Sounds in Transition

In Music, Dominant (7th) chords are usually transition chords, they want to move and be active. In the Blues, and in Life, we exist in transition. A sequence of Dominant chords suggest possibilities, you need to be willing to exist with a sense of sacrifice, and loss, because wherever you are, it can change. I am in that place of transition, of the Blues, and I am in the process of considering the Past, accepting the Present and divining the Future.

And, nearing 50, I find myself again looking for a new job and community. I’m exhausted with proving my worth and questioning what is the right place to be. In truth 3 years earlier I felt I truly had found that place. But it transformed around me and in a few short years I find I don’t belong. Do I continue on the same path?

I heard once that people usually average 7 jobs (or occupations?) in their lives. That can mean many things, but my work history far surpasses that! And I’m not sure what it says about me. 

Here is quick list:

Childhood: Comicopia, B&D Deli, 

Cooking/Kitchens: Bildner’s, Sammie’s Deli, Phyllis Tobin Caterers, Rancher’s Club in Albuquerque, Bistro @ Maison DeVille in NOLA, Carmen’s Country Kitchen in Philly

Retail: Border’s, American Pie, Disc-Go-Round

Music: Private Lessons (30 years!), Performing (30 years!), Settlement Music School (8), St.Martha’s School (4), St. Mary’s School (5), Berkeley College (2), Music & Arts (6), Rowan University (4), St. Peter’s School (3).

My own business Found Sounds (5 years!) my own groups (25 years!)

As a musician so much hustle is involved with gigs, creative projects, teaching, learning, practice that there would normally be this wide a variety, but I am left breathless about the scope of my history, a rolling stone, and feeling sad when I view this from a stability perspective. 

I am completely done with the feeling of having to prove myself, my methods, my value.

So I went shopping for sounds, maybe a visit to the Princeton Record Exchange will soothe my mind, before a period of conservation. This is mostly the 1st songs from the discs I found, some buying trends of Soul Jazz, Brazilian, ECM, Free Jazz, Ornette and some late 70’s/early 80’s Rock.

Sound of Transition playlist pt. 1

Brian Eno “.-…-.” Lux, Warp, 2012 – Ambient Eno. The song titles all appear as sequences of dots on a grid, hence my title “transcription”. Soft and glowing start, like dawn with a sense of transformation. Sounds like these are definitely needed in my Life right now.

Ralph Towner – “Winter Solstice”, Solstice, ECM,1975 – This is not the 1st song on the album, but it was on the live video available on YouTube – which the album is not. I listened to only the first song of the set.

Dupree Bolton – “Theme”, Fireball, Uptown, 2008 – Any Dupree Bolton is good to find! This is a collection of Live performances from 62, 63 & 80. And not on YouTube yet… And yet Youtube has a live clip available of Bolton with a similar band playing “Summertime” a worthy substitute.

Billy Cobham – “Shabazz”, Shabazz, Wounded Bird Records, 1975 – Crisp! Face Melter… Has the Breckers and Abercrombie on it.

Charles McPherson – They Say it’s Wonderful”, Beautiful!, Xanadu records, 1975 – The still very much active Charles McPherson bringing sophisticated Bop & Swing with a great group. It is the type of Jazz recording lost beneath the Fusion avalanche of the early 70’s.

Hugh Masekela – “Part of a Whole”, Home is Where the Music Is, Verve, 1978 – Amazing! Kind of sounds like a Blue Note Zappa song?! There isn’t much info about who is on this but its fun, grooving, with lyrical melodies and good soloists.

Iro Haarla – “Avian Kingdom”, Northbound, ECM, 2005 – ECM supports very few recordings on YouTube without subscription, but I found another live recording of the song. I don’t know Iro but the Harp has been an attraction for me recently and I’m also interested in how ECM captures the sound of a Harp.

Masahiko Togashi – “June”, Song of Soil, King Record co., 1979 – Unknown quantity here, though the Don Cherry/Charlie Haden appearance is always promising. The trio format here is compelling and it sounds like it could be music from 15 years earlier. Masahiko is very colorful and his choices bring out variety within the freeness that is being explored.

Harold Budd – “The Gunfighter”, Lovely Thunder, Jim, 1986 – Early ambient. Ambient composers, despite a heavy reliance on electronics and slowly transforming movement, do sound very different from each other and even usually from project to project. They reside in similar moods, and even timbres, but the compositional personalities are all different. They reveal themselves through patience.

Roxy Music – “Manifesto”, Manifesto, Reprise, 1979 – A Roxy album I didn’t have for $1.99!

Cecil Taylor – “Cell Walk for Celeste”, Cell Walk for Celeste, Candid, 1961 – I missed the Mosaic Complete Candid recordings of Cecil Taylor & Buell Nuedlinger but have collected several of the original albums. Great bands, great music! 

Tom Verlaine – “There’s a Reason”, Dreamtime, Infinite Zero, 1981 – Tom Verlaine is definitely on my mind as he just passed. He has an interesting way of layering guitars and its interesting to hear him outside of Television.

George Duke – “Party Down”, Follow the Rainbow, Cherry Red, 1979 – There are definitely several recordings in this bunch of purchases that are from 1979, from when I was 6. They are all very different takes on the sound of ’79, but this one is certainly the popular funk side of ’79.

Reuben Wilson – “Bambu”, Blue Mode, Blue Note, 1969 – Ten years earlier but just as funky. Organ combos definitely led the charge for the electronic Funk of the ’70’s. And John Manning a horn I do not know, yet. 

Dave Bailey – “Comin’ Home Baby”, Two Feet in the Gutter, Epic, 1961 – Dave Bailey wrote “One Foot in the Gutter” recorded on Clark Terry’s In Orbit. So this seemed like a good find and featuring another horn I don’t know: Frank Haynes. Apparently he is a long term collaborator with David Bailey and sprinkled on a few other recordings in the 60’s & 70’s.

Caterina Valente – “Just You, Just Me”, The Hi-Fi Nightingale, El/Cherry Red – Definitely Pop Jazz vocals but great cover and I don’t really know her so its worth a snoop.

Tim Hart & Maddie Prior – “Lish Young Buy-a-Broom”, Folk Songs of Olde England vol. 1, Mooncrest, 1991 – Also a great cover and folk musicians doing folk songs has a certain appeal to me. 

Kenny Wheeler – “Heyoke”, Gnu High, ECM, 1976 – Again ECM live is the answer, though this is not the same group at all. The original is about as close to Keith Jarrett as I can muster, as a sideman. He is obviously amazing, I’ve even seen him live at the Kimmel Center. But his taste is not mine and I find him too much for me even in little bites, though many of my friends are huge fans. Kenny’s sound is immediately gorgeous! This track also sounds like 2 songs, absurdly long with a break around the 12 minute mark…

Sound of Transition playlist pt 2

Dewey Redman Quartet – “Thren”, The Struggle Continues, ECM, 1982 – A live and newer version of this song, because of the lack of ECM freely available on YouTube. Dewey’s phrasing  has Ornette’s mark on it. That is another way to determine influence and all of Ornette’s collaborators seem to bear some of that phrasing influence. Dewey doesn’t sound like Ornette does on Tenor, but has that abruptness and same road different path type of melodic phrasing.

Hector Lavoe – “Vamos A Reir Un Poco”, De Ti Depende, Fania, 1976 – Classic Hector which I am always on the look out to collect. Fania’s collection is vast, poorly archived and confusing. Many of the CD reissues have quality problems and some were remastered but not clearly labeled. I am mostly interested in the music which is consistently of a high quality but my overall collection feels random and it is difficult to find and fill the holes.

Chris McGregor – “Moonlight Aloe”, Up to Earth, Fledgling, 1969 – Not the Brotherhood of Breath, but featuring several members of that group and what a sax section! South African jazz is represented mostly by the musicians who left and moved to Europe. Hard to find these discs and it starts out hooting and hollering.

Hareton Salvanini – “Com os Raios do Sol”, Xavana Uma Ilha do Amor, Mad About, 1981 – I had no ideas about this. Nudie cover yes. A somewhat strangely dated 60’s counter culture references for a Brazilian Movie Soundtrack released in 1981. Musically it feels older as well, Psychedelic Pop and MPB, a nice find.

Horace Tapscott – “World Peace”, The Quintet, Mr. Bongo, 1969 – Similar to Dupree Bolton finding any Horace Tapscott is a score. This is a reissue of his original Quintet with Arthur Blythe, which was, and is here, a killer. The way the Alto is played here reminds me of some of the newer 2020’s Alto player’s styles, though I’m not sure many have heard Arthur from this period.

Sante Palumbo Orchestra – “SWAY”, SWAY, Schema, 1973 – No ideas what this would be. Starts pretty out and then is under the SWAY of the Fusion. Pretty tasty tho!

Marcos Valle – “The Answer”, Samba ’68, Verve, 1967 – Marcos creates premium Brazilian Cheeze. I dig it, good groovy party tunes.

Pretenders – “The Adultress”, Pretenders II, Rhino, 1980 – Filling in the Classics I missed on Disc from my childhood!

Ornette Coleman – “Good Old Days”, The Empty Foxhole, Blue Note, 1966 – For some reason I never had the Ornette Blue Notes and I’ve also been collecting that problem away.

Mutantes – “Ando Meio Desligado”, A Divina Comedia ou Ando Meio Desligado, Polydor, 1970 – Another Classic Os Mutantes recording. I’m filling in the Brazilian blanks pretty well on this trip too. 

Donald Byrd – “Estavanico”, Electric Byrd, Blue Note, 1970 – I definitely overlooked the Byrd electric period. I think the reviews of his electric work tend to compare him to his earlier self rather than consider them on their own. With many electric recordings the acoustic player is playing less or garbing their personal sound in an electric blur. But Soul Jazz and Fusion has its own aesthetic and I’m opening to these recordings more and more. 

Martinho da Vila – “Aquarela Brasileira”, Maravilha de Cenário, RCA, 1975 – The well of Brazilian music is of infinite depth. I don’t know Martinho but this was a great find and i generally just need to see: “Brazilian & 70’s” to jump on something.

James Clay – “New Delhi”, A Double Dose of Soul, Riverside, 1960 – There is an Ornette theme running thru this hoard of recordings and James Clay was influential to Ornette when they were young people. This starts with a gentle flute & vibes piece that strikes a chord with me.

Bryan Ferry – “Sign of the Times”, The Bride Stripper Bare, E’G, 1978 – Solo album from ’78, seemed like a good bet for a little more Ferry.

Clifford Jordan Big Band – “Old Bo”, Play What You Feel, Mapleshade, 1990 – This is the 3rd song because the first wasn’t available on YouTube. Clifford did great work up until he passed and his Mapleshade recordings are a good bunch. Hearing his Big Band was a definite draw to this recording.

Solomon Burke – “This Little Ring”, The King of Rock & Soul: The Atlantic Recordings (1962-1968), SoulMusic, 2020 – All the Classic Solomon recordings. This will be a fun collection to dig into. 

Charles McPherson – “Tokyo Blue”, Live in Tokyo, Xanadu, 1976 – A double hit of Charles McPherson Xanadus. This one! The Alto sound is already having me favor this over the other McPherson album. And “Tokyo Blue” feels a lot like “K.C. Blues” with sort of an improvised/through composed Blues head. A song to learn.

Perry Robinson – “Moon Over Moscow”, Funk Dumpling, Savoy Jazz, 1962 – I guess I haven’t really heard Perry before. His Clarinet sound is woody & unique. He stays in the bottom regions of the horn. After Bebop the clarinet’s popularity generally fades away, this track feels like Hard Bop Clarinet which is unusual. Crackling band too!

John Patton – “Rakin’ and Scrapin’”, Accent on the Blues, Blue Note, 1969 – Reliable Soul/Funk Jazz and another Blue Note I continually thought I already owned, or was part of the John Patton Mosaic. Either way owning it was a fantasy, that is now a reality. Nice to hear George Coleman in this context.

Monk Higgins – “Extra Soul Perception”, Extra Soul Perception, RealGoneMusic, 1968 – Not what I expected, but it shows great promise of surprises to come. A nice way to end? This song sounds like a beginning! A full transition.