Attainment / Bannar, 1987

The story goes like this:

Charles Brackeen began to record jazz in 1968, went on to play with a who's who of jazz: Don Cherry, Frank Lowe, Carlos Ward, Dewey Redman, Leroy Jenkins, Paul Motian and Leo Smith throughout the 1970's and the early 1980's. Then he fell off the music map.

Then in the second half of the 1980's, trumpeter Dennis Gonzalez coaxed Brackeen to play on his album, Namesake. Brackeen began a recording contract with the Silkheart Records label and that's where we draw today's offering from.

These are manditory recordings! You must hear both of them!

Enjoy!

A Tribute To Stuff Smith, 1993



For many of the years I listened to jazz I eixisted under the false illusion that modern, freer jazz musicians were constitutionally unable to play more traditional idioms within jazz. But slowly that misconception was dispelled. I heard David Murray - the fire breathing modern jazz icon of the 80's that the Village Voice annointed jazz artist of the 1980's decade - play lovely ballads. I heard Derek Bailey play standards - and I recognized them! This recording is another example of that. Could you imagine Sun Ra, Billy Bang and Andrew Cyrille playing "inside"? That's not to say you could be fooled into thinking you were hearing something from the 1950's. There is an edge to it but what would you expect. They are improvising musicians. One interesting point: Sun Ra made his recording debut playing a duet with Stuff Smith! This great "stuff"...

Enjoy!