Miles on Monday: Sketches of Spain as classical music; unheard recordings of Davis' "first great quintet"; and more

For this week's "Miles on Monday," some recent news items about the iconic trumpeter:

* As the Miles Davis Memorial Project gets closer to their goal of putting up a statue of the trumpeter in the town where he was born, March 1 is the deadline to purchase an inscribed brick or granite block to be placed around the statue, which will be located on a plaza on West Third Street in Alton’s downtown business district.

Preston Jackson, the artist creating the statue of Davis, currently is finishing preparations to cast the bronze statue, and construction on the site will begin this spring as soon as the weather permits. Memorial bricks are $75 and granite blocks are $400, and can be ordered online, by calling Pride Incorporated at 618-467-2375, or in person at the Alton Convention & Visitors Bureau, 200 Piasa Street in Alton.

* A DJ at Colorado Public Radio wonders if Davis' album Sketches of Spain should be considered classical music.

* DownBeat has republished on their website an interview Davis did with Nat Hentoff back in 1955.

* Also re-released on the web this week: The pubic radio program Studio 360's "American Icons" episode from 2007 about Davis' Kind of Blue.

* Courtesy of the bigO audio archive, you can download recordings of some radio broadcasts of performances by Davis' quintet in the 1950s at NYC's Cafe Bohemia that are previously unreleased in the USA.

The airchecks from 1956 and 1957 feature Davis' "first great quintet," with John Coltrane on tenor sax, Red Garland on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, and Philly Joe Jones on drums.

Another broadcast from 1958 features the same group. except with Bill Evans in for Garland. There's also a 1953 version of "A Night in Tunisia" and a 1958 jam session version of "What Is This Thing Called Love?' All the tracks are purported to be in the public domain thanks to copyright laws in Europe, where the recordings originally were issued.

StLJN Audio Archive: Quartette Tres Bien - Stepping Out

For this week's Audio Archive post, we revisit Stepping Out!, a 1966 release by the popular St. Louis group Quartette Trés Bien.

A groove-oriented piano-trio-plus-percussionist, the QTB rose to fame during the Gaslight Square era, right around the same time that Ramsey Lewis and Young-Holt Unlimited were successfully purveying similar sounds up in Chicago.

The band's fifth album to get national distribution as part of their deal with Decca Records, Stepping Out! has been out of print for decades and apparently never has been reissued on CD.

The personnel is the familiar QTB lineup of Jeter Thompson on piano, Richard Simmons on bass, Albert St. James on drums and Percy James on bongos & congas. The album's tracks include "Watusi Warrior," "Summertime," "Stay, My Love," "A Taste Of Honey," "More (Theme from "Mondo Cane")," "Sheryl Likes Bananas" and "Brazil (Aquarela Do Brazil)"

From the original liner notes by Stanley Dance:

"'Emotion' is a word that Jeter Thompson returns to in conversation, for it is a quality he and the others seek to project on original compositions as well as in their playing, and this determines the playing of their most characteristic effects. The astonishing 'Watusi Warrior', for instance, is another example of Thompson's gift for descriptive writing with an African motif, its predecessors including 'Kilimanjaro' and 'Rhodesian Chant' on Decca DL 4548 and DL 4547 respectively.

He insists that this evocative piece, which seems so wild, exciting, barbaric and abandoned, was 'all worked out' beforehand. Such a performance is made possible by the Quartette's élan, and by the intuitive understanding each musician has - after playing together for seven years - of the others' ways of thought and expression."

The 320K .mp3 rip of Stepping Out! comes from the now-inactive music sharing blog Arkadin's Ark, and you can download a copy of it for free here. You can see the Quartette's successor Trio Tres Bien, which features Jeter Thompason along with his brothers Harold and Howard on bass and drums, perform live at this year's U City Jazz Festival on Saturday, September 22 in Heman Park.

StLJN Audio Archive: Hamiet Bluiett - Endangered Species

For this edition of the Audio Archive, we continue this weekend's focus on the great baritone saxophonist Hamiet Bluiett by spotlighting Endangered Species, his recording debut as a leader.

Originally issued in 1976 by the now-defunct India Navigation label and out of print for many years, Endangered Species has been preserved online thanks to the efforts of music sharing blogs including Free The Music, where yr. humble StLJN editor found the file.

In addition to Bluiett on baritone sax and flute, the personnel on Endangered Species includes another St. Louis native, drummer Phillip Wilson, as well as Olu Dara (trumpet), Jumma Santos (balafon) and Junie Booth (bass). The album's tracks, all composed by Bluiett, are "Between the Raindrops," "Sobre Una Nube," "The Other Side of the World" and "Ayana Nneke."

Called "quite impressive" and "adventurous" by All Music Guide, Endangered Species was recorded after Bluiett left the employ of bassist Charles Mingus, right around the time he first joined forces with two other former St. Louisans, alto saxophonists Oliver Lake and Julius Hemphill, and tenor saxophonist David Murray to form the World Saxophone Quartet. It's an important document in the career of the man that critics and fans have called the best baritone saxophonist of his generation, and you can download a copy of it for free here.

(Update, 5:10 p.m., 6/25/12: We've been informed that the download link above does NOT work as a regular "hot" link for some readers. If it doesn't work for you, you can try copying and pasting it into your address bar, as that seems to have been successful for at least one person. Or, you can download a different rip of the LP, of slightly lesser audio quality, here or here. Apologies for the glitchiness...)

The StLJN Audio Archive links only to recordings that are out-of-print or that never have been commercially available. The purpose of the Audio Archive is to encourage discussion, appreciation and knowledge of St. Louis jazz artists, and we urge you to support them (or their estates) by purchasing authorized recordings and merchandise and, whenever possible, attending live performances.

StLJN Audio Archive: Black Artists Group - Ofamfa: Children of the Sun

For this week's Audio Archive post, we delve into the history of St. Louis' Black Artists Group and revisit Ofamfa: Children of the Sun, BAG's first-ever LP release issued in 1971 on their own Universal Justice imprint.

Preserved online thanks to the music sharing blog Nothing Is II, Ofamfa largely features the poetry of BAG co-founder Bruce "Ajulé" Rutlin with musical accompaniment from an ensemble of musicians including such now-familiar names as saxophonist Oliver Lake, drummer Charles "Bobo" Shaw and trumpeter Floyd Leflore. It was recorded live in 1970 as the audio component of a performance featuring dancers Carolyn Zachary, Etta Jackson, Johadi, and Sandra Weaver.

So what does it sound like? Well, as the proprietor of Nothing Is put it:

"Depending on your state of mind, it is either brilliant next-level sound art, or an incomprehensible and bumbling train wreck. Or both. I always think to myself, I could just listen to the amp hum from an anonymous location in St. Louis some 35 years ago and be content."

One thing is for sure, there’s a good reason nobody else would release this. It makes John Coltrane sound like “Get on the Good Foot.” R-A-W. Even Arista avoided it when they raided the catalog to re-release “Under the Sun” and “Whisper of Dharma.” Hence, this is another entry in this blog’s catalog of un-loved recordings that still haven’t seen a proper digital release."

And indeed, Ofamfa seems never to have made it to CD, which, considering the relatively small quantities of LPs pressed for its original issue, makes it a genuine collector's item as well as a key document of the evolution of BAG.

The complete personnel for the album (pictured) includes Raju Áten (conga, small instruments), Oliver Lake (soprano sax, alto sax, flute, poems, small instruments), Floyd LeFlore (trumpet, small instruments), Ishac Rajab (trumpet), Arzinia Richardson (bass, small instruments), Vincent Terrell (cello), Charles "Bobo" Shaw (drums, small instruments), and Bruce "Ajulé" Rutlin (poet, arrangements, small instruments, drums).

The tracks are "Sweet Street Song," "Uu-Twee," "After Jeremiah's Wed," "Sounds of Scorpio," "Trane Songs," "Rent Man," "A Little Tom is a Dangerous Thing" and "Echos (O Susanna)."

You can download a copy of Ofamfa: Children of the Sun here.

The StLJN Audio Archive links only to recordings that are out-of-print or that never have been commercially available. The purpose of the Audio Archive is to encourage discussion, appreciation and knowledge of St. Louis jazz artists, and we urge you to support them (or their estates) by purchasing authorized recordings and merchandise and, whenever possible, attending live performances.

(Edited 4/30/12 to fix a typo.)

StLJN Audio Archive: The Leon Thomas Album

For this week's installment of the StLJN Audio Archive, we revisit The Leon Thomas Album, originally issued by the late singer and East St. Louisan Leon Thomas in 1970 on the now-defunct Flying Dutchman label.

In contrast to Thomas' sparse debut recording. Spirits Known and Unknown, which positioned him as part of the music's avant garde, his second album as a leader features a full band arranged by saxophonist and St. Louis native Oliver Nelson and including a number of well-known mainstream jazz musicians of the time.

The track list on the album (pictured) includes "Come Along," "I Am," "Bag's Groove," "Um, Um, Um" and the LP-side-long "Pharoah's Tune (The Journey)." The complete personnel includes Thomas (flute, percussion, vocals), Billy Harper (tenor sax), Howard Johnson (baritone sax), Jerome Richardson (alto sax), James Spaulding (flute), Donald Smith (flute), Ernie Royal (trumpet), Arthur Sterling (piano), Bob Cunningham (bass), John Williams (bass), Billy Cobham (drums), Roy Haynes (drums), Richard Landrum (percussion), Gene Golden (percussion), Sonny Morgan (percussion) and Oliver Nelson (arranger, conductor).

Here's what Thom Jurek of All Music Guide had to say:

"Side one is the up-tempo jazz ride, as Thomas and company rip through a host of his own tunes, such as the scatted post-bop of "I Am" and the nearly bar-walking blues of "Come Along." But the side is graced by an absolutely stunning read of Milt Jackson's "Bag's Groove," with Harper leading a five-horn section.

The real gem on the album is "Pharaoh's Tune (The Journey)," which comprises all of side two. After setting up a live audience with a narrative laced with sound effects from the vanguard jazzers, the tune develops its groove about four minutes in and the bells and yodel come out, and from here it's Thomas at his improvisational best as both a singer and a bandleader. Everybody here is inspired, especially the two drummers. Harper, Spaulding, and Smith weave snake-charming lines around one another, and the entire thing just lifts off and never returns. It's a breathtaking ride made all the more so by the long, jazzed-out setup of side one. Why this guy wasn't huge is a mystery. "

The Leon Thomas Album has been out of print for years, and apparently never made it to CD. While vinyl copies do pop up on online auction sites from time to time, you can download a free .mp3 of the album, courtesy of the music-sharing blog Orgy in Rhythm, here.

The StLJN Audio Archive links only to recordings that are out-of-print or that never have been commercially available. The purpose of the Audio Archive is to encourage discussion, appreciation and knowledge of St. Louis jazz artists, and we urge you to support them (or their estates) by purchasing authorized recordings and merchandise and, whenever possible, attending live performances.

StLJN Audio Archive: Eddie Fisher - The Promise

Today's Audio Archive post revisits a rare session from guitarist Eddie Fisher, the East St. Louis native who's best known for the jazz/funk albums The Next One Hundred Years and The Third Cup. Fisher, who died in 2007, never really achieved major stardom, but has become something a cult figure over the past ten years, thanks in large part to DJs and crate diggers who discovered his music and spread the word.

Perhaps the most obscure item in his catalog, The Promise (pictured) was issued only on vinyl in 1985 on Fisher's own Nentu label. It apparently never made it to CD, and has been out of print for years.

Although both One Hundred Years and Third Cup have been reissued recently, and Fisher's final release 42nd Street still is available on CD Baby and iTunes, the prospects for The Promise re-emerging seem dimmer. So it's a pleasure to be able to point you toward a quality rip of this obscure gem, as furnished by the music sharing blog 4 Brothers Weekly.

With a sound that's essentially an updated and smoothed-out version of the sort of groove-oriented music found on Fisher's most famous albums, The Promise features seven of his original compositions: "Cruising," "Making Love," "Urban Nights," "I Feel Good," "The Promise," "Colors" (co-written with pianist James Mathews) and "The Jam."

You can download a copy of The Promise here.

The StLJN Audio Archive links only to recordings that are out-of-print or that never have been commercially available. The purpose of the Audio Archive is to encourage discussion, appreciation and knowledge of St. Louis jazz artists, and we urge you to support them (or their estates) by purchasing authorized recordings and merchandise and, whenever possible, attending live performances.

(Edited 3/31/12 to fix a bit of redundancy.)

StLJN Audio Archive: Oliver Lake - Ntu: The Point From Which Creation Begins

As Black History Month winds down for this year, it seems an appropriate time to revisit an historic session involving musicians from St. Louis' original Black Artists Group of the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Recorded in 1971 here in St. Louis, saxophonist Oliver Lake's album Ntu: The Point From Which Creation Begins was issued in 1976 on the Arista Freedom label, which was putting out a lot of avant-garde and "loft" jazz around that time. It's been out of print for years, but fortunately Ntu has been preserved online and can be downloaded, thanks in this case to the (seemingly now dormant) music sharing blog Botched Surgery.

Though delayed in reaching the public, Ntu actually is one of the earliest recordings involving the BAG crew, and shares some personnel and sensibility with another early session, Solidarity Unit, Inc's Red, Black & Green (which recently got a limited edition reissue on vinyl from the small label Eremite Records.)

In addition to Lake on alto sax, soprano sax, flute and "small instruments," Ntu features a number of musicians who were important parts of the Black Artists Group, most of whom went on to have substantial careers. (Interestingly, the LP's title also wound up serving as inspiration for author Benjamin Looker's 2004 history of BAG.)

The personnel on Ntu includes Baikida E.J. Carroll (trumpet, small instruments); Floyd LeFlore (trumpet, small instruments); Joseph Bowie (trombone, small instruments); Richard Martin (guitar); John Hicks (piano); Clovis Bordeaux, Jr., misspelled on the original cover as "Bordeux" (electric piano); Don Officer (electric bass); Charles "Bobo" Shaw (drums); and the Art Ensemble of Chicago's Don Moye (conga).

There are five tracks in all: "Africa," "Tse'lane," "Electric Freedom Colors," "Eriee," and "Zip." As you might expect given the parallel development of BAG and Chicago's AACM, the alternating sparse and dense textures and free-form improvisations of Ntu suggest some kinship with the Art Ensemble, but there also are passing resemblances to Sun Ra's Arkestra, the various "New Thing" recordings by Coltrane, Shepp and others on the Impulse! label, and some of the music Miles Davis was doing around the same time. If you have any interest in this period or style, it's certainly worth hearing for both aesthetic and historic reasons.

To download a free copy of Oliver Lake's Ntu: The Point From Which Creation Begins, go here, scroll down about a third of the way through the post until you see the text "Ntu: The Point From Which The Creation of Botched Surgery Begins," which links to a Rapidshare page containing the actual download.

The StLJN Audio Archive links only to recordings that are out-of-print or that never have been commercially available. The purpose of the Audio Archive is to encourage discussion, appreciation and knowledge of St. Louis jazz artists, and we urge you to support them (or their estates) by purchasing authorized recordings and merchandise and, whenever possible, attending live performances.

StLJN Audio Archive: Oliver Nelson and the Berlin Dreamband - Berlin Dialogue For Orchestra

For today's Audio Archive post, we revisit an out-of-print session by saxophonist, arranger and composer Oliver Nelson. Berlin Dialogue for Orchestra originally came out in 1971 on the long defunct Flying Dutchman label, and has been preserved online thanks to the music sharing blog Flying Dutchman Records (which, as the name suggests, is devoted expressly to collecting all of that particular label's output).

The album (pictured) features two extended suites, "Berlin Dialogue for Orchestra" and "Impressions of Berlin," that Nelson wrote on commission specifically for the Berlin Dreamband. The group was comprised mostly of German musicians, along with Nelson and, on this occasion, three other Americans: trumpeter Carmell Jones, trombonist Slide Hampton and alto saxophonist Leo Wright.

To download a free copy, go to this post, scroll down and look for the links labeled "MP3 @320k or FLAC." Click on the link of your choice, and it'll take you to the download page for that format. (For more information about .rar files and how to use them, go here.)

The StLJN Audio Archive links only to recordings that are out-of-print or that never have been commercially available. The purpose of the Audio Archive is to encourage discussion, appreciation and knowledge of St. Louis jazz artists, and we urge you to support them (or their estates) by purchasing authorized recordings and merchandise and, whenever possible, attending live performances.

StLJN Audio Archive: John Hicks - Hells Bells

For today's Audio Archive post, we feature Hells Bells, the very first session recorded as a bandleader by the late pianist and former St. Louisan John Hicks. Hells Bells - spelled without the apostrophe on the album cover (pictured), but sometimes with it in other references - was recorded in 1975 for trumpeter Charles Tolliver's Strata-East label, though it wasn't issued until 1978.

There was a CD reissue of the album in 2000 by the Charly label, which now is out of print. As of this writing, the one new copy that could be found for sale online has an asking price of $90, with used copies commanding nearly $30.

Hells Bells is a trio session featuring Hicks with Clint Houston (bass) and Cliff Barbaro (drums), performing four tracks: "Hell's Bells," "Avojca," "Yemenja," and "Angie's Tune." The .mp3 rip of the album linked to here today is from the blog Freedom Records; to download a free copy, go here and click the link labeled "Mediafire MP3," which will take you to, you guessed it, a Mediafire page with the download.

The StLJN Audio Archive links only to recordings that are out-of-print or that never have been commercially available. The purpose of the Audio Archive is to encourage discussion, appreciation and knowledge of St. Louis jazz artists, and we urge you to support them (or their estates) by purchasing authorized recordings and merchandise and, whenever possible, attending live performances.

StLJN Audio Archive: Grant Green - Visions

Fortunately for fans of jazz guitar, much of Grant Green's output for the Blue Note label in the 1960s and 1970s remains in print today. One exception, though, seems to be Visions, a 1971 session that featured the St. Louis native's versions of some then-current pop hits along with a couple of originals and one classical piece.

Vinyl copies are scarce, as you'd expect for a 40-year old recording that probably got just one pressing back then. There apparently was a CD reissue a few years back that now is out of print too, with used copies fetching as much $85 online as of this writing. And so far, the powers-that-be don't seem even to have made the album available as a digital download.

That scarcity, plus the renewed interest in Green's music in recent years, would seem to make Visions (pictured) a good candidate for the network of music sharing blogs - and once again, fortune has smiled on guitar fans, for the proprietor of a site called Lost In Tyme has preserved the session online for all to enjoy.

Stylistically, the laid-back Visions definitely is a departure from Green's usual tendencies toward hard bop, blues and funk but, accompanied by a band featuring Chuck Rainey on bass and Idris Muhammad on drums, he manages to find something interesting in most of the tunes. The track listing includes "Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?" "Maybe Tomorrow," "Mozart Symphony #40 In G Minor, K550, 1st Movement," "Love On A Two Way Street," "Cantaloupe Woman," "We've Only Just Begun," "Never Can Say Goodbye" and "Blues For Abraham."

To download a free copy of Grant Green's Visions, go to the original blog post referenced above and scroll down to where it says "Get It Here." Click on one of the links immediately below that and follow the instructions. (For more on .rar files and how to use them, see this.)

The StLJN Audio Archive links only to recordings that are out-of-print or that never have been commercially available. The purpose of the Audio Archive is to encourage discussion, appreciation and knowledge of St. Louis jazz artists, and we urge you to support them (or their estates) by purchasing authorized recordings and merchandise and, whenever possible, attending live performances.

(Edited 1/29/12 to add the disclaimer paragraph.)

StLJN Audio Archive: Quartette Trés Bien - Kilimanjaro

Our first Audio Archive post of 2012 comes courtesy of the music-sharing blog Soundological Investimagations, and features Quartette Trés Bien's Kilimanjaro, originally issued on LP by Decca in 1965 as a follow-up to their major label debut Boss Trés Bien.

Kilimanjaro features the classic QTB lineup of Jeter Thompson on piano, Richard Simmons on bass, Albert St. James on drums and Percy James on percussion, performing the title track, "I Left My Heart In San Francisco," "Secretly," "I Didn't Know What Time It Was," "My Favorite Things," "My One And Only Love," "Ramblin' Rose" and, fittingly enough, "You Came A Long Way From St. Louis."

To download a copy, go to the original post here, scroll down and look for the sentence "You can climb Kilimanjaro's snow-capped peak with your Soundological sherpa HERE or HERE," which includes links to the file on both Megaupload and Sharebee.

The StLJN Audio Archive links only to recordings that are out-of-print or that never have been commercially available. The purpose of the Audio Archive is to encourage discussion, appreciation and knowledge of St. Louis jazz artists, and we urge you to support them (or their estates) by purchasing authorized recordings and merchandise and, whenever possible, attending live performances.

Funky Butt Brass Band releases holiday EP

The Funky Butt Brass Band has released a holiday EP, Shiny Christmas Balls, as a digital download.

The EP (pictured) includes seven tracks, available individually for $1 each or $5 for all seven. Titles include "I'll Be Your Santa Baby," "The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)," "Christmas In New Orleans," "We Wish You A Public Domain Christmas Medley," "Shiny Christmas Balls," "The Dreidel Song" and "Crazy Sleigh."

Shiny Christmas Balls is on sale now via the FBBB's Bandcamp page, and also will be available in CD form as part of the admission price to their third annual "Holiday Brasstravaganza" on Saturday, December 17 at Off Broadway. Tickets for that show are $12 for age 21 and up, $15 for under age 21, and are on sale now.

StLJN Audio Archive: Charles "Bobo" Shaw & Lester Bowie - Bugle Boy Bop

For this installment of the StLJN Audio Archive, we tune into Bugle Boy Bop, an album of duos recorded by drummer Charles "Bobo" Shaw and trumpeter Lester Bowie issued on the Muse label in 1983.

The original LP (pictured) was recorded live at saxophonist Sam Rivers' NYC loft venue Studio Rivbea on February 5, 1977, with famed producer Michael Cuscuna overseeing the eventual release. Although Bugle Boy Bop never has been reissued on CD, you can still hear it via a free download from the music-sharing blog Nothing Is V2.0, which had this to say about the session:

"This is a trumpet & drum duet that will please fans of AEC & Human Arts Ensemble. If you are someone who loved Don Cherry & Eddie Blackwell's album Mu, you'll probably like this one.

The title track gets things off to a high-energy start. The second track ("Go Bo") is where Shaw cuts loose & Bowie lays low (at least somewhat). A barnburner. "Cootie's Caravan Fan" slows things down, but just barely, with a pulsating rhythm giving the tune a very trance-like feel. The title "Latin Recovery" is fairly self-explanatory, with Shaw going bossa nova as Bowie freaks out on the trumpet. The flipside starts with what amounts to a free improv ballad "The Girth of the Cool" - slow-tempo late night feel to it, but by mid-song builds in intensity and eventually the duo picks up the pace and the ferocity. "Chop'n Rock" is characterized by a choppy, rockish beat through much of the tune, seemingly nodding to an old AEC tune, "Rock Out". "Finito, Benito" ends the album on an entropic note. Be aware, the mp3s on this one are a bit dodgy, and the last tune seems to cut off in the middle. As the saying goes, better dodgy mp3s than no music at all.

I don't know if there ever will be a proper digital reissue of this album. Maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised. In the meantime, these mp3 files help to document just a bit of what was going on during the late 1970s NY jazz loft scene."

To download a free copy of Charles "Bobo" Shaw and Lester Bowie's Bugle Boy Bop, go here, scroll down to the bottom of the post, and look for the link that says "Download Bugle Boy Bop," which will take you to a Rapidshare page. Look for the green button marked "Download," click it, and follow the instructions from there.

The StLJN Audio Archive links only to recordings that are out-of-print or that never have been commercially available. The purpose of the Audio Archive is encourage discussion, appreciation and knowledge of St. Louis jazz artists, and we encourage you to support them (or their estates) by purchasing authorized recordings and merchandise or, whenever possible, attending live performances.

StLJN Audio Archive: Hamiet Bluiett - S.O.S.

This week's Audio Archive entry features S.O.S., a 1977 session from the great baritone saxophonist Hamiet Bluiett. Recorded live at an NYC performance space called Axis, S.O.S teams Bluiett with a stellar rhythm section comprised of Don Pullen on piano, Fred Hopkins on bass and Famoudou Don Moye on percussion.

When originally issued as an LP on the India Navigation label, it featured a single track, "Sobre Una Nube (On a Cloud)" split between the two sides. That material was reissued along with five additional tracks in 1996 as a two-CD set, first in Japan using the original title, and later elsewhere, under the title Im/possible to Keep.

The track order on that 2-CD set (and on this downloadable version):

Disc 1
1. Oasis/The Well
2. Sobre Una Nube (On a Cloud)

Disc 2
1. Pretty Tune
2. Yusuf/Sankofa
3. Tune Up
4. R.B. (Dedicated to Ronnie Boykins)

Both of the CD reissues since have gone out of print, but fortunately, thanks to the music-sharing blog Pharoah's Dance, it's still available to hear and enjoy. To download a free copy of Hamiet Bluiet's S.O.S., go here, and scroll down to the third comment. There are four Rapdishare URLs there, each representing one of the four parts of the complete two-CD set compressed into a .zip file. From there, just copy, paste, download, unzip, and enjoy! (If you don't know how to use .zip files, this may be helpful.)

The StLJN Audio Archive links only to recordings that are out-of-print or that never have been commercially available. The purpose of the Audio Archive is encourage discussion, appreciation and knowledge of St. Louis jazz artists, and we encourage you to support them (or their estates) by purchasing authorized recordings and merchandise or, whenever possible, attending live performances.

StLJN Audio Archive: Pow! Jeanne Trevor Sings!!

For this week's Audio Archive post, we reach back to 1965 for the first full-length recording by one of St. Louis' longtime favorites, singer Jeanne Trevor. Pow! Jeanne Trevor Sings!! originally was released on the Mainstream label and is revived here courtesy of the music-sharing blog Soundological Investimigations.

Drawing inspiration from the classic tradition of female jazz vocalists, most notably Ella Fizgerald, Trevor has been a staple on St. Louis stages for close to 50 years, and continues to perform today. In fact, she's on the bill for next Saturday's inaugural U City Jazz Festival.

For those interested in St. Louis' Gaslight Square era, this album is a must-hear, for it brings together three well-known acts from that time period on one recording. In addition to Trevor on vocals, Pow! also features the Quartette Trés Bien - Jeter Thompson (piano), Richard Simmons (bass), Albert St. James (drums), and Percy James (percussion), who are uncredited on the sleeve for contractual reasons - plus the ever-versatile Hugh "Peanuts" Whalum on tenor sax.

The album includes 12 tracks: "People Will Say We're In Love," "Don't Blame Me," "Get Out Of My Life," "I've Got You Under My Skin," "Four," "Lady With A Painted Smile," "Moonlight Serenade," "The Last Moment," "I Know That You Know," "From An Ancient Proverb," "The Lady's In Love With You," and "Visit Me."

Pow! Jeanne Trevor Sings!! never has been issued on CD, and vinyl copies recently have sold for $50 or more on various online auction sites. You can download it for free by going here and scrolling down to the first comment. You'll see three links, representing the file storage sites Sharebee, Multiupload, and Flameupload. Choose one, click on it, and follow the instructions.

The StLJN Audio Archive links only to recordings that are out-of-print or that never have been commercially available. The purpose of the Audio Archive is encourage discussion, appreciation and knowledge of St. Louis jazz artists, and we encourage you to support them (or their estates) by purchasing authorized recordings and merchandise or, whenever possible, attending live performances.

(Edited 9/22/11 to fix a typo.)

StLJN Audio Archive: Human Arts Ensemble - Whisper of Dharma

This week's Audio Archive post comes to us once again from the fine avant-jazz music sharing blog Nothing Is v2.0, and features Whisper of Dharma, a rare album by the Human Arts Ensemble that originally was issued in 1972 on the Committee for Universal Justice label (pictured, above left), and later reissued in 1977 on Arista Freedom (pictured, below left).

The Human Arts Ensemble was an offshoot of St. Louis' Black Artists Group, created as a vehicle for musicians of all races to perform together, while including a core of musicians from BAG. HAE first recorded under the nominal co-leadership of drummer Charles "Bobo" Shaw and saxophonist James Marshall, who conceived the idea, and then just Shaw, but from all accounts the group essentially functioned as a musical collective.

Whisper of Dharma was recorded on October 6, 1972 in St. Louis, and features of lineup of players that includes Shaw (drums, small instruments) and Marshall (alto sax, radong, wooden flutes) as well as Joseph Bowie (trombone, congas, small instruments), Oliver Lake (tenor sax, radong, flute, small instruments), J.D. Parran (tenor and sopranos saxes, bass clarinet, small instruments), Floyd Leflore (trumpet, small instruments) and Baikida E.J. Carroll (gong, small instruments). The album also marks the recording debut of Oliver Lake's son Gene Lake, now a respected professional drummer, then just 6 years old and credited on the session with drums and small instruments. Whisper of Dharma includes what in the original LP format were two side-long pieces, the title track and "A World New," and has never been reissued on CD.

To download a copy of the Human Arts Ensemble's Whisper of Dharma, go here, scroll down to the bottom of the post and click on the link that says "Download Whisper of Dharma." That takes you to a Rapidshare page with the download; look for the green button that says "download" and follow the instructions there.

The StLJN Audio Archive links only to recordings that are out-of-print or that never have been commercially available. The purpose of the Audio Archive is encourage discussion, appreciation and knowledge of St. Louis jazz artists, and we encourage you to support them (or their estates) by purchasing authorized recordings and merchandise or, whenever possible, attending live performances.

(Edited after posting to fix a typo.)

StLJN Audio Archive: Julius Hemphill - Dogon A.D.

This week's Audio Archive spotlights a recording that's generally acknowledged by jazz musicians, fans, critics and scholars as being of major significance, yet somehow has remained mostly out of print for more than 30 years.

Saxophonist and composer Julius Hemphill recorded Dogon A.D. in February, 1972 at Oliver Sain's Archway Studios on Natural Bridge Rd in north St. Louis. In addition to Hemphill on saxophone and flute, the musicians included Abdul K. Wadud on cello, Baikida Carroll on trumpet, and Phillip Wilson on drums.

The session was Hemphill's debut as a leader, and somewhat unusual in that Sain recorded lots of blues, soul and R&B artists at Archway, but relatively few jazz performers. Sain is, of course, well known as an R&B saxophonist, bandleader, producer and songwriter of tunes such as "Don't Mess Up A Good Thing," but his engineering work on Dogon A.D. certainly represents another noteworthy addition to his extensive resume.

Since no producer is listed, it seems likely that Hemphill and Sain worked together on mixing and mastering the final product. Hemphill pressed up some copies - probably numbered in the hundreds rather than thousands - and issued it under his own imprint, Mbari. (You can see the original cover art above left.) A few years later when Hemphill was signed to the Arista/Freedom label, they reissued Dogon A.D. with new cover art (pictured, below left).

The album includes three tracks: "Dogon A.D.," "Rites" and "The Painter." "The Hard Blues," the fourth track recorded during the session, eventually turned up on Coon Bidness, a subsequent Hemphill album for Arista/Freedom.

Musically, Dogon A.D. is notable particularly for how the musicians start with some simple melodic, rhythmic and textural ideas and successfully develop them through improvisation. Writing for AllMusic.com, reviewer Scott Yanow awarded the album 5 stars and said, "This historic album features four then-unknowns on three lengthy avant-garde explorations that were quite influential... This important music is better to be heard than described."

You can read more about Dogon A.D. in this post at the blog Wedge Radio, and there's a very good essay and discussion in comments as part of this post at the blog Inconstant Sol that also contains links to a free downloadable version of the album.

To get your copy, scroll down to the first comment in that linked post, locate the URL for either the .MP3 or lossless FLAC version, and copy and paste it into a new tab or window. The URL takes you to a Rapidshare page with the download; look for the green button that says "download" and follow the instructions there. For more about .RAR files and how to decompress them, see this page.

The StLJN Audio Archive links only to recordings that are out-of-print or that never have been commercially available. The purpose of the Audio Archive is encourage discussion, appreciation and knowledge of St. Louis jazz artists, and we encourage you to support them (or their estates) by purchasing authorized recordings and merchandise or, whenever possible, attending live performances.

StLJN Audio Archive: Quartette Tres Bien - Boss Tres Bien

Today's Audio Archive post features the Quartette Tres Bien's debut recording for a national label, and comes to us via the blog Soundological Investimigations.

QTB were one of the better known groups of St. Louis' Gaslight Square era, and were sometimes compared with Ramsey Lewis, the Three Sounds, and other piano-based groups playing groove-oriented music.

The members of the group as heard on Boss Tres Bien were Jeter Thompson (piano), Richard Simmons (bass), Albert St. James (drums) and Percy James (percussion). (Thompson continues to perform with his brothers Howard and Harold in a successor group, Trio Tres Bien.)

Boss Tres Bien (pictured, upper left) was recorded for and originally issued in 1964 by the St. Louis-based Norman label, for which QTB recorded several sides. When the group signed with Decca later that same year, the LP was given new cover art (pictured, lower left) and reissued as their first effort for the label. Here's what Dusty Groove had to say about it:

"A landmark blend of soul jazz and bossa nova – cut by the legendary Quartette Tres Bien back in the 60s! The group are kind of a "piano trio plus" – an outfit with piano, bass, and drums in the lead – but also plenty of conga and added percussion – a style used here to really underscore the bossa inspiration of the set – often in ways that are more driving and more complicated than original 60s bossa recordings themselves! The feel is really unique – almost equally inspired by African rhythms in parts – and even when the group are playing familiar numbers, then manage to transform the tracks completely with their inventive approach to rhythms and super-searing work on piano!"

The tracks on the album are "Boss Tres Bien,""Rhodesian Chant", "Always on Saturday", "The Sweetest Sounds", "I Love Paris", "Lover Come Back To Me", and "Days Of Wine & Roses"

To download a free copy of Boss Tres Bien, go here, select one of the download sites from the menu displayed, click on it, and follow the instructions from there.

The StLJN Audio Archive links only to recordings that are out-of-print or that never have been commercially available. The purpose of the Audio Archive is encourage discussion, appreciation and knowledge of St. Louis jazz artists, and we encourage you to support them (or their estates) by purchasing authorized recordings and merchandise or, whenever possible, attending live performances.

StLJN Audio Archive: Clark After Dark: The Ballad Artistry of Clark Terry

For this StLJN Audio Archive post, we feature Clark After Dark: The Ballad Artistry of Clark Terry, a 1970s session featuring the legendary trumpeter and St. Louis native Clark Terry. It's available online as a free download thanks to the blog Magic Purple Sunshine, which collects and presents out-of-print recordings originally issued on the old MPS label from Germany.

Clark After Dark was recorded in London in September, 1977 and, as the title suggests, features Terry playing flugelhorn over orchestral arrangements of mostly familiar ballads. The program includes "Misty," "Nature Boy," "Georgia On My Mind," "November Song," "Clark After Dark," "Willow Weep For Me," "Yesterdays," "Emily," "Angel Eyes" and "Girl Talk." Besides Terry, the only other musician identified individually is conductor Nat Peck, who's also credited with playing piano, despite being best known as a trombonist.

To download a free copy of Clark After Dark, go here and go to the first comment underneath the post to find the URLs for the download, which comes in two parts from Rapdishare.

The StLJN Audio Archive links only to recordings that are out-of-print or that never have been commercially available. The purpose of the Audio Archive is encourage discussion, appreciation and knowledge of St. Louis jazz artists, and we encourage you to support them (or their estates) by purchasing authorized recordings and merchandise or, whenever possible, attending live performances.

StLJN Audio Archive: Miles Davis' lost quintet

This week's StLJN Audio Archive material comes once again courtesy of the music sharing blog Nothing Is v2.0, and features Miles Davis' so-called "Lost Quintet" recorded live in 1969 in Paris.

Although this lineup of Davis' band never recorded as a five-piece - hence, the notion of their music being "lost" - it's basically the nucleus of the group that recorded Bitches Brew, with Davis on trumpet, Dave Holland on bass, Wayne Shorter on tenor and soprano sax, Jack DeJohnette on drums and Chick Corea on keyboards. There are two CDs worth of material; here's the program, from the post at Nothing Is:

DISC SEVEN 64:28
November 3, 1969
SALLE PLEYEL, PARIS--ORTF radio broadcast - First set
Directions (J. Zawinul) 8:00
Bitches Brew (M. Davis) 14:16
Paraphernalia (W. Shorter) 12:56
Riot (H. Hancock) 2:51
I Fall in Love Too Easily (S. Cahn-J. Styne) 2:07
Sanctuary (W. Shorter-M. Davis) 4:12
Miles Runs the Voodoo Down (M. Davis) 19:17
The Theme (M. Davis) (with applause) 0:47

DISC EIGHT 56:19
November 3, 1969
SALLE PLEYEL, PARIS--ORTF radio broadcast - Second set
Introduction 00:09
Bitches Brew (M. Davis) 12:24 (incomplete)
Agitation (M. Davis) 9:02
I Fall in Love Too Easily (S. Cahn-J. Styne) 3:12
Sanctuary (W. Shorter-M. Davis) 4:00
Masqualero (W. Shorter) 12:41
It's About That Time (M. Davis) 14:49 (incomplete)

To download a free copy of this recording of Miles Davis' "Lost Quintet," go here and read down to the bottom of the post. Look for the words "Download The Lost Quintet CD 7, and The Lost Quintet CD 8," click on them, and follow the instructions.

(This particular file is stored on Rapidshare, which means you'll eventually be looking for a greyish button marked "Free Download" in the lower right-hand part of your screen. Note also that if you right-click on the cover graphics in either this post or the one there, you can enlarge the image to a size suitable for printing and inserting into a CD jewel case. )

The StLJN Audio Archive links only to recordings that are out-of-print or that never have been commercially available. The purpose of the Audio Archive is encourage discussion, appreciation and knowledge of St. Louis jazz artists, and we encourage you to support them (or their estates) by purchasing authorized recordings and merchandise or, whenever possible, attending live performances.