Ready Or Not – Deep Jazz Grooves From CBC Radio Canada 1967-1977

This is a re-post from New Year’s Day 2008. The original post included volume 1 but not volume 2. The files in this re-post were ripped @ 320 kbps and are hosted locally for easy download.

This CD issue from the CBC archives (also available as limited edition vinyl) is a potent reminder of the incredible jazz talent that has been coming out of Canada for decades. If you are travelling in Canada, be sure to check some of the great Canadian Jazz Venues.

Introduction by Nicola Conte

The intro says “Jazz from Canada” but from the first bars of Emile Normand’s dark, percussive version Horace Silver’s timeless Senor Blues, we know we are deep into our jazz territory. The vibe is mostly modal, with a pervasive Eastern influence, particularly in the mysterious groove of Pierre Leduc’s Soya and the brilliant 6/8 vamps of Pierre Nadeau on Consuelo. They share that cool swinging feel with the Latin workouts of Emile Normand and Maynard Ferguson but all the music here, whether from the 60s or the 70s, has obviously been carefully selected for it’s soulful edge.

Many of these recordings have remained hidden in the CBC archives for years and I’m aware there’s more waiting to be discovered. But start with the music you have in your hands, that’s what needs to be heard right now! — Nicola Conte

Liner notes by Tim Perlich

Ready or not, you’re about to be dazzled by an exciting set of innovative modern jazz so rare that much of it is unknown even in Canada where it was recorded. That’s right, this strikingly fresh-sounding collection of modal movers, spiritual swingers and Latin-flavoured cookers from the late 60s and early 70s represents an important but little-known chapter in Canadian music history.

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, CBC radio sought out the finest jazz musicians in Canada — both celebrated icons like Oscar Peterson, Maynard Ferguson and Kenny Wheeler in addition to many uniquely gifted but lesser known talents — and recorded them improvising live in a small combo setting for national broadcast. A few vinyl LPs of each session were pressed up and made available to the public but most this incredible music has remained in the CBC’s archive gathering dust for more than 30 years.

In fact, were it not for a chance discovery of a Fred Stone LP released by the CBC as part of their Radio-Canada International (RCI) jazz series, we might never had cause to check what hidden treasures lay buried in the CBC vaults. Flipping over a generic yellowy-orange LP emblazoned with the CBC radio logo to see the goateed Fred Stone looking dead serious in his swank vested turtleneck, I felt that familiar twinge which all vinyl junkies know.

That album I’d stumbled upon, inauspiciously titled “The Music Of Fred Stone” documented the adventurously creative outpouring of a gifted composer and an awesome force on the flugelhorn. Late great Toronto-born Fred Stone got his start playing in various CBC radio orchestras before moving through the jazz groups of Ron Collier, Phil Nimmons, Rob McConnell and even doing a stint with Can-rock icons Lighthouse. Although there may have been a bit more prestige for Stone in being the first Canadian to be hired by the Duke Ellington Orchestra in 1970. The deceptively banal looking album Fred Stone recorded two years later for CBC’s Radio Canada International (RCI) series definitely wasn’t your average budget-line bargain bin fodder. Apart from Stone’s own brilliantly conceived compositions like the elegant Prokofiev-inspired Troika, his masterful reworking of Maurice Jarre’s memorable Theme from Lawrence of Arabia well displayed his considerable arranging skills and inspired musicianship. Perhaps the most jarring aspect of the recording is that the music doesn’t sound dated. It seems like it could’ve been cut yesterday.

It’s immediately obvious this wasn’t any sort of slap-dash job geared for lowest common denominator appeal. But it’s doubtful whether this incredible music ever reached its intended audience. Infrequent CBC broadcasts were the only real airplay these jazz recordings in the RCI series ever received. The LPs were manufactured in small quantities and weren’t made available for play on commercial radio nor were they distributed to conventional record retailers. Instead they were sold by mail order through the CBC and made available at select gift shops in CBC office buildings across the country which made this already underexposed music that much more difficult to obtain. So while the artists involved were given the freedom to record their work as they saw fit, the downside was that relatively few people ever got to hear the debut of Kathryn Moses.

Credited with providing the tastefully sonorous yet striking flute features on Fred Stone’s RCI recording, Moses would later enjoy notoriety on the jazz dance scene for her spirited classic Music In My Heart. The Oklahoma-born Moses, once a promising teen flautist with the Oklahoma Symphony Orchestra, moved to Toronto in 67 with her then husband, trumpeter Ted Moses, and immediately immersed herself in the city’s lively jazz and folk scene notably recording and playing with Bruce Cockburn and Murray McLaughlin. In 76, Moses formed her own quartet and cut her self-titled debut album for the CBC. That whirlwind session produced the wicked scat scorcher Ready Or Not! which appropriately doubles as this collection’s title track. “We did the whole album in six hours!” laughs Moses. “It was the first recording session of my own so I didn’t know what I was doing but I remember having a really good time. I’d recently split up with my husband and was embarking on a whole new chapter in my life, so the feeling was, ready or not, here I come!” For her stellar six hours of work, Moses was presented with the first-ever Canada Council award for the Best Jazz Recording of 76 and has since gone on to compose and play on numerous film scores which she continues to this day.

Just as Fred Stone’s turtleneck was the first tip to a major discovery, the outrageous sideburn action Al Michalek was sporting on the back cover of his Voices LP screamed “BUY!” the second I spotted it amongst some acid house singles a popular Toronto DJ happened to be unloading at a record sale. What a thrill to drop needle on the Humber College music professor’s debut to find that the entire album was elegantly deep. And the title track? Pure magic.

No such scientific sleeve decoding is needed when you’re dealing with a rare Maynard Ferguson Sextet live recording from one of the Down Beat poll-topping trumpeter’s two taped performances as part of the Expo 67 Canadian centennial celebrations in Montreal. By then, Verdun’s favourite son hadn’t resided in Montreal for almost 20 years, popping up more in local cinemas than clubs since he created the music for more than 40 films during his stint as a soundtrack go-to guy in Hollywood. The rousing My Sister shows that even after all of his fabulous film work, Ferguson could still rock the house ragged with just his trusty horn and five robust young cats including rising star Brian Barley on tenor saxophone.

It was Ferguson who gave another promising saxophonist, Nick Ayoub his first big break in 1943 and soon the Trois-Rivi?s teen’s adeptness on all the reed instruments was getting him Montreal gigs in the big bands of Johnny Holmes, Butch Watanabe and others which continued throughout the 40s.After spending much of the 50s as a studio session man for hire, Ayoub began leading his own bands, typically involving under-recorded pianist Art Roberts. It’s Ayoub’s quintet with Roberts that recorded The Music Of Nick Ayoub for the CBC in 1977 which remains one of the most sought-after RCI titles. While many serious jazz-dance DJs have for years been dropping the track Desert Boots from this session, considerably fewer people are up on the moody majestic Saphir which showcases Ayoub’s superb songcraft and exceptional arranging skills. Stay tuned for more of Ayoub’s enchanting excursions to come.

Somehow the name Billy Robinson sounded vaguely familiar to me when I came across the Evolution’s Blend LP he recorded for RCI in 72 and it should have. The warm-toned tenor saxophonist from Fort Worth whom Freddie Hubbard dubbed “The Mystic” had played with Charles Mingus and Sonny Rollins prior to being invited by Archie Shepp to participate in the monumental Attica Blues sessions. Robinson eventually headed north and took up residence in Canada’s capital city, Ottawa which is close enough to Montreal to make weekend jaunts for gigs with pianist Sadik Hakim. It was there in 1972 that Robinson recorded the spiritually uplifting Evolution’s Blend album, a magnificent showcase for his masterful compositions and timeless sound. “I’ve always found inspiration in ancient things,” explains Robinson currently making plans to return to the recording studio, “Those smells, that sculpture and architecture are what fire my imagination. Music is my way of reconnecting with the distant past” And perhaps it points the way to the future as well. In recent years, Robinson’s Quebec On My Mind has become a sampling favourite of sussed hiphop headz and deep digging DJs who can’t get enough of the neck-snapping beats dropped by drummer Jim Norman. However the album’s real head-turner is The Family which charges like some unissued Strata-East workout thanks in part to the righteous rhythmic push of pianist Pierre Leduc, a groundfloor veteran of the Montreal jazz scene.

Even before the Montreal-born Leduc made his impressive debut at the 1963 Montreal Jazz Festival, the hard-pounding piano prodigy had been developing a reputation on the Montreal club circuit since his mid-teens, most notably at Casa Loma’s Le Jazz Hot room where his trio with drummer Emile “Cisco” Normand and bassist Michel Donato became the pick-up band of choice for touring US jazz greats like Coleman Hawkins and Pepper Adams. Leduc eventually became an in-demand musical director and accompanist for Quebec pop stars with exceptionally good taste before he temporarily bid adieu to the jazz scene, Leduc gave a tour-de-force performance with his quartet as part of Montreal’s Expo 67 hoedown fortuitously recorded for the RCI series. The entrancing Eastern-tinged Soya — a stylish 7/4 groover composed by Leduc after a trip to a Chinese restaurant — was recently resurrected by influential BBC Radio One personality Gilles Peterson who certainly knows a quality floor-filler when he hears one. Meanwhile, Leduc’s charismatic sideman, Windsor-born drummer Emile “Cisco” Normand — who interned with Yusef Lateef in Detroit prior to taking the Montreal jazz scene by storm in 1960 — eventually stepped out from behind the kit and began banging away at the vibes with combos of his own. His rousing rip through the Horace Silver’s classic Senor Blues proves he’s much more than just an explosive drum basher. You can hear the more sensitive side of Normand’s percussive attack with his old pal Michel Donato as they give a Latin lilt to pianist Pierre Nadeau’s Consuelo. According to Normand, now happily retired in Montreal, this one RCI collabo in January 1970 was the first and last time he saw Nadeau who apparently went back to writing and arranging for Quebecois rock celebrities.

Even more of a conundrum is the Electric Ninja Group who contributed one-side to the Pacific Rim split RCI album with Vancouver proto-worldbeat fusionists The Sunship Ensemble and then, true to their handle, quietly vanished without a trace. Evidently the Ninja’s mainman, Montreal-born pianist Rick Kitaeff, formed his ensemble in Japan and the Pacific Rim project was meant to be a hands-across-the-water cultural exchange. We can all be thankful that those enigmatic Electric Ninjas left us with the Arkestrally tweaked Star Of India as a parting gift.

Disc 1:

1) Intro
2) Emile Normand Sextet – Senor Blues
3) Kathryn Moses – Ready Or Not
4) Nick Ayoub – Saphir
5) Electric Ninja Group – Star Of India
6) Maynard Ferguson Sextet – My Sister
7) Billy Robinson – The Family
Pierre Nadeau Trio – Consuelo
9) Al Michalek Quartet – Voices
10) Fred Stone – Lawrence of Arabia
11) Pierre Leduc – Soya

Disc 2:

1) Intro
2) Yvan Landry and His Trio – Ton Visage
3) Nick Ayoub – Perception
4) Montreal Black Community Youth Choir – Tryin’ Times
5) Billy Robinson -Quebec On My Mind
6) Fred Stone – Maera
7) Emile Normand Sextet – Mas Que Nada
Sunship Ensemble – Atlantic Rising
9) Ted Moses Quintet – Hidden Strength
10) Alvinn Pall Sextet – Melancholy
11) Bernie Senensky Trio – Beloved Gift
12) Sadik Hakim – Greek Street Break In
13) Elizabeth Shepherd Trio- Ton Visage