Playlist for the Unpopular Music webcast for June 27, 2015

Another week, another American musical legend is gone. This time it's composer, conductor, educator, hornist, and musical philosopher Gunther Schuller. It is mostly the philosophical role that's influenced me, the idea that jazz could be as serious and sophisticated and "classical" music, and certainly not to be considered a lesser art form. His attempts to meld the two worlds, the so-called "third stream", were perhaps bested by others, although his contributions are not easily dismissed. (And, as Ethan Iverson points out, the third-stream identification distracts from his status as an premier modernist composer.)

I'd been listening to Ran Blake's excellent new album Ghost Tones, itself a tribute to the late George Russell, when I heard the news. Blake and Russell were Schuller's star hires for what was at the time New England Conservatory's Third Stream department (now known as the Creative Improvisation department), and both men have created works of substance and innovation, bringing academic ideas into jazz, as Schuller imagined. And so, that album became a jumping off point for this webcast. I tried to make some connections from these three, and other musicians associated with Schuller as well - Miles Davis and Gil Evans (Schuller played horn on Birth of the Cool and Porgy & Bess), Ornette Coleman (whom Schuller tried to tutor until Coleman felt he was being led from his instincts), fellow Birth of the Cool alum Gerry Mulligan, Joe Lovano (with whom Schuller collaborated on the fantastic Rush Hour album), Stan Kenton, who had his own third-stream ideas, object of admiration and inspiration Duke Ellington and one time NEC professor Jimmy Giuffre. (I couldn't find the right Mingus selection).

Unpopular Music - June 27, 2015 by Unpopularfred on Mixcloud

See the playlist after the break ...

artist	song	album	comments	label / date
Katie Lee	Real Sick Sounds	Songs of Couch and Consultation	1st part of theme	Commentary Records 1957
Naked City	Inside Straight	Naked City	2nd part of theme	Nonesuch 1989
Ran Blake	Telegram from Gunther	Ghost Tones	Ran Blake (p) Peter Kanagy (trp) Aaron Hartley (tbn)	A-Side 2010
Tony Malaby	Floating Head	Novela	Tony Malaby (ts) Michael Attias (as) Andrew Hadro (bs) Joachim Badenhorst (bcl) Ralph Alessi (trp) Ben Gerstein (tbn) Dan Peck (tba) Kris Davis (p, arr) John Hollenbeck (d)	Clean Feed 2011
Gerry Mulligan Quartet	Open Country	Gerry Mulligan Quartet at Storyville	Gerry Mulligan (bs) Bob Brookmeyer (vlv tbn, tune) Bill Crow (b) Dave Bailey (d)	Blue Note 1956
Shelly Manne	Africa	Daktari	music behind DJ	Atlantic 1967
Ran Blake	Ballad of Hix Blewitt	Ghost Tones	Ran Blake (p) Peter Kanagy (trp) Aaron Hartley (tbn) Dave "Knife" Fabris (pdl stl g) Rachel Massey (vln) composition by George Russell	A-Side 2010
Miles Davis Quintet	Masqualero	Live in Europe, 1967 - The Bootleg Series Vol. 1	Miles Davis (tpt); Wayne Shorter (ts, tune) Herbie Hancock (p) Ron Carter (b) Tony Williams (d) November 2, 1967 Tivoli Konsertsal, Copenhagen	Columbia 1967
Morris Stoloff, Columbia Pictures Orchestra	It's a blue world / Torn Shirt (Part 1)	Music from the soundtrack of Picnic	“Blue World” by Bob Wright and Chet Forrest; “Torn Shirt” by George Duning	MCA 1956
Gunther Schuller	Transformation	The Birth Of The Third Stream	John LaPorta (as) Hal McKusick (ts) Robert DiDominica (flt) Manuel Zegler (bsn) Louis Mucci, Art Farmer (trp) Jimmy Knepper (tbn) Jim Buffington (tbn) Bill Evans (p) Teddy Charles (vbs) Barry Galbraith (g) Joe Benjamin (b) Teddy Sommer (d) Margaret Ross (hrp) originally from Modern Jazz Concert	Columbia 1957
Aimee Mann	Nothing is Good Enough	Magnolia [Original Soundtrack]	music behind DJ	Reprise 1999
Pony Poindexter with Booker Ervin	Front O'Town	Gumbo!	Pony Poindexter (as, ss) Booker Ervin (ts) Al Grey (tbn) Gildo Mahones (p) George Tucker (b) Jimmy Smith (d)	Prestige 1963
Booker T. & The MGs	Time is Tight	7” single	music behind DJ	Stax 1968
Ornette Coleman and Prime Time	Bach Prelude	Tone Dialing	Ornette Coleman (as) Dave Bryant (keys) Chris Rosenberg, Ken Wessel (g) Bradley Jones, Al MacDowell (b) Denardo Coleman (drums) Badal Roy (tabla, prc) music by Johann Sebastian Bach, arr. Ornette Coleman after the prelude of Bach's Cello Suite No. 1, BWV 1007 (listen closely for the beginning of the Allemande)	Harmolodic 1995
Stan Kenton and the Los Angeles Neophonic Orchestra	Adventure in Emotion - II: Anger	Stan Kenton conducts the Los Angeles Neophonic Orchestra	Stan Kenton, conductor; Dalton Smith, Frank Higgins, Gary Barone, Ronnie Ossa, Ollie Mitchell (trp) Bob Fitzpatrick, Vern Friley, Gil Falco, Jim Amlotte (tbn) Vince DeRosa, Bill Hinshaw, John Cave, Richard Perissi, Arthur Maebe (hrn) John Bambridge (tba) Bud Shank, Bill Perkins, Bob Cooper, Don Lodice, John Lowe (reeds) Emil Richards (vbs) Claude Williamson (p) Dennie Budimir (g) John Worster (b) Nick Ceroli (d) Frank Carlson (tym, prc) composition by Russ Garcia	Creative World Records 1965
Joe Lovano	Kathline Gray	Rush Hour	Joe Lovano (ss) Fred Sherry (vc) Gloria Agostini (hrp) James Chrillo (g) Ed Schuller (b) George Schuller (d) tune by Ornette Coleman and Pat Metheny arr. Gunther Schuller	Blue Note 1994
George Russell	All About Rosie - 3rd Movement	The Birth Of The Third Stream	John LaPorta (as) Hal McKusick (ts) Robert DiDominica (flt) Manuel Zegler (bsn) Louis Mucci, Art Farmer (trp) Jimmy Knepper (tbn) Jim Buffington (tbn) Bill Evans (p) Teddy Charles (vbs) Barry Galbraith (g) Joe Benjamin (b) Teddy Sommer (d) Margaret Ross (hrp) originally from Modern Jazz Concert	Columbia 1957
Wayne Horvitz	This New Generation	This New Generation	music behind DJ	Nonesuch 1985
Paul Crossley	Piano Sonata No. 1- II: Andante tranquillo	Tippett: Piano Sonatas 1-3; String Quartets 1-3; Fantasia Concertante; etc.	composed by Sir Michael Tippett in 1938 based on the Scottish folk tune "Ca' the yowes"	Decca 1973
Peter Zazofsky, Paul Posnak	Sonata for Violin and Piano - II: Lento	Complete Works for Piano and Violin	music by Aaron Copland	Naxos 2000
Ornette Coleman	Sadness	Town Hall, 1962	Ornette Coleman (as) David Izenzon (b) Charles Moffet (d)	ESP 1962
Paul Bley / Jimmy Giuffre / Steve Swallow	Tango del mar	The Life Of A Trio - Sunday	Paul Bley (p) Jimmy Giuffre (ss) Steve Swallow (b)	Owl 1990
Duke Ellington and His Famous Orchestra	Ko-Ko	The Blanton-Webster Band	Rex Stewart (crn) Wallace Jones, Cootie Williams (trp) Lawrence Brown, Tricky Sam Nanton (solo) (tbn) Juan Tizol (vlv tbn, solo) Barney Bigard (clt) Johnny Hodges (as, ss) Otto Hardwick (as, clt) Ben Webster (ts) Harry Carney (bs) Duke Ellington (p) Fred Guy (g) Jimmie Blanton (b) Sonny Greer (d)	RCA 1940
Miles Davis with the Gil Evans Orchestra	Gone	George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess	Miles Davis (flg) Ernie Royal, Johnny Coles, Bernie Glow, Louis Mucci (trp) Joe Bennett, Frank Rehak, Jimmy Cleveland, Dick Hixon (tbn) Willie Ruff, Julius Watkins, Gunther Schuller (hrn); Bill Barber (tba); Julian "Cannonball" Adderley (as); Romeo Penque (fl, alto fl, cl); Phil Bodner (fl, alto fl, cl); Danny Bank (alto fl, bcl); Paul Chambers (b); Philly Joe Jones (d); Gil Evans (arr, cond) song by George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin and Debose Heyward	Columbia 1958
Nadia Sirota and Nico Muhly	Etude 1	First Things First	music behind DJ	New Amstedam 2010
Joe Lovano	Luna Park	Universal Language	Joe Lovano (ts) Judi Silvano (voc) Tim Hagans (trp) Kenny Werner (p) Steve Swallow, Charlie Haden (b) Jack DeJohnette (d)	Blue Note 1992