Shrdlu

Medjuck, I had a job as a Math prof at a university in Sackville. They also had a student jazz big band, and they heard me practising in one of their practice rooms and got me to play 1st tenor saxophone in the band. I snuck my soprano in as well. During my time there, the university gave Oscar Peterson an honorary doctorate. On the evening of the ceremony, the head of the Music department had a get-together at his house and I was invited to that. I have been to Fredericton several times, and it is the nicest part of New Brunswick, I think. Pretty spot, and that historic park is not to be missed. It's better than Uppity Canada Village. After Sackville, we moved to Victoria.

Thanks, Gheorghe. The soprano was not a switch. It was the addition of another instrument, never intended as a replacement. Although it is a saxophone, mentally I approach it as a separate "department", rather than just a higher saxophone. Players such as Lucky Thompson and Zoot Sims played it with a standard saxophone approach, and sounded like themselves on tenor an octave higher. That sounds great, too, but it is not my plan. I was very excited when Tony Williams put out all the Bird Dial material on his Spotlight label in the late 60s and early 70s. Ross Russell worked with him on that.

¿No está aqui? Ha ha, Facebook.

Thanks for that post, Tom. I wish you the very best in your new setup. Having lived in New Brunswick for three years, I know what those winters are like. You deserve a break from carrying mail for hours outside. Ha ha, I once received a letter from the premier (or whatever they call the post) of Ontario, in which he described the climate as "bracing". It sure does brace. Now you can catch up with the recordings of Ray Coniff and Mitch Miller.

Interesting comments, Gheorghe. The main reason why I switched from alto saxophone to tenor was because my fellow musicians at the time preferred it. Prior to that, they never said anything against the alto, but their remarks about my trying out that silver Mark VI tenor made an impression. It implied that they didn't like altos much (they also thought Art Blakey was too loud - I never did) and I just decided to please them. It has been said that the alto has a rather monotonous sound, and that the tenor is the great solo instrument of the family. I have never regretted the switch. I had those English Bird LPs with the stripes on the cover. They also had some Dial tracks on some of them. Pirate, I imagine. The only jazz version of "White Christmas" that I have ever heard is the one Bird did at the Roost, and it was chosen there because of the time of year.

My remark about it being in mono if you are in an audience was NOT a joke. Anyway, I came across the CD again the other day and it sounded great. It was nice to hear a piece and then say "Hey, that's Traneing In from 1957". I was excited when I first came across IKEA. We have bought several things from them over the years. Everything was junk that fell apart. Class is something they never had.

Rudy had a special mike set up for the coke bottle. As usual, he was very secretive about which model it was. I suspect the Neumann U-47.

Most swing era saxophone sections doubled on clarinet, and often there was a bass. As an example, Benny Goodman's performance of "Mr Bach Goes To Town" has two bass clarinets. (That excellent arrangement exists in at least two versions: a studio recording and a live version, on one of the three M.G.M. "Treasure Chest" LPs.) A woodwind book that I have says that the automatic register key mechanism was introduced to make the bass clarinet an easy doubling instrument for the dance band saxophone player. That remark was made back in the 1950s. Nowadays, the mechanism is fitted to all bass clarinets that have two register holes.

I hasten to add that I like Oliver Nelson with that large band of regulars (Ernie Royal, Danny Bank etc.), but Blue Note also used him, and "Joyride", with Stanley Turrentine, is better than the Smith Verve sessions arranged by Nelson. And and album with Jimmy as santa yet?? Puleeze.

Well said. Jimmy's (many) Blue Notes are his best. Too much over-production at Verve. Verve was a waterer-downer label. I am not a fan of Creed Taylor at Verve, though he did produce some superb Jobim albums, there and as C.T.I. (with or without A. & M.). All of Jimmy, Bill Evans and Wes Montgomery were watered down when they went to Verve. But a guy's gotta eat, and they all deserved a good income. Bill was just about starving before Helen Keane got him onto Verve. I am preparing a post on Jimmy's final Blue Note sessions, four in just 9 days, so spotting this thread is very timely.

I also prefer session order, at this point. I hardly ever play a CD in its given order. But it has been interesting to hear the proposed "Slice Of The Top" album, and I never played the late 90s CD as is. It fits together well. I have always disliked the Prestige CD arrangement, in the "Original Jazz Classics" series. The Prestige LPs, back in the day, often scattered sessions over several LPs. It was a mess, especially the Miles and Trane material, and the CD era was a great opportunity to unravel everything. Of course, there were the "complete" sets, and, unlike Blue Note, the mastering was good right from the start. The online Blue Note Discography Project is extremely helpful, but, as you say, Mike, it omits recent CD reissues (mainly Japanese), some of which have tracks issued for the first time. I have sent them a few updates, which have been ignored. They did correct the "alto clarinet" to "contra-alto clarinet", though, which was an annoying error, but a celeste keeps being listed as a harpsicord

Yes, I noticed in that discography that three titles from the 3/18/66 session were selected for an LP to be titled "A Slice Of The Top". The 6/17/66 session was designed to finish the LP. So there is no doubt about the contents of the album, and the pieces fit together perfectly, because Lee, Hank and the rhythm section are on all of them. The late 90s CD served a purpose at the time, but it is a hodge-podge of leftovers.

That's pretty much how I feel, Lon. Having consistent mastering is certainly a plus, and I'm glad (but not surprised) to hear that it is good in the new set. Prior to this set, it has been mix and match, nearly all good though. Are there any new photos? Recently, I came by what seems to be the entire Frank Wolff collection. I forget where it was (the Mosaic site, maybe). I just played my custom "Slice Of The Top" CD, and it goes well in that order. Lee's "Delightfulee" LP has the same plan: medium-sized band sprinkled in with some quintet tracks.

That's a nice tune, Lon. I have it on the Japanese "LT" CD. Getting back to the three CD discussion, the tracks from the June 17, 1966 session do not belong with the leftover tracks from the sessions of 3/7/63, 10/2/63 and 2/5/65. That is not an issue in the Mosaic set, but the new set does perpetuate the incorrect titles from 6/17/66, and the tracks from 2/5/65 are in the wrong order again, and the alternates from 10/2/63 are in the wrong place - not even on the same CD as the originally released versions. Bad dog! It took me a while to unscramble the mess from the four CDs. An LP, titled "A Slice Of The Top", BST 84241, was planned, but not released. Oddly, it didn't include the tune with that title. It uses three tracks from the enlarged group (3/18/66) and the three items from 6/17/66, which have the same rhythm section and were recorded to finalize the planned LP. I have assembled it as follows (with, almost certainly, the correct titles - I am including the track times, for positive identification). Side 1 1. Hank's Other Bag (7:15) 2. Straight, No Filter (4:43) 3. A Touch Of Blue (8:48) Side 2 1. Soft Impressions (10:57) 2. There's A Lull In My Life (5:26) 3. Chain Reaction (5:53) This sets together real well, as a showcase for Hank and Lee, with the same rhythm section throughout (McCoy Tyner, Bob Cranshaw and Billy Higgins).

"White Christmas" has very tasty changes for bop soloing. It made quite an impression on me in my late teens when I was devouring all the Bird I could. Back then, you could easily get budget LPs of Bird airshots, 1948-50, mainly from the Roost, with Miles, Kenny Dorham and Fats Navarro. The sound on them (apart from the ones with Fats) was quite decent, too. The ones with Fats were still great to hear, and Bud Powell was on those. I had a look recently, and those ones with Fats and Bud (1950) are not too easy to find now. This is a good excuse to say that I think Bird was the finest improvisor in all of jazz. I say that partly because he was vastly influential, and also because he was rooted in the blues (which Diz wasn't). Bird's phrases are highly addictive, especially for an 18-year-old alto saxophone player. I was locked into Bird until, at 27, I switched to tenor, as did several famous players. You can get away from Bird, somewhat, on the tenor. Bird himself sounded dull on it. My switch was precipitated by the fact that a drummer friend had a silver Selmer tenor. Plus, at that time, I saw Zoot Sims at Ronnie Scott's in London, England. Pass me an alto, and I'll rattle off "White Christmas" for about 8 choruses for you, ha ha. I kept my mouthpiece, because it is a gold Otto Link Super Tonemaster and they are not cheap. No, I don't want to fall into that trap. Concurrently with all that, I had a soprano. It has no influence on the Bird issue: I have never played Bird licks on it. I'll be honest: I use Trane devices (imagine that, lol).

I remember the Coke bottle on that album.

This could well have Cal Tjader on drums.

I just read this, and got a shock, because I did see four of these eight: Rushing, Hodges, Desmond and Kirk.

Not bad for 5000 million years ago, or whatever their latest guess is.

Any download site that wants to be regarded as decent MUST offer downloads in WAV or CDA format, not just mp3 (and especially not 192 mp3!!). However, I DJ house (music) and mostly, one has to download those in 320 mp3. Those come across well through loud sound systems, to be honest, but jazz deserves better than mp3. Imagine the new Mobley Mosaic set in mp3.

Further thoughts on Andrew Hill at the October 63 session. He was only just coming into the ken of Afred Lion and Frank Wolff, and probably felt that he should play conventionally, as much as he could . As most of you may know, Alfred and Frank became fascinated with him and let him play what he wanted. So, we got the quartet session with Joe Henderson, and then the dam burst open with that session with the two basses. He was going full-bore by then. Then we have the lovely quartet album with Bobby Hutcherson and Elvin Jones (I love "Siete Ocho", in 7/4), and then, ..., that masterpiece, "Point Of Departure". I have the Mosaic set and several other Hill sessions, but I 've never bothered with them, apart from the session with Freddie Hubbard and Joe Henderson (which I had on a double LP in the mid-70s), and "Grass Roots" stands out. It benefits from Ron Carter's lovely sound. An album along those lines would indeed have been nice: with (as you said, Tom) Hank Mobley, or Stanley Turrentine, or other tenor players.

Tom, that's an excellent post. Bulletin board at its best. I hasten to add that I'm a big fan of Freddie Hubbard. "Ready For Freddie" is my favorite of his albums. I have a great pic of Lee and Hank sharing a joke at a club table, each holding his horn, but I can't post it here. There are, of course, plenty of recorded examples of them together. It IS an apparently odd choice, to have Andrew Hill at the October, 1963 session, but he "behaves himself", and it works. Of course, having Philly Joe kicking you along, and Lee on trumpet, helps. I vividly remember the time, in the late 60s, when a friend brought new LPs of Andrew Hill around: "Judgment" and "Point Of Departure". I was very impressed. I was very surprised to see Kenny Dorham on what was an experimental album, having only heard him on late 40s air-shots with Bird. (I was young at the time, and knew nothing of Kenny's post-Bird recordings.) It certainly worked, of course. A later, perhaps unexpected, pairing is Harold Land with Bobby Hutcherson. The mislabeled track to which I referred is the very long one, 10:59 as I recall. That is the only sure way to specify it. Simple error when the original compositions were registered. ("Bumstead! You're fired!)

This about sums up "rock" music, anyway.

Continuing with comments about the three CDs, I felt that the RVG mastering is quite reasonable. The McMaster does not compare well with the RVG: the bass is too "boomy", but it can be rolled off, and it will do. To me, Freddie Hubbard was not the right fit for Hank's style and Lee Morgan works better. Hank's intonation is normally spot on, but he's sharp on "The Good Life" - pull the mouthpiece off about 1/8", man. The titles are wrong on the July 17, 1966 session. We are presented with tk 3 Straight, No Filter, tk 14 Chain Reaction, tk 15 Soft Impressions The item labeled "Chain Reaction" is obviously "Soft Impressions". The melody of "Impressions" is actually quoted. So, the other two titles need to be linked to takes 3 and 15. I have no way of knowing which is which. I doubt that McCoy Tyner would remember, it having been recorded so long ago.

The remastering there is about 75% RVG and 25% McMaster.