Justin V

This thread inspired me to pick up the Collector's Disc, which was only $2.98 plus shipping from Amazon. Although I have a few tracks elsewhere, it appears that this collection might be the only legit release for some of these tracks. To answer the original question, I also own the Hank Jones, Jones Brothers, Lee Konitz, Art Blakey, Jimmy Cleveland and The Jazztet albums. I bought the Konitz set a couple of years ago for around $50 (IIRC) from Amazon UK, and it was worth it!

I only picked up my first Don Friedman-led (well, co-led with Don Thompson) date, Opus D'Amour, earlier this year and was very impressed. I believe that he played Mezzrow either shortly before or shortly after one of my latest visits to New York, and I probably would've seen him had I been in town for it. I'll be spinning Scott LaFaro's Pieces of Jade soon, as the bulk of it consists of five tracks by a trio of Friedman, LaFaro and Pete LaRoca and a later solo piece by Friedman dedicated to LaFaro (and a long rehearsal take by Bill Evans and LaFaro). Given how fresh and unhackneyed I find his playing to be on Opus D'Amour, I'll definitely be picking up more of his music. Thank you for the music, Mr. Friedman, and rest in peace.

I hope that Mr. Priester is having a happy and healthy birthday.

I'll preface this by saying that I have been very, very fortunate to see a large number of the music's greatest musicians, some of whom have since left us. I only started listening to jazz in 2001 or 2002, so I obviously never had the chance to see some people. I'm not going to beat myself up too much over faraway gigs that I may not have even known about, but there are a few missed opportunities that haunt me: Cedar Walton: He was playing an art museum in Buffalo, but my school schedule made it too difficult to attend. Mulgrew Miller: He was playing an early gig with a university (MSU?) big band at the Detroit Jazz Fest, but my wife and I got off to a late start leaving the hotel that day. We missed another Mulgrew gig, a duo with Kenny Barron, later that day because we hadn't dressed appropriately and left early. I've since had the opportunity to see Kenny Barron, a personal favorite, 4 times, but that was my last chance to see Mulgrew. Although I have many albums that are enriched by his playing, I wish that I hadn't taken it for granted that I'd get another chance to see him. Von Freeman: He was playing a gig in Millennial Park in Chicago with Steve Coleman (and perhaps other special guests), but an expensive car repair that month forced us to scuttle our plans. Considering that Chicago is relatively close to Cleveland, I also wish that I had caught him at the bar where he had his weekly gig. Gerald Wilson: I am normally good about seeing the older legends when I get the chance, but I missed one or two opportunities to see Wilson at the Detroit Jazz Fest, although I'm not 100% sure that he played on days that I attended.

I first heard Sir Charles Thompson on Charlie Parker at Storyville. In the years since, I've also enjoyed his playing on Buck Clayton's Complete CBS Jam Sessions Mosaic and the similarly wonderful Complete Master Jazz Piano Mosaic, as well as Ike Quebec's Complete Blue Note 45 Sessions (and maybe other albums, for that matter). It's a shame that he didn't have a higher profile in recent years. Thank you for the music, Mr. Thompson, and rest in peace.

I saw Randy Jones with Dave Brubeck the only time I saw Brubeck perform. The concert really opened my ears to Brubeck's music, and I remember being impressed by Jones' crisply swinging drumming (I was also impressed by fellow sidemen Bobby Militello and Michael Moore). Rest in peace, Mr. Jones, and thank you for the music.

I don't think I noticed this thread back in February, so I'm glad that someone bumped it up. I'm not very familiar with Mitchell's work, but Red's Out of the Blue is an underrated gem. A rhythm section of John Hicks, Gene Taylor and Joe Chambers further makes this a must-have for me.

I was at the concert that they put on two years ago and posted these thoughts in the 'Live Music' thread: 'Last night, I caught a celebration of Milt Hinton at Oberlin. Oberlin has acquired four of Hinton's basses and his pictures and other documents. The performance featured all of the donated basses, which will be available for Oberlin students to play. The concert featured bassists Richard Davis, Rufus Reid, John Clayton, Gerald Cannon, Jerry Jemmott and Peter Dominguez, among many other bassists, as well as Oberlin faculty members Gary Bartz and Billy Hart. Three weeks ago, I never thought that I'd get a chance to see Richard Davis perform. Now I've seen him at two special events celebrating the lives of other artists (Hinton and Eric Dolphy), and I found out about both events just in the nick of time. Coincidentally, although this was my first time seeing Rufus Reid perform, he was in attendance at the Dolphy festival. Some of the many highlights included: Richard Davis's challenging solo piece that he bowed exclusively; a bass/drums blues on which many of the bassists on hand passed the bass to the next man up in a round robin of solos (with Richard Davis dancing his way across the stage) and Billy Hart playing only Papa Jo Jones's snare drum; Rufus Reid's solo takes on Paul Chambers's 'Visitation' and Tadd Dameron's 'If You Could See Me Now'; a Bartz/Dominguez/Hart workout on 'The Shadow of Your Smile'; a Jemmott/Hart duo on Horace Silver's 'Filthy McNasty'; a John Clayton solo improvisation that morphed into 'It Don't Mean a Thing'; a solo version of 'Lately' that showed of Dominguez's dark tone on Hinton's bass; and, a finale featuring the Milt Institute students (all 25-30 of them!) in an all-bass orchestra for two songs and with Hart, Clayton, Cannon and Bartz joining them for the last song, which was a Ray Brown blues. While the highlights that I've mentioned were the jazz-oriented ones, it was a celebration of the bass and its role in jazz as well as classical (in particular, classical bassist Diana Gannett stood out). The jovial, celebratory atmosphere, peerless lineup of musicians and excellent acoustics of Oberlin's Warner Concert Hall made it a special evening that I won't soon forget. I hope that Oberlin continues celebrating Hinton's legacy with many more concerts in the future.'

To name one who hasn't yet been mentioned, Jeff 'Tain' Watts is a fine composer. I've played the heck out of Family, an album that features Steve Wilson, David Kikoski and James Genus.

I wonder whether Russell Malone and Mulgrew Miller were in Monaco for a gig as part of Ron Carter's Golden Striker Trio. Did Mulgrew and Sonny Rollins ever record or work together? I'll be listening to Freddie Hubbard and Woody Shaw's Double Take with Mulgrew, Kenny Garrett, Cecil McBee and Carl Allen today.

I hope that you find the last two discs eventually. I had the first two discs of the Buck Clayton set and was ecstatic when i was able to find the whole set for a good price a few years later.

I had a chance to tell him how much I enjoy his playing after a Cookers gig and he seemed like a nice, down-to-earth guy as well. I've seen him with The Cookers twice, a partial Saxophone Summit set and two sets with Paul Winter (alongside Howard Johnson, Marvin Stamm, Warren Bernhardt and Jamey Haddad). As the NEA has recognized fellow underappreciated master bassist Richard Davis, I can only hope that they do the same with Cecil McBee. He's one of my all-time favorite bassists, so his presence on a recording piques my interest.

To be honest, I can find his alto sound to be grating at times, but not all of his stuff is smooth. Another Hand has Charlie Haden, Jack DeJohnette, Mulgrew Miller, Joey Baron, Don Alias, Bill Frisell, Greg Cohen and Marcus Miller, among others. Even if you have no interest in Sanborn, it's an album well worth having. I do like Closer, which has musicians like Russell Malone, Alex Sipiagin, Bob Sheppard, Gil Goldstein. Christian McBride, Steve Gadd, Don Alias, Mike Mainieri and a solid vocal by LIzz Wright, even if there is a certain amount of slickness in the production. I am a sucker for the song 'Tin Tin Deo', and it has compositions by Abdullah Ibrahim and Horace Silver as well. His discs tend to pop up in the bargain bin (I got the two mentioned above for a buck each, I believe), but I wouldn't pick up one of his discs without looking at the personnel and material and gauging the schlock potential.

Have you tried using a different burning program? Unlike WMP, AnyBurn (linked to their download page) also supports FLAC. It is free. The only downside I have found is that it will only burn CDs up to 75 minutes in length. I am not sure whether you can mix formats, but it's worth a shot.

I was worried when I clicked on this thread that it'd be about her encountering further health problems. I'm glad that after all of her back problems that she hopes to resume touring and is in a good place. I'd be interested in her book, and I commend her for speaking out. In a case of not being able to keep up with my purchases sometimes, I have a solo release of hers on Candid that I'll spin for the first time tonight. I should also revisit my other Williams albums.

Paul Smoker was one of those musicians whom I had meant to check out. I was at a Dave Liebman concert in Rochester at the Lovin' Cup and Smoker was in attendance (I believe that Liebman gave him a shout-out). I'll be checking out his Genuine Fables trio album and look forward to hearing his music. Rest in peace, Mr. Smoker.

I thought about Buster Cooper and his long-running St. Petersburg gig when I made a trip to Orlando last month, although we were there during the week (it was a Saturday gig, if I remember correctly) and his last gig apparently was in February. I recommend E-Bone-ix, the album he co-led with the late Thurman Green. Buster Cooper must have had some stories to tell. Thank you for the music, Mr. Cooper, and rest in peace.

I saw the LCJO last year mainly for the chance to see Joe Temperley, but he wasn't part of the tour. He was the total package: He had a beautiful tone, was an excellent ensemble player and was a warm soloist. For anyone who hasn't heard it, there's some nice Temperley on Buck Clayton's A Swingin' Dream. Thank you for the music, Mr. Temperley, and rest in peace.

I talked with Ron Carter after a gig in DC and he was warm and charming. I have nothing but respect and admiration for him.

Stay classy.

I'm with you, Paul. I hope that they catch the murderer. I would like to check out He Who Lives in Many Places, because tthat lineup has to be well worth hearing. Rest in peace, Mr. Plumeri.

I just found out today that he'll be at the Detroit Jazz Fest this year with his African Rhythms band, which will be joined by a big band! Having seen Weston perform a solo set, a duo with Billy Harper and with his African Rhythms band (I only caught part of that set, unfortunately), I'm looking forward to seeing this concert as well. Happy Birthday, Mr. Weston!

Last year, I stumbled upon the album Basically Baker, by the Buselli/Wallarab Jazz Orchestra. The majority of the orchestra was comprised of former Baker students (including co-leader Wallarab) and they put a lot of care into performing Baker's compositions, most of which Baker also arranged. Having only previously known Baker from his reputation as an educator ( my jazz-appreciation professor even studied under him), his compositions and arrangements were a revelation. I'd love to hear more of his work, and I highly recommend Basically Baker. Thank you for the music and your contributions as an educator, Mr. Baker, and rest in peace.

Or, you know, he could be facing medical issues. It is uncalled for to speculate.

You could always purchase it.