Tribute to Stuff Smith

Sun Ra, Billy Bang | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 15, 1994)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Soul Note Records
• ASIN: B00000402J
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #544,493 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Only Time Will Tell

2. Satin Doll

3. Deep Purple

4. Bugle Blues

5. Foggy Day In London Town

6. April In Paris

7. Lover Man

8. Yesterdays

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The most poignant jazz recording ever?, December 13, 2003

By 

Jan P. Dennis "Longboard jazzer" (Monument, CO USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Tribute to Stuff Smith (Audio CD)

Sun Ra, that unreconstructed jazz iconoclast, had had a stroke before this session was recorded. If one compares his pre-stroke to post-stroke playing, there is an undoubted drop off from a technique standpoint.

But you know what? It's a trade off. What he lost in technique, he more than made up in depth of feeling.

Listen. This disc has a vibe unlike any other jazz outing in the 100-year history of this music. A kind of off-kilter, profound meloncholic joy: that's what I hear here. Yes, it lacks precision and sheer pyrotechnics, but oh, the ravishing emotional content! Amazingly, John Ore on bass and Andrew Cyrille completely tune into the sensibility and deliver amazingly sensitive and beautiful playing.

Ra displays a spare, Monkish pianism that speaks volumes. Pick any tune at random--my favorite Ellington song, "Satin Doll," will do. This performance strikes me as one of the finest, most revelatory I've ever heard. Or again, take "Deep Purple." Not only does it seem to evoke a simpler, more elegant bygone era, there's an entirely remarkable thing happening here--I don't know how to describe it other than a frisky sadness--that totally nails this piece of music.

Billy Bang's playing also deserves some comment. First off, I don't usually like jazz violin. Most practitioners seem to opt for the vitruoso route--understandable with an instrument featuring a somewhat annoying timbre: if you play it fast enough, perhaps no one will notice. Bang just lets its inherent timbral strangeness hang out there, opting instead for hidden tonal richness that he patiently reveals by a combination of quirky double-stopping, low-register sawing, and daring intervalic swoops.

All in all, I'm entirely taken by this odd session, hearing as I do unusual emotional depth and swing in its glorious sonorities. Perhaps you will hear something similar . . .

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Moments of Brilliance, Moments of Disappointment, September 27, 2001

By 

Michael P. Higgins "Music Geek" (New Orleans, LA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Tribute to Stuff Smith (Audio CD)

First off, I should inform the readers that Billy Bang and Sun Ra rank among my favorite jazz musicians. Second, I had no knowledge of Stuff Smith before this album, and have since grown to love his music. That said, I must say that I do at times enjoy this album, but find myself wishing it had been recorded before Sun Ra's stroke, or perhaps (I hate to say this) with a different pianist. Billy Bang shines throughout, and at times his playing sounds better than ever. Unfortunately, Sun Ra's piano just brings sadness to those who are familiar with the work of his prime. And so the what ifs of history continue...

1.0 out of 5 stars Surprisingly uninteresting, September 30, 2011

By 

Richard Cantwell "pharoahfan" (NEW YORK CITY, N.Y.) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Tribute to Stuff Smith (Audio CD)

I don't know, maybe it's me, but when I see names like Andrew Cerille, Sun Ra, and Billy Bang, I expect something other than over-done standards with little imagination or improvisation. Guess I should have researched Stuff Smiths music before buying, too mundane for my tastes.