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January 19 Birthday Salutes to Horace Parlan and Hod O'Brien


Ken Dryden

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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

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Horace Parlan Trio

The Complete Horace Parlan Blue Note Sessions

Us Three

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Horace Parlan with Stanley & Tommy Turrentine

The Complete Horace Parlan Blue Note Sessions

Wadin’

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Horace Parlan with Stanley & Tommy Turrentine

The Complete Horace Parlan Blue Note Sessions

On The Spur Of The Moment (master)

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Horace Parlan with Booker Ervin & Grant Green

The Complete Horace Parlan Blue Note Sessions

Up And Down

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Horace Parlan with Johnny Coles, Booker Ervin & Grant Green

The Complete Horace Parlan Blue Note Sessions

Back From The Gig

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Horace Parlan & Jan Kaspersen Piano Duo

Joining Forces

Broken Promises

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Horace Parlan with Doug Raney & Wilbur Little

Hi-Fly

West Coast Blues (master)

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Horace Parlan (solo)

Jazz Buhne Berlin ’83

Nardis

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Horace Parlan Quintet with Frank Strozier & Frank Foster

Frank-Ly Speaking

Frank-Ly Speaking

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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

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Hod O’Brien Quartet featuring Ted Brown

I Hear A Rhapsody

Trane’s Slo Blues

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Hod O’Brien Quintet with Tony Purrone

Hod & Cole

In The Still Of The Night

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Hod O’Brien (trio)

Ridin’ High

Portrait Of Stephanie

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Hod O’Brien Trio with Barry Harris

Hod Meets Barry

Moose The Mooche

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Hod O’Brien (trio)

So That’s How It Is

Forecast

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Hod O’Brien (trio)

Live at Blues Alley - First Set

Tangerine

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Hod O’Brien

Solo For Chet

Line For Lyons

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Hod O’Brien (trio)

Live at Blues Alley - Second Set

Pent-Up House

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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?

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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.

R-9199866-1476537973-7355.jpeg.jpg  HOD O'BRIEN - LIVE AT BLUES ALLEY: SECOND SET NEW CD

Live at Blues Alley: Third Set

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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.

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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.

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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.   

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