Jazz On The Beach 122 & Blues Beach 44
Jazz On The Beach 122 & Blues Beach 44
Harold Land Quintet, Full Moon, Jazz and Blues Radio
If you read Ted Gioia’s intriguing substack post In Search of Dupree Bolton on Monday you will have probably have been thinking about the two records that cemented the enigmatic trumpeter’s reputation: The Fox (Hifijazz, 1960) with saxophonist Harold Land and Katanga! (Pacific Jazz, 1963) with saxophonist Curtis Amy (as well as our good friend, the drummer and Broadstairs resident Doug Sides).
I read this piece in the train up to London on Monday morning, and in the afternoon I headed east to Brick Lane for fresh bagels from the always reliable (and always open) Beigel Bake. I walked around the corner to Flashback Records and one of the first records I saw was a clean copy of the 1988 reissue of The Fox - Kismet or what! It’s due to be reissued in April by Craft Recordings, but why wait, this record sounded just fine.
So to celebrate, I started off this week’s Jazz On The Beach with the title track, featuring Land, Bolton, pianist Elmo Hope, double bassist Herbie Lewis and drummer Frank Butler. I’m looking forward to the second part of Ted Gioia’s riveting post, hopefully coming very soon.
Also on this week’s playlist there’s a track from the band Full Moon, whose eponymous album was produced by Alan Douglas for his Douglas Records in 1972, and features four former members of The Paul Butterfield Blues Band: guitarist Buzz Feiten, tenor saxophonist Brother Gene Dinwiddie, electric bassist Freddie Beckmeier and drummer Phillip Wilson, plus keyboard player Neil Larsen.
I’ve picked Three Step Dance which was not released on the original Full Moon album. It was recorded in 1971 and mixed by Buzz Feiten in 2000 as a bonus track for the 2000 Japanese CD version (Dreamsville Records), with bassist Dave Holland in for Beckmeier and trumpeter Randy Brecker added to the lineup.
I often play tracks from this album, particularly Neil Larsen’s Midnight Pass (covered by pianist Chuck Leavell’s Sea Level on Cats On The Coast) and Malibu, but this track is too good not to share. If you want to hear more of the original album, here’s the whole thing.
Buzz Feiten had been Elvin Bishop’s replacement in the Butterfield band and became a first call session player, a guitar designer/builder and the inventor of a revolutionary tuning system. Neil Larsen also became a major session player and recorded some excellent solo projects (try High Gear) as well as working with Feiten in different lineups of Full Moon and The Larsen-Feiten Band.
Philip Wilson was a wonderful and important drummer, read drummer Vinnie Sperrazza’s excellent piece here. Freddie Beckmeier founded The Beckmeier Brothers with his brother Steve while Brother Gene Dinwiddie played sessions, arranged horns and participated with Lightnin’ Rod on the highly influential Hustler’s Convention.
As for producer Alan Douglas, he ran United Artists Records jazz label and made some fine albums including Bill Evans & Jim Hall’s Undercurrent (1962) and the Duke Ellington, Charles Mingus and Max Roach collaboration Money Jungle (1963). He founded Douglas Records and produced records with The Last Poets, John McLaughlin, Lenny Bruce, Allen Ginsburg, Timothy Leary, Riche Havens and Eric Dolphy. A very cool roster indeed, but as for distribution, especially in Full Moon’s case, maybe not so good.
Douglas later acquired the rights to Jimi Hendrix’s musical legacy for twenty years until it passed to Hendrix’s father in 1995. He may have done some controversial things, such as replacing musicians’ parts that he thought were not up to standard on unreleased material. But many of his ideas worked well, and unlike many in the Hendrix story, he had good intentions.
There’s new music this week from alto saxophonist Nick Biello with his 12 bar with a difference Time’s Arrow from the upcoming Between Light And Shadow (La Reserve), and an advance track from The Clark Tracey Quintet’s Introducing Emily Masser (Strayhorn Records) featuring the 20 year old Guildhall School of Music student’s deeply swinging version of the Jerome Kern standard I’m Old Fashioned'.
Bassist Jamaaladeen Tacuma and saxophonist Odean Pope celebrate the legendary West Philidelphia black music club with Mr Silks 3rd Base from The Lighthouse (Jam All Productions), while New Zealander saxophonist Lucien Johnson is astral travelling with Ancient Relics from the album of the same name (Deluge Records) that also features blissful harp from Natalia Lagi'itaua Mann.
Also new this week is Breathe, a poetic new single from Danish pianist Søren Bebe’s Trio that will end up on an album sometime this summer, while tenor saxophonist Diego Rivera asks Q-Vo (What’s Happening) from the upcoming With Just A Word (Posi-Tone).
I’ve included favourite tracks from two artists I was lucky enough to work with at Sony Music. There’s guitarist Martin Taylor’s ice cool TV theme Five-O from Kiss And Tell (Columbia, 1999) and singer Jane Monheit’s sultry Why Can’t You Behave from Taking A Chance On Love (Sony Classical, 2004).
The show was a little more relaxed than usual, as it’s a live show it just happened that way. Let me know what you think, I really appreciate you feedback.
This week’s Blues Beach takes it to the bridge with some blues, soul and gospel tracks you probably know and maybe a few that are not so familiar, such as The Reverend Julius Cheeks’ Somebody Left On That Morning Train (Savoy 1970), Guitar Gable’s Congo Mombo (Excello, 1957) or Ray Agee’s Leave Me Alone (Celeste, 1960). There’s sweet soul from Sam and Dave, Johnny Rawls and Clarence Carter (some think this is the best version of I’d Rather Go Blind), and something new from Sam O’Hare and Danny Garrett with the recently released Meal Ticket that I can’t stop playing. Check out this playlist and enjoy the show.
You can listen live to Jazz On The Beach every Wednesday evening from 10.00pm - midnight and to Blues Beach every other Thursday from 6.00pm - 7.00pm on DealRadio.co.uk or via the TuneIn Radio app.
Or you can ask your smart device to ‘Play Deal Radio’.
Both shows are broadcast live from the Deal Radio Studio at 69a High Street, Deal, Kent CT14 6EH, a stone’s throw from the beach.
Jazz On the Beach and Blues Beach radio shows are sponsored by our good friends at Wellingtons with two fine locations: Park Avenue at Welly’s Coffeehouse and Bar, 6 Park Avenue, Deal and Wellingtons Coffeehouse and Bistro, 9 High Street, Dover.