[Iain Churches[_2_]]

"roughplanet" wrote in message
u...
"Iain Churches" wrote in message

I gave this group a rest when the RAO circus was in town .


OK. I wondered if you had been ill.

I have the LP but regretfully, don't like large groups or orchestras,
which is probably why I never warmed to Basie. Just don't dig the
often rigid arrangements which prevent many soloists from letting loose.

IMO both Basie and Ellington left plenty of space for the soloists.
I am fascinated by tone colour, the way the sections of the orchestra
are integrated to produce a certain sound or mood, and in big band
music, saxophone harmony, particularly five part has always interested
me enormously.

I can appreciate that, as a guitarist you might be put off by "too
many notes" A chord across a saxophone section can easily
fill three octaves. In fact they sound better that way, because the
saxophone has so many strong harmonics that chords in close
harmony can sound muddled.


Yes, Johhny Hodges was a fine musician, but again, spent a good deal
of his time playing in orchestras. I only have a couple of his LP's where
he was playing in a quartet.

Yes, he spent a long time with Ellington, who wrote some fine
compositions to showcase Hodges' unique sound and style.
You probably know of Harry Carney, an alto and bartitone
player who was with Ellington from 1929 until he died. He
said "Once you have played in this band, there is nowhere
else to go"-)


I confess my (partial) ignorance of Earl Bostic, again because most of his
music was in octets or nonets. I do have two of his early LP's; 'All his
Hits' & 'Earl Bostic & his Orchestra' neither of which I like much.

Yes.I have both those. He makes a fascinating sound. On most
of the recordings a tape delay sent to reverb is used on the saxophone.
I noticed on a couple of tracks that it was forgotten until half way
through the tune.

as IMO,
he seems to be an R&B/Jazz crossover with a strident & at times, overdone
beat.

Yes he ceetainly was a crossover, and quite a pioneer at that time.
You can hear the roots of rock'n'roll saxophone in there.

Are you partial to Irish whiskeys?
Jamesons and Bushmills seem to both be highly regarded.

Yes Iain, I LOVE Irish whiskey. I have several bottles of Jamieson's 12
Year Old, a bottle of Jamieson's Triple Distilled, a bottle of Black Bush
& a bottle of Bushmills 10 year old (now 20) Single Malt in my cocktail
cabinet. And only one of them (the 12 year old Jamiesons) has ever been
opened :-(.

Splendid.
Enjoy

Iain