mrpeebee - (1998) Early Babbitt 8* — YEAH baby! When I first bought mine, all I knew was Stanley played one and I wanted that sound — I was 14. Emilio said, “What size?” Again, I knew Stanley played an 8*, so I said, “Eight star?” To which Emilio responded, “Kid, who you think you are, Sonny Rollins?” At his insistence, I tried a 6, 7 and 8*. I bought the 8*. There’s something very Benny Golson in your feel here, and I like it (of course, you wisely avoided Benny’s triple-time). Even when you go up above the staff, you’re staying within yourself and it’s really lyrical.
(2011 8*) The backing isn’t giving you anything in the way of support, here. At 1:30 — YES! Solo strikes me as quite similar, but with a less supportive background.
(2011 10*) Man, you love those open pieces! I’ve had to back off with age (and a hernia). Like the use of alternate fingers on this take. To my ear, this take is hitting a lot of those key notes in the changes (those funky symbols on the page!). Easy there, Lenny!
. Love it.
(2017 150/2 [WHAT!?!?!?]) Does that mouthpiece come with its own oxygen tank? This backings works better than the others, but again, the solo is actually quite similar. The main difference here is that I can hear you working the openness of the mouthpiece. I think I like the early take and this one the best.
Brendan - Man, they’re off to the races with that tempo. I get what you’re saying about playing behind the guitar, but I’ve had people ask me to do this behind them when they play. It works better than it sounds to your ear, though. Man, they ARE loud. Even though you say you were blowing hard as you could, it doesn’t sound like you’re laboring and you stayed with them.
J-Moen/grybeard - It is what it is, guys. That’s the original CTI cover (and quite likely helped them sell MANY copies).
J-Moen - Ah! Tenor in the low register! My buddy Greg Fiske did it in this register a million years ago when we did this one for the TOTM. I liked it so much, I tried it. I’m not Greg.
You muscled through well down there. I like the overall lyricism of the solo here. I can hear you using some… pet phrases? Not sure how to describe it. They’re YOUR lines, but they are kind of a comfort zone, rhythmically. I kind of wanted to hear you push out of that zone (which you definitely did around the three minute mark). I kill myself for repeating rhythmic phrases, and I’m not trying to extend that outward, but my ear wants to hear you push those rhythmic boundaries a bit. Solid outing.
Target - Soprano on Sugar! Gutsy call! Of course, if I had your soprano sound, I’d probably try it, too. Your improv was so seamless that I was actually confused at first, then you just pushed a bit further with each phrase. Nicely executed. Patience and space — beautiful.
dexdex - Nice! A split personality outing! Love it! Nice conversation going on the head. The first horn (left channel?) has a warmer tone to my ear. The other has body and cut. I assume STM is the first and Berg is the second. It really does give the impression of two players, though, which is cool.
keilmer - Nice, warm tone. Opening phrase of the improv grabs me right away. I got discouraged when the keys came in, but looking at the slider, realized you must be coming back and that you did. Your use of triplets really recalls the head, which is a nice touch. Going up high around 2:45 has a nice effect, as well.
Now, sadly, I thought I was being all coy sticking with the bari on this, but alas, Brendan and keilmer had other ideas.
I have a bunch of older recordings of this, but pretty sure I hate all of them, so I’m starting from scratch. Calling this one the baseline of this month’s effort, but with definite plans to beat this tune like a rented mule. This is take 2. I liked what happened with take 1 until I listened to take 2. So this is
my pick for the baseline.
drive.google.com
