Thank you acman...
This one is for my taste...
He is not well known but interesting...
Jazz for aficionados
Speaking of alto sax players and obscure/unrecognized musicians such as J R Moterose, I think you can put alto sax player John Handy in both of those categories. I really enjoy a lot of Handy's albums as a leader, and his playing on various Charles Mingus session dates. One of his albums, Live at Monterey Jazz Festival, is on my desert island list. The release with the 3rd bonus track Ole Miss (Anatomy of a Riot) Live at the Village Gate is the one to get. The two songs from Monterey (1) John Handy - Monterey Jazz Fest (Full Album) - YouTube Bonus track at Village Gate (1) John Handy Tears Of Ole Miss Live At Monterey Jazz Festival - YouTube And a nice blues track featuring Handy (not to bad) on vocals (1) Blues For Louis Jordan - YouTube And Handy expanding his horizons with Asian Continent musicians @mahgister may enjoy this album which features Handy on the alto sax combined with 2 eastern musicians playing the string instruments Sarod and Tanpura with a 3rd playing the percussive instrument Tabla. (1) John Handy, Ali Akbar Khan - Karuna Supreme (full album) - YouTube
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OK -- it only takes seconds to hear the difference. I like both but when listening to McLean, I'm not focused on his intonation, wishing it were less sharp. A poorly intonated guitar can drive me nuts but I don't have perfect pitch. On the other hand, for me, Dolphy's playing is akin to taking a swig of milk only to realize someone's spiked it with vinegar. I find it fundamentally unpleasant. For McLean, I enjoy: "Left Alone '86" (w/ Mal Waldron), "Jacknife", "Let Freedom Ring", "Dynasty", "It's Time", "Action" and "Consequence".
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OK... more on intonation. When the guitar player on that Handy Monterey album plays two notes that are "rubbing up against one-another" in a blatantly out-of-tune fashion at around 13:36, my ears/brain instantly rebel. I like "Karuna Supreme" a lot. Might have to buy that one. Charlie Mariano was another who shared Handy’s fascination with Indian music. The LA Jazz station I listened to in the mid 70’s used to play "Hard Work". I’ve heard worse worse singing than Handy’s on "Blues for Louis Jordan". Nice sax playing on that track. I’ve always enjoyed the Blues. |