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| 1. | Minor Thesis
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| 2. | Wheel Whitin A Wheel
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| 3. | Bit A Bittadose
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| 4. | Stairway To The Stars
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| 5. | Linwood
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Art Blakey Big Band - Live at Montreux And North Sea
Recorded: 13 & 17 July 1980
Art Blakey - drums
Bill Pierce - tenor sax
Bobby Watson - alto sax
Valerie Ponomarev - trumpet
James Williams - piano
Charles Fambrough - bass
Wynton Marsalis - trumpet
Branford Marsalis - baritone sax/alto sax
Robin Eubanks - trombone
Kevin Eubanks -guitar
John Ramsey - drums
The Band
It was during one of our many dressing room conferences in October, 1979 that Art Blakey revealed his plans for the Big Band Tour, a seemingly far-fetched idea. "Everybody must write," Art directed, and upon our return to New York City the word spread of our planned expansion. The response was overwhelming-.The scene of many auditions was "MIKELL'S", a club on New York City's upper west side. It was there that we first heard most of our prospective members including Wynton Marsalis, Billy Pierce and Robin Eubanks. Well, Wynton brought Branford, Robin brought Kevin and Gamal (Art's son) brought John Ramsey, our second drummer. The new members ranged in
age from 19 to 30. Art wanted a concept of memorization with spontaneous input from all band members. Not busy, crowded arrangements, but rather simple, pretty melodies that swung and allowed creative freedom for all members resulting with "every tub standing on its own bottom." Each member held the ability to play as a featured soloist. The band was a showcase for young musicians, giving them a chance to display their many talents. All the Messengers contributed arrangements, as well as arrangements from noted alumni Mickey Tucker, Ray Copeland and Mickey Bass. With such a wide array of music we didn't have much practice time due to the hectic pace. Art does not believe in time off, hence, our club appearances were supplemented with expanded arrangements from our sextet book. The band played standing, and after the first few weeks no sheet music was allowed on stage. (Branford Marsalis had memorized the entire sextet book in one week!) It was a band of high caliber and fiery potential. Time will tell" The band debuted in New York City's "Bottom Line" on 19 June 1980 after only three rehearsals.
Within three days we were headlining the Norway Konigsberg Jazz Festival in the company of the Johnny Griffin Quartet, the Nat Adderly Brotherhood and the George Coleman Revival Octet. The tour was marked by adventure; broken instruments, buses and feelings - even our bones suffered, but fortunately the music prevailed. There were nights when we played in tune, ontime and musical. Like a M.F.! The band was amazing to behold, living five of a total seven weeks in Europe. These were the nights we were blessed to have recorded. Spiritually these nights represent a high point in the vast and mighty continuing saga of the great Abdullah Ibn Buhaina and his eternal institution of musical grooming, the Jazz Messengers! Special thanks to Kenny Kaplan, Greg Foster and Drew Lucas. Time will tell, Robert Watson, New York City ///0/8/About the music: The CD opens with aJames Williams Blues arr. entitled Minor Thesis. This became the opener through-out the tour and served as a showcase for the entire band demonstrating the individual ability of each member. After the siren-like exposition, we introduce ourselves in pairs:
I. Billy, Bobby - 2. Kevin - 3. Wynton -4. Valerie, James- 5. Branford, Robin-6, Charles-7. Art.
Excitement and groove are the hallmarks of this musical calling card... Next, Art guides us into my own composition. A jazz waltz entitled "A Wheel Within A Wheel". For you, students of theology, this title is taken from the book of Ezekiel and refers to his visions of flying saucers. James, Robin (dig his quotes), and Billy Pierce (who is getting stronger day by day) all contribute fine, thoughtful solos. Worth mentioning is Kevin's haunting guitar line on both the head and the out chorus, all composed on the spot!
Then we find Charles setting the groove for another blues excursion a la "Blues March", aptly named "Bit A Bittadose". The saxes make a unison statement followed by the brass. Again Kevin creates some invaluable counterpoint with his guitar against the melody while John does an excellent job of "locking in" with Art on his highly personal groove. The "black Russian", Valerie Ponomarev tells his side of the story in three stylized choruses. James gives us two choruses of his
favourite dish, Memphis soul stew. After the interlude, the composer takes the hand-off and runs for three. Rev. Fambrough offers some excellent closing remarks and rounds everyone up for benediction, a bittadose"! "Stairway To The Stars" was a song made famous by the first lady of song, Ella Fitzgerald and features yours truly. We played this arrangement every night for eight weeks. There were nights when the cats played each part to perfection. I think you'll agree, this is a very emotional performance, with all of the parts played "Con Alma", with feeling. We decided to leave everything on the tape to keep that feeling of a live performance. It is said "To err is human", so no overdubbing was allowed in our performance. I believe thatmy greatest assets are the people around me; so as you can hear I was a very rich man"
We close out our concert with "Linwood", named after a street in K.C. The composer takes the first flight leading into Wynton's two exciting choruses (those Marsalis brothers are mean!). The Kevin-half of the Eubanksteam demonstrates his unique picking style for two enjoyable choruses and leads us home. The "Bu" is in classic form... "Allright,hereitis""...BASH!!... and there you have it; another concert on the books for Art Blakey and his Jazz Messengers... enjoy"!
Recorded: 31 October and 1 November 1988, Studio 44, Monster, Holland
Art Blakey
The fall 1986 tour of Germany and Europe by the 'Wild' Bill Davidson All Stars stood under the sign of good companionship right from the start. From the moment I picked up the musicians at Bremen airport, the group was in excellent spirits that could not even dampened by a delay of several days in the arrival of Tommy Saunders' luggage. The two Europeans, Isla Eckinger and Danny Moss, were warmly welcomed in the band. The genial atmosphere, and the fact that 'Wild' Bill Davidson's manner of leading the band was that of a Primus inter pares, a father rather than an aloof star, were the main factors that made a wonderful band out of this group. It does not take much to assemble a formation of All Stars for a tour, except, of course, money. This, however, was not just a group, but a unit. One that presented excellent collective interplay in addition to shining solos, though there had been only two hours of rehearsal time for head arrangements. This rehearsal in my living room, incidentally, resembled a coffee klatch more than anything else, But then again, it did demonstrate the manner in which true professionals go about their business.
'Wild' Bill Davidson is a phenomenon. At 80 he is full of vitality, his sparkling wit intact, and his music as exciting as ever. Inevitably, he is a little shorter on breath, but, as one observer aptly stated: "At 80, I'll count myself lucky if I can tie my shoelaces whereas Bill is still blowing such wonderful trumpet." As a relief man "the wild one" had brought along Tommy Saunders of Detroit, another cornetist, who normally heads his own band. Saunders did full justice to his supporting role, holding back whenever it was appropriate to let "his father" shine, yet never hiding his own considerable talent. The two-cornet interplay stirred thoughts of the King Oliver band. Danny Moss with his tenor sax proved to e another valuable addition. Earlier apprehensions that the two cornets, trombone, clarinet, and tenor might trample on each other, were quickly dispelled. The Englishman is a great artist and his playing added in distinct flavor to this band. In its collective work, the front line never sounded mushy or woolly, all its lines were so clear and lucid as to satisfy even the strictest purist. Bill Allred, leader of a bans of his own in Orlando, Florida, was outstanding not just as a soloist but in the ensembles as well. For Chuck Hedges, the man from Milwaukee, on wishes the jazz world would finally recognize that the counts among the best clarinetists around.
The rhythm section was a hornman's dream. Johnny Varro, who has made in Los Angeles his home, is not just a virtuoso accompanist an soloist, but an unbelievably hard swinger ass well. Isla Eckinger provided the backbone to the rhythm team. There was hardly a solo necessary to demonstrate why he was in such high demand as a bassist in Europe. Yes, was, because shortly after his tour the man from Switzerland left us to settle in Los Angeles. Europe's loss is America's gain. What to write about Butch Miles? It takes just one look at the endless list of name musicians he worked with to realize that this is a drummer whose services are in constant demand. During this tour he demonstrated aptly the virtues of an outstanding drummer, i.e. to play in support o his colleagues.
Last but not least, there was Banu Gibson from New Orleans, who came along as the band's vocalist. This bundle of energy and joy has a good name in the U.S. In Europe, however, she had the audience on their feet. |
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