Shrdlu

Sorry to hear this, Allen. I pray that you, and the bass player, will quickly recover.

Readers might appreciate a listing of Ahmad Jamal's early recordings. Discographical information is not easy to find online, and the recordings are not all easy to find without fake stereo reverb. As I recall, I got some of these tracks from LPs. These are the recordings with Ray Crawford on guitar, before Vernel Fournier replaced him on drums. I like both configurations of the trio. The Mosaic set blurb claimed that its content (the trio from 1958 onward, with Vernel) heavily influenced Miles Davis, but the 1958 and onward recordings were after the event. The recordings from 1951 to 1955, which I am about to list, were the influential ones. 1957's "Miles Ahead" took a lot from the May 23, 1955 Parrot LP, whose contents were later reissued by Argo. The Mosaic set, which has excellent music, of course, is not needed: all of its tracks are available on individual CDs in scattered order. Ahmad Jamal (p), Ray Crawford (g), Eddie Calhoun (b) Columbia Studio, Chicago, IL, October 25, 1951 1. The Surrey With The Fringe On Top 2. Will You Still be Mine 3. Rica Pulpa 4. Perfidia Same personnel Columbia Studio, Chicago, IL, May 5, 1952 1. Aki And Ukthay 2. Billy Boy 3. Ahmad's Blues 4. A Gal in Calico Ahmad Jamal (p), Ray Crawford (g), Israel Crosby (b). Parrot (Breezville) Recording Company, Chicago, IL, May 23, 1955 1. New Rhumba 2. A Foggy Day 3. All Of You 4. It Ain't Necessarily So 5. I Don't Wanna Be Kissed By Anyone But You / The Alphabet Song 6. I Get A Kick Out Of You 7. Jeff 8. Darn That Dream 9. Spring Is Here Same personnel Columbia 30th Street Studio, NYC, October 25, 1955 1. Slaughter On 10th Avenue 2. Old Devil Moon 3. Black Beauty 4. Don't Blame Me 5. Autumn Leaves 6. Crazy, He Calls Me 7. They Can't Take That Away From Me 8. It's Easy To Remember 9. Squeeze Me 10. Something To Remember You By 11. Poinciana 12. The Donkey Serenade 13. Love For Sale 14. Pavanne

Always good to discuss Red - and play his recordings. A lot of his items with Paul Chambers and Arthur Taylor were scattered over several albums, and CDs when that era arrived. At this point, the original album track orders are (to me) of no relevance, so I arranged them all in session order. A favorite track (not released at the time) is "Tweedly Tweedly Dum". It is perfect for them and they really dig in. I remember the pop vocal of it being plugged heavily on the radio in the late 1950s. I don't remember which vocalist I heard. We kids used to go around singing it. There is some uncertainty as to the correct title. I was delighted to come across Red playing it, and it's surprising that Weinstock didn't put it out.

That Mulligan set IS good. In the cover photo, Gerry is using the Selmer "Jiffy" sling, which came up in a thread in the Musicians' Forum section. So easy to adjust: a simple pull up or down, and it doesn't slip. I have one, and it hasn't worn at all. I wish they still sold them. Before that, my sling was a horrible thing with metal balls on a wire and a spring catch.

I also protest about Milt Jackson being called slick. To me, the sound of his vibes is one of the most beautiful sounds of any kind. He was better recorded from the mid 50s on, and he slowed down the rotors after his earliest recordings, which was a brilliant stroke. I don't like the nervous shimmer of vibes playing with the rotors going fast. I am disappointed with the audio on Monk's late 40s recordings and I don't think the age excuses it. I have all the Fats Waller, from 10 years earlier, and I'm happy with the sound on those recordings. No, the blame has to be aimed at WOR studios. Alfred Lion did not hesitate to dump them when he discovered Rudy van Gelder.

How sad, Dan, to have to part with your lovely horse. She is beautiful.

This is a very interesting thread. Alfred Lion and Frank Wolff can't have been making the large amount of money suggested, because I heard an interview with Alfred's wife, Ruth, in which she said that Blue Note was never more than six months away from bankruptcy. Also, it is well known that Alfred and Horace Silver were very close friends, so it is unlikely that there were arguments about money. Getting back to the original topic, I was collecting LPs in the 1960s in a large city, and I never had any trouble obtaining the albums I wanted (and that includes Blue Note, none of whose albums were issued by other companies). After I got my first Prestige LP, which had their mailing address in New Jersey, I was able to order albums direct from them. They had a very efficient mail-order business and a large number of their albums remained available for many years, certainly through the end of the 1960s. I still remember the name Marcia Weinstock on the correspondence.

In my comment, I missed saying that I like the July 23, 1951 Blue Note Monk session with Milt Jackson. Milt was an outstanding interpreter of Monk's compositions.

Monk liked Orrin Keepnews because Orrin wrote an insightful article about Monk. I think what Riverside did with Monk was great. I have revisited the Blue Note recordings over the last few days, and I find them rather dreary, to be honest. The engineering (pre-Rudy) is not very good and the horn solos are rather lame. The tracks are short 78 items, so there is little room for piano solos when there are horns. The trio sides are better, but Art Blakey is not as rich sounding as he is on the 1955 Jazz Messengers date. The horns are fine, at last, on the 1952 session with Kenny Dorham, Lou Donaldson and Lucky Thompson. I like the 1948 session with Milt Jackson: for me, that is the most effective. I can see why Blue Note had difficulty selling the recordings as a whole. Monk's Prestige recordings, which followed the Blue Note ones, were very good.

Awww, he is lovely, Kevin. Golden retrievers are the prettiest dogs, I think, and they are very friendly.

Yesterday, I put on the CD of Buddy Defranco's 1964 album, "Blues Bag" again. The listing is here https://www.jazzdisco.org/art-blakey/discography/#641201 Buddy decided to play a bass clarinet on the session, possibly for the first time ever. I heard that, a couple of weeks before recording, he got hold of one and practised on it. He was just as fluent on it as on the standard instrument. There is total mastery. It provides a way of judging whether the instrument is suitable for blowing instead of a saxophone. What struck me is that there is such a sharp contrast between its grunting low register and its rather thin middle register (above the "break") that it does not succeed as a blowing horn. It is inconceivable that anyone could play it more fluently. So, I think that it is best used as an ensemble tone color. Eric Dolphy's work on it, with his unusual style, is the exception that proves the rule. His contributions to Trane's "Spiritual" and Andrew Hill's "Point Of Departure" are immense. The Defranco session comes across like a Jazz Messenger session with bass clarinet instead of a tenor saxophone, it having the likes of Lee Morgan and Curtis Fuller. Very enjoyable to hear.

I got my dog pictures onto here by using MG's suggestion of using the "choose files" option. I had already reduced the file sizes to well under the 100 KB limit (with absolutely no reduction in quality that I could detect). I uploaded one picture, but the site squawked when I tried to upload the second one, so I put it into a second post. Then, it merged the two, making my text inaccurate. I didn't dare to try to edit the text. To improve this would cost Jim a lot of money, so I'm not going to complain. The dog is lovely.

Here is one of the pictures of my dog: Little Dog. I will try to post the other one separately.

Get back to Gabor Szabo. The thread is about him. As I posted when this thread started, I am very fond of his work. He had a unique and readily identifiable sound. I have enjoyed many albums by him, or with him as sideman. I don't know anything about the gripes about George Benson, and I skipped over them. Let us enjoy Gabor's work.

I heard that, once, home on the range, a discouraging word was heard.

I found out that the bass clarinet on Lionel Hampton's "High Society" was not played by Hymie Schertzer. It was a while ago, and I forget who the player was - sorry. Typically, in a saxophone section, the bass clarinet was played by either a tenor player or the baritone player (Harry Carney being an example).

I am a saxophone player. I currently have a Selmer Mark VI tenor and a Series II soprano. My first saxophone was a Super Action alto. It would be very awkward to play any size of saxophone from alto or larger without a sling. A tenor is heavy, and even though Pres is seated, it would not leave the hands very free to move. This picture might just be a publicity shot. In the 1970s, I had a Mark VI soprano (bought in Paris, France, where I was served by none other than Jaques Selmer). It didn't have a ring to hold a sling, and I felt that it was a bit heavy on the right thumb to hold, so I ran a bit of plastic-coated electrical wire around the thumb strap and always used a sling. It felt a lot more comfortable that way. Apparently Selmer agreed, because my Series II came with a sling ring. I have three slings now, one each for the cases of the tenor, soprano and my bass clarinet (which also needs a sling). My favorite is from the 1960s, called a Selmer Jiffy. It is the best one ever, very quick and easy to adjust on the job. I wish I could get two more, but I can't find them online anymore. I have seen many pictures of famous players using one.

Yes, Peter, George Tucker was great, too. He was in the great trio with Horace Parlan (about whom I just commented in the Mosaic thread) and Al Harewood. Alfred Lion used that trio to back horn players on several sessions. It had a nice gait. George really pulled on those strings hard. He must have been very strong.

The discussion about Larry Kart's lovely dog Scout prompted me to mention this. I think it deserves a thread of its own. A few years ago, a successful DJ called Takis, in Crete, was moved to start a dog shelter. It is out in the sticks, and, apparently, real estate is not as expensive there as in many other countries. He has a house there, and several large fenced areas for the dogs. Pretty much all the dogs are rescues from (often) awful situations. The canine population has grown to over 400, and there are also cats and goats now. They are all available for adoption. There are several dog shelters throughout the world, but this one is extra special, because of its size, and the hundreds of videos, and Takis's warm personality. This is an amazing ministry. I watch at least one of his videos every day. They are all on Youtube. Takis is fluent in English, and the quality of his videos is very high. He doesn't wave the camera around rapidly. Very professional. It must cost a fortune to run the place. He used his own money to start it, and he gets a lot of donations. There are several volunteer helpers, because there is no way that he could do all the work on his own. Check the videos out. They make a welcome contrast with the doings of the politicians, and will brighten your day.

Henry looks lovely. I would post a pic of mine, but there is a size limit for files and I don't know how to get around it. How is it done?

It IS enjoyable to discuss bass players. No disrespect intended toward George Mraz, of course. Perhaps this should be a separate thread, but it doesn't really matter. One of the very first decent jazz bassists was Walter Page with Basie. He wasn't restricted to an oompah style, on 1 and 3, implying or playing a 2/2 time signature. His intonation was spot on. He played a lot of root notes with a diatonic choice of notes, because his section mate, Freddie Green, played the notes from the third upward. Walter coached that matchless rhythm section. He paved the way for the bop bassists, such as Oscar Pettiford and then Ray Brown. I am very fond of Slam Stewart, having first heard him on the 1945 Red Norvo date with Bird and Diz. A few years ago, I saw a video of him from the 60s or early 70s, where he was playing well in the current style (and not humming). I like Tommy Potter on the Bird recordings and don't recall any bad notes or faulty intonation. He showed up on a 60s session (I forget which) and sounded great. Re Ron Carter, I like him for his rich, deep sound. Rudy captured it well on the early to mid 60s Blue Note sessions. As the 60s wore on, Rudy altered his setup for the bass players, and the sound was rather trebly. He spoiled the sound. Not the players' fault. That is one reason why I don't like the 70s C.T.I. recordings. Ron's bass extends the E string down to a low C, and he is able to get a fantastic sound out of the low notes. They seem to grow in volume after he has plucked them. My late wife, a violinist, told me that the left hand causes that. It comes across well on Herbie Hancock's "Speak Like A Child" album. Another bass favorite is Richard Davis, whose trebly sound contributed greatly to many experimental 60s sessions (Andrew Hill etc.), but who was also great in straight ahead sessions such as with Milt Jackson (e.g. "The Jazz 'N' Samba") and the Thad Jones Mel Lewis orchestra. Reggie Workman and Art Davis were great with Trane and others, and, of course, Reggie was fine with Blakey. All of these played in tune. (Hope this hasn't derailed the thread.)

I'm very sorry to hear this, Larry. The picture shows how lovely she was. It's like losing a family member. I still remember having to put down our German shepherd, Lisa. She was 9 and her back legs went. She was otherwise fine, but she was having trouble getting around. My older son drove us to the vet. He was so upset that I had to drive us home. Right now, I have a delightful little dog who is a cross between a beagle and a staffy. She has the pointy snout of a beagle but the coat (almost black) and her white shirt front are pure staffy. Super friendly, and 3 this month. I got her, at 8 months, from a young couple who were moving to an apartment where they could not have her. The lady looked very sad to be parting with her. She is a wonderful companion - I live on my own now. Once again, my condolences. You will enjoy this: Takis's Shelter in Crete. There are hundreds of top quality videos. Takis is an ex DJ who now has a huge shelter with over 400 dogs, all available to be adopted. His dogs go to several countries in Europe. He speaks English fluently. Amazing man and lovely dogs. I watch his videos every day. Some great rescues.

Listening to a Lou Donaldson album got me to dig out the Horace Parlan Mosaic set. Horace had wonderful, pungent chord voicings and had a unique sound - instantly identifiable. He could really lock into a groove. The Mosaic set has a lot of trio tracks and two wonderful sessions with the Turrentine brothers. That was a superb quintet - it also recorded under Stanley's name. There is some very lively Grant Green on one of the sessions. While I think of it, check out Horace's solo on "Trees" on Roland Kirk's "I Talk With The Spirits" album. That album is where I first heard Horace. Horace's rich piano sound is very addictive. This set led me to revisit Dexter Gordon's "Doin' All Right" album. Horace adds so much to that session.

Vitous is another bassist with fine intonation. I first heard him on Chick Corea's "Now He Sings" album, where he is amazing (and uncredited on the LP, as was Roy Haynes). Joe Zawinul said his intonation was bad, but I never heard him sound bad.

George Mraz was a superb bass player, with a great sound. He will be missed. He certainly had great intonation, but he wasn't the only one. Red Garland said that (at whatever point he said it) Doug Watkins had the best intonation of all the bassists he played with. I listen carefully to the bass on recordings and I've found that pretty much all of the well-known ones play in tune most of the time. As a saxophone player, I am amazed that they can do so without frets. How do they remember where to place their fingers? (Rhetorical question.) My favorite bass player is Ron Carter, and I've never heard him play a bad note. Paul Chambers is arguably the best of all jazz bassists. He was almost always in tune, and even if he wasn't, his superb feel and sound was enough to make the music good. No complaint from me. George Joyner was way off on the late 1957 sessions with Red Garland (Paul should have been used.) and it spoils the music for me. Curley Russell sounded bad on Bird's "Now's The Time", but was O.K. on other sessions, notably the Blakey Birdland date with Lou Donaldson. Pee Wee Marquette was out-of-tune though. Andy Simpkins has great intonation on the Three Sounds sessions, and always plays a nice double-stopped tenth just when one thinks it would be good to include. And Ray Brown was always in tune.