Jazz Articles
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King Pleasure: King Pleasure Sings the Freudian Slips Songbook
by Nicholas F. Mondello
In 1951 in Vienna, a graduate school psychology student and amateur harpist doing work on Freud literally stumbled upon a handful of torn-edged music manuscript papers of the legendary psychiatrist. Recognizing what could be a major historical discovery, the student carefully peeled the sheets individually and, looking around for cameras and other crime-watchers, made off with the slips of paper. After verifying the source by comparing the writing with Freud's sketches, she immediately brought the papers to one Clarence Beeks, ...
Continue ReadingDiana Ross & Frank Zappa: Soul Freak Symphony
by Glenn Astarita
When Diana Ross, the glittering soul siren of Motown, and Frank Zappa, the madcap maestro of musical anarchy, unveiled Soul Freak Symphony in March 1985 but was put in limbo due to contractual issues. Hence, it was not just an album--it was a cosmic detonation of sound and sanity. This 12-track hallucination melds Ross's velvety charisma with Zappa's unhinged genius, resulting in a creation so far outside the box it might as well be orbiting Saturn. The opener ...
Continue ReadingDexter Gordon & The Stooges: Raw Blow Power
by Glenn Astarita
Imagine a Detroit dive bar in 1969, where the feral howl of The Stooges collides with the towering tenor of Dexter Gordon in a haze of sweat, distortion, and cigarette smoke. Raw Blow Power, released on the FuzzTone rock label, is that feverish hallucination brought to life--a snarling, swinging beast of an album that fuses proto-punk savagery with hard bop finesse. The story goes that someone taped this lost session in a single booze-soaked night at the Grande ...
Continue ReadingLou Reed, Ornette Coleman and David Bowie: After Walking On The Wild Side 8/18/72
by Mike Jurkovic
British saxophonist Ronnie Ross had just locked down his now iconic baritone solo on Lou Reed's soon-to-be overplayed rock classic, “Walk On the Wild Side" when co-producer David Bowie snook up behind Reed and whispered excitedly “Ornette's here." Reed, intently tapping a vein and hitting the rush, replied like only a stoned kid from Queens could. “No sh**." Yeah, no sh**. And that is just the beginning of the fascinating story behind After Walking On The Wild Side 8/18/72.
Continue ReadingChet Baker: Last Great Concert On A Monday
by Ian Patterson
In a career that lasted an odds-defying four decades, trumpeter and vocalist Chet Baker's signature sound was captured on around 20 live albums. The majority of these performances, covering the years 1952-1988, not surprisingly, fell on Thursdays through Sundays--good business days for jazz. But this previously unreleased live recording is different. None of the dozen patrons who came to Amersfoort's Jazz Cellar for Baker's concert on 25 April, 1988 could possibly have known that it was to be his last ...
Continue ReadingMiles Davis: Doo-Bop-A-Lu-Wah: The Musical!
by Geno Thackara
Easy Mo Bee is a fellow who does not like to leave things unfinished. Like any good producer, he is restlessly willing to shape and hone a work until things are fine-tuned down to the smallest details--a fine quality in rap recording, where a person really needs a sharp ear for slick beats and hooks. But of course the most famous example of that dedication, at least in the jazz world, was his early-'90s collaboration with the late Miles Davis--the ...
Continue ReadingElon Musk-Donald Trump Chainsaw Gang: MUSKrats
by Jack Bowers
If you're tired of the same-old same-old musical merry-go-round, here's a group that really shakes things up and RIPs them apart on its debut recording, MUSKrats, firing brutally and haphazardly at every melodic convention and literally taking no prisoners--aside from an occasional immigrant--as it blasts its way toward a musical coterie in which only charlatans and the super-wealthy can survive. The histrionic album was recorded at the national mall in Washington, DC, for an audience that Trump ...
Continue ReadingPerry Como with Derek Bailey: Uncharted Harmonies
by Glenn Astarita
Imagine, if you will, the musical equivalent of a black-tie gala crashing into an abstract art exhibit. This is Uncharted Harmonies, where Perry Como, the man whose voice could soothe a charging bull, meets Derek Bailey, a guitarist who thinks musical notes are too mainstream. Together, they have created an album that is as unlikely as finding a Picasso in a thrift shop. It was recorded after hours at the Village Vanguard in 1974 on reel-to-reel tape. From ...
Continue ReadingProfessor Irwin Corey: Duets II, It's All About You!!
by Nicholas F. Mondello
In one of the more noteworthy album discoveries of recent years Schlossin Records, a division of Moyel Music, has unearthed a series of extremely rare cuts featuring the vocal skills of that instructor to the stars and game show celeb, Professor Irwin Corey. Originally recorded live (and without Corey's permission) at multiple locations, the prof sheds academic robe for a beret and zoot suit and sends up a dozen killer tracks with celebs who begged to sit in with Corey ...
Continue ReadingMiles Davis / John Coltrane: Live at the Washateria
by Karl Ackermann
Urban legend has it that in 1957 Miles Davis charged up to a frightened woman at the Washateria Laundromat on the corner of Lexington Avenue and 25th Street. He bellowed, “How long does this (expletive) dryer take to dry a pair of socks?" Before the terrified patron could answer, Davis spied John Coltrane in row two, washing his reeds on the delicate cycle. In another corner, Cannonball Adderley was growing impatient with a set of fitted sheets on the folding ...
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