Larry Kart

Thanks for your kind thoughts.

Great indeed.

Back in 1955 I dug the excitement of the New Testament Basie band, but what really got to me was the sense in some recordings of individual instrumental personality/open-honest storytelling speech. A key instance was, from a Jazztone label collection, Peewee Russell's solo on Max Kaminsky's "Stuyvesant Blues." I could hardly believe what I was hearing: Likewise with several Roy Eldridge recordings, and a bit later on Jackie McLean. Many developments followed, but I've never lost my taste for what might be called "musical personhood."

SONGS WRITTEN BY TOMMY WOLF ORIGINAL SONGS Title Written by Originally by Original date Covered by A Face Like Yours Tommy Wolf, Victor Feldman Blossom Dearie 1975 Covered by (13 artists) Apples on the Lilac Tree Tommy Wolf, Fran Landesman Tommy Wolf - Monty Budwig, Shelly Manne 1958 Covered by (2 artists) City of the Angels Fred Astaire, Tommy Wolf Fred Astaire September 19, 1975 Covered by Tony Bennett I'm Always Drunk in San Francisco Tommy Wolf Cannonball Adderley with Ernie Andrews October 4, 1964 Covered by (10 artists) It Isn't So Good It Couldn't Get Better Tommy Wolf, Fran Landesman Tommy Wolf - Monty Budwig, Shelly Manne 1958 Covered by (11 artists) It's Nice Weather for Ducks Tommy Wolf, Fran Landesman Irene Kral June 1977 Covered by (10 artists) Listen Little Girl Tommy Wolf, Fran Landesman Jackie and Roy May 1955 Covered by (8 artists) Little Bird Tommy Wolf, Pete Jolly, Dick Grove The Pete Jolly Trio and Friends 1963 Covered by (6 artists) Night People Tommy Wolf, Fran Landesman Richard Hayes and Tani Seitz June 1959 Covered by (2 artists) Season in the Sun Tommy Wolf, Fran Landesman Covered by (2 artists) Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most Tommy Wolf, Fran Landesman Jackie and Roy May 1955 Covered by (248 artists) The Ballad of the Sad Young Men Tommy Wolf, Fran Landesman Tani Seitz June 1959 Covered by (86 artists) This Little Love of Ours Tommy Wolf, Fran Landesman Tommy Wolf 1956 Covered by (3 artists) You Smell So Good Tommy Wolf, Harry Stone [1] Jackie and Roy May 1955 Covered by (10 artists)

Shipping is an extra $15,000 -- just kidding.

In addition to the people Chuck saw at the Plugged Nickel, though I think I missed out on Jimmy Smith, I saw the MJQ and the Art Farmer Quartet (with Steve Kuhn, Steve Swallow, and Pete La Roca). The MJQ engagement was fun because the place was packed and the only seat I could find was virtually at John Lewis' right elbow. This meant that Lewis' characteristic contrapuntal backing for Bags was a good deal louder to my ears than the vibes were, which gave me a nice education into what Lewis was doing. I'm sure I'm forgetting others too. Red Garland at the Prelude

I see one copy of the LP available for $7, 999. I hope others can provide more information.

„(…) A new company, Paramount Records, set up a date with Dizzy and string section to record some Jerome Kern music for a memorial album dedicated to the recently deceased composer. … after the records are made, Kern´s publishers refuse to grant a license for their release on the grounds that Dizzy has departed from the orthodox Kern melodies.“ And here are the liner notes by mark gardner (OFFICIAL Lp 3032): „…date from Dizzy´s trailblazing trip to california in 1945/ 1946. His presence on the coast promoted the Paramount Label to set up a date with some of the Hollywood session musicians – strings, woodwinds, brass and even a harp. Dizzy brought along his own pianist Al Haig, bassist Ray Brown and a drummer who was probably Roy Porter and not Roy Haynes (despite what the discographies say). The idea was to perform some of Jerome Kern´s most attractive melodies which were already in favour with the boppers and allow the trumpeter to improvise over a lush backing. It was a bold experiment in 1946. Although the recording sound was not great, the pioneering session turned out very well with magical moments supplied by Dizzy who did a wonderful job of elaborating on the Kern tunes. The four tracks were duly issued by Paramount but were rapidly withdrawn in the face of vehement objections by the Kern estate. They felt the performances were disrespectful to the original music! … the Paramount titles became among the rarest in Dizzy´s discography until their eventual reissue in the 1970s.“ (on PHOENIX Lp 4). —>Blog owner’s note: They’ve issued them tracks unfortunately in totally wrong pitches which made ’em sound like Mickey-Mouse music! „… had the Kern estate realized it, Dizzy and Bird had already recorded All The Things You Are *) (Click on it!) for Guild the previous year in a far more daring version than this cut with strings which is done with great melodic feeling and respect. So much for cloth-eared executors!“ *) Dizzy Gillespie (tp) Charlie Parker (as) Clyde Hart (p) Remo Palmieri (g) Slam Stewart (b) Cozy Cole (d) — NYC, February 28, 1945 The date giving by Jepsen is obviously wrong (April 1946). — Dizzy and the rest of the band, excluding Charlie parker, fly back to New York City on Saturday 9, February 1946. So it must be between December 1945 and February 1946. —BTW: The arrangements are by Johnny Richards!”

I grew up on Horenstein with the New Philharmonia, a while ago acquired the Michael Tilson Thomas, which I recall liking quite a bit, and just the other day got the Boulez, which so far has swept me away. Without going back to check and compare, it seems to me to have one of Horenstein's crucial virtues in Mahler, the ability to settle on central tempos as much as the score permits and not yield to the temptation, especially strong in the 7th I would think, to overstress the, so to speak, episodic episodes. As for the appeal of the symphony to me, I begin with tenor horn theme, which never ceases to thrill, and continue with the sense that there's just so much terrific STUFF in the work -- one thing after another -- and in the hands of the right interpreters it all flows and fits. It's also that the flowing and the fitting together of all this is in itself almost a separate and magical act of prophesy. One can imagine Schoenberg and Webern listening to the first performance and saying to themselves, "Yes, we feel the air of other planets."

It was, and so vivid that I woke up thinking for a short while or so that that record must exist.

Yes, but pick a symphony too while we're at it.

Years and years ago I dreamt that I was in Rose Records on S. Wabash St. in Chicago, and I found an album that featured Jack Teagarden and Paul Desmond. They played "Stars Fell on Alabama,"a Teagarden favorite, with Desmond embellishing the melody around and above Big T. Dream on, dream on.

an opinon -- what is your favorite Mahler symphony? Mine is No. 7.

Mobley with Morgan Kelly vs. Evans with Miles, apples and oranges. Miles' choice of Kelly on "Freddie Freeloader" exemplifies this. Likewise, Kelly on the rest of "Kind of Blue" wouldn't have worked.

Early on, c. 1955, for some reason I can no longer recall, I refused to buy any album that featured an electric guitar player as soloist. That went away when I ran across a nice Barney Kessel album, "To Swing or Not To Swing" (Contemporary), and it never came back.