Johnny Griffin [The Cat]

I discovered Johnny Griffin when i bought the cassette of this in a second hand shop, and really loved it, so i bought the disc, i don't bother with tapes anymore, but they really helped me delve into some out of the way music, it's good to play a Jazz disc today, roughly 5% of my Blog, and 4% of my disc collection is Jazz i would guess, and yet it's such great stuff, but finding the 'great' out of the 'good' is a hard task, at one time i used to own 150 jazz discs, now i own half that much, i've purged myself of a lot of dross, yet i don't seem to be delving into much new Jazz, there's so many genres to concentrate on, i've played this disc 15 times, and it's been in my Blog before [27th February 2010].

Johnny Griffin was an American [1928-2008], he came out with this disc in 1990, the front cover is excellent [by Jules Allen], showing Griffin in a portrait, basically a double exposure, a slow shutter speed makes the picture blurred, but at the same time the flash captures the subject frozen, it's actually fairly hard to get exactly right, but the results here are great, shows Griffin pin sharp, and yet there's movement too.

Well i really enjoyed this disc today, it's been over two years since i last played it, and i guess i've missed just how good it is, and why i initially fell in love with it in the first place, well on this listen i liked tracks 2, 5 & 7-9 the most, with tracks 2 & 9 especially great, here's a synopsis of both,
2 Wistful [7:09] - My favourite track on the album, the drummer Kenny Washington is so subtly good, creating i ticking rhythm at the beginning, Griffin plays the wonderful theme tune [0:10-1:32], a sort of jumpy hiccup of playing, which is really quite affecting, in the middle of the theme comes a 'chorus' [0:52-1:11], after the theme Griffin's off on his solo [1:32-4:12], he can make it cry and get really into it, Washington is excellent here, the best sideman on this record, his choice of hits and rhythms brings out the best in Griffin, the Pianist Michael Weiss takes his solo [4:13-5:30], a good one, though not in the league of truly good, Griffin brings the theme back in [5:30-7:09], and it's so good to hear this repeated, a lovely number.
9 Waltz For Ma [2:37] - A short little closer tacked on the end, almost an encore if you like, a waltz for Griffin's Mother, featuring the duo of just Griffin and Dennis Irwin on bass, it's a lovely ditty, Griffin playing sharp and bright, Irwin a simple bass accompaniment, it's a simple and innocent tune theme [0:00-1:00], afterwards Griffin plays a more complex variation [1:00-1:57], and brings back the theme again [1:57-2:31], it should be noted there's a point where he purposely plays out of tune in the theme, which is really quite cute, it's a touching short tune.

Darryl Brenzel [Pentasphere]

This is my third listen of this disc, the first two times are recorded here in my Blog [30th December 2010 & 7th November 2012], and it's a bit of a slow burner of a record, haven't listened to it a lot, plus some of the tracks are a bit average, but some stuff in my collection really does take time to come to love, i listened to this on a lovely sunny day, lying on the grass on my back, watching airplane vapour trails in the sky, ah the joys of portable music!.

Darryl Brenzel is American, not sure how old he is, this disc came out in 1998, the front cover photograph is excellent [by Karin Sigman], a black & white shot tinted by a mauve / orange filter?, i like it, the lettering is excellent too, and a 'no admittance' sign, some sort of message here?.

The two best tracks here were 5 & 6, here's a synopsis of both,
5 Some Other Time [8:07] - I remember this tune from a Mark Turner disc, a lovely ballad, almost a guitar / sax duet, Brenzel plays the theme tune [0:22+], really strong and clear, he's got a really nice tone, his solo with variations is excellent [0:22-4:28], throughout Brenzel's solo, you can hear Guitarist Paul Pieper trying to muscle in a solo, it's good to have a degree of competition, they throw sparks off each other as they 'dual', and Pieper gets his solo chance [4:29-5:50], Brenzel finishes things off by coming back in a long way from the end, and they both sort of jam at the end.
6 Pentasphere [6:03] - The title track is a more upbeat number, real Be-Bop, it's now a Quintet instead of a Quartet, after a complex opening theme, Pieper gets his guitar solo in [0:48-2:08], and works up quite a frenzy, Brenzel's solo [2:09-3:26] is strong but surprisingly short, as he allows the Pianist Harry Appelman to have a solo as well [3:26-4:44], his solo is really quite straightforward, and the theme comes back to finish things off.

Joh Yamada [Bluestone]

A disc i bought in 2003, not one of my greatest Jazz purchases, but it's a disc which has slowly built up a reputation for me, i've come to appreciate it over the years, there's nothing really revolutionary here, pretty standard stuff in an old school sort of way, a Charlie Parker and Jackie McLean disciple, gives you some idea of what he sounds like, featured quite heavily in my Blog [21 January 2010 & 3rd January 2013].

Joh Yamada is Japanese, he's now 46, he recorded this disc back in 1997, doesn't seem to be very active in the recording studio, i think he's only got one other album, the photography for this issue is excellent [by John Abbott], a close up on the front cover, i like the way the main lettering is vertical, and kudos to the record company for producing such a nice back inlay too, nice sharp photos, love the blue theme.

On this listen i really loved tracks 2 & 5-6, here's a short synopsis of them all,
2 Bluestone [9:52] - A gentle ticking / rocking in the rhythm section, bright playing of a simple tune by Yamada, certainly the Pianist Chestnut is quite clever, creating ripples of interest, sounds a lot like Cedar Walton, Yamada switches from playing straight to swinging and back, he isn't one of these players that have to produce a thousand notes per minute, he lets the music tunes do the talking, Chestnut has a solo in the middle [4:34-6:41], and in some ways seems to try to get a little too clever, but he's good too, the gentle ticking of Clarence Penn's drums is a nice addition.
5 Never Let Me Go [6:47] - A really touching tune, came to know it from Keith Jarrett, Yamada plays the main theme gently and breathy [0:23+], and then with more passion [0:56+], really affecting, it's a sax and piano duet to begin with, takes ages for the rhythm section to come in [1:32+], in Chestnut's solo [2:24-4:25] he again tries to outclever Yamada, though towards the end there's some beautiful treble key work, in Yamada's solo [4:25+], he really flows more than usual. 
6 The Sacred Eyes [5:19] - Bassist Rodney Whittaker gets his chance to shine in starting this one off, a slow lumbering idea at first, but i love the way he swings things up [0:46], and with one smash of the drums [0:54] Yamada throws himself into this one, Chestnut again has a really clever solo [2:59-4:16], going off in all directions, a real barnstormer.

Here's a sample of all the tracks on the AllMusic website.

Joshua Redman [Beyond] 

Not a Redman disc that i get to play that often, i think he's quite a genius, and yet his albums are uneven, they seem to fall into two separate camps, discs that i think are fantastic, and discs that are merely good, with the quality of my disc collection, i've eliminated the mere good, but this album is almost an inbetween of the two, i would never call it a great album, and yet there's no way i would want to purge it from library, this disc came after the excellent albums 'Freedom In The Groove' [1996], and 'Timeless Tales For Changing Times' [1998], on those two albums he was really having fun, a nice blast, here he's somewhat more serious, the musical ideas are still in abundance, but he seems to be reaching out to the fringes more, taking one rung of the ladder more toward atonality let's say, plus some of the track titles are very inventive / poetic, it's not an immediately likable album, and maybe i need to do some more serious listening to truly get it, but it's so worth listening to.

Joshua Redman is American, he's now 44, and so well established in Jazz circles, this is his sixth studio album, and it came out in 2000, the strange photography for this issue [by Frank W Ockenfels 3], shows Redman shot with i guess a serious wide angled lens, making his legs / feet look bigger than they are, in a strange room [probably a converted garage], which has the visual feel of a sort of pit [no windows], the front cover is really sparse, and it certainly goes with the feel of the music, i didn't think it's great, but somehow i can't dismiss it as average either.

Tracks 1-2, 4, 7 & 9-10 were the best, with the standout track being 7 'Stoic Revolutions', which has a phenomenal driving rhythm / beat to it, very much in the spirit of his two previous albums, there's no 'crazy' inventive intro, it's straight for the throat this one, lovely couple of beats of the drum from Gregory Hutchinson and we're away, the rhythm is made of a constant clicking of the cymbals, and a very repetitive and mellow chord hits from Pianist Aaron Goldberg, and it's the Drummer which makes the whole thing work, Redman comes in with the very lyrical tune, a degree of funkiness to the whole thing, he plays the 'theme' [0:10-1:09], and then goes off on a more complex solo [1:16-3:07], the way the rhythm section keeps going on in the same vein is terrific, but they do respond to his ever increasing complexity, there's great joy and vibrancy in his playing, the Pianist Goldberg who has been in the 'rhythm background' for so long, now finally branches out in a solo, [3:07-4:54] and also branches out volume wise as well, it's a relatively short tune [6:11], and therefore only time enough for Redman and Goldberg to cut solos, so Redman comes back in with the original opening theme [4:54+], and extends this with getting quite rapturous with the repetitive theme, and hits the treble stratosphere at the end, a highly infectious track.

Here's Joshua Redman playing 'Stoic Revolutions' on his MySpace page.

Joh Yamada [Bluestone] 

Jazz has appeared in my Blog only once a month on average, this seems crazy, i know that a great Jazz disc is hard to come by, there's so much dross and average stuff in the Jazz world, and you have to be quite dedicated to search out the real gems amongst the ordinary stones, but 48 Blog entries for Jazz, and i'm in my fourth year?, there were a few years where i purposely concentrated on Jazz, and a number of recordings would feature each month [before this Blog], but things have died down on the Jazz front, i find it hard to buy a new album, and of course harder to find such albums worth keeping, it's an agonisingly slow progress on this front, this disc is a good example, not something i truly liked to begin with, a fairly average to good disc, but over the years [i bought this in 2003] i've warmed to it, it's not earth shattering pioneer Jazz, just straight ahead BeBop, but there's a lovely innocence to the album, and the beauty isn't in the virtuosity, but in it's simpleness at times, it's a shame that he doesn't record a lot more, this album featured early on in my Blog [21st January 2010].

Joh Yamada is Japanese, he's now 44, and he recorded this disc in 1997, the photography throughout is excellent [by John Abbott], and one of the reasons it stood out from the disc racks in the shop, a lovely blue background, and showing the saxophone and its keys, nice close up head shot on the front, great use of sideways lettering for the name / title of the album, and the back inlay is of a high visual presentation also.

The track i liked the most was track 5 'Never Let Me Go', a famous standard, Yamada of course plays it as a beautiful ballad, the sound coming out of his saxophone is nice and breathy and atmospheric, the introduction as such is a duet by Yamada and the Pianist Cyrus Chestnut [0:00-1:32], and it's a nice moment when the other two come in, i like the way Yamada uses the higher registers of the sax on the main tune, it suits the main tune perfectly, Chestnut takes a solo [2:23-], simple at first, but gets more complex, nice bell ringing of the keys, Yamada comes back in, and with a slightly more upbeat and complex solo [4:25-5:39], which brings us full circle to a return of the main tune [5:38+], a lovely moment, i can't help feeling he actually sounds like a sort of Chet Baker of the saxophone, or maybe Jackie McLean, a subtle album.

Here's Joh Yamada's album Bluestone on the AllMusic website, you can listen to 30 seconds of each track.

David Murray [Ming's Samba] 

One of the greatest Jazz albums i own, and one of the success stories of my local library, i hired this out in late 1993, and loved it enough to get my own copy, i remember the moment that the whole thing 'clicked' for me, while on a train to London, looking out the window and thinking 'yeah, i get this!', it was a great moment for this album, and even more importantly for Jazz, some Soloist going fairly crazy, and skirting the very edge of tonality can still be music!, it opened up my way of thinking to fall in love with other Jazz albums, it's actually only a half filled album with not even 40 minutes of music on it, but quality more than makes up for lack of quality, with only 5 tracks, most lasting between 7-11 minutes, and one shorter track, but again quantity of tracks is more than made up by the sheer quality of those tracks, how Murray can spin long solos, full of ever increasing complex ideas, and how everyone else follows his line of thinking, what an excellent tight knit unit this is, this album featured in my Blog in the very first month [29th January 2010].

David Murray is American, though now lives in Portugal, he's now 57, he recorded this disc in 1988, the front cover photograph is by Ming Murray, which is his wife of the album name, it's a slightly long exposure shot, which shows nice movement, same with the back insert, i like the lettering, in opposite corners, large and small sizes, it's inventive, the track timings are a label i stuck on so i know where i'm at in each track, and the personnel list are transfers i rubbed on, i always like to know who exactly i'm listening to.

Tracks 1 & 3-4 were the best out of the five, and on this listen it was track 4 'Spooning' that i found extra brilliant, it's a Tango, the Drummer Ed Blackwell creates a martial gait in his drumming [0:00-0:08], and just listen to the way he hits that treble tom!, now that's the resonance i like from the drums, they make the drums sound so varied, and while Murray plays out the theme [0:08-1:42], and Blackwell gets some delicious hits in, and it's the Pianist John Hicks who takes the first solo [1:43-3:18], and in the background the Bassist Ray Drummond twangs away superbly, towards the end of Hick's solo, he gets really impassioned, Murray takes the next solo [3:18-6:29], simple-ish at first, but it isn't long before he starts throwing all sorts of spanners in the works, and there's individual tiny ideas that are chucked into the broth, some very lazy yet delightful bass notes [4:06-4:12], some almost tongue fluttering [4:21-4:35], there's squawking in there [4:43+], lazy legato wailing in higher registers [5:00-5:12], and blasting out what is probably the highest treble note that the tenor sax can do! [5:31-5:43], and almost trying to sound like words / language at one point [5:47-5:56], and yet all the time he stays true to the original theme, even though he de-constructs it to pieces, you can always hear the tune, Murray brings back the original theme in its natural glory [6:30-7:17], and it's so good to hear this again, Blackwell ends with the martial gait as at first as the outro fade [7:16-7:30], a tremendous track of exciting Jazz.

You can hear 1 minute samples of this album on the MP3VA site.

Darryl Brenzel [Pentasphere] 

This is the third time i've played this disc, and it's slowly growing on me, i bought it on Ebay, probably a couple of years ago, it's good to hear it again, it appeared in my Blog at the end of 2010 [30th December 2010], this is the way to truly delve into Jazz discs, to keep listening to them, not give up if at first you don't like them, and don't worry if you're not liking them either, play it and leave it aside for a year, and then give it another go, in a lot of ways Brenzel is not complex, fairly easy to listen to, and yet there's the danger it would be shallow, still early days on this disc. but i certainly enjoyed it today.

Darryl Brenzel is American i guess, not a household Jazz name, he recorded this disc in 1998, the front cover photograph is a peach [photo by Karin Sigman], actually a black & white shot, but then a couple of coloured filters are added, i guess purple and brown, making a diagonal merging of colours, the whole thing is a great idea, i like the photo, a thoughtful pose, saxophone in hand, notice the 'no admittance' sign!, is there a message here?.

The track that i found the greatest was track 6 'Pentasphere', and this was the same one that i loved a couple of years ago, 

Kenny Garrett [Trio-Logy] 

What an album, a real defining moment for me in my love of Jazz, fairly early on i developed a set of rules that determined what Jazz discs i would like, and which to avoid like the plague, trio albums with just a horn and bass & drums was a definite no no, it just didn't work with only a horn up front, but this album broke that rule, and opened me up to other possibilities that could work, i remember listening to this disc outside on a sunny day in Norwich, leaning up against a tree trunk and writing my Journal, and when i listen to this disc, i think of that memory, it's a 'hard' listen, but one packed with rewards if you pay attention.

Kenny Garrett is American, he's now 51, he made this recording in 1995, one of the main reasons i bought this disc was because of the front cover, it is one of the most incredible portraits i have ever seen, a stunning monotone shot in shades of brown [by Lisa Peardon], i love the symmetry of it, Garrett in a thoughtful pose, the light from the left leaves some nice shadows and contours, the hands are wonderful, the slightly blurred shoulder lines give a great hunched feel, the lettering separates 'trio' and 'logy', i call it TrioLogy, the sideways lettering on the left is mine, rubbed on white transfers, as the back insert is quite poor on the track listing and the personnel, i always like to know who's playing what as i listen, so i made a track listing on the front, i think it looks absolutely fantastic, one of the best disc i ever own visually.

A great listening experience, the top two tracks were 3 & 5, with track 5 'Wayne's Thang' the outright winner by miles, it's an incredible Jazz track, truly inspired, written by Garrett himself, the intro is phenomenal, a drum solo by Brian Blade [0:00-0:21], using most of his kit, wow the combination of hits is incredible, right away there's a tremendous groove, the complexity of it is hard to explain, it has to be heard to be appreciated, must be one of the greatest ever Jazz intros, even when the Bassist [0:21+] and a little later Garrett come in [0:32+], that cymbal ringing is so intense man!, and the Drummer keeps up that groove, it's a very simple rhythmic tune from Garrett, and only opens out beyond the statement of the theme, it would be truly sparse and flat without that drummer's constant rhythm, the Bassist / Drummer only break from the rhythm at [2:17+], and then Garrett gets more animated, the whole this is so groove laden, and it's when the opening vibes by Garrett come back that i'm amazed at such a golden moment [5:25+], and then the Trio indulge in some delicious false endings [6:05 & 6:27], only for the whole thing to start up again, now that really is satisfying, so that when the thing actually does end [6:46], you're left hanging as to whether you counted right, is it going to start up again?, must have been fun to do live, keeps people guessing, almost like the 'alternative ending' in certain films.

Here's Kenny Garrett playing 'Wayne's Thang' live, on YouTube, it's an extra long version, but it gives you a great idea of what it's like.

Mark Turner [Ballad Session] 

Ah Jazz!, how empty music would sound if there wasn't Jazz in it?, it's not just another genre, rather Jazz shows the extreme essence of what music can be... 'improvisation', an off the cuff inventing the music as you go, not merely plucking a guitar or tinkling a piano and see where it goes, but actually listening to others while you play, and responding, call and response, lead and follow, play and echo, the greatest musicians can make music up on the go, i'm so glad i have this in my life, it teaches me so many things about so many other sorts of music, and it's good to hear this album by Mark Turner again, it's a rather mellow disc, concentrating on slower numbers, this appeared in my Blog in its very first month [17th January 2010].

Mark Turner is American, he's now 46, and he recorded this disc in 1999, the photography throughout is superb [by Richard Lee], plus there's a lovely spread of black & white shots on the inside of the foldout booklet [by Jimmy Katz], visually the whole thing is well thought out indeed, the front cover is a real close up of his head, hand on his brow / head, lovely use of lighting which gives soft shadows, lovely crisp and sharp, the white lettering of the personnel / instruments is mine, rubbed on transfers, i always like to know who's playing what without opening the booklet, and i'm truly pleased with my work here, i really love this album cover.

The two tracks which i so much enjoyed on this listen were 6 & 10, here's a short explanation of each,
6 All Or Nothing At All - This is my favourite track on the album, i love Kurt Rosenwinkel's twanging guitar lines in the introduction [0:00-0:21], and the lovely interplay with the drummer Brian Blade [0:08+], the tune is excellent [by Arthur Altman], Turner plays it straight and beautiful, and then the change comes as he plays it in a higher register [1:06-1:28], it really does make a difference, sweet and strong, and then when he turns it back down to the opening [1:29+], it again sounds great, Blade gets nicely a bit more into it, Rosenwinkel gets in his solo [1:52-2:33], upping the franticness, and Blade really gets in some inspired playing, they really create sparks off each other, then Turner gets a more complex solo in [2:34-3:40], and i love the way Blade can use those toms, he's such an exciting drummer, Turner version of a song made famous by Frank Sinatra is fantastic.
10 Jesus Maria - A Carla Bley composition, well i certainly learn something by writing this music Blog, it's a nice gentle tune, a bit monotonous at times, again the drumming is clever, gentle and inventive, almost like bongos at certain points, Turner and the Pianist Kevin Hayes have a nice little tag duet [2:25+], an inspired infectious little tune, and a good closer.

Here's the All Music site, which has 30 second samples from all of the tracks.