RARE, GROOVY AND SO TYPICALLY EUROPEAN!

COLOURS IN JAZZ

FRANCIS COPPIETERS SELECTION

featuring: Rolf Roemer – tenor sax, flute / Klaus Osterloh – flugelhorn / Francis Coppieters: piano & percussion /  Jean Warland: bass / Klaus Weiss: drums / Koenraad Ellegiers: violin / Gustav Kedves: French Horn

LP Intersound                                  GERMANY, 1986

If you’re into the MPS / Eurojazz sound, the names of Francis Coppieters and Jean Warland should not be totally unknown to you.  Both are Belgians who made a career working in the German studios and big radio bands.  You’ve probably seen their names credited on several MPS / SABA albums.

Jean Warland is probably the better known of the two due to his participation in the Clarke-Boland Big Band and Peter Herbolzheimer Brass & Rhythm Combination, among many other sessions.

Francis Coppieters‘ career goes back to the mid-forties in Belgium.  In 1949 he became a member of the Hazy Osterwald Orchestra, then of the Kurt Edelhagen Big Band and finally became a studio musician for MPS.

Although they both recorded prolifically as sidemen, they did not record much as leaders which may explain why they remain largely unknown outside a small circle of collectors and aficionados. 

Francis Coppieters is highly regarded among Libray music collectors for his album “Piano Viberations” (1975) issued on the KPM Music Library label.  It features Claudio Szenkar (b),  Jean Warland (bass) and Charly Antolini (drs) - according to Pernet's discography. The names of Fats Sadi (vibes), Roger Vanhaverbeke (bass) and Freddy Rottier (drs) were mentioned also but it does not appear they took part in this session. 

According to the discographies there is another library album by Coppieters – KTS-5 (Koln, 1980)  with an astounding lineup: the van Rooyen brothers, Jon Eardley, Otto Bredl, Peter Herbolzheimer, Wilton Gaynar, Karlheinz Wiberny ... just to name a few – but I’ve never heard or even seen it.

Colours in Jazz recorded in 1986 is a jazz / library jazz /soul jazz album.

If you like the music of Charlie Antolini and Roland Kovac, you’ll like this album.  Groovy  with a typical European feel!  Don’t miss it. I don’t think it has ever been posted elsewhere in the blogworld.

Tracklist

A1                   Mobile            3:03

A2                   Blue Magic     5:22

A3                   Shuffle Bubble           4:52

A4                   Blue Greens    4:14

A5                   Aquarelle        4:40

B1                   Voyage           3:22

B2                   Aroma 3:36

B3                   Sir Francis Drums      3:28

B4                   Easy Going     4:25

B5                   Ritmo Pizzicato         4:45

Credits

Flugelhorn – Klaus Osterloh

Tenor Saxophone, Flute – Rolf Röhmer

Piano, Percussion, Composed By, Arranged By – Francis Coppieters

Bass – Jean Warland

Drums – Klaus Weiss

French Horn – Gustav Kedves

Violin – Koenraad Ellegiers

Francis Coppieters

Notes

Recorded March 1986 at Cornet Sudio, Cologne

(n.b.: scans of  sleeve sourced from Discogs).    

LINK UPDATED 18/07/17

PS: I have re-posted Fats Sadi Combo (Rarity #11)

MACH II

RHODA SCOTT - MACH 2

LP Barclay       France, 1971

Rhoda Scott - sometimes referred to as the Barefoot Princess because she plays the pedals of her Hammond barefoot - is an American jazz organist who made a career playing in Europe.  She has lived in France since '68.

Her output is rather large and somewhat uneven.  Her LPs are often plagued by tepid covers of hits of the day.  However, when she gets to it, she can be pretty good.

This session recorded in France in 1974 with Joe Thomas (aka The Ebony Godfather), on flute and tenor sax, and Cees Kranenburg (drums) ranks among her better LPs.  JoeThomas deserves special credit for his often inspired and funky flute work.

My favorite tracks are the Joe Thomas' composition Fire & Brimstone, Jeremy (co-written by Rhoda Scott and Joe Thomas) and Blues at the Bilboquet which is really cooking!.

  

Tracklisting

1.         Splanky

2.         Mach II           

3.         Fire And Brimstone

4.         Jeremy

5.         Delilah

6.         Blues At The Bilboquet

(Album never re-issued on CD)

DIRTY ROOSTA BOOGA

JIMMY SMITH - I’m Gon Git Myself Together

Released on MGM  (1971, USA)

Liner notes:

This is the album that answers the question “can a down-home earthy, gutsy, swinging, blues-drenched jazz giant like Jimmy Smith find happiness in that spastic, hard beat, heavily amplified, eternally youthful world on the other side of the (generation) gap – Rock and Roll?” The album is successful for a number of reasons: basically, Jimmy Smith is the type of consummate artist who never gives less than his best in live or recorded situations; secondly, Jimmy has never isolated himself in any one bag because he is too aware of other idioms, other styles, other musicians, and much too hip to the reality of change; furthermore, Jimmy’s style is so close to the nitty gritty of communication that no gap is unbridgeable (…). No doubt about it, there’s a happy Jimmy Smith contained in this album – a later-day rocksmith who has his mojo working in any style he commands it to  (Harvey Siders - edited).

Review on Soul Strut blog

Released in 1973 (actually 1971), the liner notes to the record state that it was Smith’s attempt to mold Rock with Jazz, something that was a bit in vogue in the late 1960s/early 1970s. I Know What I Want was written, conducted, arranged and produced by Johnny Pate. His band also backed up Smith. The song starts off with a funky guitar line before Smith’s singing, organ and the horns join in to turn the song more towards a soulful big band sound, although a big guitar solo towards the end makes sure the Rock influences are still apparent. Next up, Smith takes on a cover of Otis Redding’s (Sittin On) The Dock Of The Bay. Despite some wah wah guitar in the background, Smith’s singing really fails him on this rendition of the Soul classic. To make up for things, Uh Ruh starts off with a jammin’ little open drum break before going into an upbeat Soul-Jazz number.  Dirty Roosta Booga is another fast-pace groover, and there’s another drum break intro to Need Mo, which is also good. A cover of Sugar, Sugar makes a nice end to the record as well.

I may add that I quite like the title track (I'm Gon' Git Myself Together), a solid blues and that Smith’s singing fails him again badly in Spill the Wine.  Overall an uneven album but still interesting if you want to understand where the process started that yielded the fabulous live album Root Down (listen to Need Mo’).

Jimmy Smith ‎– I'm Gon' Git Myself Together (1971)

Tracklist

A1       I Know What I Want    5:21

A2       (Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay        5:15

A3       Uh Ruh            2:45

A4       I'm Gon' Git Myself Together   5:30

B1        Dirty Roosta Booga      5:00

B2        Spill The Wine 5:50

B3        Need Mo'         6:16

B4        Sugar, Sugar    5:15

No detail on the personnel (Johnny Pate Orchestra).

HONKY TONK 73

Lionel Hampton presents … BILL DOGGETT

LP Philips (France) – 1973

This album had been in the blogworld before. A rip was posted by Cheeba in 2009 on his (now inactive) blog Soundological Investigations.  

By 1970, Bill Doggett's name had dropped in relative obscurity, only remembered by Rhythm 'n' Blues and Swing Jazz die-hards. He did some recordings for the French Black & Blues label - a label specialising in forgotten swing players.  
This album is not much different.  It is a mix of revisited old Hampton warhorses (Flying, Home, Midnight Sun), and some more groovy stuff.   There was an attempt at modernizing the sound, e.g. Doggett plays electric piano on some tracks (and it sounds pretty good).

He could not escape revisiting his classic hit "Honky Tonk", he does it in a groovy soul jazz mood but without Billy Butler something's missing  …

There’s some good blowing from Norris Turney and Charles Williams.

The rip is from the French version of the LP.

Musicians

Norris Turney - Alto Sax

Charles Williams - Alto Sax

David Brooks - Tenor Sax

Larry Luger - Guitar

Lionel Hampton - Vibes

Bill Doggett - Organ, Piano (leader)

Larry Troit - Bass

Howard Overton - Drums

Sam Turner - Conga, Drums

1 Bill's Honky Tonk

2 Pots A Cookin'

3 I Wish You Love

4 Dig The Thing

5 Dug's Pad

6 Midnight Sun

7 Flying Home

8 Charlie's Alley

ANY DEADHEAD AROUND ?

MERL SAUNDERS – HEAVY TURBULENCE

LP Fantasy 8431 – USA, 1973

I’m usually pretty good at remembering where I found my LPs but this one I can’t remember where I got it from.  It’s one of the lesser known Merl Saunders’albums.  It should appeal to Deadheads because Jerry Garcia is playing on it.

I had a few too many Chartreuse Verte tonite so don’t expect me to write a review.  It’s a good record alright.  Here’s what Eugene Chadbourne (AMG) has to say.  Thst bloke’s much better than I am at writing review.

A versatile and engaging performer, Merl Saunders certainly put his best foot forward with his debut recording for the Fantasy label. His background in jazz was certainly welcome on an aesthetic level with the management of the label, but the splattering of Creedence Clearwater Revival imagery on this album's original protective paper sleeve suggests what the real goal must have been. Fantasy wanted more rock chart hits, and Saunders was seen as potentially a great crossover artist between the worlds of rock, soul, funk, and jazz fusion. That said, it should be pointed out that the label of world fusion did not exist when this record was recorded and is actually an area that Saunders got into in subsequent decades. One will not find Latin, African, or other international music influences on these five selections. This is pretty much a straight rock and funk effort, one of several totally solid albums produced by various members of Creedence Clearwater Revival on the side during this period. In this case it is Tom Fogerty directing the action.  Since he is such a terrific rhythm guitarist, it is really no surprise that he and Saunders could create such a pumping oil well; this is an album in which the rhythmic feel of each song can never be faulted, no matter how different the approaches might be. The band is really well recorded, the tones thick and fat, and the grooves trembling from the fine organ fondling. The composed material consists of originals by Saunders with several interesting covers. "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" and "Imagine" are the remakes, each done quite personally with truly thoughtful arrangements. The status of these two songs as times have marched on is worth contemplating, while the mere presence of the tunes establishes a rich sense of time and place. The cover of "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" would have been considered quite hip at one point, and then, perhaps sometime in the year 1976, a cosmic curtain of some kind shifted and the song was just considered downright corny. Anyone listening to this recording will have to lug around that cultural baggage, while the John Lennon song in contrast becomes more beloved each day, with the Saunders version actually a bit controversial amongst his fans. Some find it beautifully tasteful, others feel it drags, and the latter opinion is troubling since the version tracks at just barely over two and a half minutes, a shortie compared to other pieces on this record. Lead guitar fills by Jerry Garcia are a musical inspiration, as well as probably stimulating much of the original album's sales. Some listeners will be fanatic fans of this guitarist and others might regard him as musical vermin, but one and all would agree that this album has some of his top playing. He seems to have been at his best when at the side of Saunders, who once saved his life. Their efforts to play jazz together were a trifle feeble, true, but there is none of that here. The original numbers are on the funky and bluesy side, such as the terrific opener, "My Problem's Got Problems," and the delicious extended track, "Manchild."

Tracks

My Problems Got Problems (Saunders / Carrier)

The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down [RealAudio]  AU file (333K)

Save Mother Earth (Saunders / Lewis)

Imagine (John Lennon)

Welcome to the Basement (Saunders / Moore)

Man Child (Saunders / Lewis)

Musicians

Merl Saunders - keyboards, vocals

Jerry Garcia - guitar, vocals

Tom Fogerty - guitar

John Kahn - bass

Bill Vitt - drums

The Hawkins Singers (Edwin, Walter, Tramaine, Lynette, Freddie, Carol) - vocals

Eddie Moore - drums, saw

Kenneth Nash - percussion

Bob Drew - saxophone

The Tower of Power Horns

Merl Saunders - Heavy Turbulence - 1972 - Fantasy 8421

Not only am I too lazy to write a review, I am even too lazy to rip my vynil.  Blogger E-mile found a rip on the web last year -it has gone away since.  Here it is again.  With thanks to E-mile and to the original ripper.

It's a great album, I'm listening as I'm writing ... Manchild's playing just now and it has some gorgeous Fender Rhodes ...Get this album and have a drink of Chartreuse Verte ...

TRANSCRIPTION

JOE SEALY TRIO

LP Radio Canada RCI 304 – 1969

A jazz pianist with a long career going back to the late 50’s, Joe Sealy is unjustly little known outside of Canada.  Still active today, his early influences were Oscar Peterson of course (they’re both Canadians and Sealy studied piano with Peterson’s sister), and Horace Silver.

Two bluesy originals by Mr Sealy in a style reminiscent of Ray Bryant, Junior Mance, Ramsey Lewis …, some classic soul jazz tracks (Silver’s Song for my Father, Burell’s Chilli con carne, Ode to Billy Joe …) and a few standards make it a well-balanced and enjoyable album.

These Transcription LPs were sent by RCI to radio stations in several countries with which – I assume - Canada had cooperation agreements.  My copy comes from the Comoros Islands!

Tracks

Side A

Chili

 For all we know

Soft Winds

Golden Earrings

 Dumpling

Side B

Song for my father

Spring is here

 For once in my life

Early Morning Blues

 Ode To Billy Joe

Personel

Joe Sealy – piano

James Sadler – bass

Tim Cahoon - drums

(from the Web)

Rip from the original LP (sorry for the small pop on “Song for My Father”, it was too late when I noticed, I had left Brussels – and my records - already)

Little blues and nothing revolutionnary

The Revolutionary Blues Band 

LP Coral (US, 1970)

It’s summer time, very hot here in Morocco, so I’ll go for the least effort solution.  Posting albums that I own in my collection but re-using rips collected from the net over the years.   Too hot for new rips, and anyway I’m 3000 km from my vinyl collection.  So I’ll cheat.

This one was another discount bin perennial.  I must confess that my friends and I were somewhat disappointed when we first heard it (in the early seventies).  My friend Dédé had bought it (Place du Jeu de Balle, probably) because of Tom Scott playing on it.  We all had bought a copy of Rural StillLife (on Impulse) and we were hoping for something similar. It wasn't. By the way, Rural Still Life remains my all time favourite Tom Scott album.

Then the band had “blues band” in its moniker and in terms of blues we were into Butterfield Blues Band, Dirty Blues Band ... and here was the name of Rod Piazza, of Dirty Blues Band / Bacon Fat fame. Second disappointment, the band did not sound at all like any of those blues bands. 

I never understood at what type of audience such an album was aimed.  Not the blues fan, not the rock fan, not the straight jazz fan ...  The album was produced by Bob Thiele and is very much in the line of some instrumental MOR albums on Flying Dutchman.  It’s gently soul jazzy / funky. It's not smooth jazz yet but, with hindsight, one could see the direction Scott was heading to.

David Bennett Cohen (of Country Joe & the Fish fame, remember "Section 43"?) was on piano (and perhaps guitar also).

David Cohen (source: his website)

Soul Blues stalwart Arthur Adams (Crusaders, Jimmy Smith ...) plays the funky guitar.  No idea about the bass and drums.

Arthur Adams (Source:BlindPig Records)

Arrangements are by Gene Page (Love Unlimited, Philly Sound).  All tracks are instrumentals but one "That's The Truth Baby" featuring vocalist Lightnin Red Jones (no idea who that bloke could be).

I had not listened to this album for ages until Red Telephone66 posted it a few years back (that's where this rip comes from).  It’s not half as bad as I thought.    If you like late 60s  jazzy bluesy instrumentals in the vein of Monk Higgins, Freddie Robinson, Phil Upchurch  ... you’ll probably enjoy this album.  Last year my friend Dédé gave me his copy (and a few other LPs) and I'm quite happy to have it in my collection.  Thanks mate!

Track Order:

01.       Juicy

02.       Milkman, Milkman Leave Me Some Cream Today

03.       Lanoola Goes Limp

04.       That's The Truth Baby

05.       Have A Little Bit More

06.       Take Me Back To Tennessee

07.       Cutting The Mustard

08.       Ring My Chimes

09        Funky Lady

10.       Dirty Town Blues

Never re-issued on CD.  Thanks to whoever put the cover photos on Discogs.

ENCORE UN BOOTLEG

CARMELL JONES-LEO WRIGHT-STAFFAN ABELEEN
BJORN ALKE, LEROY LOWE
RADIO BROADCAST - STOCKHOLM 1972

Carmell Jones

onxidlib just sent me this broadcast from the Swedish Radio. 


Carmell  Jones, trumpet  
Leo  Wright, alto saxophone 
Staffan Abeleen, piano 
Björn Alke, bass 
Leroy Lowe, drums

Leo Wtight

Staffan Abeleen

1. Straight No Chaser
2. Willow Weep for Me - I Can't Get Started
3. The Man I Love
4. Milestones
5. Groovin' High

Recorded in Stockholm in 1972 (venue and exact date unknown).

Encore!

Leo Wright Combo

Flöte + Alt-Sax = Leo Wright

LP AMIGA ‎– 8 50 056, German Democratic Republic (GDR) - 1966

Here is a contribution from an anonymous visitor who sent us a rip of the this rare album via onxidlib. It is the companion album to the one I posted in December.  The Leo Wright Combo was a Quintet that was built by Leo Wright for a Concert-Tour in the former German Democratic Republic in 1965.

In addition to Wright's excellent work on flute and alto sax, this album is another opportunity to hear the virtuosity and melodic invention of Andre Condouant, probably one of jazz most underrated guitar players.

A blues-drenched album not to miss!

Musicians

Leo Wright - Flute, Alto-Saxophone

"Dr. Blues" Candy Green - Vocals, Piano, Claviola

André Condouant - Guitar

Wolfgang Kraesse - Bass

Hartwig Bartz - Drums 

Tracks

A1       Encore                                              (Sonny  Stitt))

A2       It Might As Well Be Spring               (Rodgers)

A3       Down Home Kansas City Blues       (Candy Green)

A4       Kidney Stew                                     (Eddie Vinson)

B1       Every Day I Have The Blues            (Memphis Slim)

B2       Blues March                                     (James Moody)

B3       Grooving High                                  (Dizzy Gillespie)

I shall be eternally grateful to the Anonymous visitor for giving us the opportunity to hear this tremendous music.

And thanks to the person who uploaded the album pics on Discogs.

PRAGUE 1964

Echoes From The Prague Jazz Festival 1964

Various Artists       LP SUPRAPHON (1964, Czech)

It has always been the philosophy of this blog to welcome and encourage collaborations.  I can even say that without a small but expending group of collaborators - some regular (Paul D., onxidlib), some occasional, this blog wouldn’t be what it has become.  This collaborative effort is the most exciting and rewarding  aspect of blogging.

I’m therefore much thankful to El Porco Rojo for sending us this rare Eastern European album  featuring Benny Bailey, Leo Wright, Kenny Drew and Andre Condouant a.o.  He could have posted it on his own blog but he thought it would fit better here, in the company of Andre Condouant’s Brother Meeting and Leo Wright Jazz Studio’s LP (a contribution by Paul D).  Thanks my friend, it is much appreciated.

 

It doesn’t stop here: I’m both pleased and honored to announce that the next post will be a contribution from the legendary El Reza!  So keep posted!

Recorded: October 1964 live in Prague, 

#B3,4 recorded at the Supraphon Studio, 

Issued as issues: 1964 SUPRAPHON ST 55633 (Czech) ; 1964 or `65 SUPRAPHON SUA 15633 ;

Also released as: Ozveny Jazzoveho Festivalu Praha 1964 SUPRAPHON DV 10166 ; Czechoslovakian Jazz / Various Artists SUPRAPHON SV 9005

#A1 & #B1appear  also on Baby Douglas And His Negro Jazz In Europe,

1965 EP SUPRAPHON SUK 35628 (CSSR) (mono)

Tracks

Side A

  1. Hallelujah, I Just Love Her So (Charles)

  2. Dobbing The Red Fox (Moody)

  3. Yesterdays (Kern)

  4. Sonny Moon For Two (Sonny Rollins)

Side B

  1. My Blues (Green)

  2. I Can´t Get Started (Gershwin)

  3. Ain´t Misbehavin´ (Waller/Razaf)

  4. Blues For Festival (Camrda)

Credits

DONALD "BABY" DOUGLAS (voc #A1, B3);

"DR. BLUES" CANDY GREEN (voc #B1?,4; p);

BENNY BAILEY (tp #B2);

ZDENEK PULEC (tb #B4);

LEO WRIGHT (as #A2, B4) or (as #A2, B1-4; fl #A2) ? ;

KENNY DREW (p #A3);

ANDRÉ CONDOUANT (g #A4);

ROLAND HAYNES (b);

FRED BRACEFUL (dr);

PRAGUE DIXIELAND BAND /w K. KRAUTGARTNER (#B3,4);

BABY DOUGLAS & THE BLACK JAZZ IN EUROPE (#A1-4,B1,2)

Note: Leo Wright is wrongly credited as Leon Wrighte

Condouant, Bailey, Wright

Original liner notes

Towards the end of October 1964, the first International Jazz Festival took place in Prague. A number of the foremost European ensembles and soloists participated.

The United States, the cradle of Jazz, was represented by a group of Afro-American soloists who live at present in Europe and whom the singer Donald "Baby" Douglas organized into a group for the express purpose of participating at the Festival.

Douglas, who is 27, comes from LA and is at present studying the piano and cello at the Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm. He is the vocalist of the well-known Swedish Jazz Orchestra headed by Putte Wickman, with whom he visited Czechoslovakia in 1963. It was then that he promised to revisit Prague in the company of a group of eminent Afro-American Jazz soloists, and he fulfilled that promise on the occasion of the Jazz Festival Praha 1964.

Leo Wright, an alto-saxophonist and flutist who came to Prague from West-Berlin (where he played in a nightclub), was really the star of this ad hoc group and its virtual leader. Wright was born in Texas in 1933 and so far has played in several leading orchestras including those of Charles Mingus and Dizzy Gillespie. His perfect phrasing and easy fluency of playing won him a multitude of admirers during his stay in Czechoslovakia. Wright is the soloist (flute) in James Moody´s composition 'Dobbing The Red Fox'.

The second member of the melody section was Benny Bailey, the 40-year-old trumpeter from Cleveland/Ohio, who is at present a member of the Munich Radio Orchestra. Bailey has been a professional performer for 24 years and has been with such Jazz men as Jay McShann, Dizzy Gillespie, Lionel Hampton, Quincy Jones and Harold Arnold in Sweden. He proves his extraordinary art in Gershwin´s 'I Can´t Get Started'.

Baby Douglas, Cndy Green, Kenny Drew, Andre Condouant, (sitting), Fred Braceful, Roland Haynes

Kenny Drew, one of the most distinguished personalities in contemporary Jazz, was the pianist of the group. He has played with Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young, Charlie Parker, John Coltrane and other soloists. Born in New York in 1928, he came to Prague from Copenhagen where he was playing at the time of the festival. Kenny Drew´s playing is not spectacular but his well-thought-out accompaniments are highly functional. He is heard as a soloist in Kern´s song 'Yesterdays'.

Other members of the rhythm group included André Condouant (guitar) from Martinique [actually he is from Guadeloupe !], a former partner, in Paris, of the organist Lou Bennett, the young Parisian bassist Roland Haynes and Fred Braceful, the drummer, who lives in the German Federal Republic. Singers Baby Douglas and "Dr. Blues" Candy Green each contributed a song to the programme: Douglas sang Charlie´s foxtrot 'Hallelujah, I Just Love Her So' and Candy Green, who also plays the piano, 'Mr. Blues'.

Since all the members of this ad hoc group live in different European cities and met in Prague for the first time just before the opening of the festival, they did not include in their programme any very complicated arrangements but concentrated instead on individual solo performances. Two pieces, however, were recorded by Baby Douglas and Leo Wright accompanied by the leading Prague amateur ensemble, the Prague Dixieland Band. These recordiings, made in the Supraphon studio, will certainly be a welcome addition to the record library of any lover of good Jazz.

A variety of groups recorded live at the Prague Jazz Festival - vocalist Candy Douglas singing with the Putte Wickman band with solists Leo Wright and Benny Bailey, Kenny Drew with Andre Condouant, Roland Haynes and Fred Braceful, and several others.

SUPRAPHON: generic sleeve