Michael Fitzgerald

Mea culpa - I do only consider what is published in the English language. Mike

Wow - if you've *never* heard any of this music, you are in for a real treat. The Jazztet had a beautiful blend of wonderful composition and arranging from Golson (and John Lewis for one album), and a real group concept, not at all just a string of solos by interchangeable players. Not to say that there weren't strong soloists - Art Farmer, Curtis Fuller, McCoy Tyner, Cedar Walton, Grachan Moncur, Harold Mabern - man, everyone who went through the band. This is a set that many of us lobbied for and patiently (or not so patiently) awaited. Now that it's here (and with the fixed disc), and includes not only the Jazztet albums, but ALSO the Golson and Farmer solo records (each of which has its own special personality), it is not to be missed. You get the esoteric (some of those John Lewis things are out!) and the funky - I mean, Killer Joe, the *original* Killer Joe - with those memorable solos; the great version of I Remember Clifford; so many of the other beautiful Golson pieces (Out Of The Past, Park Avenue Petite, Blues March, Five Spot After Dark, Whisper Not, Along Came Betty, etc.) plus standards, compositions by other band members, a great mix. Look, do you like hard bop? If so, do not hesitate on this. This band is right at the top of the heap. Mike

Marty - I agree. My point about the Getz book stands - since it is the ONLY book, it's worth having, despite its shortcomings. I wouldn't mind having another book on Getz if it were written by a musician. Re: the Shipton - yes, worth getting, but in my opinion one should get and read the autobiography first. Mike

I think Jarrett's not playing might also have had something to do with the idea that he wasn't willing to "revisit" the electric period like the others did. Corea and Herbie played Rhodes (and we got a little ring modulator demo), Liebman recreated things too. I would have loved to see Jarrett back in front of a pair of electric keyboards just for a laugh. But it was not to be. (Besides, Jarrett did an entire album of Miles tribute - "Bye Bye Blackbird".) Mike

I have reservations about this. I thought Maggin's Stan Getz bio, while presenting some very worthwhile new information, glossed over huge patches of Getz's career. There was also nothing of significance in terms of musical commentary. In the case of Gillespie, is Maggin going to have anything that hasn't been printed in the autobiography or in Alyn Shipton's book (which I similarly found to gloss over much of Gillespie's career)? In the case of Getz, there wasn't another book out there so it was a welcome addition. But with Dizzy, there are already two. Sigh - yes, I'll probably buy it anyway. Mike

Would be happy to finish up a Gil Coggins discography if someone owns the rare stuff and can supply details. Lord CDROM lists 13 sessions. I have 9 entered already (all the 1950s material). Don't have the 1940s sessions with Warren Lewis and Betty Mays nor the 1990 album nor the Braith mentioned above. And of course, Lord does not have the Smalls records stuff, so if Luke can get me detailed session sheets on those, that would be fantastic. The rough draft is here: http://www.JazzDiscography.com/Temp/coggins-disc.htm Mike

Wilbur was at Reeves Sound Studios in NYC recording with Kenny Drew that day..... Mike

Bill Massey made twice as many dates as Cal (16 vs. 8), according to the Lord 5.0. All between 1949 and 1952. In addition to the Stitt, a few Bill Massey compositions appear on sessions by Gene Ammons and Matthew Gee, but the majority of his titles do not seem to be found in Lord - no idea whether they were non-jazz, or unrecorded, or what. Next "related" question: Is trombonist Eph Greenlea, whose sole recorded appearance seems to be with Bill Massey on a Gene Ammons date for Prestige in 1950 the same person as trombonist Charlie Greenlee (aka Hanifan Mageed, aka Hernitan Maseed, Majeed, etc.)? Or - could this be the same person as trombonist Bennie Green, who recorded with Ammons for Prestige the next month with an almost identical personnel???? Any chance Bennie's real name was Ephraim? Mike

BMI website shows Bill Massey as co-composer of all those tunes. Now that the dreaded allmusic site has it wrong, what are the chances it will ever be fixed? Mike

One of the best known trios of today - Keith Jarrett, Gary Peacock, Jack DeJohnette - actually first recorded together under Peacock's name on his "Tales Of Another" album on ECM from 1977 - six years before the first Standards record. A lot of bassists or drummers with big enough names will do this - Ron Carter, Ray Brown, Roy Haynes, Paul Motian, Ron McClure, then there's that Max Roach album with Hasaan and Art Davis that we talked about awhile back. The real question is whether the "sound" of the group is still coming from the pianist - is the leader-bassist/drummer just the name on the marquee or is he contributing the personality of the band. Would the trio be different if the pianist's name got top billing? I recently listened to the first James Williams "Magical Trio" album, which has Ray Brown and Art Blakey as sidemen - both of whom are better known as leaders than Williams himself. I still kept feeling that Blakey wasn't acting "deferential" enough. Mike

Yeah - he's done that before. One of the pieces from Letter From Home was written way earlier, also the Lyle Mays piece Closer To Home was done by the band as "Mars". Which live shows have the piece you're talking about? Mike

The city of Monster, Holland is next on the list. Mike

Having read Allen's manuscript and heard him give a presentation on the subject, I'll say that there is a LOT of great music that is under the radar of most present-day fans. Hardly anyone plays this stuff on the radio - it doesn't have "hit" quality, ya can't dance to it, etc. But Allen's work just reinforces the quantity of it all. Those of us reading this thread are "in the know" but the marvelous innovations of that period have been largely ignored in the history books (and in the music classrooms, and even by the musicians themselves). And because there was so much variety in there, even when some coverage is attempted, it doesn't do this stuff justice. There are plenty of things that even Allen could write TWICE as much about. A number of these kinds of things figure into my own research - the Lenox School of Jazz, Orchestra USA, Gigi Gryce, etc. - there are aspects of the classical/jazz connection and the pursuit of musical innovation. The artists we're talking about were not content simply to replay the same chord changes in a head-solos-head arrangement (melody in unison, of course). They were seeking "What's New" - not coincidentally, the title of a Columbia album split between Teo Macero and Bob Prince. Teo reissued his half and you can still get it on cdbaby, but I don't believe the Prince half has ever seen CD issue. As I mentioned in a recent discussion of Third Stream music elsewhere, I attended a concert at Manhattan School of Music in November where a brand new ensemble debuted - the MSM Chamber Jazz Ensemble. They played Poem For Brass (J.J. Johnson); Hi-Fly (Randy Weston, arr. Cecil Bridgewater); Abstractions (Gunther Schuller); All About Rosie (George Russell). The group combines classical and jazz students and is dedicated to the performance of "classic" Third Stream music as well as NEW music in that same vein. I found this most encouraging. Mike

Bit of trivia: There's an unissued track from the second session - He Was Too Good To Me - that is not mentioned in any discography. Mike

I watched this a few nights ago and don't remember the Jarrett quote as you have it. I just recall him saying Chick was playing electric piano, so he was forced to play organ. "I don't know which I hated more" was the gist of it. In fact, Jarrett plays RMI electra-piano in the footage. And Corea doesn't play the expected Fender Rhodes, but actually plays Hohner Pianet. For those who care. Highly recommended - the collection of interviews might even be better than the IOW performance. Wish they talked to a few more of the electric alumni, like McLaughlin, Shorter, Bennie Maupin, Billy Cobham, Lenny White, et al. Seems like there was some other kind of focus at one point because there's that interview with Marcus Miller that wasn't used at all in the main film, but is there in the bonus features. Mike

Thanks - yes, I meant to include the Sickler. The others I was considering just as reissues of earlier numbers (albeit with bonus tracks). Mike

My view is that anything recorded before the label's existence - the Bird, Lee Wiley, Chet Baker, Serge Chaloff, etc. are not "Uptown sessions" - they are private tapes later issued by Uptown. So they would be included in a different kind of listing. Re: master/matrix numbers - this is the kind of thing that is only known by the producer/company. If they can be learned, great - especially if we can learn about take numbers, etc. If we can learn recording sequence (even without any numbers), great. Sequence the selections as they were performed at the session. If, as in MANY cases, we have NO idea as to the recording sequence, I use the original issue sequence, showing a-01 for side A, track 1, etc. That way someone looking at the discography will know that the source of sequence is the ISSUE, not the recording log. Most discographies don't bother to make this distinction (and many list issue sequence but just don't tell you). I did a look at the listing, I would say everything up to 34 would be in (including the unissued stuff if that wasn't "historical" material), then 37, 43 - I think that's it. Mike

I'd forgotten that Noal Cohen had done the Dameronia one - I will get him to send me that session. Mike

Is the above facetious? If so, it's very subtle.... No need to read any further. If not, it was Atlantic Records that had the warehouse fire, not Columbia. This was 1976. Mike

The Kenny Barron (issue known as Autumn In New York or New York Attitude), and the second session for Transblucency/Uptown Christmas were the other two sessions. Mike

I'm flabbergasted at the mention of Perry Robinson in this context. How on earth is he under-recorded (later in life)? Please see the discography on my website. I mean, sure, we'd love more, but he's *constantly* doing recordings and they're being issued. I can't keep up with him he's so prolific. And Perry was a *leader* in 1962 (he was 23). Under-recognized, fine, but he did and does record. And the material has been issued. Henry Grimes? Is someone not getting the point of this thread? [next question: is it me?] Henry Grimes started recording back in 1957 (he was 22) and was steadily doing so all the way up until he moved to California in 1967. One that I think IS worth mentioning is Sam Rivers who NEVER recorded in the 1950s, right? Appeared on that December 1961 Dameron session for Blue Note that remained unheard until 1999. Then he joined Miles Davis in 1964, one live album unheard until - when? And only in Japan at first, right? Then later on Heard 'Round The World. So his first session ISSUED at the time was Lifetime by Tony Williams from August 1964. At which point, Sam was about 40 years old, right? Look, Sam was born BEFORE Clifford Brown. He could have had significant documentation going back maybe even to the late 1940s. BTW, the above is accurate - unless anyone has information on the two legendary recordings: with J. C. Higginbotham and Paul Gonsalves. These supposedly precede the Dameron date. Were they released? Dunno. It's a mystery. Mike

I would again be happy to put together a definitive discography on this label (which would mean only Uptown's original sessions, not their reissues - the Mingus, for example), particularly if previously unknown session details could be included. There are around 50 issues. I find that I have six sessions already entered from research on Kenny Barron, Bill Triglia, and Slide Hampton. But shoot, if some others would take the time to download BRIAN and help out, it would make things a lot easier. Those people could each enter the sessions for the albums they own and then export and email the XML files so we could get everything in one central database to create the master listing. The technology is there, the interest is there, it just takes the effort. Mike

Just checked and those little corrections mentioned were already in place. You just need to read the personnel exceptions more carefully because it's just the way it lists things - it depends on what percentage of the tracks someone plays or lays out on. So in the case of the Katz, Frank Wess only plays on four tracks total, three on flute and one on tenor. He doesn't need to be omitted from the rest. He's just added for those four. Mike

The "biography" articles are pretty bad. Just a silly album by album "and then he made this record, and then he made that record" deal. The Art Blakey one particularly rubbed me the wrong way (though I was credited) - don't ask me why it stopped all of a sudden at 1985. I find quite a bit of interesting stuff in the interviews but I definitely do not like the "cookie-cutter" approach of asking everyone the same questions. That's nice if you're doing a dissertation or something and you're going to present it as such, but particularly in the same magazine issue, it's stupid - and lazy, if you ask me. Still, I'm a charter subscriber and am not about to drop it. Supposedly it's going to be more regular (4x/year). Whatever. Mike

I think you want this: http://www.normanfield.fsnet.co.uk/rollini.htm Mike P.S. - and having actually *thought* for once about the goofus, I have changed its sort order (so the axlist link is now updated). Not that it matters much - I never ever have needed to include it in a discography, and chances are exceedingly slim that I ever will.