Quasimado

Beautiful listening and writing, Larry. I think most people who listen to jazz seriously these days recognize Chet as one of the great trumpet players - but his vocal abilities are still underrated. While it does not always happen, the best of his improvisations in this form (scat or with the added difficulty of phrasing with words) are astonishing in their inventiveness and musicality - “magical mystery tour” indeed!

Volumes 1 & 2 are certainly early. What kind of recording techniques were employed then and how do they sound?

Lennie Tristano used it effectively on solo recordings at one stage in his career - not with a bass player (as I recall).

It seems not. According to the original passage, -- he was conducting in shirtsleeves only -- .

Didn't know about Mosaic mania. You mean even I might be considered hip?

No pic

I seem to recall that at some point (50's, 60's, 70's?) Gail was running a small motel somewhere in LA.

Good book! There's a thread somewhere ...

That's a profound quote and very true. The rarer 2nd take is even better than the master, IMO.

Heard The Passion of Charlie Parker on a long flight home - was intrigued because at the time there was no information available about who was playing ... but played it right through anyway and I was, well, perplexed but basically found it interesting and, dare I say it, moving. Unlike JSngry, I find rhythm sections who continually fool with time irritating in the extreme - and here so often they almost seemed to have something going (swinging in 4/4) which could have pushed the tenor (McCaslin) into something significant, only to quickly drop it for something else - and the tenor responded accordingly and the opportunity was missed. But, McCaslin is a hell of a player who is all over the horn - a lot of legato chromatic playing - he sounds like Warne Marsh in the upper register and has a remarkable tone - almost phosphorescent (?) which greatly adds to the overall atmosphere. Rhythmically he has it covered but occasionally breaks up his flow with corny marching band type nonsense. The vocals/ vocal passages are very hip and perhaps capture something of Bird's scene. I dislike fusion intensely but this is not that simplistic. It's a unique workout on Bird's tunes and lifestyle that manages to capture something pretty profound - for all the wrong reasons (from my viewpoint).

Jim's "woke" - get it?

Here's Luigi with another fine alto player, Joan Marti.

Barry Harris has said that the Grasso Brothers (Luigi - alto, Pasquale - guitar) are "the best musicians in the world". This features Luigi's arrangement/ alto. Pasquale also solos. These cats are incredible musicians. There's a lot more stuff on youtube.

Anyway we are SHOCKED, SHOCKED by these lyrics!