Michael Fitzgerald

Wrapping up another discography, this one of J.R. Monterose. Hoping someone can supply tracklist/timings for East-West 4004 George Wallington: The Prestidigitator, also composer for the tracks "Jouons" and "The Prestidigitator" and studio, if known. There will be a few other questions still to come. Preview found here: http://www.JazzDiscography.com/Artists/Monterose Thanks - Mike

Excellent - thanks! Updated. Confirmed you are correct on those identical tunes, Bertrand. Can you verify Vertigo LP track sequence? LaRoca was the original drummer in Herbie Hancock's sextet at the Vanguard in November 1968 before Albert Heath (btw, Clifford Jordan was the original tenor player before Joe Henderson). In 1969 LaRoca played with Stan Getz and led his own quartets in NYC. That's what I know at this point. The only item that Bruyninckx and Lord show in the 30 year hiatus is an Annette Peacock album (Been In The Streets Too Long) with one track with LaRoca from 1974. It's added now, but I'd love to get better details. Apparently, expanded CD issue is planned. Could also use assistance on the 1964 Atlantic record by Walter Davis, Jr.'s wife Anamari. Mike

Dr. George Butler was Wynton's "in" at Columbia. Mike

Aces, Jack, as always. Wow - Muhal! Serrano's old buddy from the original MJT +3. My suspicion is that LaRoca was in Chicago with Slide. He had been working with the Octet on and off since fall 1959. When he was hired by Coltrane, LaRoca kept working with Slide and would fly back to NY to make Coltrane gigs. At least he did that when Slide was working in Pittsburgh in late April 1960. LaRoca was on the October 1960 Atlantic date and they had a gig at the Cloister in maybe October where they debuted Slide's new "Cloister Suite" (recorded for Charlie Parker Records shortly thereafter). But perhaps that maybe October was more like November. Another possibility would be Kenny Dorham, who started at the Counterpoint in Chicago on November 4, 1960 with a quartet. Don't know if he was working as a single or bringing a New York group. Here's my theory on the intended drummer for the Serrano session: Walter Perkins. He had been doing the MJT +3 in Chicago up until at least October 20, 1960 (unissued Chicago Vee Jay date, subsequently issued on Koch as Message From Walton Street). Serrano was the original trumpeter for that group, I believe Bob Cranshaw told me that he and Perkins came to NYC together. Cranshaw (who was also on that October 20, 1960 date in Chicago) recorded with Sonny Red Kyner in New York City on November 3, 1960. On November 7 & 9, 1960 (the days before and after the Serrano session) Perkins was in New York City, recording for Mercury with....Gigi Gryce. BTW, here's a sneak peek at the Pete LaRoca discography: http://www.JazzDiscography.com/Artists/LaRoca/ Mike

OK. I dug up the Jazz Forum issue. Jazz A Chateauvallon The third International Jazz Festival in Toulon (August 19-27) assembled around 20 bands with some 150 musicians. Among them was the CTI package with George Benson, Freddie Hubbard, Ron Carter, Stanley Turrentine, Esther Philips, Hubert Laws, Johnny "Hammond" Smith, Joe Farrell, Grover Washington Jr., Hank Crawford, Airto Moreira, Bob James and Jack DeJohnette. There were also Chick Corea, Flora Purim, Stan Clarke, Art Farmer, Slide Hampton, Hal Singer, Kenny Drew, Jimmy Woode, Clark Terry, the Marion Brown-Steve McCall Duo, Zoot Sims, Barney Kessel, Joe Turner, John McLaughlin's Mahavishnu Band, Art Blakey's Orgy in Rhythm, Paul Bley's Synthesizer Show, and Don Cherry's New Researches. European performers included the Terje Rypdal Quartet, Dharma Quintet, Martial Solal, Pedro Itturalde Quintet, Georges Arvanitas, Jean-Luc Ponty's Experience with Joachim Kuhn, Matchi-Oul Big Band, Michel Portal Unit, Les Luteciens de Daniel Barda, and Michel Terrioux et le Swing Limited Corporation. There were also the finals of the "Jazz Fans Berlin" band contest, a musical conference, jazz films and jam sessions. =============== So definitely not Messengers, possibly the recording is the "Art Blakey's Orgy in Rhythm" type of thing. Still not confirmed on location/date. Mike

Here's what db says: Joachim E. Berendt will produce a jazz festival during the Olympic Games in Munich, Jazz Now, from Aug. 17-20. Featured will be Jimmy Witherspoon, John Lee Hooker, Joe Turner, T-Bone Walker, Africa Now (with Ginger Baker and Art Blakey), Charles Mingus, Freddy Hubbard, Albert Mangelsdorff, Stanley Turrentine, and others. db 9/14/72 p.50 Mike

Well, that particular thing isn't Messengers at all. I haven't been able to determine whether this was a tour by the Messengers or if it was some kind of all-star package that happened to include Blakey. Stanley Clarke may well have been present because of Return To Forever (who was playing in Norway in August 1972 and Germany in September 1972 before recording Light As A Feather in London in October 1972). Early 1970s are tough for documenting specifics on the Messengers. Mike

Ask Barry Miles. He knows what "Fusion Is...". Mike

I have seen this listed as Chateauvallon Jazz Festival, Toulon, France, August 20, 1972. Something on this in Jazz Forum 12/72 p.22 Steig was just sitting in. Mike

I'm in the process of wrapping up a discography of Pete LaRoca and need to get details on the Riverside session issued as Paul Serrano: Blues Holiday. Specifically: track timings; any personnel exceptions; composer of "Me Too"; confirmation on title "I Dream Of Igor"/"Dream Of Igor"/"Dreams Of Igor" and composer. Also studio/location/engineer - I've seen this as Plaza Sound, NYC (in Chris Sheridan's Cannonball book) but with all those Chicago guys and with Cannonball having just finished playing in Chicago at the Cloister Inn two days earlier? Seems odd. But then again, if it were in Chicago, why LaRoca - why not Walter Perkins or Vernell Fournier (or even Louis Hayes)? I can place Slide Hampton's Octet in Chicago at the Cloister sometime in the fall of 1960, but not certain if LaRoca was on that gig. But if that did line up that would certainly answer that question. Already checked Furusho, Bruyninckx, Lord, allmusic and web. This one has never seen reissue, correct? Mike

Oh boy. I've dealt with situations like this for 20-some years. There are a lot of pitfalls and obviously you've already fallen in some. It can be unbelievably frustrating. The thing that has been most depressing is when I'm giving more than anyone else in the program. I'm making sacrifices to be there and to have that consistency, but others don't value it as much. I've dealt with this in terms of private lessons, elementary, middle school, high school ensembles, auditioned region and state groups, community programs, etc. My preference is for structure, which means grouping by ability, maintaining instrumentation, planning out specific goals to meet and then doing it all. Mixing strong and weak is a recipe for disaster in my experience, *unless* the strong are *not* looking to learn but instead are willing to teach - and can be unselfish. Some of the worst experiences I've had are where I get a reasonable mix of medium to advanced players and then after a few weeks we're joined by a beginner. Look, I can teach any level, but doing it all at the same time just won't work. Someone is going to be bored and someone is going to be lost. If you have the participants and the facilities to split up into ability groups, that's fantastic. If you can assign one advanced player to "coach" - either from within the ensemble or as an outsider, that's great. How many people participate and what is the breakdown in terms of instrumentation and in terms of abilities? I think the administrative stuff (website, etc.) is less important at this point than the actual rehearsing/teaching. I've done those things and it's been beneficial, but if you don't have a foundation, it's a waste of time. For my way of thinking, there needs to be a curriculum - what do the students need to learn - and then what are the activities and resources that are going to be used to achieve that goal? So, apparently there is "the guy who runs it" - what is his job and what is he doing (apart from trying to rope you into doing more)? Mike

Another student of Bill Fielder's, along with Terence Blanchard, Mike Mossman, Wynton Marsalis, Derrick Gardner, Terrell Stafford, Philip Harper, Riley Mullins, Shunzo Ono, et al. Mike

Excellent catch, Jack. That's the next item in the discography. It still has some problems, but...... I can only assume that "copy-and-paste" was the cause of the confusion. But still some sloppiness (SM(S)600 vs. 6001) and the dreaded thought of "It's A Small World" (after all) vs. "Small World" (isn't it?) - which is wrong in Jepsen, Bruyninckx, and Lord too. The "Rose's Town" error comes from Jepsen, who also skips the second "Little Lamb". 'twould be nice if between 1964 when that volume of Jepsen came out and today in 2005 there could be some progress.... Mike

What can you say when the artist's own website has this kind of misinformation? The only useful thing I can think is to have a "count the errors" contest. http://www.tonyscott.it/discography.htm ========================================== # 015 Recording date: Live concert recording 1959, unknown month and day - NYC, USA unknown place TONY SCOTT QUARTET Producer: Tony Scott Engeneer: Tony Scott O riginal: Signature SM(S)600 - Tony Scott: Gypsy Tony Scott (cl, bar), Mundell Lowe (g), Jimmy Garrison (b), Pete LaRocca (d) 01 - It’s a small world (I. Burke/ J.VanHeusen) 7.52 02 - Everything’s coming up roses (R.Carpenter) 6.51 03 - I had a dream (V.Duke/ I.Gershwin) 3.30 04 - Some people (Tony Scott) 8.48 05 - Little lamb (take 1-ballad) (E.Burnett/ G.A.Norton) 12.15 06 - Little lamb (take 2-rhytm) (N.Washington/ V.Young) 10.00 07 - You’ll never get away (G.DeDaul/ P.Johnston/ D.Raye) 8.55 08 - Cow song (J.Gillespie/F.Papparelli) 8.20 09 - together wherever we go (J. Garrison) 14.27 10 - Rose’s town 1-10 Signature SM(S 6001 Gypsy -.LP (USA) 1959 ------ FSR 574 Unknown Titles =============================================== Truth is, there's an error on EVERY single tune. One of the musician's names is misspelled. There are wrong tune titles. One of the issue numbers is wrong. Even the mistakes have mistakes!!!! Perhaps someone who owns this one can confirm - or more likely refute - that it's a "live concert recording". I gotta think that the producer and "engeneer" are incorrect too. What is really amazing is that in addition to copying errors from other sources, someone MADE UP composers. Those weren't copied wrong, confused by identical titles, someone just plain MADE UP wrong details. And honestly, the correct composer credits are not difficult at all. There's only ONE title that is even possibly not a standard part of the hit show "Gypsy" by Jule Styne & Stephen Sondheim ("I Had A Dream" - which is a theme from the show, not a song - so *maybe* an "impression" by Scott and his buddies). Mike P.S. - note the timings. In the late 1950s, a single 12" 33 1/3 LP with a total playing time of.....over 80 minutes?

Louis Armstrong: I Love Jazz I just checked the IAJRC Journal issues - there are over a dozen more examples. Mike

Please see the Henry Grimes discography on my website. This is listed under January 20, 1963. Mike

The basic thing was Mobley was a drug user. And that put him on the bad list. Byrd and Silver were clean. Mike

Honest to God, the original LP (CL 903) has an asterisk and note that reads: (*Pronounced "raise") Mike

Columbia producer George Avakian, who was responsible for these sessions, gave me his recollections on this. Here are some excerpts: ================================================ I believe my memory is correct - that the Messengers contract was with Blakey. Horace may be thinking about the co-op agreement within the Messengers. I'm sure I would remember such an unusual recording contract, if it included every member of the group. But I don't. What I do remember is that I was impressed by Horace (and Don [byrd]) as musicians a cut well above the usual "open Monday night at Birdland" types who were all over the place, recording for Savoy and Prestige and Roulette, and I was quick to grab Horace - who impressed me deeply was a person as well as a musician - for an album on Epic. So I think I recorded Horace under a separate contract, and that the option was not picked up by Epic. As for whether Columbia would have been obligated to record Mobley or Watkins - or Byrd - as a separate leader, I am positive that nothing like that existed, which makes me feel even more strongly that Horace is thinking about an internal Messengers agreement. The Byrd-Gryce contract came about because I followed Don's career, and of course the contact through Blakey had aroused my interest in Don (who was also a very nice guy) to a degree that I might not have had otherwise. Also, I was impressed by a couple of Gryce compositions I had heard, as well as the quality of the group, which I hoped would become another Jazz Messengers. (Didn't happen - no flamboyance, which of course Blakey had plenty, and Horace not quite enough although he looked great in action.) The Messengers recorded one session with Rita Reys (a Philips artist, pronounced "Rice"), so I believe there was a separate side agreement because the masters were owned by our affiliate, not us. I had met and heard Rita in Holland, of course, and knew she was an extraordinary singer - better than 90% of all the American female singers I had ever heard, and that still goes, if not more so because there are far more bad American singers today than in the fifties). ================================================ Mike

Virtually every Blue Note session between 1950 and 1970 already entered.....

Understood. Mike

Boy - that little question turned up a load. I'll now try to digest all this. BTW, Mike - I have entered the details of the Complete Riverside boxed set in BRIAN already (thus my question) and will be glad to export the info for you whenever you're ready. Mike

But doesn't the note on the Pacific Jazz album imply that Columbia did have an exclusive in this case? And the fact that Silver was obligated to complete that one album before going with Blue Note? Mike

Quite possibly. Another speculation would be that it was a matter of numbers - what if the co-op was required to deliver five (equivalent to one for each member) albums to Columbia? The Jazz Messengers Hard Bop Drum Suite Silver's Blue The Cool Voice of Rita Reys I'm hoping to get more info on this and will report back. Mike

Correct. Mike