Ira Sullivan - Blue Stroll

Styles: Saxophone And Trumpet Jazz 
Year: 1959
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 54:20
Size: 125,6 MB
Art: Front

( 6:07)  1. Wilbur's Tune
( 6:44)  2. My Old Flame
( 5:56)  3. Blue Stroll
( 7:28)  4. 63rd Street Theme
(19:50)  5. Bluzinbee
( 8:13)  6. Wilbur's Tune (alternate)

Many years have passed since Ira Sullivan, who turned 80 on May 1, 2011, left Chicago. The multi-hornman moved to Florida in the early '60s, and he never moved back to the Windy City. But Sullivan was so revered on the Chicago jazz scene of the '50s that local musicians still associate him with Chi-Town after all these years. Sullivan was still living in Chicago when, in 1959, he recorded Blue Stroll, an excellent hard bop date that united him with tenor saxophonist Johnny Griffin, pianist Jodie Christian, bassist Victor Sproles, and drummer Wilbur Campbell. The musicians' rapport is as strong on "Wilbur's Tune" (Delmark's CD version offers both the six-minute master take and an eight-minute alternate take), "63rd Street Theme," and the title track as it is on the Sam Coslow/Arthur Johnston standard "My Old Flame," which is the album's lone ballad. Sullivan plays no less than four different instruments on this CD: trumpet, alto sax, baritone sax, and the peck horn. In fact, he solos on all four instruments on "Bluzinbee," an exuberant 19-minute jam that finds Griffin making rare appearances on the alto and baritone saxes. Griffin, of course, is best remembered for his big-toned tenor playing, and hearing him solo on alto and baritone is a pleasant surprise (much like Charlie "Bird" Parker's appearances on tenor in 1947 and 1953 or Jackie McLean's tenor playing on his 1957 session A Long Drink of the Blues). Many of Chicago's bop musicians have lamented Sullivan's decision to move to Florida and wish he had never left Chi-Town; listening to the rewarding Blue Stroll, it isn't hard to understand why they feel that way. ~ Alex Henderson https://www.allmusic.com/album/blue-stroll-mw0000269751

Personnel: Ira Sullivan (alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone, trumpet); Johnny Griffin (saxophone, alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone); Jodie Christian (piano); Wilbur Campbell (drums).    

Blue Stroll

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Von Freeman - Lester Leaps In

Styles: Saxophone Jazz 
Year: 1992
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 61:56
Size: 142,0 MB
Art: Front

(12:55)  1. Scrapple from the Apple
( 3:31)  2. All About Ronnie
( 9:55)  3. I Love You
( 9:12)  4. A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square
(11:33)  5. The Whippenpoof Song
(14:48)  6. Lester Leaps In

Although Von Freeman's unusual, very recognizable tone has been admired by jazz's avant-garde, the tenorman has always been a hard bopper/post-bopper first and foremost. And that's what makes a Freeman recording jump right out at you -- his tone sounds like it belongs on an AACM recording, but he tackles swift bop chord changes with such enthusiasm that you know bop was his calling. Freeman is in fine form on Lester Leaps In, an unapologetic hard bop date employing pianist Jodie Christian, bassist Eddie de Haas and drummer Wilbur Campbell. The saxman was 69 when this CD was recorded in Paris, and he sounds like he's very much in his prime on hard-swinging, passionate versions of Charlie Parker's "Scrapple from the Apple" and Lester Young's "Lester Leaps In." The album is unlikely to convert those who aren't already sold on Freeman's merits, but the Chicagoan's admirers wound do well to find a copy. ~ Alex Henderson http://www.allmusic.com/album/lester-leaps-in-mw0000665452

Personnel:  Von Freeman (Saxophone); Jodie Christian (Piano); Eddie de Haas (Bass); Wilbur Campbell (Drums).

Lester Leaps In

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Von Freeman - Never Let Me Go

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 1992
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 61:44
Size: 141,7 MB
Art: Front

( 9:26)  1. I'll Remember April
( 5:33)  2. Never Let Me Go
( 9:48)  3. Alone Together
( 7:32)  4. In My Solitude
( 7:17)  5. I'll Follow You
(12:19)  6. It Could Happen To You
( 9:45)  7. The End Of A Love Affair

Not nearly as famous as his son Chico Freeman (also a tenor saxophonist), Von Freeman was nevertheless an equally if not more so accomplished jazz musician. While not a free jazz player per se, Von exhibited traits commonly associated with the avant-garde: a roughly hewn, vocalic tone; a flexible, somewhat imprecise approach to rhythm, and a fanciful harmonic concept. The son of a ragtime-loving policeman and guitar-playing housewife, Freeman himself began playing music around the age of two, beginning on the family piano. He was surrounded by music from a young age; his maternal grandfather and uncle were guitarists, and his brothers George and Bruz also became jazz musicians (on guitar and drums, respectively). At the age of seven, Freeman made a primitive saxophone by removing the horn from his parents' Victrola and boring holes in it. Shortly thereafter he began playing clarinet, then C-melody saxophone. Louis Armstrong was an early influence.

Freeman attended Chicago's DuSable High School, where his band director was the famed educator Captain Walter Dyett. He also learned harmony from the school's chorus director, Mrs. Bryant Jones. Freeman worked for about a year with Horace Henderson's Orchestra (1940-1941). He played in a Navy band while in the military (1941-1945). Following that, he played in the house band at Chicago's Pershing Ballroom (1946-1950), and for a time with Sun Ra (1948-1949). While at the Pershing, he played with many of the top jazz musicians who passed through town, including Charlie Parker. Freeman developed an underground reputation among Chicago-area musicians, and purportedly influenced members of the city's Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM). Freeman seldom left Chicago and recorded infrequently, therefore never achieving a great measure of fame.

Freeman recorded with Milt Trenier for Cadet in the mid-'60s; Rahsaan Roland Kirk produced a Freeman session for Atlantic in 1972. In the late '70s (as his son Chico became well-known) Von was discovered by a somewhat wider audience. In 1982, Chico and Von shared a Columbia LP with pianist Ellis Marsalis and his sons Wynton and Branford (Fathers & Sons). 

In the '90s Freeman recorded for the Steeplechase and Southport labels. Freeman was one of the great individualists of the tenor saxophone, and remained creatively vital through the end of the millennium. Freeman died of heart failure in 2012. ~ Chris Kelsey  http://www.allmusic.com/artist/von-freeman-mn0000182113/biography

Personnel:  Von Freeman(ts), Jodie Christian(p), Eddie de Haas(b), Wilbur Campbell(dr)

Never Let Me Go

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Louis Smith & Jodie Christian - The Very Thought Of You

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 66:33
Size: 152.4 MB
Styles: Bop, Cool jazz
Year: 1995
Art: Front

[5:11] 1. My Ideal
[9:23] 2. Don't Take Your Love Away From Me
[5:16] 3. Mihoko's Tune
[5:55] 4. I Will Wait For You
[6:12] 5. But Not For Me
[8:55] 6. A Cottage For Sale
[8:33] 7. The Very Thought Of You
[7:28] 8. A Child Is Born
[9:35] 9. I Should Care

Louis Smith (trumpet); Jodie Christian (piano).

Born in Chicago, Illinois, United States, Christian was one of the co-founders of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) along with pianist/composer Muhal Richard Abrams, drummer Steve McCall, and composer Phil Cohran. He and Abrams were also part of the Experimental Band. He worked at Chicago's Jazz Showcase club, and performed with Eddie Harris, Stan Getz, Dexter Gordon, Gene Ammons, Roscoe Mitchell, Buddy Montgomery and John Klemmer. Christian led a group on albums. He died on February 13, 2012, aged 80, in Chicago.

Edward Louis Smith (born May 20, 1931, Memphis, Tennessee, United States) is an American jazz trumpeter. While studying at the University of Michigan, he played with visiting musicians such as Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, Thad Jones and Billy Mitchell, before going on to play with Sonny Stitt, Count Basie and Al McKibbon, Cannonball Adderley, Percy Heath, Philly Joe Jones, Lou Donaldson, Donald Byrd, Kenny Dorham and Zoot Sims.

He began his career with two albums for Blue Note Records. The first, Here Comes Louis Smith, originally recorded for the Boston based Transition Records, featured Cannonball Adderley (then under contract to Mercury) playing under the pseudonym "Buckshot La Funke", Tommy Flanagan, Duke Jordan, Art Taylor and Doug Watkins. Smith's initial music career was brief; he became a teacher at the University of Michigan and Ann Arbor's public school system, but later recorded for the SteepleChase label. Smith suffered a stroke in 2006, and is seen occasionally enjoying live jazz in the Detroit/Ann Arbor area, but has not returned to performing.

The Very Thought Of You

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