Chuck Nessa

So did Mr. Ellington.

I think you look for mystery where none exists. Sure Wayne knows about MC's work. "Moto" was the last Shorter BN issue before MC started mining the vaults so I can see him calling it the last. Nothing mysterious for me in his "sneaking in" phrase. Wayne knows the market very well and probably thinks of it as a risky financial venture since most of the material is available. The BN solution is much smarter for the current market. Wayne does not have the last word on issuing the final date - he did the work, was paid and that is that. If BN honors his wishes it is a courtesy.

All the recordings Lon mentions are MJR masters. This is not all - among the missing is a wonderful Julian Dash date with Jimmy Shirley.

I second the Decca "Classic Early Solos" recommendation. Also, the Standard Transcriptions are favorites of mine. The best current edition is probably the 2 disc set on Storyville.

True Blue Music.

More of "talking Serge" can be heard on "Boston 1950", a dandy Chaloff Uptown release.

WTF!

Freddie was always trying to get me to use him on a jazz date. I heard him a few times in jazz based groups he led on the south side and he sounded more like Sid Catlett or Cozy Cole than PJJ. Damn fine drummer and good spirit anyway. By coincidence I used his old partner Louis Myers on a Wadada Leo Smith date later.

You working on a Zadora bio now Chris?

Some time ago I was ridiculed for liking Morning Train!

I have a Flying Fish cd called "Squeeze This!" by Those Darn Accordians. Favorite tracks include Fire, Pump It Up, Sing,Sing,Sing, and The Story of Lawrence Welk.

Best guess is 6 months.

Nobody said he looks childish. Best guess so far is Lon's Freddy Jenkins.

Not Jabbo, he had a longer, thinner face.

Maybe Blakey said it directly to Michael.

Very nice. Thanks for sharing.

It may be a great album. No value judgement on the recording in my post, but players with styles set in the '40s and early '50s, while grafting on modal styles from the late '50s, recorded in the mid seventies are conservative to me. Had nothing to do with what I recorded. I don't expect/demand players change, I do expect a clear headed view of the evolution of music.

Don Byas too.

Eight guys, eight balls - cover looks right to me.

For 1977 this certainly meets my defination of conservative.

Hey, Iowa was the birthplace of Bix, Art Farmer and Glenn Miller.

Believe me, I don't mean to kick dust on the Pablo label BUT it is musically conservative. Nothing beyond Johnny Griffin/Zoot Sims stylistically. The label also released a bunch of mediocre or worse dates. There are many treasures in the catalog, but be careful. Pay attention to recommendations.

Al Jarreau was in grad school at the University of Iowa. He performed about one Sat. night a month at the Trap, which was in Cedar Rapids. I rode to the gig with him a few times. He was then a Mathis/Hendricks inspired jazz singer. Everything in his later "popish" style was in place at the time. He made a record for Studio 4 in 1965 with a Tender Trap rhythm section. It was not issued at the time but was issued on vinyl by Bainbridge around 1980. The Iowa City jazz scene was interesting at the time. Dale Oehler, the pianist on the JR record has/had a career as arranger/producer in LA (run an AMG search to see all the credits). John Wilmeth, JR's IC bassist also played trumpet and you can do an AMG search on him too. The regular drummer was Rusty Jones (nephew of Isham) who later toured with George Shearing for a few years. He later became a staple in the Chicago club scene. Paul Smoker had his own scene going on at the time, as did a dandy tenor player named Kent Kohea. As I was about to leave the university scene, JR was talking of moving to LA and the rest of the guys enticed their friends Dave Sanborn and a fine drummer named Tom Radtke to transfer from Northwestern to Iowa. You all know what happened to Davie, but Tom became one of the two "on call" studio drummers in Chicago. All of these people made it into AMG, I see.

The Message is a very fine recording but by the mid sixties I think JR had moved to another level. This phase may not have lasted long since nothing I've heard since then compares.

Never had the chance to catch Baby Face in person.