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May 19 Cecil McBee - 1935

Couldn’t sleep. . . big day ahead that I am nervous about, so I’m just trying to chill with some Benny Goodman . . . “Today – Live In Stockholm” London/Decca (UK) 2 cd set, disc 1 Couldn’t sleep. . . big day ahead that I am nervous about, so I’m just trying to chill with some Benny Goodman . . . “Today – Live In Stockholm” London/Decca (UK) 2 cd set, disc 1 Couldn’t sleep. . . big day ahead that I am nervous about, so I’m just trying to chill with some Benny Goodman . . . “Today – Live In Stockholm” London/Decca (UK) 2 cd set, disc 1

Hector Lavoe – Revento Mike Cooper – Trout Steel

This version of "Honky Tonk" (Part 2 - again) is most easily accessible on a CD that reissues all of Bryant's Dot singles and looks like one of those "reissue compilations for collectors" (I know, some would say "bootleg" ... ) with sometimes fancy label names and numbers (no guesses where the "Carolyn 101" release name came from ) that proliferated in the 90s. If you really want to have that version of "Honkly tonk", the CD is here: https://www.discogs.com/release/17677285-Rusty-Bryant-And-The-Carolyn-Club-Band-Americas-Greatest-Rock-N-Roll As you can see it reproduces the cover of Rusty Bryant's very first LP but its contents go well beyond the LP. The Bryant version of "Honky Tonk Part 2" does not stray far from the Doggett arrangement but overall sounds slightly "cleaned up". Probably it was the influence of the Dot A&R men at work. In fact, by their overall sound, most of the Bryant honking sax recordings from the Dot era (all very foot-tapping and danceable - musts for any honking sax collection ) might just as much have been the recordings of a competent white tenor saxist of those times (Sam Butera, Nino Tempo, et al.). Copies of the 45 are available via Discogs too: https://www.discogs.com/master/1356175-Rusty-Bryant-And-The-Carolyn-Club-Band-Honky-Tonk-Part-II-Lonely-Cryin-Heart

Ryan Porter, Lauded Jazz Trombonist & Kamasi Washington Collaborator, Dies At 46

Some of the earlier recordings on the Lou Donaldson Mosaic still sound pretty boppish. Lou Takes Off, for ex.

He had eyes for Varese. He knew he was trapped, by life. But he remained open and curious up until the end.Because he only heard music. "Avant-garde" is a lazy, bullshit term anyway. So is "free". So are all these labels. Witness the discussion about "what is Honky Tonk?" I'll tell you what it it - it's goddamn Honk Tonk, that's what it is

Not many can be Parker plus he realized he had to find his own style. I always wonder whether Bird would have embraced avant garde.

The newest album from Chris Potter, released May 6, 2026. With Bill Frisell, Burniss Travis, Nate Smith, Zekkereya El-Magharbel, Rane Moore and Sara Caswell. It's a "suite inspired by the story of John Brown." I don't listen to a lot of Potter, but while he plays fine here I keep thinking about how Frisell (g), Smith (d), and Travis (b) would make a helluva trio.

I'm not sure where I heard or read this story but it stuck with me and seems apropos to the discussion above: A man attending a concert (classical music) noticed that the guy next to him was sobbing uncontrollably during the performance. During one of the intermissions, he leaned over politely suggested that the crying man excuse himself if the music was bothering him. The guy's reply: "Do you think I'm here to be entertained?" Brings home the point that motivations for music listening differ from one person to the next.

Somewhere I saw a picture of a jam at "Tony´s" in Brooklyn, from that period. And it´s Bird AND Lou Donaldson. I would have liked to hear that.

oh that´s a treasure ! Burton Green once was playing in Viena with my late idol Fritz Novotny (Art Reform Unit), who was the pioneer of Freejazz in Austria (Freejazz as early as since 1959 !) Burton played also Novotny´s compositions "Pannonian Flower", and then when it was his turn to call a tune, he called "Crepuscule with Nellie". Burton Green loved Monk ! I don´t really know Teddy Edwards. of course know Billy Higgins and Christian Mc Bride. I think I have in the batch of my old records something by Dex, where he plays duets with Teddy Edwards, but more with Wardell Gray whom I know better. I don´t have this, but it must have been recorded with the band I saw live once, with James Williams and so on.... Oh yes, in my early days, like Bird on Savoy, Dex, J.J. Johnson, Don Byas and who may have been on Savoy, I learned that music back then. But I don´t know who is Leonard Hawkins. Bud is great here ! But he was always great !

well, I am a musician. And you can listen to bop to learn the basics about the music. But as a contemporary musician I have the urge to create, and bop is more the music you play just for fun, we have 2 times the week opener band (sometimes led by my group) and than jam with young music students who study jazz in Viena. That´s when I play some of those old tunes, and have fun. But it is just this....FUN. For inspiration, and above all for praying and meditating about that beautiful life I have, I love the music of those you mentioned. It gives me another feeling, it lifts me up..... And it spurs my own creativity. What I write is not written as a line for jam vehicle like would have been my earlier efforts "Bebop Airlines" based on "Poor Butterfly", stuff like that, but it ain´t it. You play it for a jam, but to play it as my music....bores me ! yeah superior to sideman, sometimes. But when he had Fats, or Diz, or Miles after his first learning period....when he had learned to fly himself....they are as much worth listening to like Bird. Bud, Monk, Mingus, Pettiford, Roach, Klook, Roy Haynes, Art Blakey, Howard McGhee inferior ? Never. Well clear, if you seek pleasure, that kind of music ain´t for you and be glad that there is enough music for you to have the pleaser you seek. Maybe Hardbop, Horace, Blakey Jazz Messengers, maybe the Blue Note and Prestige recordings, there is tons of it that you will like. In my case, I am not sure if I can definite that in musical terms. Music has to move to to feelings I never had before, make me happy in another dimension than pleasure, makes me burst into tears......I am a very very emotional person....

Saw him live yesterday, so today . . . Mdou Moctar -- Funeral for Justice

Speaking of Lou Donaldson in 1953, there’s a bootleg recording of a New York live performance with Horace Silver on piano—it’s a really great, Parker-esque performance. That said, I get the feeling that Lou returned to the Parker style in his later years anyway (like on “Forgotten Man” from Timeless). That said, personally, I prefer the rich tone Lou had during his Soul Jazz days. Opinions are probably divided on his use of Varitone, though... I still listen to the live album "The Scorpion" quite often.

Jovan Santos-Knox is out for the year. https://3downnation.com/2026/05/18/winnipeg-blue-bombers-rule-jovan-santos-knox-out-for-2026-season/ ***** Top 3 receivers https://www.cfl.ca/2026/05/18/mmqb-ranking-the-cfls-top-3-receivers-2/ ***** The league has created a chart to keep track of the quarterbacks' work during the pre-season. https://www.cfl.ca/2026/05/18/qb-tracker-breaking-down-preseason-playing-time-4/ ***** Sask-Calgary previews https://cflnewshub.com/cfl-news/cfl-preseason-today-18-saskatchewan-roughriders-vs-calgary-stampeders-tv-channels-live-stream-odds https://pifflespodcast.com/blog/game-day-roster-spots-up-for-grabs-in-riders-preseason-opener-in-calgary/

Of course it is all a matter of personal taste. At the time period that Lou Donaldson recorded with Clifford and with Blakey, he was among my favorite alto players. Ten years and more later, there were numerous alto players I greatly enjoyed while Lou had slipped far down the list of my favorites.

Various thoughts: 1 - Willis was a good singer for sure. I'm partial to Ray Collins because that's the era of Zappa/Mothers I much prefer. 2 - Yes, please take prostate cancer seriously. I've had five colonoscopies as they found something when I had the first one (20 years ago). There have been advances in the prep procedure which has made it much less egregious,and you're out for the actual procedure, so no big deal. I've had friends die of prostrate cancer, and that just didn't need to be. 3 - I saw Zappa once, in the spring of 1973, just post-Flo and Eddie (thankfully). It was the group of his with probably the most firepower, with Ponty, George Duke, the Underwoods, the Fowlers, Sal Marquez, etc. (a bit hazy overall). Yet the show was utterly anti-climactic because the group onstage ahead of them was the original Mahavishnu Orchestra (McLaughlin, Goodwin, Hammer, Laird, Cobham) in all their glory, and they played Zappa right off the stage. Incongruously, the opening act was poor John Hammond, solo with an acoustic guitar, sitting on a stool. In front of 15,000 people there to see the fireworks of the other two groups. https://jrirwin.com/remembering-zappa-and-mahavishnu-at-the-spectrum/

Features very good playing by Benny Bailey and Horace Parlan.

I don't get how they can list a sealed record with absolute certainty of what is inside of the shrinkwrap. There are a couple of sealed Blue Note records with cut corners and the release page lists particulars you could not know unless the record was opened.

Tal Farlow, Hank Jones, Red Norvo, Ray Brown, Jake Hanna “On Stage” Concord cd Recorded live at the Concord Pavillion, Concord, California August 1976 That unique vibe sound of Red Norvo. . . and the great drumming of Jake Hanna, one of my favorites. And oh year, those other. . . masters.

I can't think of any longer serving sidemen, other than the occasional lile Terry Bozzio or Roy Estrada who didn't really go away. When we were kids we generally listened to only to late 1970s to 1980s Zappa, so we all assumed that it was Frank Zappa singing.