Jazz on the Beach 181 & Blues Beach 72: Freddie Hubbard, Sharel Cassity, Timo Lassy Trio, coro.alto, George Adams & Don Pullen, John Morshead
Notes on this week's shows and playback links
I make no apologies for playing plenty of trumpeter Freddie Hubbard on Jazz on the Beach. Over the last 180 shows he’s featured at least 22 times as a leader and more than double that as a sideman. I also like Blue Mitchell, Miles Davis, Donald Byrd and Lee Morgan as well as many other great players, but there’s something about Hubbard’s Blue Note, Impulse, Atlantic and CTI era recordings in particular that have a special meaning for me. If I had to pick one, it would be Straight Life (CTI, 1971), which is high on my list of desert island discs.
So just in time for this year’s Record Store Day, comes a genuinely exciting three LP set entitled On Fire: Live From the Blue Morocco (Resonance, 12th April), recorded at the New York club on 19th April 1967, with tenor saxophonist Bennie Maupin, pianist Kenny Barron, double bassist Herbie Lewis and drummer Freddie Waits. I’ve chosen the opening track Crisis, first recorded by Hubbard on Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers Mosaic (Blue Note, 1962), and on his own Ready For Freddie (Blue Note, 1962), which was released three months later. He’s in absolutely blistering form here and the band are positively flying…this is prime Freddie!
On the same day, Resonance are releasing another live recording from the same New York venue. It’s a two LP set by trumpeter Kenny Dorham entitled Blue Bossa in the Bronx: Live From the Blue Morocco, and as soon as I’ve had a chance to listen I’ll choose a track for next week’s show.
Incidentally, the Blue Morocco was a jazz club in the Bronx owned by Sylvia Robinson (Mickey & Sylvia, Sugar Hill Records), and not to be confused with the once ritzy El Morocco in midtown Manhattan.
Bennie Maupin also appears this week playing soprano saxophone and various reeds with pianist Herbie Hancock on Butterfly (which he co-wrote) from Thrust (Columbia, 1974), also featuring his fellow Headhunters, electric bassist Paul Jackson, drummer Michael Clark (in for Harvey Mason) and percussionist Bill Summers. This was the album that followed the massive Headhunters album a year earlier, and to my ears is even better.
On to new releases… I was attracted to alto saxophonist Sharel Cassity’s Magnetism from her album Gratitude (Sunnyside Records, 28th March), that features a top class line up of pianist Cyrus Chestnut, double bassist Christian McBride, drummer Lewis Nash, trombonist Michael Dease and trumpeter Terell Stafford. Cassity’s playing is agile and inventive, and makes the most of this formidable rhythm section to soar.
Glasgow’s Liam Shortall, aka coro.alto, releases 31. Bleep (01) (New Soil, 28th March), a previously unfinished demo from his 30 track album 30/108 that was created from a folder of 108 unused demos on his hard drive. It’s now completed and sounding great with support from drummer Graham Costello, guitarist James Mckay and saxophonist Mateusz Sobieski.
Take three trios: there’s the Timo Lassy Trio’s Moves from Live in Helsinki (WeJazz, 21st March), featuring tenor saxophonist Lassy with double bassist Ville Herrala and drummer Jaska Lukkarinen. Then there’s the Neil Cowley Trio’s beautiful For the Want of… from the Separate Entities EP (Hide Inside Records, 4th April), with the pianist accompanied by longtime musical accomplices double bassist Rex Horan and drummer Evan Jenkins. And finally, there’s My Unbelief, the fourth track I’ve played so far from pianist Sultan Stevenson’s magnificent El Roi (Edition, 28th March), featuring his esteemed rhythm section of double bassist Jacob Gryn and drummer Joel Waters.
Back for a second track from their respective debut albums are Knats with One For Josh from Knats (Gearbox, 28th March). There’s a fabulous version of Leon Thomas’ The Sun Song (Precious Energy) by singer Tyreek McDole from Open Up Your Senses (Artwork, 6th June), and Sultan Stevenson is back to play on drummer Nadav Schneerson’s whirling House of Pillars from Sheva (Kavana Records, 11th April).
I only recently discovered tenor saxophonist George Adams and pianist Don Pullen’s beautiful duet of the gospel hymn God Has Smiled on Me from Melodic Excursions (Timeless, 1982). I love the fact that I’m still discovering and learning about more music, even if it’s rediscovering things that I forgot I already knew!
And finally, back to the front with saxophonist John Coltrane’s glorious Blue Train, the opening track from Blue Train (Blue Note, 1958), with trumpeter Lee Morgan, trombonist Curtis Fuller, pianist Kenny Drew, double bassist Paul Chambers and drummer Philly Joe Jones. It really doesn’t get better than this.
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Blues Beach
There are a few more rarities on this week’s playlist, such as Sly Williams’ I Believe In a Woman, Blue Charlie’s Watch That Crow and Lonesome Sundown’s Gonna Stick to You Baby. There’s also pre war Piedmont style from Blind Boy Fuller with Trucking My Blues Away, Delta style with Robert Johnson’s Ramblin’ on My Mind as well as West Coast, Chicago, British blues and Big Bill Broonzy’s version of Big Joe Williams’ Baby Please Don’t Go which was recorded in Paris.
I always considered John Morshead, who died last month at the age of 82, to be one of the finest guitarists of the ‘60s British blues boom. His tone, phrasing and feel were terrific, and I remember some incredible nights hearing him play at the Marquee Club during his time in the Aynsley Dunbar Retaliation, one of the finest bands of the era.
Morshead left music in ‘71 and became a highly rated fly fisherman, building a trout farm in Kenya before becoming a ghillie on the Isle of Lewis, and eventually moving to Ireland. On this week’s show you’ll hear his guitar on the hard driving I Tried from the Retaliation’s second album Dr Dunbar’s Prescription (Liberty, 1969), with drummer Aynsley Dunbar, bassist Alex Dmochowski and vocalist/organist Victor Brox.
To listen to this week’s Blues Beach on Mixcloud, just click below:
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Jazz On The Beach broadcasts live every Wednesday evening from 10:00 PM to midnight (UK time), with a repeat on Monday mornings from 2:00 AM to 4:00 AM (UK time).
Blues Beach broadcasts live every other Thursday from 6:00 PM to 7:00 PM (UK time).