Ken Dryden Posted January 13, 2020 Report Share Posted January 13, 2020 Sunday, January 19th's program will honor the birthdays of two pianists, Horace Parlan (born January 19, 1931, died February 24, 2017) in hour 1 and Hod O'Brien (born January 19, 1936, died November 20, 2016). A number of the selections played are from European, Japanese or long unavailable CDs or box sets. Here are the playlists for both hours, streaming live at WUTC.org on Sunday, January 19 (3-5 pm ET) and on the HD2 station on Wednesday, January 22 (10 am to 12 noon ET): Hour 1: Horace Parlan Birthday Salute (born 1/19/1931, died 2/24/2017) Horace Parlan Trio The Complete Horace Parlan Blue Note Sessions Up In Cynthia’s Room - Horace Parlan Trio The Complete Horace Parlan Blue Note Sessions Us Three - Horace Parlan with Stanley & Tommy Turrentine The Complete Horace Parlan Blue Note Sessions Wadin’ - Horace Parlan with Stanley & Tommy Turrentine The Complete Horace Parlan Blue Note Sessions On The Spur Of The Moment (master) - Horace Parlan with Booker Ervin & Grant Green The Complete Horace Parlan Blue Note Sessions Up And Down - Horace Parlan with Johnny Coles, Booker Ervin & Grant Green The Complete Horace Parlan Blue Note Sessions Back From The Gig - Horace Parlan & Jan Kaspersen Piano Duo Joining Forces Broken Promises - Horace Parlan with Doug Raney & Wilbur Little Hi-Fly West Coast Blues (master) - Horace Parlan (solo) Jazz Buhne Berlin ’83 Nardis - Horace Parlan Quintet with Frank Strozier & Frank Foster Frank-Ly Speaking Frank-Ly Speaking - Hour 2: Hod O’Brien Birthday Salute (born 1/19/1936, died 11/20/2016) Hod O’Brien Quintet with Tom Harrell & Pepper Adams Opalessence Bits And Pieces - Hod O’Brien Quartet featuring Ted Brown I Hear A Rhapsody Trane’s Slo Blues - Hod O’Brien Quintet with Tony Purrone Hod & Cole In The Still Of The Night - Hod O’Brien (trio) Ridin’ High Portrait Of Stephanie - Hod O’Brien Trio with Barry Harris Hod Meets Barry Moose The Mooche - Hod O’Brien (trio) So That’s How It Is Forecast - Hod O’Brien (trio) Live at Blues Alley - First Set Tangerine - Hod O’Brien Solo For Chet Line For Lyons - Hod O’Brien (trio) Live at Blues Alley - Second Set Pent-Up House Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HutchFan Posted January 14, 2020 Report Share Posted January 14, 2020 Looks like a great show, Ken. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shrdlu Posted January 14, 2020 Report Share Posted January 14, 2020 Horace sure deserves a program. That is a fine list. Do you have room for "Trees", from Roland Kirk's "I Talk With The Spirits" album? Horace plays an excellent solo on that. A great moment in music. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Dryden Posted January 14, 2020 Author Report Share Posted January 14, 2020 The show is already recorded. Normally when I have done tributes, I have focused on an artist's work as a leader, though I do make exceptions. I don't think I have that Kirk album. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
felser Posted January 14, 2020 Report Share Posted January 14, 2020 Hod O'Brien has always been this mysterious figure to me. Showed up on a couple of good 50's albums (Three Trumpets, the Rene Thomas album), then again on Roswell Rudd's fascinating 'Flexible Flyer' with Sheila Jordan in the 70's, then fell off my radar. I see a bunch of later albums by him that I've never heard. Just read his wikipedia entry, and he looks to have had substantial connections in the early 60's, but seems to have been unrecorded in that period. I like his work on the Rudd album quite a bit. Also, would not have expected him to have co-led a group with Cameron Brown and Beaver Harris (think more of that being, say, Dave Burrell territory). Looks like he played with people from Sonny Greer to Archie Shepp. What else do I need to know about him? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Tapscott Posted January 14, 2020 Report Share Posted January 14, 2020 8 minutes ago, felser said: Hod O'Brien has always been this mysterious figure to me. Showed up on a couple of good 50's albums (Three Trumpets, the Rene Thomas album), then again on Roswell Rudd's fascinating 'Flexible Flyer' with Sheila Jordan in the 70's, then fell off my radar. I see a bunch of later albums by him that I've never heard. Just read his wikipedia entry, and he looks to have had substantial connections in the early 60's, but seems to have been unrecorded in that period. I like his work on the Rudd album quite a bit. Also, would not have expected him to have co-led a group with Cameron Brown and Beaver Harris (think more of that being, say, Dave Burrell territory). Looks like he played with people from Sonny Greer to Archie Shepp. What else do I need to know about him? I am a big fan of Hod O'Brien. He was on many of the Danny D'Imperio small group albums, mostly from the 90's, and makes a strong impression. He also made some trio albums for Reservoir in the 90's and 2000's (5, I think). I recommend this series. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Dryden Posted January 14, 2020 Author Report Share Posted January 14, 2020 Since my focus was on Hod O'Brien as a leader rather than sideman, I didn't include any of his recordings as a sideman. I included tracks from several CDs that were either rare imports from Japan, the German Blue Jack label and the long gone JazzMania label, in addition to the better known music issued on Reservoir and Criss Cross. He was a math professor for a number of years, so I don't think he spent much time in the studios and likely played sporadic gigs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sgcim Posted January 14, 2020 Report Share Posted January 14, 2020 I used to go see him after gigs in Manhattan back in the 80s, when he was playing with the Joe Puma Trio at Gregory's on the upper east side. They had that steady gig for many years with Frank Luther on bass. Funny stuff used to happen every time i went in there. One time, I was talking to a young Japanese woman, who was a reporter for some Japanese magazine. She said she was covering new music in the US, and was wondering why there were so few people in the tiny club. After I finished laughing my head off at what she said, I told her that young people don't give a shit about jazz, and to go downtown to Danceateria or CGBGs to see what young people were really into... Another time, Hod was just back from jogging, and he was bragging to a young woman about how far he ran, and was trying to pick her up. When he asked her for her phone number, she put him down so bad, I can still see the look of amazement on his face! Joe Puma would always be a pisser to talk to, with some great stories about Dick Garcia and others. They recorded two fine albums, live at Gregory's; "Shining Hour", with Red Mitchell on bass, and an album with the boss' chick, the vocalist Alicia Sherman, which is only available on vinyl. When I found out Hod had passed, I immediately bought the short autobiography he wrote, "Have Piano...Will Swing!" Stories about the Jazz Life. It's got a great discography, and some cool stories from Hod's life. Unlike most players in NY, Hod was a down-to-earth, fully formed person, not some egotistic half- formed cretin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Tapscott Posted January 14, 2020 Report Share Posted January 14, 2020 2 hours ago, Ken Dryden said: Since my focus was on Hod O'Brien as a leader rather than sideman, I didn't include any of his recordings as a sideman. I included tracks from several CDs that were either rare imports from Japan, the German Blue Jack label and the long gone JazzMania label, in addition to the better known music issued on Reservoir and Criss Cross. He was a math professor for a number of years, so I don't think he spent much time in the studios and likely played sporadic gigs. I know that Rob Schneiderman was/is a math professor; I didn't know that about Hod. I guess if Bud Powell had gone into academia he would have been a math professor too. Something about math and bebop piano. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Dryden Posted January 15, 2020 Author Report Share Posted January 15, 2020 My memory was fuzzy. He studied math and psychology at Columbia beginning in 1964, then spent a few years working in computer programming at NYU after graduating. He did teach later in life. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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