Riffs: New DVD highlights Stax/Volt revue

Stax Records had enjoyed plenty of international success by the mid-‘60s, but their artists had never done a European tour. But with their acts enormously popular on both sides of the Atlantic it only made good sense for the company to finally make the plunge and send its performers to various overseas concert sites.

While there’s been plenty written in books and magazines over the years about the historic 1967 Stax/Volt revue, a new DVD Stax/Volt Revue: Live In Norway (NRK/Concord) spotlights one event that’s previously only been available in an edited, choppy audio edition. The April 7, 1967 date in Oslo, Norway contained several magnificent performances from Otis Redding and the duo of Sam and Dave, plus sparkling instrumentals from both Booker T. & the MGs and The Mar-Keys, and above-average numbers from Arthur Conley and Eddie Floyd (though he only got one song).

This package restores the complete concert, with 20 minutes of new numbers that had languished in vaults for four decades. Watching Redding doing “Shake,” “My Girl,” “Satisfaction” and wrapping up his set with a bombastic rendition of “Try A Little Tenderness” only reinforces once again the impact of his premature death later that year. He was such an extraordinary and formidable figure on stage, whether he was blasting away in the upper range, darting and dancing around, or captivating his audience by injecting just a bit more fire and energy in every chorus he took in his songs.

He was so majestic that he could render everyone else on stage to afterthought status, even though Sam and Dave were also phenomenal that evening. But besides the often-astonishing music, the set includes commentary from Steve Cropper and Wayne Jackson, plus Sam Moore, Jim Stewart, Cropper and Jackson’s memories regarding the response of Europeans to finally seeing their soul heroes live.

A second version of Booker T. & The MG’s doing “Green Onions” and an exhaustive and thorough booklet containing an essay from Grammy-winning music historian Rob Bowman (who also has some comments on the tour) are other parts of the impressive package. This collection is accompanied by the DVD release of the wonderful documentary Respect Yourself: The Stax Records Story (Concord).

Directed and produced by the team of Robert Gordon and Morgan Neville and narrated by Samuel L. Jackson, Respect Yourself takes you on the journey from small-town operation to national music powerhouse, showing the personalities behind the scene as well as the major stars who helped make Stax a household name throughout the ‘60s. It also covers some of the problems and mistakes that ultimately led to its demise, and includes diverse and differing opinions over who was responsible for its ultimate failure. Gordon and Neville also integrate rare footage from private movies, informative and occasionally provocative interviews and insights from musicians, former executives, even some of the banking figures who became involved as the Stax fiscal structure crumbled.

The original PBS showing got huge ratings in Nashville, but for those who might have missed it Respect Yourself is an invaluable piece of cultural and political history, just like The Stax/Volt Revue: Live in Norway April 7, 1967.

More vintage soul

Stevie Wonder: Number Ones (MCA Universal) includes plenty of tunes that you’d anticipate from “I Was Made To Love Her” and “Signed, Sealed, Delivered I’m Yours” on through “Higher Ground,” “You Are The Sunshine Of My Life,” “I Wish,” “Sir Duke” and “Living For The City.” But the 20-song selection also ventures into adult contemporary territory for some of its material, adding “Overjoyed,” “Skeletons,” “Part-Time Lover” and “So What The Fuss,” (which evidently got a much better listen from the adult contemporary end than the urban end).

This serves as a fine retrospective on Wonder’s biggest hits, and shows how he continually updated and reworked his sound while also paying homage along the way to jazz and reggae, and also striking a strong social note on several occasions (“You Haven’t Done Nothing,” “Living For The City,”). While some other noteworthy material didn’t make it because the songs never attained number one status, this is as representative a one-disc sampler of Stevie Wonder as possible, especially given the commercial foundation upon which it’s based.

New blues

Elvin Bishop returns to rockin’ and roadhouse blues on Booty Bumpin” (Blind Pig), mixing some sharp covers (Allen Toussaint’s “I’m Gone” the best of these) with his own sometimes humorous, sometimes hard-edged originals such as “Stealin’ Watermelons,” “What The Hell Is Going On” and “Blue Flame.”

He also frequently shares both lead guitar and vocal duties, letting drummer Bobby Cochran step out front on “I’ll Be Glad,” while trombonist Ed Earley is the main vocalist on “Feel Alright Again” and pianist Steve Willis the featured singer on “Half Way Out The Door. “ But it’s his own ringing, fiery leads on both electric and slide guitar that are a prime element in the session, and he shows on “Stomp,” “Belly Rubbin’,” and “I Feel Alright Again” that he’s still an aggressive and imaginative soloist, though not overly concerned about being the main man on every tune anymore.

Debbie Davies generates fire and power with some of her hottest guitar playing to date on her newest CD Blues Blast (Telarc). Whether it’s slicing shuffle riffs or grinding Chicago style lines, Davies is uniformly explosive and engaging on every selection. She’s assisted by three of contemporary blues’ best musicians, guitarists Coco Montoya and Tab Benoit, harmonica soloist Charlie Musselwhite. The entire group appears on “Sonoma Sunset,” while Benoit is second guitarist on sprawling covers of “Crawling King Snake” and “Howlin’ For My Daddy,” and Montoya on “A.C. Strut,” Davies’ “Sittin’ and Cryin’,” and “My Time After While.” Musselwhite’s slithering, whiplash harmonica adds depth and edge to “Movin’ and Groovin’ (a Musselwhite composition) and “Like You Was Gone.” Though not billed as a “supersession,” this is certainly a blues equivalent, and Debbie Davies doesn’t just hold her own, but excels and triumphs with awesome singing and playing.

Toni Price mixes some torch and soul aspects into her approach along with the blues on Talk Memphis (Antone’s). She can be harsh or sweet, romantic or acerbic, and when the music behind her gets louder or rougher, Price can also accelerate her own volume and style to meet the challenge.

“What I’m Putting Down,” “Am I Groovin’ Up” and “The Power” are her most authoritative pieces, while “Gravy” and “Sorry About That” are more tongue-in-cheek or laced with irony, and “Runnin’ Out” and “Leftover Love” songs designed to send a message to slackers and cheaters. While she can sound gruff or combative, Toni Price’s songs often have an element of sentimentality and/or vulnerability, and she shows on “Poor Little Fool” and “Right Where I Belong” that she can also be vocally endearing and sentimental when she chooses.

Classic jazz

The newest entries in the ongoing Orrin Keepnews series includes The Sound of Sonny (all Riverside/Concord), a superb 1957 date that had Rollins alternating between quartet and trio configurations, though the booming, rigorous “It Could Happen To You” is a 3:46 unaccompanied tenor solo that’s emphatic and unforgettable despite its relative brevity.

These are all mostly short pieces (the longest is the bonus track “Funky Hotel Blues” at six minutes), but no one plays melodies like Rollins. Even when it’s rather conventional tunes such as “Just In Time,” “What Is There To Say” or “It Could Happen To You,” he zips through the structure with such vigor and stature that they sound almost epic. Then he’ll create a few adventurous moments before returning to the main theme.

Pianist Sonny Clark was a monster player, able to find ways of injecting a quick turn or clever phrase within limited solo space, while Roy Haynes’ sly, quick shifting rhythmic twists and turns provided the right mix of support and challenge to bassists Percy Heath or Paul Chambers. This is surging hard bop at its best, a date that showed a master player coming into his own as an improviser and bandleader.

The Thelonious Monk Orchestra at Town Hall presented the piano genius working with a large group, though they’re still doing such famous Monk pieces as “Little Rootie Tootie,” “Crepscule with Nellie,” and “Monk’s Mood.” This disc has been extended through the presence of five pieces not on the original vinyl LP. Some of them are remarkable, especially the version of “Rhythm-A-Ning” where the horns essentially work their parts out during the song and the complete version of “Thelonious” that opens the date.

Monk didn’t do as much soloing here as on his small combo dates, and there’s more emphasis on collective response though the band contained many amazing soloists (alto saxophonist Phil Woods, tenor stylist Charlie Rouse and Pepper Adams on baritone as well as Donald Byrd on trumpet). It’s also a chance to hear some intriguing sonic combinations with the presence of both a tuba and French horn alongside the other saxophones offering more tonal variety and options. While preferring to hear Monk’s pieces done in a small group setting, the large orchestra approach offers a chance to hear quite a different approach, something that makes the Town Hall music consistently exciting, if sometimes erratic.

George Russell’s Ezz-thetics was another unusual session, though this one featured a sextet rather than the orchestras that he’d later champion. Russell had published his Lydian Concept of Tonal Organization eight years earlier, a work that’s till to this day difficult for musicians to summarize, let alone anyone who hasn’t played in decades. But essentially it is an approach that has some of the aspects of modal jazz, as reflected in the playing of his sextet members trumpeter Don Ellis, trombonist Dave Baker (now an international authority as a jazz educator) as well as the arrangements he devised for songs like “Nardis,” “Lydiot” and “Thoughts.”

While not exactly a great technical pianist, as a composer and bandleader Russell was a key figure in crafting a different direction that wasn’t so heavily based on chord changes. This new reissue also contains two bonus tracks, alternate takes of “Kige’s Tune.” The finest musical member of the Russell organization was the extraordinary Eric Dolphy, though he sounds a bit more restrained on bass clarinet during “Nardis” and “Thoughts” than usual. In fact Dolphy was less animated playing with Russell than he would sound in later sessions with John Coltrane and Charles Mingus.

Trumpeter Clark Terry’s flair and rapport with audiences sometimes got more coverage than his considerable prowess as a player, but there wasn’t much flamboyance or frivolity on his 1957 session Serenade to a Bus Seat. Instead it was muscular, fierce and combative music, with Terry at the helm of a band that also had tenor saxophonist Johnny Griffin, and a first-class rhythm section of pianist Wynton Kelly (who is mistakenly credited as a second drummer on the back of the CD though not on the inside) along with bassist Paul Chambers and drummer Philly Joe Jones.

Terry and Griffin are both cohesive in the unison portions and furious during their solos, while Kelly adds prickly solos of his own and great transition sections and Chambers and Jones are as always steady and masterful without ever being intrusive. There aren’t any extra cuts or alternate takes, but the playing on “Donna Lee,” “Stardust,” “Cruising” and “Boomerang” proves so good it’s more than enough to satisfy anyone’s needs for Terry’s trumpet magic.