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PARTS OF A WHOLE

Arkadi Figlin - Parts of a Whole -
(Jazz Portrait, Russia, 1992)

 Another fairly obscure record gathered from a discount bin, this post will probably appeal more to fans of classical piano music, especially of the Russian school of piano, than to the usual jazz heads.  Beautiful music though!

Arkadiy Figlin had been shifting between classical and jazz piano since his early childhood until finally after collecting several awards at both classical and jazz competitions he came up with an idea to record an album displaying both sides of his musical identity. His long-time friendship and collaboration with Alexander Rosenblatt, one of the most gifted Moscow composers of his generation resulted in such a recording. Alexander Rosenblatt was born in Moscow in 1956 and graduated from the Moscow Conservatory as a pianist and composer. His compositions include a Mass for Choir and Orchestra, seven concertos for solo instruments and orchestra, a Sextet for Winds and Piano, "Kamarinskaya" for orchestra, three piano sonatas, the Sonata for Cello and Accordion, the "Beatles Symphony," the Ballet "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland",etc...Mr.Rosenblatt has also written a great deal of theater music as well as numerous instrumental pieces, songs and choral compositions.

Very much a jazz enthusiast,Alexander Rosenblatt has worked as a composer with Oleg Lundstrem's Big Band, and as arranger for such jazz legends as Red Mitchell-bass and Horace Parland-piano. Many of Mr.Rosenblatt's works and arrangements have been performed by the "Vocal-Band," one of the winners at the 1995 Montreux Jazz Festival. In 1993 world renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma performed a program of Alexander Rosenblatt's compositions at the Concertgebow in Amsterdam.

"Parts of a Whole" presents two world premieres of Mr.Rosenblatt`s works-Variations on a Themes of Chopin and Second Piano Sonata -explosive romantic virtuoso music of the young master influenced by Sergei Prokofiev, Samuel Barber and Chick Corea. And the jazz part of the album, stylish and sophisticated collection of both standards and originals, is guaranteed to bring you pleasure and desire to listen to this album over and over again.

Track List

Variations on a Theme of Chopin

Sonata for Piano No. 2 Parts 1, 2 and 3

All of You

There is No Greater Love

Love Letters

Hard Blue Suit

Stella by Starlight

Here's that Rainy Day

Waltz for Natasha

( Mezhdunarodnaya Kniga Label - Catalogue Number MK437061 )

Released in Russia in 1992.  OOP to the best of my knowledge.

HEY GYP!

DOCTOR FEELGOOD

SOMETHING TO TAKE UP TIME (US, 1971)

(rare US bluesy prog).

 This one is not for the Jazzers but should please the Prog Heads / psychedelic blues freaks.  As you may have noted I have pretty catholic tastes.  This album was for a long time a mystery to me.  I remember hearing one track on the radio, probably on José Arthur’s Pop Club.  I enquired around, in specialised record shops and among friends but nobody had heard of the band.  A few years later I thought I had found it but it was a completely different Dr Feelgood, the UK pub rock band, very enjoyable but nothing to do with the music of “my” Doctor Feelgood”.

I would define the music as blues-based prog rock with mild jazz influences. It has vocal parts and lot of sax or flute-driven instrumental parts.   It sounds at time like a UK prog / Canterbury-influenced band, an unusual sound for an American band.  Think to early Jethro Tull or Gravy Train.  If you like bands like Delivery or Backdoor (UK), or the Colwell-Winfield Blues Band (US), you may give this one a try.

It seems that the original album released in 1971 is pretty rare indeed.  A bit of research on the net yielded some scarce info on the band. It hailed from Massachusetts. Members came from at least two local pop/ garage rock bands (Teddy and the Pandas and The Sensations).

…  Bill Corelle's further disenchantment with the direction the group (i.e. The Pandas) was heading led in 1969 to him forming his own blues and jazz band. ... Sharing Corelle's views, Paul Rivers decided to join him and, too, left the Pandas. Hooking up with Dick Winters and Ralph Cooper - both original members of the Sensations but at this time playing together in the Warlocks - the quartet then formed Dr. Feelgood. Dr. Feelgood later recorded an LP, titled 'Something To Take Up Time', on the Number One label.

(source: http://www.spectropop.com/Teddy/index.htm )

The album was released on the Number One label (their own?) with no number on the label, but dead-wax number DFCR-1.

Tracklist:

01. Number ten (2:47)

02. The roach did it (3:03)

03. Smoke dream (8:49)

04. Mr. Bojangles (2:32)

05. Medicine man (4:04)

06. Nasal greens and toe jam (3:10)

07. Hey gyp (5:17)

08. 5 x r.v.w. (6:10)

09. Something to take up time (7:41)

10. Junk (5:28)

Credits:

Dick Winters: flute, tenor, baritone and soprano saxophones, maracas

Ralph Cooper: drums, conga, maracas

Bill Corelle: bass, cow bell

Paul Rivers: guitars

 The album was reissued on CD a few years ago, I got my copy from the now defunct Freak Emporium.  It’s OOP again but if you search the web, you’ll  still find it. Buy it !

SO LONG FREDDIE !

FREDDIE DERONDE (Sept.20, 1938 - Jan.6, 2012)

From JAZZHOT

A sad news fell earlier this week.  Belgian double bass & electric bass player Freddie Deronde has left us on Jan.6.  Perhaps not well known outside of Belgian and European jazz circles, Freddie was nevertheless a great musician who played with the biggest European and US names. He had a long association with Rene Thomas, Chet Baker and J.R. Montrose (with whom he worked in the US).

He played with Lloyd Miller's IJQ in Brussels . He was a member of Solis Lacus (with Michel Herr,Richard Rousselet etc. but was not the featured bass player on the album), was a member of Michel Herr Trio (“Ouverture Éclair”), played on the mythic “Stream” album (Philip Catherine, Marc Moulin), played briefly with various Belgian prog rock aggregations (Wallace Collection, and the short-lived Casino Railway) … A more comprehensive biography can be found on the Lundis d’Hortense website and on the Jazz Hot website (in French).

Miller's IJQ with Lennart Jansson & Freddie Deronde at the Rose Noire in Brussels, 1960
Source: http://www.jazzscope.com/VEurope.htm 

l

The Richard Rousselet Quartet.
Freddie Deronde (bass), Richard Rousselet (trumpet), Michel Herr (piano) and Félix Simtaine (drums).
Backstage in 1978, when they played with US baritone saxophone player Pepper Adams.
Source: http://www.michelherr.com/   (Michel Herr website) 

If you are unfamiliar with this musician, you can check him on YouTube playing electric bass with René Thomas Trio, HERE (Felix Simtaine on drums).

Quimsy posted "Ouverture Eclair" a while ago (here)

  

On the radio (see RTBF website)

Philippe Baron reviendra sur la carrière de Freddie sur "Musique 3" du vendredi 13 au mardi 17, de 18 à 19h. - (rencontre de 2004) et  sur "Le Grand Jazz" de 21 à 22 h. (La Première  RTBF) à partir du 19 janvier (interview réalisée en 1993).


P.S. : I was considering posting his  excellent 1989 album Spontaneous Effort - feat. Philip Catherine,  JR Montrose and Jan de Haas - but this album is still available in CD format from IGLOO.  Get it HERE.

RARITY # 11 : FATS SADI’S COMBO

FATS SADI ‘S COMBO (VOGUE, 25 cm, 1953).

 1.      The Man

"Fats" Sadi was for some six decades Belgium’s most popular jazzman. He was born in Andenne on 23 October 1927 and died in Huy on 20 Februaryr 2009. He was among Europe’s best vibraphonists – if not The best of his generation – but was also a master percussionist, a competent piano player and a singer excelling in scat.  In addition he was  a talented composer, arranger and band leader.

He chose Sadi as an artist name as he had an aversion for his last name ("Lallemand" which means "the German" in French).  He discovers jazz around 1938 listening to Louis ARMSTRONG. He starts playing the vibraphone as of 1941.During World War II, he works as semi-professional, then becomes professional in 1945, He tours American bases in Europe with one of the first European Bop agregation, "the Bob Shots", a band featuring Bobby Jaspar, Jacques Pelzer, Francis Boland and René Thomas. .

An American GI stationed in Germany who was very impressed by Sadi's percussion works was a young New Yorker of Porto Rican descent named Ray Barreto .... He traced his interest to percussions to this encounter in Germany.

In the early fifties, Sadi moved to Paris where he found regular work playing in the orchestras of Michel Legrand, Aimé Barelli, Jacques Helian and Sacha Distel. He regularly plays in Paris’ most famous jazz clubs such as the  Club Saint-Germain and le Blue Note.

In the sixties he is recruited by the RTB, the French-speaking Belgian Radio & Television. He hosts  a radio programme from 1961 to 1965, with the orchestra of Henri Segers and had his own television show from 1969 to1974.  He was a very popular and well-liked TV personality.

In 1996, he was awarded a Djangodor and was nominated best european vibraphonist in a referendum organized by both the French speaking and Dutch speaking Belgian Radio network (RTBF and VRT).

Sadi became seriously ill in January 1995 and subsequently appeared rarely on stage.

2.      The record:

"Fats" Sadi's Combo

Roger Guerin (tp-1,tu) Nat Peck (tb) Jean Aldegon (b-cl) Bobby Jaspar (ts,arr)

Fats Sadi (vib,arr,comp-1) Maurice Vander (p,arr) Jean-Marie Ingrand (b)

Pierre Michelot (b,arr) Jean-Louis Viale (d) José Bartel, Francy Boland (arr)

Paris, May 8, 1953

Side A

SADISME

SWEET FEELING (*,pm arr,comp)

THANKS A MILLION (s arr)

BIG BALCONY (bj arr,comp)

Side B

KARIN (1,jb arr,comp)

LAGUNA LEAP (s arr)

AD LIBITUM (fb arr,comp)

RIDIN' HIGH (1,mv arr)

Note : (*) On this title Guerin, Peck, Aldegon and Jaspar out.
According to Sadi the above session was recorded at 2 dates
one with Ingrand and the other with Michelot on bass.

This combo is a real who's who of French and Belgian boppers in the early fifties, Thanks again to Paul D. for this rare 10 " from his vault and the usual excellent sound quality, which has become his trademark!.

For more SADI, check Magic Purple Sunshine.


Essential reading (in French) : 
Histoire du Jazz en Belgique et en Wallonie (available from Amazon)
Bass Hits : an autobiography of bassman Jean Warland: 

KALINHA'S SERENADE

FRA FRA SOUND - KALINHA'S SERENADE
(NL, SURINAM, NL ANTILLES, US - 1992-94)

First album  by Holland-based FRA FRA SOUND, an International  little big band composed of musicians from Surinam and the Netherlands Antilles, Mexico (tenor sax Efraim Trujillo) and the US (trumpet/ fluegelhorn player Charles Green).


What does FRA FRA mean?
There is no literal translation for the concept of "Fra Fra Sound".  It has to do with balance, equilibrium.  The balance within the variegated Surinam culturethat is connected with the country's multiracial character, its history of coming into existence and the unique location between the Caribbean and the Latin-American hinterland. Additionnally, there is an ethnic group in northwestern Ghana known as "Fra Fra", which refers to the strong historical and cultural ties between West Africa and Surinam. (from the CD notes)
Band members:


Charles Green   trumpet & fluegelhorn
Efraim Trujillo   tenor saxophone (1 & 8)
Patrick Sedoc    guitar
Vincent Henar  bass
Robin van Geerke  piano & keyboards
Carlo Ulrichi     conga, timbales, bells & percussions
Guno Kramer   drums


Guests:


Ponda O'Bryan : percussions (2-3-9)
Kenrick Gunther: conga & percussions (7-9)
José Lopretti: piano & synthetiser (7-8)
Jeff Gordon : tenor sax on all tracks except 1 & 8
Sharif Wagidhossain: alto sax (7)
Ronald Esseboon: tenor tuba (7)

Tracks:


1. Rhythm for the Fox
2. Pikin'Uma
3. Jangaman
4. Tuckayana Shout
5. Kooked Little Man
6. Little People
7. All Blues
8a A Zulu Folktale
8b. When the crocodlie smiles, beware!
9. Szopo

Check YouTube for live performances of Fra Fra Sound and Fra Fra Big Band.


Next post will be a rare 25 cm of Belgian 50s Be Bop feat. Bobby Jaspar ... coming soon!  

CYCLONIC WOMAN

GLEN TERRY – CYCLONIC WOMAN (Mauritius, 1998)

In December last year, I posted an album by Mauritian saxophonist and band leader, Ernest Wiehe.

Today we’re revisiting Mauritius but this time for a blues / funk album.  The leader, Glen Terry, is originally from India (or is it Sri Lanka?) but he resided and worked in Mauritius during the late Nineties.  This album was recorded with the cream of Mauritian blues / funk musicians. Actually the rhythm section is a pure joy: Mike Armoogum on bass, Maurice “Momo” Manancourt on drums. Damien Elisa is on keyboards in all but two tracks where he is replaced by sega-jazz virtuoso Gaetan Alkoordoss.  These blokes are cookin’.  Just listen to the swingin’ instrumental “G.Raff”.

All these guys have gained their credentials playing with some of the biggest names in Mauritian music (a.o. Seggae  legend Kaya).  This is not a standard run-of-the-mill blues album., it swings!  And all the songs are originals.

A very passionate, soulful entertainer, Glen Terry (vocals/guitar) has entertained people around the world. A musical journey has taken Glen from his birthplace in India to five star hotels in Cairo, Egypt in the mid-eighties; blues festivals and tours to Tokyo, Japan in the nineties; and performances in Kenya, Mauritius, Thailand, Dubai, Sri Lanka to his adopted home in Australia where he settled in 1988 and became an Australian citizen.




Tracks:

1.      Like a rainbow

2.      All I need is you

3.      Cyclonic Woman

4.      Come back Darlin’

5.      Real Gone Cat

6.      Maurice

7.      Sugar Blues Express

8.      Dad,Dad,Dad (you’re no fun at all)

9.      G. Raff (Giraffe)

Credits:

Glen Terry                                          guitar / vocals

Mike Armoogum                                Bass

Damien Elisa                                      Keyboards

Gaetan Alkoordoss                            Keyboards (8-9)

Momo Manancourt                            drums & percussion

MERRY XMAS & HAPPY NEW YEAR

I wish you all a wonderful Xmas

& 

lotsa good things for 2012

FRENCH TOUGH TENOR

RICHARD RAUX – THE INTERVAL (France, 2000)

If you check the French « Dictionnaire du Jazz » you won’t even find the name of Richard Raux.  A most deplorable – not to say scandalous - oversight considering this guy has been blowing his horn for over forty years, with everybody from Memphis Slim to Marion Brown, from Magma to Sonny Murray.  OK, you’ve got the message: Richard Raux is no smooth jazz blower, no Kenny G disciple, no cold wave electro jazz whatever you may call it. Richard Raux is not one of the guys who occasionally plays jazz but makes his bread somewhere else. He breathes jazz or, perhaps even more, he breathes blues.  It is probably due to some spacio-temporal accident that he was born in France, he should have been born in the Mid-West, in St Louis perhaps, or in Chicago, or Texas … in any of those places that have become famous for producing Tough Tenors. 

There is something of Hal Singer in Richard Raux’s style – very understandable since they played together quite often when Hal was residing in France.   Just listen to « Bo Blues » and « Blues for Bags ».

But he is not limited to the blues and is not afraid to walk in Coltrane’s giant steps as in « Train D.W..  He certainly knows his classics. Songs such as « Concept Ville » et « Sérail Seriel » show a direct influence of Monk.  Add to the mix « Witchi-Tai-To », a psych-jazz anthem by the late Jim Pepper (feat.  vocals by Wayne Dockery) and a few standards,  Richard Rodgers’ « This Nearly Was Mine, »  I Cover the Waterfront», and « The Song Is You ».  

His partners in crime - Hutman, Dockery and Bellonzi - are not slouch either.

The result is an outstanding album.  Most unfortunate that it is OOP !

Credits:

Richard Raux (ts), Olivier Hutman (p), Wayne Dockery (b, voc), Charles « Lolo » Bellonzi (d).

Tracks

1          Bo Blues

2          Train D.W.

3          This Nearly Was Mine

4          Little Sam'S Blues

5          Witchitiato

6          Concept Ville

7          Blues For Bags

8          I Cover The Waterfront

9          Serail Seriel

10        The Song Is You

Ripped from an OOP CD.

UPDATED LINK (Sept. 2017)

UN AN DÉJÀ …. ONE YEAR ALREADY … or almost

ANDRE CONDOUANT - BROTHER MEETING
(Disque DEBS HDD 523, 1971, France)

 To celebrate the first anniversary of the blog, a rare vinyl from the vault of the Boogieman, ripped and cleaned by Vinyl Wizard Paul D..  I bought this album on a small “brocante" (flea market) when I was working in Brussels, in the mid-nineties.  I found it in a crate  with another fairly rare Debs album, Blue Sunset by Michel Sardaby.  A lucky day it was!

A very underrated guitar player with a bluesy touch, somewhere between Wes Montgomery and Kenny Burrell. André Condouant hails from the island of Guadeloupe, French West Indies,  He is one of the rare French musicians who tried his luck and worked extensively in Scandinavia and Germany (from 1962 to 1970).

There is an extensive bio on his website (here)


This is a superb "lost" album with top notch musicians. It is also the opportunity to hear Eddy Louiss on piano - he's better known as an organist.

Original liner notes by Maurice Cullaz, President Jazz Academy France

It is with an irony tinged with bitterness, that the very good French guitarist André Condouant found out that he had really begun to make himself known to French metropolitan Jazz amateurs, thanks to the excellent recording he made a few years ago in Germany under the label SABA/MPS with such people as Leo Wright, Carmell Jones, Jimmy Woode, Fritz Pauer and Joe Nay, without forgetting Annie Ross. Three reasons can explain the relatively recent discovery of André Condouant by the French: first of all his arrival to Paris from his natal Guadeloupe dates back only to 1957. Moreover he was not to stay in Paris for a long time. Secondly from 1962 until last year, André had lived (and enormously worked) in Sweden, and in Scandinavia, as well as in Germany. And last of all, and this, alas, is not to be put to the credit of the old French Jazz amateurs, there has been, up to the past ten or fifteen years, a prejudice against musicians of West Indian birth, who were supposed to play "their music" better than anyone else but were poorly gifted for Jazz music. Such an opinion seems outrageous to us, who every day, can listen to West-lndian Jazz musicians such as Jacky Samson, Jacques Coursil, Bib Monville, Robert Mavounzy, and others. In the USA, let it be said, things never were so. It´s a pity observing in what esteem their are held with, musicians born in the West-lndies, or musicians whose parents came from there, like: Art Taylor, Sonny Rollins, Wynton Keely, Cecil Payne, Walter Bishop, Kenny Drew, and many others. In Scandinavia and in Germany, André began a very good career side by side with musicians such as Idrees Sulieman, Leo Wright, Dexter Gordon, Kenny Drew, Benny Bailey, Ray Brown, Booker Ervin, Jaky Byard, Billy Brooks... But listening to a good record is so much more convincing than the text printed on the back of an album. From the "groovy blues" of the beautiful title 'Brother Meeting', to 'Astrakan' without forgetting another "groovy blues": 'Blues For Wes', 'Short B N', 'Poema' and 'Ballad For Annie'. André Condouant, Eddy Louiss, Percy Heath and Connie Kay will nothing but bewitch you, while confirming their value, if this was necessary.

Credits

André Condouant (g),

Eddy Louiss – as Edd Lou - (pno),

Percy Heath (bass),

Connie Kay (dms)

Tracks :

Brother Meeting (A. Condouant)

Blues for Wes (A. Condouant)

Short B.N. (A. Condouant)

Poema (A. Condouant)

Ballad for Annie (A. Condouant)

Astrakan (A. Condouant)


Currently OOP although the album was reissued on CD (by DEBS in the late nineties and in Japan) but good luck to find it!