Jazz On The Beach 129: Ben Sidran, Jazz Guitar, Moment's Notice, Dem Ones
Jazz On The Beach 129: Ben Sidran, Jazz Guitar, Moment's Notice, Dem Ones
George Benson, John McLaughlin, Johnny Smith & Gilad Hekselman
On this week’s Jazz On The Beach radio show there are four very special guitar performances, three of which are universally acclaimed as such and one that has yet to be. Following on from Rick Beatty’s interview with George Benson that was in last week’s newsletter, the first is On Broadway (‘the two bar phrase’) recorded live at The Roxy from the album Weekend In L.A. (Warner Bros, 1978), that also features Phil Upchurch’s impeccable guitar fills and groove, keyboardists Ronnie Foster and Jorge Dalto, bassist Stanley Banks, drummer Harvey Mason and percussionist Ralph McDonald.
A little (well…a lot!) more in your face from a few years earlier comes John McLaughlin with The Mahavishnu Orchestra’s intense Noonward Race from their jazz-rock fusion masterpiece The Inner Mounting Flame (Columbia, 1971), with violinist Jerry Goodman, keyboardist Jan Hammer, bassist Rick Laird and drummer Billy Cobham. McLaughlin’s intensity, tone and speed are blistering, this sounds just as fierce today.
Going back even further to the early ‘50s there’s Johnny Smith’s beautiful Moonlight In Vermont from one of two Jazz At NBC 10” releases (Royal Roost, 1952) with tenor saxophonist Stan Getz, pianist Sanford Gold, double bassist Eddie Safranski and drummer Don Lamond. Many thanks to Michelle Mercer for this wonderful post.
Back to the present day, and Gilad Hekselman’s terrific performance of John Coltrane’s Equinox from Life, At The Village Vanguard (La Reserve, April 5th), with pianist Shai Maestro, double bassist Larry Grenadier and drummer Eric Harland. It’s currently only available digitally but there’s a pre-order for a double vinyl release through Diggers Factory.
I’ve been listening to pianist, vocalist, producer, writer, record label owner and award-winning radio host Ben Sidran ever since hearing his third album Puttin’ In Time On Planet Earth (Blue Thumb, 1972). I’d actually been listening to him for a few years already (but not realising it) on early Steve Miller albums, with whom he co-wrote Space Cowboy and three other songs on Brave New World (Capitol, 1969), and took over production on the underrated Recall the Beginning...A Journey from Eden (Capitol, 1972). He later produced Miller’s smooth jazz foray Born To Be Blue (Capitol 1988), that had its moments.
There have been so many highlights from Now I Live (And Now My Life Is Done) to Don’t Cry For No Hipster, but here’s a particular favourite - A Good Travel Agent, from the album On The Live Side (Magenta 1986). It’s prime Sidran, it swings, it’s smart and it’s honest.
As he enters his ninth decade Sidran’s still making great music, and one of the new releases on this week’s show is his new single Humanity ‘that moves between blues, jazz, dub and reggae-funk’. It features the French singer and guitarist Rodolphe Burger and is the first single from the upcoming Rainmaker (Bonsaï Music, April 26th). Sidran will be on the road this spring and summer so go and see him if you possible can. I have my tickets for Ronnie Scott’s on June 11th where he’ll be playing with bassist Billy Peterson, drummer(and son) Leo Sidran and guest tenor saxophonist Leo Richardson.
Also among the new releases is tenor saxophonist Kamasi Washington’s Prologue from Fearless Movement (Young, May 3rd), there’s a very cool ‘horns cut’ from Ezra Collective’s keyboardist Joe Armon-Jones with tenor saxophonist Nubya Garcia on the dubtastic Nubya’s Side Of Town (Aquaril, March 29th), and the sensational young trumpeter Summer Camargo’s JP Shuffle from To Whom I Love (Blue Engine, March 15th).
Also new this week is an excerpt from 44:42 (Red Dust, March 27th), the first release of spontaneously improvised music from photographer George Nelson’s Moment’s Notice events at AMP Studios in South London. The musicians are multi wind instrumentalist Tamar Osborn (playing baritone saxophone, clarinet and flute), drummer Will Glaser and keyboardist Yohannes Kebede and their performance (lasting forty four minutes and forty two seconds) was recorded on September 8th, 2021. Here’s my recent review for London Jazz News.
There are some old favourites too…starting with saxophonist Wayne Shorter’s Beauty And The Beast from Native Dancer (Columbia, 1975) with pianist Herbie Hancock, electric pianist Wagner Tiso, bassist (on this track) Jay Graydon, drummer Robertino Silva and percussionist Airto Moreira. There’s pianist Bill Evans’ Blue In Green from Portraits In Jazz (Riverside, 1960) with the incredible rhythm section of double bassist Scott LaFaro and drummer Paul Motian.
Representing the tenor saxophonists dept there’s Clifford Jordan’s Lush Life from Spellbound (Riverside, 1960) with pianist Cedar Walton, double bassist Spanky DeBrest and drummer Albert ‘Tootie’ Heath and Joe Henderson’s title track from Power To The People (Milestone, 1969) that’s just been given the deluxe reissue treatment by Craft Recordings and Jazz Dispensary with a wonderful sounding cut by Kevin Gray and features trumpeter Mike Lawrence, pianist Herbie Hancock, double bassist Ron Carter and drummer Jack DeJohnette.
And finally, this week’s show opened with Man Like GP from Binker and Moses’ Dem Ones (Gearbox, 2015), tenor saxophonist Binker Golding and drummer Moses Boyd’s direct to tape album that has been lauded in a new book by André Marmot - Unapologetic Expression: The Inside Story Of The UK Jazz Explosion (Faber, May 5th).
‘Dem Ones was a major milestone for UK jazz, not only for its refreshing prioritisation of raw, improvised music, but also of its presentation: two young guys, posed against a very London wall, looking away from the camera, faint smoke drifting up from Binker’s mouth; this was a world away from the dressed-up-for-the-wedding, jazz cliché look…..’
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