your old black pa!”

Can you imagine how that sounded on commercial radio? If Larry could get away with that on the weekdays, then Cecil Taylor on the weekends was no surprise. I’d be walking the picket lines with a little portable radio, engaged in our boycott of Canal Street, the main shopping area of that era. We were demanding jobs and equal access to public accommodations in the establishments where our people spent our money.

We were out there for weeks, months, stretching to over a year. Kept at it, and eventually the segregationist barriers fell but it was a long and sometimes wearying trek. Jazz helped sustain me.

Even though I didn’t fully understand Cecil’s music, his thundering crescendos, wild harmonies, and broken-field melodies not only kept my mind occupied, they also ripped open my imagination.

Cecil Taylor helped me think in new ways, especially his trio double-LP with alto saxophonist Jimmy Lyons and drummer Sunny Murray. Nefertiti Beautiful One Has Come was recorded in Copenhagen in 1962.

Murray’s drumming was just as unorthodox as was Cecil’s approach to the piano and could be equally as assaultive. Listening to them together you felt like you were being bombarded by percussion but without a regular beat. They could make you run for cover. Critics often referred to Murray as the perfect percussionist to ride shotgun on Cecil’s sonic explorations. The thought was you needed someone with a non-swing approach to offer the appropriate accompaniment but then in 1979 along comes this historic encounter: Max Roach & Cecil Taylor.

Now, Max Roach is in my estimation the dean of bebop drummers and certainly the greatest exponent of hard bop drumming—in that style, nothing surpasses the Clifford Brown/Max Roach collaborations. But Max was more than a swinger, as a drummer Max was the most complete improviser in the jazz idiom. No other drummer could completely cover so many bases with such deft and adroit instrumentation as Max Roach.

Whether totally solo with just Max and some drums, or in his M ’ Boom all percussion ensemble, or jazz combos, or whatever (especially when that whatever was work with vocalist Abbey Lincoln), not to mention his smoking symphonic orchestra work, Max Roach was the pinnacle of jazz percussion.

But prior to the recording I never would have thunk that Max would be the best drummer to work with Cecil Taylor.

In most cases a drummer working with Cecil was often an attractive but non essential ornament—some glitter or light bulbs but not the tree. On this recording, no matter what Cecil does, Max is right there almost as if Max had a map of Cecil’s imagination and knew what the pianist was going to do a milli-second or so before Cecil hammered out a phrase.

What is really instructive is the reality that Max and Cecil not only had never played together before this recording, even more astounding there was no rehearsal, nothing but mutual respect. They might as well have been from different countries, different languages with only two things in common. First, was their mutual love for improvised music. Second, and most important, was the left/right combination of technical proficiency and open-mindedness.

The recorded concerts was actually two different performances on one night, hence the plural designation. The first concert opened with a short drum solo, followed by a short piano solo, and then a forty-minute duet. The second show was a 38-minute duet that de facto had three movements. On the Mixtape I have included the two short solos and the second duet.

The 2CD recording also includes two interviews with Max and Cecil that have snippets of the concert inserted. Sounds like they could be ten minute radio promotion pieces for college radio, which was back in the late sixties the main broadcast venue for this music.

I’m not going to even try to describe this music. Whatever words I might choose will fail to convey the gigantic, oceanic intensity of this music. I suggest the best way to listen to it is alone with the lights off, no distractions.

I have a bunch of Cecil Taylor recordings including a handful of duets with drummers. This recording is the gold standard. Period. There is no other Taylor with drummer recording that I know of that can match the orgasmic climax of the second concert, nor for that matter the opening of Max punctuating the proceedings with hand percussion of various types. The opening is as fascinating as a Rubik’s cube, different permutations of sound. The closing is a Molotov cocktail of nuclear proportions. This music is the sonic equivalent of smashing atoms, of nuclear fusion.

Nobody can think and execute music that fast. Thinking goes out the window. You have to be, focus on flowing in concert with the interior pulse, except you’re approaching the speed of light, which is why you have to be a technician of the highest order to hang with this shit. Just listening to it is exhausting.

This music is a cosmic gift. Journey with the sounds to the outer zones of your imagination. You will be changed by what you discover.

— Story By K. S.



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