Off To Hear The Wizard...

I haven't had much time to rip LP's the last few weeks but today I was listening to a CD I created from another one of those embarrass- ing 8-track tapes a few years back. At the time I never anticipated posting some of these rips on a blog so I listened with a discriminating ear for imperfections, track breaks, or any qualitative issues that might make me feel unhappy with posting this classic 60's blues rocker instrumental gem from Mel Brown. Eight songs later I decided it was worthy of a post until a better version comes along. With the apparent popularity of Mel Brown's 60's & 70's work I am very surprised that this album seems so hard to find. It has never been committed to commercial CD, long OOP, but with all the recognition this gritty guitarist seems to have, this LP seems unusually scarce. So I decided to add it to this blog until someone can identify a better source. I have the Chicken Fat CD and all Mel's other albums, and I think this one is easily as good or better than any of the others. It's pretty straight forward, simple and pretty raw R&B with tight horns and groovin' support throughout. There are no significant vocals, just a torent of funkified blues guitar licks firing from start to finish. This reminds me somewhat of Freddy King's "Hide Away", which is an all-time favorite. I think this is up there. Keep in mind that this was taken from the lowly 8-track tape so the order of the songs reflects what was committed to that idiom. From what I hear, they were able to divvy things up so as to avoid track change interruptions, a good thing that is greatly appreciated by those of us old school music desperados that committed so many hours of listening to this ill-fated medium. This album starts out with a lively and crisp rendering of "Ode To Billie Joe" and then just sails through one rock-blues workout after another. It's fun, it's infectious, and a great time capsule for the late 60's somewhere between Memphis and Detroit, but you're definitely not in Kansas anymore Dorothy...enjoy!

Wizzy

Mel Brown - The Wizard - 1968
Impulse (8-track: AS 9169)

Ode To Billie Joe
Swamp Fever
Blues After Hours
Miss Ann
African sweets
Stop
W-2 Withholding
Chunk-A-Funk

Mel Brown, Terry Evans (guitar)
Mack Johnston (trumpet)
Clifford Solomon (tenor sax)
unknown (piano, organ)
Ronald Brown (bass)
Paul Humphrey (drums)
Roy Brown (vocals)

Los Angeles, CA, March 21, 1968

Where the deer and the guitars play....

This post is a unique one in many ways. Offering another vinyl rip from a highly regarded jazz guitarist like Howard Roberts is no surprise, of course. But this one is actually taken from one of my old 8-track tapes, something I did a few years back when I was convinced it was the only way I could ever capture this unusual, fairly obscure recording. Going back and giving it a listen today I decided that the quality wasn't so bad and I don't see much chatter about this particular work anywhere else. The other odd aspect is the content itself. I have a lot of Howard Roberts albums, LP's, CD's, and oh yeah, the 8-track. But this recording strikes me as probably the oddest of them all, which might explain the lack of attention. I really like Howard Roberts' stuff with very little exception. For some reason I am especially taken with his pop cover material of the 60's, much of which seems to be the focus of media criticism more than praise, even though he is always acknowledged to be one of the most highly skilled guitarists of his era. I enjoy interpretations of likable and familiar tunes, pop diddies, when they are treated with subtle creativity and soulful skill as Roberts so often has done over his extensive career. Then there are the more straight ahead jazz outings where he covers more traditional creative jazz works and explores the outer stretches of that genre so impeccably. Here on "Antelope Freeway" however, Roberts really moved into something different. This sort of has a slight psychadelic edge to it with sound bites and other effects all mixed into this meandering tapestry of guitar snippets which are largely rooted in more of a rock/blues side of jazz for sure. When I first rescued this from some 88 cent bargain bin back in the 70's, I have to say I was disappointed that it wasn't more what I was used to in jazz guitar icons. But listening to it again today I have to say that it really is both daring and fairly effective. It's fun and it does contain some really clever, enjoyable music. Some of it borders on brilliant if you are open to this approach at all. But alas, it remains OOP. The track titles were difficult to apply to the recording from my original 8-track; you can't see the grooves to identify transition points and many of the cuts here simply bleed into one another. It makes for a nice overall composition and creative impression but it's hard to tell where one "song" finishes and the next one starts. As a result, I chose to simply record the whole album in two sections/tracks. Checking out references for this album I saw that many reports were similarly confused with name run-ons and differing numbers of tracks all together. Kind of funny. Basically, my first "track" includes the first five cuts from the album while my second "track" includes the last four album cuts. Be my guest if you want to try your luck at distinguishing the details, but in the end, I don't think it matters, either way, you should enjoy a listen. So go ahead and find out why those antelope are crowding the freeways to hear a guitar master having some fun....

Deer and the...

Howard Roberts - Antelope Freeway -1971
Impulse! AS-9207 (LP)

1. Antelope Freeway - Part 1
2. That's America Fer Ya
3. Dark Ominous Clouds
4. De Blooz
5. Sixteen Track Firemen

6. Ballad of Fazzio Needlepoint
7. Five Gallons of Astral Flash Could Keep You Awake For Thirteen Weeks
8. Santa Clara River Bottom
9. Roadwork

Howard Roberts - electric & acoustic guitars
Bobby Bruce - violin
Mike Deasy - electric guitar
Pete Robinson, Larry Knechtel, Mike Wofford - keyboards
Brian Garofalo, Max Bennett - Fender bass
Bob Morin, John Guerin - drums

"I Believe" I hear what you hear...

Whatever that subject line might mean, I do want to say that this is a special posting with bittersweet connotations. The fun part is that this includes the download from what I believe is a scarce record that features none other than Noel Regney conducting one of his own compositions. As explained earlier in my blog, Mr. Regney is the co-composer of "Do You Hear What I Hear", the Christmas classic that gave some inspiration for this blog. As I also said earlier, Noel was a personal friend of my parents. He attended parties at our home and I heard him perform on piano on several occasions. So when I was clearing out my parents' house in preparation for the sale of my childhood home, and I just happened upon this beat up old LP literally rotting away amidst the rubble in the garage, I was pleased with the discovery. At first I had no idea what it was, torn and tattered and covered with scribblings I did not expect the record within to be playable. But when I realized it was Noel Regney, I had to see what kind of shape it was in. The answer was, so-so, I guess. Didn't look horrible, still in the slip cover sleeve, but upon playing it I could see it might be a questionable call for posting this for the public. Click removal can be a wonderful thing, of course, but with my modest resources, it can't solve the world's problems. But then, this was something a little bit special, and as it turns out, as I hoped, and despite the fact that the classical world is probably not my greatest passion, I really liked the music. I think that it's safe to say that this work is religiously inspired with six sections that blend together quite nicely. I was truly surprised at the quality of the instrumentalists and the vocalists on this recording. Very much a professional work with beautiful results. Unfortunately the condition of this particular piece of vinyl does a pretty good job detracting from that beauty I'm afraid. I did my best, and if I didn't think it was worthy of a listen, I wouldn't post it, regardless of the Regney connection. I think it's doable. I'm sure there are some pristine copies of this LP, probably at the Westport Library or at the Unitarian Church, etc. But until I come up with one of those, this is all I got, and I'm glad to have found it. There is a heavenly pastoral feel to much of it but it also delivers some rather modern sounds in a folksy sort of way. It was more interesting to me than some of this style of music can be, very relaxed and gentle, yet compelling. That's enough of trying to describe what you are about to hear. Listen to it yourself, forgive the crackle-pop that does distract in sections. You really should enjoy it .....I Believe.

Noel_Regney-Westport_Unitarian_Church_Choir_-_I_Believe_In_Life

Noel Regney - I Believe In Life: A Cantata For Our Times - 1977

With The Westport, Connecticut Unitarian Church Choir
Tree Of Life Records (June 30th, 1977)

1 - The Lord Is In His Mansion
2 - Invocation
3 - Prayer
4 - Meditation

5 - Hope
6 - Credo

Noel Regney - conductor

Gena Rees - soprano vocal soloist
Jane Nordli - alto vocal soloist
Arthur Sjogren - tenor vocal soloist
Joel Jones - bass vocal soloist

Viviane Bertolami - violin
Toni Matts - trumpet
Harriet Salerno - piano
Stephen Anderson - organ

The Choir of the Westport, Conn. Unitarian Church - vocals

This post is specially offered in tribute to Noel Regney as friend and artist