What I've Been Listening To Lately

As a continuing service to readers, I'm starting off the new year with another episode of "What I've Been Listening To Lately," which gives me a chance to highlight excellent music by formerly unknown (to me) artists that I've stumbled across in recent months.

I generally learn about new artists either because they are playing as sidemen on albums by musicians that I already know and like, or because they are leading a session on a label that I trust and collect.

Case in point, Muse Records, which in the 1970s, 80s, and early 90s released hundreds of excellent jazz albums by a stream of talented, mostly B-list players. Which is to say, extremely talented musicians who never became headliners, but who nevertheless had successful careers and made wonderful music. When I come across clean copies of Muse titles in the used bins or online, I almost always pick them up, even if I've never heard of the artist.

Jerome Harris

Jerome Harris (right) is an excellent example of a Muse Records artist. A double threat on bass and guitar, Harris attended Harvard and the New England Conservatory of Music, and was discovered in 1977 when Sonny Rollins found himself without a bassist for a gig in Boston. Harris got the call to sit in, and the rest is history. Harris was a regular in Rollins' band for many years, appearing on five albums by the legendary tenorman. 

To date, Harris has played bass and/or guitar on more than 150 albums, including sessions with Jack DeJohnette, Paul Motian, Brian Eno, Bill Frisell, Jaki Bayard, and Henry Threadgill.

Harris's first album as a leader came in 1986 with the release of Algorithms on the German label, Minor Music. Then, in 1990, he cut his first and only recording for the Muse Label, an album called In Passing (left). It's a mostly straight-ahead jazz outing, with some R&B and fusion seasoning. Harris wrote four of the seven songs and plays electric bass, backed by Marty Ehrlich on reeds, Jay Hoggard on vibes, Jeff Herschfield on drums, and a scene-stealing Clifton Anderson on trombone.

Reed man Ehrlich also produced the album, which was cut direct to digital. Even though I'm a dedicated analog guy, I'm not opposed to a well-recorded digital session. And In Passing sounds terrific, with punchy bass, a great sense of space, and a burnished quality to the horns and reeds. Near mint and sealed copies of the album are available for reasonable prices, so, no excuses.

So far, Harris has only one other album as a leader, 1995's Hidden In Plain Sight, a tribute to the late, great Eric Dolphy. Hidden In Plain Sight is a fun and funky session with an-all star septet, including Marty Ehlich and Clifton Anderson from In Passing. [Unfortunately, the album is only available on CD.]

Another label that I tend to pick up whenever I find them is Concord Jazz. Concord was founded in 1974 by northern California car dealer Carl Jefferson because he said he could no longer find the kind of mainstream jazz albums that he liked to listen to in the record shops. Yes, it is good to be rich. Concord Jazz went on to release hundreds of titles by a roster of fine players, including pianist Joanne Brackeen. 

The list of well-known female pianists from the golden age of jazz (let's say the 50s to the 70s) is fairly limited. I can only come up with of Marian McPartland, Jutta Hipp, and Mary Lou Williams without searching online. Joanne Brackeen is probably less well-known than any of these, but shouldn't be.

Brackeen was born in Ventura, about an hour north of Los Angeles, and taught herself to play the piano at age 11. Within a year, she was already playing professionally. She accepted a music scholarship to the Los Angeles Conservatory as a teen, but quit after a week, deciding that she could learn better and faster by simply playing gigs with other jazz musicians.  

Over the decades, she has played with just about everybody, including Art Blakey, Dexter Gordon, Joe Henderson, Sonny Stitt, Woody Shaw, Chick Corea, Stan and Getz. [Fun Fact: Brackeen was the only female musician ever to be a member of Blakey's Jazz Messengers, performing with the group from 1969-72.]

She made her first album as a leader in 1975 with an album called Snooze on the Choice label. [The album was reissued in 2023, with a stellar remaster by Bernie Grundman.] Brackeen recorded steadily from 1975 until her last release (to date) in 2000. Her debut on the Concord label was the 1985 release Havin' Fun (above). She is joined on the session by the rock-solid rhythm section of Cecil McBee on bass and Al Foster on drums. 

Joanne Brackeen

Brackeen's earlier disks focus on original compositions, often played in a post-bop or free form style. The combination can make her music a bit challenging. Havin' Fun is the first album of standards that Brackeen released, and as a result, it's one of her most accessible outings. In the liner notes, Brackeen is upfront about why she wanted to make a more mainstream album: "There are people who think I only play very far out. Certain club owners act like I'm a UFO." 

No doubt Brackeen hoped that an album of standards on the mainstream Concord label would expand her audience and help convince club owners that hiring her drive customers screaming out into the streets. Even still, jazz critic Nat Hentoff notes that: "Being Brackeen, she does, of course, transform these standards into continually intriguing, surprising and unmistakably personal forms within forms within one of the most spontaneous imaginations in all of jazz." 

Brackeen went on to record four more albums for Concord, including a couple of Brazil inspired titles, Breath Of Brazil in 1991, and Take A Chance in 1994. If you are new to Brackeen's music, dip your toe in the water with Havin' Fun or one of the other Concord titles before seeking out her other more "far out" disks.

At age 85, Brackeen remains active, teaching at the Berklee College of Music in Boston and still performing. In 2018, she was named a "Jazz Master" by the National Endowment for the Arts.  

Bennie Wallace

Finally, let's discuss the criminally underappreciated tenorman Bennie Wallace. A native of Chattanooga, Wallace studied clarinet at the University of Tennessee before switching to tenor sax and moving to New York in 1971. In the Big Apple, Wallace came to the attention of pianist Monty Alexander, who hired Wallace and helped launch his career. 

From 1978 to 1984, Wallace recorded a string of seven albums as leader on the German label Enya, using an array of fine sidemen such as Tommy Flanagan, Eddie Gomez, Dannie Richmond, and Jimmy Knepper. The style of these albums is mostly avant garde, and like Brackeen's early works, are somewhat of an acquired taste. (Unless, of course, you are fan of the avant garde.)

In 1985, Wallace signed with Blue Note Records and released his first album as a leader on a U.S. label, the fabulous Twilight Time (left). AllMusic critic Scott Yanow writes that "Bennie Wallace has long had his own unique style, combining the raspy tone of Ben Webster with the frequent wide interval jumps of Eric Dolphy. He has an explorative style that sound-wise looks back toward the swing era . . . Twilight Time is a classic . . . (an) inspired project." 

On Twilight Time, Wallace is backed by trombonist Ray Anderson, guitarist John Scofield, and either Bob Cranshaw or Eddie Gomez on bass, and either Jack DeJohnette, Chris Parker, or Bernard Purdie on drums. To add to the fun, the core group(s) are joined on several selections by guest artists Dr. John on piano and blues legend Stevie Ray Vaughan on guitar. In a clean break from his earlier avant garde sessions, Twilight Time successfully melds jazz, New Orleans boogie, blues, and funk to create a rollicking, fun album. 

Wallace made one other recording for Blue Note, 1988's excellent Bordertown (right), (which is a honking, swampy follow-up in the style of Twilight Time) and then a couple of highly-recommended albums for the audiophile label Audioquest: The Old Songs in 1993, and the self-titled Bennie Wallace in 1998. Since 1993, Wallace has also returned to Enya Records for another series of releases. 

Even though Wallace has flown under the radar for much of his career, his U.S. releases are almost all readily available and well worth seeking out. However, the Audioquest albums had fairly limited release and may be harder to find and/or a little pricey.

One of the most rewarding things about collecting jazz music is that there are so many little-known but talented musicians and an almost endless supply of great albums still to discover.

Enjoy the music!