Patty Waters – College Tour (1993)

Although this live show was only recorded a few months after the Sings session, it's hardly extraneous, featuring entirely different material. It's also a considerably more aggressive and free-leaning effort than her debut, as Waters challenges herself and the audience with avant-garde crescendos of peals and wordless, whispering moans, although she doesn't entirely neglect the more subdued and accessible features of her voice.
Patty Waters is internationally recognized as one of the first major avant-garde vocalists. Her ESP-Disk' recordings cemented her reputation as a vocal innovator, and according to liner notes and public opinion, one whose influence extended beyond jazz to Yoko Ono and Diamanda Galas.

Patty Waters is a living legend and every record with her voice is, in consequence, a preciosity. Unanimously considered the main singer of the free jazz tendency since the release of her historical ESP-Disk albums “Sings” and ‘College Tour” in the Sixties, and widely known (Diamanda Galas and Patti Smith pointed her as their main reference) for her impressive interpretation of the traditional “Black is the Color (of My True Love’s Hair)”, her influence resisted to a 30 years disappearance from the stages and the studios. The return happened in 1996, but only to a couple more albums and a few concerts. “An Evening in Houston” marks Waters re-encounter with pianist Burton Greene in a 2018 special gig, along with the greats Mario Pavone and Barry Altschul.

Few female jazz singers were on Ethel Waters' level during this period - just Bessie Smith and Annette Hanshaw, and all three were quite different from each other. Waters has rarely sounded better than on the four numbers in which she is backed rather forcefully by pianist James P. Johnson (particularly "Guess Who's in Town" and "Do What You Did Last Night"), but she is also in fine form on the other small-group sides. "I'm Coming Virginia," "Home," "Take Your Black Bottom Outside," "Someday Sweetheart," and "Am I Blue" (which she introduced) are among the many gems on this highly recommended entry in Classics' chronological series.

1921-1923 (1994). Ethel Waters was one of the few singers from the early '20s whose early recordings are still quite listenable. This CD from the Classics label has her first 22 sides (many previously rare including five interesting instrumentals by Waters's band) and, although not on the same level as her performances from a few years later, the music is quite good for the time period. The sidemen are mostly obscure but include pianist Fletcher Henderson and cornetists Gus Aiken and Joe Smith with the highlights being "The New York Glide," "Down Home Blues," "There'll Be Some Changes Made" and "Midnight Blues"…

Sun Ra - College Tour, Volume One: The Complete Nothing Is… (1966) {2CD Set ESP 4060 rel 2010}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 828 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 325 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 34 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1966, 2010 ESP Disk' ‎| ESP 4060
Jazz / Avant-Garde Jazz / Space-Age / Jazz Funk / Progressive Jazz

In 1966 Bernard Stollman put together a multi-artist tour of five New York colleges and sent audio engineer David B. Jones on the road with it. When they returned, just 39 minutes of music was chosen to be released as the original Sun Ra LP Nothing Is… (ESP1045). Forty-four years later, after extensive research, Sun Ra archivist Michael D. Anderson pieced together some missing parts of the New York College Tour. Recorded on May 18th 1966 at St. Lawrence University in Potsdam, NY, this illuminating document represents the full 70-minute first set, from which Nothing Is… was taken, including an introduction by ESP artist Burton Greene.