Mark Stryker

Whether or not this is the way to market jazz is not the relevant question: More like: Is this the way to market Diana Krall?

Short answer: no. Folks who heard Elvin at the Blue Bird here in 52-53 say he basically already had his unique approach in embryo.

Hmm. Never noticed that before but then I haven't studied those records in depth and know the music only casually. But I'll ask Marcus Belgrave about this when I have the chance. Since you are on an Eddie Jefferson kick, are you hip to this video made in Chicago just a few days before he was killed here in Detroit? Poor reproduction here, but a fantastic young accompanying trio -- pianist John Campbell, bassist Kelly Sill, drummer Joel Spencer. (All good friends of mine.) Eddie is out there ... sometimes I really dig it when it's focused; sometimes I think it's ridiculous. But it's something else, and that's usually worth celebrating. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6781312547407999306

What do you mean by "and tuned" to resemble Charles' group?

Thanks all for the good wishes. Looking forward to a nice dinner tonight with my wife at Logan in Ann Arbor. Fantastic wine list, fabulous food. Not cheap but you can easily spend more elsewhere and get less. http://logan-restaurant.com/

How is that album? I saw a copy at a local store recently and wondered if I should pick it up. NP Dear John C. - Elvin Jones (Impulse!) stereo "van gelder" pressing. BUY IT!!!!!!! Some of Frank Strozier's greatest playing is on this album, especially "Stardust," which he delivers with incredible soul and sophistication (the arrangment, which is probably either by Harold Mabern or Frank, includes Coltrane-derived "Countdown" subsitutions and other harmonic felicities. "Invitation" burns too. Actually, all of the album is really strong. The rhythm section is splashy in a '70s McCoy Tynerish kind of way. I even like the Leon Thomas vocals too ("Little Sunflower" and "Nisha"). Samples on youtube. Search "Louis Hayes" and "Stardust" and that will lead to the rest of the album too.

Thanks much for this update and appreciate you keeping an eye out. Bad luck on the near miss. But I've talked with the folks at the Institute of Jazz Studies and I've got a reference librarian checking Nov and Dec for me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmAUNUXI2uM Met him a couple times. Was always very nice and self-deprecating ...

Ooh, my bad. Thanks. I was viewing on a small screen/phone and didn't pick up the mirror shot. I stand corrected. Related: Can film actually even be "reversed" in the same way that negatives are from time to time in print?

Man, where is the rest of this?! Would love to know the context and how much Sonny ends up playing, etc. Coda: Part of the film is actually reversed -- around the 3 minute mark when you see the the long view of the band in the studio behind Sonny, the saxophonists have their left hand on the bottom rather than the top stack and the bass player is fretting with his right hand rather than left. When the angle changes and Sonny is inside the studio with them, the orientation is correct. Coda 2: When Sonny comes in to the studio and addresses the musicians and says "very nice," etc., he also says "very nice tune." I'm sure he's not aware that they've been playing a Wayne Shorter composition, "Speak No Evil."

Two more Thad Jones charts written for the Harry James Band. Sonny Payne is your drummer:

One poster on YouTube says this: Joe Riggs would be the alto soloist. The chart is "Sunday Mornin'" by Neil Hefti. You notice how much this whole band sounds like Buddy's band from a year later (which Harry James helped fund, I think)? Tell you what, Buddy Rich is somebody who is "not for all tastes at all times', but that MF could drive a big band like nobody else. Not better than anybody else (whatever that means), just he did what he did as perfectly as it could be done. And kudos to Harry James for keeping a decent band playing decent music over the years and not falling into The Nostalgia Trap anymore than absolutely necessary. Here's the same band playing a Thad Jones arrangement of "Tuxedo Junction". Sounds like it was easy money for Thad, all he really came up with was the 16 bar sax soli and shout chorus on the bridge, but it's a damn good 16 bar sax soli and shout chorus on the bridge, and besides - Harry James was cool enough to put the money in Thad's pocket and not some hack's. It's not like most people would have been able to tell the difference, ya' know? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLUAF0XA3d8 And once again - Red Kelley & Buddy keep it in the pocket. Didn't have to be that way! Here's another one. Nothing superbadasship, just...a lot better than it had to be. Self-respect! That Thad Jones chart on "Tuxedo Junction" comes from a very nice 1964 James album comprised entirely of Thad's arrangements of swing era anthems: "New Versions of Down Beat Favorites" (MGM). I just discovered the record. Very well-crafted charts, full of piquant details but certainly more conservative than Thad was about to write for himself or the charts that he wrote for Basie around that time that didn't get used but then formed the core of the initial book for the Thad and Mel band. Yet there are hints here and there with particular harmonic substitutions and other witty flashes. On "Flying Home" in the final 8 bars of shout there's some quintessential biting dissonance in the brass. On "In the Mood" of all things there's a bizarre 16-bar interlude in the middle where it's suddenly shifts into a wild double-time quasi-mambo over a pedal point with an animated, James trumpet solo. It's nuts -- a good nuts.

Mark, email the Darmstadt Jazz Institut and ask them for their Thad Jones bibliography. The article/issue will almost certainly be listed. Then, you can order a scan from them for a few Euros. The Jazz Institut is brilliantly run, and endlessly useful. Re: Bartok's values, from the *1942* essay Race Purity in Music: "Racial impurity … is definitely beneficial … A complete separation from foreign influences means stagnation: well assimilated foreign impulses offer processes of enrichment". Good old Bela. Thanks much for the tip -- appreciate it. Perhaps the Institute of Jazz Studies could run it down ... haven't called on them before for a research question.

Thanks, but the brief excerpt he quotes has been widely reprinted in many sources and Francis was almost certainly not drawing from a copy of the original letter -- Metronome is not listed in the Bibliography at the end of the notes on that New World release. The most extensive excerpt I've seen comes from Coss himself who offers a few choice quotes but with many ellipses in a 1963 Downbeat interview with Thad. Which brings up something I hadn't thought of: Is Coss still alive?

Are you sure he didn't have valves? His heart, yes. Focus, guys. Focus.

Um, yes. Correction appended. Was writing around midnight just before going to sleep, wearing glasses that don't correct well ... Thanks.

Looking for some help from anyone with a collection of old Metronome magazines. I'm trying to track down a complete copy of the famous letter that Charles Mingus wrote to Metronome editor Bill Coss about hearing Thad Jones.("Bartok with valves" and all that.) The letter ran in 1954, but I don't know the issue. Unfortunately, none of my local university or public libraries has Metronome either in bound copies or on microfilm. Anyone happen to have this? If not, my next step will be out of state libraries ... Thanks. On a related note, in the course of doing some research on Thad today at the Univ. of Michigan library, I read a 1968 interview in Down Beat in which Jones called Wayne Shorter "a coming star in the writing business" and mentioned that the band (Jones/Lews BB) was currently rehearsing Wayne's arrangement of his tune "Dolores." Thad: "He doesn't write easy, rhythmically or harmonically. You have to work it out with the band and with the section you play in, in order to really comprehend what he's doing. Once it hits you, it really knocks you out." Pretty tantalizing, huh? I wonder if that chart is laying around in Wayne's closet, and I really wonder what it sounded (sounds) like.

In an essay about jazz on TV in Dan Morgenstern's "Living with Jazz," he mentions a program called "A Contemporary Tribute" that ran in the wake of Robert Kennedy's death that was a jazz-based memoriam. It was apparently 2-1/2 hours long and featured performances by Joe Williams, MJQ (alone and with CBS Orchestra), ThadJones/Mel Lewis band, Horace Silver's quintet, Woody Herman band, Bill Evans with his trio but also solo and with studio orchestra, Johnny Hodges with Duke Ellington and bassist Jeff Castelman. Singers Felicia Sanders and Amanda Ambrose were also part of the show. The background, producers, etc. is recounted on page 650 of the book and Morgenstern ends the two paragraph summary by noting: "I do not know if a tape of this marvelous show survives." I found a reference to the show here with production specifics, which suggests it does exist in the Paley archive: http://www.paleycenter.org/collection/item/?q=robert+kennedy&p=1&item=T:56401 Has anybody seen a copy of this? Do any of the veterans here remember actually seeing the show live?

Yes, festival opens Friday night, though there are often some school bands that get going in the 4-5 p.m. range. But the main deal is typically a double-bill with second act going on around 9. Possible in this case that Sonny might go on a little earlier ... haven't seen the specific times yet.

I own a lot of stuff on the label. Some things I go back to a lot; some I never do. Here are a few that I can recommend. Pianist and organissimo board member Michael Weiss recorded his debut LP for Criss Cross in the mid 80s and it still holds up: http://www.amazon.com/Presenting-Michael-Weiss/dp/B0000020LL/ref=sr_1_3?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1343164266&sr=1-3&keywords=michael+weiss From the same era, Mike LeDonne's "'Bout Time" is really outstanding (LeDonne, Tom Harrell, Gary Smulyan, Dennis Irwin, Kenny Washington)-- they strike a truly inspired groove. Walt Weiskopf, "A World Away" George Colligan, "Ultimatum" Gary Smulyan w/Strings Ralph Peterson, "The Art of War" Introducing Kenny Garrett Ok, now running out of time for specifics, but also like releases by Danny Grissett, David Kikoski, Jimmy Greene, Steve Wilson.

Beautiful version of "Round Midnight" by Steve Lacy -- anybody know the source/circumstances of this. French television I'd guess, but looks like a period film of some sorts. My kind of crowd -- nice hats. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0CsnRMokX0

http://fredhersch.com/press/articles/HerschBlindfoldTest.pdf The Blindfold Test ...

Lou Donaldson, Eddie Palmieri, Mose Allison, Lorraine Gordon (advocacy) http://arts.gov/honors/jazz/2013-NEA-Jazz-Masters-Announced.html

Long interview conducted by Ethan Iverson for his blog http://dothemath.typepad.com/dtm/interview-with-fred-hersch.html

Thanks for the summary. I've grown to really like these records; I will say that hearing Wayne play some of this material live in Chicago at the end of 1985 at the Jazz Showcase remains some of the most memorable music I've ever heard. He was really on the night I was there, and played very long solos (much different than today when it's lots of bob and weave). Of course, he needed to play long solos, because that particular band didn't have much to add beyond laying down the beat and handling the complex written material. But when I was there, it really felt like Wayne was enjoying the freedom of really stretching after all those years in WR.