Michael Fitzgerald

Never (well, hardly ever) moved out of first position. No use of the bebop chromaticism, no use of blues slides. At times it seemed like I was listening to one of my elementary students. Listening back to the 1960s records he wasn't that bad back then. No Jean-Luc Ponty, but still.... But on Spanish Lady, he bowed up a frenzy. But it was all about energy, not about musicality. Mike

The Lone Hill Jazz CD does not include all the material from Snap Your Fingers - it just came out on Verve CD: Nothing But The Truth Three-Fourths Blues Just Waiting R.B.Q. On Green Dolphin Street Minor On Top African Lady Hi-Fly The last three are live at Birdland. Also missing are two tunes from Having A Ball: Rinky Dinky One Day I'll Show You So if someone is advertising "three complete albums" that's a lie. Only Night Song is actually complete. Mike

This was thoroughly discussed on rec.music.bluenote in 1996. Do a search in that newsgroup for "Jerry McGuire" - try this link: http://groups.google.com/groups?as_q=%22je...enote&lr=&hl=en Mike

Uh oh - Will Lee is the white, blonde haired electric bassist, best known as a charter member of the David Letterman band led by Paul Shaffer. He does have jazz chops and played in Dreams with Billy Cobham, the Breckers, Abercrombie, etc. http://www.willlee.com/biography.php His father is Dr. William F. Lee, former bigwig at University of Miami and IAJE and author of People In Jazz - credited to Bill Lee (plus other books on Kenton, Maynard, etc.). He's a piano player. Now, Spike Lee's father is Bill Lee - the bassist who worked with Josh White, Odetta, John Handy, various Chicago folks, etc. http://home.att.net/~soundart/11_billlee.htm John Lee is the black electric bassist - pretty sure he is not related to any of the above. http://www.dizzyalumni.com/artistpages/leeframe.htm Mike

Problem I had was that the Handy group was basically doing the same thing every set. Maybe not the same tunes (though they did repeat those over the course of the week), but there wasn't anything new or particularly challenging. And once you heard them, it was kind of a predictable rerun on subsequent evenings. You knew that Handy was going to milk that squawk of his. You knew he was going to do the altissimo and the arpeggios during his unaccompanied introductions. (You knew White was going to be the weak link, too.) It was very nice to hear once, but once was enough. Having seen three nights of the engagement, I could definitely pull out an album's worth of great - really great - music by the Grimes band. It would combine the in and out stuff (and some sets had absolutely NO in stuff - sometimes it was just 45 minutes of out stuff) and would feature a bit from each of the guests. (BTW, I found Maupin to be the most at home of the three.) This group was much more of a wild card (or call them inconsistent but at least they weren't predictable). Sometimes it was lackluster, but sometimes it was wonderful. The Friday night second set had "Round Midnight" with Maupin on soprano and it was quite unexpected both for the band and the audience. The "Oleo" that followed was pretty good too. BTW, though the announcements proclaimed that the Handy group hadn't played together in nearly 40 years, they reunited back in the 1990s - with the Yoshi's album documenting that, so that was a bit of false advertising. Of course, the reunion of Perry, Henry, and Bennie WAS nearly 40 years - last together on a 1966 gig led by Sunny Murray. But no one mentioned that. Mike

The Roach/Dorham material is indeed by a quintet - with James Moody, Al Haig, Tommy Potter. Maybe you are confusing this with the Moody material (10/19/48, 10/25/48) that was paired with the Blakey (12/22/47) on BN CD. Also, forgot to mention that 4/30/49 is by James Moody. Mike

5/14/49 was not a Blue Note session. It was leased by BN from Vogue. Four of the five tunes have been issued on Vogue CD I have - 74321409412 from 1997, paired with Dizzy Gillespie. 12/22/47 is the Art Blakey BN date which has been on BN CD, paired with James Moody. 4/30/49 is another Vogue session. Only one of the six tunes from that session was issued by BN. Mike

Lord and Bruyninckx give the following: The Hi-Lo's : Clark Burroughs, Bob Morse, Gene Puerling, Bob Strasen (vcl) acc by Frank Beach, Jack Sheldon (tp) Bob Enevoldsen (tb) Vince DeRosa (fhr) John Kitzmiller (tu) Herb Geller (as) Bill Perkins (ts) Bud Shank (bar) Clare Fischer (p) Joe Mondragon (b) Mel Lewis (d) Alvin Stoller (bgo) Marty Paich (ldr,arr) Mike

The Dizzy show on TV was probably the Monmouth Battlefield State Park gig that I attended in 1987. They filmed that for NJN. It was a beautiful setting. Fathead Newman played first. Mike

John Lee, not Will Lee. Ignacio Berroa on drums most likely. I saw that band several times, as well as when Dizzy played Carnegie Hall with the quintet forming the basis for his big band. That was on John Lee's birthday, June 28. Mike

Is this related to the one I have? Seems to be published by Jazz Critique in 1984. It's 384 pages and has a middle section in color following p.96. While I refer to the Cuscuna/Ruppli book much more frequently, there are some nice different things in this book - all the cover photos for one, but also Blue Note advertisements, label photos, some other things like a map of NYC identifying Blue Note offices, etc. Mike

I've never heard it - but they did tape (everything? most things? some things?) at Left Bank, so I wouldn't give up hope. Incidentally, the only intersection of Rivers and Blakey I have right now is at the Grande Parade du Jazz in Nice, July 1988 when Rivers was performing with Dizzy, and Blakey was in the audience for their set. Mike

And while I haven't done extensive research into the activities of Hill or Rivers during this period, what I do know doesn't fit in - 2/24/65 - Hill in Toronto without Rivers (Hutcherson, McBee, Chambers) 5/23/65 - Rivers in Baltimore without Hill (Hancock, Carter, Williams) 9/65 - Rivers in NYC without Hill (Grimes, Williams) 11?/65 - Hill in NYC without Rivers (solo piano?) 2?/66 - Rivers in Boston without Hill (Galper, Phil Morrison, Steve Ellington) BUT FINALLY ! 3/66 - Hill in San Francisco with Rivers 8/21/66 - Hill in Baltimore with Rivers (Richard Davis, Chambers) - but group did not show Mike

http://www.newsday.com/features/booksmags/...nment-headlines

Funny, I was just talking about this one with Ben Young and Carlos Kase, who did a great discography of Izenzon - they'd never even seen a copy. I'd love to hear it should there be a chance. Mike

Perhaps just a simple typo above, but that Fuller date was April 20, 1956. Recorded while Coltrane and Philly Joe were with Miles (Red Garland was supposed to be the pianist). They were at Storyville that week. It was intended to be a Pepper Adams record, I'm told. Transition planned to do a series on local scenes (see TRLP 1 - Jazz In A Stable). "Jazz On The Farm" was one title, including guys from Tennessee, as I recall. They never got around to that one. Mike

It was a multiple bill. [Didn't I say this already?] BTW, the other artist is NOT Benny Carter. It's Betty Carter. Mike

I would disagree about any lack of "good vibes" between the bands. I witnessed and participated in several pleasant conversations involving various people in both bands on Tuesday and Wednesday. And while there were definitely people in the audience who did dig both styles, I think there were some who went for one but not the other, too. Offstage there isn't any problem for the players. It just seems to me that musically there could have been better pairings for Henry & Co. - like next week's group: Archie Shepp, Roswell Rudd, Reggie Workman, Andrew Cyrille - oh, damn - Cyrille's already taken...... Mike

Did the Chicago Birfland come after they did Birdland, Budland, Monkland, Maxland, Klookland, and the Beige Room? Back to Monk & Trane. In 1966 or 1967 Monk and Trane played together because Trane's rhythm section got stuck in a snowstorm. The above-mentioned Coltrane list has some information on this. However, the Birdland gig you refer to was a double bill. There were several such times when Monk & Coltrane were on the same bill, but played separately. Another one that comes to mind was Stanford University 1966. Mike

The second sets have been better both nights. The first set Gary and Perry were late arriving (weather made traffic a nightmare). I'm still not convinced that Bartz was the best choice for this ensemble. He seemed to spend a good deal of his time quoting other tunes during the free improvisations. During the second set he played Greensleeves and was so unrelenting about it, that the tune turned into Greensleeves. I do think it would have been nice to have heard some tunes more like they did the first night (Doxy, Oleo, Dark Eyes). The Handy group rehearsed during the day so they were mostly able to avoid playing the type of standards that were used on opening night (like a "no head" verison of Softly As In A Morning Sunrise). The 1966 Blues For A High-strung Guitar was wonderful, with that very "retro" rhythm feel and the second set opened with Spanish Lady that was much tighter than the first night. They finished the night by reading a new piece - Pleasure Power or something like that - very Indian-sounding with an arco C droning for long stretches, then a unison melody line. It was sloppy, to be sure, but quite interesting. Look for it to return. I didn't find Jerry Hahn to be quite as impressive, maybe because of the lack of standards (or the element of surprise). But still wonderful. BTW, the Handy group now sits while performing (except bass) just as they did back in the 1960s. Folks in the house included bassists Ray Drummond (who as a college sophomore was an usher at the 1965 Monterey Jazz Festival where Handy brought down the house) and Ratzo Harris. Mike

Now, once we get a good list, howsabouts a "blindfold test" CDR that just happens to include LP transfers of all the orphans? I dub thee "Fantasy Leftovers" and leave the appropriate cover art job to the usual suspects. Mike

I spent probably an hour sitting with Handy and his wife and saxophonist Robin Kenyatta. Handy is a talker! Some great stories. The quintet was pretty sloppy the first set. Sound problems also. But the second set really took off. Jerry Hahn kicks ass. Even in the first set he was playing wonderful solos. Clarity, continuity - first set had a wonderful authentic blues that Hahn just ate up. Despite Handy's claim that they weren't going to do Spanish Lady that night without any rehearsal, they did it as the closer to the second set. A couple iffy points in the transitions but mostly absolute burning and the guys were so clearly loving it! The grins they had when the piece was done were evidence of the kick they got out of playing their "hit" from Monterery 1965 (and all subsequent gigs, twice a night, as Handy said) and pulling it off after not touching it for nearly 40 years. Handy is 71 and looks (and plays) like he is 50. Wonderful altissimo, some amazing arpeggios. Michael White - mostly not impressed, particularly on the straight ahead tunes, but he cranked up the energy on Spanish Lady. Don Thompson and Terry Clarke locked in - they've worked together often. I gotta check out some Hahn from the 1990s. I just know him from 1960s Handy and Gary Burton. This guy should be making his own records on a regular basis. Very individual style of articulation, a master blues player - adding blues/rock bends into the typical jazz style without seeming wrong, phenomenal velocity, and excellent line construction. I agree the double bill idea wasn't so great - especially because the styles are very different. I dig both (and was there for Henry and Perry) but it wasn't a good match. But each group did 45+ minute sets and there were a lot of good sounds to be heard. Since Handy's group did no rehearsals, they may not have wanted to do longer sets anyway. Mike

Oh man - $2.88? Can you get your money back? Superblue isn't a bad record, so maybe it's all right (although I regularly see that going for .99 or $1). I haven't listened to any of the others in ages. I still have nightmares about the version of "Crisis" on High Energy. Mike

I don't own either album but the tune Milano Blues is also on Stan Levey: Drummin' The Blues (Liberty 3064) - so one could check if somehow the titles got switched on the Milano Blues album. Mike

The catalog number clinches it. Thanks for that. Yes, it's a compilation. Bruyninckx and Lord discographies show it to include: Black Maybe (from High Energy) Yesterday's Thoughts (from Liquid Love) Portrait of Jenny (from Bundle of Joy) To Her Ladyship (from Superblue) The Surest Things Can Change (from Superblue) Mike