Jazz On The Beach 110 & Blues Beach 38
Tsuyoshi Yamamoto, Bishop Norman Williams & The One Mind Experience
On this week’s Jazz On The Beach there’s new music from the sensei pianist Tsuyoshi Yamamoto, who along with double bassist Hiroshi Kagawa and drummer Toshio Osumi perform a fabulous version of his Speedball Blues from A Shade Of Blue (Evosound, 8th December) that was was recorded at Tokyo’s Gotanda Cultural Centre Music Hall. I first heard this composition on Yamamoto’s Blues For Tee (Three Blind Mice, 1975), again with Osumi but with double bassist Akira Daiyoshi, and while the new version may lack some of the drive of the original, it has lost none of its swing. The Japanese label Evosound is new to me, and they are releasing this in some style with hi-res digital, double vinyl LP and SACD (Hybrid Multi-Channel and MQA-CD), and coming next year, 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray. Nice to see a record company looking after its jazz royalty so well.
Something I’ve been meaning to play for a while is One Mind Experience from Bishop’s Bag by alto saxophonist Bishop Norman Williams & The One Mind Experience. It was released in 1978 by Theresa Records, an Oakland, California label that released some wonderful music from the mid seventies onwards, especially by Pharoah Sanders, Bobby Hutcherson, George Coleman and Nat Adderley. Although saxophonist Dave Leibman plays on three of the album’s six tracks, he’s not on this one which features drummer Babatunde, bassist Chris Ohlson, pianist Paul Arslanian and Theresa’s co-founder Allen Pittman on flugelhorn. Originally from Kansas City, Williams became a Bay Area jazz legend, and while his other two albums, The Bishop (1976) and One For Bird (1979), are terrific, this is the one that I find the most rewarding.
Also on this week’s playlist is saxophonist and multi instrumentalist Isaiah Collier’s Retreat, from his ambitious direct to disc Parallel Universe (Night Dreamer, 24th November), with keyboardist Julian Davis Reid, bassist Micah Collier, trumpeter Corey Wilkes, drummer James Russell Sims and guitarist Michael Damani. Recorded at Artone Studio in The Netherlands, direct to disc means exactly that, recording straight to lacquer with no computers, tape, mixing or editing in the process. We did a lot of recording like this at Gearbox Records, linked via cables through the wall from the studio next door (at one time it was Mark Ronson’s Selig Studio) to Gearbox’s Haeco Scully lathe with backup on valve 1/2” and 1/4” Studer tape machines.
There's new music from heavy session keyboard player Niji Adeleye aka NIJI (Gregory Porter, Moses Boyd and Beverly Knight) with Banjoko from his EP Somewhere In The Middle (Kartel Music Group, 10th November), a change from his day job as resident organist at Madison Square Garden for the New York Knicks. Also, another track from Chicagoan drummer Mike Reed with the perfectly titled Floating With An Intimate Stranger from The Separatist Party (WeJazz/Astral Spirits, 27th October), and baritone saxophonist Michael Dease’s Don’t Look Back from Swing Low (Posi-Tone, September) that features the label’s unofficial house band of pianist Art Hirahara, double bassist Boris Kozlov and drummer Rudy Royston along with Dease and trumpeter Ingrid Jensen.
Something new from pianist Ray Gallon, double bassist Ron Carter & drummer Lewis Nash with a sparkling version of Duke Ellington’s Drop Me Off In Harlem from the album Grand Company (Cellar Live, October). And from the vaults, an uptempo funky blast with tenor saxophonist Tomoki Takahashi’s Trial Road from Tomoki (Nippon Columbia, 1979) which is one of the tracks on latest release (Vol. 4) in the essential J.Jazz series compiled by Tony Higgins (@the_jazz_dad) & Mike Peden for BBE Music.
My sincere thanks to all the new subscribers who’ve signed up recently, it’s great to have you here. Please join me live on Deal Radio (you’ll find the listening times below) as it would be good to have your company on these chilly autumn evenings. And do keep your comments and good ideas flowing, it’s really appreciated.
Christmas may still be a few weeks away, but this week’s Blues Beach is a Three Kings Special that only scratches the surface of just how many great records B.B. King, Freddie King and Albert King made. Although they shared the same surname (professionally at least, as Albert’s real name was Nelson) they each had a unique vocal and guitar style that was instantly identifiable. Their influence on rock music is immense and guitar players everywhere are still playing their licks while amplifier and pedal manufactures try to capture their seemingly magical tone. But it’s all in the fingers and the soul!
The Kings weren’t the only ones - Buddy Guy, Magic Sam and Otis Rush should be on the list - Muddy Waters, Elmore James, Bo Diddley and Earl Hooker too. They all get regularly played on Blues Beach, so drop in to the archived shows on Mixcloud to hear them and many more.
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Radio Times
Listen live to Jazz On The Beach every Wednesday from 10.00pm - midnight UK time and Blues Beach every other Thursday from 6.00pm - 7.00pm UK time via the internet on DealRadio.co.uk or on the TuneIn Radio app.
Both shows are broadcast live from the Deal Radio Studio at 69a High Street, Deal, Kent CT14 6EH. Just drop by if you’re passing and browse the records for sale at the front.
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