You Gotta Love Hank Mobley

I think you made a good point last night, Larry, when you said that if John Coltrane had never existed, Hank Mobley would take his place among the pantheon. No more 'middleweight' champion BS. Yeah, they really called him that while calling Coltrane the heavyweight champion. That must hurt when your nickname digs at you.

Hank Mobley is one of the greats

Yes, I love Hank Mobley too, as anyone who has been following this blog will know. Last night Larry and I were drinking a beer and listening to Another Workout (Blue Note, 1961) that has a stellar band, as all of Mobley's Blue Note albums did.

Hank Mobley - tenor saxophone

Wynton Kelly - piano

Paul Chambers - bass

Philly Joe Jones - drums

You'd be hard pressed to find a better trio to back you up, so no surprise that Mobley shines on this date. We were particularly taken by the ballad "Hello, Young Lovers" which I encourage you to listen to.

Larry also talked about the new Andrew Bird album being out and that he's loving it, but as great as Andrew Bird is, he's not jazz, so we won't discuss him in detail here. Sorry Andrew.

Thinking About Flutes

After talking to you about Nathan Davis the other night, I've been thinking about other flautists that I listen to.

(Odd word isn't it? Flautist? Why add the A? Wouldn't flutist be just fine? English is strange.)

There's two tracks that immediately came to mind and I bet you haven't heard them.

you gotta love the cigarette holder...

The first is by A.K. Salim, whose name isn't talked about within our jazz circle, but he put out some fantastic music in the 50s and 60s. Duo-Flautist is a great track that has, you guessed it, two flute players, Herbie Mann and Frank Wess. One of the things I find interesting about Salim's records is that he doesn't play on them. What? How does that work? He's the arranger, composer and director of the records. Whatever works I guess. I suppose that's why he looks so scholarly on the cover of "Flute Suite". Duo-Flautist is great and if you've already started listening to it, you'll see I'm right. I recommend checking out any of his recordings. His "The Modern Sounds of A.K. Salim" combines his albums "Flute Suite" and "Blues Suite" and I know you'll like it.

The other track is by the great Wynton Kelly. I know you know the name since I've talked about him a lot and written about him too. His recording of Bobo is the other flute track that popped into my mind. It's a happy little thing isn't it? It's the first track on The Wynton Kelly Trio's "Undiluted"

I must also mention that one of my all-time jazz faves, the Great Paul Chambers, Kelly's longtime partner, is on bass. Jimmy Cobb is solid as ever on drums and then there's the flute, who appears only on one track on the album. It's  Rudy Stevenson.

Who? I hear you. Who indeed. He's not exactly a jazz luminary but he still played with a who's who over the years including Nina Simone, Grant Green, Cedar Walton, Duke Pearson, Lee Morgan, Herbie Mann and Junior Mance. He also named his son Wynton Kelly Stevenson, so I guess he loved his brief time with the Trio.

Tonight I'll spin something else and I'll give you a call to talk about it.

Tell Joe I said hello.

Fabulous Flamenco on a Winter's Morn

Miles & Bill - I wish they had recorded 100 albums together...

Friends, I know I've spoken a great deal about spending a lot of time listening to lesser known jazz musicians and while this is true, the track that accompanied me through my drive to work on this unseasonably mild January morning (what happened to northern winters?) was the absolutely lovely "Flamenco Sketches" from Miles Davis' seminal recording Kind of Blue. You know that I am in love with Bill Evans and to hear him playing with Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Paul Chambers, Cannonball Adderley and Jimmy Cobb... well it doesn't get much better than that, does it?

Enjoy this classic, my friends.

Kind of Blue is the best-selling jazz album of all time for a very good reason, don't you think? After all, I named it an Essential Album That All Humans Should Own, so I imagine you've already bought it, listened to it constantly like I did upon first hearing it, then rushed out and bought as much Bill Evans as you could afford.

Regrets, Milt

I told you it would happen. I love 'Bag's Opus' but lately I have been listening to 'Bags and Trane', which is an incredible album Milt recorded with John Coltrane and an all-star line-up in 1959. Perhaps I should have named it the #7 album that all humans should own. Shall we call it #7.5?

two of the greatest

Have a listen to the title track and as soon as you hear the great Hank Jones play that opening riff you know you are in for something special. Milt and John have a great repoir. My man Paul Chambers plays some great bass as well and Kenny Clarke is great on drums, as he always is.

This really is a stellar disc and I can't recommend it highly enough. It was recorded the year before Coltrane released his seminal 'Giant Steps' and began to create one of the great bodies of work in modern jazz.

Albums That All Humans Should Own #7

I have written a great deal about Milt Jackson on this site and friends, if you haven't taken this hint and tracked down some of his music, this post may compel you to do so.

Milt had a recording career that spanned more than half a century and he released (under his own name, as a member of the Modern Jazz Quartet, or as a guest artist) more than 100 albums so it is no easy task to pick one to showcase. I let Milt chose his opus for me.

'Bag's Opus' (1959) by Milt Jackson is my seventh pick of essential albums that all humans should own.

In the coming days I may realize that I should have named another of his albums here, since so much of his recorded output is wonderful. He is my favourite vibist (with Walt Dickerson, Bobby Hutcherson and Lem Winchester behind him) and he brings that bebop intensity to all his playing, even the ballads. He never hits a poor note and his tone is gorgeous on an instrument that can be a bit grating in the upper register (I'm afraid some late-career Walt Dickerson is, in my humble opinion, guilty of this).

I've mentioned several times that the band makes the recording and this album features one of the great ensembles. Check out this lineup:

Milt Jackson:  Vibraphone
Art Farmer:  Trumpet
Benny Golson:  Tenor Saxophone
Tommy Flanagan:  Piano
Paul Chambers: Bass
Connie Kay: Drums



the great Benny Golson

It doesn't get much better than that. Only Tommy Flanagan isn't a legend, but if you consider that he played on Coltrane's Giant Steps, and Kenny Burrell and John Coltrane,  along with some of Curtis Fuller's finest records and on and on, perhaps we need to look and Mr. Flanagan's place in the pantheon one of these days...

This disc also benefits from some fantastic arrangements by Benny Golson, who is one of the best in the business. Shortly after this album, he and Art Farmer would form the Jazztet, one of the greatest bands in jazz history.

Have a listen to "Whisper Not". Great stuff, isn't it? Enjoy!

Who Doesn't Love a Bargain?

amazing amazing amazing

My wife likes to tease me about liking second hand shops and that doing so is a Ponka family tradition. I don't deny it - I admit to a thrill upon finding those gems that you occassionally discover. I especially love used book stores and I am still thrilled that I got the three volume set of Paul Metcalf's Collected Works in hardcover for $45 during a recent trip to Minneapolis. I am reading his Genoa with awe.

My love of a bargain goes for music too. Friends, you know I am willing to drop $100+ dollars on a Mosaic box set (the Charles Mingus set ships in three weeks! I can't wait!) but there are amazing deals for the bargain hunter to be had out there. Last night I was browsing through iTunes and came across a new series of music anthologies called 100 Original Tracks which has, you guessed it, 100 songs by a particular artist. I was excited to see that they had a jazz collection by Quincy Jones. I have one of his albums - This Is How I feel About Jazz (1957) - which is great stuff and features a who's who of jazz superstars including the great Charles Mingus, Art Farmer, my man Paul Chambers, Milt Jackson and Lucky Thompson. (Have a listen to "Sermonette" and I challenge you tell me you don't love it...) I wanted to hear more of his music, so you can understand why I was excited to find a collection that had so much of it. The kicker? The set only cost $6.99! I know! Crazy, right? That's less that 7 cents per song! How could I not buy it? I cleared a gig of space from my iPhone and downloaded it on the spot.



serious value for money...

The downside of sets like this is that there are no liner notes so it is impossible to know what musicians are playing on each track (why doesn't iTunes provide liner notes??) but for the price you truly can't go wrong. I think the set is worth it for the live version of Oliver Nelson's "Stolen Moments" that features some killer trumpet work by Freddie Hubbard.  (Without liner notes, I only know it's him beacuse Quincy introduces him by name... I can recognize some players by their sound alone, but not in this case.) Freddie played on the original recording with Oliver Nelson's killer band, but to be honest, I prefer his playing on this track. Perhaps it is the live setting that has him playing with such intensity...

There are some other fine sets in this line so if you have $20 to spare, you could pick up a few hundred tracks of amazing jazz. Enjoy!

My Man Paul Chambers and the great bassists of his time

Mr. Chambers takes a rest

Friends, it's been too long since we've talked about Paul Chambers.  It is not a contentious statement to say that he is one of the top two or three bassists of all time.

That being said, when you are talking about that elite calibre of musician, it is difficult to rank them based on skill but purely on personnel preference.  Off the top of my head I'd have to say Charles Mingus is the only player that was his equal in terms of proficiency (or was it just that he was a better composer?).  Well... in terms of skilled players you know how much I love Scott LeFaro with the Bill Evan's Trio, but can a few months recording, even though they were stellar recordings, put him into that elite category?  And what about Ray Brown? Ron Carter?  Percy Heath?  Charlie Haden? maybe even Steve Swallow?  Ah now you see why I stay away from ranking musicians.

Have a listen to the Paul Chambers Sextet's 'Whims of Chambers'  (from the album Whims of Chambers, Blue Note, 1956).

Fabulous!

So What!

On hold to talk to the government about this and that. 

What should be playing?

So What by Miles Davis.  Not a lousy Muzak version either, but the original recording!

Sure, the fidelity is terrible and I couldn't make out much of Miles' muted trumpet or Paul Chambers bass, but that song has a great mid-range. Bill Evans, Coltrane and Cannonball Adderley have my toes tapping.

Say what you will about the Canadian government, and believe me there's a lot I could say, (proroguing Parliament twice! slashing funding to the arts, to hell with the environment, etc etc etc) but I will give them their due: their on hold service has great taste in music!

Keep me on hold a little longer! I don't mind!

Albums That All Humans Should Own #4

My fourth pick is one of the first jazz albums I ever bought.  My cousin Glenn and I used to listen to it driving around town in his old Chevelle.

Not only does it have one of the best album titles of all time (okay, I know the name of the album shouldn't affect the music therein but it does, doesn't it?) but it also features one of the greatest bands ever assembled and it's a shame that this all-star unit never recorded more.

'The Blues and the Abstract Truth' (1961) by Oliver Nelson is my third pick of essential albums that all humans should own.


Check out the names on that album cover.

• Bill Evans - Piano
• Roy Haynes - Drums
• The multi-instrumentalist-who-died-too-young Eric Dolphy
• Oliver Nelson - Alto
• My man Paul Chambers - Bass
• Freddie Hubbard- Trumpet

Few bands have that kind of talent and the music is diverse and has incredible flow. It's a sextet that sounds like an orchestra.  Take a listen to Stolen Moments, one of the all-time great songs in the history of jazz. After that slow build-up, Freddie Hubbard plays some nice trumpet, but then comes one of my favourite moments in all of recorded jazz: Eric Dolphy's flute solo.

It is spectacular stuff.  Spectacular flute solo? Is that what you're thinking? 


Trust me, in the right hands the flute can be great. Admittedly, there are only a few masters of the instrument in jazz other than Eric Dolphy. (Yusef Lateef for one... I'll have to think to find a third. Sonny Red maybe?)


If you were sitting here with me drinking a martini as I am, I could hum it to you as it is a passage I know by heart. The consummate skill with which he plays astounds me even after countless listens.

I ask my wife who is sitting across from me doing some work she brought home from the office -Would you like me to whistle Eric Dolphy's flute solo from Oliver Nelson's masterful Stolen Moments?

-Tempting. Thanks but no.

Trust me friends, even if you don't want to splurge for the entire  disc, download that one track and brace yourself for the magic that comes at the 3 minute mark.  Eric Dolphy is a jazz god.

On a parting note I will mention that Oliver Nelson not only recorded one of the greatest jazz albums of all-time, but in the 70's he got a lot of work scoring for film and TV (which the snooty jazz community poo pooed him for) and some say that this hard work drove him to an early grave. One of the highlights of this second career? Writing the music for that classic series of my childhood, The Six Million Dollar Man.

If you are thinking that I mention that fact just so I had an excuse to post this great photo of the great Lee Majors, you may be right.

I mean, the theme song is written by Oliver Nelson and take a listen. It's not Stolen Moments, but it is pretty cool. 


PS: Okay, I can't resist: you can watch the $6,000,000 man battle Sasquatch here. Dig that Oliver Nelson score! 

The Theme

Babies are asleep.
Malay Chicken in Coconut Milk is in the oven.

Paul Chambers is setting the mood with The Theme which he probably played every night when he was with the Miles Davis Quintet, (which had the stellar line-up rounded out by John Coltrane tenor, Red Garland piano and Philly Jo Jones drums).

[My wife didn't enjoy the track that was on previously: Charles Tolliver's attacking brilliance demonstrated on Impact. Hit it certainly does.  The electric bass has me playing this track several times a day in between the gentle tones of Walt Dickerson, of To My Queen fame. More on Charles Tolliver's in a later post, my friends.]

Just before dinner was prepared I read about Mr. Chambers in the new Monk biography, stating that when Monk first met Mr. Chambers through Coltrane:

Chambers was jazz's golden child... and Down Beat critics were about to anoint him 'New Star' on bass...

 I knew my faith in him was well placed.

Ahh, the basmati is ready.  Good night for now. Let's allow Cannonball Adderley's Somethin' Else to lead us to dinner.

Bassists Get No Respect: a discussion continues

My man Paul Chambers backs up the argument I made on December 29, 2009 (the quotes are from Downbeat, Jan. 11, 1956):

"If a bassist is capable of playing a solo, he should be given a chance to."

 Well put, Mr, Chambers!  Not only was he an adept soloist, he was interested in expanding the limits of the double-bass in a jazz context:

"The reason why the bass isn't as dominant  as other instruments is that bassists don't get the chance to explore... Once a bassist's duties in accompanying a horn are over, the bass should have a chance to speak."

At this moment I am listening to his intro to Big Paul from the Kenny Burrell & John Coltrane album recorded for Prestige in 1958.  Magic!

Hank Mobley - my dark secret comes out!

I show my wife the cover to Hank Mobley's 'Thinking of Home', another great one from Blue Note. (They put out a book of their covers and I am kicking myself for not buying it.)

She says to the babies -I think your dad has a man-crush on Hank Mobley.

Not denying the man-crush since he is one of my favourite sax players, I add -And it's got Woody Shaw on trumpet!

-All you need is your guy on bass...

(She means Paul Chambers, which you would know if you've been reading along.)  -This has someone named Mickey Bass on bass. I've never heard of him.

We feed the babies their dinner and put them to bed. Another lovely day of marital bliss, babies and jazz

My Man Paul Chambers Gets No Respect

If you have been reading this blog then you know I have a fondness for the bass work of Paul Chambers. It mystifies me that he does not rank higher in the jazz world. But let's face it, bassists rarely get the respect they deserve, and I suspect this is true across all genres.

Need proof, my friends?

An album was recently released called 'Sides of Blue: The Jazz Greats Who Played on Kind of Blue'.

The album has tracks by Wynton Kelly (1 song), Cannonball Adderley (1 song) , John Coltrane (3 songs) , and Bill Evans (3 songs).

Hmmm... who is missing from that list?

 Mr. Paul Chambers, of course. Sure, he  was the sideman on one of the Bill Evans tracks (Woody'n You) as well as the Wynton Kelly (Willow Weep For Me) but why not give Paul Chambers his due? After all, Wynton Kelly didn't even play piano on every track on 'Kind of Blue' (why would he when Bill Evans was around?) yet he gets a track on 'Sides of Blue'.

If you buy 'Sides of Blue', which isn't such a bad idea as it is a pretty decent compilation (though you could buy better) and if you download it from iTunes or another similar site, I propose you also spring the 99 cents and download Chamber Mates by Paul Chambers (listen to that bass work! and the compositional skill!) as add it to the album. It is worth it for the man's bowed solo. The man could make the double bass sing and it is time the jazz world gave him the respect and status he so rightly deserves.

Okay okay, I will get off my pedestal now since my dinner is ready (a Mexican feast!) and Yusef's Mood by the multi-instrumentalist Yusef Lateef is playing.  Another delightful night!

My Man, Paul Chambers

‘So What’ is playing on the Harmon/Karmon.

-Listen to that bass, I say to my wife.

-Is that your man? she asks.

It is indeed my man.  My man, or to be more precise, my jazzman of the moment, is bassist Paul Chambers. I have been collecting discs of which he played a part.

What? Never heard of him?  That may be so, but you have heard him if you have even the slightest immersion in jazz.

Surely you’ve heard the album ‘Kind of Blue’ by Miles Davis, which is playing at this moment. If you haven’t heard it, do yourself a favour and go get it. It is one of the half dozen jazz recordings that I believe every human should own. 

There are so many heavyweights on ‘Kind of Blue’ (Coltrane, Cannonball Adderley, Bill Evans, Miles himself) that it’s easy to forget about those low notes that are driving that classic album (which is, I might add, by far the best-selling jazz album of all time).

The interplay between Paul Chambers and Bill Evans that begins this album leads into his bassline (bo dee bo dee bo dee bo doo doo) which propels the song with an impeccable coolness.  The horns slowly rise up and come to the fore, then Miles begins to blow.  Even then I am drawn to Paul Chambers smooth line.  (I can refer to Miles by his first name, but Paul Chamber requires both names. I will pay this under-appreciated man this small consideration.)

It’s not just that album either.

He played on John  Coltrane’s ‘Giant Steps’ and ‘Blue Train’.

He played on some of the best albums of Lee Morgan, Hank Mobley, Herbie Hancock, Wes Montgomery, Oliver Nelson (the wonderful album called ‘Blues and the Abstract Truth’ one of the greatest jazz albums of all time, about which I will surely write about in the future), Sonny Rollins’ ‘Tenor Madness’ and on and on.

Not only was he one of the premiere sidemen of all time, but the man produced several fine albums including ‘Bass on Top’ that features some great guitar work by Kenny Burrell and is surely one of the great neglected jazz albums.

Sure, Paul Chambers is my man.

I recently made a playlist called Mr. Chambers - 160 tracks with him on bass. It’s tremendous.  Perhaps I should go through it track by track with you (a rollicking ‘His Sister’ from Lee Morgan, Vol. 2 is playing now), so you leave here completely convinced that Paul Chambers is  worthy to be my man, and your man too, he should be everyone’s man, but the babies are getting restless and my wife and I should take them for a walk on this cold late afternoon.  We will return to feed them dinner and continue listening to my man Mr. Chambers and I will have to wait for another day to continue my exploration of the man, his music, his legacy, and his premature demise.