Playlist, Week of 2025-02-23

It's instructive to think about the Duke Ellington/Charles Mingus/Max Roach trio LP Money Jungle in light of Relaxed Moods, the earlier Hazel Scott trio album from 1955. That album, included on the Mingus complete Debut recordings box set, has Mingus and Roach in a much more supporting role with pianist Hazel Scott... was she more compliant, or was Duke just more cantankerous?... I have always felt that Money Jungle was not able to overcome the apparent animosity and/or distractedness of its participants, making it a somewhat disappointing session, in spite of its deep beauty, and, well, players... but the Hazel Scott trio is quite nice, everyone cooperating and playing well together, but of course Hazel ain't Duke... well, who is?... still, she's really good, and this may be the more "successful" piano trio album, maybe because expectations aren't as high... For the most part, the two albums Duke Ellington recorded for Bethlehem in 1956 are way more interesting than anything he did in his short-lived stint with Capitol (with the exception of the piano trios)... for one thing, Paul Gonsalves doesn't solo nearly as much, or as gloriously, on anything for Capitol as he does on "Laura" from Duke Ellington Presents... for another, the Capitol sessions lack two key players, Johnny Hodges, who had just rejoined in time for the Bethlehem recordings, and Sam Woodyard, who makes his Ellington debut on the Bethlehem sessions... Woodyard was one of Ellington's greatest drummers, second in my mind only to Sonny Greer... Woodyard was a master of the shuffle, and his distinctive hard-driving swing helps define many of the Duke's later masterpieces... as Lambert puts it, "Woodyard was the last musician to come into the band who could make it sound different by his very presence" (p. 176)... 

Playlist 2025-02-24:

*Marshall Allen: New Dawn

*Beatles: Anthology 3 (disc 1) (selections)

*Blue Notes: Blue Notes for Mongezi (disc 1)

*Anthony Braxton: 3 Compositions of New Jazz (side 1)

*Anthony Braxton/Fred Simmons Trio: 9 Standards (Quartet) 1993 (disc 2)

*Circle: Gathering

*Clash: Combat Rock (sides 1, 2)

*Patsy Cline: The Patsy Cline Collection (disc 4)

*Rodger Coleman and Sam Byrd: 2009-07-23 Nashville (wav) track 3 "Moon Landing"

*John Coltrane: Coltrane (side 1)

*John Coltrane Quartet: Africa/Brass (side 1)

*Miles Davis Quintet: Workin’ with the Miles Davis Quintet (side 1)

*Miles Davis:  The Complete In a Silent Way Sessions (disc 1) "Two Faced"

*Death Ambient: Death Ambient

*Death Ambient: Synaesthesia

*Bob Dylan/Various artists: Theme Time Radio Hour S01 E21 "School"

*Bob Dylan/Various artists: Theme Time Radio Hour S01 E22 "Telephone"

*Duke Ellington: Giants of Jazz (sides 3, 4)

*Duke Ellington: Duke Ellington Presents Ivie Anderson (side 4)

*Duke Ellington: The Complete Capitol Recordings of Duke Ellington (disc 5)

*Duke Ellington: The Bethlehem Years, Vol. 1 (sides 1, 2)

*Duke Ellington: Duke Ellington Presents…

*Rosemary Clooney and Duke Ellington and His Orchestra: Blue Rose

*Jimmy Ghaphery: Fife Studies and Songs about Birds

*Grateful Dead: 1968-11-01 Chico CA (CDR)

*Grateful Dead: 1968-11-22 Columbus OH (CDR)

*Grateful Dead: 1968-12-07 Louisville KY (CDR) "Dark Star"

*Grateful Dead: 1968-12-29 Hallandale, FL (CDR)

*Grateful Dead: 1969-01-17 Santa Barbara CA (CDR) "Dark Star"

*Grateful Dead: The Complete Fillmore West 1969 (disc 1) "That's It for the Other One"

*Mickey Hart & the Hartbeats: 1968-10-30? San Francisco (CDR) "Dark Star Jam"

*Earl Hines: Giants of Jazz (disc 1)

*William Hooker/Chrstian Marclay/Lee Ranaldo: Bouquet

*Keith Jarrett: Expectations (side 4)

*Janel Leppin: Ensemble Volcanic Ash

*Charles Mingus: The Complete Debut Recordings (discs 7, 8)

*Charles Mingus: Let My Children Hear Music (side 1)

*Matt Mitchell: Zealous Angles

*Roscoe Mitchell: One Head Four People

*New Ting: 2025-01-20 "Swipe the Not Enough of Too Much" (wav)

*New Ting: 2025-02-18 "Just Under the Ground"  (wav)

*Zeena Parkins/Chris Brown/William Winant/Ben Davis: Scree

*Tom Rainey Trio: Hotel Grief "Proud Achievements In Botany"

*Secret People: Secret People

*Tyshawn Sorey: The Inner Spectrum of Variables (disc 2) "Reverie"

*Tyshawn Sorey:  Verisimilitude "Algid November"

*Sparks: Indiscreet (side 1)

*Sun Ra: The Futuristic Sounds of Sun Ra (side 2)

*Sun Ra and His Solar Arkestra: Secrets of the Sun "Flight to Mars"

*Cecil Taylor: Student Studies "Amplitude"

*Cecil Taylor: Garden (disc 2) "Garden 1 > Stepping on Stars"

*Cecil Taylor Orchestra Humane: 2004-03-23 NYC (CDR) (disc 2)

*Lennie Tristano: The Complete Atlantic Recordings of Lennie Tristano, Lee Konitz, & Warne Marsh (discs 5, 6)

*Various artists: Turn Me Loose White Man (discs 5, 6, 7)

*John Zorn/JACK Quartet: The Complete String Quartets (disc 1)