imeanyou

Very recently someone on the r/jazz subreddit made a lengthy post with a number of links addressing this very topic. Might be worth a look.

I have the French cd with the liner notes by Francis Paudras (spelling?), it includes the photo above on the cd cover slip. The notes confirm the lasting friendship between Monk and Bud, I recall the Kelley bio mentions that Monk, Bud and Elmo Hope spent a good deal of time hanging out and playing for each other, sometimes encouraged by Mary Lou Williams, who was an early booster of Monk's talent. Immense mutual respect.

Sad news indeed. I saw him just the once in Leeds in the mid 90's when he came over with his Gnawa dancers and musicians. Loved his playing and his compositions. He radiated warmth and a generosity of spirit that we need now more than ever. A top-drawer musician who knew the music inside out. I'll miss him. Thanks for all the music Mr Weston.

I'd go along with this, not just a great Rouse recording but a great recording full stop. Rouse and Shihab play fantastically together. Two guys who played with Monk, plus Davis who made a pretty decent Monk tribute album (no mean feat that- like Mahler cycles everbody and his dog has had a go). My feelings about Rouse with Monk have been pretty consistent, he doesn't make me sit up and take too much notice of what he is up to, but he was excellent at keeping the music together and I think the perfect choice for Monk's working band. As far as I recall (Kelley mentions this in his bio I think), Monk was impressed with Rouse back when Rouse was still with Ellington and a journeyman horn player scratching a living. Miles Davis opined that Rouse was one of the few hornmen that sounded good with Monk and knew how Monk operated musically. To me that makes sense. Davis would never hire Rouse in a million years but he understood that it's not always about having a star player in every position. Griffin, Coltrane, Harold Land and Gerry Mulligan never had anything to fear from Rouse as a player but they were never going to be permanent Monk employees. Rouse was a perfect fit for Monk's working band, and since making gigs was what kept food on the table (possibly Monk's paramount concern, after years of relative privation) Rouse seems a sensible choice. Doing him down as inadequate technically compared to the more storied hornmen who worked with Monk is kind of kicking at an open door. Rouse was good, not great and good enough for Monk and good enough for me. Away from Monk, a different and very interesting proposition. Monk was no mug when it came to picking musicians, thay had to be good enough to get his music and play it, and reliable enough to make the gig so that Monk got paid.

I bought 'The Epic' and picked this up the other day. I liked them both, there's a lot of music here and not all of it is pristine and glistening. There are moments where I think 'smooth jazz' rears it's ugly head, but that's OK too- I can tire of the 'Pharoah-meets-Charles Stepney' conceit. I think the danger for Washington is that he's so firmly nailed his colours to the cosmic jazz/hip hop demographic that he has few other directions to move in. His future work better bring something new or I'll be jumping off this particular mothership. Not quite ready to get wet just yet, but the clock is ticking.... Oh yeah, ..and he's no John Coltrane either..

Given his advanced years I'm delighted to see his name mentioned on the forum for all the right reasons. One of those artists where his name alone makes a purchase a no-brainer. Another for my mountain of Solal material.

Kenny Wheeler, Tomasz Stanko, Enrico Rava -ECM is the home to a lot of my favourite contemporary trumpet players. Sad to hear of his passing, I have the bulk of his ECM output and was looking forward to more from him. Thank you for some great music, Tomasz.

"Hey Rudy, put this on the record.....ALL of it" Well perhaps he didn't quite get there but what he helped to give us, gave me and many others immeasurable pleasure. Heartfelt thanks, Rudy.

Same here, I saw the post heading and thought, WTF, not more sadness. Being a Brit I have no clue who this guy is and don't come to jazz forums to find out which talk show host just checked out. Smartass-ery to no-one's benefit.

Sad, sad news. Still getting my head round it. Thank you Ornette.

A great servant to the music. I'll spin a few Riversides tomorrow. RIP.

Just a wonderful musician and human being who gave so much joy. R.I.P.

I know him mainly from his work with Pharoah and Billy Harper. A fine musician and gone too soon. R.I.P.

A belated Happy Birthday, and thanks for putting it on the record...ALL of it.

Like Daniel A. it was hearing 'Gnu High' that got me into Kenny. I can still recall hearing that wonderful, slightly melancholy sound for the first time. A great player who could effortlessly fit into all kinds of musical situations with warmth and grace. Just his name on a recording made it a compulsory purchase. He never let me down. Thanks for the music, Kenny.